Forgive me if this gets a little weird and disjointed, it’s hard to write a blog post with your brain leaking out your ears!
Since Sunday morning I’ve been studying with some of the top teachers in the realm of fusion belly dance. So far I’ve had classes with Kami Liddle, The Lady Fred, Ariellah, Jill Parker, and Sharon Kihara. Yet to come, I have Sera Solstice and April Rose, plus one more class with Fred. I’ve been dancing and learning and taking notes and stretching my body and brain to their limits.
The Massive feels like a really unique experience. Like an intensive, you’re in it for the long haul, with a set course load and a set group of fellow students. But like a festival, you have a variety of teachers. Vending and performances are minimal… there was a casual hafla with vendors and open dancing to live music Saturday night, a stage show featuring some students on Monday night, and tomorrow is another stage show with the teachers and what I’m guessing from the list are most or all of the students in the Professional track.
The focus is really on learning and growing. I’m in the Intermediate/Advanced track, which is the lowest level (no beginner classes here, this event is for dancers who have covered the basics and are ready to move beyond). The material has been challenging, but I don’t feel like I’m in over my head. I do wish I had put more work into conditioning myself before I got here, but I haven’t died yet… in fact, I haven’t even suffered a major injury.
I feel like I’m learning more about myself as a dancer… areas that I need work, areas where I’m strong, ideas that resonate with me and ideas that I can discard.
I’ll have more thoughts next week, once I’ve finished my classes, slept a lot and hopefully recovered a bit, but for now I’m glad I’m having this experience.