Posted on 12/08/2019 by siteadmin

More about ……. Dorte Evelyn aka Ishtar Dance

I have known Dorte for quite a few years now and been impressed by her dedication to bellydance and how she has created her business around this.  In particular her on line tutorials and the thought put into her blogs.  If you haven’t seen these, I recommend looking them up.  Dorte is one of the teachers on our accredited courses as well as mentoring several dancers through the JWAAD Bellydance Personal Development Programme.  She is one of the JWAAD Level 3 master bellydance teachers.  Read more about her below.  Come and try a class with her at Fantasia this year.

How did you get into belly dance?

I had trained in various dance forms and was a ballroom and Latin champion, before discovering belly dance during a working visit to the Middle East. I fell in love with it straight away and have never looked back.

Tell us a bit about your bellydance journey – how did you end up teaching?

I started dancing whilst in in the Middle East, and when I returned to my native Denmark I signed up to weekly classes straight away. There was only a choice of 2 teachers in my city, and soon I was taking classes with both of them and started performing at Turkish clubs and hotels. It all went so quickly, possibly due to my extensive dance training in other styles, and within 3-4 years I was asked to start teaching, and my educationalist background really helped. I also helped set up the Aarhus Oriental Dance Society – the second largest belly dance society in Denmark at the time, but soon after I relocated to England to pursuit my career.

What did you like most – and what did you like least – about teaching bellydance?

I love it when I see my students have a break through, and experience that ‘aha moment’, it’s priceless, as it when I see may student perform something I know they’ve worked really hard on, and look effortless and joyful in the moment.
The thing I least like, is when I see real talented dancers give up or get sidetracked from their dancing. Life often gets in the way, but it’s hard when I seen them give it up and lose all that joy and talent. Other the other hand it’s a amazing when they come back again, like one of my students who popped up in class after 5 years away.

You write a successful on line blog – and teach on line tutorials –
how did this come about?  And how easy is it to keep fresh?

Checking notes

I’ve always enjoyed writing, and answer my students questions, so that’s how it started, as a reply to some of the questions I’d get in class or at workshops. The tutorials came as an extension of that, because people would contact me and tell me they wished they could attend my classes because they really enjoyed my teaching style and ethos. I’m currently working on some new formats and online lessons, so stay tuned as it will all go live in the autumn. People who follow my blog via email newsletters will be the first to know, so you can also sign up via www.ishtardance.com/contact

You have a young son – how do you manage motherhood with your bellydance
work?

That is probably the hardest balance to get right. I was back out performing and teaching again only 3 months after having him, and in line sight I would have taken a much longer maternity leave. But it can be really difficult if you’ve already got the bookings in the diary and don’t want to loose regular gigs. I still remember breastfeeding him in full costume before and after performances. It was very surreal as I was so worried to lactate on the costumes! I have scaled my performing schedule down since and now try to balance out late nights with lots of quality time during the day. He loves dancing with me, but hates it when I start putting make up on, as he knows I’ll be leaving to perform.

What do you like to do to relax?

Spending time with my little boy is my main relaxation – and I love being outdoors, whether thats’ in my own allotment, or when I’m visiting friends and family, who all live relatively close to the coast. But dancing in itself is a great moving meditation for me, and I get terribly grumpy if I don’t get to dance every day.

What is your star sign?

Aries – so very much living in my head, which is probably why I need to dance so much so I can feel and connect with my body.

What is your favourite colour and why?

It depends on my mood, but purple and pinks are never far away. Purple because it can be very sensual yet elegant, and pink because it screams happiness.

At Fantasia you are teaching ‘Build your baladi’ – can you tell us
a bit about what to expect:

It’s only a short session, but I hope we will have time to explore the essence of baladi, the feel, key moves and combinations, and then move on to build a choreography. We will also explore different baladi moods and personas, so that everyone can put their own personality and favourite moves into the choreography and not least feel confident when they create their own in the future.  See Dorte performing some baladi here. 
To find out more about the Fantasia bellydance festival in Camden, London, click here

Lastly, what would you like to be doing in 5 years time?

Travel the world with my little boy to show him what an amazing planet we live on, and hopefully do lots of dancing along the way. I hope my online bellydance tutorials and classes will still be going strong, as I can then deliver them whilst exploring the world with my family. We all love travelling together, and I love teaching and performing all over the world, because I always meet such amazing people, that I know I otherwise wouldn’t have met.