Back from Berlin!

Pic from the Hafla by Christiane Uhlich. Samantha Emanuel and me!


I am back in my bed from a week in cold Berlin. Not that Oslo is any warmer, but here I have my own bed at least... It is the best bed in the world!

I have been in Berlin 2 times this autumn for a 5 day Tribal Cross-training with Sharon Kihara and Samantha Emanuel from the Bellydance superstars, and Beata and Horacio, two world famous dancers living in Berlin. Everyday we had 7 hours of dancing, starting off with 1 hour warm up (yoga or other stretching and strenghtening), then 1 hour ballet with Horacio, following with 1 hour Oriental technique with Beata, break for 30 mins, 1,5 hours Tribal Fusion with Sharon, and finally 1,5 hours of American Tribal Style with Sam. That was hardcore training let me tell you!
When we called it "beaing deadead by Sharon and Sam" we werent joking!

So now I was there for my second and last week. It was so nice to go back again. Now we know each other better, and had a good time together. We did some cool excersises with sharon and Sam that made us grow closer togehter as a gruop, so it was sad to leave not knowing if we would meet again...

I took my first Ballett-classes in my life and I thought it went pretty well. I got so much better at spinning, I cant belive it! I always just get dizzy and dont want to practice it because of that, but now we did spins every day, and they were improving quickly!

Heike Humphreys and I shared a room at a hotel Heike had booked for us close to the studio, and we had alot of fun there making up or own vampire- and elf-ballett...hihi pretty funny! I think the ballett-classes definately will be useful in future dancing.

So for future refrences:

What I learned from Horacio:
- Always stand very straight and look front and up.
- lift from the back and keep the abs strong.
- Small steps while spinning.

What I learned from Beata:
- "which one of my schizos-personalities should I be today?"
- The pretty foot - heel is inwards.

What I learned from Sharon:
- tips to make your body move even,cause we often are not same on both sides.
- Butoh

What I learned from Sam:
- Walk from the hip
- Turn your lights on in front and also the back


Of course I learned much more, but this is the main things that are left in my mind when I look back...

The saturday we all performed for each other. It was so much fun to see the other dancers, and there were so many different styles. That is always fun to see! And Samantha performed a choreo I had seen on youtube, and though "wow, wish I could see that live", and now I got too! It was such an inspiering evening for me! :D