Shareen El Safy

[parasitegirl]

Where do I start with Shareen El Safy? 

Uhhh…hmmm…Howabout: If you are buying into the absurd idea that tribal movements are muscle driven but “cabaret dancers” are all about da bones, you obviously have never taken a workshop with Shareen. 

Well, first let me say, Shareen aside, that idea is absurd. You’re using both for all styles of dance. Yes, it’s easier to start with focusing on what larger parts of your body are doing at first, viewing yourself mentally from the outside as a shape and lines and arrows. And, yes, as you progress and get more in touch with the body you’re in and the complexity of the movement you also become more in control of the muscle movements and the internal shape of movements…but if you’re seeing from the outside you’re still using the interior and if you’re focused on the internal you still need to be aware of the external shapes and your place in space…so drop those reductive (and false) muscle/bone ideas of style differentiation.

…oh…and only call me “Cabaret” when I am dressed in my pinstripes… because that costume is ALL about Sally Bowles and the MC. American Cabaret works for some of what I do, but I am not a “Cabaret Dancer.”

Ok…back on track.

You’ll find that Shareen will talk about how certain postures, movements, and physicality will open you up emotionally and affect you deeply. She’ll talk about the energy a dancer gives out needing to be matched by what she takes in (the idea of the body as a vessel you need to fill as well as pour from) and a great deal about the emotions in your abdomen.

Don’t dismiss this as woo woo stuff. Go with it. She knows what she’s talking about. She’s a smart woman, deeply aware of herself, who does seem to be constantly questioning herself, her beliefs, the dance and learning from her questions and her experience. She’s not all ephemeral and air-fairy about these beliefs. She’s grounded.

Also, in my own scientific experience (well, listening to a lot of Radio Lab and reading essays by regular contributers) science is constantly discovering how much the body influences and informs our minds and our emotional states. It ain’t just woo-woo stuff.

I found her movements and explanations helped me more deeply understand the movements I was undertaking, the motivation, and the connection to the music.

Modern Egyptian/ Raqs Sharki continues to be slightly outside my comfort zone. I enjoy it, and enjoy the music, but it has yet to resonate with me the same way Turkish Roma music and Turkish Oriental dance do. I push myself to explore it because there is a very purposeful and powerful quietness and subtle core movements that I feel help center me (as I am stronger at expending and sending out energy than I am at drawing it in) and complexity and of the combinations and movements, in their deceptive simplicity are mentally and physically challenging for me.

And, yes, the muscle awareness and control her movements require are intense, but it really DOES feel emotionally and physically good. It’s not tiring in the way mindless drilling can be…you’re relaxed but not drained.

I also love teachers like Shareen who spend time talking and showing where certain movements they are teaching come from within social/folk side of the dance (folkloric/shaabi/etc) and how and why the motions have been modified for oriental/raqs sharki. I like this because, as so much of Turkish style is influenced by Turkish Roma social dance, this is something I also have to think about, be aware of, grapple with.

Shareen talks a lot. She very easily goes off on a tangent…but it’s always worth listening because it does relate and there’s just SO DAMNED MUCH knowledge up in there. She is similar to Artemis in the breadth of info she has, gathers, and distributes, but with a slightly different vibe. Artemis reminds me of my mother, my whole family, with her style of delivery…Shareen’s more of a laid-back friend of the family.

Shareen was taking some new choreographies for a test run with us…and due to the newness, the jet lag, and the fact that she was struggling with allergies, there was much, well, variation from run through to run through. It wasn’t “follow the bouncing butt” because she was very good at breaking down certain moves, AMAZING about correcting individuals (myself very much included, her posture involves having the upper body further forward than I am used to) and very good with questions, but there was something slightly chaotic about it at times for students looking to learn a choreography. I had purchased a few DVDs from her with similar choreographies figuring I’d drill choreo at home and spend the time with her just trying to absorb the feel, and ask questions, and take whatever she threw at us. I did. Was good.

I felt at home there. It wasn’t the same ‘at home’ I feel with Turkish, which I feel deep in my body, but like I was a welcome guest.

I feel very unable to put down into words what exactly it is we did and what I learned. So many great instructors have taught me invaluable things about the dance and music of Egypt…and made me want to know more…but Shareen was the first of those teachers I could really see myself doing a retreat with, or seeking out as a regular teacher. Those other teachers I still want to learn from and I desire to pick their brains…but Shareen was a teacher I could really see myself surrendering to, putting myself in her hands, as a student.

Comments

[bintblue.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yup, yup yup. I am so glad you got it and got her.

*happy dance*

[parasitegirl.livejournal.com]

I am also hella glad I didn't take workshops last September...that was the weekend where Sadia brought Artemis and Shareen and my friends brought Mira Betz, Bozenka, and Tamalyn Dahlal...and the penultimate "really bad weekend of asthma" where I was on 4+ hits of the inhailer a day and a fucking mess.

Artie, TD and Mira Betz were enough for me...I attended Shareen's lecture but anything more would have overloaded my system. As it was I didn't even make it to the show...it followed two workshops on the last day and I finally tapped out and got my ass on a train home.

[beafarhana.livejournal.com]

I am so jealous! Thank you for sharing in such an erudite manner, so I could enjoy the experience vicariously