The Belly Whisperer

Preggo Bellydancing

2011-06-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

photographed by Craig Lovell, available for purchase at inmagine.com

It has been my experience, for some reason that a lot of cabaret bellydancers either have one child or no children, and in the Tribal set ( which I had some brief involvement in), the procreation was a little more pronounced, but not by much. This is not a judgement, having children is not for everyone, I am just not sure how many of you will resonate or identify with this post. Either way kids or no kids whether by plan or nature, bellydancing while preggers ROCKS!
     I am sure Aunty Rocky, a walking wealth of knowledge, would have a lot to say on the subject but here are my own reasons that bellydancing for two is the neatest thing ever.

    When a Solo dance becomes a Tango

1. You really feel that life inside you. You know that person on some level, and it is the epitome of "two heads are better than one", only internalized. You are dancing a solo dance, with two people. It is really really cool.

2. As Tempest mentioned in her last post those times as artists when we wait for inspiration can be terrible. I have been accurately described by those who know me as "Fire or Ice", which means that I fluctuate from bursts of passion and inspiration to almost a cold comatose non-emotional state. During the non-emotional state inspiration never ever comes, I look at those times as my recuperation times, but they usually have me chewing my nails waiting for the next burst of inspiration.
    Being preggers there is no "ice" time for me. The inspiration is always there, the creativity is constantly within my reach. It is just like all that " being one with the earth, connected to the Mother" stuff that sounds so hokey but really means something.

3. These movements feel RIGHT on a primal level. Most of us keep dancing because moving our sacral and root chakras in a world when we have little opportunity to do so feels so good. It releases stuff. It focuses on on areas that get little attention in our upper chakras focused world ( AKA brain/throat area). Pregnancy, I guess because there is a PERSON in my sacral chakra right now, makes it a necessity to focus on those two lowest chakras. Moving them feels so amazing. Shimmies feel like a massage. Undulations feel like I am "making something", akin to painting a picture. It really is amazing.

4. Emotions are not far off. I pretty much have two switches....Cry or Kill. I either want to stab everyone, or like my experience in the grocery store an hour ago, cry when people look at me wrong. I am an emotional hot mess. But this being my third child, I have learned not to be afraid of emotions either during pregnancy or outside of it. Emotions can be a wonderful tool in dancing, and they really add fuel to our dance. I have a wealth of fuel, folks. And dancing it out keeps me from wanting to stab everyone.

5. I can tell he likes it. I knew that my first two were girls, and I am pretty sure this one is a boy. Of course I may eat crow at some point, but probably not. :)

I am sure there are a million more positives, but that is good for now. On another note, I saw his little heartbeat yesterday and it was amazing.

Lator gators, gonna go have some peaches and pepperonis. ( for real).

Post From Under the Rock

2011-06-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

pic found at bellydanceforbirth.com

I have no patience these days and absolutely no patience for writing. Every time I sit down to do a blog post I say "meh" and go do something else. So I'll condense.

Here's What's Going on in My Little Corner

1. Well, the biggest news is....I'm pregnant! I am very happy and feel very at peace. We have been debating a third child for some time and since this was a surprise, I am guessin this one wants to be here. :) But I already have mom-brain. For those of you who don't have kids that is when during pregnancy and for about 8 months after you are dumb. Putting the remote in the refrigerator and the cheese on the mantel dumb. Hey, my body is making a person. I apparently don't have time to think.

2. They think they got all the cancer in my husband. They took 8 lymph nodes, a large chunk of his arm, ( looks like a shark bite), and a skin graft from his leg ( which surprisingly hurts him the most right now. It doesn't help that the nurses keep calling it the "donor site"....creepy). When he is not on his "happy pills" he is hobbling around, and looks pretty pitiful. The whole thing has been a huge strain,and I am relieved ( knock on wood) that we are on the way to recovery. But the past month and a half has been a blur. The only cool thing is the outpouring of creativity from my family and my husband and I as we come up with awesome stories to explain the large chunk of his arm that is missing. My brother wrote this concerning the wound...

i told garey busey his genetic self-experiments with sharkbearwolf blood would end badly. ......... From that day henceforth the mutated bite wound became self-aware. Later describing itself as "The Singularity". Realizing that non-bite marked humans (what the Singularity would come to emotionally refer to as "fleshy abominations") were at a disadvantage, the singularity set out every full moon to systematically exterminate all "inferior beings". ............also........ you can put M&Ms and shit in there

Yeah, we are all sort of nuts. In a good way. in a fun way.

3. Two kids, and one on the way. Burgeoning writing career. Husband in cancer-recovery. Yeah, it is an understatement to say that bellydance will be on the back burner for a while. Sucks in a way, but not at all in another way. When you have been dancing as long as I have, bellydance never really exits your life, it is such a part. But it shifts....and it is shiftin' again. I have never been one of those people that goes to every workshop, show etc., but now I am goin' to none. It is an adjustment, but I'd say I am o.k. with the trade off.

4. I am having major issues leaving comments on all of my readers blogs. For some reason it will let me do it half of the time. So yeah, I read everyone's blog, and I want to comment. For now I will just have to read your posts and comment in my mind.

5. Bellydancing feels so GOOD on my pregnant body. Just some soft undulations and some small tight shimmies really relieves the back pain I am already feeling. Yay, bellydance!

Lator gators.....

The Happy Drunk Reviews- Opulent Motion with Sarah Skinner

2011-05-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

These days I am watching a lot of TV, crying a lot, and using beading ( via Naima's tutorial ) as a way to keep my hands busy. ( at this point I am still just trying to thread the little prissy bitch beading needles). I ordered Opulent Motion-The Artistry of Slow Moves by Sarah Skinner a few weeks ago, and after all the drama died down I felt like watching it. Husband is having surgery next week, so I am sure between caring for him, I will have a lot of down time to bead ( or try to), and reflect on bellydance. This no pressure, slow-focused DVD seems to be about my speed right now.
I told you when I reviewed her Bellydance with Veils that I was a new Sarah Skinner fan. I have her new DVD-The Bellydance Shimmy Workout on pre order and am gonna get the rest of what she owns. Even though I do chuckle at and agree with this quote:

" Beginning dancers prefer to take intermedate level classes,
Intermediate level dancers prefer to take advanced classes,
  Advanced dancers take private lessons to work on their basics"
- Author Unknown

I still don't really buy beginner DVDs, usually I feel like it is a waste of my time, and frankly, they bore me. Her new shimmy workout is marketed as a beginner level DVD, I am gonna buy it. Know why? Listen closely, I have figured out the reason that Sarah Skinner's DVDs are so cool.
Economy of words. She wastes nothing. She doesn't waste a single word. In all of her DVD's including this one, she goes through the movement, not in a rush-but not dragging us all along, then she moves on. Even when she re-explains something it moves quickly.Period. Her DVD's have that sensation of moving fast without seeming rushed. She has a way of perfectly explaining something in a few sentences.
   Something I have learned in teaching my classes is that people aren't stupid. If someone is going to get it, they will get it, and if they aren't they just aren't. If you waste time over-explaining, then you waste everyone's time. MOST DVDs out there move way too slowly for my taste, and spend too much time over-explaining. On both DVDs of Sarah's that I own, she is a wizard at the perfect level of explanation.( ironic,that it took ME so long to explain that, huh?).
    In Opulent Motion I found again, that I "knew" most of what was on there, but couldn't tear myself away from the TV. They way she puts things puts you at ease and opens up your "dancer's ear". ( part body, part brain). The DVD covers a wide range of what is basically Taqsim movements, steps, and modes of expression. This DVD is about dancing SLOW, and pretty much everything Sarah does in this DVD is like savoring a piece of chocolate. In other words, don't watch this after you have downed a Red Bull. You won't get it.
     She goes through the slower rhythms; slow masmoudi, chiftitelli, etc.and manages to teach, and at the same time make you watch what she is doing. There is no, ( insert loud nasal voice) " Now LADIES, this is what you do. FIRST, you put your RIGHT foot to the RIGHT, and then...."....instead she is moving as she talks, and even if she repeats a move there is an ease and flow to it. A damn breath of fresh air, that is what it is.
      I have a theory that most dancers communicate through movement and like the computer programmer whiz that cannot tie his own shoes, most dance teachers are way better at dancing than they are at talking. Rarely do you find someone who is fabulous at communicating through dance and words. They are either o.k. at dance and good at words ( me), or they are o.k. at words and great at dance ( most of the dancers I know). When I find a chick who can do both really well I latch on and don't let go. I suck on that teat with all I've got.
     The other reason to buy this is sheer volume. I think it has, like, 40 something chapters. And at the end she dances several different types of slow dances and the commentary is AMAZING. She takes you through the dance.
      So buy this. Everyone buy it. Advanced, beginner, intermediate, you WILL get something out of it.

            Now off to tackle some Tea cups. ( Thanks Naima!)

Dancing Through Pain

2011-05-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

When the shit hits the fan, that's when you realize what is real in your life and what is not. What you go to when you have real grief, ( not just day to day drama bullshit), what you turn to when you are in so much pain you feel like you could die. Those are the real things in your life.
    I am on a life dictated bellydance hiatus right now. What that means is that our life has been turned upside down and there is absolutely no room for workshops, shows, classes, etc. I do not want to put on a costume. The idea of any of that seems as out of place as Paula Deen in a Whole Foods market. I am packing up all of my glitzy stuff, all of my costumes. But I am keeping out my veils, my zils and of course my Ipod.
    I have done this before. There have been many times I packed up the stuff thinking, I wonder when this will come back out again. Moving to a new town, having children, feeling lost in the dance, and needing a break all saw me bringing out the clear plastic bins labeled " dance stuff". I would walk by it and say, hey, I haven't forgotten you are there....life is just in the way right now. Inevitably I did get a chance to dance in groups again, and the time I spent isolated, dancing for myself alone always left me feeling stronger.
   Finding cancer in my husband, plus more other garbage that is in some ways worse than that ( believe it or not) has re-adjusted our lives, thrown the lid off, turned everything upside down. The cancer is more than likely curable, it looks like he has a really good chance. The other stuff, I am not so sure. Honestly, I don't know how I am managing to breathe these days.
   But I will dance. Packing up my stuff, cutting ties to dancers, classes, workshops does not mean that I am not a dancer. The only prop I need is the music, the only costume, what I am wearing, and the only tool my body. I can't not dance. And right now,when I am feeling more pain than I could have ever imagined that I was capable of, I need dance more than ever.
      So I don't know when I will post again. The truth is, writing has always been extremely cathartic for me, and just because I won't be plugged into the dance community doesn't mean that I won't be exploring dance by myself. So I may post I may not. Either way you guys have been a great support group and please send me all the good wishes, prayers and whatnot you have that you can spare. I really really need them.

My-blog-e-trios

2011-05-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

I know it was a stretch. Get it? Menage e ....oh never mind. The point is, I get around when it comes to blogs. I am polyamorous when it comes to the blogging world. I am doin' it with everyone.
For instance, ever blog hop? I love to follow "blog trails". Hop on one site, see who they have in their blog roll, hop on another...etc. I have found some of my favorite blogs this way. You can start at bellydance and end up on blogs that feature Korean Elephant Finger Painting or some such anomaly.
    Inevitably when I list my resume.....published in Shimmy and Zaghareet!...been dancing for 13 yrs, working on several books, have a blog, I get the eye rolls, and the comment. Oh.... a blog.
I am like "What? Blogging is cool".
They are like" It is just a bunch of boring narcissistic rambling and back patting".
I usually say" Yeah, some are, but mostly you can learn anything about any subject from a variety of different perspectives".
That usually shuts them up.

But it is true. I follow blogs by fellow witches, Indian food cookers, Everything Armenian, Autism blogs, Astrology, and a few weird ones. Blogging ( if you have the patience to wade through the few truly bad ones out there), can be like strolling into a bookstore, and learning. I follow Gail Sheehy, in the book Passages perspective of learning which is " sometimes you have to know what you don't like before you can know what you do", which means I learn just as much from the perspectives that I don't agree with as much as the ones that I do. Some blogs royally piss me off. But I can respect their right to their opinion as much as I have my right to mine. And I am sure I do my fair share of pissing off as well.

    So I am gonna take this time to do some pimpage. Some exploitation of my favorites and new favorites.
I'd also like to say if you'd like to be on my blogroll and for some reason I am too dim to have followed your blog then please by all means send the link. I am always looking for a new blog, and I read the posts daily. I like our little blogging community and I hope it expands. We here in the blog world are a bit promiscuous.....nasty, but oh so nice.

My Blog "partners". Spreading the love one blog at a time, baby.

1. I am so pissed off at myself for not catching this one earlier The Occidental Dancer....and she has been blogging since '09! Raqasa writes a fabulous well written blog about bellydance and bellydance related stuff, and she is FUNNY. Sometimes PEE your PANTS funny.( of course I favor that biting sarcasm dry type of humor). Luff it.

2. Tempest is my kinda gal. She writes heavy, intelligent stuff and usually delivers chewy bites of thinkin' girls mental food on her blog, Tempest's Teapot. After reading her posts, I usually feel like I have just eaten a large piece of cheesecake covered in chocolate sauce. I need to sit on the sofa and digest for a bit.

3. Foxy Roxy at Shimmies, Sequins, and Slippers is like the head cheerleader in high school, not the snotty one, but the one that everyone liked. By that I mean that she is smart, unbelievably gorgeous, but at the same time so down to earth. I love that she is never afraid to say what she thinks but there is also an air of lightness to what she posts. Great blog. Read it.

4.Naima. Naima. Naima. Read Naima's Bellydance blog...... you never know what you are gonna get. Cats sitting in odd positions. Gorgeous handmade bedlah. Dazzling drum solos to arcade sounds. Her blog is like Mr.Toads wild ride. Hang on.

5.Kis at Kismetisms Emporium of the Old seems like the Martha Stewart of the bellydance blog world- she seems to have it together. Her blogs are witty, to the point and very streamlined. A good read.

6. You can tell that Princess Farhana is a writer, by what she writes and how well she writes it. Her blog is great, and right now she is running a wonderful series called The Thinking Gal's Guide to Bellydance Styles. I am eatin' it up.

7. I'll stop at 7 because I am highly superstitious and seven is lucky....Lilith Noor's Crumbs in the Costume Closet is a lot of fun. She has a sense of humor and I love seeing how she pulls together some hot looking costumes!

Now, don't be gettin' your panties all twisted up if I didn't list you....I read everyone's blog. Everyones. I just like the number 7, that's all.

Bellydance Baggage

2011-05-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

I have been doing this De-Cluttering thing. After reading the amazing, life changing book Clutter Busting- Letting Go of What's Holding You Back I am slowly but surely transforming my life. I am not just being melodramatic. IT IS TRANSFORMING MY LIFE.

Anywho, in the book Mr. Palmer basically says that everything you own represents something to you. He urges you to take a good look at everything in your life and no bullshit, evaluate it. Is it you NOW? Is it who you WANTED to be? Is it who you THINK you are, as opposed to who you really are? We hold onto so much that keeps us mired in the past.
    Lord, this has been refreshing, and just what I needed. But curiously enough, as I got to my bellydance stuff, the feelings that came up weren't as uncomplicated as I thought they'd be. I just love ( as in, it literally feeds my heart) to dance. I love the sparkly things. I run my hands along my copper metalskin trumpet skirt, and my coral silk skirt from time to time, feeling the texture, smiling to myself. When I listen to Middle Eastern music I catch myself smiling. When I dance I truly feel free.

                          BUT
Unfortunately I have been in this long enough to have built up some "bellydance baggage".
   The clutter busting process isn't just about stuff. It is about freeing the mind as well. As I went through three laundry baskets full of paperwork from a few bad financial years, I had to let all that go, and say "this is in the past". When I donated 150 plus glass bottles from a failed herbal products venture, I had to ask myself first "why was I hanging onto this?" ( a reminder of "failure")...and second to let it go, recognizing that hey, it was not a failure, it just wasn't right for me. After several weeks of this my home is clear, and my mind clearer so. I am not only taking out the clutter, I am taking out the mental baggage. And now it is time to take out the trash, so to speak. Time to let go of the bellydance baggage.

     I have been hurt a lot by people associated with bellydance. I have used bellydance , at times, as a replacement for how I should feel about myself, as in, I have at times, placed it in the "unhealthy obsession" category. I have gotten completely attached to people in this dance, then had to leave them, leaving my heart feeling broken. I have been SO FRUSTRATED at the lack of real encouragement for each other in the dance community that there have been no less than 10 times that I seriously thought about selling all my stuff and never turning back. Bellydance has been like a good relationship. Even though all around it has been good, it has still been a relationship. Relationships have their ups and downs, no matter how "meant for each other" you are. Also, in relationships, the WORST thing you can do in hold grudges, hold onto hurt and keep the past pain at easy reach.You have to let go, you have to forgive, and you have to " love like you've never been hurt". If you don't let go, you stay stuck.

So here I go. I am bagging all of that up. I am walking it to the curb for the trash man. As I tie these bags I release it all, I forgive all, including myself. And hopefully, as I clear out my bellydance baggage I can gain back the purity that I have kept cluttered up for so long. I can renew my unbridled love for the dance, baggage free.
I'll let ya know how it goes.

Old Timers and Top Hats

2011-04-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

We all have a right to feel exactly the way we want to. All over the place even, I'll bet, in your immediate line of vision right now are several things- articles, books, magazines, billboards, TV,telling you the way you SHOULD feel about any particular subject. In bellydance this is especially so.
    The day after traveling always finds me taking the easiest road for at least a day until I recooperate/get my bearings. Today that meant rolling out of bed, getting the kids to school, and spending the better part of two hours catching up on The Guilded Serpent articles. Lord, what an example of what I am talking about! Just go on there and you will find the old school-out of the seventies dancers telling you why bellydance today is a mere shadow of what it once was, you will find fusion people telling you why their dance is valid and anti-fusion people why it isn't. If you find an article/author you agree with, you can comment and hurrah right along with them, or if you find an opinion to be offensive to you, then, well, there is place for that, too.

     But here is the thing. We all have what we THINK. I have my own very distinct opinions about bellydance and what it should and shouldn't be. But do I act on that? NO. Do I treat others differently based on how they choose to intrepret this thing we call bellydance? Why would anyone do that? The Old Timers are so afraid that the dance they know and love will be lost forever to some chick wearing a tiny top hat and garter belts. The Fusion people get indignant and work hard to say that no matter what, what they are doing is every bit as valid as what the Old Timers are doing. Different but valid. The truth is, it doesn't really matter because for every ten chicks in tiny top hats dancing steampunk style there will be ten who resonate with the 25 minute formal set of the "olden days". And guess what, folks, there are ten more who resonate with neither who are out there creating yet another variation of bellydance that will manage to TRY to divide us yet again.
    So yes I have my opinions. Yes I teach my classes a certain way, and yes I see a lot that I think doesn't belong. But I still have and practice respect for those "other folks" ( we are all the "other folks", depends which side you are facing). When it comes to my opinion about other dance styles I TRY ( the operative word here is TRY) to either keep my mouth shut or tone it down a bit. I tell my students when I am expressing an opinion, " Hey, this is just my opinion about this particular form. You might try it and love it, so don't hold too much stock in what is just an opinion".

      When it comes right down to it, dance, like any other art, WILL EVOLVE. It will. Don't try and stop it. Art that doesn't evolve, dies.
     The other constant is that myself, you, and others will have an opinion about it. I am not ashamed of my opinion. I am not all floaty-rainbows I love-everything-non-opinion, but I do try to keep in perspective that in this giant world full of millions of experiences/mindsets/different people, that my tiny brain is just a small part.

and for now, that tiny brain will never ever have a tiny top hat on it. ( ha ha I couldn't resist). :)

Smellydance

2011-04-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

I have said before that my thing is smells. I have an incredibly strong sniffer, and as I stepped outside today and smelled the sweet clover and the fresh cut grass I felt a moment of bliss. That moment of bliss was followed by my way-too-active-mind when I asked myself the question " What does bellydance smell like to me?"

Here is what I came up with:

Snuggles dryer sheets.

You are like...Wha? I use dryer sheets in my veils. I have not had much success with static guard or anything else, so I layer dryer sheets between the folds of my veils, to keep the static to a minimum. You smell clean laundry, I smell bellydance.

Auric Blends perfume oils-Black Opium

I have worn these perfume oils since I was fourteen. I pretty much have them all;they smell amazing and they last forever. The scent I wear when dancing is Black Opium. To me, it is what a bellydancer should smell like, spicy, exotic. All I have to do is take a whiff and I am in front of a crowd shimmying.

MAKEUP!

I am pretty much a minimalist when it comes to makeup on a day to day basis. But when it is time to don the costume I pull out all the stops and utilize products that I would otherwise never ever buy/wear. The cheap chemical Wet n Wild smell mixes with the high end Benefit stuff and the scent is heavenly. It is kind of powdery,sweet,bitter, and well, the smell excites me. Weird, I know.

O.k., I lied when I said that the only scent I wear when performing is Black Opium. A few years ago I discovered Conjure Oils-The Souk.

image found at conjureoils.com

They have a whole line of perfume oils made for bellydancers! I chose and LOVE the "Radio Bastet" scent, inspired by.....Radio Bastet, the vintage bellydance site. ( worth checking out if you haven't already).
The great thing about conjure oils is that you can sample most of the oils for pretty cheap. I can't wait to try the others in this line. For what it is worth the Radio Bastet scent is what you would imagine Samia Gamal smelling like. Feminine, sexy and with that old school Shalimar feel to it.

Peanut butter.

I realized that if I don't eat something before performing I feel pukey-sick. But I am nervous and excited and not at all hungry. The only thing I can get down/keep down is half a peanut butter sandwich. It holds me over till after whatever show, then I can eat my ass off. Yep, that is usually what happens.

Exotic Fabrics

You guys know what I am talking about. Assuit, metalskin, lurex, etc. All of these fabrics smell completely different than the normal cotton blends we wear everyday. They smell like a costume. I love it.

So that is about it. Please feel free to post your own, as I am sure these are unique to each dancer.

Mish-Mash Part 2

2011-04-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I said I was taking a break from blogging.....and lately there has been a rash of blogging from yours truly, well, what can I say? I gots stuff to say. Nothing poignant or earth shattering, just randomized BD related stuff, if you care. Hence another mish-mash post.

like the generalized space-filler pic I chose?

