Dance Bio

[shanmonster]

I hate writing these things, but it seems necessary. What do you think of this? I'm sure it needs work.

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Shantell Powell is a fusion dancer with a great love of performance. Along with being a theatre graduate from the University of New Brunswick, she has trained extensively in movement arts, studying with the following dance artists:

- Catherine Linfield (American cabaret)
- Terry Harper (Lebanese raqs sharqi)
- Denise Enan (Egyptian raqs sharqi and folkloric)
- Yasmina Ramzy (Egyptian raqs sharqi, Saidi)
- Jalilah (Egyptian raqs sharqi, Ghawazee)
- Hadia (Egyptian raqs sharqi, Ghawazee, teacher training)
- Carrie Hiebert (American Tribal Style)
- Artemis Mourat (Rromany dance, Turkish raqs sharqi)
- Tayyar Akdeniz (Rromany dance, Turkish folkloric)
- Belinda Ferguson (Raqs sharqi, Saidi)
- Morocco (Raqs sharqi, Guedra trance ritual)
- Marilyn Paris (Zaar, raqs sharqi)
- Tarik Sultan (Raqs sharqi)
- Yamoussa Camara (West African)
- Iman (Flamenco)
- Dr. Zsuzsa Szabo-Nyarady (Martha Graham modern, Pilates)
- Sephira (American cabaret, circular veil)
- John Butters (Fire dance)
- Oceanfire (American Tribal Style, tribal fusion)

Her movement studies took her in areas separate from dance. She studied Ashtanga yoga with Ruth Merrett, and is an amateur body builder. She's studied for her group fitness theory certification at the YMCA, later going on to teach dance-inspired fitness classes. She has also taken movement awareness classes at the University of New Brunswick. She did extensive training in various martial arts including Okinawan Goju-Ryu karate-do (under tutelage of Kyoshi Ken Tallack), Wu-style t'ai chi chu'an (Sifu Martin Kennedy), and Hung Gar kung fu (Sifu Danny Norrad and Sifu Ricky Cote under tutelage of Sifu Jay Tse) at Wei Chin Kung Fu.

Shantell's fusion dance style draws heavily upon her raqs sharqi and martial arts background.

Comments

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

"Her movement studies have also taken her to areas outside dance..." might be better.

"She has trained extensively in various martial arts..." is better (agrees in form with the rest of the paragraph). Also "under the tutelage" in the two places you use the phrase.

Is "Rromany" dance really supposed to have two r's?

Don't know the context well enough to judge the content.

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

I'd bounce a little more on "you" than on other people, earlier on ... it makes you look underconfident as presented.

[elanya.livejournal.com]

what is it for?

[kimberlove.livejournal.com]

i love Graham. just had to say that. looks good to me.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

As a bio for anything other than dance and other movement-oriented performing arts, I'd leave out the list of classes and teachers.

For dance instruction, I'd leave the entire list in. Damn, but you're well-rounded in the field! Who wouldn't be impressed by the variety? If you want to present yourself as having a specialty or expertise in one area like raqs sharqi, or even just to emphasize your training as broad as well as deep, you might want to list your training in that area above and separate from the rest.