Is it a habit yet?

Isn't there some saying about it takes 21 days for a new action to become a habit? Manage to floss every night for 21 days and you're home free? Get up at a new time for 21 mornings and you're all set? Well, it's been 21 days of added activity, and though I can see that the momentum of doing it one day to the next is keeping my forward motion, I would not say it's a habit. Yet.

I just bought a load of DVDs that have been on my wish list. I'm buying music, too, to round out my collection because I need some inspiration. I'm also picking up bits and bobs of costuming I've been eyeing for years. And getting some new zills. My parents gave me money for my birthday, and I am keeping it for ME! Not the house, not bills, for me, to spend on me things.

Can't wait for the zills to come, because I'm taking a rhythms class and my teacher is teaching using the same hand methods that a drummer users. Right with a ring for Dum, right with a clap for Tek, left with a double clap thing for Teka (or Isa, as we've been using). We have a drummer in class too, who is great, and he's also in the technique class I'm taking, which is all Drum Solo work. How he plays for 2 hours I do not know. He's also recording a series of different drum licks that we can practice to, that we can even set to repeat and such. I feel, with Shems and Nate, that I'm in good hands!

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!

ATS Classes In Baltimore - Winter 2010

My troupe mate Flissy will be starting her ATS Belly Dance classes tomorrow night in Baltimore City. I hope I can drop in on them occasionally because I know I could use the work!

American Tribal Style (ATS) Bellydance Classes

Expressions in Motion, 756 Washington Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21230
Wednesdays 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
6-week session begins Wednesday, January 13th
$84 session
$17 drop-in
To register, contact me to pay by check or cash. Or you can register via PayPal: http://omchantress.com/

Tribal bellydance is a fun and empowering dance form that creates camaraderie among women, celebrates the feminine form, and builds core strength. This class will be specific to American Tribal Style (ATS) as established by Fat Chance Bellydance. ATS utilizes non-verbal cues to allow a group of dancers to improvise and dance together in the moment.
Over six weeks, you will learn basic tribal bellydance posture and movements, as well as the cues and formations to dance in a group improvisationally. Each week will also include drills and conditioning as a foundation to build the strength and flexibility to execute movements safely and gracefully. Other topics, such as costuming, dance history, and music appreciation will be presented.
No dance experience is necessary. Please wear comfortable, close-fitting attire, and a quiet hip scarf (no coins) if you like.

What is it worth?

Like many people (I can't even say just Americans anymore, it's everywhere) I've lost my job. It hurt, not just because it was my source of income but because I worked for a local business I had helped create, open and run. I would like to say I've spent the past month kicking a$$ and taking names with my dance practice, but that's not true. I've been spending a lot of time sitting on my butt at my house. And cooking. I'm still in my class and my troupe is practicing, but I haven't really ramped things up.

Being out of a job it weird because suddenly I do have the time for the things I couldn't do before. Part of me keeps thinking I can go to yoga class! Or hooping! I could add dance classes with new teachers! I can travel to D.C. for classes! I can travel elsewhere for workshops and such!. Then I remember that Hello! No job! On a super budget!

Not having a job and not having lots of extra money means I am having to skip, yet again, something I want to really do, which is taking the General Skills workshops with FCBD. Between the workshop costs, the travel costs and the hotel costs I'd be looking at at least a thousand dollar commitment. It makes me sad, because I see dancers from my area making plans to go to one of this year's sessions and I want to go too! I remember when Carolena first mentioned them at a Tribal:PURA workshop and Lyra and I excitedly talked about saving up so we could go. Things have definitely changed since then (I think that was almost three years ago). I do not think anyone will bring GS to this area. I'm not sure there is someone in our area who could afford to do it, or who is in a position to be able to set up such an extensive event. I wish it could be me!

With all these thoughts going around in my head I really REALLY started thinking about attending the GS. And I started thinking I'm not sure I'd want to go, though I'm not sure if this thought process is soup grapes or me being reasonable. I know there is a wealth of info being offered, but one thing that I'm not keen on is that since the GS workshops started the size of the sessions has become larger. I think when it started the sessions could be 1 to 15 people (I'm trying to remember based on the old price structure info I read), which is definitely intimate and allows for personal attention. Now they go up to 25 people, and though that can be small for a workshop I know that is big for a regular class. It seems like that personal attention could be stretched a thin. If I was spending a thousand dollars or more to be one of 10 people, that's one thing, but not to be one of 25. I'm sure the size of the workshops has expanded to meet the demand of dancers, and I know that the teachers are also business people and they need to make a living.

