Cat scheme and a new start

I write this after my first intensive, two days of cultural dance from around the world. I had a crash course in Bharatanatyam, Scottish Highland dancing and Ceilidh, Middle Eastern Dabke and Waacking. I know, a lot to get my head around in two days...

​It was the end of my first half term on the CAT scheme, which stands for Centre for Advanced Training. The CAT scheme takes place at nine centres around the country. You can find out more here:
http://www.nationaldancecats.co.uk/
It has been an amazing experience so far. Meeting new people was been great, especially during the intensive when we were mixed with people of all ages and abilities. ​

I also discovered a lot about how I dance, and I wasn't as terrible at waacking as I thought I would be! My waacking teacher created an amazing atmosphere in the studio, she was called Icy Ice, which in itself is quite a change to a conventional ballet lesson :) Once everyone began to let go and have fun, it was a great environment to try something very out of my comfort zone.

We also learnt that Dabke originated from farmers stamping out the clay for bricks, which was made more enjoyable by musicians creating rhythms for them to stamp to. This evolved into the dance Dabke, traditional in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Palestine

It's good to go outside of your comfort zone once in a while, to push yourself to try something new. Whatever it is that scares you, sometimes facing a fear has an amazing outcome that you could never have predicted. Wise words from Eleanor Roosevelt:

What will you do that scares you today?