First, geez, I have needed/wanted to do this for a long time. Pimp my new fave blog. It is called The Occidental Dancer, and I just Lurve it. The blog is very well written, smart and entertaining. Check it out, laydeez.

Also for some blessed reason Zaghareet! magazine decided to print TWO of my articles in one issue. They are called " Sour Grapes", and " Because of a Cookie". ( in the most recent issue). By some fabulous mystery woman named Tara Swaim....whomever she is.
AAAAAND, Shimmy magazine ( couldn't get the link to work...:( ) is printing my article in the Summer issue, not the Spring as I had previously said. I know, you were anxiously waiting for that information. Aren't you glad you can go on with your life now?

Oh dear. My hatred turned ambivalence of silk veils, has turned into OBSESSION.

Miami Flair veil from amirasbelly.com

On a whim I bought the above veil called "Miami Flair" from Amira's Belly.com. For those of you who know me well, pretty much my entire dance wardrobe is black or red. I love black, I love red. Power colors. Strong colors. Kali's colors.

So what on earth possessed me to buy a silk veil that is yellow, hot pink and orange? Who knows. Wild hair up my ass, I guess.    When said veil arrived I gingerly took it out of the package and noticed it was scented. I untied the ribbon that someone had taken the time to neatly tie around it. I read the handwritten note that came with it. Then I started playing with the veil, and promptly fell in love. Oh yes my friend, in love with a gorgeous luxurious piece of silk. I guess it escaped my consciousness that since veil work is essentially playing with a piece of cloth, if you love the look, feel,and color of the cloth, then you are going to enjoy it a hell of a lot more than if you say, for instance, buy some cheap utilitarian black piece of wannabe "chiffon".
    I can't stop touching my veil. I want to play with it all of the time. My husband is getting jealous.

In other news I am going to give directions for my long awaited,not at all bellydance related " How to open a beer bottle with your forearm", from this post. For what it is worth, I very unsuccessfully tried to get some good pics while my husband and I were engaging in some illicit behavior. The pics sucked. I was too drunk, and it shows. See?   Bags under eyes? Check. Dazed "where am I?" expression? Check. Pet snake around neck? Check. Nice double chin shot? Check. Residual makeup from that morning migrated down my face? Check.

This is a skill that all bellydancers must have....really.

O.k., no video, because our computer is being temperamental right now, and besides that, if I did a video I would have to put some makeup on and do my hair and I am not that ambitious...but I did take that above pic and that will have to suffice. I will give a thorough tutorial on this very important skill. This is the skill that will ensure the growth and progress of further generations....I am so very thrilled to be committing it to print. No one can ever say that I wasted my life.

First thing you have to know about this trick is that it looks badass but is not at all. Get a twist top beer bottle,( most domestic beer is twist top, it looks like a bottle cap, but you don't need an opener)) flex your forearm muscle ( important to make a big show out of it), and make sure the skin of your forearm has a good grip on the bottle. ( this takes practice, and make sure the cap is dry, and skin is slightly damp, or cap is slightly damp and skin is really dry ).....You want to to POP. If you don't have the grip right it won't make that POP sound we so desire.

Then flex the muscle as you twist slightly so that it makes a POP sound. Obviously too much twisting and it doesn't look as cool.....you want Crocodile- Dundee-I drink-beer-in-my-sleep sort of thing. It is even cooler if you do it without looking at it, a skill that I used to exercise regularly with a cig dangling from my mouth, like it was all just no-big-deal. When I used to do this regularly I waited tables and had gorilla like monster forearms from lifting all the trays of food.Now zilling keeps the ole forearms in shape but they are not as buff as they used to be.

The best part is that this trick leaves a sort of purple mark on your arm not unlike a hickey. Do it too many times in one night and the purple mark lingers for a while. A round, cap shaped purple mark. It is a shame that I know these things.

Let me know if anyone tries this, and if you have any luck with it.

Cheers! Prost! Knock it Down!

Borrow an Arabic Speaker

2011-04-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

Wanted: Arabic speaking friend for fun, exciting email exchange. Must be able to translate Nawal, Najwa and most pop music, in addition to fielding my questions about context. You can look forward to long tedious questioning emails. I can pay you in leftover Halloween candy.

Sigh. I have gotten to the point where I just can't dance to a song if I don't know what the lyrics mean. Since I mostly dance to and enjoy Arabic pop, this leaves me with scores of untranslated songs. There are some translations online, but they never seem to be my favorite songs. Sigh. I need to borrow an Arabic friend. I promise I won't be that annoying. I am happily married, so all I really need you for is translation. If that makes you feel used, in return I can answer any questions you may have about such things as "how to make buffalo chicken dip", " the best way to get two kids to bed as quickly as possible" and " three steps to shampooing carpets that have gum and other mystery items ground into them". I am a virtual hotbed of knowledge, I am. There will be no naked pictures or cybersex, unless you count the hot blushing excitement I feel when I finally learn what the hell my favorite songs mean. If you want to be used for your native tongue, then I am your girl. If you want to work hard for nothing in return, then I am waiting. If you say to yourself " no one ever asks me to translate anything", hey, here I am. My email is primed and ready.

O.k.this is somewhat tongue- in -cheek, but seriously, what's a girl got to do to get a song translated 'round here?

Paint By Numbers

2011-04-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

This is an opinionated blog. ( no really? you are saying)....yeah. I am all opinion. Cut me open and you will find wine, chocolate, and opinion.
At a recent Tummy Tuesday I had this conversation with one of the dancers:

Her: " I really didn't prepare anything, I guess I will have to do improv". ( she said it in an apologetic tone).

Me: " No way! I love improv. You know what choreograpy is to me? Paint by numbers. It might make a pretty picture, but it will never be a Van Gogh".

Her: "I like paint by numbers."

In choreography's defense, I can understand why people do it. It does take away a lot of the nerves. Like going on a road trip that you have carefully mapped out. There are few to no surprises, and there is comfort in that. Recently I performed my second EVER choreographed solo. I was tired, worn out, recovering from sickness and had to come up with something at the last minute. So this drum solo came out of the back pocket,and even as I was performing it I was BORED. I looked at the pictures of myself performing it and I looked BORED. Afterwards I had a little "come to Jesus" with myself and basically said" If you are not going to dance then why do this? Why dress up, why hand the kids over to the hubby and watch them cry as I leave, why take 30 minutes just to put on makeup? If your heart isn't going to be in it then WHY DO IT?"

A + B = C. That is what choreography is to me. There is a move, there is a beat of the music that goes with it. Cut and paste. Glue. Paint by numbers. On the first beat I am doing a blah, followed by a blah. It engages your brain, it is something to REMEMBER.
Now I know that choreography works for some people. Even if their dance wasn't born in this moment, it was born in a moment, and that is how their brain works. Kewl. I am ( somewhat reluctanly) willing to admit that ~~I don't know everything~~, everyone works differently. But other than group things, or choreo's for learning purposes, I will always hate it. The hard truth is, I would rather not dance, hang up the veil, than do something wrote.
Don't think that I think it is easier to improvise. Do you have to learn how to improvise....HELLZ yeah! You can't just go out there willy-nilly....that is sloppy. People will know. My former/bestest teacher Donna puts very well. She says," I have a general idea of what I am going to do before I go out there". I would say that I take it a step further and say, "I have a general idea of what I am going to do but I am not so attached to that that if a better idea comes along in the moment that I can't change it". Which, since she is not as wordy as I am ( no one is ,really) that is what she probably meant. That is the whole idea of improvising...being prepared, but opening yourself up to possibility.
    Here is the thing. Every moment is different. Every day is different. Every time you dance a song, you are different. Subtle things, the weather, the emotions you may be carrying/feeling that day, what you ate, etc.all add up to the moment you perform. I like the surprise of seeing what comes out of me when I dance from my heart. Does it take an enormous amount of courage, yes. Does it take a certain healthy dose of " I don't give two shits about what people think",most definately. But on any given day at any given time, even at my worst leave -me- alone- with -the- Ben -and -Jerry's days I would rather open myself up to dance than feel like I am just trying to remember something I learned earlier and not screw it up in front of an audience.

     I'd rather try for a Van Gogh, any day.

The Happy Drunk Reviews: Bellydance with Veil-Sarah Skinner

2011-03-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

I told you guys I was the Happy Drunk Reviewer. That I love mostly everything I review..... but sometimes you come across a DVD that is ALL bang for little buck. I think I owe Sarah Skinner and THIS DVD a formal apology when I said in an earlier post that compared to Shoshanna she was the workin' girl's veil teacher. I was wrong.
I am SO SO SO impressed with this DVD. Rarely do I find a DVD that is great for ALL levels of dancers. Rarely do I find a DVD that I say all dancers should own. This is just that DVD.
Most veil workshops/DVD's are "samplers". There is just so much you can do with a veil, and so much you can do with each movement, it is nearly impossible to cover it all in one or two hours. Well, if you want to retain any of it. I really hate that in most DVD's/workshops, you feel like instructors are trying to cram a weeks worth of material into one hour and you find yourself going home saying " um....how do I do that wrap again?" Not so with my new friend, Sarah Skinner. The way this DVD is broken down is so user-friendly, but so comprehensive, I found myself running immediately afterward to Amazon.com to put all of Sarah's DVD's on my wishlist.

pic found at happyhipsbellydance.com

      Take the veil move "the envelope" for instance. She manages to teach the basic envelope, give several variations, then show it with some turns, also. She isn't just teaching one move, she is teaching it with motion, variations and leaves it open to possibility.
     The possibility in veil work is one of the things I find so frustrating. For each movement, there are so many things you can do, and I get overwhelmed. I find that this DVD gives just the right amount of possibility without being overwhelming.
     AND I even loved the section on picking out a veil. How many times have you been to veil workshops, seen DVD's etc.where they are like "and this is silk, and this is Georgette, and this is chiffon", the end. She talks about cross threads, dyes, and quality. I found myself listening intently to a section that usually either, A.bores me, or B. bores the shit out of me.
       I am excited to do this DVD. I can't wait till Monday when I will have some time alone to break it out again and get in some practice. Yay Sarah Skinner! Sorry for calling you Melanie Griffith.

If you like veil, have mixed feelings about veil or just walked by a veil, buy this DVD. It is the only veil DVD you will ever need. For reals.

Mish-Mash

2011-03-02T06:32:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be" soft black". A shade darker than my normal dark brown that had been looking ...well, mousey lately. Now it is "old lady blue-black", or better yet " I'm so Goth I shop at Hot Topic" black. Guess dying your hair with a 101 degree fever is dumb dumb dumb.

This will be a let's-catch-up-over-coffee and chat post. Its been a while since I have posted on this blog, and thought I'd let ya in on a bit of the personal stuff. Hang onto your britches, this will be a choppy post.

Been sick. Been sick a lot. Whole family been sick, two bouts of the flu ( the last of which I still have a lingering fever), one kid had strep, both kids had flu both times, hubby and I had flu....its been fun. February has been about puke, fevers and more ginger ale than a normal person would consume in a month. But I still had to teach classes....which leads me to...

Reflections on My First Round of Classes....

My last class with my first bunch of beginners ended Monday. I hope to do it again, and most of them want to do a Beginner 2, so once I get it together hopefully that will happen. All in all, teaching while coughing my brains out, teaching while high as a kite on cough syrup with codeine, teaching twice while having a fever of 101 or more.....( the Universe does not make it easy on us)....it was still a great success.

1. They got it! They really got it! These ladies are well on their way to becoming bonafied bellydancers and that is unbelievably gratifying. They love it. They did well. They GOT it. They already bought hip scarves, attended local events, and like all beginners after the Bellydance-Bug bites them.... they want more! This means I did my job.

2. I did not expect to really get to know/like the students, but it has surprised me how much fun I have had getting to know these women. They really are a great bunch. Enthusiastic, fearless. They truly inspire me.

So yeah, teaching has been fun, and we are making plans for future classes.....

Teaching, two kids, husband, house, keeping in shape and practicing....that leaves little time for blogging. I have to make a decision. I had to make a decision. Kill the blogging for a while, or at least chill out a bit.

See, I am a writer. Or at least I am trying to be one. Blogging is my quick fix, my guilty pleasure, and like a slob I have let it take the place of working on my writing projects. SO, my posts are going to slow way down, I'll still post once in a while, because let's face it,blogging is like fast food- the quick fix, sometimes you want to scarf down a Big Mac and fries as fast as you can get it down your throat. But in the long run, I gots to put down the Quick Fix in favor of the more long term stuff.

In that vein, check out my new article in the Spring issue of Shimmy magazine!

February's Tummy Tuesday was fun.

I did an extremely uninspired ( note:choreographed) drum solo, but other than that we had some real talent. So here is another installment of Blurry Tummy Tuesday Pics Brought to You by My Crappy Camera! I know I should fork over a couple hundred and invest, but frankly, I've got my eye on some silk double veils, and I'd rather have those.

Lyra and Alina did the FUNNEST Cane dance. Their energy was so high, it made you want to JUMP AROUND.

Boy, that takes me back.......anyway back to Tummy Tuesday.

This performance was the "performance of the evening" in my opinion. Kristie danced for her man to Etta James" At Last". He was crying his eyes out. It was very very sweet, and if one metric ton of eye makeup wouldn't have flooded the place, I would have cried too.

I did not get good pics of Bellydancer Barbie ( Titiana), Phoenix the wonder-hips, Fauna and her spicy-sweet number, LaiLai's beautiful ( another tear jerker) veil number, or a satisfying pic of my boring drum solo. But oh well, you get the idea.

So guys, you will hear from me here and there, but mostly on my Other Blog's Inspirations Posts. They are quick and easy and don't take too much creative energy away from my other pursuits. And they are relatively shallow....blogging about oatmeal? Why not. Gotta get that junk food writing in.

Till next time.....

T

The Happy Drunk Reviews- Turn it Up! : Mastering Spins by Summer Sahar

2011-02-15T08:34:00.000-08:00

It has taken me this long to get to Turn it Up!: Mastering Spins and Turns by Summer Sahar. I got it at c-mas. C-mas.... and walked by it still lovingly wrapped in plastic, having to turn away as I took the trash out or helped with homework, or walked out the door. " I will never get to watch you", I said as I walked by this DVD, yet again. And it is not like I am all that busy. I just wanted to be able to watch it. Really watch it. Take my time, not have to push pause because the familiar strains of" moooooom, she took my ( fill in the bank), she kicked my ( fill in the blank") emanated from the other room. At which point I curse, push pause and upon returning to the DVD player am so agitated that it doesn't matter how well Summer Sahar can turn, I am just waiting for 6 o'clock and the wine bottle. ( of course I am over dramatizing, but you get the point).
     So, today I had some nice hot coffee with the last of the mint chocolate truffle flavored creamer left over from the holidays and sat down for a look-see. Happy Drunk Review time!

      The DVD. Let me just preface this by saying that I am a "natural turner". I don't spot, and I turn pretty well, I rarely get dizzy. I like to turn, so the reason I bought this DVD was to find newer ways to turn. I really didn't get much out of the section on spotting or turn technique. If you have trouble with turns, those sections are very thorough, and would be valuable, but I pretty much skimmed past them.
     She teaches 13 turns in all, starting with a 3 point turn ( which everybody knows), and ending with an "attitude turn",which was new to me. Let's face it, most of us do the same two or three turns. I know I do. If you are interested in this DVD to learn more turns, then go for it. It delivers.
       She is a BIG ballet and Jazz technique person, and during instruction uses terminology from those disciplines. I hate ballet-bellydance fusion, but can see in my own dance where ballet training has been very beneficial ( I took from the time I was three until I got boobs, and had to quit). If you can open your mind to learn the terminology, you can really glean some helpful knowledge from Summer. I don't think she ballet's-it-up to the point that it just looks like a ballet dancer in bedlah ( a pet peeve of mine), but it does help her carriage quite a bit and her movements have a beautiful controlled flow to them.
     At the end there are bunches of fab combos.
   This is a well put together, well shot DVD with plenty of information for the price. I have come to expect this from CheekyGirls and am never disappointed.
As simple as this sounds, buy this if you are interested in either A. learning how to turn, or turn better, or B. if you want to learn new turns. Warning, though, this DVD is not one where you can just watch it one time, pick something up and then forget about it. I think you'd have to work with the DVD for a while to learn the technique she teaches. Also, this is definately a intermediate DVD. Beginners might feel a tad intimidated by it.

If you are happy with how you turn, or the turns you do, then skip this DVD.

The Happy Drunk Reviews-Raqs Al Asaya with Virginia

2011-02-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

Been quiet lately.... or at least, quiet for me. Doing a lot of thinking, re-tooling, letting some old dreams go, making space for new ones. But I did have time in all this metaphysical self- seeking to Happy Drunk Review, Raqs Al Asaya, a killer cane DVD.
Man. Something inside of me knew that this DVD was going to be really really good. And it was, really really good.
   Virginia is a good instructor. She is clear and detailed without going too slow. She breaks things down well, she is pleasant to watch.
     There are bunches of combos on this DVD that focus on various aspects of cane dance. For this reason I think this DVD would be good for all levels. I consider myself an intermediate cane dancer and I learned some new stuff from this DVD ( including a hip slap sort of move that looks just wicked).
     Cane is one of those things that unless you have been dancing for a LONG time, you have limited exposure to. Cane workshops come along maybe every two years or so ( at least around here), and most of cane stuff is learned and danced in a quicky choreo, then forgotten. So if you have any interest in learning cane or learning MORE cane this would be a good buy. It is a good amount of material for the money. There are some DVDs in my collection that I do once or twice then put away and there are some that I work with frequently. ( Ruby's floowork DVD, Delilah's set, Michelle Joyce's Drills DVD's) Raqs al Asaya will be added to the break-out-and-do-frequently-DVD-pile.

As far as things I did not like about this DVD, well, the sound quality is not that great. It sounds tinny and over-modulated. It is not a high budget DVD, but after about 30 seconds you really decide that it doesn't matter.
On a completely shallow note Virginia has some of those "mod" bangs that hang in her eyes. I felt like brushing them out of her face the whole time. I know, so mature of me to even take the time to type that.

       Buy this one, gals. You won't be disappointed.

Candid Report on Teaching My First Class

2011-01-25T12:38:00.000-08:00

You can buy the above gorgeous art by Martha League Here.

Well, guys, here is a story.
I used to go to camp every year as a teen. I loved it, and there was a group of "elders" ( people in their mid twenties), who took us. They were there for us, we cried with them, played games with them, they prepared all of our meals, and the whole experience was, well, great. Then I turned 19 and was too old to go as a teen, so they asked me to go as an "elder".
   It was disorienting, being on the other side of things. Not bad,just weird switching roles. It took some time for me to get used to it.
     This is how teaching my first bellydance class went last night. It was strange. Not bad, just weird being "on the other side of the classroom".
    It was odd watching 8 strained faces trying to imitate what I was doing. You gotta understand that for 13 years ( this year it will be the magic 13), of being a student, I am now a teacher. I have been the one giving the bewildered looks, now I am the one watching them being given. Weird. I am sort of still digesting it.

      The structure of the class went well, I was uber-prepared. I had handouts, playlists for warm up, dance circle, straight beledi, and cool down. I got there early, I had all of my ducks in a row.
I started the class by introducing myself, explaining a bit about bellydance, cabaret in particular, and then PUSHING Basic Bellydance Posture.

   As a student you are one person looking at one person ( the teacher, and you really don't pay attention too much to the other students). As a teacher you are looking at ( and trying to evaluate) bunches of people at once. I know I cannot in any way help the way people feel, but I do try to evaluate where people are in terms of comfort level. I think that is the basic responsibility of any teacher. But it was challenging to try to maintain a status quo, when I knew that Student A was having a much harder time than Student B, who seemed o.k., while Student C was barely keeping up, and Student D looked like they wanted to bolt for the door. I think you need to have a lesson plan, but then be ready to scrap/re-tool it based on the status quo of the students. I think you have to sort of have a medium level of where everyone is at, and base what you do on that. This was my very first time doing this and it was interesting. I have never taught dance ( just a bit of bellyrobics, and a few witchcraft classes), and trying to gauge and then evaluate at a moments notice, was, well, an experience.
    After my introduction we learned snake hips/reversed, and then figure 8 hips/ reversed. Then we did hands. I knew hands would be easy and accessible to everyone and a nice empowering way to end the class.

      Things I learned....

1. I underestimated how hard this would be for people. I have been doing this for so long I forgot that this kind of movement is completely different than anything most women have ever done. We warmed up super well, and I made them stay tucked, but I KNOW those ladies are gonna be soreeeeeee today. They also looked really challenged by the move,so I question that maybe I should have started with something easier.

2. I am really good at this. I am always looking ahead and trying to be better, without really gauging where I am, and a room full of beginners will make any bellydancer feel like they are the Queen, but starting at the beginning again is a good measurement of exactly where you are as a dancer. I am always trying to be better, but never taking stock of where I am. Teaching the basics helped me see the journey, from the beginning. Like a graduate looking back at what it felt like to be a freshman.

3. If the students looked like they were struggling it made me feel bad. Not for myself but, I don't want anyone to feel bad. I know this is completely unrealistic, and people are going to feel the way they feel, but in my happy- flower- rainbow-world everyone loves everything all of the time, and no one feels bad. I guess the only thing I can do is explain the hell out of everything, and encourage encourage encourage.

4. My goal of wanting to inspire them seemed to work. At the end when we were "playing" with our hands, there was one woman who was clearly having a good time. When I pointed at her and said "you got it, girl", she said " I am just expressing". ( this taken from my speech at the beginning of the class about wanting to help them have another means of expression-dance).

5. I am decent at explaining things, but that doesn't account for muscle memory. Someone who plays tennis for a living could be fabulous at telling me how to play, but since I have never played, I would probably still suck pretty bad at it until my muscles figured out how to do it.

6. I had an almost overwhelming respect for each woman that walked in the door. Not only because it was a butt-ass freezing cold January night, when most of us would rather be on the sofa, but for trying something new. Trying something new is always a little scary, especially something kind of intimidating like bellydance.

So all in all it was a good experience. I know that I will probably learn more than I teach, and of that I am glad.
    Even though I have a clear direction I want to go with the classes, I appreciate any advice or insight any teachers want to offer.

