Bozenka Workshop and "ohhhh...so that's what that's called?"

Over the weekend I took my first Bozenka Workshop @ Joe's Movement Emporium. Bozenka is beautiful woman and a fabulous dancer who is apart of the Belly Dance Superstars and has her own studio in Miami, FL. When Rachel arrived with her I was extremely nervous and could barely look at her. I was like, "OMG it's really her". She was very cool!

One of my favorite topic she discussed were hands. She taught various hand circles, wrist circles, proper stretches for the hands and wrists, choreographies, provided great music resources and helpful dance tips. A few tips she gave were:
Not to be repetitive with the dance. Just when your audience thinks you are going to do a certain move, fake them out and do something else and then maybe do the move they thought you were about to do.

Don't become too predictable: For example, Don't dance on every accent in a song. Listen for certain sounds that are hidden in a song and pull them out.

Don't switch from mood to mood too quickly. Be aware if you are going from happy and bouncy to serious and dramatic too much or too fast. This makes you look like a crazy.

She also showed us the "Pelvic Shimmy. You have to be very relaxed to do this and not afraid to let "it" shake. She made it look like this was something she born to do. What you do basically is tilt your pelvis back and forth but very very fast which Bozenka says looks good if your back is facing the audience. So we all gave it a try and I thought "ohhh, that's called a pelvic shimmy in belly dance?". It's interesting how some moves cross over to different syles of dance. The pelvic shimmy is identical to a Jamaican move and a move that I've seen and done in clubs before.

Bozenka will be back sometime this Summer for more workshops. I would love to visit her
Miami studio before then though. I really want to learn more from her.

Pelvic Shimmies...out!