 Najia
Marlyz
A
Teacher or Coach:
What’s the Difference?
Why All Performing Dancers Need a Dance
Coach
by Najia Marlyz
Bay Point, Greater San Francisco Bay Area,
CA What
was it that the police officer said in that movie? I think he said,
“Badge? I don’t need no stinkin’ badge!” Well, perhaps not, and
it is certain that because you have a teacher, can dance beautifully,
and get plenty of gigs too, you might think you don’t need no stinkin’
coach either…
…However,
I would like you to imagine what you might become if you only
knew some of what it is that you do not know now…
People will
not tell you the truth, you know. If they thought your dance was
lacking, they feel sorry for you, and they will say something they
think sounds supportive and positive. If it was a truly amazing
performance, they will say something that they think sounds supportive
and positive. I hope that they will always cheer and never boo your
efforts. However, you cannot see yourself the way that another
person can see you.
Video not only
adds ten pounds but also often subtracts the magic that is the essence
of your dance. Aren’t you just a little bit curious how another
looks at your dance and sees…what? Don’t you wonder sometimes if
your dance is all that it could be? If you have begun to believe
in your dance skills as outstanding in quality, or that your skills
are substantially on the road to superior (though it would be embarrassing
to admit that aloud to very many people), it is time!
It is
not a moment too soon to find a coach who can aid you in all phases
of your performances—from costuming (Does this costume make me
look voluptuous—or just like I have a huge derrière?) to technique
and choosing just the right music.
Most performers
have a great deal of untapped potential; additionally, many consider
it cheating to engage a professional coach and yet, that is exactly
what they would look for if this were the Olympics and they were
competing for the gold. Obtaining a performance coach to enhance
what it is that you are good at doing is probably your next logical
step in attaining your dance goals and subsequently renewing your
inspiration. It is less publicly revealing of your little faux pas
and deficiencies when you can work without witnesses hearing your
questions and hearing assessments of your skills and corrections
of errors in technique. Therefore, you will want to work in private
with an experienced dance coach who has had a full dance career
in performance skills. (The better you are as a dancer,
the more we can accomplish together!)
Since the time
I began to dance in 1968 and now, I have developed some unique insights
into coaching Western dancers in the Eastern dance (and creative
dance form also) and have become a recognized coach in the field
of performance dancing because of the amazing and rapid improvement
others see in my clients’ dancing.
I urge
dancers who perform in public, and some who are about to begin
performing, to seek the benefits of working with an appropriate
performance coach as I did for about three years when I was just
beginning to perform.
I offer my
clientele private sessions (one-on-one) that take place during the
daytime and on alternating weekends, in a small, non-intimidating
home-studio environment in Bay Point, California. (Greater San Francisco
Bay Area, near Concord, Martinez.) You will need private transportation
to get to my studio.
I never require
my coaching clients to “start over” with beginner’s lessons (even
if it becomes evident to me that some of them have vast un-addressed
lack of dance concepts missing from their dance technique). Consequently,
I enter them into a sort of dance triage. When using term
“dance triage” I mean the sort of selective treatment order one
might receive in a crowded emergency room of a hospital. I take
on areas of egregious neglect and need and, at the same time, build
upon strengths of survival that have sustained my client’s dance
thus far. If some part your dance needs a tourniquet, I will see
that you understand exactly why!
Without
exception, my dancers move forward from wherever they are in dance
presently to a greater level of dance expression that they most
certainly would not have envisioned alone.
However, in
order to withstand the process of my triage, dancers must have a
real love for moving in an extemporaneous style of composition and
must have outgrown the Western need to rely on a formal choreography.
(Please note that the term “choreography” means nothing
more than a pre-planned written dance for skillful
memorization. However, in my opinion, in recent years, it
has come to imply an element of legitimacy in form and stature that
is a false impression and a debilitating crutch. Therefore, I will
not be creating choreography for you or helping you with anyone
else’s.) I will teach you how to listen to music analytically and
how to react to it as a unique dance artist.
“The magic
of Oriental dance springs from an intense desire to communicate
emotional truths by moving one’s body from the inside out.” --Najia
 If
you move from your emotional center, (not the dancer’s center of
gravity!) you should continue your learning process by adding a
dance coach to your dance life and career, nonetheless. Even though
this may increase your dance involvement at least a couple of times
per month, one should not drop classes with a current instructor
so that social contacts in dance are not broken. These contacts
remain important in one’s dance advancement now because they will
become a part of one’s dance networking in the future.
