Two weeks. That's
when Morocco (Aunt Rocky to her students) will be in Juneau again. Rocky is a particular favorite of the
Daughters of the New Moon troupe. When
we brought her up last time in 2006 (wow, I had to go double check, I didn't
think it'd been so long) she told us that she'd only be traveling to teach
workshops for a couple more years. So,
keeping that in mind, we'd scheduled other (also wonderful) instructors to come
up, thinking that we'd had her for her final Juneau visit. But last year we got an e-mail asking when we
were going to invite her up again... and of course we had to make it happen!
Morocco's huge depth of knowledge on Middle Eastern dance never
fails to astound. The woman's been
learning and studying for over, what 50 years now? Just her having witnessed the change in the
history and culture (over there and over here) is an amazing perspective and
insight. In the last workshop I decided that
in addition to writing down choreography notes* I'd just sit and write down all
of the 'extra' cultural and background information that she gives while teaching
her choreographies. She has her favorite
repeat phrases and anecdotes, but there are always new stories and other
tidbits that will influence the way I view the dance or that I'll want to pass through
to my own students.
Now to decide if I want to take the semi-private lesson on Guedra that's been set up. It's not
really something I have a passion to know about, but I'm unlikely to have the
opportunity to study it again with a person who's researched it so much. And having extra pieces to the puzzle is always
preferable, to me at least.
If you want an incredible learning experience this month,
you can learn more at http://daughtersofthenewmoon.
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*Rocky always provides a sheet of notes, and she likes to
keep her dances relatively** clean and straightforward -- always in keeping
with the music, of course! -- so once you're familiar with most of her movement
vocabulary there's just a couple movements or sections of the choreo that will
require more detailed notes.
**Relative to many modern dancers and choreographers who create
very intricate and/or technically complex dances. Music repeat with theme and variation; therefore, so too do Rocky's choreos.
