Yi Roo doing a belly dance
I have a number of creative outlets, although I haven't achieved a professional level, as yet, in any of them. The most long-standing of them is writing, which I've been doing since I was about 16, although I wrote my first poem at the age of 10 (which my teacher printed in my class newsletter!). A collection of poems, short stories, diaries, web articles and a few attempts at writing a novel mark the path of my writing development. Around the time I started writing I also started singing in a church choir. This led over the years to singing duets and solos at weddings and church, but the greatest memory I have regarding this talent is singing four performances of Handel's Messiah in a huge church choir. Now I teach choir at school, which is a particular thrill for me, most of the time!
When I was about 25 I took up photography as a hobby. It wasn't something that I initially thought would develop into the serious pursuit that it has become, but the realization that my pictures weren't particularly good prompted me to engage in a private study of photography. That resulted in pictures that now please me, as well as various requests to photograph events like weddings and graduations. Then, two years ago, I started going to a dance class twice a week and discovered a talent I thought I had, but had never really explored.
At first I was very self-conscious and nervous about dancing - it is very showy and I am not one who tries to draw too much attention to myself. Ironically, I wanted to learn the expressive and sexy Latin-American dances, rather than the more subdued ballroom dances, and so started with the Cha Cha. It is a quick-moving, naughty, happy dance that allows me to feel free from restraint and takes care of any pent-up energy I may have. I then learned the Rumba, a more somber, slower-moving, graceful dance that taxes my ability, but which gives me a great sense of achievement when I get it right.
Late last year I started on the Salsa, a very unrestrained, free-flowing, quick dance at which I have yet to achieve the elegance I feel I demonstrate in the Cha Cha and Rumba, but I am working on it. What is nice about this dance though is that there are almost no rules or set steps to it, so my teacher, Yi Roo, and I can make things up as we go along. This year I have also been learning the Flamenco, a very different dance to the other three in that it is very formulistic, with a set number of steps in a set formation for each section of the music. However, it is a very bold dance and as my confidence and ability to show off in dance has developed, I felt that the Flamenco would help in getting me to be bolder in the other three dances.
I get an enormous amount of pleasure from dancing and seeing my own progress, but none of this would have been possible without the amazing teacher I have. Yi Roo is not only an incredibly beautiful dancer, but she is also an equally stunning teacher. She is patient, very patient, with my hesitancy and frequent mistakes. She is cautious in her praise, so when I do receive praise from her, I know that I have done very well. And above all, she has become a close and trusted friend.
Dance has become my religion and Yi Roo my high priestess!
Yi Roo with two of her belly dance students
Dion Marc Delport
4 July 2007