“Coaching
is an intimate process in which your ability to grow in dance,
your needs, and your heart's desire for your life reflected through
dance will come under intense scrutiny.” --Najia
In order
to do it right, coaching takes time, and to know you well enough
to access what you need will take time and repetition as well as
numerous performances of all types: birthdays, recitals, festivals,
etc. New paths should open for you, and one or two get-togethers
can only reveal to a coach where they are—not how to reach the performer
with the new information deemed necessary. Whether dance clients
can enter onto those new paths securely depends on intent, dedication,
and follow-though.
My Scheduling:
Most clients schedule a two-hour session on alternating weeks
on a designated day at a set time that remains constant twice per
month. Coaching time is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
alternating weekends--both Saturday and Sunday. You may schedule
your coaching sessions to begin between 9:30 in the morning and
4:30 in the afternoon; the latest possible appointment would be
4:30 to 6:30, unless there are some special circumstances involved.
9 months
of the year are available for booking your coaching sessions!
However, I
book no sessions between the Fourth of July and Labor Day in September,
or from Thanksgiving through the first week of the New Year, or
on national holidays—except for my regular clientele and on an urgent
basis.
Take care to
begin coaching sessions only if you expect to stay involved for
at least a year after your first two-hour session! Planning
to finish what you have begun is an important part of making your
dance become outstanding and professional. You need not worry about
getting involved in a process that you cannot handle or enjoy. In
the event that you are not satisfied after our first or second dance
session together, I will schedule you for a consultation to try
to identify your goals more clearly. Then, I will put you in touch
with another instructor who is prepared to work with you on your
goals in a style of instruction different from mine.
Currently,
in 2006, one two-hour coaching session costs $75, while a consultation
is $45. for one hour. However, along with inflation and overhead
expenses, fees may increase occasionally. (I will tell you if my
fee has changed when we first make contact.) I will never obligate
you to pay for blocks of lessons because I prefer to receive payment
after each session.
Protocol requires
24-hour notice of your cancellation of a session. It is not always
possible to re-schedule missed sessions. Please note that though
there are a few exceptions, the full fee is due for any session
missed without a formal phone or email cancellation.
I take
coaching seriously, and though I may wish to remain flexible,
I will not accept excuses that are preventable happenings because
follow-through is part of your capacity to work professionally.
You
may phone me and leave a message at
(925) 709-0300
during the day.
najiamarlyz@sbcglobal.net
Articles
on Gilded Serpent by Najia Marlyz
Opinion
and Advice, Dance
and Teaching Techniques, Memoirs
and History, Costuming
and Textiles, Reviews,
Miscellany
Opinion
and Advice
- 2-17-06
This
is Not a Review: Bellydance Superstars Commentary by Najia
Marlyz
Herein lies one major flaw concerning the concept of superstardom
in Bellydance: choreography. While choreography is a form
of quality assurance, it is also assurance that the quality
attained will be less than stellar in Bellydance!
- 4-9-04
Who
Died and Made You Queen of Dance?
This lack of background basic performing experience would
be unheard of and un-tolerated in any other dance form.
- 12-2-03
Advice
from a Temporal Dance Oracle --Dance related
disputes
- 9-9-03
Searching
for Your New Dance Teacher, The First Interview
- 7-25-03
The
New Age Adage for Performing Dancers
If you have nothing to say through your dance, do not dance.
- 4-12-03
The Critic;
Real Critics Don’t Mince Words by Najia Marlyz
Either we are a sisterhood of ego
therapists and our instructors are politically correct
in all they say
and do—or we are tough artists in search of
ways to improve our art form by ruthlessly weeding
out the lame from our herd.
- 8-12-02
Certifying
the Certifiers, The Chicken or the Egg? Part Two by
Najia Marlyz, ...
artists and stars are born, not schooled. You’ve either “got it, or you don’t”
- 6-6-02
Certifying
the Certifiers by Najia Marlyz
...this has occurred because of the current need to be correct,
and within certain predictable standards of competence rather
than special, unique, outstanding, unusual, memorable, or
even (gasp!) emotion producing...
- 2-6-02
What do
You Owe Your Dance Teacher, besides a Christmas Fruitcake?
Teaching involves a selflessness that often does not often
jibe with the egotism it takes to be an outstanding performer.
- 12-14-00
Why
Take Private Lessons and Coaching?
You will enhance your presentation beyond your wildest
dreams!
- 9-18-00
Dancing to the Houri's
Siren
She was always there dancing at my shoulder and up-staging
me in my own mind...
- 2-20-00
Entertainment
or Art?