An Ode to Bellydance Husbands

2011-01-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

I think bellydance husbands have to be the most patient, most understanding lot on the face of the earth. I often hear Kis talk about her "shiny-jingly-appreciative husband", and the YIP Podcast duo recently talked about husbands and hiding bellydance purchases from them ( not in their case), but it gave me a laugh nonetheless. A while ago Naima told of her husband often asking her what she is thinking about ( and she always says bellydance), and my husband, well, he is nothing short of a saint.
     Today hubby and I were watching Julie/Julia and I loved how supportive Julia Child's husband was. He was so into what Julia was doing; you could tell that it was out of love for her, and the fact that cooking obviously gave her so much pleasure, that it became his pleasure in a way, too.
   Bellydance husbands often become back-door connoisseurs without trying to be. They aren't invested in bellydance, and other than our involvement, they could probably care less..... so their perspective becomes unbiased. I will never forget the day I realized that my beloved payed attention. Not in the way that I can tell an Egyptian shimmy from a hip shimmy,but in the way he saw the big picture. The day that we left our first Hafla down here (four hours south) I was mentally bawlking at how different cabaret bellydance was done here, but didn't want him to subject him to a conversation he either wouldn't care about/or couldn't keep up with. As I walked in silence to the car, he surprised me when he broke the silence and somewhat timidly remarked," man, bellydance really is different down here isn't it? ". He, with his untrained eye, could tell the difference and that little thing made me realize that he was paying attention. Despite the normal stuff, hauling equipment, watching the kids so I can go to workshops, etc, and everything else bellydance husbands do, it was really cool that he wasn't tuning out, or thinking about what his fantasy football team was doing during the hafla. ( well, maybe a little).
I don't subject him to my constant mental bellydance- flavored diatribe, but he is my guinea pig. I try out new dances, new costumes, new ideas on him. If I find a really great/terrible performance on YouTube I ask him to watch it. He will very sweetly tear himself away from the Spurs game long enough to watch, and Goddess love him, he tries.
     .......and he, like bellydance husbands the world over, busts in on me practicing, and "bellydances". It is funny everytime he does it.
     He knows I care so he cares, and what more could you ask for in a partner?

    So here is a goofy Ode to the Bellydance Husbands of the World, Goddess bless you all.

                   Satin, cymbals and Frankincense,
                   I am sure to you it doesn't make sense.

                  You go to shows and listen to our songs,
                   You glance at the clock and think" I hope it won't be too long",

                  You watch our choreographies till you could puke,
                   You see enough gold coins to adorn a Duke.

                   You put up with it all, with a smile and inner sighs,
                   Thinking later how great it will be between our ( yes I am going to say it)...thighs,

                   But post-hafla sex aside,
                    we really couldn't abide
                    our all consuming hobby
                    Without you standing in the lobby
                     Waiting for us to finish
                      and get re-dressed,

           Oh, bellydance husbands, you are the best!

BOY, I can't believe I even put that out into the blogging world.....I guess you guys now know what a big dork I am. :)

And bellydance boyfriends, you rock too.

The Happy Drunk Reviews: Meaning in Movement, Dancing with Musicality,Texture and Nuance

2011-01-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

Teachers teach technique. Dancers have to learn how to be dancers on their own. ( a teacher can guide but it is a different journey with each person). Technique is tangible and really is about the body. Dancing comes from the heart, the energy, the being. So when a DVD comes out that attempts to teach you how to be a dancer, when everything else out there is teaching technique, you have to get your mind in the right place to watch it.
Meaning in Movement:Dancing with Musicality, Texture and Nuance by Alimah is just that DVD. At first while watching this DVD all I could think was "this is wierd, this is wierd, this is weird"......even sweet little Nadira Jamal comes at teaching Improvisation ( Improvisational Toolkit Volume 1)  (a dancer's skill), in an ABC 123 way compared to Alimah. If Nadira is a beat poet then Alimah is the artist wearing full blue body paint while juggling pizzas to the soundtrack of baby cries. With relatively few ( I can think of TWO) DVD's out there not teaching technique, and attempting to teach what really is a personal journey, I expected to be coddled a bit. Nope. Alimah jumps right in there with bold creative imagery and no excuses. She LOVES to tell us that our hands are schools of fish, and you can tell by the way that she looks at them and moves them that she believes it too. Personally, she seemed to me like she'd be a very exciting and interesting person to be around, her energy is contagious.

Maybe it is just the mood I am in ( I have been dealing with my snowed in, bored out of their skull and fighting with each other kids all week), but I found this DVD a little overwhelming. Wonderful, but one that you need to be in the right mindset for.
       There are brilliant and I mean brilliant ideas about setting tone in your dance ( pretending to be wearing different types of dresses and how you would dance if wearing a red slinky dress as opposed to a flouncy white eyelet), and I loved her different arm movement descriptions" slipping on a dress, gathering, pushing, etc".
     As far as her dance style she reminded me a lot of Sandra. While I can appreciate Sandra as a great dancer, her style does not appeal to me.... so if you buy this for the 8 and yes, I said 8 different combos, maybe watch a YouTube of her dancing first to see if her style is one that you want to imitate/learn from.( which I recommend for any DVD). If you buy this for the multitude of ways to bring....well, all kinds of different things to your dance and could give two shits about the combos then I guess it doesn't matter. The first sections teaching tone and texture can be done by all dancers of all styles.
   This is a DVD to be digested. If you already are a dancer, then you can learn some new ways to use visualization in your dancing. Little bit by little bit you can add some things to what you already do, how you already express yourself. If you are a beginner/intermediate, and have technique out the wazoo but have no idea how to bring it all together into something personal ( dancing), then this DVD would be GREAT. Maybe even invaluable. Once again, all the good shit comes out after I sweated and fretted and figured it out on my own.
I am not saying buy this, I am not saying don't. I am saying read the above thoroughly and maybe some other reviews before you make that decision. You need to know what you are paying for. As usual it is a well shot, well organized well thought out DVD, as all of CheekyGirls stuff is. You might like this DVD, you might not....I think it all depends on who you are, and where you are in your dance.

I Take It Back

2011-01-10T07:26:00.000-08:00

Words are made to be broken. Words about silk veils, mostly.....but other stuff too. I am sure I will be eating crow on pretty much anything I have said on this blog at one point or another.
Oh, I always wanted to dance with a silk veil, and I think I tried for about two minutes, and after wrapping my self up like a human burrito I gave up and went back to my chiffon.
I tried several times over the years borrowing silk veils to try, being envious of people like Mena, and my friends in the Women of Selket and the Queens of the Universe, and pretty much every dancer I knew for using silk and how prettily it moved through the air. But I felt too rough, too impatient, too clumsy for a silk veil.
   Reading Delilah's Post renewed my interest in the veil and for a few weeks now I have made myself pick it up, put on some music and let it "carry the vibrations from my inner core" or whatever.
     I started to think that maybe silk might not be that bad. I still got wrapped up in it,but I found that without the added weight of chiffon, that I had to pause a half second for the silk to do its thing. It was a whole new relationship. I gave her space, she gave me space. We had to take turns being in control. Hmmmmmm....... ( don't psychoanalyze that).
    So yesterday I took a veil workshop from the lovely Samra, and tried her 4 yard and heavier weight silk veil. ( L Rose) I got to watch myself working with the veil in a large mirror, and I loved the way that the swirly dark purple looked. I felt like I was moving with some sort of alive matter that consisted of a churning stormy sky and melted chocolate. ( put food in anything and I am game)....the veil changed, it morphed with the movement. It took on dimension.
* cue starlight, daisies, and the hallelujah chorus*
Yeah, I loved working with it. ....chewing a mouthful of sauteed crow right now....burp.
So I take it back. I am forming a new relationship with silk. It is a slow one, I don't really trust her yet not to surprise me at the last minute with the burrito wrap of our former relations, and she doesn't trust me to not slow it down a bit and let her be the lady that she is, but we are working on it. Maybe there is a therapist there somewhere that can help us work out our issues.......oh yeah I guess there is.
   It is called MUSIC.

The Happy Drunk Reviews- Modern Oriental with Ranya Renee

2011-01-06T05:10:00.000-08:00

The kids are going in late today, icy roads, so basically I dragged my butt out of bed at 6am for nothing.....well, except to bring you another Happy Drunk Review.

Sometimes you just buy something because you like the instructor, rather than whether or not you need the DVD. I adore Ranya Renee. She is like the teacher in high school that made a subject come alive for you with her passionate approach. She is funny, beautiful, thorough and clearly knows her stuff. Having said that I almost didn't buy Bellydance Egyptian Style-Modern Oriental with Ranya Renee. I own her two disc DVD set, The Baladi ( see trailer at end of post), and was so pleased with it. I had read on a review somewhere that if you own the Baladi DVD's that this one was not worth buying, because it contained a lot of the same information. Well, I bought it anyway, so here is the review.

The reviewers were right except for the fact that she includes a wonderful ( long) choreo to "Layalina", on this DVD. ( with two versions, Beginner, and Advanced). It does have a lot of the same information as the Baladi DVD's, but at the affordable prices that World Dance charges, the Modern Oriental DVD is worth buying for the choreography , IF YOU LIKE HER STYLE. I would recommend watching her dance on YouTube or something before you buy. I happen to like her dancing ( it very closely mirrors my own style), it is passionate and very Egyptian, a lot of dramatic pausing, shimmies, pops, and dramatic arms. She is in a word, dramatic. I like that, but you might not. So please, view first.
AND if you want to only buy one of these then buy the Baladi set. It is friggin amazing. It is the kind of set that I will be so bold to say as every dancer should own it. It is almost head-spinningly chocked full of information, and not so much a DVD that you " do" to but more like a DVD that you watch a lot until the information sinks in. I would say it is more like going to a workshop to learn about the Baladi, and Egyptian music. Ranya's teacher/ mentor is Yousry Sharif, and it is clear that she has been taught proper Egyptian cabaret. The Baladi ( and all of her others) is full of Arabic terms, information about the instruments used in Arabic music, and I think she captures the soul of it all. This really is very different from anything else out there...in a good way.
Yep, Ranya has got it all; looks, skills, and homegirl is really funny, to boot.

Annnnddddd, she has got a new DVD coming out on Taqsim! Hooray!!!! ( the last in the parade of trailers at the end of this post.)

Definately buy the Baladi set, if you want a good choreo then buy the Modern Oriental, and I will be buying the Taqsim DVD and letting you know about it.

O.k., now to wait another hour until I can drop my angels off at school, and have some peace and quiet.

2011 Belly-resolutions

2010-12-31T08:38:00.000-08:00

For those of us with type-A, overachiever personalities, New Years resolutions end up being a way to even yet better ourselves again. A refocusing.
    But what about the kind of bellydance resolutions that state "I will practice zils three times a week for at least 15 minutes, I will take exactly two more workshops this year than I normally do, I will add 10 minutes of floorwork practice into my practice time"....most of our resolutions are about wanting to be better, to practice more. Wanting tighter movements, crisper zills, mad skillz.
      Hey, there is nothing wrong with this. We need goals, we need focal points for our desires. But with something as in-the-present as dance, I will say that it is also important to leave room for spontaneity.
   I have stuck to my three times a week practice schedule. Three times a week you can find me strapping on the Power Belly weight belt, slipping on my zils, pulling out my dance vocabulary, playing a looped beledi and placing an empty tray on my head. I look like something out of a star wars movie, but I figure ( and it has proven to be true) going through my drills balancing, zilling and with the added weight, when I do dance without these encumberments, I am like lightning. I really feel good about my practice time, and it has definitely helped my skills. BUT there are days when I groan inwardly at the thought of all that stuff, days when I want to just let go and do what is natural. There are days when I just want to buck the system, and throw out the rules.
   The days I give into that whim ( which admittedly, feels like I am doing something BAD) I end up discovering a new move, or looking at things from a new angle, or mastering a move that I had wanted to get for some time, or sometimes I just dance-play. Those days truly feed my soul. Those are the days that remind me that dance is mine. That dance is my own pleasure. Those are the days I feel like a dancer.
    So, as you make out your super dooper focused,must- be -the -best new years belly-resolution list leave room for play. Leave room for the cosmic chance, the wild card. Drill your ass off, tighten those muscles, and perfect your skills, but be human, too.
        ( and speaking of the wild card, the post on how to open a beer bottle with your forearm is forthcoming.)
I hope 2011 is a wonderful, peaceful, and happy year for all of you! Thank you so much for reading!

Love,
     Tara

A Little BUTT for Christmas

2010-12-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

While I was recently listening to the YIP Podcast ( and catching up on blog reading) they brought up a thread on Tribe.net about crotching the audience. You know, doing a back bend ( either standing or in floorwork), with your crotch to the audience. Everyone with a brain can figure out that a nice shot of your crotch is never ever a good idea unless your name is Bubbles and you work at Daddy Rabbits ( the real name of a strip joint from my hometown).
    But I will admit in a recent performance I was, in a word, screwed. I did so many dancer faux pas that if someone with a tally sheet would have been there I would have been given the boot. A swift kick in the pants. My bestest teacher, Donna would have disowned me.
   You often hear in those "How to Be a Professional Dancer" how-to's that you should find out beforehand what your dance space looks like, where the audience is, etc. When I was asked to dance for my daughter's school faculty Christmas party, with the sole purpose as being a surprise for the principal, I carefully selected Naser Musa's Jingle Bells ( thanks to Chris for keying me on to his Christmas album), wrapped my poinsettia choker around my neck, strapped on the hip scarf, and was roarin' to go. The woman organizing it told me to dance for the principal, but if he got uncomfortable to dance around the tables a bit....... No prob. I knew it would be in the cafeteria, been there a dozen times, no prob. I thought I had it figured out. No prob.
      I hid in the cafeteria kitchen for 20 minutes trying not to worry about what possible disease I would get for standing barefoot on the concrete floor, and after a bit of a snafu with the music, I danced out into the "space". Somehow the space in a large cafeteria ended up being so close it was almost like dancing in the principals lap. I quickly saw that the chairs were positioned so that I could not get out and dance around the tables even if I wanted to, so I settled into "dancing for the principal". I was so close to him, that it was like standing in line in front of someone, he had to almost look down to look at me. I turned to face the rest of the cafeteria, and felt like I had given him the cold shoulder, then turned to face him. I ended up dancing to almost every angle of the cafeteria.....him, and teachers at every angle ( including my daughters preschool teacher who was looking at me like I had grown another head). When I did a killer back bend that was part of my routine, someone was bound to get the crotch. Someone was gettin' the crotch. I tried to get the least populated part of the room, and to make it quick. But in a fraction of a second I had to make this decision....who to give the crotch to? ( these are my day to day decisions....What should I have for breakfast? Should I do another load of laundry or waste more time online? Who is gettin' the crotch?) The crotch ended up going to the unlucky folks that were seated near the cash register.
     BUT the real faux pas was when I did a full to- the -ground hip circle with a hair swoop. As an audible gasp went up from the audience of teachers and staff I thought it was because I was so awesome. Later, as I was thinking ( and nit-picking it as we all do after a performance) , it was less because I was so awesome, and more because I had given them the butt, literally. A big old butt is what they saw. I didn't have time to angle myself to the side to have the butt going towards the poor souls who got the crotch, so it ended up that most of the faculty got the butt. I have a big butt, so I am sure it was an experience.
      As it is, I learn something new every time I perform. This time it was " try to SEE the space you are dancing in, and if you can't see the space have them tell you the dimensions"........the second thing I learned was when you tell them that the music has to be LOUD, rephrase that and say " when I say loud I mean that to the DJ it has to be almost obnoxious and then it will be the right level for the dancer and the audience." THIRD thing I learned is that exposing yourself to your daughters teachers is neither fun nor uplifting. It is weird. We will see how the first day back to school is. Merry Butt-mas everyone.

The "Why Should I Care?" series- Tempest

2010-12-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

Well, when Tempest emailed me to do this interview, it was very difficult for me not to kiss her ass. She seems like a very reasonable person. A very reasonable, famous, talented pioneer of ,oh, I don't know, just a few particular forms of bellydance, not to mention all the other stuff this artist extraordinaire does. But since she wants to be interviewed like us regular folk, and the Why Should I Care? thing does not apply since we DO care because she is effing Tempest, I still sent the questions, minus the ass-kissing.
Tempest, we do care, honey, we do. You are friggin TEMPEST. Of course we care.

Based in Providence, Rhode Island, Tempest pulls from her visual arts background (BFA from RISD), literary tendencies, and global inspirations to create dance that crosses the boundaries of time and culture. She is the premiere instructor of Gothic Bellydance in North America, and her extensive work in the genre has helped to define and develop the movement across the world. Her compelling performances exemplify her distinctively theatrical and expressive style, and are rooted in oriental dance technique with a transcendent approach.

1. Say bellydance was suddenly declared an official religion. Who would you nominate as the Pope? ( of the Church of Bellydance)

Uh-oh! I'm not one much for organized religion - could we have a Council of Shimmy? Made up of knowledgeable representatives from all of the styles?

2. If I wasn't bellydancing I'd be ...........................

Making a mess in my studio. I'm sort of at odds between making artwork in 2D and making art on a 3D level through dance. There's only so much time, I wish I could split myself in two and do both at the same time ;)

3. Hitherto unknown dance prop that just needs to be introduced to the dance public.

I'm afraid to ask, what HASN'T been used as a prop recently? I think we could definitely do with less props and more good dancing.

4. You have the attention of all bellydancers all over the world for just one moment. What would you say to them?

Dance like you! No one else can be you, so dance in your own voice, with all of your heart and soul. Yes, it's more dangerous to be you than a copy or a clone, but it's so much more rewarding!

5. Describe how you feel right before performing.

A mixture of excitement, anticipation, calm, and "did I leave the oven on?"

6. Move that makes you feel like Madonna in the 80's. ( when she was hot,and right on the money).

(checks to make sure no one's got video of me dancing on the couch to "Material Girl" when I was like 7..) I have a move called "Beautiful Corpse" that is a dramatic, slinky walk, based off a very princessy/lifted Modern Egyptian walk - I could see it working very well with "Like a Virgin" ;)

7. Move that makes you feel like an epileptic sausage.

SNORT! I don't strobe/glitch/multi-lock. It doesn't say bellydance to me, and it just doesn't feel beautiful. Definitely epileptic sausage feeling, even if I did it technically perfect. Feels wrong on the inside!

Her blog is over on the blog roll, but if you are too lazy to scroll over then the link is right here: Tempest Teapot Bellydance Blog
Ditto with her website.
Tempest...... I will never wash my email again...? ( I know I am acting like a total weenie, but you have to admit it is pretty cool. )

Thanks!

The Happy Drunk Reviews- Dance Like a Goddess-Hypnosis for Bellydancers

2010-12-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

I have been just itching to Happy Drunk Review this CD, Dance like a Goddess, Hypnosis for Bellydancers. Now, before we get started there are a few things you need to know.
1. I already do recorded meditations regularly, so I am familiar with this whole thing. This review is coming from someone who goes to Disneyland every year as opposed from someone who it is their first time. I have done meditations/regressions/hypnosis sessions with Jonathan Goldman, Dr. Brian Weiss, The Meditation Podcast, and numerous other piles of the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
2. I am also a practicing witch ( see my other blog ) so even though hypnosis is not at all affiliated with any religion, it is often lumped in with the Pagan/New Age crowd. My take on this will have the added influence of my own two spiritual cents. Can't help it. Its what I do.
    Sooooooooo, all of that aside I LOVED this CD! My normal guided meditation protocol is that I record the CD onto my Ipod ( or download it), go into my bedroom, cut off the lights, put a pillow over my eyes ( the less sensory stimulation the better), and just listen. I have found that lying down is much easier than sitting when doing anything like this.
   First, he leads you through a series of visualizations, which basically you imagine being in a field with the sun overhead, stepping up stairs that light up with each color of the rainbow, etc. This lasts for roughly half of the hour long CD, and if you are not used to it you may be thinking " what does this have to do with dance?". The idea is to get you to fully relax and open up so that you are as receptive and relaxed as you can be. My advice is to just go with it, and think of it as a free mental massage.....it IS very relaxing.
After the first half of visualizations you get into the "dance" part of the CD. GOOD STUFF! More visualizing ( stepping into a dance circle, visualizing a favorite dancer, etc.) and he really turns it on with the background music and his voice. That is one thing I really loved about this CD, his voice. Not only is it not annoying like most meditation CD's ( although this is hypnosis), but he MEANS it. His voice can be soothing, powerful, distant, and many other things. He utilizes tone and cadence, and other tools that most CD's lack. This guy obviously knows what he is doing with his voice, and there is ENERGY behind his voice. I have done meditation CD's in the past that sounded like someone was dryly reading from a script, and luckily there isn't even a hint of that in this.
      My favorite-est part is the last 15ish minutes when he repeats over and over ( think brainwashing), powerful dance statements. My favorite is " I love to practice the dance frequently". I don't want to give too much away but each statement is one that I believe as dancers we can all use. They are empowering and it certainly can't hurt to tell ourselves uplifting, confidence building statements over and over again.
   If you are thinking, this is all nice and good, but where will I get an hour to myself every day?, most people do this before bedtime. It is ridiculously relaxing and it helps you sleep better, too. So give it a try.
     Does it work? Here is when it gets complicated. I found that as I heard it the first time I was surprised to discover that " I didn't believe" the statements about myself. My mind wanted to fight it. It was very odd. But the more I used it I noticed that the mental resistance that I usually feel when I start to practice or dance started dissipating, and I think that after several weeks of use, I have totally assimilated the statements. Which for a semi-co dependant, slightly OCD, very neurotic, somewhat insecure, and perfectionist to the point of crazy bellydancer like myself, that ain't no small feat. Imagine all that you believe in your heart about yourself as a dancer ( if you are self actualized enough to even know it), is erased, and in its place are all the things that we WANT to believe about ourselves as dancers. That we are powerful, rhythmic, beautiful embodiments of the music. That is the kind of stuff I want to regularly pump in the old grey matter, I don't know about you.
        Lastly, I did not do this nightly, I would say I averaged about twice a week, and that seemed to be enough. I will continue to do this regularly to reinforce.
    Yay James! Yay Hypnosis for bellydancers!

      So I am thinking another CD....Hypnosis for Bellydancers part 2. How bout " I get better and better at zils every day"....and stuff like that.
      I am only half kidding.

