The Lavish Project Continued

The Lavish Project - A Creative Collective

Check out my latest article on Bellydance in Toronto!

Growing in a Lavish Way!

So as I recently reported, I took part in The Lavish Project Gala Show. While I am not sure it was one of my stronger performances (I don't think I was fully focused before I went on stage) I still feel I did pretty well - video to come!!

As well as performing, I took a full Saturday of workshops - the morning with Samantha Emmanuel and the afternoon with Heather Stants. I was beyond nervous as I am still a baby tribal belly, but I was determined to give it a shot!

The workshops were multi-level, so fortunately I was able to keep up with most of what was going on. Aside from a few moves that were totally new to me, I think I handled myself rather well!

The morning with Sam focused on intention and how to communicate a feeling during a performance. We warmed up with a series of theatre exercises; moving around the room while expressing various feelings. They ranged from being at the beach to being late for an appointment to being a totally bratty three-year-old - so much fun! Then after learning a series of combinations, we broke into smaller groups to create our own mini choreographies. It was fun to work with dancers I don't normally get to work with, including finally meeting a few ladies I only have known from Facebook (Sahra again, it was a pleasure to finally meet you and see your awesome flutters, and Briar, your Phantom of the Opera solo was brilliant!).

Then each group was given an intention and had to express that through the same short combos we had created. I was thrilled our group got the three-year-old - we slammed fists into the floor and stomped thorough our combination in full pout mode - I can't tell you how much fun that was! The other groups had the beach holiday and being late - amazing to see how different a dance is when you put a strong intention in place!

What was particularly exciting for me was Sam's discussion with us of finding a word, intention or emotion to focus on when we do a performance. This is something new I am exploring and was thrilled to hear that this was a technique she used too!

Heather Stants is yoga-based, so we spent the first hour of the afternoon working through a series of poses. Many I already knew, but I am so not a yoga person so it was indeed a challenge holding and even just getting into positions Heather seemed to flow into so naturally. The combinations and steps she worked on with us were simple enough for me to follow and she was stressing the importance of how we move, not just moving. That may seem a odd comment but there really is a distinct difference between going through the motions and feeling them flow through your body.

She directed us on working with shapes and how we can dance a shape - again, may sound a bit different but it was a real eye-opener! She encouraged us to explore, be ourselves and really get into feeling what different shapes felt like in our bodies. It was a great compliment to much of what Audra talked to us about during the Basic Black Intensive and why certain shapes appeal to us. It's so awesome to learn how all these different forms and ideas come together to make a dance!

The show in the evening was fantastic! Several of the workshop participants did pieces and the range of styles and music was just brilliant! No two performances were even remotely similar so it was an amazing display of fusion and tribal styles from dancers across North America, both troupes and soloists.

The second act with Audra, Sam and the Heathers was a delight to watch. Seeing four very talented and unique ladies come together to create one masterpiece was so exciting to see. They moved seamlessly and I actually think I saw Audra smile on stage (something she admits to not doing all that often)! The solos, duets and group segments flowed like water across the floor and was completely engaging. I admit I was disappointed when they were done!

I absolutely loved the experience and really hope The Dark Side hosts something like it again in the future. Having the chance to work with such internationally renowned stars up close and personal was so inspiring.

Look for an article on the Bellydance in Toronto website in the future. I am working with Heather Labonte on an article about where the idea for The Lavish Project came from and the group's experiences during their series of workshops and rehearsals!