In the age of technology we're fast becoming an industry operating majorly through the internet and digital products. There's a lot of benefits to this, some of them you've no doubt heard shouted from the rooftops with accessibility and flexible scheduling being top of the list. Yet, I often see discussions online that treat independent learning as an illegitimate form of education and I think it's time for action steps to help dispel those ideas.

I want to provide you with the first steps along a path of self-growth that can be extremely powerful in helping a dancer develop into a more technically proficient, artistically creative, culturally aware and discerning learner and performer.

This methodology isn't new-it's tried and true. I've learned most of these skills from the mentors and role models I've had who have been around since the 70's, people who had to take the hard path of learning in an age of limited resources. They honed their sight and questioning and passed the knowledge and process down to me so I can keep sharing those skills and how to apply them when the challenge that lays before us now is how to sort through too many resources!

It's a bit overwhelming how much content there is available at the click of a button these days and it's just as important to be discerning about which content to study as it to ask the right questions once you've picked the material you want to learn from, so you can be efficient in collecting information and applying it to enhance your skills.

I think as you learn to apply this process you'll find that you become a more well rounded dancer (and instructor if you're on that path) because there's an invisible value to this part of the learning process that is a bit like aging: information accrues and settles in you and bit by bit changes your psychology and energetic disposition. You might call this "gaining the right frequency" or in anthropological terminology-purposeful inculturation/cultural immersion. This method of learning is an act of adopting or acknowledging a world view beyond your own and this is necessary in order to truly succeed in raqs sharqi or other branches of the belly dance umbrella.

Dive further into the geekery of raqs sharqi with me as we start by outlining the video learning methodology! Click to the next lesson!