Confessions of an American Belly Dancer

The First Dancer's Intensive!

2012-02-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

www.dancersintensiveatlanta.blogspot.com

Yes, of course we have payment plans! But the rates are really pretty awesome if I must say so myself!

I am looking forward to hosting what I hope will be the first in a long line of intensive events. My hope is that this event will transform dancers into the artists they want to be by offering a place to work on the nuts and bolts of both dance/stagecraft.

We spend a great deal of time learning combinations and choreography but not much on the other components of our performance. I hope to take dancers and get them thinking like directors...

Studying Dance In Lebanon

2012-02-07T11:57:00.000-08:00

Exciting News!

I have been invited back in June to teach at the Amani Oriental Festival in Beirut, Lebanon!

Click on here to view my performance in Beirut!

Have you considered studying dance in the Middle East?! If so, contact me now!
mailto:autumn_amani@hotmail.com

Stay Tuned!
More Event And Travel Details To Come!

And yes, I know many have asked about going to Egypt. Hell, I'm ready to get back there just as soon as possible and I miss it everyday. Still, things are shaky and I am not prepared to take students into that situation though I might consider traveling on my own.

Dance friends in the area have alerted me that they are moving their activities to the Red Sea area..not neccessarily Sharm El-Sheik.

Curvy Girls Raq!

2012-01-26T12:02:00.001-08:00

Let me tell you why I love bellydancers...they let you know how they feel about you right away! At least here in the Atlanta area they certainly do...

Bellydance Show!

2012-01-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

February 18, 2012
7:00pm
$5 Entrance
Headliners: Jenny Nichols and Amani Jabril

Guest Performances by: Heleshia McCall, Tamara Rose Dudevoir & Sheri Morgan

Sheri

Lately, in the Atlanta area, I have been finding that it is incredibly difficult to find a restaurant or club gig. Why would I be looking, you might ask? Well, live performance offers something you just can't get in the studio...immediate audience reaction and the physicality of working through a live performance. It also happens to offer a pay check.

I've been happy to get the odd fill-in gig here and there, but it is not filling my dance card the way I would like it to. So...I decided...if nobody will give me a chance, I'll make my own. It is in that spirit, and with the help of my dear friend, Jenny Nichols, that we have created "Hafla!"

Heleshia

Hafla! will offer bi-monthly performance opportunities to professionals and students alike as well as an open dance floor for all to dance and enjoy.

I am hoping to offer a space not simply for fun and performance, but a space designated "safe" for experimentation and "open" for dancers of a variety of shapes, sizes, backgrounds and vision.

Tamara

I hope that you will join us for this and future events. We are looking to do our next one in April. If you and/or your students are interestedin dancing at future events, please contact me now:

E: amani@amanijabril.com

T: 404-550-4692

2012 Atlanta Area Classes

2012-01-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

Advanced Technique & Choreography

Mondays, 7:30pm-9:30pm ** New Session Begins Monday, February 6, 2012
Saturdays, 10:00am-11:30am ** New Session Begins Saturday, January 28, 2012

Hosted by Amani Jabril in Alpharetta, GA

Contact us now if you'd like to join this class! E: amani@amanijabril.com T: 404-550-4692

Authentic Egyptian Bellydance

Tuesdays 7:00pm-8:00pm
Hosted by Street Studio Dance & Fitness
Roswell, Georgia
http://www.streetdancestudio.org/

2012 Events with Amani

2012-01-24T12:24:00.000-08:00

Ok! So much for my last year's resolution to post more... Well, this year is defintely off to a better start, albeit belated! :)

Here's a rundown of the big events we have planned for 2012... These do not list my Atlanta area class...those are next up on the blog. check us out...we have some very different offering this year!

