Sam Workshops in Peebles
Samantha Emanuelle Workshops - October
Again thanks to Doris and Celia of Borders Arabic Dance, we were graced with the adorable
presence of a fantastic tribal fusion dancer in the shape of Sam! Ali and I had to get up at the
arse-crack of dawn to get down to Peebles in time for the 10am workshop and other dancers
came from far and wide such as Bex, Dawn, Alexis and Tamsin who were also to perform at
the evening showcase in the Eastgate Theatre down the road.
We started with a video of various awesome and inspiring sea creatures and jellyfish to gain
a basis for the workshop outcome. We were then given a vigorous arm swinging and brain
melting warm up which I am using now in my practice. We paired up and gave each other a
good back massage, punch on the ass and pinch round the ear lobes to get the creative juices
flowing which was fun.
Transformed into curled up sea creatures exploring our new dance environment for the first
time, we used just an arm or just a leg to furkle about and find dimensions and spaces that I
personally had never explored in my dancing before. It made me feel like I had been limiting
myself and been so 2D in the movements I choose. The visual help from imagining that my
wrists are made of cork and that I need to move my arms and hands like im pushing against
dense water really helped.
We explored mirroring in pairs using dime-stopping and ticking, and learned a short sea
creature based choreography. There was also a part where in pairs we worked out two 8
counts of our own which encouraged us to be a bit more creative and Ali and I came up with
some nice moves which we will probably use in some future troupe routine.
After some lunch and cake it was Honky Tonk time. It’s a choreo most of us had seen Sam
perform in Youtube videos and is pretty fast paced. We would learn a chunk, move on, run
through a couple of times, learning another chunk, run through etc which worked really well.
By the end I was sweating like a sweaty thing but felt really energised and fulfilled. Sam is
another great teacher who teaches you the root of a movement and gets you to feel which
muscles you are using to make the movement, which I think is the best way of explaining it to
someone.
After the workshop I headed to the Eastgate with Doris, Celia, Amanda and Sam to check out
the lighting requirements for the show with the staff. That was pretty cool as Sam pointed out
it’s not often as a dancer you get the chance to specify what kind of lighting you want.
We rushed back to the Robertson household to get make-up on for the show and a quick bite
to eat thanks to David. The standard of the show was really good with such a wide variety of
styles and abilities on display.
For my solo I had to follow Meg first of all, which as most of you know is near to impossible
as she is such a star. I had been humming and hawing over what song to use for weeks
and was going to go for a slowish Faith no More track but the week before settled on the
appropriately named ‘Slow’ by Rumer, a Radio 2 favourite I believe (she sounds a lot like
Karen Carpenter).
This next sentence might sound like some sort of lame excuse - As I’m so tall and gangly
I have difficulty making quick sharp movements and being able to adequately pull off
any ‘hip-hop’ -esque combos is hard for me personally. I try and do too much and it just looks
ridiculous, not like when Sam does it. Small dancers are such lucky bastards, I hope they
know that.
Anyway, I decided a while ago that I should stick to slowish or moderate speed songs for
now so I can use my lankiness to my advantage and strike some elegant poses. Not sure if I
managed that or not as I haven’t seen the video yet, however Sam did pay me the ultimate
compliment and said after the show that I held the energy right through my arms to my
fingertips which is good enough for me! Also Shelley Skipper said I looked like a Mucha
girl which was cool!
As for watching the show I particularly enjoyed Shimmer’s ATS, Alexis’ emotional fusion
piece, Bex’s vampire theatrical fusion, Tamsyn’s gypsy skirt, and of course Sam’ s pieces
which ended the first half and the end of the show. We all had a good laugh although missed
out of the drunken guys flailing around with isis wings in the street after we left.
