Beautiful Books .. Whatchu readin'?

I love to read. I'm a multi-book-reader. I like to mix and mingle all the input in my mind.

Over time my favorite book topics have gradually shifted from the realms of fantasy and fiction to dance geekery and all things anatomy/alignment. Books are filling our home. I am happily addicted. :)

Here is a list of my current favorite dance/alignment-enhancement reads. What are yours?

Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance - Eric Franklin

 

This book is a must-read for dancers in all genres. It goes from technique enhancement exercises to imagery for improvisation and choreography to helpful tips for performance and natural embodiment of movement. Also check out this interview in Dance Magazine with Eric Franklin on the use of imagery in dance training.

Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance - Eric Franklin

Anatomy, Dance Technique and Injury Prevention - Justin Howse & Moira McCormack

 

A deliciously information-dense book with sections on anatomy and physiology (woohoo!), injuries (pathology, causes and complications, prevention and treatment), specific dance-related injuries (most common ones), strengthening exercises (in the form of picture sequences and text), and technical faults and anatomical variations (plus tips on how to spot and tackle them as a dancer/dance instructor). Based on ballet but very useful for any dance training. Check out this book review by Ballet News.

Anatomy, Dance Technique and Injury Prevention

Move your DNA - Katy Bowman

If you have a body, this book is for you. A biomechanist's take on health through movement, not just for dance but for life. Especially for those who are in search of daily ways to improve alignment. You can find Move your DNA as paperback, e-book or as audio-version (in case you want to move while 'reading' it, which you just might) on the Restorative Exercise website. Be sure to also check out the Alignment Snacks!

Move your DNA - Katy Bowman

Happy reading!
K.

www.khalidadance.com
www.gumroad.com/khalida
www.khalidashop.com

April - Month of Zill (it rhymes!)

Hello all,

Inspired by Ashley Dance's 'dance all June' event and Andalee BellyDance's '90-day bellydance challenge' on FB I am proposing a Zill/Sagat practice challenge for April - 30 days of honing the zills skills.

Zills - the Stash

For me personally the goal will be to practice at least 10 minutes of zilling each day this month, but for anyone who wants to join it can be more or less as well - As long as there is zilling/sagat practise of any kind involved :)

Theoretical practice (as seen in week 9 of BDEssentials online)

I've created a special open Zill challenge for April Event page on FB to make it all a bit more interactive; to share tips, advice and/or cheer each other on. Check it out if you'd like to join in!

DO IT! (you know you want to)

Join the zill practice revolution!

For the at-home-practicers: I am offering a special 10% discount on week 7-8-9 of the Bellydance Essentials Online series (the classes with zills at the end) throughout the month of April.  Just punch in the code 'ZILLS' in the coupon code field(s) after selecting any (or all 3) of these class(es) of choice and Bob will be your uncle :) To the online classes!

K in ur living room - 2D!: www.gumroad.com/khalida

For the theory/reading lovers - A few of my favorite articles on zills:

• An introduction to playing zills by Shira: http://www.shira.net/advice/learning/zills-intro.htm
• On zills vs Sagat by Gilded Serpent: http://www.gildedserpent.com/cms/2011/04/25/yasmini-zills-sagat-difference/#axzz3W4jvJ3ql
• Zill patterns by Middleeasterndance.net: http://www.middleeasterndance.net/Music/Zills/ZillPatern.html
• More zill patterns by shimmygoddess: http://www.shimmygoddess.com/zills.htm

For the zill-less or zill/sagat fiends - where to get good ones:

• Saroyan Cymbals - Awesome quality zills: http://www.saroyancymbals.com
• Tuqoise International - Equally awesome quality zills: http://www.turquoiseintl.com
• 'Happy Zills' - Wooden zills (inspired by Bozenka's ME Dance Lab!) : http://magus-obeiro.com

n.b.: You can get these 3 brands from Shaila(based in Germany)'s online store as well

And last but not least, for the youtube aficionados - A few of my favorite zills/sagat videos:

Sophie Armoza of Israel/Ukraine:

Shabnam dance company of USA:

Nejla Ates of Turkey:

Tulay Karaca of Turkey:

 

And of course: the lovely Naima Akef of Egypt:

Zill on!

Zill it.

www.khalidadance.com
www.gumroad.com/khalida
www.khalidashop.com

February and March - IBDF and SBTS - Many pictures!

Hello all,

I will be 'time-warping' this post back to Feb-March, so all is chrono-logical again in blog land.

The past few months have been dance-filled, and I'd like to take a moment to finally virtually thank all of the fabulous dancers I got to see and connect with. This spring has been colorful and inspiring!

Springtime!

