Tag Archive for sharon pakir

the facebook madness

July 25, 2012 Capability, Dance, Lifestyle No comments

It has finally happened! After months of uhh-ming and ahh-ing about it, lots of friends telling me to just bite the bullet and DO it, I have set up a Facebook page for A Life Worth Living.

It’s funny that it’s taken me this long – I TEACH this stuff for goodness sakes, but I’ve always held back because I never MEANT to become a public figure. Not in dancing (that’s been a happy accident), not through my blog (was meant to be a way to keep in touch with friends) and not through all the various other social media things I’m active on.

And let me just clarify that I am well aware that I am NOT an actual public figure. It’s just that my streams of work happen to take me to many countries and meeting a hugely diverse range of people. Famous, this does NOT make me.

And yet, it’s happened. I woke up this morning still sick with the flu (this one has knocked me around badly!), with another day off from work (sigh), and realised I had:

  • 300 pending facebook friend requests on my personal profile – that I haven’t accepted because I don’t know them personally, or don’t remember meeting them (workshops with over 100 people? I definitely don’t remember everyone hard as I try)
  • random (and WONDERFUL) comments on my blog from people I don’t know, and despite my TINY readership, have come from around the world (and I do love this, so please keep reading and keep commenting)
  • very random people messaging me from the youtube channel about my dancing and wanting to be my facebook friends

I DO want to keep this wonderful community I have, but cannot keep my Facebook personal profile candid if I add strangers. I ALSO do want a handy spot to amalgamate all my 3 lifestreams – my dance school and the work I do as a professional dancer, my training business and the work I do to help people achieve more out of life, and my personal blog that you’re on right now.

So here it goes, if you do want to keep in touch with what’s a-happening (particularly since I’m not such a TIMELY blogger) – just join the revolution that is the Facebooks. Click below! I’ve even already added some photos, links and more for you to peruse!

 

Sharon Pakir – A Life Worth Living | Promote Your Page Too

Whilst you’re at it, want to go like my business pages too, so you can be TOTALLY ON THE BALL?

Spin City Dance | Promote Your Page Too

The Capability Project | Promote Your Page Too

photoshoot with @bythewei

August 17, 2011 Dance, Fashion 2 comments
Sharon Pakir Photoshoot with bythewei (Chen Wei Li)

When I was in Singapore, I was lucky enough to once again take part in a photoshoot with the incredibly talented, super visionary and creative photographer Weili. He’s responsible for the picture on the sidebar of this blog.

What makes Weili super good at what he does is a combination of skills that many photographers do not have.

His attention to getting the perfect shot is second to none – he’ll happily take hundreds of shots until he captures the entire package of mood, lines, lighting and contrast.

He also understands vision, and is very much like a magazine’s art director/creative director in that sense – he understands setting the scene, how to make the lighting work like instant real life photoshop (seriously, he somehow obliterated cellulite at one point!) and how to use any space to lighting advantage. The shot below was taken in a room with a BRIGHT blue wall behind me but you totally can’t tell.

sharon pakir bythewei photography

Additionally, Weili has people skills – something so lacking in MANY creatives. I don’t know Weili as well as I’d like to as a friend, and yet he has an ability to draw out your emotion and mood and capture the very essence that is in your persona for the shoot. He talks you through, almost coaching you as he yells out things to jolt you into the moment, shows you the shots you’ve taken and guides you through moves and what he’d like to see. I also really love that he allows your personality to shine through, and tries to capture the weird, the whimsical, the intrinsic characteristics that make a person THEM, and isn’t scared to take unorthodox poses. Like so:

Sharon Pakir Photoshoot with bythewei (Chen Wei Li)

my favourite pic of the whole shoot!

Invariably, with all those skills, coupled with his extensive dedication to the technical aspects of photography, he manages to produce shots that are overwhelmingly authentic, real and almost scarily stark. A great piece of art evokes a feeling in you, and I think Weili has this in him as a creative person.

You can view some of the other dance shots in the series here on his site. If you’re based in Singapore and after a shoot, you should totally contact Weili. He’s fab.

 

love is…

November 28, 2010 Love 2 comments

Last night, one of my closest girlfriends got married to an incredible man – I’ve been drafting a blog post about it but choosing the right photos out of 250 shots of gorgeousness is proving difficult, so you’ll just have to wait a little longer to get a sneak peek of her beautiful wedding that was filled with love.

What was a nice aside was that S and I finally got to take some photos all dressed up – because of the back injury we haven’t really been out, much less gotten frocked up for an event. I asked the lovely Noel to step outside and snap a few quick shots of us… it was too good an opportunity to pass up!

Sharon Pakir & Steve Krygger

I love this man, I really do. Yesterday, in particular, there were many reasons to love him. To start with, I was in pain and rushing to get ready for the wedding in 20 minutes flat, and hadn’t eaten for 14 hours. That is a lethal combination. And all he did as I ran around, squawking at him, shrilly snapping out demands and grumbles, was benignly ignore me, and help me get myself together to leave the house.

