Be true to yourself - Interview with Moria Chappell

Q. Please tell us which part do dance change you the most?

When I first saw a bellydancer I was mesmerized.  I couldn’t believe how beautifully she could move her hips and how graceful her arms and hands were.  I felt such liberation and joy watching her it changed me forever. I had been in University for 4 years getting my degree and just didn’t feel satisfied.  When I started bellydancing after I graduated I knew I had found my passion and was so happy to pursue it.  That was 10 years ago, and I am still just as passionate about it as I was then.

Q. What needs to happen that makes you satisfied with a performance?

I need to feel as though I was true to myself.  I need to feel that I danced from my heart and from my ability.  I am a perfectionist, so I am rarely satisfied with a performance, but when I am satisfied there is no greater feeling of relaxation and happiness for me.

Q. What was your favorite teaching experience?  What happened that made this one special?

My favorite teaching experiences are when I can see change in my students.  Not just physical change, but when I can see that they understand their bodies in a new way, I feel even more inspired to keep dancing and keep teaching.  Helping women to feel safe and happy in their bodies is a very powerful place to be, and I am extremely grateful when I can do this.

I think in my past I’ve had some very harsh teacher and also some very generous ones.  I realized that giving women a sense of confidence and inspiration is the best way to get their best performances out of them.  You can push someone physically, but unless you can also open their minds and hearts to feelings of hope, humility, and honor, then really you are just training robots.  I had a best friend when I was younger who was an incredible rhythmic gymnast.  But every time she performed she cried because she heard her coaches’ voice in her head telling her that she wasn’t good enough, pretty enough, or thin enough to perform.  So she rarely performed even though she is still one of the most beautiful dancers I have ever seen.  That taught me a big lesson.  Dancers must feel good as people in order to dance well as performers.

Q. Do you have a special ritual before a performance?

Putting on my make-up and then doing my hair is a very special ritual for me.  No matter how stressed or scattered I feel, painting my face and watching myself become the person I will perform is a deeply satisfying experience.  I always feel more composed and centered after I’ve completed my make-up and hair.  If I am tired it gives me energy, if I feel uninspired it gives me hope, if I feel like I’m going to explode it calms my nerves.  I view cosmetics not as something that makes people more beautiful, but as paint on a canvas that frees you to create whatever you want to express.  Because it’s your own face make-up provides a very unique canvas that ties you as an individual to the art of that moment.  When the moment is finished, the make-up washes off, and then the next performance is an entirely new creation each time.

Q. Is there something about the dance industry that you Don't like?

I don’t like the negative competition.  I feel that there is enough room for everyone and that the world is hungry for and in desperate need for living art.  We should help each other, train each other, and support each other in living beauty every day.  Dance is a unique art in that it is tied to the individual body.  If the body goes, then the art goes.  It’s not a painting that can hang on a wall long after the artist is gone, or a book that can be read for generations.  Dance is only in this moment and only through our bodies.  If a woman feels insecure or excluded or beat-up, she will not dance and then the art is lost.  I wish dancers viewed other dancers as gifts rather than competition.  And I wish teachers would encourage their students to also go to other teachers’ events, spread their wings, travel, and experience all that is out there.

Q. If you needed to stop dancing for a while, what would you do instead?

I love costume and jewelry design.  I love to sew and create the pieces that I perform in.  Though if I were not dancing I might not feel the same passion for the costuming.  The two are hand in hand.  I also love theatrical make-up.  I studied make-up before I began touring with The Bellydance Superstars.  As I said earlier, I think make-up is an incredibly transformative artwork.  I would love to learn more languages.  Chinese and Spanish are top on my list.  Apart from those things, I must create with my hands: painting, sewing, building, etc.  But all the things I’m most drawn to are art forms of the body: yoga, martial arts, dance, anatomy, and meditation. I view the body as the most exquisite artistic invention.  And when it moves beautifully nothing else can command my attention.

