Improv Tribal 101

I decided that, in order to get some information out to my students without the returning students having to hear the same information again (though some stories are classic), I'd instead post up an into to Improv Tribal/ATS basics, a place to direct people and provide links to more information.

A Quick and Dirty Historical and Informative Lesson About ATS and Tribal Group Improv for the Kallisti Tribal Student


The Foundation:
The foundation of most cued improvisational tribal style belly dance is American Tribal Style (ATS), created in the 1980s in San Francisco by Carolena Nericcio. ATS arose out of Carolena's dance classes, and at first was danced solely by her troupe Fat Chance Belly Dance (FCBD). Until recently ATS was not strictly codified; in the past few years Carolena has worked to define ATS through it's common look, vocabulary, and system; she does this through her instructional videos, the Tribal:Pura workshops, General Skills certification and Teacher Training certification programs.

Improv Tribal, solo or group, that does not follow the ATS structure is not considered ATS. Instead dancers use terms such as Improv Tribal Style, Tribal Group Improv, Tribal Fusion or named a specific system used by a particular troupe/dancer/school.

The name is descriptive of the style, American because is is an American invention, Tribal to describe how the dancers work as a unit and can look as if they are part of one "tribe".

There is a more detailed essay on this at FCBD's website:
http://fcbd.com/about/history_rr.shtml

The History:
Before ATS there was Jamila Salimpour and Bal Anat. In 1968, in order to offer an authentic look/feel performance for the CA Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Jamila created a troupe called Bal Anat that showcased different dance and entertainment styles Jamila had learned from her circus and dance background. The dancing was incorporated with live music into one seamless spectacle. Bal Anat costumed in a faux folkloric style, using original textiles and clothing from various North African, Near and Middle Eastern, and Asian countries. The show gave a feeling of an authentic dance experience, though it was made up of elements from many different cultures, and also introduced snake and sword dancing to the belly dance repertoir. The style of Bal Anat and similar troupes has been called California or Old School Tribal.

Baltimore area students are probably familiar with local teacher and dancer Piper, whose mother Rhea was a member of Bal Anat:
http://www.pipermethod.com/rhea.html
http://www.gildedserpent.com/aboutuspages/rhea.htm

One Bal Anat dancer, Masha Archer, left to create her own group, The San Francisco Dance Troupe. In 1974 Carolena Nericcio began dancing with Masha; when the troupe disbanded in 1987 Carolena began teaching classes in order to have people with whom she could dance. What Carolena taught was pulled from Masha's eclectic style, and in her classes the movements began to solidify into a cohesive vocabulary.

Pictures of Masha's troupe:
http://www.gildedserpent.com/art39/CedarsArchives.htm

The Style:
ATS can be defined by several things: the cued movement vocabulary, the improvisational choreography, and the look.

Vocabulary:
ATS has a set vocabulary of codified movements. Occasionally new movements are added, but only through careful examination to see if they line up with the rest of the ATS vocabulary. Movements are split into fast (with a timed count, done to fast music) and slow (no count, done to slow music). They are drawn from standard belly dance moves (such as horizontal figure eights), standard movements modified to fit ATS (the Arabic series of movements that date back to Jamila Salimpour), and movements modified from other cultures (floreos from Flamenco or moves from Indian dances). All ATS dancers know all the same movements, enabling dancers that are don't know each other to successfully dance together with no practice. The same movements are used if an ATS dancer solos, though the dancer may modify the moves to make work better for a solo dancer (such as not cuing a move since there is no one following the leader).

Also, ATS is danced while playing zills (finger cymbals) during fast songs. Patterns used most often are triplets, the military pattern and baladi.

Improvisational Dancing:
The style of ATS can be called cued improvisational dance, or improvisational choreography. ATS dancers will dance with a group of 2-4 dancers, sometimes backed by a chorus that uses simple move and which serves as a frame for the small group. The small group is set up with the leader in the front left hand position with the followers in formation behind, everyone angled slightly to the left corner to maximize visibility. When dancing the leader picks movements to execute and the followers know what moves are coming either by distinctive cues or because the beginning of a move is distinctive enough to tell the dancers exactly what is going on (i.e. the move is the cue). When the entire group knows the movements well the changes happen simultaneously giving a "flock of birds" appearance to the group. Leaders can change though line fades or circling. Some ATS groups will choreograph occasional performances, usually for a large stage, to give a dynamic look to a performance, though most choreographed pieces will still follow the ATS rules.

The Look:
One of the first things audiences members tend to comment on with ATS is the look. Like Old School tribal, ATS has a "fakeloric" look that has a feel of authenticity but is actually a fusion of many different styles from different cultures. The basic of ATS costuming are usually: turban or head wrap (many cultures, used to balance out the top and bottom of the dancer's silhouette), choli (open backed cropped blouse adapted from Indian clothing), coin bra (from American belly dance, often used for more "ethnic" flavored dance instead of sequined and beaded bras), pantaloons (based on salwar or other pants but styled differently than actual historical clothing), tiered skirts (adapted from multiple cultures), hip shawls/wraps (standard to belly dance), and sometimes tassel belts (not an actual or a rare clothing piece historically, adapted from horse and camel tassels and used to accentuate hip movements). Carolena has decided that is is the basis for the standard ATS costume, with some modifications allowed, such as mirror Indian cholis instead of a choli and bra combo, or more streamlined costumes for certain performances.

In addition to the distinctive costume there is the distinctive posture and carriage of ATS. Most belly dance starts from a strong neutral posture: head level, shoulders rolled back and down, chest lifted slightly, abs engaged, pelvis tucked slightly to protect the lower back, knees soft. ATS has a slightly higher lift to the chest, which lends a feeling often described as strength or pride and can create an illusion that the dancer is slightly arching the back. Arms are usually held at chest level or higher, with the elbows slightly bent; movement is generated from the shoulders through the elbows and hands to keep the arms strong. The gaze is level and outward, to enable followers to catch cues and move changes. Movements are usually danced flatfooted with some moves executed on the balls of the feet.

One point of contention within the belly dance scene has been the perception that ATS dancers do not smile while dancing. This is not generally not true. There are some groups that purposely cultivate a serious look, but Carolena has stated that ATS is meant to be a happy, joyful dance and dancers should be enjoying themselves and therefore convey this by smiling.

Overall, through the costume, posture and stylization, ATS aims to produce the feeling of the dancers as a cohesive unit. Dancers should move almost as one, and the costumes provide a colorful accent to the dancing.

So What Do We Do?
The members of Kallisti Tribal come from a variety of dance backgrounds. Lyra has training in classical western dance styles and Irish dance, personal family experience with Indian dance and has studied both tribal and non-tribal belly dance. Nora has trained in social partnered dance and multiple styles of belly dance. I have no dance back ground other than kids ballet and a semester of modern in college; my belly dance background has been primarily in tribal supplemented with classes in several cabaret styles. We met through one of Lisa Zahiya's classes, which was tribal group improv, based out of ATS but with some of the vocabulary reinterpreted and also supplemented with moves from other tribal improv styles or ones created by Lisa's dance troupe. ATS classes are new to the Baltimore area, and there are not many dancers doing strict ATS though this will probably change in the near future as current students start performing.

Over the past few years we have consciously decided to look back to our ATS roots for many reasons. First we feel that to dance tribal style we should have a strong base in the foundations of the dance. We also feel that ATS is just really cool and beautiful and we like to watch and dance it, and Carolena is a continuing source of inspiration to the troupe. Also, it's smart to look into not just the vocabulary of ATS but to the concepts (of presentation and form) that Carolena's developed because they look good and make sense, so why reinvent the wheel? None of us are ATS experts, but we are enjoying our continued studies in the style.

We've also kept some of the moves we learned from Lisa, some of which do not stick to the ATS rules. To this we've added moves or concepts we've picked up from other teachers and we've added things we've, to be honest, made up. Even when using established moves we sometimes change their execution to suit our tastes, but we always try to make sure that what we're doing looks cohesive. Also, though ATS does allow solos for dancers, we tend to do our solos in more fused tribal styles; we break out of the ATS vocabulary, will bring in more audience interaction, and will adopt more individual emotional expressions during solos. And if you ever see Kallisti dancers busting out a solo performance, don't be surprised. We are happy to support each other in our different dance endeavors, which include the occasional spot of solo dancing.

I recommend Sharon Moore's info site for a good synopsis of tribal styles; she is very knowledgeable and very passionate about this dance!
http://tribalbellydance.org/

So, What Are We Teaching?
As I mentioned, we believe in Tribal Group Improv dancers having a strong background in ATS, because it is the source of our dancing. With that in mind, many of the basics we teach are straight from the ATS vocabulary, and we recommend students pick up the FCBD teaching videos (especially #1, 4 and 7) to supplement their home practice. Videos are an extremely helpful tool, though they can never solely substitute for feedback from a teacher. When we do teach something that is not strictly ATS we will make sure to tell you, and are happy to show the "traditional" variation. All three of us continue to study with local teachers and take workshops, so we will continue to bring in new information and inspiration from what we are learning in our own studies.

Also, though Kallisti does not currently dance with zills (as we were not taught to do so) we believe that all dancers should have basic zill abilities, so Amy will be introducing them in her class. We admit to being zill beginners, so we are learning right along with you and will be continuing our studies in order to present solid material to our students.