But then I start to wonder how I could possibly teach with an ATS base and not take the GS? Not that I teach solely ATS moves, but that is where my troupe is grounded. But I also know that, more than for teaching, my desire to do the GS is for me, for my personal fulfillment. If I want to continuing teaching I just have to teach what I know, and what I am learning. Going to a GS session is more for me to bask in ATS for a few days, to dig into the dance form and understand it more. But right now I'm at a crossroads, balancing what I want with my other responsibilities, what I dream about tempered with a dash of commonsense.

In case anyone is wondering, I've had this cycle of want/don't want conflict tumbling through my head for about the past year. It's ramped up in the past few months I think because I have more time to think about it. I figured maybe if I could dump some of it out here I'd be able to get a better handle on it.

Preparation

Let me tell you what an exciting evening we're having around these parts! First there was dairy dinner (grilled cheese and ice cream), washed down with a (ginger) beer. Now I'm making song lists for the class I'm going to be teaching. Yes, teaching. One of my troupe mates teaches a beginning level Tribal Group Improv class but needs to take some time off this fall. I'm going to pick up the class while she's out. The hand off is happening a little faster than I expected, so I have been working on my notes for what I want to cover, drawing up a syllabus, and planning warm up/cool down sequences. Now I'm making up some starter playlists: Warm Up Music, Easy Steady Songs, Zill Tracks and Fun Music.

Of course, all of this is dependent on me having a place to teach. Unfortunately the studio may have a class planned for our usual slot. I would rather not go an hour later, as I have MY class I want to go to that evening. I'm worried about changing nights, Monday's have been a really good time. The location is perfect, near my house, not too downtown for the suburban students but also in the city for those who need it. I've been doing some intense online web searching and I started calling some possible space alternates. I also have to get liability insurance, but I don't want to shell out a couple of hundred dollars until I know I have the class set (and as some places require insurance in order to rent a space this could become a big Catch-22).

So we'll see how it goes. The class may have to get pushed a few weeks, but I'm hoping something works out. I'd hold class in my living room but it's hard to dance around the cats.

Class time!

Well I was planning on signing up for some dance classes this week, but instead I'm taking a six week hula hooping class. Poor me! I've already hooped a little and I have a one my SO and I made and a custom one I comissioned from a local hooper. The class was great, and I've already picked up a few new things. I don't know if this will help my dancing, but it's great exercise and it's FUN.

I'm also going to drop in on some classes. One is a Level I in a local teacher's method and one is an Intermediate level solo tribal fusion class. Of course, things being the way they are, all three classes are on Monday nights, hooping at 5:15 p.m., Level I at 7 p.m. and Tribal at 8:30 p.m.. I am obviously not cooking dinner Monday nights.

Something I wish for

OK, so I actually have a dance teacher, a very good one. She has developed her own method for teaching and performing belly dance, a way which focuses on technical precision and doing little harm to the body. I really admire that cerebral aspect of her style and method, though sometimes it's execution can leave me a little . . . uninspired.

Beyond that, though, I have no teacher in the style I dance. I like to refer to Baltimore as the "Tribal Hinterlands". There is interest here. There have been classes, though three teachers have moved/stopped teaching, one's style has changed, and two other teachers admit that they are teaching a highly fused style that is moving away from belly dance. One of my troupe mates is teaching a beginner improv tribal class, for non-baby beginner belly dancers who want to try out the tribal waters. It's a small class so far, but I bet it will generate a lot of interest (go Lyra!).

So for those of us who are past the beginning stages of ATS or ATS based tribal there is really nothing. There are the options of workshops, traveling to teachers, and video study - we're lucky DC and it's strong tribal scene is so close! When there were teachers tribally focused teachers in Baltimore I found I took beginner classes over and over because of the interruptions in classes or having to switch my teacher when the previous one stopped teaching. Though I think my basic grounding in the style is stronger because of this repetition, it's also frustrating to know that my tribal education was held back because my dance classes did not progress in a constructive linear fashion.

There are some days I feel like I would kill for a teacher in the style I love. I have my troupe, which is fantastic, but sometimes I don't want to be self directed! I want someone to tell me How It Is and How To Do It, to make decisions and inspire me. I want someone else to tell me when we're performing, what we're wearing and what music we're using. I want someone to kick my butt when I'm tired and pat me on the back when I'm doing a good job. I want someone to look up to.

