Katerina Shereen

I am still considering whether I should go to Katerina Shereen’s workshop ? My private workshop with Katerina Shereen  was a  year ago.   After workshops with her I'm more addicted in oriental dance!  But this time, at this point I will admit that does not seem likely because of my tight teaching schedule.  I only kept this up until my last-minute decision. Click here for  the workshop’s  description below :

Yousry Sharif is back in Singapore in September 23^rd and 24^th, 2011. Workshops will be held in Claribels Raks Sharki Studio.  Yousry Sharif workshop is a must to me ! 

Price Of Suscess

Being home is luxury!  I’m home for my  laundry, repack, catch up on e-mails, go to class for rehearse and get ready for the next event.  It’s not as relaxing as I’d like, but there is something about it that helps me regroup. One of my best  friend told me she noticed  “the price of success” in me!  But to me I say “the price of success” strikes me as too high to pay. The energy, time, effort  and money! Most of the time I wake up with sore muscles and a feeling of being hungover without the alcohol. Needless to say, SUCCESS - I've a long long way to  go.... Some people dream of success while I wake up and work hard at it.

Wow! It's June! Time flies by! How can it be we are already into the month of June? Aha….I feel like I blinked and missed a few months. For past 2 months my life has rushed past, leaving me feeling buffeted. I want to throw the breaks on but I cant. Do I need an assistant? Someone that can help me to return calls and update websites, edit and upload videos and photos so that  I can focus on dance. I have to tell you something,  I am not prepare my own solo dance  well because I was just making stuff for the event most of the time.  I do have to admit to having some severe nerves about my upcoming show.  I've experienced my nervous jitters.  To be completely honest, I still get them and the mistake is not the end of the world.  Oh well, this too will pass through the experience,  I guess.  I hope. Beyond the roles of dancer or choreographer,  the stage management, costume and lighting design are also involve in planning.

For this coming June to August, I am gearing up  to start selling the Fantasy Oriental Night tickets. I feel a little more comfortable, a little more confident with each show I organise. Although  word of mouth is extremely valuable, but Serkan Tutar greatest fans is one of the need concrete reminders of upcoming shows. He deserve it and he  is  lovable simply because he is! Don't forget we also have a wonderful opportunities for exploring different kinds of dance, for experiencing intensive technical development and for networking. A lot of you have emailed me about the Serkan Tutar’s show and workshop.  Yay… I am  excited! So like I said it should be an interesting night of  belly dancing. 

Where Creatively Comes From ???

In just the last 2 weeks, one of my dance friend questioned me why I have so much money for workshop and costume? Can I be a creative person if I attend more workshop? Can you teach me how to be a creative dancer? (She believes her creativity doesn't come from within herself.) It was funny to get questioned about this? But her questions really boosted my spirits. We then spent an enjoyable hours for coffee talk of this topics. We start talking about things that money cannot buy, such as family, friends, love and happiness. 

What do I believe about my creativity and where it comes from? So, how do I explain that experience? There I go again. I told her I am here because art brought me here, inspiration, determination and refined craft and I came! Many of us wish we were more creative to make our own arts. The spark, the life, the essence. Can this be taught? I have come to believe that creatively is an experience, inspiration and mystical things we create come from hidden aspects of our inner well. The  creativity is the act of dredging the soul and bringing the beautiful secret aspects of our humanity to light. So do what intrigues you, explore what interest you, think mystery not mastery. In a sense, your creatively is like your blood. This is what I believe about my creativity. I believe it truly comes from inner beings. I do all the creative work, and I get all the credit.

Money – it comes and goes. I would say money is important but certainly not the most important thing in life. To me, attending workshop is self-nourishing. For the past 6 years, I’d never had a teacher to teach me how to be a creative choreographer. This was where I have lingered on, maybe knowingly or unknowingly. But this is not a reason that should keep me from enjoying what I love to do, and that realization came much, much later and it change my life. What do I have to learn what I learned the way I learned it, all by trial and error.

I read an The Artist’s Way I’m sure that most people have heard of the book, at least people in the creative arts field. A truly amazing system that creatively could be taught. I was touched by Julia Cameron’s personal story of how and why she started down the artist’s way. I encourage you to buy this book and read it,  it’s something you must give the time and focus it to deserves! Trust me, this book will work for anyone who wants to try anything creative! Learning to let ourselves create is like learning to walk, and before we walk, we begin by crawling, practice the baby step progress.  This is what I did and I finally feel comfortably with my own art. As this same to me, behind the scenes of a dance - that is always inspiration, hard work and discipline. The excitement of movement motivates my creativity and I found the greatest potential for expression through the unique elements of dance. To sump a word, creatively are like marathon training, and always trust your process, look beyond “result”.