All of this information is, of course, just a taste of what is out there. I recommend students take some time and look into online resources, including the various groups on tribe.net (the Tribal Style Bellydance, ATS, FCBD and ATS FAQ in particular), the forum discussion Bhuz (great info on music and various dance styles), and the North Beach series at The Gilded Serpent. But don't be just an armchair academic! Get out to watch dancing, whether at restaurants, shows or parties, and make sure to dance yourself, not only for practice but just for the fun of it.

Elaboration: Fusion, performance and skill

I have been a part of a discussion on my personal journal regarding fusion performances. It was regarding an online video performance where the dancer, a beginner/intermediate level student, was dancing with a very dramatic prop and very non-BD/ME music in a fusion piece. I did not like the performance, because I found the prop to be distracting, and I thought that the prop and music choice were so dramatic that they took away from the performance because they emphasized not what the dancer can do but instead her limitations. That is, her prop and music did not contribute to the performance, but detracted from it.

I know that some of my future students and newer (to the) dance friends read my journal, so I wanted to clarify how where some of my opinions come from, and to emphasize that I am not bashing on newer dancers because they have less experience. Gods know my dance time is a mere blip of time compared to some dancers' long and rewarding careers, and I hope I get to keep dancing and keep growing. I admit I tend towards a more conservative view of belly dance. I love it for what it is, and I'd prefer if some of the crazier fusions going on would politely excuse themselves from the belly dance party and start hanging out in a different dance scene. With those points in mind, I'm going to expound of some of my thoughts.

* Dance honestly: Overall I am not fond of fusion that feels it is done just to do something different. It does not feel honest, it feels forced. There seems to be some kind of fusion one-upmanship going on where people are using weirder and weirder costumes, props and music that move further and further away from belly dance and into I don't know what. This movement doesn't feel genuine, it feels gratuitous.

* Match your ideas to your skills: I see dancers doing dramatic fusion pieces that are less effective because of their skill level. Does this mean dancers should never try new things, reach beyond their abilities in order to grow as artists? No. It means that when a dancer has a modest skill level but chooses to do a piece with dramatic costuming, props or music that over reach that skill level it can make the dancer look bad. Instead of the dancer's showing her strengths, the dramatic elements emphasize weaknesses. There can be stepping stones to a big dance idea, performances that build up until your skill level matches your dance plans and it all finally comes together. I have music and ideas I've had for a few years that I revisit to see, "Am I ready yet?" Some yes, some no. I don't want to waste my really cool idea on my current skill level, so I'm still holding it until I can pull that piece off. And I'm sure by that time I'll have something new I'm working towards.

* Teachers, you need to be honest too: On that note, I sometimes wonder if some of the dancers I see have teachers or mentors who are evaluating their students performances. I see some videos online that make me cringe at what people put on stage, and I ask myself, "Did her teacher not tell her that was a bad costume choice? Did her teacher not tell her that music was not good for that venue? Did her teacher not tell her she may want to work with that prop more before using it in a performance?." I feel sorry for these dancers because I hope teachers are putting their students on a stage looking and performing their best. My heart hurts for them. It's their moment to shine, whether it's a baby beginner hafla performance or a student about to go pro. Teachers can be tough and honest, but they also need to support their students. I don't see letting a student get on stage ill prepared, out of her league or way out of line as supportive. If my students come to me for help I hope I can evaluate them with fairness, tact and honesty. I want to encourage them and their creativity, but I also want to make sure they are growing into strong dancers. And I don't want anyone to cringe when they dance.

One of the best things ever said to me by a teacher of mine happened when I asked her what level she thought my class was at, and she said, "Advanced beginner". I'd been dancing for a few years and thought pretty highly of my skills. Her comment made me feel a bit deflated, but her evaluation wasn't mean. It was honest, and it made me committed to take an close look at my skills and then keep working on them. I knew that she always had my best interest at heart and that she wouldn't let us go out unprepared or unsupported.

* Sometimes you have to be encouraged to fly: Just a note to point out that I also think teacher's should push students who don't see that they are ready and prepared to take the next step in their dancing. That does not mean going pro. It means getting a student who is ready to finally do a solo, or to finally take the lead in group improv, or finally work on a dramatic piece to take that next step. Sometimes you have to push them out of the nest.

* Teachers are there for a reason, use them: On the flip side, students should be checking in with their teachers. This is what evaluations and private lessons are for, to work closely with your teacher. This can be anything from specialized classes to info on how to go pro or just brushing up your basics. I especially encourage students who want to start performing to run things by their teacher, as no teacher likes to find out a student is performing and the teacher had no clue what was going on (the dance scene is small, everyone eventually knows what everyone else is up to). Teachers have a lot of info to pass along about performance conduct, pricing, ethics, etc. Keep your teacher informed and I sure you will find yourself well supported for that next step.

So hopefully I have not bored or alienated anyone with my long opinionated list. I was lucky to have, and still have, supportive teachers around me. I also know what it is like to look back and think wow, I was not ready as a dancer to do what I just did. Thankfully I think there are no videos of those performances, because YouTube can be your friend or your enemy, one with a long long memory.

A very happy post

I am very happy to post this video of my teacher Lisa Zahiya. This is the same performance she did at Baltimore's Bellypalooza, and I'm happy I get to watch it again (and again and again). At around 4 minutes the camera changes so you get to see her up close.

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.

It gets better, but you have to make it happen

My SO and I know a photographer/author/blogger/all around excellent and interesting person in Philadelphia by the name of Kyle Cassidy. He is currently working with Amanda Palmer from The Dresden Dolls on a new book project, which is being written my Neil Gaiman. Those two names involve a bit of "Squeeee!' in my brain, and I think about how cool it is that Kyle gets to meet, work with and befriend such interesting people. Kyle wrote about the experience today, and I want to highlight something from his post:

" ... then we hied back to Castle Amanda and climbed up through the cloud club, through a skylight, and onto the roof where the cool air washed over us and the city was wide open before us. i felt like i was a part of something grand. and not because of who i was with or what we were doing, but because i was alive and a great metropolis streatched before me like an awaiting tableau saying "write your life here" ... we climbed to the peak of the house and all sat in silence looking out for a while. the tempertaure was perfect.

"Since I left high school," I said, after a long, contemplative silence, "my life has been going up, and up, and up. I feel like every day is better than the one before."

"I'm happy," said Amanda, looking at me, and then out across the cool vastness, with a lone skyscraper in the distance as witness.

"Life is really wonderful," said Neil.

And sitting there, looking out over the rooftops of Boston, I thought about all the hard work -- all the crap I put up with in jr. high school -- from all those jerks who peaked in 11th grade and spent their time trying to come up with new ways to make me feel miserable, all the bad times, and how everything just seemed right now to be exactly where it should be. neil was right.

Life is really wonderful.

Work hard, believe in yourself, enable your dreams, seek out creative people. Hang on. Tenaciously. Always be a force for good. "

It's true. I've felt my life has been one climb upward since the miserable days of my adolescence. Personally I'm a lot happier than those days of aimless yearning to do something, ANYTHING! with myself. I've enjoyed the modest amount of notoriety I've achieved due to my life (from the knitting, fire and belly dancing). I haven't chased my happiness, but I've worked at it. Or really, I've worked at things I love and the happiness has unfolded from that work.

I want to print this out and hang it up and pass it along to everyone I know particularly the teenagers in my life who may need the reassurance that yes, life is amazing and it can surprise you, but you will have to put some blood, sweat and tears into it.

TGIT (Thank God It's Tribal!)*

I wrote this for my regular blog, to amuse my friends and show them what things we go though as dancers. Of course I have to repost it here.

This past weekend our friend Cathy hosted Zafira for 2 days of workshops. It was incredible. I've taken workshops with Maria and Olivia twice before, at Triboriginal in 2006 and 2007, and even though some of the material this weekend was familiar I still walked away with so much new knowledge, so much inspiration, and so much of my a$$ being kicked (in a good way). I love them. Or lurve them. Or luff. With two effs.

Saturday night was the gala show. Cathy scored the Theatre Project, which I feel was (physically) an awesome venue, even with the tiny backstage (and tinier backstage restroom, which really makes you understand the term "water closet"). There were a lot of people in attendance, and though it was not a dance crowd (i.e. very quiet while you danced) they were very receptive and appreciative. Also, very patient and gracious with the sound mess ups. I'll get to that in a second, but first:

The good: Piper rocking her solo even with the horrible sound, getting to finally see Sammati from the audience (go zills!), Piper and students dancing with drums!, Levialora's beautiful basket dance with live music, Naimah showing us her softer side and endless shimmies, the huge group improv set with baby dancers to seasoned pros all dancing together even though most of us have never danced together before, Shems' glittering veil solo, getting to dance with Lyra and knowing that no matter what happens we've got each other's backs, Mavi being an incredible sword goddess, and Zafira working an amazing spectrum of dance from a saucy vaudeville number straight through to heart meltingly romantic belly dance.

Now, let me tell you about the crazy parts!

I have this part under a cut on my other blog, titled "You thought we would stop dancing, but you were wrong"

There were sound problems all through the show, starting with some of the CDs not working during the sound check. Piper's music from her CD was barely audible, full of static and the sound person cut it early, who knows why!! The crew didn't seem to understand that Zafira wanted their music to start and then took their time turning it up loud enough. Even though the sound guy said our CD worked, I ran for my iPod during the intermission, which was good because the CD of music for the large group set wasn't working and I thankfully had let the practice playlist on the pod. I didn't trust our CD to work, and I was worried even with the pod.

