Day Two: TEACH ALL THE MATERIAL!

[parasitegirl]

Day Two: Dusseldorf, Germany – Leuven, Belgium

Khalida joined me over yogurt and muesli, bringing the coffee. Mmmmm. Coffee. I drink to you even now.

(Sip…ahhhh)

Have I mentioned jet lag? These post are fueled by coffee and the idea of sleep.

Khalida and hubby have one of those magical machines that grinds and does all the coffee making stuff that needs to be done. I usually use a French press. This might make me a coffee snob in some circles but it’s not just the taste, I don’t have much counter space.

I know I should be saying more about Khalida (http://www.khalida.biz/bellydance/) but our friendship is one of those things you all already know about. I don’t mean you all have gotten to know both of us here on LJ (although many of you have) or that I’ve talked about it…it’s that I suspect you’ve all experienced similar experiences of getting to know folks well enough via blogging that face-to-face meetings seem like reunions, not first time experience.

We got to know each other via LJ and ended up expanding some of that into our bellydance lives and adding (mucho) FB silliness to the mix.

Some high points: I hired her to be my web designer, about the time she needed funding because her DVD project produced by Aziza and co got rolling, I reviewed one of her two DVDs in-depth (Shimmies, I don’t have much space for the wings…but I bought wings) on my fan-page and it’s linked to in her on-line store, she sent me her Mirror Sahar OUT OF THE KINDNESS OF HER HEART..and so on.

Familiarity increased with knowing each other’s literal voices. I use her shimmy DVD and she’s heard my voice on the few blogs I’ve recorded.

I can fairly say that we met the people we expected to meet and were not disappointed.

After futzing about with more morning things, we rolled out yoga mats and stretched, side by side, to one of the 25 minute stretching routines on Essentrics: Strength & Stretch in Motion (2 DVD pack / Four (4) 25-minute workouts.) I really liked this DVD for stretching and cannot find it in Japan.

Yup, that’s some dork bonding there. That is dorkier than seeing the Dark Knight Rises.

Then it was time for packing for the day’s big event. Khalida not only picked me up at the airport and housed me, she also organized a workshop for me. After the workshop she’d drive me to Brussels for me to start the RAKS BE part of my Europe trip.

I HAVE TAUGHT A WORKSHOP IN GERMANY!

(insert Blingee here)

Ahem.

Khalida and I thought about having me teach private lessons while in Germany, but figured out it would be best to just make it a workshop instead of trying to organize multiple students’ schedules and my own. Because my time there fell in-between two major local(ish) bellydance thingies (Queenie and Khalida’s Bellydance Bootcamp and Artemisia’s RAKS BE) with some shared students, getting a huge number of students wasn’t going to be likely, as many would be tapped out of time and cash…but frankly I’d still be shouting to the hills about teaching a workshop abroad if only two students showed up.

Memo to self: update web-bio..not just because of Europe.

Khalida and I brainstormed the workshop topic one night/morning on-line. It was, honestly, an overreacting plan. We asked ourselves what niche catagories am I good at/known for (aside from costumes) and came up with zills and Turkish Roma. I then wrote blurbs for both. Had I taught it in Japan it would have been two, individual, 1 1/2 - 2 hour workshops. I have actually taught it like that, one workshop for basic Turkish Roma movement with a 9/8 and a second workshop using more familiar Oriental Dance movement with a 9/8 zill combination for dancers. They were the first two workshops I ever taught, slightly less than a year ago, when Huleya asked me to teach in Yokohama.

We got seven participants in Germany which I was overjoyed with. MOAR MONEY FOR LESSONS and OMG I HAZ INTEREST LEVELS OUT THERE.

I was rightly nervous that I could even begin to cover 9/8 zills and Turkish Roma in one two-hour workshop. I knew I’d have to drill the zills and the movements together, for lack of time, and trust that my teaching skills would let me do it in a way that didn’t make them frustrated. Zills, Turkish Roma movement (and 9/8 signatures) in general can be dancer insecurity triggers for those who’ve already grown strong enough not to feel like learning dance is a gigantic struggle…it can take them back to a total beginner feeling that is no longer familiar to them.

In the two weeks prior to my trip, I made my Turkish Roma class strap on zills (which some of them actively avoid) and made my Zills & Drills classes explore 9/8 rhythms. I was honest with them about the two reasons why they were being taken out of their comfort zones:

1. I always want to demystify 9/8 and zills, because I used to be afraid of them.
2. I needed to iron out some combinations so she could nail my first non-Japan workshop.

I made up for my students’ struggles by posting extra hidden-link you-tube practice videos for the combinations.

The studio Khalida uses is at least two to three times the size of what I am used to, with much higher ceilings. It’s actually a small church that was renovated into dance studios. The studio owner, a retired dancer and her husband, are involved in something called German Carnivals. Khalida first told me this, in a somewhat embarrassed tone, I was confused…because when I think CARNIVAL I usually think of Brazil (or the yearly Brazilian Carnival in Akasaka). This thought did not prepare me for half the photos in the studio being of groups of costumed men (and token women) cross dressing in various themes: bikers, American cowboys, harem girls…

This still seems less bizarre to me than reckless movie intermissions.

Khalida and I took silly photos together in the studio. This was one way I dealt with stress…the other way was eating from the randomly assorted box of Fud 4 Ozma. I hadn’t really had lunch, because I was pacing and packing.

