To celebrate the heart and soul of our dance school and community, we’ve been interviewing some of our ZeoT Zürich students. It’s our privilege to dance with so many different and wonderful women and we’ve loved finding out more about their lives, their passions and, of course, their love of dance.⠀
My name is Déborah Knecht. I come from the Swiss-French part of Switzerland. I came to Zürich because I got an interesting job opportunity. I work as an assistant at the prestigious art gallery, Galérie Adrienne Desbiolles. This art gallery is located in the heart of Zürich and displays beautiful pieces of contemporary art by famous artists such as Richard Orlinski and Mr Brainwash.
My passion in life is beauty, art and dancing. Any kind of beauty plays a crucial role in my life, whether a beautiful canvas, a dance performance or a live concert. Art, in any form, is the strongest way to express one’s feelings to the audience. This is why I love to dance: when I dance, I dance with my soul. I want to express my feelings, and touch the audience through the art of movement.
“...when I dance, I dance with my soul.”
How did you find your way to ZeoT?
Why did you start dancing? Why belly dance?
Photo: Janet Schulz
As a teenager, I took hip-hop and salsa classes. I only started oriental dancing quite recently, 3 years ago. I always loved the oriental culture, and its generosity and I wanted to learn a dance which empowers diversity: any woman, no matter her size or age can attend oriental dancing classes. Since the first oriental dancing class, it was love at first sight. I love the music, the philosophy of oriental dancing, and the elegance of its moves. I especially love the romantic aspects of oriental dancing, the soft movements.
When I arrived in Zürich, I decided to attend two oriental dancing classes a week at ZeoT oriental dancing school. The teachers at ZeoT school are extremely skilled, they help you to improve your body language, your technique as well as your facial expression when you dance. Not only do these dance teachers improve your dancing skills, but they also help you to believe more in yourself.
“...when you practice and rehearse your steps, you need to look at yourself in the mirror, you need to seduce yourself, to fall in love with yourself again.”
Tell us about your experience with belly dance!
What do you like about it? What do you find challenging?
Dance really helped me to enhance my self-esteem, especially in the hard times of my life. Unfortunately, when I was a teenager I was socially excluded from my class for two years and as a blonde woman, I had to endure many prejudices as well as mobbing at work. Since I was so many times humiliated, crushed into nothing at work, the way I dressed, and the way I moved became a way to survive in these tough times.
As a consequence, dancing classes have become an escape, a rescue. Indeed, when you practice and rehearse your steps, you need to look at yourself in the mirror, you need to seduce yourself, to fall in love with yourself again. Automatically, you begin to move differently in your everyday life, your body changes: you look more confident and this attitude has a huge impact on your professional life. Dancing has taught me 3 hard skills in life, extremely helpful for anything you want to achieve: discipline, perfection and perseverance.