Lesson 1, part 1

Amara walked into the large room she'd been able to obtain for her dance class. It was more commonly used for the few weapons training classes that were held indoors, where the instructor wished to use equipment that did not survive well outside. Glancing around, she noted that all the equipment had been put away, and that the ground held nothing but the polished wood of the floor.

Pausing at the door, she slipped out of her shoes and cloak. Folding the jacket neatly, she placed it on her shoes and walked into the centre of the room. She smoothed her brown hair and checked that the knot at the base of her neck would not come untied. Turning around, she found that the class was huddled against the wall, looking uncertain.

"Come in," Amara motioned and waved, "I'm only a drin'far'ji, I don't bite." As they all walked over, slowly, she followed up with instructions. "Take off your shoes, you'll feel more comfortable. I'm happy to see you all wore work out clothing. If any of you are pregnant, or have any unhealed injuries, or bodyparts that tend to hurt, please let me know when I come around. "

"To begin with, you need good posture for any of this to be any good at all." Amara approached a wall, turned and put her back onto it. "I'd like you all to stand like this, in what you think is good posture."

Lesson 1, part 2

Amara paced as she spoke, heading for the centre of the room. "Some of you have excellent posture. Congratulations. Those that I've spoken to, you know what you need to work on."

She arrived at the vague middle of the room and spun on the spot, turning to face the class and began leading them in the excersise she had planned for the day. "Crouch down, into a ball. Make yourself as small as you can. Contract everything, every muscle, make them all as hard as rocks, so someone could come along and use you as a big hard ball." Amara demonstrated, squatting, tucking her body over her legs, and wrapping her arms around her legs. Her buttocks almost touched the heels of her feet, her head rested on her knees, and her hands clasped the elbow of the alternate arm. Her feet were flat on the floor. (OOC: I'll always try and give a few clues as to exactly how I'm positioned when I want you to copy it. If you get into the same sort of position but have other bodyparts in contact, tell me about it!)

"Now uncurl and stand up, very very slowly. Keep that feeling of hardness, of strength." Amara started, and hurried herself just a little to see how the rest of the class rose. Nodding to herself, she took note of those that shot up like sunflowers, and those that unfurled like roses. (OOC: which are you?) "Feel the energy coming up int two lines from the heels of your feet, coming up your legs at the back, joining to one at the bottom of you buttocks, up your spine and over your head. Feel the strength coming with the energy." She looked around at the class and smiled slightly to herself. With the little bit of channelling power she had, she took air and pushed each one gently- at least, it would feel like she pushed gently, but it was as hard as she could push. Some fell, some stood. "Try again," she urged those that had fallen. This time, they all stood still.

Amara approached a wall and lay on the floor. Sliding her buttocks to the edge of the wall, she placed her legs vertically up the wall and lay still, flexing her feet (OOC: opposite of pointing your toes), with her feet together. "Everyone do this. Alternately point and flex your feet," she instructed, demonstrating what she meant and then getting up and walking around. "If you're not feeling a stretch, that's fine. Open your legs and allow them to slide equally down the wall in a v shape, until you do."

Lesson 2

Amara almost bounced in the door, her eyes bright and face complete with a wide smile. She was garbed in a dark green version of the Drin'far'ji attire, displaying her changed status for all to see. Quickly running through their preliminary stretches, she finished with one of her favourites. Lying on her right side, she propped herself up on her right elbow (forearm and elbow on the floor). "Relax, like this. Now strengthen," she instructed. Her back straightened, her stomach tightened. Slowly, she lifted both feet off the floor and separated them. They ended up half a handspan off the floor, the left one up a little higher, in the same vertical line. She grinned at the class and suddenly reversed her position by spinning on her bottom on the floor. She ended up on her lefthand side, paused, and spun again. "This is very good for your lower back... as you can probably feel."