At first, despite the crew not understanding "Bring up the music and lights at the same time", it went well. But then, well, here's what was going on in my head:

First song done! Why are the lights going down? We have another song. It rocks! What? Okay, we'll stand here. And smile. Smile more. What is this! Okay, I'll start to taqsim just to do something. Hey, people are clapping, and it's a 4/4. We can dance to this! This is okay! Maybe the music will be fixed! Wait, this could go on forever. Thank you Mab for wrapping that up. Standing. Fine, I'll go up into the booth. *hike up skirts, run up the steps, pull up the exact song we need (the performance was single tracked)* "Don't hit play until I get down there!" *climb back to the floor* "Brooke, you go first!" Man, I am out of breath, but smile! Uh, why is our first song playing again? Okay, we'll dance to it! These poor people. I am so hot and sweaty. My arms hurt. Hi Brooke, look at us dancing! Hello people in the front row, are you tired of me yet? Okay, that's over. Pose, smile. Why are the lights going down! *scowling* Sound guy: "There's only one song", Me: "It's single tracked!" Suddenly! Our second song! Yeah! But it's too low. Make turn it up motions. Both of us yell: LOUDER! Hey, there it is! Me: Shimmy shimmy shimmy! Brooke: Shimmy shimmy shimmy! Both of us: dance dance dance dance. Totally rock the ending! Pose! Applause! Smile! Bow! Walk off. Sweat, gasp, gulp water.

So yeah, have I told you lately about the glamorous world of belly dance? On the other hand, improv rocks my world!

*Tribal group improv, that is

Rings on her fingers, bells on her toes

Well, maybe not bells. Toe rings, for sure.

OK, I know it's a cliche, a belly dancer wearing toe rings. But seriously, when your poor feet take the abuse of practicing and performing* (not to mention normal wear and tear) it's nice to thank them with something pretty.

I bought my first (well, I may have had one as a kid) toe ring at Smile Herb Shop in College Park, MD soon after I started classes. It's just a plain silver band and I've been wearing it on my middle left toe ever since. Today I was at a local jewelry store and I picked up two more rings. One is a thick silver wire that has two curlicues on the topside with a small silver ball set in one curl. The other has two stylized almost paisley shaped curls decorated with chips of hematite. I'm wearing the silver wire one on my right middle toe, I'm saving the fancier one for . . . later? A special occasion? Something like that. Either way, this is one belly dancer cliche I'm happy to live up to.



* Just ask, I can tell you about what happened the first time I was leading our student troupe. It was a total "I should have known better" situation.

Performance Realization

I spent the weekend at a non-dance festival, hanging out, volunteering, listening to some great music, hooping a little bit, having a great time. I also had an interesting dance realization, regarding performance.

I prefer to (belly) dance in more formal situations.

Formal is the best word I can come up with, though it may not be the most accurate. Perhaps defined situations? Either way, some friends were performing at the festival and months ago had invited me to "sit it" (dance in?) for a song during the set. With planning for the weekend and costuming things and running around all weekend I didn't really do that, though I did jump around and get down a bit during some of their sets. I was totally happy to dance around but realized I was feeling well, shy might be the best word to use, or hesitant, about getting all belly dancer-y down during their set. So I had to think about this a bit.

I don't know if this comes from my inherent personality shyness* or from my experience as a dance performer, but I think I really like to have a definite idea of what's going on when I dance. Even in situations such as the DCTribal Holiday Hafla or the D.C. Jalsah it's a little hard for me to get up and belly dance. Sometimes I feel too, "I'M A BEAUTIFUL BELLY DANCER! LOOK AT MEEEEEE!". Or I wonder if the musicians really want me to be up there. Or I feel like I'm hogging the limelight. Or I feel slightly off, which my troupe mate pointed out may be that I'm feeling the lack of official belly dancer drag that we put on for a performance. If I'm dancing with my partners I start to think, "Are we taking up too much room? Too much attention? Putting the focus on us too much? Can't stop thinking AHHHHHH!" I also think I get super sensitive to the fact that not everyone likes belly dance and I don't want anyone thinking, "Would she just stop and sit the hell down?".

On the other hand, if someone wants me to dance and we arrange it I can show up in my dance drag and have a bit of a clue of what's going on and if I feel like I belong there and it's okay that I'm taking up people's attention then it's totally fine. I will dance and smile and make eye contact and shimmy around, even when I am alone and missing the back up of my troupe mates. The stage is set, I am there as a part of what's going on, I feel appropriate and pulled together and in the right head space and it's fun and even if I'm nervous it's okay. And if anyone doesn't like what I'm doing than tough!

So if I'm at some event and there's great music and everyone else is busting out a shimmy or some snake arms or something on the dance floor and I'm not, it's not because I don't want too or don't like the music, I just feel weird. And if someone asks me if I'd like to maybe dance along with their music or DJ-ing or whatever I have to figure out a way to say sure, but I need to have it be in a performance based way or else I feel like an attention hogging ass.

Just to make it more confusing, if I'm at a non-BD dance party or club or something I am out there shaking my butt all over the dance floor, and I'll even dance when no one else will. I didn't say this all made sense, it just is.


* Yes, I am shy, you can stop protesting now. Wonder why I talk about my cats so much? Can't think of anything else to say. Why, when I do start talking, I have trouble stopping? Total brain freeze freak out and can't shut up, breathe or let anyone else get a word in edgewise. Talk to you without ever introducing myself? Forgot such social cues as, "Hello, my name is ___ and I'm glad to meet you." Use very animated facial and hand gestures? Hamster wheel is the brain is going a thousand miles a minute.

ETA: New thought. I am a control freak! Maybe that's why I worry so much


ETAA: Ah, I think I may have thought of something. It's doing versus thinking. In an organized dance situation I know what I have to do and I do it. OK, it isn't that utilitarian, but that's a nice summary. In a less organized situation I have to think too much about what I'll do, how to do it, etc. and then I start over thinking and then I'm so in my head I can't dance.

Discussing with another dancer in my livejournal about dancing with a group versus solo made me stumble upon this thought. Dancing tribal group improv with people I already know what I'm doing and how to do it and it's pretty easy. Dancing solo is new for me and I still over think it and worry, which is why I'm currently taking classes with a someone who teaches solo style dancing because I need to work on that weakness.


Hmm, that's a lot of thinking for today, maybe I'll need to watch some Youtube videos later, maybe that Engineer's Guide to Cats one.

Stupid injury

I think I sprained the middle finger on my left hand hoola hooping last week. I was doing a lot of off the body hooping and corkscrews up and down; after class Monday the knuckle was sore. Then Wednesday I spent an hour hooping in the park and now my finger hurts down into my hand. I'm going to ice it when I get home; since hoop class is over for a little while I'll take it easy practicing for a while.

Speaking of, I found these tutorial videos at hooping.org, and I'm going to give her knee hooping tutorial a try this week.

New dance crush

I've developed a new dance crush. No, I'm not going to give up on my old crushes, I have space for many of them. My new one is on n.o.madic tribal. I've been aware of them for awhile, and I love Ali's intelligent and thoughtful posts on various Tribe.net groups, but I'd never sat down and watched a bunch of their videos. I love what they are doing both with their ATS-derived improv (and how they've made it their own) and the choreographies they create (which keep the feeling of the improv while allowing for more ambitious staging). Here's a clip:



I also love how they bow to each other at the end, we should honor our dance partners!

Holy S!$t!!!! She won!

My friend, fabulous dancer and beloved teacher won Bellydancer of the Universe: Tribal Dancer!!!!! I am so proud of her!

Hey Lisa? Can I touch you next time I see you? Can I get your autograph? OK, I kid!

You go get 'em!

I just want to send out some love and support to Lisa Z who is headed out to California this weekend. You rock!

Not a safe sport

This week I:

* Have bruises on the back of both hands from hand hooping in my Monday hooping class
* Have a bruise on the top of my head from troupe practice, where we've finally started working with swords. I have the huge Cas Iberia scimitar, and even with a scarf on my head it dug into my scalp.

Note to self: fingerless gloves for hoop class, thicker scarf for sword practice

Meal time!

Doesn't every dancer need a delicious and healthy pre-performance meal of bologna and butter on wheat bread with a side of chips? The post dancing reward will be falafel from the awesome place down the street from where we're dancing.

OK, time to go fight with my hair!

Squealing fangirl!

Have I mentioned how much I love my teacher, Lisa Zahiya? If I had seen this in person I think by the end of this I would have been screaming, "Yes, yes, YES!!!". I recommend letting the entire thing load before watching, so it's (for YouTube) in synch.

Reductio ad Envelopium*?

or, Godwin's Law of Belly Dance Discussions:

As an online belly dance forum discussion about dance styles grows longer, the probability of the invocation of the term "pushing the envelope" approaches one

"For example, there is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis (ed: or has used the term "pushing the envelope" to justify their belly dance performance choices, even bad ones) has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress. This principle is itself frequently referred to as Godwin's law. It is considered poor form to raise such a comparison arbitrarily with the motive of ending the thread. "

This may also be seen with the phrase "But I'm an artist I can do (fill in the blank with whatever action is being justified)", and may be followed by the phrase, "You just don't understand" or "You're just jealous".


*Please excuse my dog Latin.

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.