Its All About the Toenails

2010-12-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think I am not girly enough to be a bellydancer. Wait, I take that back, sometimes I think I am not girly enough to be a cabaret dancer. Tonight, sitting on the sofa watching the History channel with my husband, I looked down at my toenails. Weeks ago they were a shiny hot pink,now they look more like a drunken street walker and/or refugee camp sort of chipped wondrousness. My immediate thought was....."I am not girly enough to be a cabaret bellydancer".
   Given the choice between
A. doing the dishes
B. goofing off with my kids/husband
C. eating cotton candy at the fair
or D. doing my nails,
I would say Eff the nails and go for B. or C. That, plus my affinity for cursing and arm wrestling makes me a prime candidate for either shot put ( which ironically, I used to do), or Fusion, where I could probably get bonus points for letting my nails get chipped. I'd probably get a badge or something.
    Sometimes I think that minus all the blah blah hoopla that separates the Fusion/Tribal crowd from the Cabaret crowd, it all comes down to one chick who says to herself "you know I really like the movements, but do I HAVE to act all coy and cutesy?....hell, maybe I'll start my own style." Who knows, maybe that is how it all started.
But I ain't coy or cutesy. The closest thing I have seen to flirtatiousness was making eyes at the Egyptian guy that pumps gas at the station down the street. But even then, I caught myself and reminded myself of what I learned years ago......I am a woman. If they don't like it, they can stuff it. Luckily, every bellydance teacher I have ever had was as girly as they came, but more woman than Sophia Loren. So I didn't think that girly some sort of pre-requisite for being a cabaret dancer.

Sheva was a painted nails, bouffant-ed woman with teeny feet and an even teenier body ( compared to me). But she was serious about bellydance and more woman that I could have ever been at the time.
Skipping the others and going to Donna, when I saw her the first time I wondered whether I'd make it. I wandered in the first day of class, milk stains on my shirt ( I was nursing at the time), toenails and fingernails so neglected that they started to paint themselves, Armenian uni-brow starting to resurface, and feeling as out of style/uncoordinated/ungirly as they come. I was never the cool type, anyway. I was never the one who could be head cheerleader, I wore my feelings on my sleeve. When Donna proudly wore her gold toe ring, perfect manicure and long gorgeous nails ( mine are short and stubby) to every class.....I remember thinking, " maybe I am not cut out for this". But as I got to know her, and more accurately, saw her dance, it all came together in an act of pride, femininity, power and finesse. She might have done her toenails flawlessly, and even when it was 100 degrees outside, wore her hair down ( at which point it was so hot that even the girliest among us borrowed scrunchies to put our hair up) to dance, but this woman was a WOMAN. Girly was something she CHOSE. I figured out that I didn't have to be anything but what I was, chipped toenails and all. ( although now, I DO make sure they look good at least when I dance)...
    So yeah, I can open a beer bottle with my forearm ( trick I learned in my twenties), yeah, I said goodbye to flirting a long time ago, and exchanged that sort of thing for power and grown-up emotion in my dance ( and in life), and yeah, it took me a long time to be O.K. with not being bouncy, tiny, and even the slightest bit girly.......but I am a bellydancer, baby. A real one. I like to do my nails, and giggle about boys, and even look at clothes sometimes, but give me good food or drink or movie with a loud bawdy friend and I am at my happiest.
If that makes me un-girly, then so be it....crappy toenails and all.

God-Zill-A

2010-11-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

Sooooooooo, I have been working with the Killer Ziller DVD for a few months now. I have found out a few things about myself, zills, and life in general.
1. I like the damn things. I really like them. I have heard either you love them or hate them, and I fall into the love category. They just feel RIGHT to me.
2. It is going to take a LONG time and a LOT of practice to get good at these things. Just when I think I am doing well, and getting the hang of them, I clunk off beat, or my feet get stupid while I try to concentrate.
3. I don't care what anyone says about tone and all, but I have to practice with my own version of zill mufflers, which is painters tape. ( less goop to wash off). I wouldn't dream of practicing with no mufflers. Maybe when I get really good and can care about tone and all that stuff I will take off the tape, but right now I am just trying to get the hang of them which is like driving, eating a sandwich, talking on the phone and doing algebraic formulas in your head all at once. I can feel the straining of the engines of my brain as I try to practice.
4. I got some good Saroyan Zills and it made a big difference.
5. Zills are really loud. Really loud. If I take the painters tape off to play, I use earplugs. Not doing this the first time I played them resulted in a MIGRAINE. Oh, the things we do for this dance. ( not exactly what I was thinking as I lay in the dark with an icepack on my head.....I was thinking something much more foul about the muther lovin-piece of-son -of -a -effing zills). Sorry, having flashbacks.
6. I have ZADHD....Zill Attention Deficit Disorder, or something like that. I am very comfortable with 3-3-7, triplets, and a doum doum tek ka tek rhythm that I learned a long time ago that I don't know how to describe. I pretty much do all three rhythms alternating, and every once and a while try a funky one. But the point is,no one wants to hear cha cha ching cha cha ching for five minutes straight and that is a good thing because I don't think I can do it.
7. I could probably choreograph a zill piece and pull it off, no problemo, but there is no way I could do an improv with zills. Since I do mostly improv and I take too many risks in dancing anyway, it will be a LONG time before I am comfortable enough to dance with the suckers in public. With zills there is no room for risks unless you REALLY know what the hell you are doing. One bad off-beat CLANG and there goes the entire performance.
8. I am proud of my purple finger tips when I take the zills off. It is usually a sign that it time to stop practicing, too. ( when my skin is a whitish/grey/purple I figure it has gone without oxygen/blood long enough).
9. Naima said that learning with zills is like learning to dance all over again, and she is right on about that. I now think of it as "dancing", and "dancing with zils". I am not sure that the two will ever merge. I am not sure that I will ever dance that same way with zills. It just feels different. I have also found that I crave both.I like the toned down version of my dancing that putting on zills forces me into, and I cannot live without the feeling of complete abandon that just regular dancing gives me.
10. I WISH I would have learned everything with zills, a la Suhalia. I feel like I am having to go back to the drawing board.
11. Air zills, baby. I have just enough room for air zills when I wrap my hands around the steering wheel.
12. I have named my right hand pair of zills " The Guys" and my left hand pair " The Girls". I heard naming your props helps you with familiarity, so there ya go.

The Bellydance Forum always has so many interesting threads. I am somewhat voyeuristic, always watching, never commenting.......yeah, I know it is creepy.

http://www.bellydanceforums.net/dance-styles/11261-dancing-zills-4.html

The "Why Should I Care?" Series-Naima

2010-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Naima's Blog was the first I stumbled across when I got the wild hair up my ass one day to google "bellydance blogs". ( and to subsequently start my own). To say she is an interesting person is putting it mildly, and I often think of her as "Blog Mother" ( bet you didn't know that)... I love that she is a part of the Why Should I Care? Series.
So, Why Should We Care? because she's * fireworks* angels with trumpets* hallelujah chorus* rainbows and ponies*......NAIMA! ( aaand she has a great blog, aaand she makes killer bedlah).....not to mention the fact that her answers are friggin funny.

Naima has been a part of the Springfield, MO Bellydance community for over 10 years. She has been described by her peers as, "Naughty, Alluring, Irrational, Monkey-like, and All-knowing." She hides her secret Bellydance Identity by working in the health care insurance industry and living with "The Husband Person" and their 2 beloved cats.

1. If you had to give away all of your dance stuff except one thing, what would you keep?

My Bellydance Party: Isis & The Wings Of Isis CD. I can dance without costumes or props. I can practice without my dance videos. But I have to have music and this CD has a little of everything including, “Happy Birthday,” in English and Arabic.

2. Move you do so well that the audience starts high fiving each other....

I can do a vibration on one hip at a time. I can vibrate the right hip, then the left, then the right, etc. This sounds cool but I actually came across it by accident when I first started trying to do vibrations. My left side just didn't seem to want to vibrate at the same speed and intensity as the right, so I put all my weight onto my right foot in frustration and behold, a one-legged/one-hip vibration was born. My left side is still a little slow but the awesomeness of vibrating one hip at a time pretty much cancels that out.

3. Move that makes you look like a blind roller skater......

Anything with a veil. I look more like a blind roller skater trying to hang laundry in a windstorm though...all flailing and cursing. I should practice veil more but I think blind roller skaters make good money with the circus.

4. What are you thinking right before you step onto the stage?

“I have to pee.”

Always, every time. I can use the bathroom right before putting on my costume, right after putting on my costume, 5 minutes before I perform, it doesn't matter. I don't get butterflies. I get the pee pee dance.

5. My dance closet contains more ............... than anything.

That's a tough one. I've spent my hard earned money pretty evenly on dance stuff over the years. I'd say it goes in cycles. One year, I bought a new CD every time I turned around. Another year I bought 2-3 costumes. Then DVDs and then more workshops. Then back to CDs. Once I splurge in one area I move to the next thing I don't have enough of. Right now I feel the need for more costumes and DVDs. Oh, and lots of beading supplies!

6. Write out your "Five year dance plan". ( like a business plan)

I initially read this question and thought, “Cool, I've written a business plan before. This should be fun!” I thought and thought and couldn't come up with anything. I finally realized my problem is that I saw the word “business” and immediately stonewalled. I love the dance. LOVE. And in the past, every time I've tried to approach it from a business standpoint as in teaching classes, running a studio, organizing a troupe, business cards, etc. it all suddenly became work. A job. No longer love. It became money and politics, networking, advertising, schmoozing. I'm a firm believer that all BD instructors are crazy because they are running a business and it slowly drains the sanity from them. Running a business is hard. I know from experience. I have chosen, for now, to just be a dancer. I can let my interests ebb and flow without loosing sight of why the dance makes me happy by not ruining that personal relationship by forcing it to create clients, money, or dance opportunities.

Currently, I am working on playing zills and increasing my playing speed. I was never taught how to play zills as a beginner. Now I'm backtracking and trying to add them into my dance repertoire. I am also working on veil again. I took beginner veil classes and then stopped in order to focus on dance technique. Adding a prop like veil takes a lot of work (see question 3.) Now I'm ready to devote more time to it. So, in five years, I expect to be happy and still dancing!

7. Bonus question. What does happy...cow...whatever mean? ( a phrase she used in our emails was Happy Lucky Cow Bang Soda Candy....I needed an explanation).

Legend around here has it somebody, (that no one can remember any more,) had/saw some imported Asian candy with the poorly translated name, “Happy Lucky Cow Band Soda Candy.” My friends and family figured it must be some pretty fantastic candy to have such an outstanding name. Pretty soon, everything and anything in my household that was particularly fantastic or superior became, “Happy Lucky Cow Bang Soda Candy.” So much so, that the gamer geeks at my house incorporated a “Happy Lucky Cow Bang Soda Candy Battle Bow” into one of their role playing games. I think it had god-like powers.

Thanks Naima, we think you are totally Happy Cow Bang Soda Candy-dancetastic!

The "Why Should I Care?" Series- Kis

2010-11-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

Oh Why? Oh Why, Oh Why Should We Care? Cuz Kis is a pretty neat gal. Her blog, Kismetism's Emporium of the Old is fun, she is refreshingly real, and check out that kickin' orange costume! Not to mention that she dances, sews, AND writes. You get my vote, girl.

In many ways, I live nearly as far away from the Middle East as you can get. I grew up not interested in dancing - I wanted to be on the other side of the stage, playing the music. I truly took after the musicians in my family. When a friend of mine wanted to learn belly dance, figuring that it'd be good for a laugh and to get some exercise, I went along with her. That was only a few years ago, but I've not looked back. I never realised that I was suppose to do this, but now I'd never want to give it up. I dance mainly Egyptian cab style, although there's a beat inside my heart for the bounce of the Turkish moves.

1. Tie me to a chair and play anything _badly_ and I will slowly go insane.

I love all music. I can appreciate Justin Beiber (don't know if I'd want to be stuck in a room with him though), sad old goth music (something to do with too many nights out in clubs) and screaming punk music (you can actually hear what they're singing about if you use earplugs!). But if your instruments are not tuned, or you can't play well with others, then it's all over. I think the better way to put it is - just because you can make the instrument make noise - doesn't mean you should!

2. What is your bellydance motto -

Have hips, can dance.

3. Dance move you do so well that people start slappin their mommas. -

If I ask my shiny-jingly-supportive-hubby he tells me that it's my shimmy. It's a bit hard to fight him on it when he (and a few of my friends) turn to puddles in front of me when I do it I suppose! Oh and it did break a poor guy's brain yesterday... so I guess that win's it some definite "great moves" points!

4. If you could have the attention of all bellydancers all over the world for a moment, what would you say to them?

Knowing me and how I go with public speech (as opposed to public dance) - I'd probably make some sound close to meep! and then fade straight away. Then 20 minutes later, I'd come up with something astounding and totally mind blowing that I'd not be able to share with anyone as they'd not get it.

5. Describe how you feel/think right before a performance.

Right before I go on, I don't feel nervous. I get jittery and full of energy, but I'm calm in my mind. I usually run through the start of the routine a few times, go over the few spots which I'm feeling "exposed" on or the formations which I need to hit spots for during the piece.

6. Dance move you look more like an inept goldfish than a bellydancer -

Maya's. Inverted maya's are all fine, but my hips just don't want to play ball right now at going the other way!

Thanks KIS!

The "Why Should I Care?" Series- Mahin

2010-11-15T05:55:00.000-08:00

Its that time again! Time for more of the Why Should I Care? Series, and Mahin is on the chopping block. Scooch over to the right and check out her blog In the Ears...out the Hips", and then help me decide "Why Should We Care?" ........oh, this one's easy.
1. She has chickens.
2. Anyone that can come up with " In the ears, out the hips" is o.k. in my book.
3. And all the regular stuff of being gorgeous, funny, and all that jazz.
Mahin, we do care.....lots.

Mahin lives in Phoenix, AZ , teaching and performing there and wherever she’s invited. She directs Zahr Jamil Middle Eastern Dance Co., the Baraem Jamila Student Troupe and serves as the 2010 President of the AZ MECDA chapter. Mahin is the author of the “Daily Bellydance Quickies" and when not wearing a hip scarf can be found in the kitchen cooking or playing with her 13 adorable chickens.

Photo: my dance partner, Carmen, and I hamming it up backstage at the New Mexico World Percussion Celebration.

1. Bellydance trend that is soooooo Totally O-U-T...

Do I have to pick one? I have two that I want to vote off the island. 1) Bizarre yet overpriced costumes like “The Faces” that buzzed on Twitter for months. 2) Singing along with your dance music. This just makes me cringe every time I see it. I know, I’ve seen video with the “big names” in Egypt having a sing-along while they dance but I don’t have to like it. Really, do I have to memorize the words? Isn’t the choreography enough?

2. What is your bellydance motto?

“In the ears… out the hips.” This came out of me in class trying to describe the dancer’s connection to the music in live music improvisation. They have become my words to live and dance by.

3. Describe your best teacher, and what made her/him great?

My most influential teacher was Jazmine Ryan (Phoenix). She was absolutely encouraging at every step of the way from the first class to my first time social dancing at a student show to my first student solo then my first paid gig. She expected us to develop our own style and not be a copy of her or anyone else. Her drum solo skills left a permanent impression on me with their precision and playfulness. I still love performing with her!

4. When I am stepping onto the stage I feel..........

the excitement of taking on a challenge. Even if it’s a more routine performance, I always set a personal challenge for myself before I go out there. It could be incorporating a new move or combo I picked up in a workshop, a new balance trick with a prop or something more esoteric like focusing on projecting more emotion.

5. If you tied me up and played ..................... for 24 hours I would slowly go insane.

The “Enta Omri” DJ remix! Actually, it could be any DJ remix of a classic that I love – “Enta Omri” just happens to be my all time favorite. Sure, we all need flat boring pop stuff sometimes – but that’s what Hakim and Nancy Ajram are for – step away from the classics, DJ….. pleeeeease!

6. What are your dance ambitions?

I’ve been teaching Egyptian cabaret and folkloric styles for 7 years now and recently got my Bachelor’s in Exercise Science. Now I am focusing on integrating the two, applying exercise and human movement to bellydance so dancers can train more safely and effectively. I will be hitting the road to teach workshops much more in 2011 and doing more writing on related topics.

Thanks Mahin!

The Why Should I Care? series - Roxy

2010-11-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

Foxy......Roxy, foxy...ROXY! Roxanne at Shimmies, Sequins & Slippers is our next sucker, um I mean contestant for the Why Should I Care? Series.
Why should we care? Do we really have to ask this question? She is smart,gorgeous and has a great blog. Need we say more?

1. Dancewise, where do you want to be in five years?
Famous and touring with the Bellydance Superstars :) Failing that, I would be happy to have my own dance studio, be competent at zills, and own at least one Eman Zaki.

2. Describe your dream costume.

Words do not do it justice- so I will show you: Eman Zaki Gallery

I will take one of those in peacock green please.

3. President Obama is going to give a worldwide talk on bellydancing to educate the public, if you wrote his speech, what would you have him say?

I would have him explain that as gorgeous as Sadie and Kaya were on America ’s Got Talent, that they are not the be-all and end-all of belly dance. I would also have him try convey that it is an art, a culture, and that belly dancers are not just scantily clad women who wear too much eye-make-up and wiggle their hips.

4. If you had to go back and redo a dance moment which one would it be?

Teaching before I was ready. I was requested to teach by a lazy studio owner who had no interest in her dance studio anymore and was happy to have an amateur take over her classes. Flattered, I accepted- but that was a big mistake. I had only been dancing for a year and even though could dance fairly well- I was far from well-equipped to teach.

5. What is the best compliment you have ever recieved about your dancing?

Some guy once told me that I channel an ancient deity when I dance. Although I am suspicious of his motives for such a lovely compliment- I will take it ;)

Seriously though, probably the best one was from my boyfriend- he told me he loves me when I dance as I look so joyful and alive (although one does question how I must look the rest of the time- dead?! ;)

6. If I weren't bellydancing, I'd probably be........

in an 8-5 public relations /marketing desk job. Oh wait…

( me putting my two cents in) ......."channel an Ancient diety"....damn. Now THATS a compliment.
If you are a dancer, and would like to be interviewed, leave a comment with your email in it. ( I will not publish the comment).
Thanks Roxy!

Sordid Veil Confessions

2010-11-05T05:43:00.000-07:00

1. I am too rough to use a silk veil. It is like giving a rare china doll to a two year old on a bicycle.
2. I have received the comment" you have a strong veil". Which roughly translates to "stop slinging the thing around".
3. I feel depressed because after reading Delilah's post on veils......I think that I might just be one of those people who doesn't want to be "over exposed". Something to think about. ( it is a fabulous post, read it)
4. After doing the "around the world" move several hundred times, and doing a few framing moves, I pretty much want to drop the thing and do something else.
5.Anything but black veils give me a headache.
( once in a class ( remember Joyce/Kris?)...we noticed that one whole half of the classroom had black veils. So we decided that we'd be " Sheer Darkness". It was just funny enough to keep us cracking up and get us in trouble for talking too much.
6. In all honesty, veils seem very sensual to me, and I have trouble showing that side to others. I think it is the fabric, I'd rather run my hands all over it than dance with it....( Whew! Gettin' hot in here.).
7. Trying to do the butterfly flip thing makes me sweat, and look like Jane Fonda doing aerobics or something.There is nothing graceful about it.
8. Forget the pinwheel. Forget it. With a veil? I can muster it, but it ain't pretty. Waaaay too much going on there.
9. I have NO DEPTH PERCEPTION. For real. You know those people who are always stepping on your heels because they can't gauge how far away they are standing from you? That's me. So tossing the veil in the air and trying to catch it is O-U-T out.
10. I don't like to "piss around" with anything, so sometimes when my mood leans to the bitchy side veils seem too fussy to me. Like the princess in the pink silk dress that sometimes I want to be but mostly want to beat up. ( once again, Delilah's post is messing with my head)
11. The veil -as- an -entrance thing needs to be a little more than someone carrying a piece of fabric onstage, then dropping it a minute later. If you are going to carry one then use it at least.
12. I think that there are "veil people" just like there are "dog people", "cat people" and Aquarius-es. That's all I'm sayin'.
13. While I was trying to find a picture of a veil for this blog,I found something else I want.. So I haven't given up on you yet, veils, I haven't given up yet.
14. Any and all of the above can change drastically according to my mood. Ain't it great being a woman!

Santa'd Better Be Rolling in The Dough

2010-11-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

My bellydance wish list is ridiculous. No, really I prefer not to think of it as greed.....more like ambition.Yeah, that's it. Just for your viewing pleasure here are some of the things I want. If you already have them, and they suck, please let me know, so I can knock them off of the list and make room for more stuff. This is the SHORT list. I'm not even touching the L Rose list or the Dalhal list or just the random stuff I see here and there.

1. I freaked out when I saw this. It is a meditation/subliminal message CD just for bellydancers. There was an article about it in Zaghareet! and it is supposed to help with stage fright, remembering choreographies, confidence, all of the stuff bellydancers struggle with. The guy who did it is a hypnotist who plays tabla for bellydancers as a hobby. He noticed some of the issues bellydancers struggle with and made this specifically for BELLYDANCERS! I meditate via CD regularly anyway so when I saw this I went to my husband with puppy dog eyes and told him how much I wanted it. NOW. How much I wanted it RIGHT NOW. Hear that,honey?

2. This item has been freakin unavailable from Amazon for a while, which sucks because I want to cry every time I see Naima's beautiful handmade bedlah. I gotta learn how to make my own stuff, I don't trust anyone else with my boobs.

3. Whaaaaaaaaa! I might just throw a three year old tantrum on this one.I have had my eyeball on this ever since it came out. And I want it.....whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! ( stomping, throws self on floor).

4. I have to write the full title of this since you can't see it in the picture. ( man,I am lazy)....o.k. it is, Bellydance Beyond Moves: Combo's, and choreography, 82 Lesson Plans, Games and Exercises to Make your Classes Fun, Productive, and Profitable. Since I am starting to teach in January I figured this would be helpful. Plus I have met Taaj, and seen her dance and she is lovely.

5. Bahaia is my GIRRRLLL! Love her. And ( you should never start a sentence with "and" but I do it all of the time) Ya Bahaia:Vol 2 Bellydance Training Companion is just practice loops. I need this.