I hope I can take some more workshops with Sam in the future. It would be great to do her
intensives down in Exeter but it’s so bloody far away. Maybe I can time it with a holiday as
I’ve always wanted to go to Dorset/Devon area and stalk Hugh Fernley Whittingstall and
search for fossils at Lyme Regis :D
Again thanks to Doris and Celia of Borders Arabic Dance, we were graced with the adorable
presence of a fantastic tribal fusion dancer in the shape of Sam! Ali and I had to get up at the
arse-crack of dawn to get down to Peebles in time for the 10am workshop and other dancers
came from far and wide such as Bex, Dawn, Alexis and Tamsin who were also to perform at
the evening showcase in the Eastgate Theatre down the road.
We started with a video of various awesome and inspiring sea creatures and jellyfish to gain
a basis for the workshop outcome. We were then given a vigorous arm swinging and brain
melting warm up which I am using now in my practice. We paired up and gave each other a
good back massage, punch on the ass and pinch round the ear lobes to get the creative juices
flowing which was fun.
Transformed into curled up sea creatures exploring our new dance environment for the first
time, we used just an arm or just a leg to furkle about and find dimensions and spaces that I
personally had never explored in my dancing before. It made me feel like I had been limiting
myself and been so 2D in the movements I choose. The visual help from imagining that my
wrists are made of cork and that I need to move my arms and hands like im pushing against
dense water really helped.
We explored mirroring in pairs using dime-stopping and ticking, and learned a short sea
creature based choreography. There was also a part where in pairs we worked out two 8
counts of our own which encouraged us to be a bit more creative and Ali and I came up with
some nice moves which we will probably use in some future troupe routine.
After some lunch and cake it was Honky Tonk time. It’s a choreo most of us had seen Sam
perform in Youtube videos and is pretty fast paced. We would learn a chunk, move on, run
through a couple of times, learning another chunk, run through etc which worked really well.
By the end I was sweating like a sweaty thing but felt really energised and fulfilled. Sam is
another great teacher who teaches you the root of a movement and gets you to feel which
muscles you are using to make the movement, which I think is the best way of explaining it to
someone.
After the workshop I headed to the Eastgate with Doris, Celia, Amanda and Sam to check out
the lighting requirements for the show with the staff. That was pretty cool as Sam pointed out
it’s not often as a dancer you get the chance to specify what kind of lighting you want.
We rushed back to the Robertson household to get make-up on for the show and a quick bite
to eat thanks to David. The standard of the show was really good with such a wide variety of
styles and abilities on display.
For my solo I had to follow Meg first of all, which as most of you know is near to impossible
as she is such a star. I had been humming and hawing over what song to use for weeks
and was going to go for a slowish Faith no More track but the week before settled on the
appropriately named ‘Slow’ by Rumer, a Radio 2 favourite I believe (she sounds a lot like
Karen Carpenter).
This next sentence might sound like some sort of lame excuse - As I’m so tall and gangly
I have difficulty making quick sharp movements and being able to adequately pull off
any ‘hip-hop’ -esque combos is hard for me personally. I try and do too much and it just looks
ridiculous, not like when Sam does it. Small dancers are such lucky bastards, I hope they
know that.
Anyway, I decided a while ago that I should stick to slowish or moderate speed songs for
now so I can use my lankiness to my advantage and strike some elegant poses. Not sure if I
managed that or not as I haven’t seen the video yet, however Sam did pay me the ultimate
compliment and said after the show that I held the energy right through my arms to my
fingertips which is good enough for me! Also Shelley Skipper said I looked like a Mucha
girl which was cool!
As for watching the show I particularly enjoyed Shimmer’s ATS, Alexis’ emotional fusion
piece, Bex’s vampire theatrical fusion, Tamsyn’s gypsy skirt, and of course Sam’ s pieces
which ended the first half and the end of the show. We all had a good laugh although missed
out of the drunken guys flailing around with isis wings in the street after we left.
I hope I can take some more workshops with Sam in the future. It would be great to do her
intensives down in Exeter but it’s so bloody far away. Maybe I can time it with a holiday as
I’ve always wanted to go to Dorset/Devon area and stalk Hugh Fernley Whittingstall and
search for fossils at Lyme Regis :D