The Value of Guest Artists

Why is it important to sponsor guest artists, such as my upcoming April Shimmies ™ featuring Amani Jabril of Atlanta? From my perspective, it is important for several reasons:

—  Students who are not able to travel across the country (and world, in many cases) have the opportunity to learn new perspectives and techniques from credible sources they may not otherwise be able to.

—  Workshops can often times include haflas or dance parties that give dancers the chance to perform and showcase what they’ve been working on.

—  It’s great to build a network of fellow dancers who share a common goal and shared values!

These reasons, among others, are why I’m sponsoring Amani Jabril of Atlanta, GA for a workshop and show on Saturday, April 17. This event is going to be really spectacular. I’ve asked Amani to teach two workshops: one focused on Oriental Technique and Patterns that can be used by students to either train or to use in their own original choreographies and the second one focused on both technique and choreography for Khaleegy style. Khaleegy dance is from the Gulf area of the Middle East and Amani is going to teach both the Saudi and Iraqi style, as well as a fun dance routine.

Directly following the workshop, there will be a fun halfa (dance party) at Rito’s Mexican Restaurant at 3450 Montgomery Road in Aurora. The doors open at 8:00 pm and the show starts at 8:30 pm. I’m very excited that the show is featuring my new students as well as up and coming local talent, my two troupes (Alif Ba and Raksanna and the Desert Flames) and, of course, Amani and me.

Registration is taking place now for the workshops and tickets for the show are also on sales! Please visit the store to register or buy tickets!