February 11& 12, 2012
“Egyptian” & “Baladi Taqsim” Workshops with Amani
Augusta, Georgia – Hosted by ShoShannah
http://www.hip2hipstudios.com/#!__events

February 18, 2012
"Bellydance Show"
Performances by Atlanta area professionals, students & including an open dance floor!
7:00pm Dinner / 7:30pm Show
$5 per person
@ Laura's NYC Pizza in Roswell, GA
Featuring: Headliners / Jenny Nichols & Amani Jabril with Student Performances / Sheri Morgan, Heleshia McCall & Tamara Rose-Dudevoir

February 19, 2012
Ladies Car Care Clinic w/ Meriwan Automative Care
@ Pera Dance Studio (parking lot)
FREE

March 9, 2012
Amani Performs in BDSS “Club Bellydance”
Atlanta, Georgia – Co-Hosted by Awalim

March 10, 2012
Amani Performs @ Eli's
Columbia, South Carolina
*Details TBA

April 15, 2012
Company Mezza and Amani Jabril present "Zaftig!"
7:30pm
Red Light Cafe
Atlanta, Georgia
*Details TBA
April 29
Class in Egyptian Technique” with Amani
Atlanta, Georgia – Hosted by Atlanta Fusion Bellydance

May 25-28, 2012
1st Dancer’s Intensive
Hosted by Amani Jabril
Featuring Yasmine (Charlotte), Kitiera (Seattle) & Amani
Atlanta, Georgia
http://dancersintensiveatlanta.blogspot.com/

June 9, 2012
“Raq’n The Cane” Workshop with Amani
Hosted by Jaina
Memphis, Tennessee

June 19-23, 2012
Amani Oriental Festival
Amani Jabril returns to teach!
Beirut, Lebanon
http://www.amaniorientalfestival.com/

October 19 & 20, 2012
Worshop with Amani Jabril
Kansas City, Missouri – Hosted by Siham Ali

Advanced Technique & Combinations Class

2011-01-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Begins Monday, January 10 and will run January 10, 17, 24 & 31, 2011.
7:30pm -9:30pm

Specialized attention in class... so, maximum 5 people will be accepted in class at a time.

I can open a wednesday night class if there is an interest for one!

MUST BE BOOKED FOR THIS CLASS BY JANUARY 7, 2011!

Email autumn_amani@hotmail.com for studio addy and for more information!

2 Hour Adavnced Tech & Combos Class
$80

MEOW! That's Hot!

2010-06-15T20:06:00.001-07:00

A Masterpiece Of Negative Publicity

2010-05-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

I ran across this comment the other day...

"Music critic Alex Ross believes the name classical music is a 'masterpiece of negative publicity, a tour de force of anti-hype'...When people hear "classical", they think "dead". The music is described in terms of its distance from the present, its resistance to the mass - what it is not."

Ross goes on to say, "You see magazines with listings for Popular Music in one section and for Classical Music in another, so that the latter becomes, by implication, Unpopular music."

While the book was talking about an instance where music was the genre in question, I thought that this statement directly paralleled attitudes in Belly Dance World about practicing and performing "traditional" dances, "Classical Egyptian", "Old School" and "folklore".

Of course the most obvious example of this would be the whole "Tribal vs Cabaret" debate where the styles have been juxtapositioned as polar opposites and even, at times, pitted against each other. These blogged out debates compare and contrast the supposedly divergent styles in terms of their motivation, costuming, body posture, audience engagement and the like.

At their worst, they promote ideas that suggest some rather dark and invidious notions like this thread I found:

"Aha! THERE it is. THAT's the difference. In tribal style, you're dancing for each other -- and the audience gets to feel like part of the tribe. The performer/audience dynamic is different: still a performance, but a more intimate, less formal one. (Another side effect is that the dancers are not working ONLY for the audience, so the audience doesn't get to be the omnipotent sultan on whom all depends. You can't say 'That one. Wash her and send her to my room'. if she's accompanied by four healthy sisters, all wearing spiked bracelets and some with swords on their heads.)

This comment teaches that Tribal is casual, friendly and offers an intimate, “family like” experience for the Tribal dancer. The dancer is not alone, and locates her “self” within the larger structure of the “tribe”. Tribal dancers, themselves, own the pleasure and power of their performance; it is not available for purchase or possession by the masculine voyeur.

Of course, I chose an example of, what I believe [hope] is a more extreme sentiment. If “Tribal” is casual, friendly, family-like, group oriented and in power and possession of their dance; then everything that is designated as not being Tribal is just that – it’s “not”.

