Thread: New Vids of Me Dancing

These are from my first hafla. well the first hafla that I actually produced.
tell me what you guys think.
now keep in mind i'm an artist and i'm sensitive about my ****. lol. (quote form Erykah Badu)
No really tho, rip it apart. I'm trying to take my dancing to the next level.
Constructive criticism needed.

IgitsDownJack



here i am with my inermediate student Joan

IgitsDownJack

How do I open these? Cut and paste in browser?

i updated it.

click on the link. if that doesn't work go to IgitsDownJack and search for summer

Here's one:

http://igitsdownjack.com/flvideo/flv...utoStart=false

and here's the other:

http://igitsdownjack.com/flvideo/flv...utoStart=false

Hope it works.

Raks Girl:

Very cute!

Azeeza

thanks Azeeza that link shows it bigger. it's a new site for me.

You are gorgeous. And sassy. And that gold Noussa is perfect on you. Wow.

Your accents are very nice, crisp and pronounced but engagingly controlled. You seem very comfortable and happy onstage, that's a real strength.

The major area I'd suggest working on is your arms. Your upper arms tend to drop close to your body (often a reflection that strength is needed in the upper back & shoulder) and the bendy crick at the elbow breaks the line.

You have fabulously long arms, and if they were truly framing your body, or extending the lines of your body, with an occasional movement flowing out from your center to your fingertips, the effect would be magnificent.

Think about getting the upper arm away from your body, lifting the elbows, and keeping the line and energy moving from your center to your fingertips. Experiment with how you hold your arms when your body is in different poses, to either frame the movement or extend the line.

thank you Lauren. I've been working on arms for years now but it seems like I completely forgot them on that drum solo. I think you're right about the strength bit. I have little upper body strength. Maybe I need to do some push ups or something. Or more drilling with arms in various positions.

I've struggle with mine for years, too. Weightlifting helped me, and lots of down dog and plank in yoga! Still working on it though, it's partly awareness, so you're right drilling is good.

I really enjoyed the clips.

Wow that was SO energetic! Great job!

I have to second the first two commenter though, I would work on not letting your arms drop.

Other than that I dont really have anything else for you! Great Job!

I agree with the arms. I think they'd help your dance transition more, allowing for things to flow into each part nicely. I did like how your hip movements throughout it.

I liked the duet with your student, but I wished there had been more interaction. I really liked when she'd do a move and you'd watch, for instance.

I think you put out great energy in both clips. I think that's a great thing and probably the hardest thing to work on.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

You have fabulously long arms, and if they were truly framing your body, or extending the lines of your body, with an occasional movement flowing out from your center to your fingertips, the effect would be magnificent.

Tonya (as in Tonya & Atlantis) said the very same thing to me! I have long arms and at the time Tonya made that observation, I had just returned from a very long dancing hiatus. Not only that, but my arms were very thin -- I felt like an albatros(s?) or stick-arm girl if I let them get too far from me!

Deborah

Arms and hands are such a bugger! Lord knows I continue to try and beat mine into submission.

One thing I would add it that your left hand gets a little flippy from time to time - kind of like intermittent hellicopter hands, but only on one side. I think it stood out for me because I had the same problem for a looooooong time, and although I finally killed it off, it still tries to come back from time to time.

You have really improved so much since I saw you dance last (at the 2007 MBC). It's obvious you've been working really hard on your craft and it totally shows.

playing zills put some of this under control..hand twisting.
dont be shy, let your arms have "attitude".
let the wrist lead and lift.
you have a nice spirit!

You have such nice charisma on stage!

Hands have already been discussed so I´m focusing on a couple of other things.

In the drum solo I felt that you could have finished your moves more. A bit more of hanging in there and taking it a bit slower. Hmm...this is kind of hard to explain, but your energy was good, but a bit unfocused, so sometimes it looked as you where rushing it and not finishing all the moves.

