(no subject)

[alonewiththemoon]

I can't believe I left the house only seven and a half hours ago--it feels like it was another day. And yesterday feels like a week ago. I packed a lot of learning in. Saturday with Amar Gamal was physically challenging, just because it was four hours of dancing, and mentally challenging in terms of learning a choreography on the fly, but not too challenging in terms of muscle memory, because she dances in an Arabic Egyptian style with ballet and jazz accents, something I'm already familiar with. Rachel Brice's workshop today, on the other hand, was challenging on all three levels. By the end of the class I felt like I was starting to really get how the movements went together, but it was a big challenge. The yoga/Suhaila warmup and drill sessions were also pretty grueling, but I was able to keep up with that for the most part with the yoga that I already know and from having done the Suhaila DVD workouts. I think I'm going to revisit the Buns DVD, because those glute isolations would be pretty sweet to have down. Both Amar Gamal and Rachel Brice were such nice people, and I especially appreciated that Rachel Brice circulated around the room during the workshop to give advice and feedback to people (all the more so since a lot of us couldn't see the mirrors, which was a source of frustration until somebody--nepenthe01, was that you?--suggested that we switch rows around. Amar Gamal was very organized in that respect. Anyway, the weekend was a feat of endurance (esp. for my feet) but I walked away with a lot of valuable things from each workshop.

I also performed after the Rachel Brice workshop. She did stick around for the hafli, hope she liked what I did. People who knew me told me it was good, and I'm relaxed enough to take them at their word for today. And just to prove what a fangirl I am, here's a picture of me being a member of the belly dance cult of celebrity, standing with Rachel Brice while wearing my Tempest shirt and Suhaila pants: