SPRING SYLLABUS - with The Alay'nya Studio

Do you want to own the stage when you dance? (Or are you content to be locked into a single place, for your entire performance?)

Many (perhaps most) Oriental dancers learn to dance beautifully in one place, and maybe to move a bit as part of a group. Very few of us gain the full expressive power - the true lyrical quality - of Oriental dance.

In particular, many of us are weak in our veil work. Very few dancers gain enough veil skills to make their veil an extension of their bodies. Very few know how to "create patterns in space."

By completing the Syllabus Quarter with the Alay'nya Studio, you will gain:

• Knowledge of "Dynamic Principles": Command the room as you walk, turn, look, or gesture!.
• Master veil combinations you can apply to a wide range of music: Diverse "micro-choreographies" let you perform both structured choreography, improvise during parties and when working with live musicians, and give you a solid basis for "filling in" your own choreographies with good, well-structured dance sections.
• Outstanding choreographies: Build your repertoire with a combination of veil dances, including Wings of Isis and fan dancing -- suitable for performing in a wide range of settings, from private parties to major stage performances.

SPRING QUARTER STUDIES

We're "spreading our wings" through airy dances that let us spin, float, and flutter. Level 1 students are learning simple turns and basic veil movements; Level 2 are learning to more complex combinations, turns. and movements across the floor to create entrancing "veil patterns."

We're learning how to interpret the music to which we dance, finding how our bodies naturally lift and expand to reach outwards and swirl back inwards. We're also learning how to interpret the "winds of Spring" through fan dancing, and the ultimate in the Element of Air: Sword Dancing!

Spring - the Season of Air (Swords, Mind, Intellect, Ego, and "Pain-Body")
Card	Meditation	Dance	Visual Studies	Readings	Exercises
Week 1: Ace of Swords	Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path. Psalm 143:5-10	Overview: Choreographies Using the Stage Space	Elena Lentini, Festival on the Nile XI	Modern Magick: Twelve Lessons, Chapter 4: The Element of Air, by D.M. Kraig (see link below)	Develop "use of space" overall plan for selected music (See recommended music selections, below)
Swords represent our mind, intellect, and ego They also show us our pain-body, a term coined by Eckhart Tolle. (See A New Earth, link below.)	"Our pain-body is where we store the shamed, unloved, pained part of ourselves. We feel awful when these feelings emerge, and are also often angry and scared in response! Therefore, we try to keep these aspects hidden from others. In fact, we try to keep our pain-bodies hidden from ourselves." (Unveiling, Chapter 16.)	Our goal this quarter is to open up our use of space, and to learn how to create structured choreographies and do improvisational dance that takes advantage of the entire space available. We begin by studying dancers who excel in using space.	Further Visual Resources: Elena Lentini, the only clip of a young Elena on YouTube; note veil and fan work at end; fabulous layering of snake arms/hand work over shimmies, and beautiful floorwork (towards the end).	Further Readings:: Unveiling, Parts III (Chapters 9-13) & IV (Chapter 14-16). A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, in which Tolle describes the pain-body (see link below):	Further Exercises: "Rag Doll" - a T'ai Chi practice Review simple turns
Week 2: Two of Swords	Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86:11	Transition Moves: From In-Place Techniques to Moving Across the Floor	Cassandra Shore, in Festival on the Nile III	Unveiling: The Inner Journey, Chapter 9: A Real Woman's Path (Really Does Exist!), by Alay'nya	Develop "use of space" overall plan for selected music (See recommended music selections, below)
We often begin by being "closed off" - wearing a mental blindfold and holding at bay any insight or knowledge that would challenge us to really know, work with, and work through our resistance.	From the commentary on Psalm 86 (see link above), the word rendered as the verb "unite" literally means union, joining, or conjunction. The purpose of yoga literally means "union." If we have not had an active yoga practice, this is a good time in which to get started. It will help us "unite" our bodies with our minds; it will help us open up the "stuck parts" of our being, and allow for energy flow. We learn where we are holding "stuck" places - storing our pain-body in our physical bodies, and start releasing the "stuckness" - this frees our dance; we can start to express the vibrancy and flow of air.	Transition Technique: Cross-step/Touch (with and without hip drops); transmitted by Anahid Sofian. Movement Across the Floor: On-pulse walk; transmitted by Anahid Sofian. Various walks with veil; transmitted by Elena Lentini.	Further Visual Resources: Cassandra Shore (YouTube), in performance at the Guild of Oriental Dance annual show, 2007. She opens using a big circle to circumscribe the space, with interesting pauses and movements at certain points. Classic Egyptian style - mostly "in place" dancing - but shows good use of forward/back moves. Cassandra Live!, collection of her performances in the 1980's. Variable quality of video. Some fabulous as reference pieces. Mia Shauri, Classic Egyptian style, good veil opening set to Layla; perhaps the most complicated Layla choreography I've ever seen! Good follow-on taxim, drum solo.	Further Readings:: Unveiling, Parts III (Chapters 9-13) & IV (Chapter 14-16). A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle (see link below):	Further Exercises: "Rag Doll" - a T'ai Chi practice Veil & Turn Etude, using "Beautiful Friend" on Dream Dancer, by Light Wind (see link below)
Week 3: Three of Swords	[Simeon, speaking to Mary when she and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple] "so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too Luke 2:35	Transition Moves: From In-Place Techniques to Moving Across the Floor	Petite Jamila, Unveiled (see link below)	The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, Chapter VI: Heretical Artists and Their Symbols, by Margaret Starbird (see link below)	Develop "use of space" overall plan for selected music (See recommended music selections, below)
The imagery of three swords piercing a heart is painful, perhaps scary - but this truly suggests to us a "heart opening."	We learn where we are holding "stuck" places - storing our pain-body in our physical bodies, and start releasing the "stuckness" - this frees our dance; we can start to express the vibrancy and flow of air.	Transition Technique: Cross-step/Touch (with and without hip drops); opening up to improvisation. Movement Across the Floor: On-pulse walk (cont.) Various walks with veil; transmitted by Elena Lentini.	Further Visual Resources: Petite Jamila with veils, PJ's characteristic mind-boggling spins with double veils; excellent YouTube clip with multiple camera views. Beautiful and inspiring! (Best exercise in the world for upper arms as well.)	In The Woman with the Alabaster Jar (see link, next page), Margaret Starbird comments on a painting by Botticelli, "The Madonna of the Book." She is holding a book, with the Christ Child on her lap. He holds three golden arrows in his right hand. According to Starbird, "... more probably they are the esoteric symbols for the triple shafts of enlightenment, a popular motif of medieval alchemists and Rosicruciains." (p. 119)

Study Suggestions and Resources

Visit Practicing at Home -- suggestions and resources for your overall and ongoing "at home" practice.

YouTube Resources Working with the Element of Air -
How to make the best possible use of your dance floor, how to create patterns in the air with your veil, spins and turns, movement across the floor, and more!

DVDs for Working with the Element of Air

Music for Working with the Element of Air

Books for Learning about the Element of Air

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