Friday, September 9, 2016

Teacher Feature: Celeste



We are excited to have one Celeste as one of our core instructors!  She will be offering the following workshop:
Help! I'm stuck! - Getting out of a rut in your performance prep
Sunday October 16th, 10:45 AM - 12:15PM

We've all been frustrated by the first minute of a choreography coming out easily but the rest is a struggle. Or, when preparing for a more improvisational piece, feeling like we do the same moves over and over. This dance preparation rut is very common. This workshop aims to help you move past those moments more easily by providing some exercises that will prompt your creative brain to kick back into gear and get you past that road block. This workshop is also good for anyone who wants new ideas for choreographing/prepping for pieces. All skill levels welcome.



More about Celeste
Celeste is a dark belly dance performer and instructor. She has been performing all over the Midwest since 2006 and has recently relocated in Seattle in the fall of 2015.
Celeste has always loved dancing. She took 2 years of modern dance classes and taught Medieval and Renaissance dancing through the SCA (Society for a Creative Anachronism) for about 10 years. However, it wasn't until she discovered belly dance that she found a dance form that was truly satisfying for her. She started taking classes in her hometown of Quebec City, Canada in 1995, with Francine Morneau. She learned a blend of Egyptian and Turkish belly dance for the next 5 years. Celeste took a 4-year break from belly dance, during which she moved to Indianapolis IN. In the Fall of 2004, the belly dance bug bit her again and she started taking formal classes with Jaleela Saleem.
The ITS and tribal fusion aesthetics attracted Celeste and she was delighted when Jaleela did a session on tribal style and created a troupe, which later became Black Rose Caravan. After Jaleela retired from Black Rose Caravan due to health reasons in 2005, Celeste became director of Black Rose Caravan and started teaching the troupe members. In the Spring of 2006, Celeste expanded her teaching and started offering classes and has been teaching ever since.
Celeste considers herself a constant student of this dance form and, as such, has taken countless workshops over the years and is currently being mentored by Tempest. She loves to share elements from the workshops with her students and incorporate some elements into her own dance. Celeste loves to have at her disposal any item from her personal toolbox within her reach, which means learning many different ways of executing movements and being able to pick whichever one is more appropriate for the performance. Having a strong technical background, Celeste adds artistry to the physical execution of belly dance in her performances.
In the classroom, Celeste combines her dark sense of humor with structured technique to foster a positive learning experience that helps students remember material quickly and naturally. She currently teaches tribal fusion from her knowledge of fusion technique as well as her personal repertoire of dark belly dance.
Celeste has taught workshops at Tribal Revolution, Midwest Mayhem, Angels and Absinthe 2, and has been a featured instructor at Waking Persephone since its inception.



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