Workshop Info
Workshop location - Tropical Soul Dance Studios, 205-207 Parramatta Road, Annandale.
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Friday Workshops
Stage Presence and Building Your Dance Persona with Kalikah
10am-12pm
Friday 20th November
In this Q&A style workshop, Kalikah will guide you through the process of developing impactful stage presence and crafting a distinctive dance persona.
Discover how she connects elements of costuming, music, venues and audiences to create a compelling performer persona. You’ll get the opportunity to apply these principles to your own dance persona, inviting you to elevate your performance artistry. Suitable for all levels. Bring note taking tools and all of your burning questions!
Open Level
The Mask and the Monster with Wolf Ifritah
10am-12pm
Friday 20th November
Open Level
A workshop for exploring the shadow self through character, clowning, and embodied storytelling. Step into the spaces we often keep hidden. The Mask and the Monster is an immersive workshop that invites participants to meet the shadow self—the unloved, the unlovable, the awkward, the wild, and the wonderfully strange—through masks, character development, and embodied practice.
Across the session, you’ll: Create and inhabit unique characters using mask work, clowning principles, and guided improvisation-Learn storytelling tools rooted in physicality, presence, and playful exploration-Develop confidence in embodiment, allowing characters to emerge from movement, impulse, and imagination- This workshop is ideal for performers, creators, and anyone curious about shadow work, personal expression, or the magic that happens when we give voice to our inner monsters. Come ready to play, discover, and release the beast inside.
Serpentine Slink with Rachael Redfern
Learn to move with serpentine fluidity! We will explore waves and oo-ey gooey
goodness galore building into slinky sequences. We'll deep-dive into the art of the
undulation from bellyroll, body waves, sidewinders and more in addition to of
course layering these up with unusual sequencing to create something utterly
enchanting. Expect lots of ever-flowing pathways, captivating lines and
undulations galore as we embody all things serpentine!
1.00pm-3.30pm
Friday 20th November
Open level
Control and Release with Sarah Moulton
3.00-5.00pm
Friday 20th November
Open level
When we enter a choreographic mindset, we cultivate precision, structure, and conscious control over the body and mind. But what happens to our energy and movement expression when we let go of choreography and surrender to the freedom of improvisation? This workshop explores both worlds — CONTROL and RELEASE. You’ll learn a section of Hecate (Amanati) Choreography to embody control, form, and intention, and then dive into guided improvisational exercises to unlock flow, instinct, and expressive freedom.
Bewitch the Audience with Venus Vamp
Have the audience eat out of your glamorous hand with Venus Vamp's workshop 'Bewitch the Audience'. Learn to perform with INTENT by controlling your movements, the stage and the audience just by your presence alone. Venus uses a mix of skills from theatre, dance practices, modelling, roving, acting and personal spiritual practice on top of 15 years experience as a professional performer. These elements combined creates a potent tool kit to ensure unforgettable electrifying performances. This workshop is open to anyone of all levels of stage experience however those with 2 plus years of live stage experience will benefit greatly from this. There is a mix of theory with fun practical exercise and of course, a sprinkling of magic!
3.00-5.00pm
Friday 20th November
Open level
Saturday Workshops
THE SIX PILLARS OF CREATION: A Choreography Lab with Thais Carvalho
10.00am-12.00pm
Saturday 21st November
Open level
This is a transformative and highly interactive Fusion Workshop designed to break the monotony of traditional step-based choreography classes. Instead of simply “learning combos,” dancers enter a creative laboratory where they participate in the artistic process, explore emotional and geometric embodiment, and co-build a cinematic piece. Through guided experimentation, dancers generate raw movement material, which is then shaped into a structured choreography using the Six Pillars of Creation. The result is a deep, empowering, and unforgettable collaborative process where every dancer contributes to the final piece. This lab blends fusion technique, emotional depth, shape design, and collaborative creation. Dancers leave with a fully embodied choreography and a deeper understanding of how to translate emotion, color, and movement tasks into structured artistic work.
