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Writhe like a snake
Jul. 3rd, 2016 11:47 amI finally went to a workshop by prof dr dr Hassan Khallil, who is 79 but happened to be in the Reda Troupe in 1956 and has been coasting on his reputation ever since.
I thought that I should expose myself to his pressence at least once, considering that I've been bellydancing for sixteen years now and have managed to avoid him all these years. Plus I am eager to get out there and network a bit, meet new people and dance.
I travelled to Vught (small town near Den Bosch) and took Hannan Sultan's workshop called skillful and slinky hips. Got aome good ideas about what exercises to use to level the hipwork and avoid injury. I hated how she let us drill in a different tempo compared to the music she put on. I cannot ignore a beat and dance in a different tempo. It's also a bit moot considering the teacher picking the music for class. Would be easier to pick something the right tempo instead of making the students go off beat. She is one hard working woman, I respect that.
The second workshop was the long awaited prof dr dr etc. Yes, he uses his titles all the time. I suspect once he bought them, he wanted to use them to get his money's worth. Mr khallil arrived late, and all the ladies stared to applaud when he entered. Little did I know that applauding was mandatory and expected at almost every instant he opened his mouth. He is very charismatic and positive, joking around, hugging women (he's an old dog, he is) and smiling. Can't help but like the guy.
We started 30 min late and Hassan explained that we were doing bellydance theater. An hommage to Cleopatra and het tragic story. He proceeded by showing us the most dramatic overacting ever. It included pining, sighing, yearning, reaching with the arms and putting on an obstipated face.
I was okay with it, saying to myself 'it's only three hours'. But when he told us to lie on the floor and wiggle like a snake, I reached my limit. That was right after he saw me yawn, walked up to me and said:'you should sleep at night'. I replied:'my baby won't let me', making him laugh out loud. 'Baby girl' I added, and he buggerrd off.
After a badly edited zar song attached to Mohammed Abdel Wahab, we pounced the floor with our fist, crawled on fours, picked up a small sized snake and theatrically dropping it in our shirt, the workshop was over. An hour early.
Let me get this straight: 25 people paid 75 euro to attend this three hour workshop. That is 1875 euro. Let's say 1/3 is going to the hostess, that leaves us with 1200 ish. He arrived 30 min late and we finished 1 hour early. For one and a half hour of prancing around, he made 1200ish euro. Tell me again that the bellydance market sucks and people are not willing to pay for workshops.
To be fair, One and a half hour of this was more than enough for me. Once, but never again. I did get to experience prof dr dr first hand and polished my snake writhing skills. Ozma, it reminded me of our floorwork workshop with Princess Banu in Istanbul. Good to know the crazy is equally distributed among teachers globally
I thought that I should expose myself to his pressence at least once, considering that I've been bellydancing for sixteen years now and have managed to avoid him all these years. Plus I am eager to get out there and network a bit, meet new people and dance.
I travelled to Vught (small town near Den Bosch) and took Hannan Sultan's workshop called skillful and slinky hips. Got aome good ideas about what exercises to use to level the hipwork and avoid injury. I hated how she let us drill in a different tempo compared to the music she put on. I cannot ignore a beat and dance in a different tempo. It's also a bit moot considering the teacher picking the music for class. Would be easier to pick something the right tempo instead of making the students go off beat. She is one hard working woman, I respect that.
The second workshop was the long awaited prof dr dr etc. Yes, he uses his titles all the time. I suspect once he bought them, he wanted to use them to get his money's worth. Mr khallil arrived late, and all the ladies stared to applaud when he entered. Little did I know that applauding was mandatory and expected at almost every instant he opened his mouth. He is very charismatic and positive, joking around, hugging women (he's an old dog, he is) and smiling. Can't help but like the guy.
We started 30 min late and Hassan explained that we were doing bellydance theater. An hommage to Cleopatra and het tragic story. He proceeded by showing us the most dramatic overacting ever. It included pining, sighing, yearning, reaching with the arms and putting on an obstipated face.
I was okay with it, saying to myself 'it's only three hours'. But when he told us to lie on the floor and wiggle like a snake, I reached my limit. That was right after he saw me yawn, walked up to me and said:'you should sleep at night'. I replied:'my baby won't let me', making him laugh out loud. 'Baby girl' I added, and he buggerrd off.
After a badly edited zar song attached to Mohammed Abdel Wahab, we pounced the floor with our fist, crawled on fours, picked up a small sized snake and theatrically dropping it in our shirt, the workshop was over. An hour early.
Let me get this straight: 25 people paid 75 euro to attend this three hour workshop. That is 1875 euro. Let's say 1/3 is going to the hostess, that leaves us with 1200 ish. He arrived 30 min late and we finished 1 hour early. For one and a half hour of prancing around, he made 1200ish euro. Tell me again that the bellydance market sucks and people are not willing to pay for workshops.
To be fair, One and a half hour of this was more than enough for me. Once, but never again. I did get to experience prof dr dr first hand and polished my snake writhing skills. Ozma, it reminded me of our floorwork workshop with Princess Banu in Istanbul. Good to know the crazy is equally distributed among teachers globally
