We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Savanah Senn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Savanah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share a story that illustrates an important or relevant lesson you learned in school
My training includes fusion improvisational vocabulary, Raqs Sharki, and datura style. My experience includes group and solo pieces. My main teacher now is Stefanya for Egyptian style technique and vocabulary. She focuses a lot on avoiding injury, inner thigh activation and internalized movements in the soaz, and continuously improving dance rather than focusing on conformity and perfection in the moment.
The first dance instructor I trained with was Rania Bossonis. It came from a fitness interest and intention to learn better overall body control. It changed my body a lot. I danced with my friends, coworkers and neighbors. Jillina was the first teacher that trained me to be an artist, and in the early days I trained mostly on video and added intermediate classes by Princess Farhana and Ariellah to my practice. Meanwhile I took ballet and jazz class at the local studios in Mendocino to improve my transitions and artistry. I continued to meet new people in the community and danced with everyone I could, mostly joining together for video practices at that time. I introduced a couple of people to the art. I took a few bellydance classes in person in Mendocino with Nicole Fish. It was the first time I danced to live music, in class.
I currently train privately with May Fearnley who has a large collection of competition trophies. My idea is to get the first one and proceed from there! She focuses on a lot of body movement, and professional presentation. After two intensives and an additional workshop with Amy Sigil I am finding that my adaptability, body and spatial awareness, memory, and ambidexterity in dance have all improved. I learned from Jillina about large group pieces in a recent in person workshop, and had a chance to work for her a bit caring for costumes. I have trained in musicality technique and theatricality with Zoe Jakes in person and online. My Egyptian style technique and improvisation has also been improved after multiple workshops with Jacques Al Asmar. Recently, two of his workshops included live music and I had the opportunity to explore the drummer dancer connection with Teri Anne Gutierrez and Susu Pampanin.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m a belly dancer in Los Angeles, California, and I’m focused on preparation and execution of live Arabic music performances. I’m hoping to see a revival of this type of performance locally which may lead to more earning in an upscale setting.
Meanwhile, I have also made an effort to travel and meet the opportunities where they exist.
Since I am also interested in getting teaching experience in dance, I am also seeking opportunities for group dance for training and exposure purposes.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
By paying close attention to the strategy used by Miles Copeland and developing the Bellydance superstars, I have become aware that Arabic music is at the center of the movement.I have an increased awareness of the importance of production and marketing because of my engagement with Jillina and Amy Sigil.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The first teacher that I had at the beginning of my dance journey, it was discouraging and rejected the notion that my services could be marketable. She was into body shaming which I know a lot of dancers have experienced. However, through my engagement with group dance, especially ITS and FCBD, I’ve experienced comrades and contributions from all types of dancers and they have taught me how to be confident in sharing. It has really been a matter of persistence!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @ absinthium_botany
Image Credits
Carl Sermon, Robyn Vandiver, Leo Hernandez