Summer of 2012 – Festivals & Personal Goals

The June student show has passed and the summer festivals are in full swing so I haven’t had much chance to slow down in the dancing.  Is all this dancing good? The simple answer is yes.  After seeing my students perform and only dancing in one song to encourage my shy students to dance I yearn to perform myself.  I’m not really an attention seeker but I love dance.  I love performing and sharing the art of dance.  Luckily the summer is here and there are lots of festivals that provide me the opportunity to dance.  The popular dance right now is Bollywood.  This dance is all inclusive, fun, flirty and sassy.  Although some of the songs can be sexually charged in language (when parts are song in English) it seems to be digestable for most audiences.  However, don’t count belly dancing out there are still places around town to enjoy a great belly dance show; like Topkapi on Preston or 73 North on Sparks during the weekends.  I recently enjoyed performing at 73 North to a mix ground.  Of there is always the few that avert their eyes but that’s more to avoid me asking them up to stand up and dance.  What I love though is getting people up to dance to just dance or teach them a few moves.  Of course those that don’t want to stand up are taught that they can at least do a little shoulder work while they sit.

So with all the festivals keeping me busy where does this leave me for my personal goals. I have a couple of weddings to perform at this year which requires preparation of music as well as choreographies to create for my fall/winter classes.  Then there is the biggest challenge and goal for myself this year and that is the Queen of the Nile competition in November in Montreal.  Am I nervous?  Yes because I’ve never been in a dance competition before but I’m also excited because I want to have this experience.  It’s good to change and challenge oneself in your passions.  There is so much dance left to be explored and 2012 is definitely for of dance.  Hope to see you at the festivals or somewhere dancing.