Joana Saahirah´s World Blog
A Collection of Articles, Videos, and Freebies on Egyptian Dance, Self-Discovery & Empowerment
What teachers don´t tell you about Emotion in Egyptian Dance
Emotion and Egyptian Dance come in one single package.
I´d say there´s no Egyptian Dance without emotion. True, mask-free, raw, coming-from-within emotion.
As I work on a new Online Course for Joana Saahirah´s Online Dance School, focused on Love, I reflect on what it means to feel - in Egyptian Dance and in Life - and how we can express emotion in a clear, powerful, meaningful way.
There are techniques, tips, and tricks. Opening of chakras, postures,...
3 (weird but efficient) Steps to Awaken your Creativity
Oh, boy. Where do I start?
Let´s go from the beginning, a very good place to start.
I´ve been what my friends/family/man call a "compulsive creator" since I´ve known myself.
Even before I got into Ballet School, at 5 years old, I was already drawing, singing, dancing - aka Cute Monkey Business -, performing for my colleagues - aka Cute Gibbery Improvised Theatre Plays - and doing Nude Presentations (NOT KIDDING) during nap time.
As soon as the kindergarten ladies left us, to...
Let it burn (Full Moon in Scorpio Celebration)
View from our laundry room
From where I stand, with my pc and a cup of sour, black coffee in hands, there´s a horizon of nature blooming. Luxurious, unapologetic. On your face.
Spring´s here. Everything sings. The sun is finally coming back, reminding us of our identity, the personal star that wants to shine its peculiar light; offering that extra boost of energy that´ll invite us, as it does every year, to CREATE.
Create, and forever recreate,...
The Treasures hiding in Egyptian Dance
From the moment the Quarantine started, I asked myself "how can Egyptian Dance help me and the world move through this challenging time? "
Most people will not turn to Egyptian Dance for life advice/wisdom but I´m not most people. I´ve been digging deep into the ancient art of "Raks al Sharki" for what it feels like an eternity.
I know better. And, as Maya Angelou once put it, "when we know better, we do better."
Authentic Egyptian Dance, the one that...
What´s the true purpose of Egyptian Dance?
The purpose of Egyptian Dance has been forgotten, a long time ago.
Yet, forgotten doesn´t mean lost; it doesn´t mean erased. It just means "forgotten", something that has been buried under the sand and fallen upon collective amnesia.
When I think about the History of Egyptian Dance, its ancient roots and how many changes, limitations, and distortions it has endured, I´m not surprised that its essence has been left behind.
Egyptian Dance has...
Sometimes, this is the most creative thing you can do:
I´ve always been a DOER.
No, I´m no stranger to laziness, procrastination, the fear of failure and/or success, exhaustion. I deal with those, in different intensity degrees, on a daily basis.
Yes, I also like to have fun, relax, being instead of producing. Netflix calls me, quitting is an option, if only for a second; I´m human, after all.
And, still, DOING is my thing. As hard, sweaty, challenging, and boring as it may be, at times, DOING is my cup of...
What´s making my heart skip a bit, right now
Focus isn´t everything but it´s a BIG THING. What we focus on, expands.
Read that again: what we focus on, expands.
Therefore, I focus on things, ideas, people, and news that allow me to feel inspired, sane, empowered, loving, hopeful, human.
Here are a few things that make my heart skip a beat (in the best possible ways):
Andrea Bocelli´s Easter Concert - free live-streamed - from Duomo di Milano (follow the link to access it: Click HERE...
Another way of looking at this pandemic...
History repeats itself.
I just came across this poem written in 1869, reprinted during the 1919 Pandemic.
This is Timeless.
It was written in 1869 by Kathleen O’Meara:
And people stayed at home
And read books
And listened
And they rested
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stopped and listened
More deeply
Someone meditated, someone prayed
Someone met their shadow
And people began to think differently
And people healed.
And in the absence of...
This is HOW I EMPOWER MYSELF in DISEMPOWERING TIMES
We´re living challenging times - that´s a cliché, more than a reality.
Most likely, we´ll feel disempowered, as if we have no saying, whatsoever, over ourselves, our lives, and our future. Individual and collectively.
Now, here´s the catch:
There´s a side of reality we cannot deny or control - the virus, the global lockdown, people sick and dying, fear and uncertainty in the air.
And there´s another side of reality we...
My Top 5 Tips for Self-Care (in times of trouble)
Self-care has always been a passion of mine.
As a professional dancer, who´s always been in the public eye, and an over-doer, I´ve had to learn, from a very early age, the importance of taking good care of this miraculous machine I call "myself".
It may sound selfish, vain, perhaps egocentric. I know it can. We´ve been told a "good woman" takes care of others, not of herself. Right?
Wrong!
A good woman knows she cannot give what she doesn´t have for herself; she...
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