Tonight is another session of Sultry Sharqi with Ava. Yippee!!!!
I am just soooo loving this session. Sultry Sharqi is my kind of belly dancing. I also like Ava's new teaching format. Each month the focus is on a different technique. Obviously, this month the focus has been on slow, sultry, sensuous, snaky, sinuous movements.
You might think that practicing just 1 or 2 moves for an entire class would get boring, but it really doesn't. It allows you to see where your mistakes are. For me, when I'm doing Maya's & Serena's I have a tendency to twist my hips a bit. Working slowly has allowed me to correct that.
Last month the focus was on hip shimmies. And well, let's just say I'm still working on them. I know why I'm having trouble, but.... I'm still struggling. My problem is that I have natural "turn out" compounded by all those years of ballet which has further developed my hip & leg muscles to help maintain that turned out position that is so necessary for ballet. I have to work so hard at holding my legs parallel that it makes it difficult for me to keep my legs & hips relaxed enough to execute a good shimmy. If it let my leg turn out just a little bit then my shimmies improve dramatically, but I look sort of like a duck when I start to move across the floor. I am determined to master them with parallel legs. It just might take the rest of my life.
So Ava, if you're reading this I'm putting in my request to keep the monthly focus format with the possibility of revisiting hip shimmies.
But, enough about me.
For all you Phoenix & Tucson area belly dancers looking to escape the heat this weekend why not head up north to Sedona for these wonderful workshops sponsored by Levant Al Sonora.
Carrie Konyha: Graceful hands & arms
Terri Walden of Troupe Salamat: Tribal combos
Mahin: Zill techniques
Jazmine: Sword & props
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