6. My veil skills eat. I have a wonderful Shoshanna Veil DVD, but Shoshanna is like the Grace Kelly of veil stuff. She is just better than all of us and we need to accept it. I need a working class girls veil DVD. So Sarah, you seem on my level. Sorry.

7. All of the Najwa Karam CD's I can get my hands on. See, I have a little racket going. Instead of buying it on ITunes like most normal people, I get the CD's for as little as possible, load them on my Ipod, make myself a hard copy, then re-sell the original. Mwhahahahaaaa. The power.

8. Must......keep.....going.....getting....tired................must..........finish..........list.
This book looked interesting. Because I can't just dance. Noooooooooooooo, I have to think about it, write about, pick it apart.

9. Can't know too much sword stuff.

10.

Because MJ is constantly puttin' 'em out, and I am constantly buying 'em. 5 Layers DVD

Well, that is it for now. I said for now.

The "Why Should I Care?" Series - Alea

2010-11-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

Our very first candidate in the Why Should I Care? Series happens to be a good friend of mine. I took the above pic of her after a particularly sassy fan dance she did. Why do I get to have my friend go first? Cuz its my blog, that's why.

Her name is Alea, and here is her interview.....Why Should We Care? I say cuz she is smart and funny, and her answers make sense whether you know her or not. Which is the whole point.

Alea grew up taking dance classes (ballet/ pointe, tap and jazz) and was thrilled to rediscover dance in 2007 when she signed up for bellydance classes with Gypsy. She considers herself an intermediate level dancer and is a member of Gypsy’s Aladdin's Genie's Troupe. Alea enjoys attending a variety of workshops and has also studied tribal fusion bellydance with Sashame at Twisted Dance studios (Yip!), where she learned to love the dance even more. Bellydance has rewarded her with more than just sparkly costumes and a fun way to exercise; it has brought many fun and friendly people into her life and for that, she is truly grateful.

You have two hours in a room with any bellydance instructor. Who would it be, and what would you do?

Hmmmm… I actually have to choose? I think Rachel Brice is awesome, but I think I would be too intimidated by her to learn anything. ; ) I would only be able to stare at her and hope a little of her awesomeness would sink in just through proximity.
Someone I could maybe talk to without being a hot mess… Mira Betz. I took a workshop with Mira and found her incredibly inspiring. I think she has a unique style and perspective. I would like to chat with her about her favorite moves, performance tips, educating the public about bellydance and the lessons she’s learned the hard way relating to bellydance. I’d pretty much be interested in whatever she was inspired by at the moment.

2. What is the best compliment you have ever received on your dancing?

It was from you actually, you said, “it looked like you were having fun and were into it”. See question 3 below for better understanding.

3. Describe what you feel/think right before a performance.

Generally I am thinking, “why the hell did I agree to do this?!?!” and worrying that I will completely forget the dance as soon as the song starts. I am not a natural born performer, I don’t know how to “turn it on”, I just have to breathe and try not to run away. You didn’t ask, but I will tell you anyway… after a dance I am always a little proud of myself for surviving.

4. You can spend a limitless amount at any dance retailer, who would it be, and what would your first buy be?

If it was a limitless amount it would probably be from a retailer that I don’t even know exists because I don’t have the money to currently shop there so I don’t even look.

5. If you had to kill someone with a dance prop which would you choose?

I can't tell you that because then it wouldn't look spontaneous if it really happened.

Alea :)

Noises

2010-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

I happen to like hissing. I am too chicken to do it,but when I hear an audience member hiss at a dancer ( usually another bellydancer) I think it is cool. I also really like that rolling sound kind of like " vlllllllllllllll". Reminds me of a car engine.
I can zaghareet my ass off, and I will occasionally Yip. But I actually do have a signature sound, for real. It kind of sounds like a really high pitched "you". I think it sounds cool, and wonder if I overuse it, or if it sounds more like a redneck ye hawing at a Nascar race or something. These are the things that keep me up at night.( no,not really, I do have a soul).
I used to know a dancer that said the coolest things while she was watching a performance. She wouldn't make sounds, but made loud comments. It sounds obnoxious,but she was always saying what everyone else was thinking. If someone did a back bend or crazy drop, she would say something like "You're kidding", or "No Way". To know her personality was to understand that not only was she an amazing teacher, and a really fun person, but a complement coming from her was the real deal.

Noises. Just another thing I love about bellydance.

What sounds do you make?

Tummy Tuesday- Haflaween

2010-10-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

I would wear this every day if I could.

Try. Just try. Try to think of something cooler than Haflaween. Can't, can you? Even things like sex and pizza are only cool some of the time, but Haflaween? Cool all of the time. I have had bad sex, I have had bad pizza, I have never had bad Haflaween. I'm just sayin'.
I have been to many Haflaweens over the years and every time I am so impressed by the skill and creativity of the dancers....this years Tummy Tuesday Haflaween was no exception.
Here are some pic-e-poo's....these girls TORE IT UP!

Some Kaleegy Started things off right....

Then Mena did a very intense sword number....

Phoenix did a fun number to "Luck be a lady"...she finished it off by tossing dice!

Robin danced to Shakira's "She Wolf"....loved the shredded jeans!

The lovely Sylvana, and a very enthusiastic member of the audience!

Alexandria tearin it up to "I Put A Spell on You" by Natacha Atlas....enthusiastic audience member, doin' the same.

Kristie was Lucy Van Pelt, and danced to Peanuts music. It was too much fun!

We loved Gypsy as Elvira, and her sexy sword number!

Kinda scary, really cool, Tribal Fusion number.

Ayla, pretty in pink.

Samra did the most beautiful Samhain inspired candle/tray dance. I actually cried. It was that inspiring.

The Evil Butterflies, Lai-lai and Alea. Alea was our longsuffering DJ for the evening.

Phoenix's cool ( fake) ink.

The "Why Should I Care?" Series

2010-10-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

Ever read an interview by a dancer that you have never heard of and had a hard time getting through it? Maybe they asked her who her inspirations are and you think...yeah, I don't care,honey. Or she waxes poetic about some technique, and you think, that would be cool, if I knew who you were. Or maybe she started a super troupe out in North Dakota that if you are EVER in North Dakota you might remember but otherwise could give two shits about?
At the morning show I used to do we had an aversion to asking " boring questions". Who are your inspirations, how did you get started, yadda yadda yadda. I think that an interview should be interesting whether you know the person or not, kind of like those meme things.
SOOOOOO I have decided to start a new occasional series called the Why Should You Care? Series. I will be interviewing regular bellydancers with interesting questions that hopefully won't bore the hell out of you.

If you want to hop on board this train, and be interviewed then leave a comment with your email in it.

This will be fun, I promise.

The Dreaded Dance Circle

2010-10-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

Dance Circles- an affliction commonly caused when the victim is unknowingly pressed upon to perform in a setting not unlike an interrogation room. Symptoms include full body sweats, sick stomach, extreme anger/and or meekness, dry mouth, and grasping for the keys. Two cures are known at this point, leave and never come back, or get through it.

With funding from you the Dance Circle Research Fund is making great strides with a cure for this silent killer of dancers.

Ha ha. I amuse myself. Seriously, though, whether you have been dancing for a long time and you can't remember what it was like to be scared to be in a dance circle, or dance circles still make you break out in hives, they are there. They ain't goin' away.

Cluck. Cluck. You might start calling me the CHICKEN whisperer after I reveal all in this particular post, but I dodged the dreaded dance circle, or anything like it for soooooo long, it wasn't funny. It wasn't that I couldn't do it, it was that I don't like to be pushed into anything. Call me a control freak, call me what you will, say " girl, it is only dancing", and I say go eff yourself. I intensely dislike the feeling of being pushed, and even worse is when you say "no" once and then people keep pushing. I actually read that it has a name, it is called demand-resistance. ( I read a lot). Found that gem in a book about perfectionists. Basically you sort of create your own resistance, and when someone tells you what to do it makes you push back even harder. ( when it gets loopy is when you tell yourself what to do and you resist against yourself......don't think about it too much, it will give you a headache).
So class 1- back in 98'. Things were going peachy until about the fourth class, when they pulled the whole" do what you feel" ( which is covered in the wonderful book Snake Hips by Anne Thomas Soffee....she describes the exact class I took ). I suffered through it, intensely aware anytime a teacher looked at me doing snake hips over and over. This was my early twenties so after that class I am sure I got in the car, lit up a Marlboro menthol, hit the steering wheel, went home and got wasted. I didn't go back. Nope. That was the end of that beginner class for me.
   Three months later, and a fellow witch/friend of mine expressed an interest in going to bellydance with me. I figured, " hey this will be easier if I have someone with me to take the edge off". and it was. We went and when " do what you feel time" came up, we goofed off. Or copied each other. I went through intermediate and even performed a group number. Then, since I was new intermediate I started hearing the dreaded death march song to the tune of "when are you going to do a solo, when are you going to do a solo".
   I shimmied my ass outta that class just in time to find that I was pregnant and had a legit excuse not to go back. All those stress hormones not good for the baby, yeah, that was it.
     Flash forward to '04........I had a kid, a divorce, years of bellydance via VHS, experience talking to thousands of people ( radio host), and now a format change. Which meant that one morning we were told that we didn't need to come in to work until 9. Which meant that one morning I had a kick ass job, and the next I didn't. Not to mention a new house that I now couldn't pay for, a new divorce, and a three year old who we just found out after worrying about why she was barely speaking, was hearing impaired ( and later to be diagnosed autistic). It all came crashing down on me. I gained 35 pounds. I was severely depressed. Going to the grocery store was an effort and as soon as I would come home, I would lock the door and cry. So what did my dumb ass do? I signed up for another bellydance class. dumb dumb dumb.
    Oh all I could think was I need to get out of the house, I need to move again, I feel so so sad I am drowning, I have to do something, maybe this is it.
    Within two weeks I was asked to perform. I said no. I should have told her that just coming to class made me cry, that it was an effort to get out of bed. Instead I kept going, thinking that maybe my " no" would be sufficient. Instead she called me out at a halfa on the microphone and said "This is Tara, and she will be dancing next time". I felt like I got slapped in the face. I left and never went back. My attempt to heal only damaged me further and made me feel worse about myself.
     I was going to sell all my stuff. I decided that even though I loved bellydance with all my heart, I hated the pushiness of the teachers, the cattyness of the other students. I just wanted to dance, and go at my own pace and why was that so hard? This was supposed to be FUN. If it wasn't fun I didn't want to do it.
   Enter Donna. Sometime in '06 someone asked me if I wanted to take a bellydance class with them. I said sure that I'd give it one more shot. There was no meekness in me this time, no regret, I was sure that if it wasn't what I wanted that I would leave and never look back. As it were, Donna nurtured us, stretched us, but didn't push us, and when I was ready I danced. Just like that. I knew that I was ready, and I did it. Knocked out the first solo, and it was a breeze after that.
    She would say every once in a while " you guys are going to dance for me next week", and sure enough the next week would roll by and two of us would show up. seriously. There would be tumbleweeds rolling through the joint. We would anxiously watch the clock and the last five minutes of class she'd put on music and we'd dance. She was supportive, and would smile and nod at us. Yes, it was scary, but I always felt like it was my decision. She really cradled us and stretched us until it was time to let us fly on our own. She really was/is a damn great teacher. and she was smart too.

    UM.... people don't like to be pushed. Yes, you have to learn to overcome fear, yes, dance circle is a way to do that, but a flippant attitude towards new dancers is never good. Options are good. Giving people room to grow at their own pace is good. Remembering that just because you are not afraid of something doesn't mean that is doesn't terrify others is good. Being open, kind, supportive, stretching, but not pushing is good. Having faith in your students that when they are ready the natural progression is to get out there,and that they will eventually dance is good. Remembering that some people are exhibitionists, some people are scared to stand in line at the DMV but most people are somewhere in the middle is good.

    Dance circles, a necessary evil. Pushy teachers, just an evil.

Party Pooper

2010-10-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend I missed a really cool dance event because it was my husband and I's wedding anniversary. As we ate our lobster ( yeah right, it was more like cheap but delicious Mexican food), and looked back on seven years together I found my mind drifting to the dance event. I wonder if so and so danced? Maybe so and so's troupe would be there? But quickly as I gazed into the kind green/grey eyes that have carried me through so much I was happy that I had kept my priorities in line.
   I started thinking about choosing our levels of involvement based not on what we could do but what we should do. It this tooting my own horn? no way. As a matter of fact I have bemoaned the fact that my life is not structured to allow me to go to every bellydance workshop, show, tea party etc, that comes up. I would be lying if I said that I went to half. It was a thorn in my side until recently.
     One day I consciously decided what my level of involvement would be. I decided what I wanted out of this hobby of mine and when the line from hobby crossed over into lifestyle. I set some boundaries for myself based on what I wanted out of bellydance, what I was capable of ( without burning myself out) and what was important for my life. I sort of stacked everything up, picked out the unwanted bits, unreal expectations, and just plain crap and re organized everything in my mind to set a standard for basing my decisions on.
   I know many many dancers who either have no kids, or are in their 50's 60's and their kids are grown, who have disposable incomes, or jobs that they can leave behind when they leave work, that are able to go to every event that comes up. I also know dancers who come to one or two staple annual events then disappear into the shadows for the rest of the year. I know dancers who sign themselves up for everything, burn themselves out, and after a hiatus of a month or two start the whole process again. For those of us who have difficulty saying no, picking what we want to do can be a problem. We don't want to offend. We want to see it all, learn it all. We want to be seen. These are all fine reasons, but for every exertion of energy,something must be sacrificed.......you must decide if the sacrifice of energy, time, hanging with your kids, spouse it worth it. If it is ,go for it! Some spouses are more than happy to sit at home four nights a week playing Xbox, while we go play. But sometimes not.
   I think that there is pressure to attend everything especially once you go beyond beginner and start going to events. But we have to set limits in our mind and know what those are. On par with our level of involvement we have to decide what is important.
      There was a girl who I danced with who said ( as all beginners do), " I am just here for fun, I don't want to perform". as the months,even years went on, after most of us who used that as a cop out eventually became performing Jezebels, she stuck to her guns. People stopped pressuring her to dance. She had a level of respect because she stated her boundaries and stuck to them.
     If you are thinking about your level of commitment, here are some things that I considered.

1. Dancers need to support each other. What events/dancers is it important for you to support, and what is just extraneous?

2. While numbering something as subjective as what is important to you is difficult and may be impossible as those things fluctuate, where do things/people in your life rank on the priority list? My eldest daughter is autistic/hearing impaired and she is right up at the top of the list. True, I need an outlet to deal with the intense amount of energy I spend caring for her, but there comes a time when I have to ration my energy. Which sometimes means saying no to dancing and sitting at home watching TV with my husband instead.

3. You need to stay fresh. If your level of involvement is in the least integrated, you need to know a little bit about who is doing what, and why. This is an art form, and as we know bellydance is constantly evolving. Whether you are a traditional cabaret girl or not, if Joe Blow just started a new dance form where he drinks soda with a straw out of his belly button, you should at least know about it. ( this is where reading can be a good substitute for workshops if you don't have much time).

4. What is your budget? This is an obvious but necessary question.

5. What is your health/energy level/ nervous system tolerance? I give 110% to everything I do whether it be a dance or scrubbing the toilet. For more mellow people this might not be an important question, but for those of us who are fireballs, it is one to think about.

6. What is realistic? Kids? Job? Husband? Partner? What takes up your time now? What can go?What has to stay?

I think that we can create exactly the life we desire, if we are just willing to make some adjustments. Think about what you are willing to adjust.

Have it Your Way

2010-10-14T05:50:00.000-07:00

    I told you this was not hard hitting enthralling journalism. I tole you that I like to go deeper and deeper into subjects that mean a lot to me. But you didn't listen, you are still reading. So if you get bored it ain't my fault.
This isn't a post about reaction, this isn't a post about being who you are, or dancing where you are or even PP ( Presence and Practice) This is a post about doing things your way.
    I see dancers struggle with this a lot, as a matter of fact it seems to be a rite of passage for dancers. Much like puberty, there is a time to break away from the teacher, take some initiative, explore movement, find what is meaningful to them, all without the guidance of the teacher/parent. It can feel scary, but you need to learn to fly on your own. I have said before that to me, Plain Ole Cabaret will never get boring. It is like a musical instrument, there is always a new tune to be played, always something to learn. The people who just regurgitate moves and never feel them probably do get bored. But if you start to OWN this dance for yourself, then you can see what a wonderful vast continual learning experience it can be.
   The cool thing about bellydance as opposed to other dance forms, is that we are given the perimeters ( the movements) and then it is up to us how we put them together. It is like someone helps you into an Olympic sized swimming pool and says "here are the boundaries, now do whatever you want". We can keep the imposed boundaries, bend them or ignore them entirely, it is up to us.
   Do you think the innovators, the creators in this dance just keep doing what they were taught? Do you think Fusion, Tribal, and all other hybrids just fell from heaven one day, fully formed? People played. They moved. Let themselves go fully into the movement until the movements spoke to them and told them what to do next. Do you think Rachel Brice, and Suhalia and Tempest and Carolina Nericcio just kept doing the same two step? NO, they let out their inner spirit. They experimented. And even if it ain't your thang, you have to give them credit for taking the "old" and making something "new". They gave themselves permission to "do it their way".
So grab inspiration where you can, accept and embrace your reactions, and dance however you damn well please.

   This is where I am in my dance; I am going to do it the way I want to, and to hell with the rest.

( and doesn't that burger look amazing? it is from The Counter )

The Happy Drunk Reviews: Combination Nation 1 & 2

2010-10-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

You know when you dance a song and you say to yourself " next time I will blah blah blah instead of blah blah blahing", and you make adjustments accordingly? Well, I think that is what happened in this series. The first Combination Nation 1 DVD was good but the second Combination Nation 2  DVD was WOW!
    Of course the Combination Nation series is....Combinations. Didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. I adore the way that they are broken down and drilled ( another earmark of Cheeky Girls, they have the formula down right), not too much breaking down,not too much drilling. Juuuuuust right.
     The first DVD felt like a lot of the same same same. Other than a cute "gooey soft shoe" by Princess F, and a really floaty piece by Shoshanna, the others were.....well, fine. Not bad, but just not that inspired. Certainly nothing that made me go" Ohh, I want to learn that". ( but I did fall in love with Zafirah on this DVD, even though her combo wasn't something to write home about I loved watching her performance at the end of the DVD).The disappointing thing was, there were so many of my favorite dancers on the first DVD, I expected more.
   I guess on the second Combination Nation DVD they decided that they could take more risks. There was a lot more variety, in the dancers and in the combo's. Americans like our variety. We NEED 50 different brands of cornflakes to choose from. I was ( as my southern husband says), "tickled" with this DVD. I loved it.
     I have noticed in Combos that if you check out the dancers body type that you can pretty much match the movements to it. I am a big, curvy somewhat chunky girl, so I enjoyed the more curvy type dancer's combo's better. This is not always the case but for the most part there is a reason that I only risk an arabesque when I have had too much wine. I have a lot of hip and ass to heave over that leg, and to do it quickly smoothly, and without wobbling......no thanks. Gimme some complicated shimmies and I'll just stay on the ground thank you very much.
    For that reason I LOVED, as in WANT TO MARRY the Magidah combo. It was a cute Saidi type thing, and it is adorable. I also fell in love with Sadiyya on this DVD.( there seems to be a lot of falling in love on this blog...) She is SO creative, and her combo's were as well. I also learned to like DaVid. His combo is simple but so cute, and I love the attitude he puts into it. As for the levels of the combos? In the first DVD they seem to be all about beginner intermediate to intermediate level. But in the second DVD they are all over the map, from beginner to advanced. ( I think Sadiyya's are pretty advanced....reverse pelvis undulation layered with a shimmy walking backwards? um, yeah).
    So all in all both of these DVD's are worth buying, but if you only have $17 and you want to buy one, buy the second one.

Don't Mess With the Bellydancers

2010-10-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

These blog post pictures brought to you by four margaritas, two glasses of red wine and a half finished beer. This blog post brought to you by a happy bellydancer.

So this weekend, two of my beautiful friends had a wedding ceremony.

It was an emotional ceremony and just talking about it gives me the warm fuzzies. They are both sweet, kind, and thoughtful people and I am so happy they found each other. ( and I introduced them to each other, thank you very much!).
Anywho the wedding was in RVA,so I got to go home, and see some of my bellydancer peeps. We were all asked to dance at the wedding, so the following pics are of that. Once again, if you want good clear pics not taken by a drunk rowdy bellydancer, check out Roxy's Blog. She always has good pics.

The brides did the COOLEST dance as their first dance ( a bellydance, since they met at a bellydance class). They did this interlocking veil thing that I did not get clear pics of but was amazing.

The lovely and talented Ameena, who was totally working the crowd.

the lovely and talented Darva, who was also working the crowd, and for some reason her pics came out the blurriest..:(

the lovely and talented Joelle

moi

My bestest teacher Donna/Najia.

Donna workin it.

a seriously rowdy bunch.

So we ( the "bellydancer's table") were by far the LOUDEST WILDEST DRUNKEST people at this rather conservative wedding reception. " Conservative? At a lesbian wedding reception?" you say....to which I say " don't be so narrow minded, the brides are very conservative and about as wild as my big toe". ( which as far as toes go, is not very wild). Yep, I hope their bellydancer friends didn't embarrass them. Yep, when they get back from their honeymoon, I am gonna tentatively ask them and make sure that we didn't.
But damn, it was a good party!
To my BD friends from back home.....Ya'll are coming back to North Cakalacky with me. I miss you guys rilly bad.
To the happy Brides, I am so happy for you, and honored that you'd make me a part of this celebration....
To my blog readers, thanks for listening.

Stage Makeup

2010-10-01T05:20:00.000-07:00

Check out the dirty dishes in the background. That is what I do, play with makeup instead of doing housework. Well, you know what they say," boring women have clean houses". That is my motto.
    I am gonna manage to work in a Happy Drunk Review in this post because I really learned to develop my stage makeup by using a tutorial that is on Michelle Joyce's Secrets of the Stage 3. ( the trailer is at the end of this post). I review so many cheeky girls DVDs this should be called the MJ Lovefest Blog instead. But hey, her DVD's are that good.
    So stage makeup. Regular makeup won't do, it just won't. I think that like finding your personal style in dancing, finding your perfect stage makeup will take time, a lot of tinkering and neglected dishes.
     Here are some tips for stage makeup....my personal opinion

Stage Makeup...How to Look Like a French Whore and Get Away with it

1. Find a good tutorial and use that as a starting point. Buy Secrets of the Stage 3, there is a complete tutorial on there, or look online. The late Kevin Aucoin published a few great Makeup books.
2. Be ready to scrap what doesn't work for you, even if the "experts" say you should do it.
3. Make a list of supplies and start collecting them. Most of them can be pricey ( eye primer, lip primer, pancake foundation), so get a little at a time.
4. Get yourself a cool makeup case that is for your stage makeup only. Get a big one so you can put bindi's and fake eyelashes in there, too.