Classes with Kallisti Tribal Bellydance

My troupemate Lyra is offering tribal group improv classes in Baltimore January - March 2008. Here are the details (below). You can register for the classes at our website.

IMPROV TRIBAL BELLY DANCE I and II
Aura Movement in Fell's Point (Baltimore, MD)
Saturdays: January 5, 2008- March 8, 2008


Improv Tribal Belly Dance is a series of moves that are woven together through hand and verbal cues. In this sense, it becomes a universal dance form wherein anyone who learns the moves and their cues can dance together in an improvisational lead and follow fashion. It's a very liberating, proud and joyful dance form that celebrates women in all of their shapes, sizes, colors and emphasizes spontaneity, interaction and a fusion of both individual and group dynamics. Class will focus on American Tribal Style moves as well as other fusion and tribal choreographies that draw from various forms of dance, including Cabaret, African, Indian, Middle Eastern and Greek. Note: This is not an ATS only class. Improv Tribal Bellydance mixes ATS movements with various Improv Tribal Combos not created by Carolena Nericcio and Fatchance Bellydance.

11am-12pm: Improv Tribal I
This class is focused towards students who are new to Improv Tribal Bellydance or need to work on solidifying the basic movements before moving on to Improv Tribal II. Class will focus on posture, basic slow and fast movements and formation. Emphasis will be placed on learning the stylistic differences that are characteristic of tribal bellydance- carriage of the body, arm movements, floreos, hip work, etc. By the end of this class, students should be comfortable following a leader in formation through these basic movements and can even try out leading themselves.

12pm-1pm: Improv Tribal II
This class is tailored for students with at least one year of Improv Tribal Bellydance instruction who are comfortable with basic posture, formation and lead/follow format. Improv Tribal II will be a more intense class in which we will be focusing on the finer technique of basic improv tribal movements, as well as the lead/follow/chorus format. Students are required to attempt to lead movements in each class, as this is an intermediate-begginer class. In order to join this class you must be proficient in the following:


-tribal posture
-floreos
-tribal arm placement
-basic egyptian w/half turn
-turkish/turkish shimmy
-undulations
-3/4 shimmy
-arabic
-snake arms
-taxim

By the end of this session, students should be able to fully understand the lead/follow/chorus dynamic, as well as have a much more solid grasp of the basic tribal movements and transitioning between them in a dance setting. This class will also focus on incorporating these movements to music and each class will end with a short free dance period.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please come in form fitting clothes that ensure easy movement and comfort. NO COIN SCARVES OR DISTRACTING ACCESSORIES ALLOWED. Please be kind and respect the right of your fellow students to learn in non-distracting environment. Shawls and hip wraps are fine, as long as I can still easily see your muscles/hip movements.

Class Rate: $15/drop-in rate or $120/10 week session in advance.

If for any reason you are wondering which class you should take, please contact me via tribe or email me at lyra at kallistitribal DOT com and give me a resume of past classes you've taken and previous dance experience. You may also contact me at the above email to set up a private or group evaluation for class placement. Please take care to consider which class would best benefit your skill level. I reserve the right to take students who are not ready for Improv Tribal II and place them into Improv Tribal I at my own discretion.

NOTE: In order to keep classes economic for everybody, each class has a 5 student minimum that must be pre-registered two weeks before the class or classes will be cancelled. Each class will be limited to ten students maximum in order to ensure that every students gets personal attention. Please contact me at lyra AT kallistitribal DOT com for pre-registration information. If classes are cancelled, any students pre-registered for classes will receive or a full refund OR can apply their payment towards private lessons.

Thanks and I hope to see you all in class!

It's not so simple

Lately I've been watching lots of ATS and tribal group improv videos online looking for tips on technique and moves, and I've come to a conclusion: the Basic Egyptian move is really damn hard. This was one of the first moves I learned when I joined a belly dance class almost 4 years ago, and I still don't have it down correctly.

You can see this move at around 17 seconds in this clip of Fat Chance Belly Dance. It consists of the lead right foot stepping slightly forward of the body and the foot and hips twisting, then coming back and repeating on the left side, allowing the hips to reverberate as you transfer the weight. The arms are overhead and as a foot reaches out the arms give a slight pull, opening up the line of the body on the side of the foot that is out.

When I started dancing this move felt like "step the foot and bump the hip a little and pull with the arms". My timing was horrible. Then I realized I was pulling my arms too hard, and I had to soften it a bit. Next I figured out that the hips were a twist, not a bump. Then I saw that there was the reverberation with the weight transfer. I had to make my hands smoother, less flippy. When turning in a half circle the turn should be smooth and try turning under the left arm. And my current focus is on keeping my pelvis neutral (no duck butt!) while making sure my arms are up, not drooping down, and pulled back using my shoulder blades so I don't obscure my face.

4 years! 4 years and many teachers and workshops and I'm STILL tweaking this move. I'm not perfect at everything I do but I can say my Turkish Shimmy and Arabic basic and many variations and hip bumps/choo choos are doing a lot better than my Egyptian Basic. It's a tricky move, a lot is going on, and it all needs to pull together seamlessly. Unfortunately it's also a move where each bit that's "off" is noticeable, which is why I've been working on mine so much. Actually, I've also been working on my posture around my shoulders, that back and down through the shoulder blade that keeps the arms and chest strong and lifted, that gives the openess of tribal posture. It's hard work, but I've been lucky enough to have lots of "Ah-hah!" moments lately that make the work rewarding.

Music reviews and reservations: Beats Antique, Le Serpent Rouge and Tribal Beats for the Urban Streets

I am slow to buy new music, I think because I am so sad when a CD disappoints me. I did decide to splurge during one Border's trip, and picked up the Beats Antique CD "Tribal Derivations". It's not quite what I expected from the name Beats Antique, which was more of an Old World, modern age meets the music of the common people kind of stuff. Instead it would fit fairly well into the trip hop genre of the mid 1990s, which (for me) means it's nice to listen to but I don't want to dance to much of it. One that that does annoy me is in my own head, that is, I can see EXACTLY how this music is going to be used by fusions dancers everywhere. I hope I do get to see some fabulous dancing to this music so I can relax and shut the hell up. My favorite track? The hidden one. Seriously!

Since I wasn't all that crazy about the Beats Antique I passed it on to my troupemate, and she bought me the "Le Serpent Rouge" disc, which is music from The Indigo's show of the same title. This is a little more my style, especially (my favorite) accordians! I like the mix of music, though again the more eletronic stuff just isn't what I want to hear. In case anyone is wondering, no the Pentaphone is not too weird for me. I've listened to some rather difficult music in my life, so if I wanted to hear it I'd just trot over to my CD collection and pull it out. I'd like to hear more of Pentaphobe's newer stuff, but I'll wait until someone I know has it and I can give it a listen.

Along these lines, I find the review of Tribal Beats for the Urban Streets over at The Gilded Serpent to be highly amusing and at times right on target. Something I find interesting about the CD is the inclusion of a Muslimgauze track. I've been listening to him since 1994/95, and though I own and enjoy a handful of Muslimgauze CDs, I've always had internal conflict about supporting him because of his politics. I do believe he was addressing subjects in his music that most people shy away from, which is important. What bothers me even more is that I hope dancers look into the work of this artist and make informed decisions as to whether or not they want to use it for performance, instead of just jumping on a "it's on a tribal belly dance music CD so let's go with it!" wagon. Check out Donna Mejia's video for great dancing to a Muslimgauze song. I particularly like the attitude and strength she projects.

Random thought

Lorenna McKennitt's "Marco Polo" is the "Stairway to Heaven" of belly dance.

This is the life!

What does a belly dancer do after a long weekend of performances? Why, put on her PJs and crash out on the bed with the laptop, cats, and leftover Halloween candy! Damn I'm sexy!

News, privilege, guilt

Sometimes the news makes me think of dancing. The other day it was while I was driving home from work, headed uptown in late afternoon traffic. As usual I was listening to NPR, and the All Things Considered story was about gemstone miners in Afghanistan.

What caught my ear was the mention of lapis lazuli, a stone you see frequently in less expensive jewelry marketed towards tribal style dancers. Actually, my first lapis jewelry was a pair of dangly earrings I bought as a teenager at the hippie store in my local mall, earrings I've had for 15 years and now occasionally repurpose in my costuming. Lapis is not just for cheaper jewelry, it's also found in vintage and antique pieces. The less expensive items are easier to find, such as the ones sold by Tribal Souk or The Red Camel (who both also carry older, pricier items). *

The story ends with details about the working conditions at gemstone mines in Afghanistan, which really got me thinking.


Conditions in the 20 or so lapis mines above the town are even worse. Some of
them are run by militia commanders. There is no official oversight other than
a required license and taxes paid on equipment in the mine.

Surprisingly, news of the recent mine disaster in Utah has reached this
isolated enclave.

Police chief Sayed Asssadullah Mujaddedi says the American story may have
had a sad ending, but Afghans here envy the equipment and effort that went
into trying to rescue the six American miners.

"We don't have anything like that. There's only one way into our tunnels and
that's the way the miners use," Mujaddedj said. "Last year, six people got
stuck in a cave-in and we had to get them out by clawing at the rocks with
our hands."

Nor are there benefits paid to the families' of miners who die or are maimed.
Mining lapis is a job no one here likes. It doesn't help that the free-for-all
mining encouraged by the Afghan government is lowering lapis prices.
That, in turn, lowers the daily wage, which on a good day, is $10.

