Movements of Morocco - Waterford Public Library

Back at the Waterford Public Library, I put together a little something building on my experience in Morocco.

A workshop introducing the art of belly dancing and the culture brought about 30 participants of all ages together to learn about culture and movement.

Filling the room with books about Morocco, Africa, and Belly Dancing along with tea and trinkets that I brought back from my studies, I really tried to recreate a medina atmosphere that I saw in Morocco. It didn't quite capture the colors, smell, and feel of a Moroccan souq, but I was able to present some new information about the history of dance and photos from my adventures.

We started with a simple warm up as it is a healthy way to grab every one's attention and wake up the mind and body. Then I briefly went through some of the basic steps one might see in a belly dance performance. It was entertaining for me as well to see some of the participants really open up to the movement, and there was a great deal of laughter.

Giving their bodies a break, I let them go around the room and explore while drinking tea. I had gathered some videos to present Morocco and Belly Dancing in a different media. The intermission also gave me a chance to change, and reappear with one of my outfits that I bought in Morocco for belly dancing. A more conservative costume, it covers my stomach, but is very beautiful. I love the drama of the sleeves which drape and accentuate the movements of the arm, and upon entering the room, I then fielded questions from everyone about my travels and the culture.

For the finale, I had everyone circle around me while I performed for them and with them. I had some who weren't shy at all which made me smile. Overall, it was a wonderful time, and a lot of research and hard work. If you're at all interested in knowing more, keep following me as I plan to write another blog after this one informing everyone about the history, art, and resources for belly dancing and dance in Morocco.


Huge thank you to the Waterford Public Library and all their help and support!

Dreaming at the Waterford Public Library

Over the past couple days, I have been working with the Waterford Public Library on two separate events - "Dancing Dreams" for kids ages around 4 and 5 and "In your Dreams Workshop" for ages 10 and up. It's been a wild couple of days, and these two events have been a lot of fun.

Hard, Hard, Hard work.... I learned a lot from the Dancing Dreams workshop. It is incredible how much children can teach us, and with over 50 participants, I had a lot of teachers. Never did I anticipate that many children attending, and if I had another group as large as that one, I would do things a little differently.

For instance, when you ask a group of 20 children to go around the circle and share a movement to introduce themselves it doesn't take nearly as long as it does for a group of over 50. I had a lot of help and support from librarian Tricia Cox who kept me on track and who always keeps up my confidence. The kids did great, and they stayed with me. They shared with me some of their dreams about being princesses, swimming with sharks and other animals, being transformers, seeing aliens, and future goals of being police officers and firemen.

But I might try a different approach. In the future, I will start with the reading of the story "Waking Up is Hard to Do" by Neil Sadaka then go into a warm up. Honestly, I think the kids were really excited to be read a story. Also, I wouldn't have them in a circle, but in lines facing me with enough space to move. The circle made it difficult to move freely with such a large group of young ones. Then I would probably have some of my own choreography about dreams to lead them with, and then ask for volunteers to make up some extra choreography about what their dreams may be.

OVER 50 participants!!!!! Even with a few difficulties, the kids really seemed to have a good time dancing and reading at the library.

Now with my other event for the teen program, I had a lot of fun as a guest in the workshop. I helped open their dream interpretation workshop with some breathing exercises which were a lot of fun. And I was surprised at all the laughing, and how it really opened up the group to relax and feel comfortable.

We then did some steps for relaxation that I picked up from my T'ai Chi class last semester with Tom Ryan. I got them to focus on themselves, and take some tools with them on how to deal with stress. Afterwards, the Librarian Emily Scherrer took charge as we all built our own dream journals, made dream pillows, and were introduced to books on how to interpret dreams.

The Waterford Public Library never fails to amaze me. Over the years, I have always been impressed, but have come to realize that even more so the library has never ceased to inspire me along with others.

Read Around the Christmas Tree at the Waterford Public Library

I had a great time once again at the Waterford Public Library with about 17 kids ages 3-10 and their families. It was a wonderful scene of children telling, listening, and becoming apart of holiday stories.

