This week I’ve been looking back on the last year of dance, and actually, I am very pleased with how my own dancing has developed.
My focus this year was grounding; presence; sensuality; expression (and of course, the eternal task of finding good uses for my exceptionally long and noodly arms).
And filming myself this week, I think I look like a different dancer than a year ago, in a good way.
What made this happen?
A few of the workshops I’ve taken this year have been especially transformative for my dance practice:
- Zara‘s truly inspirational online Tarab workshop early this year
- Ranya Renee’s baladi class in Manchester this summer
- The whole weekend I organised with Nisaa and Reda Henkesh this November – which has really helped me to clarify my values and priorities to myself, in a way that’s left me feeling motivated and inspired (and by the way, they are coming back to Manchester in 2025! 22-23 November ☺️)
And, doing the Bellydance Now international challenge this year has also been helpful, in giving me a set of goals and deadlines to meet, which have been like milestones through the year and forced me to keep working on projects for myself, even when there were a lot of other outside pressures.
I’m feeling much clearer, too, about what I want to do, what I enjoy, and what kind of dancer I want to be. I’m owning the fact that I’m not actually interested in being a “competition style” dancer, with all that entails (even though I’ve literally just said I’ve found a competition helpful 😂).
When I’ve allowed myself to feel less-than compared to dancers who prioritise the demands of the bellydance competition scene, or felt that I have to emulate that approach to dance if I want to be respected, it has only ever sapped my motivation, and made my dancing feel more tense and “in my head”.
I care about music, about emotion, about atmosphere. About creating a moment, drawing the audience into it, facilitating some kind of visceral yet also spiritual experience. I value cultural connections, and the deep, rich web of meanings this dance and music has in its own context that makes it so much more than just “movement vocabulary”.
For me dance is so closely intertwined with music that they are like two sides of the same coin. And both dance and music are physical, embodied experiences; profound and intense and often delightful – not just something abstract to analyse. Technique is essential, but it’s just a beginning; the interesting bits come from deep inside.
That’s the approach that makes me excited to keep going, and excited for what comes next.
(And if you do see me in any competitions, at this point I think I can honestly say I’m there purely to do something that satisfies ME, based on my own priorities and values, not to win approval from anyone whose approach to dance isn’t aligned with what matters to me!)
Bellydance by Rachael 