But miner Rahimullah says there's no other work available to them. He
has worked the mines for 9 years. He says his 2-year-old son will
someday work them as well, unless other jobs open up.

I wondered, does the lapis in my jewelry (much of it made in Pakistan, as the stickers on the back of items say) come from remote mining towns like this? Is the lapis in my jewelry mined by men with an aging drill and hammers, people who hope that their children will have the opportunity to do something else with their lives instead of this dark and dangerous job?

I suddenly felt like a spoiled brat, in that I am lucky enough to spend my money on jewelry for a hobby, jewelry made from gem stones mined by people who get $10 a day to go in the ground and dig out those stones with hammers. Then I thought that at least these people have a job and make money, and that Afghanistan is changing so that they can legally sell what they mine, and that hopefully this is a step to more economic development that will benefit them, and then I got angry that no, this still really stinks (note - I'm not getting into a discussion of the war and all that, or else this would go on forever).

Finally I felt like an even bigger jerk for my guilty, privileged** whining, when I should really just a) be thankful for what I have and b) try to use some of my money/time/abilities to help out other people.

So I drove home with all this tumbling around in my mind, and thought that I finally had something to type up and post on the blog that was not something I was going to just write up and then delete because it would just be crazy ranting about the usual crap that bugs me in the dance scene (this week: undercutting, bad "fusion"). I'm going to try to follow it up later with thoughts about costuming elements for tribal belly dance, where these elements come from, fair trade, and seeking out alternates when you want to know what you're wearing and where it came from. I'll try to make it coherent.


4/1/2013 ETA: Check out this great article passed along by The Red Camel for further reading. Seems like things could get better for Afghanistan lapis miners: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201302/the.celestial.stone.htm

* Note: I am not passing judgement on these vendors, I am merely using them to illustrate the items I am talking about. I've shopped with The Red Camel (lovely items and a great lady) and I've heard wonderful things about Tribal Souk.


** Speaking of privilege, this weekend I'm headed to Asheville, NC for Triboriginal: Tribal Dance, Music and Culture Camp and I can't wait! I went last year and loved it; hopefully I'll have the energy to report back later. I'm currently having a crisis about what classes to take (when two that look awesome are back to back).

This entry was edited for clarity on 8/31/2010

What I get for playing with fire

I may fire dance, but I've never candle danced. Sure, I've singed bits of my hair off, but I'd never dripped wax onto my head, face, shirt and arm before. At least I can say I've tried something new!

I'm pretty sure how to get the wax off my top (iron it with a paper towel on top of the wax), but I have to see the best way to get wax out of my hair.

8 things, again

It's too hot to knit, sew or practice. It's too hot to cook or eat. It's too hot to blog.* But I will make sure to finally fill out this eight things meme passed on from Natalia:

1. I have been thanked in two album's liner notes, one a Legendary Pink Dots CD (for submitting artwork for said album) and one Ego Likeness CD (my SO was a member of the band).

2. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here, but I do fire dancing. OK, so I don't practice enough, I'm a really lazy fire dancer. I use poi and fire fans, though my poi skills are rusty to the point that I would not light up at the moment. When I started, my mom stated, "But you're not very coordinated!" Not true Mom, I just don't bother with physical activities that much.

3. As any of my close friends knows, I love the Little House on the Prairie series (the original books, and NOT the TV show). I would definitely draw a straight line from the series to my love of fiber arts, DIY crafting, and interest in local and sustainable food/cooking issues.

4. Man, I love office products. I have a special love for the kind found in older, independently owned supply stores: metal index card boxes, steno notebooks, drafting supplies. I like binder clips and folders and hole punches. A well stocked desk full of office tools and empty notebooks is not only a sign of potential creativity, but of possible life organization.

5. I knit and sew, and I want to learn how to crochet, spin and weave (see #3). I have a vague dream of making my living with these pursuits, but am momentarily too lazy to do so. Of course, I also still dream of having my own cafe, but after opening and running one for the past (almost) two years I'm not so sure I want to go there.

6. Contrary to what most people think about me, I'd like to be a librarian. I have loved libraries since I was a child. I like being able to take someone's vague question and find exactly what they need. I like the organization and information. OK, I don't really like people, or red tape, or paperwork, so maybe it's not the thing for me.

7. Several years ago I directed a scene in a water ballet. Baltimore is lucky enough to have Fluid Movement, a people powered performance art group that puts on water/roller/dancing/etc. shows every year. I would like to be involved with them again, but can we say time commitment?

8. I want a pony. And a llama, an alpaca, goats, a bunny, maybe a sheep (but they are so stupid). My SO and I want a mini-farm of "soft things you can pet".

*By the time I finished this the weather had cooled down. Now it's just "too lazy to blog".

Standing at the source

I spent the weekend at the D.C. Tribal:PURA workshops. Though I have taken them twice before (every year varies slightly, so some information repeats and some is new and all of it is valuable) I still came away with new "A-ha!" moments and ever increasing respect for Carolena Nericcio.

While I let the workshops sink into my brain (and veg out on the couch), I am going to paste a section of a 2004 post from Bare Feet: a dance journal (readers of my personal journal have seen this before). It does a good job of summing up my feelings about the weekend:

. . . . Being in Carolena’s presence is like standing at the source of a mighty river, just at the place where the water is its purest. There’s a sense of vastness there. You know that the droplets from that very spot will travel downstream and intermingle with water from other sources and become huge and impressive- so much so that the spring, itself, can seem impressive, even if it’s really very small. And she is. She’s one woman, but she’s the beginning. Learning from her is more powerful than learning from someone further down the stream because so much of what we do sprang from her.

My thanks to DCTribal not only for sponsoring this event and having my troupe dance at the gala show, but for also awarding me a grant to take the workshops. We're really lucky to have such a dedicated group working to support tribal dance in the D.C. area!

I paid for this?

Yes, I did! I paid for 10 weeks of having my butt kicked in Asharah's Beginning I class. Monday's now involve joining two friends for the round trip to Joy of Motion's Atlas studio in northeast DC and putting ourselves into her capable hands. The class write up mentions sweat, and sweat I did, down my face, my neck, my back, the floor. I'm not too sore, but then we really didn't get into too many squats or butt squeezes. It was only the first week, though. We'll see what comes next.

So today I think I'll take my hoop to a shady spot in the park and try to work out some of the kinks. Tonight is practice in our un air conditioned studio space; this weekend . . . craziness! I have a private lesson with Lisa Sunday morning, a 4 hour workshop with her Sunday afternoon and we're dancing in a hafla Sunday night. Monday? Exhaustion!

Summer is the hardest season . . .

. . . for keeping up with your dance classes.

My teacher had to move her classes to her home studio, since attendance goes down too far for classes to keep going at the studio she rents. I emailed to see if there was room in the class today, but haven't heard anything back yet. Vacations and life in general keep interrupting our troupe practices.

It would be so easy to say, "Let's take a break until fall", but that way lies, well, not madness but surely laziness. Besides, we have three performances to work on for the summer!

You got me

I usually don't do meme's, but this one comes to me via Toya, and I love to indulge her!

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.

1. I own a lot of socks. One could say I am addicted to them, especially tall socks. I have an entire (small, three drawer) dresser devoted to just socks (tights and such are in a different dresser). I really dig Socks Dreams.

2. I am convinced I am supposed to be taller, probably by a few inches. I am the shortest person in my family, and I think this is because I started drinking coffee as a small child. My grandfather would pour me a cup and I'd take it with evaporated milk and 2 Sweet N Lows. When all of my friends got into drinking coffee in high school they acted like it was a new thrill. To me it was just a tasty tasty beverage. I can still drink lots of coffee late at night and go right to bed.

3. When I tie knots, I usually tie them three times. This is some kind of a holdover from my spell castin' teen witch days or something. When I sew I always knot my thread three times; when I tack something I will pull the thread through and knot it three times. Starting or finishing embroidery? Secured three times to the cloth. Finishing a knitting project? I knot the yarn three times.

4. I wish I had some sort of organized belief system, but I don't. The best way I can describe myself is "vaguely pagan", and that's about it. I guess I pretty much believe that this world and our whole being is incomprehensible and pretty awe-some. As J and I joked at the PA Fairie Fest we really like the idea of, "Be excellent to each other." I think there is more to the world that can be seen, and I'm not talking about needing microscopes.

5. I have a very visual memory, and cannot stand to have my physical environment rearranged by other people. This is why I fuss when we're camping and the campsite is messy, or why I constantly arrange and rearrange my work spaces. It can be frustrating living with a messy person, because I want to know where everything is all the time. Ask me sometime where something is, and I'll probably close my eyes and move my hands around in the air to "place" it, then I'll be able to tell you exactly where it is located. I think this visual memory is one reason I give really good directions.

6. I want to travel and live in other places. I am terrified of going to unknown places or living somewhere I do not know like the back of my hand. This causes me a lot of internal strife.

7. Sometimes I hate myself for it, but I love pork products. Bacon. Sausage. Pork chops. Pork roasts. Pork rinds! There, I said it! I like to snack on pork rinds. I also think pigs are incredible animals, and like to hang out with them. I also think Pig (see: my pet cat) is totally awesome, but I do not want to eat him. Hopefully one day I'll be able to put this love aside and go vegetarian

I participated, but I'm not so much for passing these on. So, I tag you!