In these cases, then, and by implication, dance other than "Tribal" is not casual, it is not friendly; it is solitary and individuated in its “self”. Worse, it also seems to imply that this dancer and her performance are weak and ineffectual and can be purchased and possessed by our masculine voyeur.

Too many times I've encountered attitudes from dancers, such that I "do" Egyptian and am, therefore, limited in my range and movement vocabulary. In other words, people seem to feel that there are only a handful of movements that are "authentic" to the style; you must perform those movements only in a fixed set of performance conventions. Otherwise, the "ethnic police" will jump out and condemn their nonesuch performance. But more on this subject later...

And yes, I realize that in following a Tribal example with an “Egyptian” example I have just taken part in the great hype… I get that, really I do. Still, those practitioners of the "traditional" dances, "Classical Egyptian", "Old School", "folklore" and anyone who includes the term “authentic” in any of the descriptions of their dance… yes, you heard me right… take part, not only in furthering the perceived divide between styles, but create an image of these, as Ross described, “dead”.

I'm just saying, we need to think before we speak...Check out this actually thread I found off an "Egyptian" teacher's website:

“Dancer X teaches strictly the Egyptian style of dance. Any other form of belly dance is simply not belly dance. I invite you to learn the real thing.”

What the hell!?
Again, I chose what I believe [hope] to be a more extreme example. This statement does not disguise itself as artfully as our previous example. It states very clearly the juxtaposition; “Egyptian is real and everything else is not”.

“It is virtually impossible for someone who has never taken a belly dance class and, so is considered to be a beginner, to achieve any kind of speed, strength or stamina associated with that labeled Intermediate or Advanced without first applying years of proper study and training of movement and music, as the movement applied to belly dance is so culturally different from any other dance movement yet so fundamentally simple that the significance of the dance is in the manner in which it is culturally interpreted and expressed.”

This is the very heart of the way Ross described the approach to marketing classical music.
“When people hear "classical", they think "dead". The music is described in terms of its distance from the present, its resistance to the mass - what it is not."

More importantly, I think, Dancer X just screwed herself out of new students and potential friendships within the larger scene of , what I like to call, "Belly Dance World". Let's also point out that, with this statement, gives "the otherside" fuel for the fire upon which they will burn all of those "Egyptian".

This site goes on, at length to describe their approach to "the Dance" and get more hardcore as they go on.

“Dancer X does not endorse, maintain, nor encourage its students to affiliate or assemble themselves in a troupe, as this would only undermine the blossoming growth of the individual performer and her personality as an Egyptian style belly dancer.”

In this case, the juxtapositioning with Tribal as the polar opposite seems appropriately placed and serves to reinforce those negative notions about what it means to perform as well as what kinds of people “do” a “Classical” style.

In this manner, those of us who self-identify as “Old School” or “Classical” Egyptian ignore the dynamic nature of culture and succeed only in excluding people from the dance.

Afterall, why would you willingly allow someone to put you in a straightjacket? And frankly, this teacher doesn't sound like a fun person I'd want to spend my hard earned leisure time and money with.

But you get people on all fronts who, in their effort to distinguish themselves "par excellence", do so in way that only succeeds in being divisive, small-minded and damaging to all around them.

Please...can we just get our heads out of our asses now?

Next Up!

2010-05-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

I will be teaching a mini-workshop right here in Georgia, this Saturday, May 22, 2010!

Yeeeeh haw!

Doors open 10:00-Doors close 2:00

CLASS "Dynamic Combos"
11:00 - 1:00 -with AMANI

I will teach a few of my favorite traveling combos, but I will also give you some take-away tools for generating ideas to create your own combos and choreography!

Hey! And there is going to be a bellydance flea market!

Georgia Heritage Center for the Arts
Mary Street
Clarkesville,Ga 30523

Doors open 10:00-Doors close 2:00

At the Door $30.00

Need info: Contact Alima bellydanceralima@yahoo.com

Yes! I am already thinking about Halloween!

2010-05-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween! It's just the best holiday ever!
Granted, I get to play dress-up on a pretty regular basis and that's great, but Halloween gives me that feeling of "you can do anything".