Shan & Steve

All the way to the wedding, in the car, I muttered and huffed about how I didn’t feel pretty, how I was so hungry I could bite his arm, and discovered I’d brought the wrong envelope for the wedding card (oh, the shrieks of despair). Don’t judge me – when I don’t eat, I am a lunatic. You probably are too, so there.

Calmly, he kept reassuring me about how stunning I was, pulled into a service station so I could pick up a chocolate bar and a new wedding card envelope, and kept holding my hand tight, reminding me about how exciting it was that Liz was getting married.

Sharon Steve

Finally, he became, as usual, my hero. I am still angry with my back for not managing to hold up all night, but after all the speeches, the pain set in pretty crazily. I disappeared to the bathroom, where Gemma later found me, teary and distraught. S got the maitre’d to organise a back laneway exit for us (so we wouldn’t disrupt the happy merry-making), helped me hobble to the car, sat with me whilst I lay down and collected myself.

When it was obvious that I wasn’t going to recover (but I was too confused and discombobulated from the pain to be lucid), he made the executive decision that we had to leave, escorted me back, explained to everyone that we were going, collected my various girly accompaniments (purse, shawl, camera), and swept me home swiftly to a hot water bottle, cuppa tea, and a warm blanket on the couch.

What a man.

I know that all the above seems so.. normal. Why WOULDN’T you expect your partner to be so utterly thoughtful, loving, patient and wonderful? Why would you be with them otherwise? Yet, I know that I have been in relationships where all the above would not have been sure things, and I know of relationships that don’t have the same support and adoration.

Most certain of all, I know of no man who completes me more on so many levels, in addition to doing all those things above, and makes me feel so loved, adored, so special, so relaxed, and like life is complete.

steve kissing sharon

a great dance studio

November 26, 2010 Dance One comment

When I was in Kuala Lumpur a few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to teach a Ladies Styling & Spinning workshop. The workshop was hosted by Jaxen of Rhythm Identity Dance Academy, on extremely short notice (I wasn’t going to teach on this holiday as I wanted a break for my back… then changed my mind!)

All the regular things about organising a workshop were handled extremely professionally – it struck me as being rather positive that Jaxen, amazingly, filled the workshop up within 2 days of advertising it. Negotiations with him were professional, easy, and swift, just the way I like it. Decisions were made that benefited all parties. I was impressed, and I hadn’t even reached KL yet, and whilst I’d met Jaxen and his team briefly at various Asian Salsa events, I had never worked with him or created a real relationship as yet.

Sometimes when working with international organisers, you get a good feel for whether it’s going to be a positive experience, and sometimes, you get the dread creeping over you about the professionalism of who you are working with. This was all positive, professional, and had the airy feel of something that was going to be effortless! Yay!

Nothing, however, prepared me for how incredibly inspiring my visit to Jaxen’s studio was. Firstly, one of his instructors, Harry, picked me up from my hotel. In the car, we chatted about many things, but what stood out firmly was that Harry was exceedingly loyal to Rhythm Identity, and also gave me a good idea of what a wonderful community it was. Check, check, check. I love seeing that in the people I work with.

Next, we got to the studio. I was welcomed ever so warmly by the RI team. Their studio was incredibly gorgeous – it was obvious that someone had put in a lot of work to make it a welcoming space for dance, and a very clean and comfortable place for a community to grow. I didn’t get any photos, but the main things I noticed were:

  • the decor in the studio was stunning, with warm coloured walls, inspiring photos and posters, wall to wall mirrors etc
  • little touches – aromatherapy candles, it smelled wonderful, flowers, clear signage for everything
  • extremely clean! the bathrooms were spotless, the floors and mirrors were sparkling. Shoes weren’t allowed in the studio at all unless dance shoes which I thought was a fabulous idea.

It was the kind of dance studio that people would want to come in and learn in, that was warm, welcoming and clean, and so professional that you’d feel that you were paying for an experience that was fabulous at the end of the long work day.

I loved the experience of teaching in that studio – When we opened Spin City Dance, one of the things that drew us to our gorgeous property were its beauty, its great feel, the professional look of it, its chandeliers and high ceilings, a dance studio we would be proud of and that matched our team’s dedication to our craft and customer experience. Rhythm Identity seems to have the same desire to create a wonderful dance experience, a property that makes you feel like being a dancer and part of the community, and a team that welcomes international talent to better themselves constantly.

It pleased and inspired me immensely to work in the Rhythm Identity studio and be so overjoyed at seeing a growing and emerging dance company provide such a fabulous experience for its students. If you’re in KL and wanting to do some dancing, look up Jaxen and his crew – a genuine bunch of people, they’ll ensure you have a wonderful time and leave you remembering what being part of this crazy dance community is all about.

And all of you that attended the workshop – I had a fabulous time and it was a perfect time to get back into teaching after my injury. THANK YOU for coming on such short notice, and I hope to be back in KL very sooooooon!

Rhythm Identity/Spin City/Sharon Pakir Salsa Ladies Styling & Spinning workshop in KL

post workshop happiness!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...