Dancing with the Dark Stars with Akasha
10.00am-12.00pm
Saturday 21st November
Open level
Are you inspired by nature, the stars in the sky specifically? After a short warm up, we will delve into the signs of the zodiac, their associated elements and how to make them come alive - all the while keeping the dark aesthetics for these combinations. Whether it’s fire, water, earth or air; we will look at the movement quality and sacred geometry for optimal use of space and effect. The first 4 people to guess my star sign correctly get to choose the combinations; hopefully we’ll have one from each major element!
Armed and Dangerous with Rachael Redfern
Learn beautiful and unusual arm technique with lots of ever-flowing and innovative
pathways to captivate and inspire! In this workshop we explore the secrets
behind serpentine fluidity and flow though beautiful, interesting armwork with
different isolation patterns throughout the body. You'll come away with lots of new
movement ideas and inspirations alongside technical clarity.
1-3.00pm
Saturday 21st November
Open Level
Dante's Inferno: A Spiral Into the Abyss with Kylie Astarte
This workshop will take you deep into the nine circles of Hell as described by Dante Alighieri in 'Inferno', part one of his narrative poem The Divine Comedy. Explore nine unique fan veil techniques and combinations inspired by each of the nine levels of Hell, and learn how to transition between each to create a dynamically different style of fan veil choreography. Suitable for those new to fan veil and experienced dancers and performers who want to learn new techniques or gain an insight into creation through allegory.
Please bring 2 x 1.5m fan veils (Kylie will have some spares but not enough for everyone)
3-5.00pm
Saturday 21st November
Open Level
Shia LaBeouf Open Stage Performance Project with Rassputin and Jessyka
Do you wanna get really weird? I mean, REALLY weird? Join Jessyka and Rassputin for this epic performance project to Rob Cantor's 'Shia LaBeouf'. Dancing and non-dancing roles available, basic info will be emailed to participants before performance.
Costuming will be at participants expense, but will be very basic (see Shia LaBeouf video for an idea)
This will be performed at our Saturday night Open Stage- come get weird with us!
3-5.00pm
Saturday 21st November
Open Level
Sunday Workshops
Morning Wakeup Stretch with Jessyka
Treat your body to a glorious unwinding with our resident yoga teacher. Jessyka understands all too well that feeling when your body is so tired from workshops, but you still have more to go! This session will focus on releasing tension and self-massage techniques.
Yoga mat and massage ball encouraged but not essential.
11am-12pm
Sunday 22cnd November
Open Level
Finger Cymbals with Rachael Redfern
Fancy Footwork:1920's Flapper Fusion with Rachael Redfern
1.00-3.00pm
Sunday 22cnd November
Open Level
Feel stuck practicing never-ending isolations in place? Glued to one spot when
performing on stage? This workshop is here to break us out of that fusion
stereotype! Taking inspiration from the jazz era of the roaring twenties, we will
explore a wide variety of travelling steps and fancy footwork to get you moving
while still holding onto your fusion isolation technique. We’ll build into some fun
flapper-fusion combinations adaptable for all styles.
Let’s play our own instrument while we dance, exploring various techniques and
patterns! Cymbals are a powerhouse of a prop that will deeply develop your
musicality in relationship to your dance. Options will be provided for all levels and
material will be applicable to bellydancers of all backgrounds with an emphasis on
old school vocabulary and heavy hips. Our end goal? Let’s build up slow to see
how fast and furious we can take things!
Please bring your own set of finger cymbals and mufflers/socks
3.00pm-5.00pm
Sunday 22cnd November
Open Level
Weirdly Entertaining with Rassputin
Using gothic character cards from the game "gloom", participants will be challenged to portray their character (without a direct introduction) through physicality, breath, facial expressions etc. Then, something weird will happen to their characters, and they will form a 1 minute act that tells the story of what happened. This workshop is all about play and embracing your silly side!