It is possible to be an artiste in a non-art form in the sense
that one may be skilled, professional and artistic at the
business of entertainment.
- 9-23-99
Welcome to Bellydance
..Do not allow anyone to limit your possibilities.
- 8-20-99 BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU
WISH FOR…
A Case against Standardization in Nomenclature for Belly Dance
Instruction
- February
1999 Najia introduces her
new column
- 12-7-01
Rakkasah
West 2002 Looms Ahead by Najia Marlyz
Although Rakkasah still is an attempt to give all dance performers
an equal opportunity, results of the phone-in to book a dance
time is often very chancy because of high demand.
 Dance
and Teaching Techniques
- 3-13-08 Enduring
Open Criticism: A Student’s Question about Feeling
Humiliated by Najia Marlyz
What is
wrong with our form of dance today is a direct result of the current trend for
treating dance students as if they were in therapy or grade school (or both).
- 9-11-07 How
to Avoid the Executioner: A Journey into Creative
Listening by Najia Marlyz
Standardization
can ruin an art form as it would the fashion industry—or
any other endeavor
based upon creative thinking.
- 9-15-06
The
Taxim from a Dancer's Perspective:Tarab or Tyranny? by Najia
Marlyz
Sometimes, these improvisations can be quite elaborate. The
effect is somewhat like modern jazz and stays within the framework
of the traditional maqam or maqamat.
- 11-28-06
Back
to Basics by Najia Marlyz
Belly Dance is most meaningful when we define it as a communication
of mutually held emotional response and truths between people
- 12-24-03
Dancing
Inside Out
- 10-28-03
Raks
Assaya Instruction at Najia’s Studio
Demonstrated by Rawan El-Mouzayen (Arab-American, age 3)
- 5-23-03
The “It
Factor”
Between the two men, my dance teacher and my artistic lover,
how could I not learn to bring the movements from the core
(heart) to the outside?
- 3-2-03
Painting
Dance -Fabulous!
I'd like dancers to understand how the ideas of color, texture,
tone, shading, etc. can also apply to the art of speaking
through movement.
- 1-11-03
Music
to My Ears, How I Learned to Hear Like a Dancer
Musical interpretation is the single, most important skill
that can elevate the Oriental dancer from the chorus line
to the spotlight.
- 11-21-02
The
Great American Belly Dance Veil Routine by
Najia Marlyz
After having said all that, I must add that American style
Oriental/Belly dance is a distinctive style composed of creative
elements that are simply outstanding.
- 4-10-02
"Does
Learning Constitute Copying? My Musings about Sharing Dance"
I could still feel her pain as she spoke...
- 10-19-01
Follow
the Bouncing Butt; in Defense of a Teaching Method
Some of the "Follow Me" teachers should be more
aptly described as "inspirationally oriented".
- 5-9-01
Taming the Wild
Frilly-Lou Bird, Or Training Your Hands to Dance
Once the dancer learns the skill of audience dialogue
through energy transfer...
- 3-10-01
Put Your Dance on
a Pedestal
Many dancers make the mistake of using the entire width
of the front part of their feet when they dance, because
they
have never been taught dancer's footwork. "Ankle wobble"indicates...
- 5-19-00
Dance Emotion,
Part 2
The audience is not going to care, or even notice, that
a dancer did a high-stepping Fandango Walking Step with
an over-lay
of a Soheir Zaki Head Tilt and a really fine
- 11-24-99
Dance
Emotion, Part 1
"The place of dance is within the heart."
- 6-7-99
Becoming a Fanana
of the Belly Dance-
Instead of a musical slave, I believe it is your calling as
a dancer to interplay with the music.
Memoirs
and History
- 3-5-07
My
Dance Career’s Dark Side: As seen through a fog of murky
emotion
by Najia Marlyz
Will recounting my dark stories help me to purge them? Should
one forget those special moments of insult and bad human behavior
that all performers face?
- 1-12-07
The Magnificent Fundraiser Part IV: The Berkeley Fire Department
and Act 3, Bert and Najia's Duet by Najia Marlyz Slideshow
coding by Tammy Yee
Near the end of our Second Act, the curtain began to smolder
badly filling the air with an acrid stench and blue smoke...
- 6-18-06
The
Magnificent Fundraiser Part Three: Acts I and II by Najia
Marlyz
...today’s dancers and producers sometimes write that they
believe that large stage shows with good sound and lighting,
a Master of Ceremonies, and live music are only now starting
production ...