Khalida and me.


It's very unclear in the photos as to who is actually taller than whom.

I had seven students and was HIGHLY nervous. I don’t get stage fright before I perform…if you see me doing something other than being silly before I dance (or generally walking around trying to make other dancers feel good) it’s usually a sign that I have an anxiety-related-issue going on and it isn’t about dance. I do get stage fright about teaching workshops. I pace in circles and double-check stuff.

When students came in, some who barely knew me and some who knew of me through facebook, I did want to hide and pace and not be social…because I was nervous. There is only so professional you can appear when all you can say is I AM NERVOUS OMFG....must check all the things....looks better...checking...

The nervousness only lasted into 15 minutes or so of the workshop. I got a feel for the students (all levels, including first time zill-wearers) and adjusted as needed..and stopped talking so fast.

Surprise culture shock: I can read Japanese workshop-attendee faces pretty well. I never thought about how culture-specific my reading ability is. I haven’t taught many workshops here, but I’ve attended loads and usually know the translators and often know the organizers. I have a good feeling for when workshop attendees are growing confused on a point and not saying anything, or might be getting frustrated about lack of space and need a line-change…and while teaching in Germany I realized I had no such visual teaching tool in the faces I looked at and had to ask for response more often.

I was a little hesitant in going around and making corrections because of this and because of my time constraints. But as the workshop continued I got a little better at it.

We got through ALL the material I had planned.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Then, by special request, we filmed a student-only video of me quickly breaking down the patterns and practicing them until it was the full combination…which I could do well because of two weeks of filming modifications and versions for my students.

At this point there were more wacky photos (do all you Europeans love your themed silly photos like planking and jumping? ) and enough response that I realized the students really really liked the workshop. I was hugged and thanked in ways that overwhelmed me (and my ability to take complements).

Then it was back to the car for the hour and a half (or more?) drive to Lueven.

I know I keep saying RAKS BE like you all know what I am talking about. Let me back up. RAKS is a 4-day intensive bellydance experience of lessons, sharing, and a halfa. It’s an intimate thing of between 20-30 students. The one I attended was the 5th edition of the RAKS experience. When I started looking into planning my summer vacation, I looked for bellydance events/learning opportunities that would also bring me in contact with the folks I know primarily through the internet via bellydance/LJ/FB. RAKS totally fit the bill. I’d gotten to know Artemisia, one of the founders and now the primary organizer of RAKS, on LJ when we had the chance to meet up in America in 2010 in Las Vegas (The LV intensive) AND in Seattle on our overlapping holidays + dance time and I could schedule my time and meet Khalida prior to RAKS.

And the teaching line-up included Artemisia, Delanna, Elisa Gamal and Serkan Tutar. I didn’t know much about Delanna, but had met Elisa a few times socially in Seattle and she’d often been recommended as someone I should take privates from. I’d also regretted missing Artemisia’s veil workshop in LV (due to my scratched cornea). And Serkan Tutar is a name that has come highly recommended to me because of his Turkish/Egyptian cross-over ability.

Khalida dropped me off at my hotel just in time for me to wash up before an informal meet-and-greet. She’d get me in four days for another over-nigth at her home, which was good. Not only would we have more quality time, but I’d left my cel/iPad charger at her place.

I’d had problems booking a room at the hotel. It rejected my bookings and then double booked me…luckily Elisa Gamal and her mother were able to take the second room, get it changed two two beds, and it was deducted from my RAKS fee. The hotel had on-and-off wifi and no working vending machines. The rooms were similar to Japanese business hotels, except that the was room on both sides of the bed to place things. It was fine for the price and kinda cute.

I didn’t actually have a clue as to where I was, but I knew the meet-up café was on the other side of the tracks and I trusted my international dancer radar to serve me well. My not knowing much about Lueven in general is on my shoulders, I could have done more pre-trip research. My having no clue about what was near my hotel, where the event was, and local maps, is something I brought up with Artemisia in the eventual feedback time of RAKS. I’m a fan of more on-line maps and links for people coming from out of town/out of country/out of continent because at intensives you tend to hit the ground running and, like in the Hunger Games, knowing where to find food and water can be the difference between life and death.

The group of 12 some dancers that came to the meet and greet, including Artemisia and Elisa, at the table made me feel right at home. Two girls in particular worked overtime in getting to know me and helping me feel at-home: Tonya, a fellow Amercian living up to ideals of southern hospitality and Sarah, a newish student of bellydance very eager to learn more and more about everything.

Culture Shock Moment: Roller-bladers. I can’t remember the last time I saw a large pack of roller-bladers being preceded by a truck with a mobile-dj wherein all the folks on roller blades were sensibly dressed. I associate packs of in-line skaters with their own DJs with Pride Parades and vehicles sponsored by Absolute Vodka with drag-queens on the ad banners. But low and behold, two trucks, sponsored by a bottled water company…maybe Evian, a mobile DJ, and hoards of people sensibly dressed for roller bladeing on roller blades.

Just like in the movie at intermission, I looked around to see if this was unusual. It was not. Apparently roller-blade parties that tour European cities are a common thing…and judging by the music choices of the dj, not a gay-pride-event thing.

After a veggie lasagna, I went back to my hotel and fell fast asleep, knowing that opening ceremonies would begin at 10:30 the next morning.

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