Carnival
This sounded interesting- I’d never heard of a blog Carnival before.
This is a Dance-specific Carnival. It sounded like a big dance-bloggers’ online get-together. Anyway, here goes...


What are your dance-related goals for 2007?

Dance Goals- that sounds horribly like New Year’s Resolutions (of which, in my 42 years, I’ve only ever managed to keep one, and it was a really easy one to keep). And these are not Resolutions as such, I’m not going to beat myself up if it gets to December 2007 and there are boxes that I haven’t been able to tick.

Be that as it may, I do appear to have got quite a few dance goals, when I come to think about it:


Technique and personal dance growth

Having seen the DVD of my performance at Fantasia earlier this year, I decided I really needed to improve my Footwork. So that’s an ongoing thing.

I also want to work on developing my shimmy- I watch dancers like Dandesh and Randa and Dina, and they have such a lovely relaxed loose easy shimmy that gets layered on top of pretty much anything. I’d love to get that, so that’s the other technique-y thing I’m working on.

I guess that means really I need to make more time for myself to practise. I was just talking with Shafeek yesterday about how, when you teach, you don’t really stretch yourself. I just decided I need to stretch myself more.


Dance Creation

I will be creating a piece of choreography just for me, not my students, not for class, for me. I have been asked to dance at a big show, which will be pretty high profile, and I can’t coast on this one in quite the same way I maybe could for other less-formal performances! I will be sharing a stage with Aida Noor, Tito and Lubna Eman. I don’t want to be showing myself up.

Of course I need to be thinking now about what I want to do. I’m thinking Baladi, possibly Shaabi, maybe even Veil. I can’t do Stick (not with Tito in the show!).

Of course, once I’ve used it a few times for me, then I can use it for teaching. But we’ll see how I get on before I start thinking about that…


Teaching- the dreaded Paperwork

I know this sounds like a boring kind of Goal, but I really would like to improve my Paperwork for my Adult Ed classes. It’s something I’m always being hauled up for. I used to be OK with it, but that was when a) the paperwork was a lot simpler and b) My teaching was a lot more basic. The kind of paperwork they want these days is difficult to formulate. They basically want evidence on paper that the people I’m teaching are improving, that they’re actually learning anything. This is almost impossible with such an ephemeral thing as Dance. Short of taking a video of each class, how can I prove that there is improvement?

I’m not sure what to do to satisfy The Powers That Be... Every suggestion my Department Heads have ever come up with (it always comes down to checklists, by name of Learner, by move, by learning goal) are totally impractical. I teach too much material to be able to draw up a comprehensive list of what I do teach, and there are often learning outcomes which are unexpected. Also, I teach in an organic way, building on moves and techniques over a period of weeks, months, so the development is gradual, particularly with the Intermediates. Beginners who are starting from nothing are easy to assess. Intermediates are more complex and have a much wider range of different learning expectations.


Teaching- Taking a break

I may take one term’s break from teaching at Guildford, in the Autumn. This is pragmatic- I’d have to take two weeks off, right at the start of the term, for IBC and (I’m hoping) for the Dance Holiday in Spain. I can’t get a sub in (because none of the teachers I’d trust would teach for such low pay), so I’d rather give myself a term’s break than have to walk away from those two opportunities.


Performing

I don’t seem to have many performance opportunities lined up. There’s Jewel of Yorkshire and the Littlehampton weekend (one straight after the other- dammit!) in March, but at the moment that’s all I’ve got.

I can’t see me doing Planet Egypt until the Autumn, because Anne’s got it pretty much all booked up, through til August. I’ll go as audience, when I can, before then.

I would like to set up a Haflah, but I’m not sure that I have the oomph for it. I realise that sounds a bit defeatist, but I’m being realistic. I have a day job, and I’ll be back to teaching three nights a week next term. I don't know that I want to devote so much of my spare time to it. Organising a haflah is a big undertaking to start from scratch, and I don’t know what help I could get from others. (And I’m also enough of a Control Freak not to want anyone to take this over or mess it up- I’d know how I want things done)

The other performances that I might work towards are the platforms at Fantasia &/or IBC


Events I’m going to attend

I posted about this not long ago, but for the sake of completeness- these are the definite events I will be attending, there are a couple more that are just rumours for now and I’ll decide once there are details available:

March (bumper month)- Jewel of Yorkshire (teaching & performing, and possibly taking a workshop, though I’m not sure I can fit it into the weekend when I bear in mind my own teaching commitments. Looking forward to partying with Ava, Tito, Shafeek, and all the other fab teachers who will be there
- Egyptian Moonlight (performing and taking a couple of workshops, probably with Aida & maybe Tito, not sure about Lubna)
- Fantasia (I’ll probably be taking another Aida workshop and maybe a couple of Yasmina’s. Normally, I’ve already booked my tickets by now, but because of IBC, I’m a bit skint and it’s going to have to wait a little while. So I may not get my first choices

September - International Bellydance Congress. I am *so* looking forward to this- it’s going to be amazing!

October - my Dance Holiday. I hope this will be taking place. It depends on how Dance Holidays decide they want to run things.
- Fantasia- Athough I’m not sure who the star teacher(s) would be, the chances are that it would be someone I’m interested in, and even if it isn’t, I wouldn’t miss Fantasia anyway.