Whew! The "Fall for Me Habibi" 2007 weekend is over! Yeah! & Ugh, already? It's alot of work to host a workshop, a Hafla, and a showcase, but it was fun!
The weekend started off on Friday in the mill with, "1001 Pillow Hafla". My students and their friends and family joined us for an evening of performances, both prepared and not prepared. My guests were unaware that they too would have to dance! But everyone danced, even the men and the handicapped! We had a blast! I especially want to mention my students, Nabaal & Musherrah! Nabaal has been involved with MED on and off for 3 years. She had never performed before. She did a beautiful beledi dance to a Fatme Serhan song. You wouldn't think that she was nervous. She graced the stage like she had done it a million times before! Nabaal & her husband, Lou, were also very much involved with the organizational part of the weekend and were saints! I couldn't have done it with out you! Thanks a million!!
Musherrah has been taking lessons from me for 5 months. She danced to a hip-hop song that she choreographed herself. I was very impressed! It is rare that a dancer finds her own voice, her own style so quickly. Musherrah has and she is beautiful! Thank you for being so dedicated!
On Saturday, Mahsati arrived in the Mill to teach us all how to layer. It may sound simple, but we soon found out that shimmies and layering is more than what it seems to be. For the next 3 hours we shimmied various shimmies, walked, leveled changed, chest lifted, and did everything under the sun imaginable or not imaginable. The participants were a wide range of levels, one student had just taken his first lesson earlier that day; another has been dancing for 20+ yrs. Mahsati managed to not overwhelm the beginners, yet she worked and impressed the most experienced dancers. It's rare that a teacher can manage such a wide variety of people, but Mahsati did without batting an eye. I will definitely be asking Mahsati to come back for another workshop, so watch out and keep your calendars open!
Mahsati also did a suprise performance in the Hafla on Friday night, so we were all excited to see her dance again the following night!
Special thanks to:
Maria & Lou Donofrio for support, food, and photos, Dianne Chidester for support, participation, and her hard work, Mark for the photos, Mahsati for the love and the workshop & performance, Stuart for his courage, Alima for her love & support, and ALL others for participating in the workshop and Hafla!
Stay tuned, part 2 to come...................................