Tribal Bellydance Intensives with Paulette of Gypsy Caravan–

Collective Soul Levels One and Two,

in April (CS1 April 8-10, CS2 April 11-13) in Hungtingdon Valley, PA, near Philly. last Call!

email dance@gypsycaravan.us

Can you join us? I would love to dance with you…

www.gypsycaravan.us

Back on the farm and good to be home! 6:30 am, and it is getting light now, very happy about that. Frosty ground, not the sunny warm weather of Australia, but I love it! Visiting with all my little and big animals, and celebrate my man’s birthday while I dive back into the piles of work waiting for me. Unfortunately that does not go away while I do. Ah well…

paulette in brisbane

Now I have time to reflect back on my fabulous trip down under, and finish telling you about it! I am sorting through the tons of photos I took on my journey.

After the delicious CS1 intensive, I gathered with my three Level One Teacher Trainees, Becky from Albany, Sienna from Cairns, and Christine from Auckland, New Zealand. They have been dancing and teaching for the past year, working with my training program while refining their teaching skills. So after a year since we started that program together, last February when I was in Adelaide, we were able to come together in person, review the processes, and I am happy to certify them into the small school of graduates! I am proud and they have been doing great work!

so turbans off to them…

Teacher trainee grads!

I then continued on with Collective Soul Level 2, still in Brisbane. Another great 3 days of intensive dancing and talking. What a joyful, and painful process sometimes too. We stretch ourselves, with tired bodies, excited minds, and emotional feelings, it is a lot to take in in three days. And as always, sometimes three days is not long enough. We must honor our individual processes while we continue our work, and enjoy the journey before we get to the end result. But it does feel good to get to the root of the dance, what it means, how it works, and where we can go from there as dancers and artists, and I so thrive on being part of every dancer’s journey.

Congratulations to the Collective Soul Level Two dancers and grads:

Collective Soul Level Two dancers!

Sienna, Dee,Becky, Christine, Nina, and  Heidi–thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and your beautiful dance! what an honor to dance with you all…

and lastly!

Congratulations to Nina for getting certified in my Teacher Training Level 2 course.

We worked  one on one and she has made me proud! great work Nina! And so glad you will be joining the Gypsy Caravan and the Caravan Dance Collective in Portland, with Hilary and Amanda from Caravan Soul Collective International, and also at Tribal Fest in California this May!

Nina and Paulette

woo hoo!

What a journey this has been, the last few weeks in Australia. I have had the opportunity to meet and dance with some beautiful women, who have undertook intensive study with me. Congratulations to them for getting their certification, both in Collective Soul Level One and Teacher Training Level One. And not without a few giggles!

Collective Soul Level One grads...

Back row: Kelly, Colleen, myself, Shanne, Kate, Julie, and Dee

Front row: Margart, Heidi, and Becky

Heidi, Becky, and Dee did the course as a refresher, to get ready for the next intensive that immediatly followed, Collective Soul Level 2, testing today!

Lately I’ve been discussing how the dance is empowering to the women, on so many levels. Appropriately on Chris Guillebeau’s blog today, he writes:

Empowerment, as I think of it, is all about the beautiful principle of transferring knowledge and helping people consider possibilities that previously seemed out of reach.

This was a perfect read for today:

http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/the-small-man-builds-cages-for-everyone/

Fulfilling, rewarding, with sweat, tears, and joy… we reach for what we desire, experience our own journey along the way, and listen and share with the other’s we are joined with. Trust and community building: that is beautiful. I am constantly awed and rewarded by the women I dance with.

Thank you gals for giving me you trust, your time, and your dance! andhere is to the next step on your dance path.

Celebration!

Good work Teacher Trainees: Becky, Christine, and Sienna (photos to follow!)

I was just sent more photos from the lovely event, Tribalesque, in Adelaide, taken by Michael Coppola.

The Caravan Soul Collective, International, Adelaide, did a good job after just a couple of quick rehearsals! and here we are….

Heidi, Christine, Paulette laughing very big, Lisa

with Dee and Lesley in front

Wow, dancers, what a fabulous weekend of workshops. You all danced so hard, it was such a delight to teach and share with you my ideas of tribal.

Tribalesque was a great show on Friday night, with so much variety, good dancing and wonderful costumes. And powerful to see your community coming together in support of each other. Truly lovely! Thank you for having me and for sharing your dance with me. And thank you for the beautiful flowers and wine!

Caravan Soul Collective, International did a great job performing with me at the show too. It was wayyyy fun! We rehearsed only a few times in between dancing for the intensive! And they all passed the Collective Soul Level One testing as well… congratulations!

These woman just completed their certification.

Interview with Les Soeurs Tribales, Milan, Italy 11/08

As I spent the week with my dancing sisters, Cinzia and Francesca, in Milan, working on their Collective Soul Level Two certification, rehearsing for the big show on Saturday night as part of their festival, and eating and drinking wine together, I wanted to share with you an informal interview/discussion with them about their dance.

In defining their style, they both say they have studied several styles of tribal belly dance, as well as cabaret, modern, ballet, and other forms of working out, but have really wanted to stick with classic tribal (or old-school!) the Gypsy Caravan way to learn the roots.

Paulette: You have just complete Collective Soul Level Two and have said you want to do train in all six levels of Collective Soul. Why study with me?

Francesca: Your personality as a teacher is appealing.

Cinzia: We wanted you as our teacher because you are so passionate about your dance and are concerned for your students.

Paulette: Thank you so much for those kind words. What is it about tribal that draws you to it?

Francesca: Tribal is not tied to choreography.

Cinzia: So it gives you freedom!

Francesca: There is no competition in the group; you are all working for the same goal.

Cinzia: Everyone has a responsibility as we move the ego aside, even though it is harder to dance within a group. We are friends in life, so dancing together shows our love. We have more freedom in our choices of music, and the movements influenced by different dances. Tribal is a way of thinking, of being.

I asked them about their future dance dreams?

They both say they want to build their performance troupe, and to have a fixed style, a signature style, as they are interested in experimentation with adding more contemporary dance into their tribal with improvisation and some choreography.

The dancers of Les Soeurs Tribales (which means the tribal sisters in French) work so hard, running their dance school with their other partner, Grazia, teaching several classes a week, rehearsing, and they continue their own dance studies.

For the festival we three performed as the first performance of the Caravan Soul Collective International! It was very exciting for me, and energizing for all of us, plus we got about twelve of their students to back us up as our chorus and it was high energy!

More about that to come! I do hope one day you will get to see them perform too! It may be this next year too… (wink wink…)