Touchstone

I have been on vacation this week. To you, that may not be odd. To me, it's very very weird. I tend to not go on vacation, or, not on normal vacations. I'm a bit of a homebody. I've traveled for dance events. I went to Triboriginal three years in a row (and man, I LOVE me some Asheville, NC!). I think I'm going to hit Tribal Con in 2011. My boyfriend and I used to attend regional Burning Man events on a regular basis. But in the 8 years we've been together we've never taken an extended vacation together where we not only had no plans to participate in a planned event at our destination, but also were staying in a hotel. This changed because my parents booked us a week in New Orleans, using a week of their RCI time to get us a hotel room. We just had to get ourselves back and forth and take care of our other expenses. Thank you Mom and Dad!

We're finding we're not so good at the vacation thing, though. When left with days of unplanned time, we kind of wander around. New Orleans is pretty awesome; I'd been here in my early 20s and it's nice to come back as less of a sullen goth kid, and as more of an appreciative adult. But a lot of what there is to do is eat, drink, and wander around. My boyfriend and I excel at these activities, but also have had a certain amount of, "So, ah, what do we do now?" going on.

Luckily I have had the opportunity to take workshops with Ali of n.o.madic tribal the past three summers. Because I'm a slacker I didn't get to emailing her about our trip until the week we left, but Ali generously sent me an list of things to do/see/eat. She also picked me up Monday and brought me out to her class, where her students generously welcomed me and two other travelers (one also a dancer and one curious newbie) to the class.

It was wonderful, amid the feelings of dislocation caused by travel, to have the touchstone of a dance class. It was not my usual class, but because I've studied with Ali before it was familiar. What was also familiar, and comforting, was the routine of getting to class, warming up, working on new moves and reviewing old ones, stretching out and thanking my classmates for the experience. Everyone was sweet and I got to recommend my old teacher Lisa Zahiya's classes to a student who is headed to Asheville, NC.

So thank you Ali and thank you to my temporary classmates for giving me a much needed moment of normalcy in the fun but unsettling experience that is vacationing! I wish I could have been there for the entire class series, the small taste I got definitely made me want more. Have fun at your hafla this weekend!

Life updates and video!

Man, this year went from busy, to crazy, to OMFG when do I get a break! After buying and moving into the house, J and I decided sure, we could TOTALLY host the 4th Annual Kallisti Tribal Inappropriate Hafla! Thus began the 6 week scramble to get the house guest ready, which included shoving things in closets the night before the party.

The hafla was wonderful! The weather was gorgeous, the performances inspired, we packed at least 50 people in our backyard, the neighbors didn't seem to care about the yelling , and some guys in the house behind ours pulled up chairs to enjoy the show. The evening ended with a handful of us hanging out in the backyard and eventually having pizza and wings delivered. It was a great housewarming-ish party. I'm posting videos and a write up below, but there is one more thing going on.

18 months ago I lost my job managing a local cafe and home goods store when it closed. 9 of us from the business stayed in touch, purchased the cafe equipment, and started planning a worker-owned cafe for Baltimore. After a lot of planning, hard work, worrying, and help from our friends, Charmington's opened Friday. The name is a combo of the names of the neighborhoods we straddle, offered to us by a friend who has always wanted to use it for a business. The reception has been fantastic! We're riding the wave of a successful opening, and digging in for the work that is ahead of us. The idea is to serve awesome coffee and light fare, sourcing local and organic ingredients whenever possible. We also want to be a place for the community, and we're already had groups meeting up and knitters hanging out.

Right now most of us also have day jobs or are in school, so on top of my 9-5 I also have an evening/some weekends thing going on. My Tuesdays (troupe practice, now at my house to save money) and Thursdays (class) are non-cafe days, but other than that I am juggling dance events and weekend shifts. I want to have some other dance oriented things at my place. I have thoughts of video nights in front of the fire, and back yard music jams. I also, it seems, must be thinking I can live on no sleep or create an extra few hours to the day! On top of all of this, Kallisti Tribal's 5th Anniversary is this winter and we're thinking about holding a really big party. 5 years in bellydance time is like dogs years, right? We've seen troupes come and go in that time, but we're still hanging in there!

