jenc

Thanks to Zurah for starting this. I actually went and did 90 mins practice yesterday and have started to list what I need to wotk on

Jane

Everyone's had great ideas so far Definatly stay in contact with your regular teacher. Drop her a line every so often, but respect her privacy. Maybe in her situation she could use a break from her kids and trade you an occasional private lesson, at a convienient time for you both, for baby sitting.

Practice what you already know and review the basics. Don't let yourself get out of shape. Even if you don't dance keep moving.

Keep up with the workshops and private lessons, write everything down during the breaks and film yourself when you get home so you don't forget. The best thing is to go to workshops with a dance buddy so you can jog each other's memory about what you learned.

Get some good quality videos and study with them. Turn them off when you feel overloaded.

Watch other dancers live and taped. Look at them and figure out what they are doing and why. Do you really like it? Or do you just think you should? Why or why not? Is it entertaining? Does it make you feel? How does the dancer interperet the music? etc.

I'm going to go out on a limb with a crazy idea. Stop focusing on the technique. Boy that sounds really strange! When you don't have a regular teacher it's easy to learn incorrectly or let moves become sloppy because you're not getting any feedback. Maybe for the few months you don't have a teacher, you can focus on learning about the cultures, drumming, zills, musicality, costuming, styles, history of the dance, Middle Eastern food, emotional connection, language or other aspects of the dance. You could focus on just Egyptian dance or dancers or maybe pick another style to explore. All of these things will enrich you as a dancer, so that when are back in a class room setting you have more in your head and heart.

Sorry for cruddy spelling.