Q. On this dancing journey, what is the deepest impression while you learn to dance?

Dancing can change your worldview.  It can make you know that the impossible is possible.  What you couldn’t do yesterday, you can do today.  What seems too difficult will come with practice.  Visualization and exercise are the two most powerful abilities we have.  As I’ve danced over the years I’ve come to feel that dance is nature. If we can gain command of our anatomy, release it’s potential through stretching and drilling, we can allow our bodies to follow this flow of nature and then it teaches us how to move.  I’ve experienced this sensation a few times through out my training, and there really is nothing better.

When is the happiest moment then?

My happiest moments are when I can connect my body to this larger force of nature.  I’ve danced in the forest, training for hours and felt so full of life and energy that nothing negative can enter my heart or mind. Fatigue just falls away.  This is my favorite sensation. 

When is the most meaningful or inspired period?

Recently I’ve been to India to study Odissi Temple Dance.  One dance I learned was Parvati, Shiva’s wife, putting on her make-up and ornaments in preparation to meet her beloved.  I struggled with this choreography for months, and then one day I relaxed to a place in my mind where I felt something outside of me pushing my body into the places it was meant to go.  It was as if my teacher were outside of me, inside of me, and commanding my body with her own hands.  I couldn’t stop smiling.  There was such a sense of connection and joy.  I feel that bellydance brought me to a place of understanding that bonds me to Odissi in a unique way. Bellydance is the sensual form of femininity while Odissi is the strength.  The two inform each other and teach me everyday about how best to move my body.

Q. As we known, seems you put more concentration on Odissi dance. Do you want to talk more about this? 

Yes, recently Odissi has been at the forefront of my mind and practice.  I’ve come to a place in my bellydance where I’m satisfied with my muscular control and fluidity.  The structure and discipline required for Odissi dance is fascinating to me and I think makes me a better bellydancer.  It has improved my stamina, my musicality, my hand and arm strength as well as leg and foot articulation.  I believe that Odissi is the grandmother of all dance forms and perhaps even many martial arts forms.  I’ve recently been training with a Bagwa (Taiwanese Martial Arts) instructor here in America who has been watching my Odissi training and putting weapons and such in with the combinations to help me build perfect strength and timing.  It’s all very interesting to me.  I don’t know where it will all go, but I am pursuing it with passion J  I am hosting the first of an annual retreat in Bali that is a month long Odissi training that will incorporate dance, yoga, meditation, and music.  All proceeds with  go to build a Dance school in Bhubaneswar, India, the home of Odissi dance.  The website is www.OdissiRetreat.com and dancers who are interested can contact me through my websitewww.MoriaChappell.com

About Moria Chappell

Tribal Bellydance Superstar Moria Chappell travels world-wide performing and teaching the beautiful art of Tribal Fusion bellydance.  Popular teacher and acclaimed performer, Moria is heralded as an innovator in costume design, stage make-up, and choreography.  Her style, both feminine and fierce, commands an intensity and precision that epitomizes Tribal Fusion’s isolation and individualism.  

Beginning her dance career with Awalim in Atlanta, GA in 2001, Moria moved to San Francisco in 2005 to study with and later join The Suhaila Dance School, The Suhaila Dance Company and Bal Anat from which she learned the extreme muscle control and isolation fundamental to her current style.  Later that same year she joined The Bellydance Superstars and began her world travels.  

Since 2007 Moria workshops in over 15 different countries and via The Bellydance Superstars has performed in more than 20 countries worldwide.  Moria has traveled to Thailand and India to deepen her understanding of Yoga, Thai, and Odissi dance.  To learn more about Moria’s travels, hear live interviews and see stage performance pictures, please visit her website: www.moriachappell.com or find her on facebook under Moria Chappell 2.0.  Moria’s classes are intense and educational; fun and sweaty.  Come prepared to take notes, do yoga, squeeze your bum, and push yourself to your next best level.