www.helene-eriksen.de
News:

Dear friends...greeting from sunny summer Seattle!

It seems like always when I have the most news to tell is when I never find time to tell you all about it.  You haven't heard from me since April as I have been more than busy!

The tour to Turkey was lovely as always...each year bringing new interesting participants and different opportunities.  This year I was invited to perform on Turkish Star TV with the Roman percussionist Balık Ayhan and the dancer Ahmet Öğren.  One participant, Vajra from Germany, who is a good percussionist was invited to perform as well.  This was a special program of Roma music and dance and the whole studio (backstage and in the audience) was filled with exhuberant Roma dancing and singing along.

Next year I will be offering two trips back to back.  First we will go to Armenia to study Armenian and Roma dance.  This trip is organized by Simona Jović from France/Serbia and myself and will be April 21-28th, 2009.  Immediately following will be my annual trip to Turkey.  This year we will be in Istanbul for the festival of Hırdellez on May 5/6...not to be missed...reserve your space now!

In Seattle we had another amazing Northwest Folklife Festival.  I organized two new showcases this year:  Music and Dance of Central Asia and Couple Dances of the World.  Both were received very warmly and I got to dance waltz with my son in his dance debut! (proud mom). 

The day after Folklife I left for Nepal with my Seattle students to perform at the International Folklore Festival there.  We toured the country with an interesting assortment of ensembles from Latvia, Costa Rica, India (Rajasthan and Punjab), Sri Lanka, Israel (Yemeni) and of course Nepal.  We danced for crowds of thousands and thousands in sometimes challanging situations and did parades through towns where the inhabitants seemed more interesting and colourful to me than those of us in the parade (and we were pretty colourful!).  We met absolutely lovely people everywhere and had lots of newpaper and TV exposure.  It was a great experience for my students.  Let's see where next year's project will go on tour!

2 days after returning to Seattle the group had their end-of-the year recitals...I was so proud!  They did a really excellent job and I have heard nothing but great feedback from all sorts of people.  We were filmed by the Seattle Channel...so I will give heads up when it airs and when they post it online.  Two weeks ago the dancers did their final performance at the Iranian Festival in Seattle to an ethusiastic audience.  The Seattle Times featured me on the first page of the local section with a photo from the festival.

Now I get a month of vacation...yeah!  And how am I using my time you may ask?  Yoga everyday and dancing every evening...I've started tango and flamenco lessons and continue to do blues, waltz, salsa, west coast swing etc etc.

In August I will be teaching and performing with Tamalyn Dallal in her week-long intensive workshop.  I will be giving an overview of dances from Central Asia to North Africa...if you would like to deepen your oriental dance and widen your cultural/geographic dance horizons, this is the place to do it!

In September the new cycle of classes begins.  You can join one of my training projects in Seattle which begins with a performance on Sept. 12 followed by an introductory workshop where you can become aquainted (or re-aquainted) with my work and help to pick the new repertoire.  I have now opened registration...space is limited so sign up right away!  Or you can join the training project in Zagreb, Croatia at the end of September or join one of the intensive workshops on dances from the Silk Road in Worms, Germany.

I have a few openings in my schedule this fall for Europe or the East Coast and I am planning 2009...so please contact me if you would like to organize a workshop or performance!!!

To find out more about the individual dance styles listed below, please visit the "Workshop Catalog" on my website.
Helene

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Calendar: {If you get funny symbols: under Options/Character Encoding click on Unicode}

AUGUST 2008

Mon-Sun. 25-31.8.2008 USA/Washington Seattle
Guest Teacher: Overview of traditional dance styles from Northern India to North Africa
Tamalyn Dallal's week-long dance intensive
tamalyndallal@...
www.tamalyndallal.com

SEPTEMBER 2008

Fri 12.9.2008   USA/Washington, Seattle
Solo Performance: Dances under the Crescent Moon
Rainier Valley Cultural Center Arts Gumbo Series
http://www.seedseattle.org/seedarts/rvcc/rvcc_artsgumbo.html
order tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producerevent/38104?prod_id=1784

Sat/Sun 13-14.9.2008 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project Introductory Weekend Workshop:
If you missed the 2007 training project here is your chance!
Learn Technique, Choreography, Dance Notation, Yoga, Music Analysis, Staging, Costuming, Stage Make-up, Historical and Cultural backgrounds for 7 different styles of women's dance from the Orient. On this weekend we will pick our repertoire together and you can become acquainted with my work before deciding to take part in the whole 9 weekend project and show.  The project will then start in October.
Training weekend dates: Oct. 18-19, Nov. 8-9, Dec. 13-14 and further dates and end recital in 2009.
This year's project was  on tour in Nepal...
Please write for a detailed description and registration form!
mail@...

Sat/Sun 27-28.9.2008 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient I
orijent@...

OCTOBER 2008

Sa/So 3-4.10.2008 DEUTSCHLAND Worms
Workshop: Afghanische Tänze
ilona@...

Wed. 8.10.2008 USA/Michigan Kalamazoo
8-7:45 am- 9:00 Education for the Arts
Oct 8-11am- 2pm Wellspring Dance and Education for the Arts
channonmondoux@...