While having a tough time in class a few weeks ago, hour 2.25 out of 2.5 hours, I almost started crying right in the middle of the class. As much as I can admire my teacher 's style it is not what I love, and it doesn't feel natural to my body. I was so frustrated; I want to be learning and working hard at what I love, not at something that doesn't really move me. All of a sudden my chest got tight and my eyes started to tear up, and I was grateful for the beginning of our cool down and the moment to collect myself.

I keep going back to class because one (me) cannot live on video instruction and self motivation along. I need the kick in the butt provided by an actual class, the feedback provided by a real live teacher. But sometimes I get really sad thinking of the lucky students who get to study the dance style they really love and I wish it was me.

How I started dancing

Everyone tells this story I think, the "How I came to bellydance" saga. Sometimes it is after a lifetime of other dance practice. Sometimes it is inherited, picked up during childhood through a mother or sister or family friend. Sometimes it doesn't come until later, a college class, a chance restaurant encounter, a Parks and Rec. class.

My friend A started dancing raqs sharqi *thinks* 6 years ago? I'd say, at least 6 years. She encouraged me to look into middle eastern/bellydance (ME/BD) classes, but since I was trying to finish up college/totally burnt out on classes and working full time, I just really didn't have it in me to pick up a regular class for fun. Though I loved dancing for fun, it all took place at clubs or parties. Note; yes, there is a part of me that keeps saying "If I had started when she first told me about it, I'd be x-number of years further along my dance education".

Then, in 2002, friends of mine convinced me to attend the Fairie Festival at Spoutwood Farm. I wasn't convinced until I got there that this would be a good thing, it sounded a little too twee for my taste. But not only was I enchanted by the festival, but I also got a chance to see Fleur and Geela dancing American Tribal Style belly dance (with live music) as the (then) current incarnation of Philadelphia Tribal Bellydance. There are no pictures of that performance on the site, but you can see them again in 2003. I was particularly enamored of Geela's dancing, and also of the communication that was occurring between the dancers. I didn't know what ATS was, that this was improv, what defined their dance style, any of it. All I knew was I liked what I saw, and I wanted a chance to dance like that.

Now, a side note. I have always been a terribly shy and private person, one who prefers to take the safe route than to embarrass myself in front of people (even ones I love and trust). The same year I was lured to the Fairie Festival I also met ding0 (my SO), who has no problem jumping into new activities, giving things a shot, trying something new, and being a spectacle. Thankfully, some of this has worn off on me. It really involves a large dose of, "Honestly, if people don't like it they can just f@!k off" combined with a bit of "I'm tired of living my life constantly worried about what other people think" and a whole lot of "I need to get the hell over myself." It's been liberating.

Anyway, in 2002 there were no ATS classes in Baltimore. Hell, I couldn't make heads or tails of what the teachers in the area were doing at the time. I remember looking at Piper's classes, and checking out Latifa's site, and wondering how I could ever take a class with a roomful of strangers, doing something that involved me moving and other people looking at my body. I felt stuck.

Then, in late 2003, my friend Sara Sathya (who I met through ding0, see it's all his fault!) told me she was going to start offering tribal bellydance classes in Baltimore. She'd had ATS/tribal instruction before, and, tired of waiting for a teacher to appear in Baltimore, decided to start a beginner level class. For Christmas that year, ding0 gave me pink hip scarf and my first session of classes that started in January.

I took that hipscarf (it was a little small, I soon replaced it with a red one with tassel trim I knit) to my first class, and I wore a black t-shirt and black elastic waisted pajama pants, and socks, because I hated to be barefoot. I remember learning my ATS posture and Hug A Big Tree/basic arm position, the taqsim and maya (out-and-up and over-and-out horizontal hip figure eights), and the Turkish/Turkish Shimmy. I could barely stand to look at myself in the mirror. Instead, I focused on the music, which I really liked (including selections from Arabian Travels I and II, which became my first dance music purchases), on how good it felt to move, on how though I knew I wasn't doing everything exactly right I felt as if this was something I would be able to understand one day, on the other students who were also working hard to understand the movements. It was one of the hardest hours of learning I have ever had, and also one of the easiest.

That night I went home and blathered to ding0 about class and showed him what I learned. And the next week, I went back and I practiced those moves and I learned some new ones, and I've been going back, to class or practice, ever since. This week it's been three years since my first belly dance class. Next week I'll go to practice on Monday, I'll listen to the music, I'll look at myself in the mirror, I'll watch the women I am dancing with, I'll practice something I know and I'll learn something new.