Tue 25 May 2015 Class notes with playlist

Cues & Tattoos Workshop: Energetic Body, Quiet Mind

A few month's ago at Cues and Tattoos, I taught a workshop called Energetic Body Quiet Mind. The focus of this workshop is to dig deep into core steps and, through repetition, be able to flow with a group of dancers. At one point we diverted into another workshop topic, Touch the Music, to identify favorite songs and hear first person why people chose them.

Here's the list of songs that we came up with. I asked everyone for one contemporary song and one belly dance song. The songs in blue are ones that we used in class, most of the others are the contemporary choices, and a few belly dance songs that we didn't get to.

Enjoy!

Carolena’s Recommendations
Please see this recent blog post with a list of my favorite songs.

Suggested Favorites (songs in blue were danced to in the workshop)
“Reich Mir die Hand” by Blutengel
“Aicha” by Cheb Khaled
“Nubian” by Raquy and the Cavemen
“Caravan” by Raquy and the Cavemen
“Misirlou” by Dick Dale
“Sogonie” by Dikanda
“Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin
“Abadou” by Zap Mamma
“Black Magic Woman” by Santana
“Blessings” by Solace
“Video” by India.Arie
“Improvisations for Guitar” from the House of Tomorrow soundtrack
“Tamatant Tilay” by Tinariwen
“Sella Fina” by Helm
“Gold Dust Woman” by Fleetwood Mac
“In My Life” by the Beatles
“La Vie en Rose”
“Claire de Lune”
“Le Chat du Rabbin”
“My December” by Linkin Park
“Nierka” by Dead Can Dance
“Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison
“Frame Drum” by Helm
“Jednou” by Gipsy.cz
“Singin’ in the Bathtub” by Mandy Patinkin
“Zion” by Lauryn Hill
“Hosanni Oo” by Helm
“9 Lives” by Aerosmith
“Bon-syo” by Reuben von Ramsey
“Baburi” by Yuvol Ron
“You Belong to Me” by Annie Lennox
“Sout al Shami”
“Pass the Dutch” by Missy Elliott
Chiftitelli rhythm loop
“Mother” by Danzig
“Nefertari's Dream” by Hossam Ramzy and Phil Thornton
“What I Be” by
“Immortal Egypt” by Hossam Ramzy and Phil Thornton
“Unknown Awareness”
“Beni Beni” by Niyaz
“Paradise” by Sade
“Adaptation”
“Pictures of You” by the Cure
“Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha” by Deva Premal
 “Charon’s Crossing” by Beats Antique
“Bashraf nawa’ather Yusuf Bey” by Rose Zahran

We also did a bit of Greek line dancing (expect this in the workshops that you take from me!) I wanted everyone to experience how simple it is to pick up a dance when it's a "community" activity. It doesn't really matter if you get it right, you just have to smile and imitate what the other people are doing. The Greek folk song we danced to was “Samiotisa" (Kalamatianos is the name of the 12 step pattern danced to the 7 beat rhythm!.”

Dancing in Flow® Playlist

Here's a compilation of six of my Dancing in Flow® playlists. Best of the best. Songs that command that I stop thinking and respond to the music.
Enjoy!



And here's a re-post of how to teach a Dancing in Flow® Class.

Dancing in Flow®

Dancing in Flow® was created by Carolena Nericcio-Bohlman with the class format of “all dance, no talk.”  Since designing this class, other ATS® instructors have also begun to offer similar classes. 

These guidelines will help to define the class and suggest ways for each teacher to structure and prepare for the class.  Please incorporate them in your own Dancing in Flow® classes.

During the class, there will be no verbal communication.  The teacher will not explain the movements, give feedback to students or comment on what she is teaching.  The only exception to this is when the teacher initially greets the class, explaining what will happen and suggesting that the participants just follow the movements and enjoy without worrying about whether they are doing the movements correctly.

Dancing in Flow® is a one hour class divided into 4 fifteen minute segments with a quiet water break every 15 min. During the first fifteen minutes of class, the brain will chatter as the students become used to dancing continuously. During the second fifteen minutes, the brain will begin to relax.  During the third period of dance, the brain will finally decide to take a vacation to allow the body to enjoy moving.  Finally, during the last fifteen minutes, you will go on auto-pilot into pure bliss.  Maintain the silence at the end of the class to allow the students to leave in this meditative state.

As an instructor, there are only a few things that you need to do to prep for class:
Create a 1 hour playlist alternating between slow and fast songs. 
Choose relatively short songs to allow for variety. 
You should be familiar and comfortable with the music, and more importantly it should literally move you, as the driving force behind the Flow® concept is responding to the music without thinking.

When you are teaching, remember that you are talking exclusively with your body, not using words.  So, you must be clear in your cues and movements so that the class can follow you. 

Enjoy,
Carolena

7 May 2015 L3 with Playlist

2 May 2015 L1/L2/L3 with playlist