Thurs. 9.10.2008 USA/Michigan Kalamazoo
Workshop and Community Event: Guedra, trance dance of the West Sahara
channonmondoux@...

Fri. 10.10.2008 USA/Michigan Kalamazoo
Workshop: Ottoman Dance
channonmondoux@...

Fri. 10.10.2008 USA/Michigan Kalamazoo
Performance: Under Persian Skies: Dances of the Iranian World
channonmondoux@...

Sat. 11.10.2008 USA/Michigan Kalamazoo
Performance: Guest dancer in Gala evening
channonmondoux@...

Sat/Sun 11-12.10.2008 USA/Michigan Kalamazoo
2 Workshops :Persian Dance and Khalegi
channonmondoux@...

Sat/Sun 18-19.10.2008 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient I
mail@...

NOVEMBER 2008

Sat/Sun 18-19.11.2008 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient II
mail@...

Sa/So 22-23.11.2008 DEUTSCHLAND Worms
Workshop: Tänze von der Seidenstrasse
ilona@...

Fri. 28.11.2008 SLOVENIJA Ljubljana
Performance: Theme to be announced
mirjam@...
www.bitizenska.org
www.zivacenter.org

Sat/Sun 29-30.11.2008 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient II
orijent@...

DECEMBER 2008

Thurs 4.12.2008   ITALY   Roma
Workshop: Guedra, trance dance of the West Sahara
auropuc@...

Fri. 5.12.2008   ITALY   Roma
Performance: TBA
auropuc@...

Sat/Sun 6-7.12.2008   ITALY   Roma
2 workshops: Algerian Nailiyat and Tunisian
auropuc@...

Sat/Sun 13-14.12.2008 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient III
mail@...

2009

JANUARY 2009

Sat/Sun 10-11.1.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient IV
mail@...

Sa/So 17-18.1.2009 DEUTSCHLAND Worms
Workshop: Tänze der Seidenstraße
ilona@...

Fri. 23.1.2009 DEUTSCHLAND   Wiesbaden
Auftritt: Thema wird bekannt gegeben
info@...
www.malu-tanz.de/index.html

Sa/So. 24-25.1.2009 DEUTSCHLAND   Wiesbaden
Workshop: Persischer Tanz
info@...
www.malu-tanz.de/index.html

Sa/So 31.1-1.2.2009 DEUTSCHLAND Worms
Workshop: Tänze der Seidenstrasse
ilona@...

FEBRUARY 2009

Sat/Sun 7-8.2.2009 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient III
orijent@...

Sat/Sun 21-22.2.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient V
mail@...

MARCH 2009

Sat/Sun 14-15.3.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient VI
mail@...

APRIL 2009

Sat/Sun 4-5.4.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient VII
mail@...

Sat/Sun 18-19.4.2009 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient IV
orijent@...

21-28.4.2009 ARMENIA
8-day Music, Dance and Culture Tour to Armenia.
Helene Eriksen, Simona Jović join Armenian and Roma artists in an exploration
of Armenian and Roma music and dance.
Please contact me if you are interested. The tour is limited to a small group.
More information to come on my website...stay posted!
mail@...
www.simonajovic.com

30.4-8.5.2009 TURKEY Istanbul
10-day Music, Dance and Culture Tour to Istanbul.
Dance lessons, sightseeing, Mevlevi whirling dervish Sema, music and dance concerts, Roma music and dance......special highlight is the Roma festival of Hırdelez!!!
Please contact me if you are interested. The tour is limited to a small group.
More information on my website under "Tour to Turkey".
mail@...

MAY 2009

Sat/Sun 9-10.5.2009 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient V
orijent@...

Sat/Sun 16-17.5.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient VIII
mail@...

22-25.5.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Northwest Folklife Festival
www.nwfolklife.org

Sat/Sun 30-31.5.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient IX
mail@...

JUNE 2009

Fri-Sat 6&7.6.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Final Recitals of Intensive Training Project:
Dances Under the Crescent Moon
mail@...
www.seedseattle.org/seedarts/rvcc/rvcc_index.html

SEPTEMBER 2009

Sat/Sun 119-20.9.2009 USA/Washington Seattle
Intensive Training Project Introductory Weekend Workshop:
Learn Technique, Choreography, Dance Notation, Yoga, Music Analysis, Staging, Costuming, Stage Make-up, Historical and Cultural backgrounds for 7 different styles of women's dance from the Orient. On this weekend we will pick our repertoire together and you can become acquainted with my work before deciding to take part in the whole 9 weekend project and show.  The project will then start in October.
Please write for a detailed description and registration form!
mail@...

Sat/Sun 26-27.9.2009 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient VI
orijent@...

NOVEMBER 2009

Sat/Sun 28-29.11.2009 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient VII
orijent@...

DECEMBER 2009

Sat/Sun 12-13.12.2009 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient VIII
orijent@...

2010

JANUARY 2010

Sat/Sun 30-31.1.2010 CROATIA Zagreb
Intensive Training Project:
Women's Dances of the Orient IX
orijent@...

FEBRUARY 2010

Fri&Sat 6-7.2.2010 CROATIA Zagreb
Performance: End Recital of the Zagreb Training Project
orijent@...

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