Anyway, to hold you over until my next post I am pasting in my review of the hafla, with videos. This was written for non-dance friends, which is why I explain some things. Hope you enjoy the silliness!

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Ah yes, the evidence.

Kallisti Tribal reveals our true nature, including Justin getting in touch with his inner pretty pretty princess. I highly recommend watching this one on Youtube, so you can read the biography written by my troupe mate Lyra.



Flissy, from my troupe, is also a one half of Verve Tribal. Here they spoof the current "fusion" trend of costuming and stage antics that make you look like a drunk saloon girl. Which some people do on purpose. Priceless. Also, at the very end? Flissy is doing a legitimate move (sometimes called a Berber Walk). A dancer to the very end!



Troupe 'Hip'notic clued us all in to their piece before the hafla. I just wish the video was better because what made it, beyond the costuming and dancing, was their facial expressions. Since this went online Leslie Hall contacted them to let them know she loves it. The white shirts say: Vessel Of Shimmy



One troupe Rick Rolled us. Another did one of their sword choreographies except with phallic paper mache "eggplants" (a play on their name). I missed the who soloist did a great belly dancer inside joke, coming out to greet her adoring crowd to a famous dancer's entrance music (ed. Nagwa Fouad), then promptly skipping to the exit music and wafting off stage. A former Kallisti member steamed up the place dancing to this hideous song called "Lick". I promptly fell out laughing, as she had played it for me once and it was awful. Her dancing was impeccable through it all! There was inappropriate American Tribal Style to metal with punchy hands, and then crazy hats. Not one but TWO Freddie Mercury tributes. A kitty cat dance to Primus' "Tommy the Cat". Sassy blues bellydance. A five minute extended fart joke. I cannot for the life of me remember Lyra's solo music except that it was total rock and she downed an entire bottle of beer while in a partial layback (ed. it was "More Than a Feeling"). Our Femcee did a fantastic time introducing the acts, including riffing on both the bios and the performances. I think I may be forgetting some of them, but it was a big happy blur, made more so by the 7 of us who stayed up late finishing the beer in the cooler (and a flask of rum and a small bottle of Pikeville's Finest). It was truly a great time. Plans are already afoot for next year.

Where have I been?

Where have I been? Buying a house! My awesome parents decided to give me a chunk of change and tell me to get busy buying a house while the interest rates are good. So I spent March - May looking, hoping and freaking out about ever finding a home I liked and could afford. And then I found one! The buying process was tough but I had a great Realtor and a supportive cast of friends, some of whom helped us move this past weekend (THANK YOU!).

Some things I wanted in a house were wood floors for dancing, with the bonus of having space to hula hoop indoors. OK, and radiator heat, a nice big front porch, and a kitchen that was either spacious or open to a dining area. Well, I got all of it! And not only is the living room large, it's large enough to be our interior performing space for the Inappropriate Hafla, if need be! The house is a foursquare, and at some point the wall between the living and dining room was taken out so it's one big room. I mean, not immense but a nice size for a hundred year old house in a leafy urban neighborhood, without being some huge, hard-to-heat, space-wasted-on-two-people kind of place. Here is a picture, with the foyer and front door behind and to the left of the camera, looking down the space to the fireplace that was added in the mid-1970s. Blogger is being a PIA, but you can see the first set of pictures over here.

So now I'm living in a house full of boxes and Very Concerned Cats, but eventually that will clear out and I'll be back to practicing and classes. This weekend I'll be taking my third workshop with Ali of n.o.madic tribal (and maybe an ATS workshop with Megha money and time permitting), and I need to get back to my classes, and there is a hafla to plan. To the dancing!