I nicked this case from my ten year old, I think I traded her a Barbie for it.

5. Get a headband to keep your hair out of your face.
6. Practice!!!!!!
7. I have no problem buying the cheap end stuff, unless you are a professional and will be wearing this all of the time. If you dance about once a month or less, though, Cover Girl will do just fine.
8.Halloween is an AWESOME time to collect cool eyelashes, glittery things, all kinds of stuff. At those roving Halloween outlets they have some neat stuff. I save a little cash especially for this every year.

I am going to put my base makeup steps on here because they are so amazing. I wore this for 8 hours the other night, and after dancing, walking all over town, two glasses of wine and a beer, I couldn't believe myself when I looked in the mirror at 2 am. My makeup looked perfect. This base will feel GROSS especially if you are not used to wearing a lot of makeup, but it will stay on until after the apocalypse.

Base makeup application for dancing....
1. On a clean dry face put on your foundation. Don't get wussy foundation. Get the stuff that covers. I use those sponge thingies to apply the makeup, you can get 'em at the Dollar store. Don't forget your neck and ears, too. ( make sure you get a shade that matches your skin tone).
2. Get a highlighter ( comes in pens and wands), and put it in the shaded spots on your face. Under the eyes, beside the nose, any dark areas. Blend it in.
3. Get "cream to powder makeup". This was recommended on the Secrets DVD and it is wonderful. It is also called pancake makeup. Put that on over everything so far.
4. Use translucent loose powder and a big brush and dust all over your face.

Trust me, this stuff ain't goin' anywhere. I actually sprayed my face with water and it beaded up on it.

If you like makeup, learning to do stage makeup can be so fun! Enjoy the process!

Straight Pimpin'

2010-09-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

and no, they are NOT two naked dudes. I just thought the pic was funny.

I am such a sucker for attention, might be the Leo sun sign. But yeah, when I was a kid I liked to dance and sing on restaurant tables, no kidding.
Sooooooo, when someone likes the blog I gotta return the attention with mad props. ( notice my antiquated quasi-hip slang circa 1996?) ....hence some PIMPIN TIME.

I went through a podcast phase when I first got my Ipod. I downloaded a bunch, excited by the prospect that I could listen to people talk about ANY subject I was interested in, but pretty much gave up when I realized that a lot of podcasts were done by narcissistic ( takes one to know one), boring people who really had nothing to say. The day I emptied my Ipod of all the podcasts was the day that I was listening to a pagan blog and the guy BURPED into the microphone, then continued talking to his cat. I decided that it wasn't worth wading through the piles of crap to find the one or two GOOD podcasts out there, done by people with more than one brain cell.
Luckily the Yip Podcast is one of the good ones. Done by two fun but intelligent happy but not annoying, and exclusive but also inclusive ( and by that I mean that they talk to each other, but also to the audience, which so many podcasters missed when they took Podcasting For Dummies) women, it covers all things bellydance. These guys are predominately Tribal, but it is a good listen for all bellydancers, and they cover things that are of interest for all who like to shake it.
So there, consider yourself PIMPED, Yip podcast.

Oh yeah, and guys, I love the belly-versary concept. I am totally gonna steal that.

Tummy Terrific

2010-09-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

The lovely and talented Samra!

As you guys know I have been whining about Tummy Tuesday since way back on this post in January, when I started getting serious about starting one here. Well, the Great and Powerful Jackie Chan must have worked his voodoo magic or something because Tummy Tuesday was Tummy Terrific! It was seriously all I could have hoped for and more, and personally speaking, other than combating my stoopid dry mouth which causes me to do weird mouth movements, and doing this, which I might have to revise my official stance on, my dance ( I felt) went off smashingly.
There were 15 dancers total which represented a lot of different styles, we had some Fusion ( which was killer) some veil, some Arab/Spanish fusion, sword, and a hell of a lot of top notch cabaret.
Unfortunately my camera is iffy at best ( because some chick who was a girlfriend of a friend decided it would be cute to get drunk and play with my camera, which she then dropped, and it hasn't been right since)...but I did still manage to get a few cute pics.

All hail Jackie Chan! All hail Tummy Tuesday!!

the lovely and talented Alexandria!

the lovely and talented Sylvana, Fatim, and Azada.

the lovely and talented Navani

And check out this cake for Navani who is moving ( frowny face).....

the lovely and talented Paula, and Navani.

I wish I had gotten so many more pics but alas, the Great and Powerful Jackie Chan did not will it. So I must be content with what I got...

P.A.T.S.

2010-09-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

So you are standing there getting ready to perform, your buddies are flitting around you chatting, some lady is asking you questions, the music of the previous act is dying down, and you are all adrenaline. What happened to all the things you told yourself you'd remember right before you went on? For some reason you can't seem to think past the second, much less remember all the mantras that you knew would set your head straight and make you ready to perform.........I've got a solution, try P.A.T.S.
I am a big fan of acronyms. I am also a big fan of easy one two three step rhymes or ditty's to help you remember something. I once took a three day ( and several thousand dollar) seminar with a morning show coach, and know what I took away from it? That we are so bombarded as a people by images, sales, etc, from every angle, that rarely can we remember anything past 1. 2. 3. So from then on we ( the morning show people), condensed everything into threes. Jokes, points, etc. It worked. For some reason if you break something down like that and make it catchy, the brain can remember.
So back to P.A.T.S. This happens to be my own personal thingy I do before performing, you can steal it, or make your own based on what is important to you.

P. -Presence
This helps me remember to be involved in each movement and not be thinking about anything else but what I am doing.

A.-Acceptance
I have found that accepting what you are feeling, even the nervousness, can be very cathartic. If you try to push the nervousness away then it will only come back with a vengeance. If you say, "hey, yeah, you are here, I am gonna use you for fuel", it works every time.

T. - Total Connection To The Music
It is all about the music. Be a slave to your music.

S. - Superior Posture
I had to put that in there to remember to keep my shoulders back and down. My boobs are so big I have a tendency to slump. ANNNND if you start out a dance with fabulous posture you are most likely to keep it up throughout the dance.

I actually pat my belly while I say this to myself. Kind of a Pavlov's dog thing.
Have fun making your own.

Happy Drunk Review: Killer Ziller

2010-09-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

I am drinking wine at 3:30 in the afternoon. Why? My kid is sick, tomorrow is Mabon, which I am feeling most acutely, and I was up all night, so I am sleep deprived. Wine, sleep deprivation, antsy feeling that always accompanies the turning of the Wheel for me = pissing around on the net. So in honor of the next turn of the Wheel....here is another Happy Drunk Review.
   Naima reviewed this one also, so make sure to check out her take on this DVD, but I am pretty sure we agree.....Killer Ziller is killer!

First of all as we all know in bellydance blogland, I adore Michelle Joyce. She really simplifies without over simplifying. Her DVD's are super affordable, and well produced. I have NEVER bought anything by CheekyGirls that I was not impressed with. She gives you just the right amount of information in digestible pieces, and she has done it again on this DVD.
   There is a reason that there aren't that many dancers skilled at zils. ( compared to how many bellydancers there are out there, what percentage can play zils skillfully? not many, I'd bet). Zils are hard to learn, they are an instrument for goodness sake. Not only do you have to be a good dancer,you have to be a good dancer and a good ziller. I can dance my ass off, I can zil my ass off but put the two together? Let's just say it ain't pretty. I am almost embarrassed as long as I have been dancing that my zils suck so badly, and I have nothing to blame but laziness. No, really. You gotta practice. You gotta put the suckers on and practice.
      That is where this DVD comes in.....it is broken up into three sections, fantastic for daily practice.
In the first section she has you tap out the rhythms on your belly. This is for beginners, and if you have any knowledge of zils, then skip this.
The second section is just a pair of zils/hands playing the different rhythms. It lasts a while, and I usually stand there and just play on the crazy-ass ones that I can barely keep up with, try to at least walk around on the medium- hard ones, and then dance on the easier ones that everyone knows, like triplets. The cool thing is, she plays a LOT of rhythms....I love it. Some I am sure I will never use, but most I am glad to learn, and practice. This section gives you freedom to just sit there if all you can do is zill, or maybe do some elementary school dancing while you attempt to keep the zils going.....um, I mean, not that I'd know anything about that.
    The third section has four choreography's of escalating difficulty. I haven't gotten past the first one yet. For reals. Yes, I am that bad. But they are freakin' brilliant, and combine several different zil patterns. Maybe one day I can get to the fourth choreo.....one can hope. ( the frustrating thing about zils is that the last "hardest" choreo looks like a piece of cake, but to zil with it would be a joke. So I must face the facts and "dance where I am" like Donna was so fond of telling us.)

    MJ you rock. I mean it. You have brought hope to my zill-less hands. Thanks again, babe.

and, if you haven't picked up that if you have any interest at all in learning to zil that this would be a good buy, then, well, if you have any interest at all in learning to zil then this would be a good buy.

Your Reaction

2010-09-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Bast

Our reaction to life is our reaction. From birth we are told what is acceptable, what to feel, what is appropriate is certain situations, what is the appropriate response in just about any situation. In relationships we are told what it is that we are supposed to feel, and if it doesn't go with the status quo,and make everyone happy then we are the "bad ones". In all circumstances there is what is acceptable behavior and and what are acceptable responses.
    The problem with this is that it dulls our intuition. It de-validates our responses. It says" what you feel is not acceptable". It dulls our own personal responses and like the knife that gets less and less sharp we forget what our own personal response is........... o.k, bear with me, this is not a sociology lesson, it has a point.
    The other day while dancing at home, I had the thought," this doesn't look good". Then I had a mini conversation with myself ( which I do frequently), and I answered myself. "It doesn't look good to who?". Who says it doesn't look good? It is YOUR reaction to the music, Naaga. This is your personal reaction."
Whoa. Chew on that. Dancing is our own personal reaction to the music.

I literally stopped what I was doing and said that aloud to myself several times. My reaction. MY reaction. Not anyone else's. Even the word Reaction has power. The idea of reacting is so personal, so soul connected. When you react you just DO. It comes from the most realized place inside of you, the place not connected with your brain, or your perceptions or what those around you want from you. They say to always trust your first instinct, your first reaction. Before conditioning comes in and all the "supposed to's" that we are taught, before we question ourselves, before all of that happens the connection with who we really are is played out in our reactions. Trust them. Trust yourself.
       Dancing is one of the hardest things that I know of. I have gotten up in front of eight thousand people before.....I have spoken to celebrities. I have been so nervous that I thought I might die on the spot. Trust me, in any type of show business ( even bottom of the gutter show business that is radio), putting your self out there is for lack of a better word, terrifying. But I could choose who I wanted to display. I could hide behind the mike. I could become someone else for a moment that the on-air light was on. If someone rejected me and my reaction to life, it was easy to take because it wasn't entirely real. I was putting on a show.

   But dancing is personal. Not only is it your body that you are putting on display, but you, your reaction to the music.Since music is a real time-in the second thing, you have that second to react, to respond. ( maybe this is why I have never liked choreography, I think it takes you away from the moment).
While I was dancing unscripted, completely spontaneous-ly at a recent dance event, a new-to-bellydance girl asked me, "So you just dance?" Like she had cracked some elusive bellydance code. Like she was saying" Is it really that simple?"   I said "Yes, well kinda. You learn the moves, you drill them, you immerse yourself in it till it just.....comes out. There is a point when you just let go and ...react".
   Dancers/Humans feed off of others responses, which even though they might be entirely organic to the person judging, cannot be used as a reflection of who we are/our skills, or a plumb line for our own reactions. Like the color of our hair, your reaction is beyond judgement. It is sacred. It is.
   I often say that dancing is a metaphor for life, I really believe this. In dancing ,just as in life don't wait for someone to validate your feelings, your reactions. If your reaction is not acceptable to someone else, but you know it is coming from your sacred place, you MUST believe in yourself. You must trust yourself. If you never learn to do this, in dancing, or in life, you will be like a tiny boat tossed on whatever wave that might come along. Good placid weather will have you feeling great, but the second a storm comes along,you will break again.
   I believe reactions are a gift. They are the kindergarten for learning how to trust yourself ( which is a personal journey I have been on for a while). A good place to start with this, if you are new to this kind of journey, is just watch. Watch yourself, watch how you react,and how others react to your reactions, and how that causes you to change what you do.
You might just find that you have been living someone elses life.

Tony, Oh Tony

2010-09-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

So what did I do to celebrate Tony's 100th episode that I TVo'ed and just got around to watching? Well, it was filmed in Paris and besides grabbing some triscuits and string cheese to go with my Oak Leaf Merlot ( that, incidentally, costs friggin $2.97 at Walmart)...I smoked hookah.
First let's get back to the triscuits and string cheese. It's all I had. Its all I can find here unless I make my own bread and "fancy stuff", which I do occasionally. But when I see my much beloved Tony eating for-real French breads, cheeses, and more- than- three- dollar wine, I have to share the experience somehow. All I could find was some -almost- -but -not-too-stale reduced fat triscuits,and some string cheese that I bought for my daughters lunchboxes. Add the cheap wine, and I can pretend I am in Gay Paree eating amazing food and not in BFE eating processed crap. Throw in the Hookah and some coconut shisha and I am a somewhat happy camper........or I will keep drinking the wine until bread or triscuits or hostess Twinkies...doesn't really make a difference what it is.
    For those of you who read this for the bellydance stuff, this is a post about Hookah. Just letting you know. For those of you purists who have never smoked a cigarette ( or anything else), or who eat only organic this or that and who would never poison their bodies with tobacco then just X out of this post. I like a drink, I like a smoke, I like some Hookah occasionally.This post is about kickin' back with some fruity tobacco and a significant other, sipping cheap wine, wanting to be in Paris with Tony.
   Yeah, I write a non-bellydance related post every once in a while, just let me get it out of my system.
    So lets clarify. A Hookah is a water pipe in which you smoke Shisha which is a fruity tobacco blend that only has .5% tobacco. It is very common in the Middle East. So, as a reformed smoker ( quit in '02) I can smoke this stuff occasionally and it doesn't make me want to go buy a pack of menthol's the next day.
The idea hit me to buy a hookah several years ago when I wanted to have a hookah party. I went online and researched hookahs, shisha, and everything that goes along with it. I carefully selected one and got a "sampler" of shisha flavors....apple, orange, rose, cinnamon, banana, coconut, licorice, and candy. I went to website after website until I finally found the proper way to light the thing. ( you'd be amazed at the massive "hookah culture" out there).

Sorry for the crappy pic...

The hookah party was a huge success.....we did a sassy drum solo choreographed by my teacher at the time, Donna...several people did solos ( including a veil dance to Tool by moi), and it was a lot of fun. But then, after the smoke cleared ( duh-dum), and I cleaned up, I was out two hundred and now I had this hookah, and shisha of every flavor.
I am pretty sure I shelved the thing for a while until hubby and I wanted something special but weren't sure what it was. One night while watching Lady Chatterley's Lover ( or something like that), I suggested the hookah,and the rest,they say was history.
So if you have any interest at all in this treat, lemme try to sell ya on it. Since we have gotten rid of all the people that are sticks in the mud, here are some reasons to buy and have a Hookah of your very own....

Have Yourself a Hookah

1. Shisha is made up of fruit, molasses, and a teeny bit of tobacco. It smells good. It tastes good. It doesn't make you cough your brains out, the smoke is really mellow.
( I do NOT recommend tainting your hookah with anything other than shisha.....I think that is all I need to say on that.)
2. If you have a tendency to go completely overboard on everything like I do, owning a hookah goes with the Middle- Eastern-I'm -a- bellydancer -thing really well.
3.It is a nice surprise for friends. It is something interesting to bring out when you have people over.
4. The initial investment can be a bit pricey, but then you won't have to spend any more money until you run out of shisha. ( and a little goes a long way)
5. Shisha comes in so many varieties and flavors! It is so fun to pick out and try different kinds. Places like the Hookah Company have great sampler packs. There are kinds that are pricey like Starbuzz Shisha and kinds that are more standard, like Al Fakher. The flavors are so much fun! Some of the more odd ones I have come across: Cola, Mojito, Mocha latte, Bubble Gum, Pumpkin Pie, spearmint....I could go on forever. ( my personal favorites are the standards, Rose and Apple).

So if you want to buy one of these bad boys here is what you need.

1. Obviously, a Hookah. if you plan on entertaining, get one with two or more hoses. If you don't want your mother in law seeing it, then get a smaller one. Either way I recommend getting a decent mid-line Hookah.I have heard that the cheaper ones have a tendency to break easily, and we want this to be a one time investment, right? The Hookah Company is where we bought ours, and I have heard that it is the best,most reputable place to get your hookah.
2. Charcoals. Get these off of EBay, or some other cheap place. The Hookah websites charge too much for these and you can get them for MUCH cheaper elsewhere. Also, get a decent amount. One little bowl pack of shisha will take two to three charcoals, so you have a tendency to go through these pretty quickly.
As an aside I learned how to use these charcoals when I was a young Witch in Germany many years ago. They will burn the hell out of you if you are not careful. Get a good pair of tongs, and remember, even when they look grayish, or just plain black they are still hot enough to take off a layer of flesh or two.
3. Aluminum foil, and a needle. You can get one of those fancy metal screens to put the charcoals on, but I like aluminum foil with holes poked in it much better. ( I know, I am slightly ghetto like that).
4. SHISHA! This is the fun part! Pick out flavors that sound fun, but make sure to get at least the standard apple. There is a reason that plain old apple is popular. Once again, The Hookah Company is a good place for this.
Note: There ARE herbal blends that contain no tobacco, but I have heard they are gross.
Get some plastic bags to place each pack of shisha in, it can be messy.
5.Something to place the Hookah on. Goddess forbid that a charcoal would fall on the floor. It would be all over, my friend. I use a bit of cardboard, but in the past I have used a plastic crate, a bit of wood, basically whatever I could find to keep my Hookah from being knocked over, and if it did, so that I wouldn't ruin the carpet. That'd be hard to live down.

Here are some extra sites that will help if you want to buy one of these bad boys....

Hookah Forum - warning. These people ain't kiddin'.

Smoking Hookah.com- pretty much everything you need to know.

and again.....The Hookah Company - I was really impressed with the quality of the items, the packaging, all of it. As much as I recommend them, I should get some free shisha or something...

And last but not least....this charcoal looks fine, right? Looks like it is not lit? Remember that this thing was hotter than Hades when I took this pic.

Just ~~covering my ass,~~ warning you.

Basically the Same Regurgitated Post

2010-09-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Hey, I never said this was quality entertainment. I am aware that I keep saying the same thing over and over.
Recently on a blog I like to read, Bellydance Paladin she started talking about the emotive, creative, soul aspect of being a dancer, and then she said something about Suhalia's training involving "intense emotional exercises" and I was like, Wha? Hold the phone! *whining* but I wanna do intense emotional exercises, and journaling, and all that creative shit that doesn't involve learning an old crusty choreography that I don't like anyway. whaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
So of course I started thinking once again about FEELING the dance and not just robotic movement re-barfing. ( I am a classy broad, I'll tell ya). Then ( and this one time when I was at band camp...) Synchronicity stepped in. Know what synchronicity is? Here, I'll let Wiki define it...

"Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. To count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance. The concept of synchronicity was first described by Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung in the 1920s."

Yeah, you know when you start thinking about Elvis, and all of the sudden he pops up everywhere, your cheap aunt gives you an Elvis clock, or the person next to you in line is humming "Hound dog", etc.
To me it usually means that I am on the right path. That I am "tuned-in".
SOOOOOO ( and this one time, when I was at band camp), really powerful references to the exact thing I was trying to put into words suddenly came flying at me. I am reading a Tarot book and there was a line that said " care about the art, not the outcome". Whoa. I am a serious outcome girl. I think about what I am going to do next while I am doing anything. I'm a multitasking MASTER. This quote put the whole thing so simply into words. I wrote it in big letters and put it on my fridge. I say it out loud to myself if I find that I am getting frantic. Must dance for one hour, then practice zils for 30 minutes then at exactly 2 :25 I will switch to veil.....That quote is like a stun gun to snap me out of super OCD mode.
Flash to the next day at my MIL's, killing time. I grabbed her Woman's Day magazine neatly stacked on top of her Bible, and began to read. I opened to a story about a woman who wrote novels and tried to get published for 20 years! At this point I started sweating and feeling ill ( I am in the process of trying to get published). She went through this problem, and that crisis, yadda yadda yadda, until one day she sort of gave up, and enjoyed the process of writing. She decided not to care about the outcome but to just enjoy the process. I was so blown away that I might have said aloud something to the effect of " O.k. Universe, I get it". ( my in-laws are as weird as I am so they didn't mind).

THEN, ( and this one time at band...o.k. I know it is not funny anymore), I am looking at the feed on Facebook from The Bellydance Dictionary, and there is a comment that was made by a bellydancer named Barbara " Its all about the joy. When I quit worrying about where I was I started dancing instead of doing the moves". damn.

So THEN, ( this is my last "then" I promise) the Bellydance Dictionary made the quote into a post on Facebook and started this whole discussion where I got this quote by someone who says their teacher used to say to them " I am seeing you dance , but I am not seeing YOU dance". Double damn.

Moral of the story....
1.pay attention if the Universe is telling you something,
2.only post crack fueled-sounding posts every once and a while.

The End.

Happy Drunk Review: Fantasy Bellydance:Magic

2010-09-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

Geez. Does it take a person two weeks to finally get to her new DVD's? I use the excuse that I am taking my time with them, yeah, that's it.

So I finally got down to viewing Fantasy Bellydance: Magic by the World Dance New York set. These guys seem to be the go-to folks for the fantasy/off the wall-but-still-bellydance stuff.
Basically there are three DVD's in this Fantasy series, each with three "themed" choreographies on them, Mystery, Desire, and the one I am reviewing now, Magic.

