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 :: Hofesh Shechter Company

Comments (0) Aug 04 2010

Samantha Emanuel @ Beyond Belly Dance 2010. Lovely arms!!

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:: New Website:Vagabond Princess

UPDATE: I just discovered that Samantha is the only British member of the Belly Dance Superstars. She is based in Devon, UK.

From her page:

“Fusing Victorian costume aesthetics with olde world dance movement strangeness as well as a respectful modern take on Middle Eastern folkloric dances and professional versatility: her performance background is that of largely self taught, having only started her Tribal Fusion Belly Dance journey in 2005 with no dance dance training what so ever. Her ballet instructor saw to that by telling her she would never be a dancer (at aged eight).

A free-spirited nomad by temperament – with Eco-activist tendencies – she traveled through Europe for several years in vintage caravans and converted buses with her husband Oscar and faithful hound Spindle. Along the way she became an expert Fire Dancer, performing at many festivals. This developed into an interest in Martial Arts weaponry (Kung Fu) This in turn led to belly dancing, where in 2003 she was awe inspired by American Tribal Style, in seeing Carolena Nericcio perform on a Fat Chance Belly Dance video and later a live performance in the UK. In 2005 after personal encouragement from Rachel Brice Samantha gave up her job laboring on a construction site and moved to North America for 3 years to train with master instructors in the field of Belly Dance. It is thanks to Carolena Nericcio and Rachel Brice that Samantha dances today.“

Comments (0) Jun 28 2010

What a lovely tribute to pioneer dancer choreographer:

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Wikipedia has a good biography:
Jose Arcadio Limon was born January 12 in Culiacan, Mexicon. He was the first-born child with eleven siblings to follow. By 1915, the family moved to the United States; first to Tucson, Arizona, then to Los Angeles, California. After Graduating from Lincoln High School, Limon entered the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) as an art major. He moved to New York city in 1928 to study at the New York School of Design, still not a dancer. It was the following year when Limon saw a dance performance that inspired him. Harold Kreutzberg and Yvonne Gerogi’s performance was the epiphany that led Limon to dance. He said, “Suddenly, onto the stage, borne on the impetus of the heroic rhapsody, bounded an ineffable creature and his partner. Instantly and irrevocably, I was transformed. I knew with shocking suddenness that until then I had not been alive or, rather, that I had yet been unborn…now I did not want to remain on this earth unless I learned to do what this man was doing.”

Limon Dance Company, Institute + Foundation

:: Body pixel

Comments (0) May 31 2010

Dancers Among Us is a collection of NYC dance photographs by Jordan Matter featuring members of the Paul Taylor, Mark Morris and Martha Graham Dance Companies. This is an ongoing project that began in the spring of 2009. His gallery page points out that “There were no trampolines or other devices used for these images, just thousands of hours of training!.”

:: Jordan Matter Photography

Comments (0) May 02 2010

At the borders of dreams and reality, this Paris-based dancer and choreographer uses poetry, music, and dance to showcase the mythologies of Iran.  Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam: Gorgeous technique, and a gifted dancer.

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Mr. Moshkin-Ghalam is a graduate in History of Art and Theater from the Universite’ of Paris 8, specialized in mystical dance, his work also takes root from Indian, Indonesian, and Flamenco influences.  In 1997 he founded the company Nakissa Dance Company, where he creates works in Persian.  Since January 2005 he has been an official member of the “Comédie Fançaise” playing with major international stage directors.

Born in Iran and emigrating to France, he trained in various forms of dance in his early teens. Beyond that, Google’s translation tools notwithstanding, and not being a Facebook user, I’m not finding much more information about his background, but he has toured the US and he hobbies in photography.

More examples of his work:
Sohrab and Gordafarid
Faryad
Shir Ali Mardan – watched this one 8 15 times!

::  H/t to  Kendesh for the lead.

Comments (0) Mar 28 2010

Almost beside myself in anticipation. By the end of the week, I’ll be in a Weekend Retreat with Donna Mejia!

From her website:

“Donna Mejia is a choreographer, lecturer, teacher, administrator, and performer specializing in contemporary dance, traditions of the Arab/African Diaspora, and new fusion traditions in world electronica. Donna is amongst a handful of artists authorized to instruct the Brazilian Silvestre Modern Dance Technique (an esoteric, codified system of contemporary dance technique).”

I posted video back in October, and since then a few more have been posted on her YouTube Channel. Cannot explain it completely, but having only encountered Donna through the digital medium, I’ve come to admire and respect this artist like I have never before. “Authenticity” comes to mind, but that only scratches the surface of what watching her perform evokes. There’s an earth honesty that flash for me whenever I see her energy move.

Add to that that she is the founder and director of the Sovereign Project:

“The Sovereign Collective: A Complete Re-Visioning of a Traditional Dance Company

“Sovereign” is a movement arts and social action collective pledged to elevate social consciousness toward a reverent connection to the human body. This project is an effort to mobilize concerned citizens around an issue that can seem too large for an individual to take on: sovereignty of the human body.

Transgressions against physical self-determination manifest across international, cultural, religious, political and economic lines in a multitude of practices: genital mutilation; legally sanctioned infantile marriages; elder abuse; sexual servitude; censorship of sexual information; slavery; honor killings; media-influenced distortions of body-image; domestic violence; military torture; inaccessibility to affordable healthcare; forced medical intervention or end of life management; etc.”

…and I am reduced to a puddle of awe.

Comments (0) Feb 28 2010

I’ve ordered a pair of Rosewood Castanets!

Img Source: Getty Images

Comments (0) Feb 06 2010

ssssssssSnakess!

Did you see the email from Yasmine and Tribal Bazaar’s project “All The Pretty Snakes… (& Belly Dancers)” 2010 Calendar? It looks wonderful!

The project was shot by Lee Corkett, and include Yasemin, Khani Zulu, Georgina, Ayse Cerami, Marguerite, Paul Petrescu, Olu and Paulina as some of the (dance) models. The snakes are awesome!

Lee & Yasmine also have a few backstage videos up on Vimeo that are very entertaining:

You can order your through Amazon or on Georgina’s Etsy page, but each of the above links will point you there as well.

Comments (0) Dec 11 2009

Karim Nagi workshop in LV

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Save these dates!
January, 30th and 31st.
2 days, 4 different WORKSHOPS and Hafla

• Arab Folk Dance Intensive
• Maqam for Dancers
• Drummer Communication
• Arab Drums “Masmudi, Malfuf, Maghrebi”

DETAILS at Amira’s site :  http://www.amirasbelly.com/karim09.php

or Flyer here:

Comments (0) Dec 07 2009