Dear Maria, to me, your workshop felt like a journey of relaxation, adventure, learning and pleasure.
I have started bellydance just over 2 years ago and my techniques are very limited, but have lots of fun. During last year, I have been working on improving posture and movement and have found it difficult at times to change directions during a dance, coordination of different moves. Your workshop had the calming preparation at the beginning, a weightless sensation then when I started to imagine myself as a jellyfish and started moving as a jellyfish, a felt like the balloon full of water feeling the weight from one side to the other, kind of balance, like sculpturing a mass in different shapes by applying pressure here and there.
The information given on the skeleton was very helpful; where the hip bones are, the correct use of knees for the hip movement, how to swap the weight while walking. All this information has given me an understanding of my body, it has helped me to switch weight easily during movement and change of direction whilst keeping the balance at the same time.
Also important was the information given about the centre of our body, not necessarily the line between the belly button and the spine, which as important as it is for correct posture, I found that the central area above the diaphragm is very powerful and that I found to be using the most when in search for the power source of my body. To me, it feels all the strings attached to limbs originate from there.
Another high of your workshop was the drawing of a dance… and then dancing it. Loved that feeling!
To me, amazing is a feeling. When something feels good to the touch, to the ears or it is visually attractive, it makes me feel emotionally empowered, pleased, wonderfully amazed. I have found myself applying your teachings to my moves even without thinking about it, until I realised that I never was able to do it so easily and graciously. heart emoticon Thank you very much Maria, it was AMAZING!
Maria Gasper , EBD workshop WAMED Festival, Perth, 2015