Lemme just say that these are not new. They came out in 2008. As for as wish list urgency they were pretty low on the totem pole, because I wasn't sure what I would be getting, and even though they are super inexpensive ($16 something new, used as little as $7), I wasn't sure about paying for three choreographies, two of which I wasn't sure I'd use.
Honestly I bought this bad boy for the Sword dance, called "Warrior Princess", by Isidora Bushkovski. Isidora is the bee's knees. I once saw a cane dance she did ( think it might have been on the IAMED Bellydance-o-rama series), that would make you soil yourself. She is the Queen of Props.

So onto the choreographies.
The first is by Autumn Ward, and it is called "Enchantress". It is definately a little odd, but very very beautiful. She performs the piece first, wearing a green gauzy, leafy getup that makes her look like she just crawled out of the forest. The costume definately sets the tone of the piece. She also uses zils in this choreo, and it adds to the allure ( for me). The Enchantress choreography is wild, and fluid. Will I learn it? Yeah, probably eventually.

As an aside, none of these are for beginners, or even newish intermediates. These are all advanced intermediate choreographies.

The second one is the Sword dance "Warrior Princess'.Of course it is great, and Isidora is dressed in tribally looking gear that she seems to favor when she does sword dances. It is a good, somewhat agressive choreo, with a lot of stabbing moves. The only thing is, I would have liked to see some floorwork with this piece. But all in all I am glad I bought it, and can't wait to get to work on it.

The third is "Kali" by Ariellah ( for some reason her link wouldn't work). It is a Fusion piece, and while I like to watch Fusion, I do not dance it. Still, I hear Ariellah is the chickey-doo when it comes to fusion, so if that is your thang,you might be interested in this DVD.

So essentially I paid $11 for two nice choreographies. I think that is a pretty good deal.
If that sounds like a deal to you, then buy it.

Happy Drunk Review: Improvisational Toolkit Vol:2 Structure

2010-09-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

Ya'll ready for another Happy Drunk Review? I bought about nine different dance DVD's two weeks ago and they sat, lonely, on a shelf out of the reach of my little ones until "Freedom day" AKA the first day of school which was last week. After throwing a drunken party for myself and sitting around all day in my bunny slippers and bathrobe, eating frozen Snickers bars for the first few days of freedom, I figured it was time to get down to work.
So I broke out Nadira Jamal's Improvisational Toolkit Volume 2: Structure. I had really anticipated this one since I LOVED her first one Improvisational Toolkit Volume 1: Movement Recall.

     I can break this review down into two categories: "Stuff that Matters", and "Petty Shit".

Stuff That Matters: ( about this DVD):

The thing that I like about her DVD's is that it isn't stuff that you see regularly. It isn't stuff that you are even really taught, it is stuff that you have to find out the hard way, through trial and error, or through your teacher saying after a show" not enough repetition, you looked like a tasmanian devil out there!" ( which I am entirely making up, what kind of evil teacher says stuff like that to a student after a show?)...but you get the point.
This DVD was about structure, repetition, and form in your dance performances. The whole thrust of this series is to help you learn to improvise, which yes, is something that can be learned. She very slowly takes you through the idea of repetition, then how to do it naturally. Frankly I already knew all this stuff, but it doesn't mean that it is not very very helpful to a dancer. Even if I think I already know something I will watch it several times anyway to see what I can get out of it.
    This DVD is for the beginner intermediate or intermediate, a beginner might find the information helpful, but they also might find it overwhelming dependant on where they are personally. This is wonderful material for teachers to pass on( with her permission, of course), and the methods she uses to teach remind me of broken down classroom exercises. "Watch me, here's how you do it, o.k. do it with me, now it is your turn." To someone learning to develop structure this is a comforting, right brained way to learn. You WILL learn structure with this DVD, so in my Happy-Drunk-Not-So-Humble-Opinion, this DVD is worth the money. I will do it every now and then to reinforce what I know. ( advanced students,you might get something out of it, too).

Now for the Petty Shit:

We all know that these are low budget DVD's. I normally wouldn't care. Normally. Like I said before, if Suhalia was teaching us how to fly around the room on Isis Wings but the DVD was shot in her bathroom I would still watch it. Let me amend that statement. I would still watch it if the quality wasn't a major distraction. Unfortunately the quality was terrible in this one.
    Problem one was the volume. Whoever did the sound on this, well....Miss Nadira needs to get her money back. I had to majorly adjust the sound on the talking segments ( I had the volume up to 17 at one point!), only to have to quickly turn it down on the music and dance segments, so my eardrums wouldn't get blasted out. That sucked just a little bit. Also, the first DVD had her with good lighting, just sitting there talking. I guess she was going for a more "professional " look, so this time it was dark lighting, and wierd "look here, now look here" camera angles. In the middle of a sentence she'd change camera's, and it was just plain wierd. and noticibly distracting.

Good petty shit....the girl is just plain pretty, smart and charming. and she's got some meat on her bones...... a real bellydancers body. I like that.

So a snotty thumbs up on this one, if you can get past the volume thing.

Natacha Atlas is a Gateway Drug.

2010-08-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

I remember the first time I heard "metal". I liked it but it was a bit off putting, and felt a bit wrong ( but oh so right) There was an angry aggressive somewhat dark part of myself that really connected with it, and still does. Shortly after my introduction to metal I started listening to Metallica, Overkill, Iron Maiden (this was the late 80's/early 90's). I sort of became a headbanger. I have loved metal and most of its hybrids ever since, but it took some getting used to.

Ditto with the first time I heard Middle Eastern music. It was at a bellydance show, and there was an Armenian band playing. I was 8 or 9, and I remember it made me feel.....exotic, passionate, and like my body couldn't help but move. Middle Eastern music has that effect on me, I just have to move.
    Once I got serious with bellydance I started with Solace, and a lot of tribal music. That Amir Diab, Somaya, and Nawal stuff just sounded too raw to me, too foreign. My ear could only handle it in short bursts. Solace, Helm, and all of the other Tribal-ly stuff gave me my Middle Eastern music fix, without the in-between notes.(which is an actual thing, ME artists use something called quarter notes, which are not present on a Western scale). Solace helped me get used to the music and the rhythms without any distracting singing. It was safe and predictable, almost lulling. This was before Fusion really exploded, so there wasn't really any bleed over. Tribal stuff sounded Tribal. I started to have this inner itch after a while, though, and that music just didn't satisfy me anymore.
   Then I found Natacha Atlas. My teacher of all teachers, Donna used to have us warm up to "I Put a Spell On You", and I loved Natacha's smoky voice, and western-eastern blend. Natacha Atlas is like Middle- Eastern- music-lite. She is mostly Egyptian, so she has the feel of an Arabic singer, her voice has that passion. But the music wasn't so Arabic that I felt like an outsider. I bought one CD. Then another. She sings in three different languages ( Arabic, French, and English), and after a while I started listening to only the Arabic language ones. Then one day Natacha was not Middle Eastern enough for me. ( but I still love her..:)
      Now I consider myself a (still learning) Lebanese, and Egyptian pop fan. I like the kind of whine that translates the quarter tones to my ears. I am still discovering singers, some I like, some not so much. But there is nothing to me like the feel of that genre of music.

      Trust me, to friends and family, it is like having a passion for polka. or harpsichord. or Chinese wind instrument music. or something equally annoying to everyone within earshot, but that you love and can't get enough of.

example:

A few weeks ago at our last family gathering

the men in my rather large family were sitting at the table playing poker, the kids were running around, the women were chatting and cooking, and I was fiddling with the Ipod player.

Me: "Ya'll wanna listen to some Nawal El Zoghbi?

Everyone and I mean everyone stopped what they were doing, looked up at me and emphatically said "NO!". "No More Middle Eastern music!".
Then my brother and father started sympathizing with " my poor husband" about being subjected to "listening to that" all of the time.

Fine. I'll just take my music elsewhere. (pouting). I didn't want to share it with you anyway.

Shokran/marhaba/ahlan wa sahlan....that's about it.

2010-08-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

I really really HATE that I don't speak Arabic. I am dancing to a song for an upcoming wedding and it took me a while messing around on the Internet to check and make sure the lyrics weren't jinxing the brides by saying " I hate your guts and I am glad its over". Luckily the song is Maghroumah by Najwa Karam, and just reading the lyrics reminds me of the way they fell in love....the song title is actually " In Love". Whew.
   but case in point, we are a little spoiled as Americans. Most of the time we do the music exporting, not the importing. In 97' I lived in Germany and I remember when my hostess, a German woman who then spoke English, but didn't in her youth put on my headphones, and listened to my CCR CD.
    She said" Oh, it's funny now that I can understand what the lyrics mean".
I guess she just made the sounds of " Proud Mary", with not knowing a stitch of English as I do with my Arabic music. I feel like a total idiot as I imitate the sounds of the words, probably butchering them to pieces. Just like when I was 12 and thought "Panama" by Van Halen was "Animal". I sang "Animal "to the top of my lungs until the class bully, a big girl who liked to hurt people, called me out on it. Never again, my friend. I make sure that when I am singing Ma L'ndi Shak, no one but the dirty dishes can hear me.
      Needless to say I gotta learn me a leetle Arabic, at least enough to get by. Imagine my joy at discovering Habibi, You are my...What? Essential Arabic for Bellydancers by Leyla Lanty.

Hence the very first Happy Drunk Review.

This DVD is like going to a workshop with Leyla Lanty, literally.( and she is TOTALLY adorable, and looks like she'd be a blast to hang out with). This was obviously filmed at one of her workshops, so don't look for any dazzling sets or flashiness for those of us that have the attention span of a chipmunk.It is just her sitting next to a poster board, reading from a piece of paper. But this is well worth the money, if bellydancing for you is more than just the weekly class, or shape-up-for-your-wedding kind of thing. If you are serious about cabaret bellydance, then this DVD is invaluable.
     She uses clips of traditional songs such as Habibi Ya Eini, to illustrate the words and GESTURES that go along with it. I loved the gestures part, it really brought to me that dimension that I felt was missing from my dance.
      This is not an Arabic lesson, this is not something to teach you anything more than a bit of "dancers Arabic" and the body language and culture that go along with it. If that sounds like something that you'd enjoy, then fork out the $20 and invest. It is worth it.

Ma'a Salama, everyone!

A Quiz Just For Us.

2010-08-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

turkishemporium.co.uk

At what rate do you buy stuff? Bellydance stuff namely. And do you show a preference, like one would with any merchandise? For instance, I love purses, I seriously have a purse problem. Switching purses causes me metaphysical anxiety....so it is important for me to own lots....yeah, that is the reason.
     I just know that in your bellydance stuff closet ( if only I were so lucky), that you have a zillion veils, and one cane. Or 18 pair of harem pants, and one choli. Or...ahem...one zillion DVD's, 1/2 zillion CD's, and no bedlah. Yeah that is me. The no bedlah girl.
    How can I be a cabaret dancer of 12 years and not own bedlah? 1. I can't sew worth a damn, and 2. my boobs are enormous. The special-made- bra kind of enormous. My mantra is that I am not sure that hanging tassels from them is the best idea. It is all I can do to strap them down when I dance already. maybe one day when I lose weight they will go down to an F, and I can have some bedlah made....but I digress.

I have just done some shopping and since I tend to do things in a grand way I bought 9 dance DVD's and four CD's. Reviews follow after I get my little munchkins into school and can have some time to breathe.  Some of us nickel and dime ourselves at workshops, etc, I tend to do my shopping in a big way. $600 at LRose. $200 at Amazon.
But I still own more DVD's than anything.

I wonder what bellydance stuff you own says about you as a dancer? You know, like those cosmo quizzes that you take" Are you REALLY stressed?" Take this quiz and find out...

Lets make our own, shall we?

What Your Bellydance Stuff Says About You! ( a Quiz)

1. One arm into the closet and you could herd a flock of sheep. Standard silver and gold, but also pink and sequin studded lime green make up your cane repertoire. Raqs Al Assaya, baby!

a. Yeah, man, that's me to a T.
b. Well, I own a few, but no lime green,that's for sure.
c. Sheep stink. Yuck.

2.In cleaning out the closet you are nearly smothered under a pile of silk,and chiffon. With a mouthful of silver pailettes that rib the edge of your lavender veil choking your airway, you mutter, not a bad way to go.

a. Bring it on. Death by veil-drowning; I can't think of a better way to go.
b. Veils are part of every bellydancers wardrobe, but I don't own any more than a normal dancer.
c. I have one veil and I use it to mop up the floor occasionally.

3. (For you Tribal-ies) Ten yards, twenty, can I get thirty, going down the forty yard line. Started with black now you have 100 yards of firefly printed skirt.

a. "Having skirts is normal for a tribal dancer."
    "Well you have twenty, why don't you give me one?"
   "hands off my skirts or you die".

b. The standard black ten yard skirt, plus one or two other colors is good enough for me.
c. My ass can't handle more than ten. This shit is heavy.

4. What? WHAT? I AM SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU MY EARDRUMS WERE DESTROYED YEARS AGO BY MY ZIL HABIT.

a.. clang clang goes the zils. All......day.....long.
b. I have a pair that is taped up for home use,and a pair for classes and workshops. Who needs more than that?
c. Zils sound like my own personal version of hell.

5. Does your closet resemble a drag queens? Nuff said.

a. I just HAD to have the animal print biker shorts with purple fringe and matching bedlah top. They threw in the hat for free.
b. My tastes are pretty standard. Silver, gold, and a few reds and purples. That is enough.
c. Bedlah looks like someone threw up Christmas all over you.

Answer Sheet:

1. If you answered mostly A. You have a serious problem. You need sparkle rehab or something. You also make up most of the bellydancers that I know.

2. If you answered mostly B. Snore. Wake me up when this is over.

3. If you answered mostly C. If you don't like canes, veils, zils, don't dance tribal, or wear bedlah, then you obviously have the wrong quiz/blog. The tennis/scrapbooking blogs are over there, weenie.

It's Not Cheatin' if I Pay!

2010-08-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

This is a blog about so called "teacher loyalty". Oh, how many times have I heard a dancer whisper to me" I am gonna go take a private lesson from so and so,I hope my teacher doesn't find out". At which point I say ( rather fruitlessly I might add), " If your teacher was really a good teacher she would want you to expand your knowledge and learn as much as you can". Unfortunately, I'd say maybe even half of the bellydance teachers are not like that. It is a real shame, too.
    Zaghareet magazine has published a recent set of articles on what makes a good teacher. It has been a three article series, so there is a lot of information there. One of the things that stuck out to me is the "greedy teacher" syndrome ( I am paraphrasing). Teachers that don't want you to go anywhere else for instruction, teachers that bad-mouth other teachers ( very very unprofessional), teachers that seem threatened by other teachers. All of these should be major warning signs, and the only person that will be hurt in the end by staying with a teacher like that is YOU.
       At the risk of coming off sounding high and mighty in this blog, I have been on the other end, so I know why a teacher would feel ownership of her students.
      Several years ago I taught some pagan learning classes. The classes filled up quickly, I made good money, and I absolutely loved with every pore of my being teaching them. I was good at it. People responded in a positive manner, I got looks of awe, I got to be "an authority" on a subject that I knew a lot about. At first this adoration/attention made me uncomfortable, but after a while I ate it up then it got to the point when I fed off of it. It became a cheap pick-me-up. I found myself thinking if things didn't go my way" well they should just see me in class, THEN they will know what I can do". I really let it get away from me and become a substitute for real grounded self esteem.
      Long story short, when the classes started slipping away from me I freaked out and made some really bad decisions that not only put me at odds with the people hosting the classes but ended up isolating me from them entirely. It was a hard lesson, but an important one.

Teaching is a gift. Students are not only a teachers greatest lesson, but a privilege. No one owns anything, we are lent this privilege. If you are a teacher, ask yourself, do you get your thrill from watching someone discover bellydance? or from watching someone adore you/imitate your moves, etc.?

If you are a student, consider taking from a variety of teachers to make you well rounded. I completely understand being attached to a teacher. Foxy had a good post a while back on this, what it felt like to lose a teacher. I still miss who I consider to be my teacher, even though I had taken from many others. I still miss Donna, and when I get to see her dance from time to time I told her it feels like coming home.
But I can honestly say ( and she is the one that told me this ), that if a student doesn't surpass her teacher, then the teacher is not doing her job. A teacher should introduce her students to the wide, broad world of bellydance, and like the momma bird, kick them out of the nest when they are ready.

To me, learning your own personal bellydance style is a lot like interior decorating. If you are like me and you grew up with boring beige, browns, and bronze sconces with fake greenery, if you think that is all there is, then that is what you will imitate. If you go to Ikea, go to design stores, try everything out, even change decorations like people change majors until you find what really suits you, then you will finally know your own style. But sticking with one teacher/one style will not do this for you. You will never really move forward. You will be doing nothing but imitating anothers style.

    Only you can know when you have learned everything there is to learn from a particular teacher. You have to trust yourself, and know that maybe that slight itch inside you is the urge to explore. Do it.

but if you'd rather be the 35 year old living in the momma bird's basement eating cheetoes and playing video games, then go ahead.

Bellydance Nerds

2010-07-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

Pic found here

I have always been a teensy bit starstruck. In my preteens it was Michael J. Fox. He was so cute, so approachable.I cried and cried when I realized that after pouring my 12 yr old heart out onto a piece of paper, he responded with a form letter.( but I still taped it to the wall over my bed and fell asleep to his pre-printed scrawly handwriting every night for years). Then in my teen years it was Axl Rose, Metallica, Iron Maiden. I was especially crazy about Axl and Gn'R.
     Then I entered the radio business, and got really jaded with ,"stars". Some of them were royal JERKS...Sheryl Crow, and some of them were super super nice, John Mellencamp ( although we were told that if we uttered the word "cougar" he'd hang up on us). I guess I realized that being a star can mean a lot or it can mean absolutely nothing. ( ahem...Octomom).
       Last night at a bellydance thing I was talking to the lovely Azadi about her facebook profile pic which happens to be a picture of her and Rachel Brice. While gushing about various dance "stars" I realized that my star struck sickness never really went away.
     Case in point:

     The Scene: Me ordering costumes from L Rose last week, speaking with what had to be the nicest woman on the planet.

        Place: the phone

        ( after all the details were worked out)

       Lora Anthony: "Well thank you, Tara for your order."

      Me: "Thank you, and with whom am I speaking?"

       Lora: "Oh this is Lora."

       Me: Frozen, realizing that this was Shoshanna's mom, and would it be terribly bad taste to say    something to the effect of "oh I am your daughters biggest fan!).

        "Um, o.k. thanks."

     I hate that I would be a tiny bit nervous around Delilah, Neon, Michelle Joyce, not crazy nervous, not freako stalker-y nervous, but a tiny bit. Enough to put me in the category of "still star struck". I am attending a Suhalia workshop in November, and I would like to get a picture with her. Not enough to be part of the horde that follows her around asking, but if it happens organically,then it would make me happy.
     Yes, I am a bellydance nerd. Yes, I want a picture with Suhalia, yes I would probably tape it to my bedroom wall. ( just kidding.....but I might want to).

Paula's Up Up Down Down's and Other Stories

2010-07-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

In the past couple of years I have heard the idea of a ,"dance vocabulary" being tossed around. Nadira Jamal in her WONDERFUL Improvisational Toolkit Volume 1 movement recall goes into great detail about making a dance vocabulary. It has taken me a while but I finally made one.
      I guess I thought it would be easy. I started about six months ago with the idea that I would start with the basics, snake arms, ribcage circles, etc. Then I realized that I wanted to write things down that didn't have names, for instance this cool over the head arm shuffle thingy that my former teacher, Donna, does, or this toe pointed traveling hip circle that my first teacher Sheva taught me, or my most recent teacher Gypsy/Paula's high energy little hip up up down down's in a tiny counterclockwise little circle. ( or personal circle as one teacher used to call them). The Dance Vocabulary has gone from an idea to a stockpile of personal memories, as the only way I know how to describe some of these moves is with throwing in the teacher/professional dancers name. Usually just doing them or reading them takes me back to the time/place/hafla/workshop that I first learned them. It is really cool, and I highly recommend it.
    I have been using my dance vocabulary as a practice tool. I put on some steady classroom type music and go slowly through my vocabulary of movements. It helps reinforce the stuff I don't want to forget.

SOOOOOOOOO here are some tips Siroun Naaga style if you wanna do one of these..........

      Tips On Making a Dance Vocabulary List ( because I couldn't think of a more creative title)

1. Don't put in there freaking everything you know. Put in there stuff that means something to you,or that you want to be a part of your regular dance. A Saidi Hop is nice, but is it something that you do to 80% of the music you dance to? Probly not.

2. Be patient. At first you will think," this is it? I expected it to be longer", but soon the floodgates will open and memories will come pouring in. Keep a pen and paper handy so if you remember something while you are sitting on the sofa with hubby watching True Blood you can jot it down.

3. If you are going to use this as a practice/drill -the -moves -I -want- to -keep- in -my -body -memory kind of thing like I do, then make sure that the order you put the moves on the paper has a leetle flow to it. Yes, this takes a little time, but it is jarring to go from a pony step right into a Zar head thing.

4. Describe them in a way that makes sense to you. Some of my explanations sound wierd but the second I look at the paper I know exactly what I mean.

5. Is kind of like four....if you have heard them called hip bumps/hip lifts/hip ups....use whatever you call them in your head. It will stick better. We all know that there is no standard for names of moves.

So below is a sample of my lists copied and pasted right from the 'ole documents. Please don't laugh, I liberally use the word "thingy."