The teaching dilemma

Why do so many belly dance students become belly dance teachers? Am I the only person who sometimes wonders if belly dance can be like a university's English Lit. department, turning out students that will become teachers to the next generation of students in a never ending cycle (this is coming from someone with a degree in English with a Women's Lit. concentration. I have two career choices there: teach,maybe at the college level, or be a barista. Ahem).

I ask this because I sometimes wonder about my own place in this chain. A year and a half ago I did an evaluation with my teacher before she moved away. She asked me at one point if I ever thought about teaching belly dance (not in the near future, but when I had more experience). I said I wasn't sure I was cut out for it, as I don't think of myself as very patient especially with people who have trouble understanding and need lots of help, or people who don't think/learn like I do and need different teaching methods to help them understand. This is something I've always had trouble with; one of my big challenges at work is training, as I want to tell people, "Just . . . do it. It's not hard. Figure it out!" (which is much how I was trained to do my my job, or parts of it).

Currently I do not feel I have enough belly dance experience to teach other people. I don't feel that I am 100% totally positive all the time accurate on how I do moves, especially since we do a lot of ATS and it is a codified "system" of dance. I don't want to teach and realize I'm constantly changing what I am doing. Not that dance does not change and evolve, but I want to make sure if I teach a vertical hip figure eight on the down up (taqsim) that I am doing teaching it exactly right. To go hand in hand with that, my troupe is currently tweaking moves, dropping or changing things we were taught to fit the ATS format or to better reflect our style of dance. I feel we're in a state of refinement that reflects our growth as dancers and as a troupe, which is good but also currently unstable.

So with my "no teaching!" stance why then did I just start a notebook where I am entering detailed notes on all the moves I know, from the ATS standards to solo dancer moves to Kallisti specific ideas? Because Baltimore is lacking so horribly in a tribal scene that I feel one day I'm going to throw my hands up in disgust and admit, "F#@k it, I'll teach!" (actually, if you know me you know it'll involve a lot more cussing than that). If I eventually get to that day I want to make sure I have lots of background work accomplished - information on the moves, the formations, how I'd put them together, what works, what does not, tips and tricks for passing on this detailed body of knowledge. Even if this information is never utilized in the classroom it is still valuable for me, a personal tribal compendium perhaps.

If that day does reluctantly come I hope I have other tools under my belt: a Fat Chance Belly Dance General Skills certification, probably an ACE certification, insurance, about a million more years of dance experience, a steady tribal teacher of my own. Ok, hell may freeze over before the last one happens, but you can't blame me for being optimistic! Most of all, though, I hope I have the confidence to pass on not only the practical details of tribal belly dance but also my enthusiasm and love of this art form.

Edited: to correct definition of taqsim. See!

Short letters to things that may not respond

Dear hands,

Play with confidence. Practice. Doing these things will only make you better. The zills and the drum will not bite, they are something to be worked with not against. Honestly, people will not point and laugh if you mess up.

Love,
Me

* * * * * *

Dear body,

Yes, I am going to schedule a check up, then get those knees looked at. I am sorry I don't take very good care of you. I admit, going to the doctor's makes me scared. I will try to be nicer to you.

Love,
Me

* * * * * *

Dear self,

Admit it, you have to get off your butt. Try really digging into things instead of flitting from item to item. Think of how good you could be if you really, and I mean REALLY, applied yourself. And one last thing. Practice. You know what I'm talking about.

Love,
Me

* * * * * *

Dear new notebook,

You're plain, nothing fancy or expensive. I love you. I love your college ruled pages, the nifty pockets, your three sections. I am excited about filling up your pages. Thank you for indulging my Type A tendencies. Maybe you would like a sticker to dress you up?

Love,
Me

On that note

Memo to self:

Remember that dancing and having fun thing? Like the hours of dancing Saturday night at the Goth Prom party? How you didn't have to think about dancing, it just happened? Work on that! It's fun! It's good for you! It looked good! Sure, it wasn't all belly dance, but there was a lot of it in there.

Also, if dancing wildly for a few hours did not cause massive thigh and calf pain then the classes and practice must be paying off. Bonus!

Who would've thought?

My "Duh" moment of last week:

You're dancing because you like it, and you like the music, so just go ahead and dance to the music!

We were dancing a 15 minute set Friday evening at al all tribal night at a restaurant. I was worrying about specifics of the performance, how would my little solo go, the usual round of thoughts.

Then something hit me. I really like most of the music we listen to. I really like dancing, whether it's belly dance or just out at parties or fun or whatever. So . . . (wait for it) . . . I need to carry the fun I have from dancing casually over to my belly dancing (particularly when performing)!

I know, it sounds elementary. I am one of those people who gets into things for the technical aspects; I can very much put a mental, academic spin on my hobbies. It takes effort to just relax and enjoy things for what they are, without my brain overdoing the whole experience.

Was I successful Friday night? Not completely. But I'll keep reminding myself that "Hey! This is FUN!", and I think it'll take hold eventually.

On that note, today I am going to the library then to the park and I am going lay in the grass with a book and not do anything else. I'm not going to practice my hula hoop or my poi, I'm not going to take any dance stuff along. I am going to relax and read and enjoy the weather. I swear.

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.

A Thing of Interest in Baltimore

On May 24th, local troupe Indra Lazul will start hostessing a weekly event at Latin Palace in Fell's Point. The event is 1001 Nights. My teacher Piper will be dancing the opening night.

There is another weekly ME night, Shanta at Red Maple. I'm not too keen on it (not my kind of bar/club, not crazy about their current policies regarding their dancers). Perhaps 1001 Nights will fullfill my desire to get out to dance for fun!

My dance lineage

Head over to the Gilded Serpent and check out the vintage pictures of Masha Archer and her San Francisco Classic Dance Troupe. Masha would be my something-great-dance-grandmother. I love looking at these photos; the troupe blends what I love about the presentation style of both 1970s American belly dance and ATS.

Also, I am coveting the jewelry. Coveting!

Reversal

I've discovered an annoying habit I have picked up. When I need to be working on a dance craft project, I want to knit. When I should be making progress on one of my *cough* six *cough* current knitting projects, I want to play with the accumulated bits and bobbles I've picked up to put towards future costumes.

Today I allowed myself some time to listen to an archived episode of Cast-On, then swore I'd work on the belt I need to have finished by Friday. Then I poked around on line a little more. Finally I loaded up Episode #4 of the Craft Sanity podcast and pulled out the belt.

I'm working on two piece belt, made from the top of a mirrored skirt that's been cut in half and has ties on the sides; a common style. I decided to try this style as my current belt ties in the front and always ends up shifting up in the back when I dance. I know I don't want to do the uber amounts of yarn fringe or anything like that (*note to self* when feeling like a rant, go off about novelty yarn).

So I made a bunch of tassels, put on the belt, held the tassels up to it in various places. No. Unpinned two long beaded tassels I had on my old belt, held them up. Better. Grabbed a length of chain-with-dangles I bought last year from ShimmyBliss. Dipped on the sides? No. Across the front below the belt? Hmm, better. Picked up the tassels again. Still not right.

Then I thought, why be complicated? Go for the belt with a piece of fabric or a plain scarf underneath to add some contrast and cover the top of my skirt. Add the long beaded tassels and the chain swag. Get to that point, maybe add some beads to the bottom of the belt ties, see how it goes. It doesn't have to be noisy, fluffy, tangly or weigh a ton.

So the belt-and-options are sitting on my craft table for when I get home tomorrow. Now it is too late to dig back into the two knitting projects sitting on my desk: simple 3x1 ribbed socks in a flecked sage green, and clog socks with a cable and lace pattern down the back knit in a raspberry/pink/purple/dark blue hand-painted yarn. They may end up sitting there until the end of the weekend, after Saturday's trip to Philly, after opening the store on Sunday morning and going to a family party in the afternoon, after everything when I can finally sit down and relax. And then I start working on my costumes for the Fairie Festival.

I can do that but I can't do it all

March blog carnival topic

If you belly dance, then you know you have said or heard this phrase at some point: "I can do that!". Sometimes it shows up as, "I can make that!". I think all but the most non-DIY person among us has made this comment, stating that yes indeed, this item here? I could make that my self, nooooo problem. Sometimes this statement is made with a note of superority in the speaker's voice. That simple hip wrap? Why buy it, I could make it myself? Those decorated dance slippers are how much? Give me some glue, jewels and ballet flats and I'll do it in my spare time! The long belted robe cover-up out of interesting fabric? I could make one just like it for myself!

I've had my own DIY moments. I am a crafty person. I sew a bit, I can knit and embroider, I can figure out how to make a lot of things, and if I can't do them already I can use Google and the library to help me out (I get my SO to chip in on the more heavy duty projects, such as my fire toys). I've had many make-it-myself moments, some more successful than others. The cover-up: batik cotton material and a bathrobe pattern, this was pretty simple and worked out well. The velvet stretch choli: the free pattern was fine, though I had trouble with enlarging it on a copier and damn I hate darts. The three tiered 10-yard skirt: gathering is the bane of my existence, I think my SO would take up a collection to buy me a new skirt before he'd let me sew one again. The coin bra: several weeks and countless sewing needles later it was finally done, and my poor finger tips peeled for weeks, but it fits me perfectly. The mirrored tassel belt: the first one went through two remakes to get it right, the second one has just been started.

