Thread: Anyone familiar with these teachers in the Great Lakes area?

Has anyone taken class or workshop with Hiba of Canada? Her youtubes are wonderful!

I would suggest Sarah Mayne to be the best teacher in the Great Lakes area.

Sarah Mayne's Home Page

She's amazing, and if she wasn't so busy raising her two li'l diva's in training I'm sure she would be out teaching at workshops more often!

Originally Posted by vron

Has anyone taken class or workshop with Hiba of Canada? Her youtubes are wonderful!

Hiba was at the convention last year and was really wonderful. I took 2 or 3 classes with her during the weekend and learned a lot. She is a beautiful dancer as well as a competent teacher..g.:

both leila and donna are too fantastic for words.

Let me know how that convention is....that one really frustrates us dancers in Detroit. The Detroit area has the largest Middle Eastern population in the nation, the dancers/teachers here are really experienced with authentic raqs sharki - yet are never invited to teach at this convention.

It's odd to us that there is a Great Lakes convention that excludes the GL area where bellydance is most embraced.

We held Detroit Raqs bellydance convention in May and are doing it again this year - taught by working performers. As far as the GLC, I can tell you that Yasmina Gamal is fabulous.

Originally Posted by lana

Let me know how that convention is....that one really frustrates us dancers in Detroit. The Detroit area has the largest Middle Eastern population in the nation, the dancers/teachers here are really experienced with authentic raqs sharki - yet are never invited to teach at this convention.

It's odd to us that there is a Great Lakes convention that excludes the GL area where bellydance is most embraced.

We held Detroit Raqs bellydance convention in May and are doing it again this year - taught by working performers. As far as the GLC, I can tell you that Yasmina Gamal is fabulous.

I agree with you on that one Lana. There are very few dancers in America who actually have experience working with live bands for a ME audience like here in Detroit. Yet the local professional dancers have always been excluded from events like this. I think part of the reason is many of the local sponsors don't go to the clubs to watch real live belly dancing and the only dancers they are familar with are the ones who do the workshop circuit.

You know what they say, a prophet is never revered in his own country.

I think the idea would be to showcase teachers who are not readily available in the GL area. Students would have to drive long hours and spend many funds in gas, lodging and food just to be able to take from half of the instructor list in the convention.

Originally Posted by theesfield

I think the idea would be to showcase teachers who are not readily available in the GL area. Students would have to drive long hours and spend many funds in gas, lodging and food just to be able to take from half of the instructor list in the convention.

I think it's a great idea. And there are some good teachers on the list. However there are others who are not. Some of them got into the workshop circuit years ago when there were two types of dancers. The ones who became professional and the ones who did not. Those who did not got into the workshop circuit. Back then, before the GL Convention even came into being, the workshop circuit was not like it is now. You have to go back 20-30 years. The best dancers were professionals and worked full time dancing. They didn't have time to go to workshops and back then frankly the workshops were geared to housewives and beginning students. I stopped going to workshops after my 3rd year as a student because I could outdance the instructors. The pro dancers were deliberately excluded from being invited to these events.

Nowadays the trend is shifting and workshops and quality of instruction are better than ever. But some of the old prejudices still exist, in my area at least, as some of those original workshop instructors are still around. There is no way they would dream of asking a local professional dancer to participate in one of their workshops.

My only suggestion would be to invite outside vendors to the event. :/

Originally Posted by theesfield

I think the idea would be to showcase teachers who are not readily available in the GL area. Students would have to drive long hours and spend many funds in gas, lodging and food just to be able to take from half of the instructor list in the convention.

I would be surprised if that happens. Two years in a row I was asked to teach at this convention, and in neither case was I offered compensation for travel. If memory serves me right, I may have gotten a free room with a bunch of other girls, and payment for classes is extremely low. There is no airport or train station nearby, either.

The first year, I spent about four hours on possible topics for them. I'd do them up, and they'd refuse or say someone else had those topics so I kept having to go back to the drawing board. It was really time consuming, and I finally gave up after having spoken to another dancer who'd taught at this event and had wound up losing money.

I'm sure the sponsors mean well, but it just doesn't make sense for teachers to travel from afar with the package they are offering now.

I do know someone teaching a workshop in Nov. It's her first time. She submitted 5 workshops and they approved 4. Apparantly they aren't looking for choreography but improv, stage presence that type of thing. It's her first time so I hope it's not a bad experience for her as she is traveling from out of state.

Originally Posted by Adishakti

I would be surprised if that happens. Two years in a row I was asked to teach at this convention, and in neither case was I offered compensation for travel. If memory serves me right, I may have gotten a free room with a bunch of other girls, and payment for classes is extremely low. There is no airport or train station nearby, either.