She stood and shook her body out. "okay, here we go. The easiest way to learn these is to watch what I do and copy it. If you have any questions, just call them out and I'll come over and give you a hand. Pay close attention to the mirror- if it looks good, you're probably doing it right."

Amara began with hip circles- which were exactly as the name suggests, the hips moving in a circle. She was careful yo keep her shoulders perfectly still. Part of the beauty of the sa'sara was the use of isolation. She glanced over her shoulder and noted that most people were quite capable of the move. She then introduced a walk into it. Circling clockwise, she moved her weight slightly from her right foot to her left and back again as she circled. When she was to the left, her right foot slid over (horizontally right) slightly and she continued circling. In the same circle, when her weight was on the right, she slid her left foot over. [That's a very complicated way of saying you circle with your hips and take sideways steps in the direction that you're circling.]

Amara turned away from the class so that they could see this move from behind, which was often easier to learn by. She put her feet together and then lifted her right heel right off the ground (like ballet, except not on the tip of your toes). Raising her right hip as far as she could, she held it for a moment and then let it drop. "They're hip drops. You can do them with either leg. The opposite is a hip lift."

She turned around. "Okay. Let me have a look, and ask if you have any questions."

Lesson 3

Amara grinned at her class. She was getting to know them all a little better now, and she was feeling a lot more confident. "As promised, today is hand movements," she said, proceeding to lead them in a warmup that centered on hands and arm muscles. They ended up on the floor and Amara pushed her legs out in a v. She then reached for her left leg with her right arm. "Stretch this one gently, it's not necessarily a commonly used muscle group" she cautioned, swapping over to the other side. Straightening her back, she pushed her arms out in front of her, level with her chest, and leant forwards as far as she could.

Amara grinned at the class. "We're going to do this class sitting today. That's because what I want you to be able to do is move your arms and hands and not move your lower half. This way you'll get used to the feeling."

"To begin with, we'll do shoulder bumps." She demonstrated, putting her arms straight out to her side (parallel to the floor) and then dropping her elbows and forearms and hands to a slightly lower level. (practice in a mirror). Automatically, good posture was shown as her shoulders went back and down. Her shoulders then alternately moved forwards. Right forwards, then swap to left forwards and right back. "Be very careful not to put an up and down movement. You want your shoulders to bump, not shrug," she said.

"For the next movement, start by rolling your shoulders backwards," she instructed. Now suspend your arms at chest height and as your shoulders move back, allow your arms to flow with it. It's a very circular motion. As your arm moves backwards, the palm faces the floor. As your shoulder starts rolling down, dropping, your hand drops and your fingers stay in the same place so your palm is facing forward. It stays like that as your arm moves forwards and returns to palm down as your shoulder lifts. So your fingers are staying at the same level and your palms move with your shoulders. Your hands should be pretty much on top of each other- your middle fingers should almost touch as they cross over, the top one moving back and the bottom moving forwards. As usual, this is a very disjointed way of thinking of it, make sure you smooth it all out. The sa'sara is made up of soft movements."

Dropping her arms, she then grinned. "This one takes a little more imagination. I want you to pretend that you're between two walls. Raise one arm up, letting your hand trail, palm inwards. At about head height, your elbow drops, your hand moves so palm faces outwards. Pretend you're brushing the wall. When your wrist is level with your hip, raise your elbow so it's well above your wrist, let your palm face inwards and raise your arm again. Do this with both arms, one being raised when the other is dropped. Roll your arms at the same time."

Amara looked around at the class. "Remember when your arms were out, with your forearms dropped? Do that again. Your palms are facing down. Bring your middle finger and your thumb together, like you're picking up a card. Twist your arm at the elbow so your palms face upwards as you let go of the card- but keep that finger and your thumb slightly inwards. They should always be slightly in, no matter what the move. Make sure it's a soft motion. You can move other fingers slightly. By moving at the elbow or at the shoulder, you can do the curling hands at waist, chest, head or above. It can also move from out at your sides to in front of you, your hands on top of each other. They shouldn't cross, though."

