Dancing on new ground

[Meaghan Shields]

I decided even before I left Canada, that I wanted to put a lot of focus into dancing when I came to Israel. To help realize this goal, I packed one of the two pieces of luggage I brought with costumes only! How's that for self-actualization?

Since I've been here, things have been steadily growing. I took about three weeks in the beginning to just acclimatize and get my barrings in these new surroundings. Then, I launched into it! Started slowly, I taught two beginner classes a week at Spin Dan, the fitness studio of my partner's father here in the Jordan Valley (www.spin-dan.com/) and then gradually added more as demand grew. And it is growing still.

It is amazing to me that even in the smallest, most remote little villages and towns, bellydance culture and appreciation is alive and doing well. I experienced this while living in the Kootenays as well. The isolated East Shore of Kootaney Lake (accessible from Nelson only by a 30 minute drive, and another 30 minute ferry) boasted 3 resident bellydancers alone! Crazy!

Here, I am finding it somewhat more challenging to connect with other dancers, I think primarily due to the language barrier and lack of online presence. Which tells me two things; I need to learn Hebrew and get off the web and into the world! But not until I've finished this blog, of course ;)

That being said, I have had the pleasure of connecting with one lovely dancer from Tel Aviv named Yael Naim (www.yaelnaim.rikud.co.il/) who has graciously taken me into her fold, and whom I have performed with once at a rockin' little bistro called Kasbah in the trendy Florentine neighborhood in Tel Aviv. Another performance is scheduled at Kasbah in July. Yael reminds me A LOT of my teacher/mentor/dance guru Roula Said (www.omlaila.com) in the way she formulates movement from the inside out and uses chakra awareness to deepen her motion. I feel blessed to attract these kind of women as I move through this life. Thank you!

I do find myself teaching more than performing these days, a ratio I am seeking to balance more and more as I spend time here. My partner Yotam, a manager/gardener/fitness/musician extraordinaire, overhearing my complaints at not being to perform more hooked me up with one of the bands he is playing with (Shomer Haesh www.myspace.com/shomeresh). A very cool mix of Flamenco/Folk/Middle Eastern/World sounds, I have been performing regularly with this group, doing mostly impov, and it has been reeeaaally lovely :) Aside from being great musicians, the members of the group are all genuinely good people, whom I am inspired by on a regular basis. Seeing people who live their love is a beautiful thing indeed.

And so, I continue on. I have had a small core of women who have been dancing with me for about 4 months now, and who are improving in leaps and bounds. I have just opened a Level II class in a new location, in which I am focusing more on form and technique (opposed to the "just move" mentality I find the fitness studio environment demands). I really feel as though something meaningful is being slowly and surely cultivated here, and it brings me great joy and satisfaction.

Dancing on, always, to the next day....