The first year, I spent about four hours on possible topics for them. I'd do them up, and they'd refuse or say someone else had those topics so I kept having to go back to the drawing board. It was really time consuming, and I finally gave up after having spoken to another dancer who'd taught at this event and had wound up losing money.

I'm sure the sponsors mean well, but it just doesn't make sense for teachers to travel from afar with the package they are offering now.

You are correct....travel is not paid, and last year my roommate and I covered half the room fee. I'm not so high maintenance that I can't share a room but I draw the line at sharing a bed! (they'll put four in a room, 2 beds, you do the math!)

It's wonderful for the attendees to have a huge group of instructors to pick from, but it really limits the number of time slots each instructor gets. The rooms where you teach are workable but not conducive to large groups. Even if you max your room capacity you won't make anything approaching a normal workshop rate for teaching. You are allowed to vend your own merchandise (like instructional DVDs, not general mdse) so planning on having something to sell is a way to boost the bottom line.

On the positive side, it's a great party atmosphere and they feed you VERY well. Another benefit is that when you aren't teaching you can take other classes.

I was able to do it last year (it was a 4-ish hour drive from IL to MI, thank heavens for good company!) but if you had to fly and then rent a car it would probably be cost prohibitive for a lot of people.

~~Kimahri

Originally Posted by lana

Let me know how that convention is....that one really frustrates us dancers in Detroit. The Detroit area has the largest Middle Eastern population in the nation, the dancers/teachers here are really experienced with authentic raqs sharki - yet are never invited to teach at this convention.

It's odd to us that there is a Great Lakes convention that excludes the GL area where bellydance is most embraced.

We held Detroit Raqs bellydance convention in May and are doing it again this year - taught by working performers. As far as the GLC, I can tell you that Yasmina Gamal is fabulous.

Since the focus on these two events -- GLBC and Detroit Raqs -- is somewhat different in what you're looking at for instructors, I would think that there's room there for both events to be successful. You're not presenting from the same pool of instructors, yet both events are giving the attendees the opportunity to attend quality workshops. And since they are several months apart, you're not forcing your prospective pool of attendees to make a tough choice as to which they'd prefer to attend and spend their money on. I taught at Great Lakes last year and really enjoyed networking with other instructors, meeting a wide range of dancers, both pro and students, and generally having myself a heck of a good time. I was also at Detroit Raqs - not as an attendee, but a vendor habibi - and it appeared to me to be quite successful in that you had a broad scope of instructors, including instructors from outside the belly dance venue. If both events presented only the same local instructors, whatever their level of teaching expertise, eventually both events would suffer for lack of attendees (been there/done that/now I want something different).

Originally Posted by Kimahri

I'm not so high maintenance that I can't share a room but I draw the line at sharing a bed! http://www.bhuz.com/forum/images/smilies/grins.gif

Same here! ..g.:

It was upwards of a 9hr drive for me, so it just didn't make sense. It's a lot of time and effort to coming out in the minus, but it does sound like a fun event.

Originally Posted by rscramer

Aliyah Sahar
Belly Dance, Minneapolis, Mpls, St. Paul with Aliyah Sahar

Love Aliyah! I've taken a couple workshops from her. Excellent dancer and teacher. Aliyah and my teacher Kristina are Sirens of the Sahara and co-directors of Sisters of the Sahara.

I've seen Aliyah Sahar perform several times with the Sisters of the Sahara. I took her Shimmy-O-Rama workshop at the Northland Belly Dance Forum last winter, when she was 5 months pregnant! I enjoyed her class, and she gave us notes for it as well. I remember she told us about using humor sparingly with shimmies so we don't get annoying!

Originally Posted by Adishakti

There is no airport or train station nearby, either.

There isn't! How do folks get from the airport to the hotel then? Do they have public transportation?

In case anyone else is wondering, you have to take a shuttle from the airport to the Sheraton (call 888-643-5937, michiganflyer.com for more info). It's $15 if you schedule the shuttle in advance, or $20 otherwise. You then have to catch a ride from the Sheraton to the Best Western, which is about five (5) miles away. So not too bad.

Just wanted to say I had a great time at the convention! I highly reccomend if for anyone considering coming next year! Leila Gamal is one of the best instructors I've ever taken with,,,as well as Yasmina Amal (who I had not heard of before this event...but so glad I know her now..). The shows were fab as well. I made a lot of new friends and look forward to next year!

Thanks for the report!

