Workshop Review
“Turkish Oriental and Turkish Romany Workshop”
With Artemis Mourat
Written By Angela Belle Shikany
Posted on December 17, 2005
Contents, Materials, Images © 2005 © Jemina Kathaleen Shikany
The weekend of August 6, 2005 Jemina, Ana Al Ananaya and I all
had a wonderful belly dance road trip.
We spent hours at Dahlal International’s warehouse in
St. Louis, MO trying things on, browsing, talking with people, and generally
having a blast. We were pleased to see Andrea’s friendly face and really
hated to leave.
The drive to Springfield, IL was so easy – we scouted
out the location of the workshop when we got there (Jemina, as usual, was
totally organized with door to door maps and directions) and ate the yummy
Middle Eastern Buffet at the Holy Land Diner.
They
Hoogland Center for the Arts is a nice venue for a workshop. There was enough
room for the 70 or so dancers that attended and the stage was good. Elevated
but not too high it gave maximum visibility but with a sense of intimacy and
proximity. Karida and the Zahava troupe had painted a nice backdrop evoking
a Middle Eastern Souk. Parking was close and free.
Artemis Mourat taught her “Turkish Oriental and Turkish
Romany Workshop” and supplied a handout explaining Rhythm and Zil patterns
in Turkish and Romany Karsilama, contrasting feature of a Turkish Oriental
show and Turkish Romany Dance. This great four-page handout included steps
and gestures as well. No need to take notes.
Artemis fulfilled all the positive hopes I had for this workshop.
She is so knowledgeable about many types of belly dance and all the aspects
of the dance as teacher performer and dance ethnologist I think anyone would
benefit from attending her workshops. On a personal level her accessibility,
openness, and intelligence made her a pleasure to visit with as well as learn
from.
The evening show was made worth while by Artemis’ two
high-energy performances: Turkish Orientale and Turkish Romany. That alone
was worth going for. It was interesting to see some other teachers and dancers
new to me. Karida’s troupe danced over and over again it gave the show
a student recital feel I found a little boring. I would’ve liked to
have seen a wider variety of area dancers. Dancers I wouldn’t get a
chance to see in Sedalia.
There were enjoyable performances. I particularly enjoyed Diane
of Simone’s Seventh Veil in one of the best performances I’ve
seen her do.
We
ate dinner before the show at the Holy Land Diner – delicious! After
the show we went back to the hotel and played makeup and agreed it had been
a great trip. We will see Artemis again!
