Ford workshops with Sam riggs

Fosse-lized! (Long skirts will just get in your way, so please wear form-fitting pants or shorts).
Let us tip our stylish bowler hats to Bob Fosse, jazz dance choreographer extraordinaire! Samantha has brought the stylized, cynical sexuality of Fosse to Bellydance and “Fosse-lized” some fusion combos for you to learn. These combos are dark, satirical and full of attitude and emotive body language. Besides his distinctive dance style (which included the use of inward knees, rounded shoulders and body isolations), Fosse also utilized the idea of subtext (unspoken thoughts and motives – the content underneath the dialogue) and gave his dancers something to think about during their numbers. Samantha will facilitate the incorporation of subtext into dance to help develop better acting technique on stage, bringing an awareness of pushing an intent just beneath the surface to create more intensity. Fosse believed that The time to sing is when your emotional level is too high to just speak anymore, and the time to dance is when your emotions are just too strong to only sing about how you feel. Amen.
Skill level: Intermediate/advance or athletic & fast learner!

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‘Pirate bellydance’ (props required)
That’s not much of an incentive for me to fight fair, now is it?
Pirate Bellydance is the culmination of Samantha’s experience with tribal fusion, stage combat, Bollywood and Bhangra, African fusion, comedy theatre and tall ship sailing… plus a little bit of madness… or brilliance (it’s remarkable how often those two traits coincide). Imagine the dynamic action of shipboard sword fights, the physicality of Bhangra and African dance, and the tongue-in-cheek humor of drunken Bollywood or Pirate movie comedy scenes and you may begin to scratch the surface of the spirit of Pirate Bellydance. This workshop will cover the basics of stage combat for dancers, including footwork, balance, swordplay and hand-to-hand. The emphasis will be on drunken brawling. Learn to look like you just smacked your dance partner in the face with a beer mug! Make it appear to the audience that you just dragged her/him across the floor by her/his hair! Learn how to do simple sword work that looks really flashy! Crotch kicks and nipple tweaks are included. Please bring a straight sword of some kind (rapier, fencing foil, epee, longsword, etc. – dance scimitars will not work) or a dance cane or wooden dowel (it should be something you can wield one-handed so claymores are right out unless you are SUPER strong). Also bring a plastic water bottle for hand-to-hand props work and any knee, ankle, wrist, elbow, hand or foot support/pads you might need for lunging and holding a sword for a couple of hours (leather gloves can be helpful). Also please bring a sense of humour.
Skill level: OPEN