Student recital, June 2014
Jun. 17th, 2014 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mekyriaWhat I love about the place where I teach is that they have the opportunity to do a student recital at the end of the semester. And let's face it, recitals illicit a response in people: some get very excited, others get very quiet and withdraw. Ever since I started teaching, I decided that every semester we would have a student recital for those who wish to participate. The goal of the classes is to learn bellydance. But I find that in my students (female, academic, between 18-26) the performance opportunity inspires to actually attend all the classes, practice and evaluate their own capabilities.
Also, my current focus in my own dancing is on bellydance as a performance dance (as opposed to bellydance as a social dance, which is also a great focus). Working with my students helps me to develop my own skills as a choreographer, troupe director and organizer. We had a small group of beginners and a failry large group of intermediates last sunday.
The audience was small but appreciative and those who were there were very happy that we did this :-) For my beginners I opted for all black with a colorful hipscarf and flower in the hair. They looked adorable. I had to jump in to help them remember the veil choreography so I did a quick costume switch while directing the two groups.
The intermediates hada golden era themed choreography and went with home made blue/purple costumes:
I was a proud stage mom, though I noticed that I need to step up my teaching with my intermediates. They could do so much more, I really need to get down to the nitty gritty and correct more on a personal level. That's on my planning for the next semester with the production group. I had to participate in two songs because we were short one person with the intermediates (last minute cancellation) and the beginners were unsure about the veil dance. I am not sharing the other three video clips because they are a bit meh compared to what I pictured it to be. Two beginners backed out of the performance a couple of days before (planning mistake and illness) and one intermediate (thesis stress, she was very dedicated to practicing so it is sad that she didn't get to perform it in the end)
I am extremely proud of my intermediates for doing this (very short) drum solo with zills choreography:
I am going to pat myself on the back for managing the whole thing. Light could have been better but the light engineer did what she could. I brought a toi toi toi (nailpolish), all the extra costume stuff, the videocamera and one of the students brought her photocamera so we have decent group shots. Having recent and good quality footage and pictures is good for attracting potential students and God know I need at least eight students per class to continue and things are tight.
Also, my current focus in my own dancing is on bellydance as a performance dance (as opposed to bellydance as a social dance, which is also a great focus). Working with my students helps me to develop my own skills as a choreographer, troupe director and organizer. We had a small group of beginners and a failry large group of intermediates last sunday.
The audience was small but appreciative and those who were there were very happy that we did this :-) For my beginners I opted for all black with a colorful hipscarf and flower in the hair. They looked adorable. I had to jump in to help them remember the veil choreography so I did a quick costume switch while directing the two groups.
The intermediates hada golden era themed choreography and went with home made blue/purple costumes:
I was a proud stage mom, though I noticed that I need to step up my teaching with my intermediates. They could do so much more, I really need to get down to the nitty gritty and correct more on a personal level. That's on my planning for the next semester with the production group. I had to participate in two songs because we were short one person with the intermediates (last minute cancellation) and the beginners were unsure about the veil dance. I am not sharing the other three video clips because they are a bit meh compared to what I pictured it to be. Two beginners backed out of the performance a couple of days before (planning mistake and illness) and one intermediate (thesis stress, she was very dedicated to practicing so it is sad that she didn't get to perform it in the end)
I am extremely proud of my intermediates for doing this (very short) drum solo with zills choreography:
I am going to pat myself on the back for managing the whole thing. Light could have been better but the light engineer did what she could. I brought a toi toi toi (nailpolish), all the extra costume stuff, the videocamera and one of the students brought her photocamera so we have decent group shots. Having recent and good quality footage and pictures is good for attracting potential students and God know I need at least eight students per class to continue and things are tight.