February was preparation time for Yamila(one of my very first teachers!)'s yearly International Bellydance Festival in Heerlen, NL - and I had the honor to kick off the event by teaching a Fan Veil technique workshop in the morning on Saturday.

www.bellydancefestival.nl

Big props (HA!) to all the participants for dancing with such gusto in the early morning hours :)

The Fan Veil ladies of Heerlen, NL

FV Mayhem!

In the evening I got to enjoy fabulous performances by dancers from all over the Benelux in the Foyer, and I debuted a brand new 'spring' choreo there as well. A sneak preview:

This dance was created in preparation of one of the most exciting (to me!) events this year: I'll be performing at the 'Dansfeest' @Rusthuis Toermalien in Genk, BE on April 23rd, in honor of my 'bomma', who will be 92 years young this year :) Go, bomma! <3

Souvenirs of a lovely dance-filled weekend in Heerlen, NL

1st of March (one day later!) I had the honour to be part of the jury-team alongside Amirah of Belgium and Amara Ates of NL at the IDO Benelux Bellydance Championships at the same theatre in Heerlen, NL. 

A jury-mug! :)

I saw some truly breathtaking performances, to beautiful music, and was super pleased to see such a variety of styles, originality and personality on stage. A huge congrats to all participants!

Jury-work: The aftermath

Check out the videos and pictures of this year's participants here: http://www.bellydancechampionships.nl/fotos-en-videos.html

The rest of March was filled with more good (dance) times in the UK - where I got to share 2(!) editions of Chloe Dent's fabulous Shimmy By the Sea event in Battle, together with the equally fabulous Queenie Dance of Belgium.

Road trippin' with miss Q - A multi-award winning travel companion <3

I have entirely forgotten to take enough pictures of the event(s), so I'm linking to miss Q's blog in hopes for a double report later on :) 

What I did take pictures of:

Crossing over to the UK via the Channel tunnel

The castle of Battle, UK

Chloe's stickbag-of-Wonder (on arrival at the first SBTS weekend)

The eclipse! (spotted on our way to the second SBTS weekend)

Our breakfast :) (Belgian-German breakfast of Champions!)

The gorgeous view at Crowhurst Park, where the events took place

And, of course, the workshops!

#SBTS Week 1:

Saidi Ninjas!

Saidi WS - And also sticks

The veil ladies of SBTS week 1

Much mystery.

Winged divas!

  #SBTS Week 2:

Veil smashing!

Saidi badassness

Wing Choreo WS

All in all I had a blast. Many blasts were had.

Veil Hulk Smash - Picture courtesy of miss Aimee Louise Taberer

A huge thank you to Chloe, the SBTS team, my amazing co-teachers and of course all the fantastic (and brave!) participants of both weekends. Next year's SBTS will be the fifth anniversary already, so be sure to check it out!

On to the next adventure(s)!

xx Khalida
www.khalidadance.com

Happy New Year! Resolutions for 2015

Happy 2015 to you all!

What are your dance/life/everything resolutions for the coming year?

For me it will be: To breathe more deeply, to dance completely, to try and live the moment as fully as possible at all times.

In other words, to do more of this:

Wishing you all lots of love, kindness, good health and many happy dances for the New Year!

*Favorite Dance articles for January*

On making (dance) resolutions and sticking to them:

By Princess Farhana: http://princessraqs.blogspot.de/2014/12/setting-dance-goals-for-new-year.html
By Sheri Leblanc: http://reflectionsinverse.blogspot.de/2014/12/smart-goal-setting-for-dance-and-life.html 
By James Clear: http://jamesclear.com/professionals-and-amateurs?__vid=ded530204641013203cb22000b2a88d7 

On getting back into practice:
By Princess Farhana: http://princessraqs.blogspot.de/2015/01/back-in-saddle-again-returning-to-dance.html

On breathing deeply:

By Monika Volkmar http://danceproject.ca/is-holding-your-breath-while-you-dance-really-so-bad/#.VKVWRXvRuUl

On practicing kindness and gratitude:

By David Mochel: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-mochel/want-to-be-happy-be-kind-_b_6204736.html?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000033
By Sheri Leblanc: http://reflectionsinverse.blogspot.be/2014/12/kindness-weakness-or-strength.html

Enjoy! And hope to 'see' you somewhere in the New Year!

Yo.

xx K.
www.khalidadance.com

PS: In case your resolutions happen to include 'practice more BD' :) - With voucher code 'NEWYOU' you'll get 15% discount on all BellyDance Essentials online classes and streaming DVDs until 31st of January 2015. See www.khalidadance.com/online-classes or go directly to http://www.gumroad.com/khalida to activate your classes of choice. Let's dance!

www.khalidadance.com/online-classes