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Dance Jo's main dance style is fusion belly dance. This means taking bellydance moves and styles and combining them with elements of other dance styles (in Jo's case this is predominantly interpretive dance). This works with some middle eastern music and also many other styles (basically if it's got a good rhythm and she can feel the music then she'll dance to it). Although Jo will happily perform some standard belly dance this is not her speciality, she feels that not having grown up in that culture it is unnatural to try to force it. Having grown up with western rock, folk, and other styles more common in the UK Jo far prefers to combine elements of all the styles of her experience to suit the music. Within belly dance she has been told her style tends towards the flow and energy of Turkish dance. Jo can work with props: zills/sagat, cane, veil and is working on poi, sword and always looking for new additions to make performances fun and full on performances rather than stiff dance recitals. Currently Jo is looking for new bands to work with interpreting their music with a view to performing -as a fully commited part of the band-. If you are part of band and are interested please email to discuss this further. Of particular interest are likely to be anything with strong rhythm and/or melody. Styles like rock, folk-rock, (not thrash or metal tho) music with some real texture and movement in it; folk (needs to be at the lively end of the folk scale - dirges aren't too inspiring) and especially various 'world music' styles, especially if drawing on Middle Eastern rhythms. The "world music" principle of combining different and disparate influences to produce something new and alive, which retains a sense of strong musical ancestry seems perfectly suited to Jo's eclectic dance style. Basically, all that said, it's really all down to if the music inspires the dance. One of Jo's favorite bands to dance to, Boka Halat, play multi-cultural English folk - this is English traditional tunes with Indian, Middle Eastern and Gambian rhythms holding them down making them imfectiously dancable for everyone! Jo currently dances with: Assassins of Silence - Hawkwind Tribute Dog Medicine - Left Field Arty Guitar Band Jo also unofficially regularly helps get people up and dancing and having fun at Boka Halat gigs Jo can also teach workshops alongside a drummer, and has taught dance workshops at pagan camps in a field and round a camp fire, she has also taught with other styles of dancers (bhangra and clog!) and drumming at a women's prison. For lots more pictures on Jos .Mac site click here | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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