Now, I had a lot of help from Tricia Cox and Bridget Urban who are the children's librarians at the WPL. They approached me in September with the idea of joining them for their annual "Read Around the Christmas Tree" where everyone sits by a beautifully decorated tree all cozy to listen to Christmas tales. It was their idea to include myself and dance in the plot! Absolutely amazed by the opportunity, I told them of course, and gave them all my ideas for the event. My goal was to have it be something fun for the whole family. Of course the outcome was that the kids jumped right into every activity while the parents sat back and watched. Thinking back even though I really would have loved for the parents to get involved in the dance, I can definitely respect that they probably worked hard all day, and it was a treat for them to relax for a minute while they watched their kids sharing with other kids in dance and storytelling.

These kids impressed me so much!!!! They were attentive when I told them a little about ballet and dance, and they were quick to try the warm up exercises. We stretch and grooved for 15 minutes, and we were warm. Then the kids had such imaginative minds when I asked them to share their favorite holiday traditions, and they really did a fine job coming up with movement on their own for all their favorites. The dance was filled with cookies being made, ice fishing, snowball fights and forts rectified out of snow, HOT CHOCOLATE, sledding and snowmen, along with toys, presents, and Christmas cards. Finally, we wrapped the dance up by spending time with family, and it was so sweet to see these kids run and give their families hugs. We spent 15 minutes creating this dance, and had rehearsed it once before we changed locations and danced in front of the Christmas tree. For next year, I would like 10 more minutes to pretend how we marched in to the library, and where we would all stand in front of the Christmas tree. The space we practiced in was much larger than the space around the tree, but nobody ran into anybody or knocked the tree down so I think it was a successful transition. It was a little disorderly, but it was entertaining!




Once we finished our dancing around the tree, then the kids were all ready to sit and listen to some stories told by Tricia and Bridget who included some more dancing along with singing and acting out the tales. It was most certainly a treat, and I hope to make it a tradition that I can participate in for years to come.

I thank Bridget and Tricia for all their faith in me, and for the wonderful opportunity it was to join them for the library's annual "Read Around the Christmas Tree"! Next year, we need some hot chocolate!

For more information about past and upcoming events at the Waterford Public Library you can also visit them on facebook or their webpage.

Waterford Public Library on Facebook

Step Up Style - Hip Hop Workshop

I hosted a dance workshop at the Waterford Public Library. It incorporated a dance sequence from the movie "Step Up", and was an event for all ages. There were 4 young ladies who participated ages ranged from 10 to 17. I have to thank librarian Emily Scherrer who also joined in the fun and supported the program. I was very relieved as it was my first time putting the program together that there was a small group. They kept me on my toes with many questions and a lot of energy.
On every table of the room, I filled it with books. I wanted the focus to still remain on how dance can benefit the library and reading. It shocked me how many books from Young Adult novels to children's stories had Hip Hop themes. I gave them a little info about a few of the books. Two of my favs were "Hip Hop Highschool" and "Hip Hop Speaks to Children". Check 'em out!

Now with the dancing, I started them off with an energetic warm up filled with isolations, stretches, simple steps, and crunches. We also did an 8 count across the floor which I could have explained better, and I completely forgot to have them do the routine the opposite direction. They all did a great job, and showed a lot of courage in trying the movement.
It has always been something I've struggled with, but I mumble a lot. In the workshop, I had some video taken of me, and I could definitely be a better dance facilitator if I just could figure out how to speak up! See I can talk a person's ear off, but when it comes to volume, I could improve upon my voice.
Now for the Step Up routine, it was a lot trickier than I thought because it was difficult to teach all the different facings in the dance along with a move that dealt with some cross lateral motions. It could have been clearer if I really broke down the parts, and I kinda went through them a little fast. I was impressed with how well they moved, and I would love to do the program again.
For pics of the event visit the Waterford Public Library Page on Facebook. Link below...
Hip Hop Workshop with Sandy Beneke
For the WPL Teen Blog check out this link, http://waterfordteens.blogspot.com/
And For just more news in general about WPL check out http://www.waterford.lib.wi.us/
It felt so good to share what I love with them, and see them come out of their shells a little and have fun!