Back

Review

Artemis of Germany Workshop

(June 7, 2014)

I don't travel up island as often as I'd like to support belly dance events produced by members of our dance community outside of Victoria.  However, with plenty of notice I was able to register and block my calendar for this workshop in Naniamo hosted by Luna Stephanson.

I had never heard of Artemis of Germany so I took the time to watch some of her videos and familiarize myself with her style in preparation for the workshop.

We spent our three hours learning a choreography in the beledi style to “Al Halwo Dah” an urban Egyptian love song that means “The Beautiful Boy.”  

Artemis was very personable and friendly.  At times, language was a barrier but with a little patience on our part it wasn't hard to understand what Artemis was trying to convey.  She made sure to demonstrate movements and combinations several times over with her explanations in order to make things as clear as possible.

I liked the way that she explained her choices in the choreography right down to use of stage space.

The choreography itself was really fun and simple but with a judicious use of layering, timing and direction changes to make it challenging to learn and interesting to watch.  I liked it so much I am planning on performing it as a solo at Greek Fest in August.

It's always nice to discover wonderful dancers who are not the “big” stars on the international performing/teaching circuit.  There is such a wealth of experience and personality amongst dancers who aren't so well known outside of their own immediate dance community.  I really liked Artemis.  I found her to be a good representative of the relaxed, earthy yet elegant, Egyptian style.  I would definitely take another workshop with her.

Bobbie

July 30th, 2014