Comments on: Lessons from my past life.

By: Callisto

Callisto — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:33:16 +0000

I spent many years training and competing in taekwondo. Those years taught me a lot, and I use much of that today still, both in dancing and everyday life:

1. You can always find an excuse for losing (or doing badly), but winning is more fun.
2. Keeping mind and body in shape is not optional if you want to win.
3. To be in shape requires hours and hours of hard training every week, and mostly you need to train those moves and things (like running… :/) you like the least.
4. Training your mind is as important as training your body. Believing you can do those things you want to achieve gets you a long way.
5. Not believing it can stop you from getting there, no matter of the physical condition you’re in.
6. You can only control your own shape, actions and reactions. Prepare well for your competition so you can feel good when doing your thing no matter what.
7. Stuff around you can and will always go wrong, and it’s up to you to feel secure enough to ignore all shit and still do your best.

By: April

April — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:55:05 +0000

I trained in theatre (particularly visual/experimental theatre, which included a lot of contemporary dance, martial & Asian movement training) since I was a kid. There’s very little in my dancing that isn’t heavily influenced by my background, but the biggest things…

Shaping a stage space with bodies – one or a lot – where you are and how you are in space changes your story.
That everything you put on stage will be interpreted as a story by an audience (there’s a wonderful Eugenio Barba story about having an actor warm up on stage, and the audience responding with a ton of different interpretations of stories they saw). Also, that the point of art isn’t just to communicate your vision precisely, but to be in dialogue with your audience.
That silence and stillness are needed.
Same for repetition.
And breaking repetition.
That interacting with an audience isn’t always direct – bellydancers who come from other performing arts seem to get this intuitively, but it isn’t obvious without that prior practice.

By: Flissy

Flissy — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:41:51 +0000

You know, I have been thinking about this a lot lately because I’m now dedicating more time to studying dance after a year of mainly studying yoga. My asana practice is essential to keeping my body strong, flexible, and balanced- the foundation and body awareness is there so it’s just a matter of making my dance brain learn new things. The philosophical and spiritual aspects of yoga have been very important to my growth as a dancer, as well. That could be an essay of its own!

Also, my husband and I started ballroom dancing long before I started bellydancing. To me, there is a natural connection between tribal improv and ballroom (although in ballroom I’m always the follower, heehee). Similar principles apply- musical interpretation, spontaneous creativity, and subtle collaboration with a partner. I still count Fred Astaire as a huge inspiration even in my bellydance because I see in his dance is a perfect balance of dedication and joy.