She called me on the phone and said "I want to take bellydance classes to please my boyfriend." I said "He'll hate you for it." She said "I want to bellydance to be sexy." I said "Good luck!" She asked "Can I lose weight if I bellydance?" I said "You'll lose weight if you stop eating so much." She said "I want to sign up for every single class and buy all your music and a costume too." I thought "OK, you're wasting your money, you'll pay me a ton of money and then you'll disappear." She said "This is a fun way to exercise. I like the music." She continues to come to class and starts making friends with other dance students and they socialize after class. I think "She's a keeper."
We have fun in class. Due to the nature of my classes - drop-in - come when convenient - teach all the time, not by the sessions - I usually do not do choreography. Also because I grew up dancing to live music played spontaneously - not to recorded music, choreography was something that I equated to formal group recitals. Well, I hadn't done dance recitals since grade school when my parents were obligated to buy packages of lessons, pay for costumes and photos and then pay to see their darling child perform group choreography with 10 or 20 other kids; so group choreography wasn't in my mind set. When I first learned to bellydance, it was to exercise and get my body back in shape because I had just had 3 kids in 3 years and felt a bit flabby. But then circumstances, economic circumstances, made me become serious about the dance. Fortunately I liked the music, especially the drumming, and danced at home when not in class. But, I didn't know how to put together a dance show. In fact, I didn't even know what one looked like. After I auditioned for a job and got it, I learned on the stage how to make my few dance steps look like a dance. I didn't have a teacher anymore because she had gone on the road performing and so the music and the musicians became my teachers.
Because the music and the musicians taught me how to dance, I felt that dancing was more connected to the music than doing technically perfect dance steps. I still feel that way. Of course, there is technique and there are rules (sort of) but the real rule to me was and is to listen to the music and it will tell you what to do. This is what I learned from the first musicians I worked with especially Yousef Kouyoumjian and Fadil and Walid Shahin. And this is what I want all my dance students to go home with. To me, choreography is great but learning to listen to the music and improvise is even greater because that is how I learned.
Once the dancers in my classes learn the basics, I try to encourage them to dance freestyle by listening to and interpreting the music - their way. Because way back when, I was dancing/working every night, many of my students would come to the club to see me and other dancers dance and also to hear the music. Sometimes they'd be invited to get up on stage and just dance and finally when the bug hit them, I'd be asked to create a formal "student night." At the time all the clubs on the strip had either a cover charge or a two drink minimum. We had a two drink minimum. My students were an exception, but their friends were not except on student nights. So student nights were special. I'd go to a movie distribution company before the show and buy huge bags of popcorn and other snacks for all to share and on student nights it was 1/2 off regular drink price for the students and only a one drink minimum for everyone. It was great fun and exciting. It was always exciting to see someone dance for the first time in a costume that she made herself. Here's some photos from a few of my first student nights at the Bagdad. Where have all the dancers gone? And the musicians too?
