Tag: bellydanceclass

How I Improve My Improv

Posted on by katesoleildances in creativity

Tips and Tricks for Your personal practice + New Mini Lesson Reveal!

Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve written! I took a 9 month break from teaching, performing, and writing to adjust to life since COVID as well as get married and start a new chapter in my life with my husband and step kids! It’s been a wild yet amazing ride!

During all this time I still have been practicing, mostly working on my improvisation and focusing on small details that add texture, depth, and ooey gooey-ness to my movement.

I want to share some tips and tricks that I use to improve my improv and bring depth to my practice! This is essentially a breakdown of my own practice and also how I coach my students!

At the end of this post I will also post a video and short breakdown of my own practice footage using the concepts I outline below.

Pick a move, any move! For my practice video I chose two sets of moves to improv together: interior hip circles (omis), hip slides, and shimmies. I warmed up by drilling these movements at various speeds then put on a song I love and got moving.

Once you have a few movements in mind and you’ve warmed up, play with directions, what does your movement look like on the frontal plane? Sagittal plane? Transverse plane? Going up, going down? Side to side? What happens when you layer one of your movements over the other? So on and so forth. Once core concept here is to explore and play without judgment!

You’ll see what I mean in my practice video practice below. I played with directions such as horizontal hip slides punctuated with soft shimmies of varying cadences, slow then quick omis, sometimes with level changes. I let the music dictate the cadence of my movement. The song I chose is “Maoud Pt. 2” from Guy Schalom’s Album, Baladi Blues 3 (this is not an affiliate link).

This is real, raw, unpolished video of my own practice. I did not want to curate this video because I want to lead by example- I don’t want you to expect perfection in your practice improv. Don’t squash your potential by being unnecessarily critical or perfectionist.

Now take a breathe, pick a song, and get practicing! I highly recommend you video your practice and review it! Be kind, be playful, and be gentle.

Drop a comment below to let me know what you think about this improv structure and anything else you’d like to know or learn.

I also LOVE seeing your videos so dm or tag me on IG @dancingsoleil to share how you put this concept into practice!

As always I’m also here to help you one on one.

To make one on one time easier to access and more affordable, I’ve developed new mini lessons. Get a 30 minute one on one class with me for $20. If you’re interested in this and it’s still out of your budget, contact me anyway to discuss options! I want you to dance and create. It’s my goal as a teacher and coach to work with you to remove barriers to your expression.

Happy dancing!

xoxo Kate

Kate Soleil holds a BA in Anthropology and English from the University of Virginia, is an Oriental Style Belly Dance Performer & Instructor, Social Worker, and Personal Trainer in training.

She’s dedicated her life to the study of her art, the creative process, and coaching others in personal and professional settings. She lives with her husband in Portland, Oregon, is a proud cat mama, an avid book worm and knitter.

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Reparative Pricing: Discount for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, MEHNAT peoples, and LGBTQ+ folks

Posted on by katesoleildances in creativity

During my time off the past several months I have been critically rethinking the way I do business. My business is personal which means having my business reflect my values is important to me and critical to the community I serve. I realized and still realize I can do better. As I’m starting to teach again, I am offering reparative pricing for our Black, Indigenous, People of Color, MEHNAT, LGBTQ, and disability community members. Please use this code: ACCOUNTABILITY

Why? Reparative pricing is a critical anti-racist action I can take to make change within my sphere and encourage systemic amends to communities who actively experience violence and oppression. This is not charity or scholarship; reparations are different because they’re owed unconditionally, consistently, and systematically and without them we cannot move forward in achieving equity or dismantling white supremacy.

I do need or want proof of identity. All folks are Black, Indigenous, person of color, MEHNAT, person with a disability, or LGBTQ are invited to use this code at checkout regardless of financial circumstance.

Happy dancing,

xoxo Kate

Kate Soleil holds a BA in Anthropology and English from the University of Virginia, is an Oriental Style Belly Dance Performer & Instructor, Social Worker, and Personal Trainer in training.

She’s dedicated her life to the study of her art, the creative process, and coaching others in personal and professional settings. She lives with her husband in Portland, Oregon, is a proud cat mama, an avid book worm and knitter.