Making things myself has taught me a lesson, though. Yes, I can and will do my own projects, because I love the process of making items, but seriously it is often worth it to just pay to purchase an item. This is doubly true when I can buy an item that is being made by a small business that specializes in dance wear. Instead of making my next tiered skirt, I'm buying one from Flying Skirts (as well as any choli's I want, unless I need one out of a particular fabric, then I'm locking myself in my office with FCBD/Folkwear's pattern and you can shove food under the door until I emerge). I'm seriously thinking of buying some pantaloons from Belly Roll, because even though I can whip them out in no time I end up spending not only the money for supplies but also a chunk of my time to finish the project.

See, that's what it boils down to. Time. I bet a lot of people will talk about time when they talk about their dance budget. I may not have a lot of money, but what I'm really low on is time. If I really need to save some cash I'll make sure to hit the fabric sale racks or dig in my stash and come up with what I need. I'll repurpose jewelry and clothing into what I want, and I'll spend my time-budget getting the items finished. My coin bra probably cost me way more than a similar handmade item would have if I'd bought it custom made, simply because I spent many evenings sitting at my desk pulling needles through the bra with a pair of pliers (and cussing). Those evenings could be calculated not just in time, but also in money, an hourly wage paid to myself for every minute spent working on a costume (this is one way the retail cost of an item is figured).

Luckily I have a job and the luxury of extra spending money. I can keep adding my spare cash to the tribal piggy bank, and one day I can pour out the money, add it all up, and buy something I want. Try doing that with hours spent stressed out over uneven skirt gathers or yet another damn dart! My time is precious to me, more than money, and I'd rather pay it to myself in hours spent practicing, evenings spent knitting, afternoons spent hooping or mornings spent relaxing with my loved ones.

Dance Crush Part 2

OK, so I've never seen her dance in person, and I have never met her, but I've been hearing for years that Nanna Candelaria is a fantastic dancer. I checked out her (few) YouTube videos, and now I have a coast-to-coast dance crush. Watch how she makes her belt fringe dance with her!

Hooping . . . fever?

On my Christmas list this year I put (among other things because I am a greedy greedy person): hula hoop.

OK, not the old hula hoops you used as a kid, the flimsy striped circles with the beads inside. Nope, I wanted one of the new breed of hula hoops, made of heavier poly tubing, connectors and some colorful tape. These hula hoops fit adult bodies, are easier for starter hoopers to manage and can be easily made at home. Hoops like this come in plain, multi colored, UV reactive or light filled versions. They can be small, for kids, or large, for taller or rounder people. I wanted one!

I was introduced to hooping through my involvement with the Baltimore/DC Burning Man community, particularly at the biannual Playa Del Fuego event. It didn't really catch my eye until I watched a friend hooping - her movements were so smooth, so joyous, so much a dance and MORE that I thought, "I want to try that!". I didn't get an opportunity at that burn, though a few months later I did get some instruction while at a dance camp. All I managed to pick up at camp was the ability to keep the hoop up for about a minute, but I loved the whole process! I dropped the hoop, I shot it across the lawn, I hit myself in the head, I pulled muscles all along my sides but it was worth the satisfaction of getting that huge plastic circle spinning for just a little bit. That's when I added "hoop" to my Christmas list.

It is now a few months past Christmas, and the hoop is finally here! Make that the hoops are finally here. J read the hoop making tutorial, then went all over the area to find the proper tubing while being unable to find the proper connectors. So the hoop was partially done: a white unfinished circle, decorated with a pattern of made by laying lace over the plastic and coating it with spray paint. That's the hoop I got on Christmas. A month later, on a hunch, I went to an unvisited hardware store, and there were the connectors. Except, the size I picked up didn't work and J was leaving for tour for a month, before I could make another connector run. Finally I got back to the store, he got back from tour, and the second connector worked with a little tweaking from J. Success, a hoop!

But this hoop, this hoop was hard to use. Larger hoops spin at a slower rate, which is often easier for new hoopers. This hoop was smaller, just a little taller than my navel, which means I'd have to hoop fast for it to stay up and moving. Since I'm new at this I couldn't keep up my speed, and the hoop kept falling. So, "Larger hoop please!" I demanded, and J was happy to fill the order. Now there are two hoops; the second, when resting with one edge on the ground, comes to my chest, and it is decorated with a simple stripe of black electrical tape over the white base. It's rotation is slow and almost hypnotic, much easier for my untrained muscles to handle. J has happily found he can use it too, so for the past few days we've been grabbing the hoops and working with them in the middle of the living room.

Now, hooping is not belly dance. The hip movements that work with belly dance do not work with hoops. You can dance with hoops; I recommend looking up videos on YouTube to see what is possible. What I am looking forward to is learning a new kind of movement, one I can dance, one that that can be exercise that does not involve going to the gym, one I can take to the park or a party or a festival. One of my troupe members hoops, so I'm going to pick her brain while we're hanging out (I bet it would make a great pre class warm up!).

I admit, belly dance has a lot of my heart, and it's not going to be replaced, but it(and knitting, and sewing, and fire dancing) are going to have to scoot over a little and make some room for my hoop. I hope there's some space left when I finally learn how to play my accordion.

Good luck!

I just wanted to say good luck to Toya and the rest of the NDC. They are headed to Rakkasah West, and perform on the Cabaret Stage Saturday evening. Have fun, dance hard, and don't spend too much money! (Oh, and give us a call when you get back so we can get the full report)

Looking With A (Gleam In My) Dancer's Eye

February blog carnival topic

Whenever my mom and I go clothes shopping together (which is not enough) we always make sure to point out any sequined, beaded, embellished clothing as "Nana Clothes". My grandmother loved such items; all of those decorated holiday sweaters, dress up sparkly tops and glittered shoes for going out (I wore a pair of her 1960s dancing slippers in high school).

My mom dresses more in earth tones, and it seemed for a while that perhaps this eye for the the shiny had skipped me too. I started dressing in (almost) all black starting in middle school. This followed a brief neo-hippie phase, until I figured out I hated the music, and though I loved the clothing I didn't like identifying myself as a part of that crowd. Basic black became the standard instead, more in the teen angst version than any attempt at being chic or sophisticated.

20 years later black still dominates in my wardrobe, though there has been brief forays into color. I'll wear blue jeans now. I own some red Danskos and boots. Purple, ironic shades of pink, and deep jewel tones will make an occasional appearance. But I think all the years of monochromatic dressing left me with some kind of inherent inability to color coordinate. Okay, there was the entirely chartreuse green outfit: dress, tights and matching underwear set, accented by my hair (dyed with one side a matching green, one side magenta) and a pair of thrift scored, Italian made, raspberry suede, low winkle picker boots. But other than that it's been mostly black, black, black . . . and striped socks.

Then came the dance classes, and my subsequent browsing on belly dance websites and discussion forums. Suddenly my world was a kaleidoscope! Sure, I may prefer to dance tribal, and my natural inclination is to the bright primary and deep earth tones found in many of the ATS costumes, but really I'm not picky. I love everything from the pastel of layered chiffon circle skirts to the deep tones of a velvet beledi dresses. Screaming pink Egyptian style lycra costume? Sure! Dusty browns of a minimalist tribal fusion outfit? Yep! The occasional foray into a dramatic white bedlah, the antithesis of my all-black days? Love it! Sure, I don't WEAR all of these, but I love cruising costume vendors and dancer's galleries, gobbling up the bright costume confections.

What really grabs my eyes though is the shine, the sparkle. Shisha mirrors on a tribal belt, glittering fringe dripping from a bra, sequins edging a veil; they all elicit a low, "Oooo, shiny, pretty" from me. When watching a dancer I tend to focus in and out, from costume to dancing, following a snaky arm up to a sequined bra to shoulder shimmies down an undulation to the belt and fringe accentuating a hip figure eight. I sit back and take in the entire package of dancer and outfit and music, then focus in on tricky technique, clearly expressed emotion or a particularly stunning piece of costuming. When I see a vendor's table of bedlah or rack of dresses I head over to check them out, drinking in the piles of coins, sequins and beads. Sure, I tend to tassels and pantaloons and coin bras for my performance gear, but I am a sucker for the glitter.

It took me about a year into my dance classes to realize that belly dance indulges my eye for "Nana Clothes". Perhaps there is some deep seated happy association that links fond memories of my grandmother and her sparkly clothes to the pleasure I get from watching (and being) a glittering, shining performer. Or perhaps the love-of-the-sparkly gene didn't pass me by, it was waiting for just the right catalyst to turn it on. Dancing is a hell of a lot of fun, but to quote Baltimore performance group Fluid Movement, glitter makes it better.

Performance Blues

When I started dance classes I never intended to perform. When my classes began I'd already been doing fire dancing for almost a year; some of that involved performing in very low key situations. The last time I'd stood up in front of a bunch of people was in high school during my theatre geek days. I didn't think that as an adult I'd be performing on a regular basis, though.

Belly dance has a tendency to take you down the road of performance. First it's dancing for your classmates, perhaps in an end of class session "show". Then it's on to informal haflas, where you cobble together an outfit and get up in front of friends and family. Many more haflas, studio shows, and other informal events follow. Then suddenly it's gala shows (the ones that happen during a workshop weekend, are yearly events sponsored by local teachers, or something of the sort). Dancing at fundraisers, or showcase nights at local venues. Before you know it you're involved in the whole, "What should I/we set as a pay rate" debate and BAM . . . you're performing.

