whirlwind of teaching, judging,
interviews
and
performances,
but the community there was so
generous and my sponsor, Deseos
Productions ( Joanne Pascual), and I
hit it off immediately. The event was
based around a competition, which
was very well thought out and a little
different than the usual format we
see here in the states. More recently
I had the opportunity to teach,
perform and judge in San Jose, Costa
Rica. It’s a new event called Expo
Bellydance and the producers Gaia
Costa Rica and Herbert Jimenez
did an amazing job! They thought
of every detail and really pulled off a
fantastic first annual event.”
Tell us about your work in videos,
i.e. your instructional videos
Dancers who live in areas of the
world isolated from regular dance
classes now have the opportunity to
study instructional videos that capture
dance specialties. Ruby has been very
active and developed content in specific
areas of belly dance. It is interesting
to hear about Ruby’s journey into
instructional videos.
like a family reunion of friends, colleagues and students. I
just started going two years ago and had the opportunity
to teach, judge and perform and now I’m encouraging all
of my students to come compete and take the workshops.
Del and Isis have been running this event for a long time
and I’m amazed at how calm, joyful and hospitable they
are all day when I know they’re not getting any rest! As
for international events, probably my two favorites were
in Japan and Costa Rica. My experience in Japan was a
Ruby relates, “I met Michelle Joyce
at the East Coast Classic in 2007.
We had a good time back stage and
had some laughs and a few months
later she invited me to perform in
the By Dancers for Dancers show,
as well as teach a combination for
the Combination Nation DVD to be filmed in the same
weekend. I struggled with that combination so much! I
wanted it to be really good. When it came time to film I
was terribly nervous, I sat and watched Shoshanna do her
take and she seemed so rehearsed and words just flowed
out of her to explain the movements. When it was my
turn, Michelle was very patient with me; I was terrified. It
was that weekend that I talked with Michelle about doing
a floor work DVD. Cheeky Girls Productions didn’t
October 2016
The Belly Dance Chronicles
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