Many dancers and students here like me, have a love-hate relationship with the issue of choreography.
Choreography is a great way to put everything together and have some fun. We learned bellydance through choreographies brought back by our teachers when bellydance was first introduced to Taiwan. Since the demands grew so fast while instructors who were capable and available then were relatively rare, choreography became a great way to “duplicate” the knowledge of bellydance to the rapidly growing students. Instructors could send out her students to teach others.
This becomes main stream for local bellydance studios to design their programs. Students learn different choreographies from entry level to advanced level and usually instructors will teach one piece of choreography for each session, which is often ten weeks.
It is also main stream to put props into the learning of choreography here. Students usually learn veil dance as the second choreography in the entry level/basic level while cane dance is another prop; in the immediate level students might learn a more challenging veil or cane dance choreographies and sometimes either some fusion style bellydance choreographies or more challenging props like tin lights, Shamadan (candelabrum). Zils (finger cymbal) is regarded as a prop like veil and cane by many local instructors.
In some cases, instructors will offer students sort of “trial” in which introduces different styles or forms in bellydance world. For instance, students might learn several sessions of oriental dance or cabaret bellydance and then they begin to learn the concept of posture and ATS.
As the development of bellydance in Taiwan grows along with the passage of time, now we are able to invite many bellydance intstructors/bellyancers to give us workshops. It is not surprising that the choreography workshops remain the most desirable ones among local students/instructors.
Choreography is a great way to put everything together and have some fun. We learned bellydance through choreographies brought back by our teachers when bellydance was first introduced to Taiwan. Since the demands grew so fast while instructors who were capable and available then were relatively rare, choreography became a great way to “duplicate” the knowledge of bellydance to the rapidly growing students. Instructors could send out her students to teach others.
This becomes main stream for local bellydance studios to design their programs. Students learn different choreographies from entry level to advanced level and usually instructors will teach one piece of choreography for each session, which is often ten weeks.
It is also main stream to put props into the learning of choreography here. Students usually learn veil dance as the second choreography in the entry level/basic level while cane dance is another prop; in the immediate level students might learn a more challenging veil or cane dance choreographies and sometimes either some fusion style bellydance choreographies or more challenging props like tin lights, Shamadan (candelabrum). Zils (finger cymbal) is regarded as a prop like veil and cane by many local instructors.
In some cases, instructors will offer students sort of “trial” in which introduces different styles or forms in bellydance world. For instance, students might learn several sessions of oriental dance or cabaret bellydance and then they begin to learn the concept of posture and ATS.
As the development of bellydance in Taiwan grows along with the passage of time, now we are able to invite many bellydance intstructors/bellyancers to give us workshops. It is not surprising that the choreography workshops remain the most desirable ones among local students/instructors.
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