Now note, not all dancers do this. A lot of people never get on stage or stop with the the informal performances. They don't want to get on a big stage or commit the time to performing or deal with the stress, and that is great! I think it is awesome to do something because you love it for yourself.

I'm one of those people, though, who likes to have something pushing me forward, and beyond my own perfectionist streak I've found that the deadline of an upcoming performance works rather well. What I've also found is that the looming deadline pushes my stress level up to new heights.

Sometimes that can stress can be good. In November I danced at the DCTribal sponsored Tribal:PURA show with my troupe mates Brooke and Nora. We had two weeks to pick music, brush up the new moves we'd been working on, and get costumes together. It was two weeks of intense rehearsals, evenings in my living room going over and over the music, and last minute sewing. We were practically delirious on the ride to the venue, nervous as hell through the run through, nauseous while waiting our turn backstage. There were minor flubs on stage, but it went over well, we got a great response and we felt good about what we'd done. The show left us is on a high (thank goodness, as it was the start to a long weekend of workshops).

This past weekend the same trio danced at a local hafla. Again there was the rushed lead up, though intentionally more relaxed this time. There was nervousness before the show (even worse in a way because we were the last to perform). Despite minor problems (such as my belt getting up close and personal with Brooke's belt, locking us together until I spun around and released us) it went well. Afterwards, though, I crashed. Like literally as SOON as we stopped dancing I felt like I could have laid down on the floor and slept for a million years. It was like the pre-show stress and recent troupe goings on had all crashed down on my head and left me completely drained. We left, I schlumped home with my SO, peeled off the layers of my costume and swapped them for my pajamas, and spent the evening staring at the computer.

When dancing leaves me energized it is fantastic. When it leaves me drained it is awful. I have to learn that all of my dance experiences will not be great ones, that I can't beat myself up over it and I have to keep moving forward. I can't let the bad times sour my opinion, because performing can be great and I know I'm going to do it again - an invitation to dance will pop up, we'll all decide to go for it, and the cycle begins again. I just have to hold onto all of the good times and remember that the tough ones are the situations that usually lead to a period of change, growth and progression. I have to keep reaching for the next goal, raising the bar for myself and finding out what I am really capable of achieving.

Thinking is not doing, though it's a step on the path

Lately I've been thinking about writing here, without really getting anything down. I have one paragraph of a post about zills; I was interrupted while writing and now I can't remember what I wanted to day. It seems that all my good ideas hit me while I'm at work, and once I make it home the will to blog is gone.

On a productive note, I've been cleaning up my office/sewing room and laying out the projects I have to complete. In the wings:
backing the cool tasseled material and turning it into a hip adornment, finishing the yoked pantaloons, taking the Rajasthani choli to the fabric store and picking out material to use for alterations, buy a bra to use as a base to start playing around with new top ideas.

On an unproductive note, I have absolutely no desire to do all the things I need to do to prep for a show this weekend (adjust belt and sew on some mirrors, figure out how I want to do my hair/make up, figure out what to wear and make sure it's not balled up in the floor of my closet). Lately the siren song of new library books, DVDs and napping in our ugly orange chair has been hard to ignore.

Guilty pleasure

So, my belly dance background and taste is with ATS/group tribal improv. But sometimes I like to check out the Dahlal catalog*. I like to ask myself, "If I was a non-tribal belly dancer with lots of cash, which costume would I buy?" Actually, I already know the answer to that, I'd get one of the coin sets. Shiny.

*I like some of the practice wear too, so perhaps I'll spend some money with them in a more modest way.

Dance Crush: Zafira

I admit I have a few dance crushes, on troupes or particular dancers with whom I've fallen in love. My most recent crush is on Zafira Dance Company from Pittsburgh, PA. I met and took classes from Maria and Olivia at Triboriginal Dance Camp this past fall. They are fabulous teachers, giving tons of information and teaching with a great combination of strictness and humour. Plus the setting of the camp gave the opportunity to grill bug ask them questions after class/at meals/ while wandering around the grounds. I learned a lot and was completely inspired (note - I also took many other awesome workshops at camp, I recommend it highly!).

Last night I watched Zafira's video "Caravan Serai", a 50 minute performance which presents dancing through four vignettes: The Cafe, The Sacred, The Home, The Muse (I think I got those all right). Something I love about their style is the precision, especially the excellent timing when all four dancers are working together. I was less moved at some points (not into the Balinese-esque parts, natural tendency to get bored of sword work no matter how well done, but that's just me). The best thing about them? The energy they produce, and the fact that though they are dancing with choreographies you can tell that they are also dancing together. They look at each other, smile and interact and show you that they working together to produce this beautiful dancing. I loved it!

Zafira has produced a new video which should be available soon, and I cannot wait to get it. I plan on showing it to anyone who might be even slightly interested.

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.

Setting the tone

I had wanted to set the tone for the year by doing a little sewing today. Too many projects are languishing in my office, too many yards of fabric are sitting in the "this will make a great . . . . " pile. Well, no sewing today, but I did at least get some junk cleared out and some items organized. Some things that are hanging around and projects I'm thinking of:

* finish the damn yoked and pleated pantaloons, make a note of modifications for the next pair
* cut and finish the piece of green cotton fabric for a head wrap
* continue to rework the Banjara choli that I took apart
* slit the seam on the Banjara skirt, reinforce where the ties go if needed, add new ties


* yards of burgundy cotton gauze - divvy up among troupe, what to do with my piece
* head dress: need to make a head dress (and work on putting hairstyles together)
* new bra: make a lighter halter style mirror bra
* buy choli pattern and start altering it to fit me
* belts: start embellishing/cutting and reworking two "scrap" belts
* napkin belt: figure out how to use napkin as belt base. Fringe?
* dyeing: when can I add fabric dyeing to my list of hobbies

Dance Goals, Version 2.00.7

I thought I'd hop on the bandwagon and post my list. Actually, what I really need to do it print it out in some huge font size and pin it to several walls and major appliances in my house so I see it ALL THE TIME.

In no particular order:

* start logging my time spent on dance related interweb sites and match that with practice time
* head to the gym, hopefully the iPod helps
* get back into a regular class
* schedule a few private lessons with dancers I like, this may involve some travel
* go to Asheville, NC to visit and take some classes with Lisa Z. and her troupe
* save up for FCBD General Skills Certification, because if I do teach I want to be sure of what I'm doing
* attack my potential costuming pile, look for new inspiration
* home study with video, i.e. dissect performances/instruction for moves, ideas, inspiration
* expand my music collection, try to be adventurous
* increase my ability and confidence in solo work
* learn to turn off my hyperactive inner critic while dancing and just get into it!

Sari!

I saw this link today, and wanted to make sure I didn't lose it:

http://www.sarisafari.com/

Oh my, the fabric lover in me is going a little crazy.

The practice is the dance

A dance friend of mine recently linked to a Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley sermon where dance is used as a metaphor for life and for the keeping of clear and focused intention in both spiritual practice and day to day matters. It was a good thing for me to read right now, when I find my self separated and distracted from what I truly intend to do for my dancing and myself.


We get up. We take some steps. We fall down. We get up. We take some steps.
Practice is it. The practice is the dance.
There’s no big performance we’re gearing up for-only our lives.
This is it. This is the dance.

Dance gifts!

Yay! I got a hoop that ding0 made for me, and a slick black iPod (he had one of his refurbished). I had been thinking about an iPod, but knew he couldn't afford one and I wasn't willing to spend the money on it (yet). I'm excited about pairing the two gifts - hoop practice in the park with my iPod on. Who needs the gym! (oh, I do, right)

Merry Giftmas!

I admit, I'm into Christmas for the presents. And the traditions, the comforting rituals that happen every year. My family has always had generous (not necessarily elaborate) Christmas celebrations. OK, I'm spoiled. I admit it. And Christmas is the perfect time to ask for the dance related things I've been checking out that I'd like to get myself, but haven't yet managed to get my grubby little paws on.

Here's what went onto my wish list:
* Short Sleeved Drop Shoulder Choli
* Fluffy skirt black or white, Jaipur skirt in just about any color
* Carolena's Art of Bellydance set
* A hoop
* A piggy bank**

Things that crossed my mind, but I know there's a limit:
* The rest of the FCBD video catalog that I don't already have
* More zills!
* Yoga classes
* Personal trainer sessions
* NW Circus Supply Fire Fans which are also on eBay as Haycox Enterprises Fire Fans, or fire fingers (via my SO)
* And then there's my Amazon list

And what I'd really really dream of having?
* Time time and money to go to Asheville, NC to study with my old teacher and her troupe
* The time and money to do FCBD's General Skills Certification program


** Seriously. I want to start saving change and bits of cash to put towards my dance training. There's something very satisfying about dropping the money into the pig, then emptying it out later and putting that money in the bank.

Why You Should Be Dancing

I've had these posts linked through my LJ for awhile, but I think they can always be reread:

Eleven Reasons You Need To Be Bellydancing Right Now

Part I
Part II

A headstart on resolutions*

So, in an attempt to get a headstart on resolutions*, I am trying to get this blog set up. I already have a personal journal; this one is more for dance items. Some things will be boring; training goals and notes to myself. Some may not be to people's tastes; my personal opinions of things in the bellydance world. Mainly this is a space for me to keep myself organized, and you are invited to follow along.

*resolutions can also be seen in the more practical light of "plans to get off my ass and do more with my time/less time spent online and more spent practicing"