- 4-7-06
The
Magnificent Fundraiser, Part Two- Police Barriers Surround
Event by Najia Marlyz
Over coffee, we decided that our fundraiser would have to
be an extraordinary dance show rather than “just another student
night” or worse yet, a studio recital.
- 1-30-06The Magnificent
Fundraiser by Najia Marlyz
That included the Belly dance, which he confided in me (later)
that he had hated, because it had been introduced to Greece
during the time that Greece was under the suppression and
control of the Turks.
- 3-31-05
Defiant
Dancer: How I became a Dance Pioneer In a small 1970s California
Community Festival My attitude turned from community
spirit to outright defiance.
- 11-19-01
"A
Star Remembered, The Maturation of a Career in Performing"
... last thing in the world that I wanted for myself
and my own dance career was to be a "forty year old belly
dancer".
- 2-17-01
Zil Thrills
in the '70s, Memories from another Viewpoint
My experience with Bert was the opposite, however; the
cymbals were hardly a secret.
- 12-16-99
The
North Beach Project
I took leave before I was invited to leave.
Costuming
and Textiles
- 11-24-07 Antique
Textiles Part 3: Creating Your Unique Statement by
Najia Marlyz
It is
possible that you may never have performed professionally while wearing a lampshade
on your head… but I have!
- 7-31-07 Part
Two of Antique Textiles: Costuming Before the Reign of Egyptian
Costumers by Najia Marlyz
I
view today’s dance values as interlopers—meant
to mitigate Belly dance’s checkered past by exchanging
its innate free emotional expression for speed and difficulty
of execution and an over-the-top outpouring of energy that
is neither sensual or exotic.
- 4-18-07 Antique Textiles:
Renewed Life for Dance by Najia Marlyz
In fact, we often danced for many little luncheon gigs in offices
and other places as a surprise birthday
gift—to the music of our own solo sagat. Now, that is a
skill that I have never seen anyone repeat since the early
seventies!
- 9-15-05
Part
Five; Lace and My Muses: Treasures by Najia Marlyz
I was looking at a piece of artwork featuring a classical
dancer of the past, turning it this way and that to get a
better view, and suddenly, I realized that I had lost contact
with my treasured mentors and had also abandoned my sense
of artistic direction that they had helped to foster within
me.
- 2-16-05
Lace
and My Muses, Part 4 of 5:Tarnished StarDust
Not until very recent times, could I admit, even to myself,
that I had lost a large part of my creative thrust along with
many of my treasured friendships because I had perceived wrongly
that I needed to become more like the Egyptian and Lebanese
dancers of the day.
- 11-08-04
Lace
and My Muses: In Search of A Personal Style Part Three
I suggest that “elevating Belly dance” to the standards of
western dance would be counter-productive in the long-term
rather than a valid goal for us to desire.
- 8-3-04
Lace
and My Muses: Everything Old Becomes New Again Section 1,
Part Two
Now it was the ancient, exotic art of Belly dancing and my
fantasies of the bizarre life of a Belly dancer that smoked
incense into my heart.
- 6-15-04
Lace
and My Muses Part 1: Egyptian Mummy Lace or “Assiute Cloth”
I fastened around my hips a white Assuite cloth encrusted
with gold knots throughout, forming pictographs of falcons,
pyramids, crosses, and diamond shaped designs.
Poetry
and Allegories about Dance
Miscellany
- 5-26-08 Betty
Th’ Builder: a Little Something Extra to Shake Co-written
by Najia Marlyz and Salima
This year's "Grand
Dancer" tells of her transformation from body builder to Bellydancer
- 6-16-05
Surreyya:
Adding Dance to Her Repertoire
Set choreographies are seldom the “stuff of dreams” but simply
serve as crutches for the dancer who has not developed a “clean
edge”.
- 2-25-04
Live
Music and Me: The Third Sunday at El Morocco, Photos and
story provided by Faridha, Written by Najia Marlyz
Live musicians, whether hot or just luke warm, alway confront
the dancer with a set of variables.
- 10-22-02
A
Story Written with Arabic Idioms; Why it is Difficult
to Translate Arabic songs into English, Story by Annonymous,
Translations and interpretations by Rima El-Mouzayen, Introduction
by Najia Marlyz
“just try to read it in English and at the same time, think
in Lebanese Arabic…if you can! "
- 7-31-00
MiniDisc Recorders-The
Best Kept Secret for Music Lovers I would unhesitatingly
recommend that, at the very least, a dancer should own a MiniDisc
recorder for its editing function alone.
 Reviews
|
|