Amara grinned at the class. "It's been a lot to learn. Try each movement out in turn, I'll come around and watch you."

Lesson 4

Amara grinned at her class. She was in a very good mood todayand fully expected that one of the Novices would try and take advantage of it. It wouldn't work, what with her class being supervised, but it would be amusing.

They ran through the usual exercise routine. "We'll be using mainly legs and lower back today," She informed them, "and it just so happens that the first move is also good for warming up!"

"This is called a shimmy" she said, demonstrating. From the nervous giggles and amazed looks, the girls hadn't seen a move like this one before- which didn't surprise Amara in the slightest. She walked them through how it was put together. Keeping her feet flat on the floor, she slowly bent one knee and then alternated. "Take that feeling of movement," she instructed "and make it much faster." (OOC: your knees move a little, but the movement comes FROM the hips. You go as fast as you possibly can.) "Don't forget to bend your knees, that makes the move a lot easier."

"Next comes figure eights." Amara demonstrated again. "Think of a square. Your hips go from the top right to the bottom right of the square. They then go from top left to bottom left, and back to top right, where you begin again." She watched the class, nodding. Most were quite mechanical about it, as was normal. "Now smooth the movement right out." (for the mathematically inclined, you're tracing out an infinity sign on the floor).

She grinned at the class. "To move on a little from that. You can walk whilst still doing the figure eight. Every time your hips move forward, move your foot at the same time, just a little. (Match topright hip with a little shuffle forward of your right foot)." The class struggled a little, barring one or two excellently fast learners.

"Now for the incredibly difficult move. (OOC: It's caled the Egyptian Walk). Keep walking with a figure eight. Now add a shimmy into it." She demonstrated, and glowed as the class looked on in amazement. "Give it a try, but don't expect the move to come quickly or easily. Some find it easier to start with a shimmy and then put the figure eight walk to it, others like it the other way around. Whatever works for you I'm fine with." (OOC: it can take six months to learn this one! Make sure your shimmy is good first- if you can hold a shimmy for 20 mins, you're fine. Then the walking figure eight, then the egyptian walk.)

Lesson 5

Amara lead the class through the usual warmup routine. This time, she concluded the class with a stretch for the arms. "Put your right arm straight and direct it across your body at shoulder level. Bend your left arm and with your left hand pull your right arm towards you," Amara instructed.

She smiled at the group. "Today, you will learn a different dancing style- the Tiganza. I am glad everyone has brought along heeled boots- it is easier to learn in them because you can hear what your feet are doing." The class paused, whilst the boots were put on, and then continued.

"First, feet. When your whole foot is brought off the ground and replaced back on the ground, that is called a 'flat'. You can do the same with only the back or front of your foot, 'heels' and 'balls' respectively. The first thing I'd like you to try is called flats and opposites. It's a six step routine that is often used. Step one, right flat. Step two, left heel. Step three, right heel. Step four left flat, step five right heel, step six left heel. repeat." Amara demonstrated, going first slowly, then increasing her speed dramatically.

"Arms are quite simple. Your elbows stay above your wrists as much as possible, the movements are often small and stay close to the body and your fingers move separately, in waves. It's a freeform movement, so you make up what you want from that basis."

Turning, Amara smiled. "That concludes the class. Thank you for attending. I'll be staying behind to answer any questions. Please remember to contact me to arrange a time for your final."

Final exam.

Amara takes your hand and brings you into a darkened room. Opening the blinds, you see that there's a curtained off area in a corner of the room, which ripples as though it was just touched. Amara begins clapping and you hear music coming from behind the curtain. Motioning to you, Amara instructs you to begin. You know that you need to demonstrate knowledge of all the movements, that you've practiced and improved from the lessons.

[OOC: Submissions under 250 words will not be considered. Please be detailed in your movements as well as all good roleplay areas. For help or more information contact me]