You can be as powerful, creative and magical as you dare yourself to be!

I also totally dig Halloween 'cause it's my birthday!

This year I'll be celebrating the big "35" and will be doing so by hosting a hafla and workshop!

Here's the scoop:

We will be having a Halloween themed hafla Friday, October 29, 2010...
The three instructors RAKSANNA (Ahlan Wa Sahlan Instructor), YASMINE (Bellydance Super Star) and KITIERA (Modrom Dance Collective) will perform.

http://amanisbirthdaybash.blogspot.com/
A little something for everyone, from Egyptian to American Cab to Fusion.

I'm also hoping to have fire performers!
If you dance with fire and think you'd like to perform...let me know autumn_amani@hotmail.com .
Performers will receive the weekend's workshop for free!

Anyhou...so RAKSANNA, Chicago, Illinois is a wonderful dancer and great resource for all things Egyptian. This lady is super energetic and is a frequent instructor and performer at the world renown Ahlan Wa Salan festival in Cairo, Egypt.
But I have to tell you, it has been her American pop pieces like "I Can See Clearly Now" and one of her latest "Walk This Way"... Check it out... VIDEO

YASMINE, Charlotte, North Carolina, she and I go back a long time! Ha haha, and she is gracious enough to still call me "friend".
It's really nice to have bellydance family like Yas that you can share a history with.
Well, since our days as baby bellydancers back in the Carolinas, Yasmine has come a long way!

Of course you all know her as one of the very first Bellydance SuperStars. Whoo hoo! Yasmine is an incredible teacher and a patient mentor - she now owns and operates her own studio (and has for a number of years) in Charlotte where she trains some of the sweetest dancers I've met in her unique style of bellydance and fusion.
Check them out in this wonderful drum solo choreography created by Yasmine... VIDEO

Lastly...but of course, not least(ly?) we will have KITIERA from the Bay Area, California with us. Like Yasmine, Kit and I also go back to the days of dancing in the Carolinas. Kitiera always impressed me with her very genuine approach. When she dances, you can tell that she is there in the moment with you and is intent on bringing you in to her story.

We reconnected this past year and I was very lucky to have an opportunity to sit in on a Modrom company rehearsal for their performance at Rakkasah.
The material presented was fresh, innovative and utterly unique. The rehearsal was well structured. She has an acute attention to detail and is an exacting, instructor.
Here is that performance... VIDEO

Personally, I am so pleased, but totally not surprised, that it turned out as well as it did!

So please be sure to put "THE BASH" on your calendars...We are going to have an amazing time, dancing and howling at the Halloween moon!

Join Us For A Private Wine & Cheese Reception With Mahmoud Reda

2010-05-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

MEOW! Level seating ticket holders will enjoy:

A Private Wine & Cheese Reception with Mahmoud Reda

Before the show...on the Main Stage

7:00pm, Saturday August 7, 2010

Get Your Tickets Now!

I'll Have The Fame And Fortune Please!

2009-10-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

Does anybody know a good bellydance agent?

But until that fateful day comes when our agent walks in our door and hands us the keys to the bellydance kingdom, here we are, and we do have to be our "everything" in this business.

So, how do we go about being your own web designer, booking agent, public relations specialist, banker, graphic designer and choreographer all rolled into one?

Is it too much for one person to do alone? Often I feel that it is.

How do you, as both an artist and business person:

· Find your workshop sponsors and your students?
· How do you effectively promote yourself with little or no cost?
· Has your dance business changed? If so, how?

And the one I really want to know...

· How do we measure success in "bellydance world"?

Leave me a comment!

Should I Be Concerned That My Backside Is Better Known Than My Face?

2009-09-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

"Belly Dance and Body Love"

by Curvy Angela from http://www.curvylife.com/

Amani as seen on the Curvy Life!

Thank you, Angela for featuring me and my curves on The Curvy Life!

Hey! Should I be concerned that my backside is better known than my face is?

Heheh! Here is oneof the PZI ads!

Also, here is my booty, proudly displayed on one of our fine Atlanta public transit vehicles!

Do you have any idea how long I had to follow that bus!?
Whew! Who knew Stardom would be so much work!?