Elizabeth & Dan - Melody, Mood & Maqam - Coffee-Time with Dan Cantrell & Elizabeth Strong (CHF 90/ early bird: CHF 80)
This two-hour workshop is open to dancers and musicians alike, and will be mostly lecture format with some movement and demonstration.
Learn with Dan and Elizabeth while sipping a coffee, or your favourite morning drink.
Dan Cantrell is an Emmy-winning composer and musician who can break down complicated musical ideas in language that is easy for non-musicians to understand. Dan and Elizabeth are a musician-dancer couple who love teaching Live Musicality and Movement, and exploring the places where music and dance connect.
We will discuss elements of music as they apply to dance: rhythm, melody, maqam and taksim (improvisation before and during a tune). We will also explore song form and the language of transitions, particularly as these relate to live music and folk music.
Register: simone.tanzt@gmail.com
MELODY, MOOD & MAQAM
Level: open // Price: 90 CHF / early bird 80 CHF (scroll down for package offers)
PRICING
Single workshop: CHF 90 & CHF 130 (Early bird price for single workshops only. Ends on 7.9.26)
Package all 4 workshops: CHF 355
Package for any two 2-hour workshops: CHF 160
Package for one 2-hour & one 3-hour workshop: CHF 195
PACKAGE: REGISTER BY EMAIL & NOTE YOUR PACKAGE CHOICE
Spots are limited — payment upon booking confirms your registration.
Saturday 10th OCTOber
Elizabeth - Principles of Turkish Romani Dance & 9 Rhythms (13:00 - 15:00) (CHF 90 / early bird: CHF 80)
If you are new to this style, or would like a refresher, this workshop is for you!
Elizabeth has passionately followed Turkish Romani Dance, learning from Romani communities in Istanbul, since the year 2000. She has spent more than two decades honing the ability to teach this very special style of dance that is rarely taught in classrooms.
Elizabeth will break down the 9 meter rhythms used in Turkish Romani (Gypsy) dance. We will learn how to apply the rhythm to the dance and practice basic steps and moving from one step to another. Hip and arm movements will also be introduced.
This workshop is intended to give dancers a solid grounding in the rhythm and the foundational movements of Turkish Romani style!
Elizabeth – Turkish Romani Choreography & Improvisation (15:15 - 17:15) (CHF 90 / early bird: CHF 80)
Learn an accessible choreography filled with great Turkish Romani moves that you can take anywhere. Turkish Romani dance is playful and joyful. It is also a fun challenge, as we dance to 9 meter and dance with footwork, hipwork and arm gestures all at once.
During this workshop, you will have the opportunity to repeat authentic movements and transitions, as we practise a delightful choreography in the style.
Let's DANCE!
This workshop is for ALL LEVELS.
Video of Elizabeth's teacher, Reyhan Tuzsuz, performing to a live band in San Francisco in 2013:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5FswLiP-wk
Video of Reyhan Tuzsuz dancing at Rakkas Istanbul in 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivZpNhrMxsM
Video of women dancing at a party (street style):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6uf-X9Axi4
Sunday 11th OCTOber
Melody, Mood & Maqam - Coffee-Time with Dan Cantrell & Elizabeth Strong (10:00 - 12:00) (CHF 90/ early bird: CHF 80)
This two-hour workshop is open to dancers and musicians alike, and will be mostly lecture format with some movement and demonstration.
Learn with Dan and Elizabeth while sipping a coffee, or your favourite morning drink.
Dan Cantrell is an Emmy-winning composer and musician who can break down complicated musical ideas in language that is easy for non-musicians to understand. Dan and Elizabeth are a musician-dancer couple who love teaching Live Musicality and Movement, and exploring the places where music and dance connect.
We will discuss elements of music as they apply to dance: rhythm, melody, maqam and taksim (improvisation before and during a tune). We will also explore song form and the language of transitions, particularly as these relate to live music and folk music.
