North Norfolk Bellydance

GHAWAZEE AND MODERN WITH MARIA D’SILVA

Maria D’ Silva Workshops and Hafla, 9^th and 10^th June 2007 for North Walsham Dance, Norfolk.

By Dianne Davies

Maria D’Silva will be familiar to many readers as she is a renowned teacher and performer of the dance in the UK. Of Goan Portugese descent, she was born in East Africa and has danced extensively in the Far East including Egypt.

Despite her impressive credentials she has a very easy manner and introduced herself and her partner, assistant and Tabla player, Joe. She also asked us all to introduce ourselves to her and the group, individually, which was a nice friendly touch.

The first two-hour workshop was on the folkloric form Ghawazee, which was a relatively unfamiliar style to many of us. Starting with a warm-up, she worked on the basic posture and particularly concentrated on arms, hands, gestures, accents and presentation. She teaches a series of combinations step by step in an easy to learn fashion. Her sunny personality really shines through her teaching and she is very ably assisted by Joe who operated the music, and played Tabla for us when we were learning individual phrases and putting together the combinations. I was particularly impressed with her work on hands, encapsulating the jaunty manner required by this variety of Arabic dance.

After a short half-hour break we began the second workshop on Modern Egyptian. A totally different style, we learned so many new and innovative moves it was hard to remember them all.

Maria encourages, almost insists upon, questions from the floor and she is very approachable and informative when asked. I think perhaps she and Joe found the Norfolk dancers a little quiet! Whilst I think anyone who needed clarification at any stage did ask for it, she was such a good communicator that she left little doubt in our minds what we should be doing. Also, I have to say that by the fourth hour it could be said of some of us that “the lights were on but there was nobody in for miles around!” Unless you are doing this sort of thing all the time, even if the flesh is willing, the mental capacities weaken as the minutes tick by! That’s actually a compliment to Maria in that there was so much innovation and interest in her moves and combinations, there was just an awful lot to take in - certainly value for money.

Maria was so much in demand that she repeated this series of workshops the next day for another batch of people.

The Sunday night Hafla was truly excellent, with many fantastic performances including those of Maria herself. I’m happy to say she started with a great warm-up, getting everyone on the floor, and did two stunning solos reflecting the styles of dance she’d been teaching at the workshops.

Other outstanding performances were presented to us and the variety of styles was invigorating to watch. We had double veil, folkloric, Tribal, lots more veil, live drumming, Wings of Isis, raqs sharqi and so much more.

It was a very varied evening which whipped by very quickly with something for all and everyone I spoke to seemed to enjoy it. Hats off to Jane Barrett of North Norfolk Dance, the organizer of this weekend, who eschews the limelight but deserves such thanks from all of us in this relatively quiet part of the UK for bringing these top Arabic dance stars to teach us.

She organizes these events with what sometimes seems like military precision. Perhaps that sounds inappropriate, but she had such a lot to fit into the three and a half hour time: performances, eating time, the most excellent raffle I have ever seen at such an event, shopping (in this case from Maria’s Mystical Mirage Bazaar) and free dance opportunities. This time I believe the balance was absolutely brilliant, it went just about like clockwork, and it was a truly superb evening.

Maria D'Silva

Janai's Group, Lilies of the Nile

Jane's Double Veil

Louise and Lucy -
Tribal Belly dancers

Have a look at the gallery below for more pictures of the superb Hafla evening we enjoyed with Maria:

Maria

Let's Dance!

Colchester Bellydance Quartet

Liz from Kamanana

Maria's Presentation

Let's Dance Some More!

Daughters of the East (Anglia)!

"Mirage" with Wings of Isis and Raqs Shamaden (Candelabra) Dancer Pauline Shreeve

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