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Writer's pictureFanoos Magazine Oriana

SPRING ORIENTAL DREAMCAMP

Natasa Kocar How big or small should a country be to host an independent Oriental

Dance festival? Well, I don´t know about that, but my country, Slovenia,

only has about 2 million inhabitants and we have our Oriental Dance

festival.




Slovenia, a tiny country in the Central – South Europe, at the gates of the Balkan

Peninsula, has a brand new Oriental Dance festival. The first release of the festival

was in March this year and the festival started off as Spring Oriental Bootcamp.

The first international star teacher was Catherine Derouet and she was the one who

suggested that it should be called Dreamcamp, instead of Bootcamp. And so it is.

The second release of the festival is going to be called Spring Oriental Dreamcamp.

This amazing, warm, and welcoming dance event was created by Mateja Mikulan, an

internationally renowned dancer, choreographer, and teacher of Oriental Dance. Do

you remember the Nawar International Oriental Dance Festival? Well, Mateja was the

main person behind it too and Nawar was one of the biggest Slovenian Oriental

Dance festival between 2010 and 2018.

Why Oriental Dance Dreamcamp and not Nawar anymore? Mateja, the director of the

festival answers: »Nawar finished in 2019 and it seemed to me that at that time it

was a nice ending of a certain era. It left many wonderful memories, even some

bitter ones, we brought excellent teachers and dancers from all over Europe and all

in all, it was one excellent school both for life (at least for me) as well as for many

different dance paths it inspired.« Soon after Nawar, she realized that dance is her

life and began to consider creating a new event. She loves creating events and she

learned a lot from Nawar. »I went into organizing Spring Orinetal Dreamcamp with

much more experience, more thoughtfully and more structured. And although the

organization is always stressful, it is different if you go into it with heart and

knowledge and a good plan.« She stresses the importance of a big support she has

from her fellow dancers, her partner, and her familly.



The first edition of Oriental Dance Dreamcamp (at the time it was still called

Bootcamp) was amazing. The Festival lasted three days. It started on Friday eve,

with a welcome dinner with the main teachers and guests of the festival. Saturday

and Sunday were filled with four workshops and three teachers: one international


(Cathrine Derouet) and two Slovenian teachers (Mateja Mikulan and myself - Natasa

Kocar).

All the participants felt welcomed, and cozy, with a strong social note and a non-

competitive atmosphere. I am sharing a few short statements of festival attendants

and guests from abroad:

»I am totally excited about Oriental Spring Bootcamp. All these small details,

attention, and gifts gave the feeling that the event was created with a lot of love for

Oriental dance«, Karolina Sharqi, a dancer from Croatia.

»The organization of this event was excellent and I am glad that I was able to

perform at the Gala show and feel and breathe a very friendly air, everyone was

happy to be there and share their love for Oriental dance«, said Claudia Maia from

Sardinia.

»Visiting Slovenia for the first time was such a beautiful experience, greatly

enhanced by the exceptional organization of my stay by Mateja Mikulan. The

warm reception and enthusiasm from both Slovenian and international

students made me feel incredibly welcomed and appreciated« said Kathreen

Derouet, the guest star teacher of the first edition.



 Mateja Mikulan, the festival director of Oriental Spring Dreamcamp is already

working on the next edition of the festival. The festival is going to take place on the

third week of March 2025 (14th to 16th). The event will start on Friday afternoon

with a guided tour around the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. Friday eve will be

dedicated to two lectures and a welcome hafla. Saturday and Sunday will be full of

workshops. Three workshops on Saturday during the day and a gala show in the

evening. There will be four more workshops on Sunday and a farewell dinner at the

end.

And who is going to be the main guest star this year?

Amazing Shahrzad from Egypt/USA. Shahrzad is going to teach three workshops

during the weekend and a lecture on Friday eve. On Saturday, she will start with the

Golden Era technique and combinations. She will be sharing her unique way of

recreating "golden era" Raqs Sharqi from the 1940s-1950s starting with detailed

technique breakdowns of arms, hips, and footwork and working into combinations to

a variety of songs. On Sunday Shahrzad will teach two workshops. The first one will

be Baladi. In this workshop, we will be examining baladi hip techniques, how to

separate your baladi style from the sharqi style, and how to connect your

movements with the music in an authentic way. The second Sunday workshop is

called Shimmies and Isolations. Shahrzad will be sharing her favorite isolations and

shimmies for hips, belly, and chest starting by breaking them down into their

smallest technical details and then using them to create challenging drills and

combinations.

Besides Shahrzad,  the guest star of the 2025 Spring Oriental Dreamcamp,

participants will be able to learn from four more teachers: three from Slovenia, and

one from Italy. Claudia Maia, an excellent Sardinian dancer and teacher will be

sharing her knowledge of Dabke. Nika Mlakar, a Slovenian superstar, and amazing

dancer who won many international competitions around the world, will be teaching

her unique signature style. Mateja Mikulan, the festival´s director is preparing a

workshop called From the Gulf. Participants will dive into Khaleegy and a few other

dances of the Arabic Peninsula. And there will be me (the author of this article),

Natasa Kocar with my Back to Basics workshop, where we will repeat the basics of

our beautiful Raks Sharqi and upgrade them, trying to find our dance expression

within.

Oriental Spring Dreamcamp always offers so much more than just workshops,

lectures, and shows. There is a space and time for dancers to chat, exchange their

experiences, and hang out in a relaxed and friendly way. I hope to see you there!



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