I had a wonderful time at this event - my second year. It's always fun to get together with fellow bellydancers. The shows in the evening were fabulous, the food was wonderful, the workshops were informative - all in all, a great weekend! I'll be registering again next year!

I had a great time at the convention last weekend. I'm a "local" so I didn't stay at the hotel, and I wasn't able to attend the performances, but the classes were wonderful. Donna, your poi veil class was my favorite of the weekend!

Originally Posted by DeborahDances

I had a great time at the convention last weekend. I'm a "local" so I didn't stay at the hotel, and I wasn't able to attend the performances, but the classes were wonderful. Donna, your poi veil class was my favorite of the weekend!

Thank you! It's always fun for me to watch you all "get it" after a few tentative swings. Everyone was doing some awesome twirling! See you next year, I hope!

Yes, I was there this year for the first time and really enjoyed all the workshops and teachers, Hi Donna! and performances and meeting new friends....a great event, hope to go next year as well!

I attended the convention this year and it was AMAZING I had so much fun meeting people and the classes were great. I particularly adored Jawhara's seminar on Guedra, Zar and Derwish. Lectures and an academic approach to dances aren't something my instructor focuses on regularly so this was enlightening. Donna our poi and zills classes were of course so helpful and I can ensure you that your beautiful albeit late performance has inspired me to practice both much more often.

Donna you were amazing! How is Jawhara doing?

Thank you all for the wonderful comments. I thoroughly enjoyed this year's convention -- and I know Jawhara did, too - in spite of the sidetrip to the ER. She's actually doing great - doctor told her to work slowly on the broken arm (no cast!), but she should be relatively good to go in about 6 weeks. The nose is healing nicely, and she really didn't get that Rocky Raccoon black mask look she expected. Girl has one really hard head, thank the Lord!

We'd both love to come back next year, and I think that's in the works.

I finally got a chance to watch the show DVD - awesome!! Next year, everyone please wear shoes with rubber soles - no cute little kitten heel slides with plastic heels on that slippery tile floor. We all stay on our feet and the cute firemen can come to watch the show as guests rather than whisking someone away to the hospital.

I loved being the lunch time entertainment! (I really didn't think Sharifa was serious when she told me I was performing at lunch time - no choice there - get up and do your stuff she said!)

Would love to see one or two of you doing poi/veil next year in the show. Work on it for me! ..g.:

Originally Posted by genie

Yes, I was there this year for the first time and really enjoyed all the workshops and teachers, Hi Donna! and performances and meeting new friends....a great event, hope to go next year as well!

Hi Jean! It was really nice spending a bit of time with you, sorry it wasn't more. Next year, though! As soon as I get some break time, I'll be putting together a little package of hula goodies for you. Your performance was wonderful!

Thanks Donna! Glad all turned out well for Felicia. Hope she is good as new very soon! I enjoyed your workshops and am going to work on poi veil and veils fans ....probably when the weather is nice and I can get outside since I have a small house not conducive to swings things in the air!!

I would encourage folks to invest in the 2010 GLBD Convention. Sharifa and Yasmina put together an amazing event, with an array of teachers who offer something for everyone. It's my view that one never wastes time in a learning experience -- even if what you learn is what you don't like or a style that doesn't fit you. There are innumerable details/hours of work that go into sponsoring such an event, and S & Y and their posse are to be congratulated on this. I truly appreciated the lovely compliments on my teaching (thanks to Galatea and Zayna).
Among the teachers with whom I shared the 'teacher line-up': DonnaDiva, a very dear colleague and sister in dance, is among a few excellent instructors teaching sagat (zills/Turkish) and keeping that skill set on the radar of the m/e dance community. Leila Gamal is a mentor, friend and colleague, whose depth of understanding, keen ability to communicate, and a performance presentation not to be missed, is a 'must study with' for newer dancers in the community, and those looking to find a stronger connection to what this dance form is about. Finally, one of my 'unsung heroes' is Mary Weed (Zahra) of Ann Arbor, a wonderful and keenly knowledgeable dancer/educator, with great teaching skills and a body of knowledge about ethnic dance unmatched in this area. I'd like to publicly acknowledge the terrific support and team teaching she provided for one of my classes (due to my close encounter with hard/glossy ceramic tile :-0 at the Convention.) We made a pretty fierce 'teaching team', unrehearsed and pretty much completing ea. other's sentences. Sharifa & Yasmina, and their band of great ladies, deserve kudos for this event. Hope to see/meet many more of you in 2010! Blessings and Peace-- Jawhara

Jawhara - I'm so glad to hear you are doing well!

I'm so happy you and Donna will be back next year. I heard through the grape-vine that Leila Gamal will return next year as well!!!