In the duet I would have wished for a bit heavier and earthier groove since the music was shaabi. Shaabi is a difficult style to emulate and takes a lot of work since you have to use yor body weight and relax. I know there are very few shaabi experts out there, and I´m fortunate to being able to study with one on a weekly basis (Lena Helt), so I can be a bit nitpicky about it. ;)

Originally Posted by laura 2

Arms and hands are such a bugger! Lord knows I continue to try and beat mine into submission.

One thing I would add it that your left hand gets a little flippy from time to time - kind of like intermittent hellicopter hands, but only on one side. I think it stood out for me because I had the same problem for a looooooong time, and although I finally killed it off, it still tries to come back from time to time.

You have really improved so much since I saw you dance last (at the 2007 MBC). It's obvious you've been working really hard on your craft and it totally shows.

Thanks I have been working very hard since then. I'll have to look again for the hand.

Originally Posted by katja

You have such nice charisma on stage!

Hands have already been discussed so I´m focusing on a couple of other things.

In the drum solo I felt that you could have finished your moves more. A bit more of hanging in there and taking it a bit slower. Hmm...this is kind of hard to explain, but your energy was good, but a bit unfocused, so sometimes it looked as you where rushing it and not finishing all the moves.

In the duet I would have wished for a bit heavier and earthier groove since the music was shaabi. Shaabi is a difficult style to emulate and takes a lot of work since you have to use yor body weight and relax. I know there are very few shaabi experts out there, and I´m fortunate to being able to study with one on a weekly basis (Lena Helt), so I can be a bit nitpicky about it. ;)

I know exactly what you mean about finishing moves. I was told that a year ago in the notes from MBC but I didn't get it. This year at the Muhammad Shahin workshop I noticed how finished his moves were. I think most of us Westerners are way too busy in our dancing and that was what I was trying to avoid in the drum solo. But I totally forgot the power in finishing moves more fully.

For the duet, I strugged with the choreography because I was teaching it to beginners. It's difficult to teach beginners how to isolate and then immediately put it all together in an earthy shaabi way. But I do understand what you're talking about.

I wonder how others teach it. At Orit Maftsir's workshop she said that it's important to teach students from the first class to put the moves together in a natural way. But some of these students don't even seem to know where their butt is. I guess that's a whole nother thread tho.

Thank you for sharing!! I love watching people who look like they genuinly love what they do...it comes over in your dancing!!

REALLY elegant. You look SO relaxed and not contrived at all, and I was totally charmed by your expressions! Pure joy radiated out from you, which was absolutely lovely to watch! Strong technique, too. I didn't know you were such a great dancer!! :-D

I agree with working on arms framing your body more, with more intention and purpose. Your left hand and my right hand should get together and talk about how they "windmill" a little too often ;-) I subconsciously do floreos with my hands when I'm doing isolations (which I'm working hard to minimize! It's hard!). It's distracting away from what the audience should be paying attention to, what you want them to see. I swear my right hand sneaks off to jazz classes when I'm sleeping and when it gets back, it has its own attitude.

Hi there!

Oh! Wow! Let me say that you hit those accents in the drum piece really nice. I like that back pelvic tilt accent & the choo choo shimmy! You kept it "real" & it's the Egyptian feel which is what I really look for in some cabaret dancers. Aiwa. The others have commented on arms, so I won't add anything. I would also like to see more stretch & extend in the hips: I mean hip drop/lift in one plane shift it to another then another when you have those triple accents

Also, please let Joan know that I am so proud of her!! You both had good communication between one another. There's some "tension in her right arm", but for the show it was great & hopefuly she will do more!!


Take care!

Oh! btw, when are you goin' to have yourown website so we can link up???

Hi Tippy,

I'm so proud of Joan too. She just left a few weeks ago for MIT. She was so excited about the dance and I love that. She was my best student and I know I owe that to you.

Thanks for the critique. I'm working on extention in the hips and i'll tell ya they hurt right now from my newfound practice sessions. but i'm growing so it's good.

I'll have a website as soon as i can afford it so hopefull before the end of the year.