Workshop with Egyptian belly dancer Dandasha In December 2004, I had the opportunity to see a show in Newcastle upon Tyne, featuring a troupe of Egyptian belly dancers. Dancers included Yasmina of Cairo, Aida Nour and Dandasha (also spelt Dandesh or Dandash). The show was amazing and I was very impressed, as it was the first time I saw a belly dance show with Egyptian dancers. The musicians were also good, and so were the Sufi dancers who impressed the audience with their uninterrupted spinning. The dancers were Yasmina of Cairo (I attended one of her workshops a couple of years later), Aida Nour (a very experienced folkloric belly dancer, who is one of the organisers of the Nile Group in Cairo) and Dandesh. Dandash was the star of the evening and everybody was impressed by her style. What struck me most of Dandasha's belly dancing style was her extremely relaxed and confident attitude on stage. She looked very at easy and relaxed as she shimmied her way through the performance and smiled in the most natural way. Her natural smile was something that I really noticed and liked. Dancers are usually advised to smile on stage, to show their enjoyment of dance, but some dancers' smiles can look a bit forced, at times. Not so Dandesh's smile. Dandash was also extremely confident and engaged the audience a lot, encouraging them to clap to the rhythm. What I also liked a lot of Dandesh's belly dance style were her shimmies. She had very energetic, but at the same time effortless shimmies. Dandasha's belly dance style did not include a great range of fancy movements, but the movements she did were impeccable and perfectly performed. The day after the show, Aida Nour and Dandash run belly dance workshops and I attended Dandesh's workshop. During the class, Dandasha taught parts of her renown choreography, where she imitates the styles of other famous Egyptian belly dancers. She also taught some interesting steps and shimmies steps combinations that I still remember. Most of all though, what I learned from looking at Dandash performing, was the knowledge of how important it is for a dancer to look at ease and confident on stage, a skill that is often the most difficult to master. Author: Paul Category: Belly dance workshopsBelly dance classes Publish Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:39:00 +0000 Read more...