
The Gilded Serpent presents...
EmmaLucy (Shema)
EmmaLucy is a bit of a Gypsy! Way back there is some Romany blood in her family so perhaps this explains her need to keep moving and experiencing the world in new and challenging ways. (Or perhaps she just can’t stay still!) As an artist, she has always given her whole to learning and representing each art form as it develops, from dance, to music, to writing and beyond, with an integrity and passion which she hopes has inspired and informed those she has been blessed to teach and work amongst. She is prepared to take herself to the edge in order to learn and grow, going far beyond her comfort zone and experiencing life and art at its most exciting and dramatic…
EmmaLucy has always been interested in other cultures, traveling extensively as a musician from a young age and being exposed to new lands, languages and art forms along the way. Dance arrived in her twenties and she performed and taught Egyptian, Arab and Moroccan styles from 2005 across the UK, Canada, the US, Morocco and Egypt. It was a phenomenal experience. This eventually led her to Sinai, where music resurfaced in a dynamic way and writing flourished: in fact, where everything seems to have consolidated into a clear path.
She is undertaking a PhD at SOAS researching Bedouin culture in British Literature and is based between Sinai and the United Kingdom: writing about the culture, dancing under the stars with friends at local weddings and exploring music on the beach with Arabic, Israeli, Egyptian, and Bedouin musicians. Dance, Music, Culture, Language and Food are all linked and connected, so every part of her life now revolves around developing these connections.
The greatest honour was to be invited to work with the head family of the Tarrabin Tribe in Nuweiba, to launch the Bedouin Desert Survival School, preserving traditional skills for future generations, from navigating in the desert, to finding water, weaving goat-hair tents, baking bread and telling poetry.
EmmaLucy has taught, performed and lectured in Europe, Canada, United States, Morocco and Egypt and she is honoured to both study and work with some of the world’s most talented artists. She has been a regular guest artiste at Planet Egypt in London since 2006; Artist in Residence at Silk Route in London during 2009/11; Guest Violinist for the Arabesque Orchestra in Yasmina Ramzy’s production of ‘Egypt’ in 2009; European guest teacher and performer for the world-renowned Bellydance Superstars' event 'Raqs Britannia' (UK) in 2010; lecturer and featured performer at the 'International Bellydance Conference of Canada' in 2010 and guest speaker and performer at MassRaqs in Boston, USA in 2011.
Web sites:
Egypt Blog: www.emmalucycole.blogspot.com
Facebook: EmmaLucy Sinai
Desert School: www.desertschool.moonfruit.com
Articles on Gilded Serpent by or about Shema
- 5-17-12 Meet the Neighbors, Chapter 2 of Veiling in the Desert
I sit here in my Bedouin house with a cup of green tea and some helawa (halva) and I can still hear the women laughing outside. Although my focus here is to learn the dance, I always feel that in order to understand a traditional dance form, I need also to understand the culture. - 2-21-12 Veiling in the Desert, Moving to Egypt to Study Bedouin Dance, Culture, and Language …and Maybe to Buy a Camel!
I was a little nervous about dancing in front of the Bedouin musicians. Although I had been itching to get up and dance all evening, a fear of causing offense or of behaving inappropriately in some way had stopped me from asking. - 12-18-11 Edward and Tahia; Breaking Down Cultural Appropriation Myths
But what is “culture,” and how (if at all) have we appropriated it? Who is the implied speaker here, and what makes us believe that there is disapproval being voiced? - 5-25-11 The Transformation of Beauty, Inverting the Gaza, Part 3
As women and performers, why cannot we see beyond physical representation, when we, too, are trying our hardest to achieve such beauty in our own lives? Such hypocrisy ensures that we can never escape the limitations that society and, thus, we place these same limitations upon our own bodies. - 3-10-11 Cultural Traditions vs Sexual Stereotypes Part 2 of The Female Gaze or "Medusa Dualities in Female Bellydance Performance and How the Gaze Continues to be Relevant Today"
There is a fine line between respecting cultural traditions and histories and reinforcing behaviours which are inherently damaging to the perception of the female body and its rights. - 8-15-10 Inverting the Gaze, Medusa Dualities in Female Bellydance Performance and How the Gaze Continues to be Relevant Today
This is not so hard to understand when we consider that the representation of female sexuality has been so over-developed as to become almost a parody of itself. - 4-16-10 Belly Dance and Feminism: Different Issues, Different Perspectives
Feminism embraces more than one point of view, and feminist perspectives lead to many different decisions and courses of action. Feminism is a tool for thinking – for understanding and putting a name to issues you may be wrestling with in your own dance life, and for seeing belly dance in the light of broader economic, social and political realities. - 5-5-09 One Hip in Each Camp, My Experience of Working in Both the Arabesque Dance Company and the Arabesque Orchestra
My dancing is fuelled by my understanding of the music and now, my playing is influenced by the emotions I experience when I dance. It is a cyclical experience which has been boosted by this incredible opportunity to work with some of the most talented Arabic musicians on the scene.