Live Musicality for Dancers - 3 Hour Workshop with Elizabeth Strong & Dan Cantrell (13:00 - 16:00) (CHF 130/ early bird: CHF 115)
Join Elizabeth Strong — former Bellydance Superstar and Bellydance Evolution and Beats Antique troupe member, global teacher, and veteran stage performer — and her husband Dan Cantrell, an Emmy Award-winning composer and professional musician, for a 3-hour workshop exploring live musicality for dance.
Launch your dancing to the next level with a practical, deep-dive into the essential art of musicality. We will explore song form, dramatic performance arc, musical transitions, and tricks for improvisation (hint: you don't have to do a lot to create an effective performance!)
This workshop will help you understand the language and cues often used by musicians, and allow you to practice improvising to live music with plenty of repetition.
ELIZABETH STRONG
A native of San Francisco, Elizabeth maintains the integrity and spirit of traditional dance forms within a contemporary framework. A former principal member of Katarina Burda's Aywah! Ethnic Dance Company, Elizabeth has travelled to Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Greece and Bulgaria to study closely at the source. Her foray into Fusion began in 2002, when she wondered how to make the Old World traditional art she loved better relate to the culture around her. Elizabeth has since worked with other innovative artists including Zoe Jakes, Rachel Brice, Jill Parker, Dan Cantrell, Frederique, Mira Betz, Mardi Love, Jillina Carlano, Ariellah, Samantha Emanuel, and Sharon Kihara.
In addition to exploring the outer edges of belly dance fusion, Elizabeth remains rooted in folk tradition in her travels and in her work with California Rom, Jewish, and Balkan communities. She performs with live music groups, including Brass Menazeri and Fishtank Ensemble, and with renowned world musicians, including Faisal Zeidan and Rumen Sali Shopov. Elizabeth has previously toured with Bellydance Superstars, and was a founding member of Bellydance Evolution and of Beats Antique.
Performances are available on Bellydance Superstars Tribal Fusions Vol. 2, Bellydance Superstars Tribal LA, Bellydance Evolution's "Immortal Desires", Hollywood Video's Evolution, Tales of Desire I & Tales of Desire II. Elizabeth currently teaches and performs internationally. Her self-produced Turkish Roman instructional DVD was released in 2011.
DAN CONTRELL
Dan Cantrell is an Emmy Award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist known for his innovative film scoring approach and his virtuosic abilities on the accordion, piano and musical saw.
Dan's compositions for film and television have earned him numerous awards, including an Emmy Award for KQED's Home-Front, a Golden Gate Award for the soundtrack to the documentary Divided Loyalties, and an Annie nomination for his work on three seasons of Cartoon Network's The Marvellous Misadventures of Flapjack.
An impulsive decision in his teenage years led him to buy an accordion in a thrift store in Hemet, California. From that fated day, he pursued the instrument, learning in schools, music camps, and eventually travelling to Eastern Europe to learn from Bulgarian Macedonian and Turkish Romani masters.
Dan has now emerged as one of the most well-known living American accordionists. His unique sound can be heard on the albums of Tom Waits, Joanna Newsom, and Beats Antique, in Major Motion Pictures such as Mean Girls and The Tiger and the Snow.
Recently a featured soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Dan performed with the Oakland Symphony and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, gigged and collaborated with Danny Elfman, Bono, Joan Baez, Anoushka Shankar, the Klezmatics, and Angelo Moore of Fishbone.
Dan has also collaborated extensively within the medium of dance. He has composed and collaborated with Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet, San Francisco-based ODC dance, Ballet Afzaneh, FACTSF, his wife Elizabeth Strong, UltraGypsy belly dance, as well as international touring shows such as Bellydance Superstars, and Bellydance Evolution. He has created innovative dance shows such as Waxing Cinematic (a two-act musical dance drama integrating shadow puppetry and projections), The Cabbage Sellers of Haiti (a dance-based theatrical musical based on Diaspora culture in 1920's Greece in the emergence of Rembetico music), Miriam's Well, and Madre (a theatrical setting of music and dance from Ladino roots). Dan's music can also be heard accompanying individual choreographers and performers such as Rachel Brice, Kami Liddle, Zoe Jaques, Miriam Perez, Mardi Love, Mira Betz, and Samantha Emanuel on stage and in film.