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My 2 Most Influential Dance Teachers in 2019

Posted on by katesoleildances in Uncategorized

Gratitude in Prose

As we move into the new year, I, like many others, have been reflecting on how much has happened in 2019. My life now looks very different than from a year ago: I took bold steps to live closer to my truth, felt old identifies melt away into new ones, traveled, met wonderful new people, became closer to families and artists I love and value, deepened my understanding of the cultures whose dance I am learning and representing, as well pushed beyond my comfort zone in creating and presenting my art.

There were many factors that went into making all of this happen. However, I want to express immense gratitude to 2 instructors who had a pivotal effect on my growth this past year: Khadijah and Kamala Almanzar. I had the opportunity to take workshops from Khadijah and Kamala in 2019, but did not study beyond that with either of them (yet). Still, each in their unique way opened the door to my deeper creative exploration and cultural understanding. 

I would like to emphasize that these are not reviews, but essentially my gratitude list in prose. The reason I’m doing this publicly is because I want to share what I’ve learned in the hopes that you, too, will take the opportunity to learn from these amazing artists should you ever get the chance. 

Khadijah

Group photo from Khadijah’s workshop weekend, March 2019

Khadijah is a Denver, CO based dance artist who came to Portland in 2019 to teach a weekend on khaleeji dance technique, cultural mannerisms, and musicality. Her khaleeji workshops were beyond phenomenal as she wove detail after detail regarding Gulf geography, overview of Islam, cultural etiquette, dance movements, her top 10 khaleeji rhythms to know (yes there’s more than just one), and more into the most culturally comprehensive course on khaleeji dance as I have ever seen or heard of.

Khadijah doesn’t rely solely on her Gulf upbringing as her source of knowledge, but has put countless hours into researching khaleeji dance and music in the Gulf. She also brought in much needed discourse regarding the history of racism in Arabic music.

During the movement workshops, I really valued how much joy Khadijah feels in her movements. She’s earthy, relaxed, and created an atmosphere where we could be, too. Dancing with Khadijah makes you feel like she’s your neighbor or bff who invited you to over to jam out and dance. 

More info about Khadijah can be found here: https://www.khadijahdancer.net/bio

Kamala Almanzar

Kamala with Raqs Ayana (Henna, Kate Soleil, Emilie Lauren, and Shaunti Fera), June 2019

Based in Southern California, Kamala has been called a “living legend”, “icon”, and “an inspiration” in the Middle Eastern dance community. What I loved most about learning Kamala in 2019 was, for a short time, immersing myself in her incredibly unique movement style which is at once fresh and inventive yet strongly anchored in classic American Cabaret style.

The opportunity to learn from Kamala was very synchronistic as for a long time I’ve been struggling to find breath and air in my movement vocabulary; upper body expression has never been a strength of mine. I routinely feel upward moving energy becoming blocked in my chest, unable to flow beyond some invisible barrier to finish my movements outward through my arms and upper body. However, moving through one of Kamala’s choreographies helped something click; her movements feel like the most blissful, meditative combination of earth and air which really opened my body and creative expression to greater possibilities. 

Find out more about Kamala on her website: https://kamaladance.com/

Kate Soleil

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Elements of Cultural Competency: Unique interactive classes coming your way!

Posted on by katesoleildances in Uncategorized

I am passionate about many things, but one thing that has been close to my heart for as long as I can remember is my passion for exploring and learning about different cultures. This passion is so strong that it led to a degree in Cultural Anthropology and what is turning out to be lifelong love for Oriental Dance.

As I’m preparing for a new class series I am integrating many things I value as a student of other peoples and cultures. Without a doubt, one critical element for anyone learning Oriental/belly dance is increasing cultural competency. You cannot sever the relationship between art and the society from which a particular art form is born. One constantly informs the other so to learn truly learn about this dance you need to learn about cultures of origin. Not only will my beginner classes naturally include elements of cultural competency alongside technique, but starting with my first class on November 13th I will also be offering an additional a fun, unique, and interactive element to one class each month. Our main focus in these special classes will still be on learning technique, but there will also be an extra interactive element. Examples of this will be live music demos, exploring textiles, foods, etc.

These special elements in and of themselves may not seem like any big deal in the broader context of a culture, but anyone who has learned another language or lived in another culture knows that it’s sometimes the smallest details that make all the difference in crafting the big picture.

Interested in the November 13th surprise? Stay tuned by signing up for my newsletter or following me on facebook and instagram. I’ll be revealing it soon!      February Flower Power!