Siroun Naaga Dance vocabulary:

Basic moves:

Step touch

Mayas

Rollup/rolldown

ribcage circles parallel

ribcage circles vertical

M & M’s

M&N’s

M&N&O’s

M&N&O&Q’s

Shimmy:

¾ shimmy walk

Shimmy w/ maya

Shimmy in round

Shimmy with undulations

Shimmy with alternating shoulder shimmies ( ansuya)

Shimmy with roll up

One leg shimmy

Earthy shimmy

Choo choo shimmy

Single shoulder articulations

Head slides

Pelvic locks/pops as an accent

Omis

Basic Egyptian

Snake arms

Genie arms

Large hip circles

Large hip circles with bent waist

Crossed arm hip circle

Hip drop/kicks with raised arm

Hip slides

ribcage slides

Snake hips down

Snake hips up

Figure eight hips

Hip bumps

Stomach pops

Belly rolls

Deep undulations ( camels)

Shimmy side to side

Stomach flutters

All arm variations

Jewel

Half moons

Hagala

Level change all the way down w variations

Choo choo square

Popeyes

Fifi hip downs

4 point locks

Hip twists

Cha cha cha

Pony

B Egyptian with Twist

B Egyptian to side ( with twist)

Crazy 8’s D-style

Tush Push

Box step

arabesque

Turns:

One foot quick turn

Hip bump kick turns

Kick turn thingy ( Samra)

Donna knee turn

3 point turn

Katia arm turn

Aziza slow turn

paula hip twist turn

Pinwheel turn

Paddle turn

Pivot turn ( 2 way)

M’s diagonal tribal turn thingy

Traveling steps:

Chase’ with floaty arms

Undulation walk

Susan shimmy arm travelling step (to side)

Grapevine

Hayati inta walk ( step leg out to one side) arms overhead

Half moon walk

Ooh walk

Aah walk

Snake hip travel

Sheva pointed toe hip circle( travel)

Short combos/ layer combos I like:

Kuwaiti head roll w/ shoulder/hip accents

Sadie hip bumps with side to side hips in circle

Back bends w J's arms

Chest circles with simultaneous hip circles

Donna arm over head shuffle

Paulina hip lock with arm over waist

Paula hip up up/ down down in counter clockwise circle

Hetet Bet Turn ( four way, arms go inward, layer shimmy)

Neon forward hips/arms out

Hip circle with hip accent to one side and head thingy

Sadiyya reverse pelvic undulation with shimmy walking backwards

Magidah backwards shuffle with arms

The Happy Drunk Reviews

2010-07-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

The problem with most DVD ( or book or CD) reviews is that most people feel the need to be intellectually superior and in their minds it means never giving five stars ( or thumbs up or zils) to anything. Not me, I review like I drink. I am a happy drunk. ( when I do drink,and that is rare) I am never the one throwing fists, you'd be more likely to see me saying," no, but I really love you" and making ," friends" with perfect strangers. I am the same way with reviewing.
    In the two places I review Food.com ( formerly recipezaar.com) and Amazon.com, I usually do five stars unless there is something glaringly wrong with the product. Even if it ain't my thang I can appreciate time and effort spent in putting together a product. I only have a few beefs ( can you pluralize that?) with bellydance DVDs. And they tend to be the same things over and over.....
    Being a DVD Whore, I buy a lot of bellydance DVD's. I don't care about angle, or production value, or backdrop or all that other stuff that reviewers like to talk on and on about in their snotty three page reviews. I care about two things:
     1. Use-ability-Is there something on this DVD that a regular ole' bellydancer can use,

    2. Is it Marketed As What it is-What level is it? Is the content what is stated on the cover?

As long as I am not buying a DVD that is marked for advanced with beginner material, or buying something that is all talk and boring me to death with stuff that most dancers already know then I am happy. Even if I take two new things away from a DVD I am pleased.Wouldn't you pay $20 if someone taught you something you could use,whether it be a combo, idea, or technique? All the details like angle etc. can be unimportant if the content is good. If Suhalia is telling me how to fly around the room on my Isis wings then I don't care if the DVD was shot in her bathroom.

     So I am gonna start doing some reviews......WHY? Because you know I am a "bellydance nazi" as my BFFF so eloquently called me this evening during our three hour phone call, and I like to throw my opinion around. ( no shit? you are saying).
   Second thing you are saying is ," why would we want to read a review if we know that it will most likely be five stars every time?" Cuz I am gonna give you the real deal, yo. If Suzy FlashyPants spends one hour describing snake arms on an intermediate DVD I am gonna tell you. If you buy a "How to Wear Your Veil Like a Turban" DVD and Mamacita tosses her golden locks around never getting to the point, well then I will let you know. This is needed, believe me. I have bought many DVD's labeled as one thing,but being quite the Jekyll and Hyde. I am poor, I am a product of this shitty economy and if I plunk down my hard earned cash for a DVD then I want it to be worthwhile. ( and I am sure you do too)........


Oh and if you are wondering where this rash of blogging is coming from, I can't sleep. My crush on Anthony Bourdain can only sustain me in the wee morning hours for so long until I run out of episodes to watch. So its my daughters Teddy Grahams ( the chocolate chip ones aren't half bad), and sitting at the computer until my eyes droop.

There it is, expect some Happy Drunk Reviews in the future. Ten thumbs up!

Unsolved Mysteries of Bellydance

2010-07-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

Unsolved Mysteries of Bellydance

1. Why can't they make sturdier dance canes? Seriously, my four year old could make better ones using duct tape and some cardboard. ( which is what they are probably made of anyway).

2. I know Raqs Sharki/Sharqi is the authentic term and all, but all it does is make me think of sharks.

3. You know how you are supposed to have a "go-to" move? Well I must have go-to ADHD or something because my go-to move changes every week or so. Last week I was rockin the roll ups roll downs, this week it is this sassy knee up thingy I saw in a Sadiyya combo. Maybe they make a pill for people who can't hang on to a go-to. I gotta get me some.

4. How come bacon and bellydance have never been combined? Bacon is delicious and one of my favorite things and bellydance is almost as awesome as bacon. The two need to meet. Bacon-flavored bedlah maybe? I am sure it has been done.

5. Are all fusion/tribal dancers badass? ( I am just kidding on this one, of course you are....now don't hurt me or I'll throw some glitter at you.) You know they hate glitter, makes 'em melt or somethin'.

6. The makeup thing. Some people never get the hang of the makeup thing.

7. How many beginner DVD's does a world need? For the love of god.

8. Melodia pants. I will admit they have grown on me some,but when I first saw them I felt a little dizzy. They can't decide what they want to be....are you a skirt? bellbottoms? Fish tails? Loin cloth? Are you going to flap and fly away with your little leg-wings? They are one wash in Woolite away from being homeless person attire. For $80 dollars a pop I deserve an explanation.

9. Wearing shoes. O.k. I know this is a matter of preference,but why would you want to wear shoes if you don't have to?
" no thanks honey, I know I just got home from work and all and I have been standing in these god-forsaken heels all day, but I'd like to keep them on. Actually I want to go dance in them".
Be free man, let it all hang out. How many times in life are we asked to be barefoot?

10. WHY is it even a "thing" to be asked how long you have been dancing? I have been dancing since '98 but there are plenty of dancers out there who leave me in the dust and have been dancing for a much shorter time. A teacher once asked me in front of the class how long I'd been dancing and after I told her I wanted to add," no really,lower your expectations. It ain't gonna be that great". Dancers wear their years like patches on a boy scout....who friggin' cares?

11. Plays on words a la bellydance. You know when there is a play on the word Time/Thyme? Like time on a clock and the herb time? I HATE that. I also hate plays on the word Raqs. Raq and roll, "you Raq", etc. Just for the record, I don't find that shit funny. I think it is too obvious, kind of like flea market t-shirt, bumper sticker material.......o.k.maybe it is funny the first time. Put it in the same category as the words," syke", and "not".

A Blog about PP.

2010-07-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

Whahaha. I am 12 years old. *snicker*. Actually this IS a post about PP. Presence, and Practice. But for those of you who thought this might be about urinary function and clicked on this anyway well, then, hmmmmm.

Dance requires two things. Presence and Practice. All the other things that are popping in your brain can fall under one of these two categories.

Presence: Being there, being in your skin when you are dancing and not in your head,being PRESENT. I know, it is hard, believe me, not to either A. count, or B. evaluate the various looks you get from your audience, or C. panic. But try to drag yourself back into your center, feel your skin, feel your arms and legs, take the energy that is drag racing around in your brain and re-route the track down to your heart. Makes all the difference.

Practice: Does no good to be present if you haven't practiced. In order for your body to know what to do when you are dancing and being present ( see above), ya gotta drill. Ya gotta dance at home, and pull out the veil that sits in your dance bag only to be brought out once a week for class even though you promise yourself that this week you will make time to practice but then the week flies by and class time rolls around again. My bestest teacher could spot a non-practicer from a mile away, and at the end of every class she'd say in this motherly/sisterly voice....."ladies, you have to practice this at home".
    Furthermore, I do not advise being present when you are dancing if you have not practiced. You will look terrible, like an amateur. ( yay, I got to use the word furthermore. I never get to use that word).

So I am not known for simplifying, but there ya go. That is pretty simple.

But for those of you who just have to GO THERE.....what about being Present when you Practice? Can you just turn off your brain and drill the moves? Should you put in the care and sense and feeling when you practice, that you would when you are dancing?
Got two things to say on that. My bestest teacher said," What you do in class is what you will do when you dance in front of an audience". If you are thinking "this doesn't matter, it is only classtime...." then think again. The body has EXCELLENT memory, and when you don't have the luxury of only thinking about your steps, your brain and nerves are racing, then what you have drilled will come out, sloppy hands and all.

This quote sort of says it all.
                                                " It is not so much the number of exercises,
                                          as the care with which they are done,
                                           That progress and skill depend"
                                                                            - August Bournonville

                                                     and

                                       " Movement without meaning is just exercise".
                                                                           - Marie Brooks

As far as practice goes I used to think in terms of quantity,but now I'd much rather have 15 minutes where I am paying attention, than 45 where I am just trying to cram in a DVD.

PP. Easy to remember.

Seventy-ninth Schmevendney-ninth

2010-07-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is my 79th post. Most people celebrate their 100th post, but because I am such a rebel *eye roll* I have to be different. So in honor of the 79th post I am gonna post 79 things.....wait, who I am I kidding, neither I nor you have that kind of patience. How bout instead I post:

The lovely Zefirah, pic found here

Ten Things I Love About Bellydancing and Ten Things I Hate About Bellydancing

Lets start with LUVVV, it makes the world go 'round, you know.

1. The people. I have a special connection to my "bellydancing friends" that I don't have with anyone else. There is something intimate about moving, sweating together that bonds. I love my "sisters".....shout out to Patty, Debby, Joyce, Donna, Jeannie,Joelle,Kris, Ness, Wendy,Cissy,Rose,Susan,Julie, Rach, Melissa, Paula, Melissa, all the teachers I have ever had and everyone else I forgot. I love you guys, for real.

2. Props. How much F'n fun, and what other hobby in the world encourages you to swing silver sequined canes around, balance swords on your head, clang finger cymbals together, float a beautiful piece of silk in the air, etc. Really? Your mom told you not to play with fire, bellydancers tell you to dance with fire. How badass is that? Can rock climbing or cooking classes be nearly this much fun?

3. Sparklys. When I was a kid I had a treasured set of silver wedge heels circa 1963. I got them at a yard sale for $.50, and they were a good four sizes too big. but they were sparkly, and that was what was important. You know what they say,"Sparkliness is next to Godliness" Or, yeah, something like that.

4. Makes you feel purdy. I could be on the first day of Aunt Flo, or just had a fight with my husband, or been running around after kids all day but the minute I step into class or put on music and dance or go to a workshop, I feel good. Beautiful, proud, "with it", to coin the antiquated phrase.

5. Middle Eastern Music. not to sound like a total shmoe,but I find that Middle Eastern music is so beautiful sometimes it.....makes me cry. For real. Nawal, Natacha, Najwa, your husky, heartfelt voices move me, even when I am standing in the kitchen looking at the mountain of dishes. There is a passion and depth in Middle Eastern music that I can't find elsewhere.

6. Stage makeup. I have always loved makeup, back when I was reading Teen Beat and drooling over Corey Haim, I made my sisters sit still so I could glob on my hot pink/teal eyeshadow all over their eyes. Then I found Michelle Joyce's Secrets of the Stage 3 which has a kick-ass makeup tutorial. Of course that not only gave me a reason to buy more makeup but it introduced me to new products that I cannot not live without....eye primer anyone? It is the elixir of the Gods.

7. Stuff. I like stuff. I like to buy stuff. There are minimalists in the world and I am not one of them. My bellydance wish list is a mile long.

8. It feels natural. Do you really want to hear that this is a womans dance, made for a womans body, and most women find the movements to be very natural? Well, it is true. Don't ask me to play tennis, I don't even want to look at a basketball,but give me a 4/4 and get outta my way.

9. It is challenging. I get bored easily, yes I am somewhat of a princess. ( surprise!) With bellydance there is always something to challenge me. Stage fright, new moves,practice, etc. You can never learn it all.

10. It is cool. If you have been dancing for a while, you forget how cool it is. Go back, way back to the first time you saw a bellydancer, and how intimidated/impressed/stunned/amazed you felt. I can't think of anything cooler.

O.k., now I am gonna piss all over all of that. Why? Not to get all metaphysical on ya, but everything has its shadow. The pendulum always has to swing the other way, it is the law of life. Not everything is all la-la-la flowers and sunshine all of the time.

Ten Things About Bellydance That make Me Want To Scream

1. The People. NEVER before in any social group have I EVER encountered such cattiness, bitchiness,territorial visciousness and unwarranted competition. ( and I have been in high school, seen lots of nastiness in my involvement with the church, fake -o-rama in my years in radio, etc.) There is a group in bellydance, albeit a small one, that wants to ruin it for everyone by acting like assholes.

2. The crowds. Sometimes you get a good supportive crowd. Sometimes you get a insecure woman who thinks you are dancing specifically for her ugly-ass boy friend. Sometimes you get someone who looks at you like they are watching paint peel. Crowds are a crap shoot.

3.The Prices. Good thing I am a bargain hunter ( $20 for isis wings,thank you very much), or I'd get depressed. The markup on the mostly cheaply made bellydance loot is utterly ridiculous. I RILLY need to learn how to sew. This is an expensive hobby.

4. The Scene. Like the person who annoyingly can't stop talking about their hometown ( ahem,myself), I can't get over how different the scene is from city to city. I naievely thought that bellydance was bellydance, and that it would be the same anywhere you went. DUH. Some BD scenes are great, some are o.k., and some suck.

5.The idiots who no matter how much it is drilled into them can't seem to understand that bellydance is not a sex thing or an excuse to show their tits and suggestively rub themselves.
Yes, moving your body like this is sensual ( although I have been doing this for so long I forget that), yes, you are showing some of your body. But this is an ART FORM. period. Please be a GD professional.

6. Insecurity. I am not sure I understand this one. For some reason bellydance brings out major insecurity in a lot of dancers, and they feel the need to defend it and themselves against any percieved threat. No one owns bellydance, it is for ALL of us.

7. Choreography. I know I am mostly alone on this one. For learning purposes choreography is wonderful. But I HATE HATE HATE it. It makes me feel suffocated. The FIRST thing I ever learned in my FIRST class within the FIRST minute I was there from the famous and amazing late Sheva, was that "this is not a choreographed dance". Of course I panicked at the time, but now I get it.

8. Wierd non-bellydance hybrids that call themselves bellydance. So I don't get in trouble I won't comment further on this one. Do whatever the hell you want to do, juggle frogs, do cartwheels,wear scuba diving gear. But if it ain't bellydance,don't call it bellydance.

9. Divas. Really? Is that necessary? Be a good diva, a la Cher, and not a bad diva a la Martha Stewart. Don't demand green M&M's. Get ALONG. Or try at least.

10. Conviluted "artist" jargon. I am rolling my eyes so hard they hurt right now. It is dancing. Spiritualize it, analyze it, talk about it, but in the end as I have quoted many times, as my sister says," it is just a lot of moving around". Keep it in perspective. I hate to read an article by a dancer and it reads like Tolstoy. This is dancing folks.

Thanks for hangin' with me this long bellydancing peeps!

Gimme That Arabic Expression

2010-07-02T06:33:00.000-07:00

Pic found here

We spend the first few months/years ( dependant on the person), of dancing feeling like the freshman trying to catch up to the seniors. We work on the elusive shimmy in front of the mirror, we practice traveling steps across the kitchen floor, and do hip lifts while washing dishes. We start to feel like a bellydancer. Then we perform and seemingly start all over again, our hands were too sloppy, we didn't make eye contact, our transitions didn't look as good on stage as they did in our head. We learn makeup and costuming, we perform and perform. Then, when our bodies can dance, our hearts can open, we get over knock-knee'd stage fright, we become comfortable with who we are as bellydancers, then it is time to learn expression.
But Naaga, you say, shouldn't you learn expression right off the bat? Well, yes, of course, but until we get all the nuts and bolts of bellydance, all the wheels turning smoothly, can we really pay attention to our expression.
     It needs to be arabic expression.
Imagine a hip-hop dancer without that cool/street/hyper sort of attitude. Imagine a country line dancer without that " we-are-all-just-here-swigging-beer-and wearing-boots" expression. Try to picture a couple doing the Tango with a goofy expression on their face and not the one of passion that we are accustomed to seeing. Just like putting on a costume and neglecting to ,"dress up" the face with makeup and whatnot, neglecting arabic expression in dance, is missing a piece of the puzzle.
    So first I am going to tell you what Arabic expression is, a la Naaga. ( my opinion).
I used to live in Germany. Being an American I was used to the melting pot-ness of America,which is to say that Americans are all different. Sure, most of us are a bit spoiled, and we do have a bit of a collective "the world is our potato" kind of attitude, but because we are made up of so many nationalities, we tend to be so many different things.
    When I went to Germany, everyone was German. Might sound simple, but Germans are a certain way. ( and I have my German friends to vouch for me). Germans like things in order...( alles in ordnung)....Germans are hard to get to know, but once you are in you are IN. Germans have an odd ( to me) sense of humor, preferring the kind of joke that takes hours to wind up. Germans like to work for things. German craftmanship is legendary.
   So why am I saying all of this? To help those of you who don't understand, understand that Middle Eastern expression is its own animal.
      Yes, I know that it varies from country to counrty, but for arguments sake lets lump it all into the phrase "Arabic expression", and know that we are talking about the main bellydance influences AKA Egypt, ( mostly), and Lebanon. Yes, it is much more broad than that, yes there are many more influences, but these are what we will focus on.
      I once heard comedian Greg Proops do a bit on white people and dancing. He basically said that all GOOD dancing comes from warm climates, while he did a silly knees up to imitate the kind of robotic dancing that represents polka, raindance, etc. It was funny, and I got what he meant. When you think of warm emotion, hot blood, passion from every pore, tears that come like a rainfall, it ain't the Swedes that you think of. Or the Germans. It is the Middle Easterners, the Hispanics,the Africans, the warm climates, hot tempers, people that are living their lives to the fullest.
       My sister is married to a Filipino and was very surprised when at their son's first birthday party, everyone got up and danced. There was a feast for two days. Think My Big Fat Greek Wedding...........

I know I am making a rather tedious point but as bellydancers we need to be able to show a range of emotions, and not just porn face and plastered smiles.

So how do we do that Naaga? Enlighten us. Don't worry I am gettin' ready to tell ya.

Ways to Not Look Like A Soccer Mommy at a Recital: ( also titled, ways to have some damn Arabic expression)

1. KNOW WHAT YOUR LYRICS MEAN! Don't be grinning and be-bopping around to a song that is saying" I am going to go kill myself because you stole my goat".
There are a LOT of places that you can look up the lyrics to arabic songs.
oriental dancer.net
arabicmusictranslation.com
arabiclyrics.net

Take the time to do this.

2. Study arabic culture. Learn about the art, history, food. Get a better understanding of the dance and what life is like in the Middle East. Bellydance has a lot of unfluences, and a lot of hybrids, but it originated in the Middle East.

3. Be emotional. Yeah, like when you have a crying jag and your husband looks at you like he doesn't know what to do with his crazy wife, or you jump up and down like a freak when so and so proposes to so and so on All My Children. Let out all the emotions out puritanical society says are taboo. ( FYI, I am not saying to cry while you are dancing...)

4. Dance for pleasure first. In a lot of countries, dance is a big part of life. Just go to a Lebanese party, and witness the men getting up and shaking it like John Travolta. These people aren't thinking about their layering. They are just dancing.

Giving Props

2010-06-12T04:02:00.000-07:00

pic above is of the lovely Ava Fleming

6am on a Saturday. Can't sleep in, even though I want to. Decided to blog about props.

Props are personal, and if you have been dancing for any length of time you have heard a million times that your prop becomes your dance partner. It is interesting to me that when one walks over to the row of props seated along the dance floor like lonely wallflowers, and chooses one to dance with, the question is why. Why do you choose what you choose. Don't know, why do you choose anything? Clothes, partners in life,foods, etc. Props, like the gold lame' shirt that you think is adorable and everyone else hates, are very personal. Props are personal.

So all I have to offer you is my own personal take on props, don't get upset if I shit all over your favorite prop. It's just my opinion.

Props I want to dance with, then take out for a romantic dinner afterwards:

Sword: It is powerful. Cool. Comes somewhat easily to me. Kali is my Matron Goddess and Her sword wielding is a natural inspiration to me. You can STAB, you can BALANCE, you can do FLOORWORK, you can WOW, you can FLIRT, you can SCARE...lots to do with a sword.

Zils: Most people don't consider this a prop, but a standard, so for the sake of argument I will consider anything a prop that is not your body. Zils are amazing and challenging, and I love a challenge. It takes effort, skill and practice to be good at zils. Zil dancers are just better, sorry but they are.

Cane: When I first thought of dancing with a cane, I thought it might be a little, you know,.....GAY. But I quickly got hooked. It is sassy, saucy, flippy, and to me cane dance has such a fun, sharp energy. I love cane dance attire. I love the sound of the cane type music. I like dancing with phallic objects, apparently.

Props I want the occasional one night stand with:

Veils: Once again, these are considered a standard not a prop. But I have noticed that pretty as they are I only feel the desire to dance with a veil when I am depressed or melancholy. So other than the occasional opening few minutes of a dance or floaty mood, veils are just MEH to me. I don't get excited about them.

Double veil: Double veils are like veils attractive cousin from out of town. You get excited, think, cool, something kind of different. They are fun for a while, but when I am done I just want to put them back on the bus and send them home. "Yes, yes, I will call you, I promise." thinks; in 6 months when I am bored again.

Isis Wings: Isis Wings are like candy canes. They are good in their season, but don't be pulling that shit out around July and asking me if I want one. They are pretty and manage to be more powerful ( can you tell that I am obsessed with power?) than veils. But if I am at a show and my eyes start hurting from iridescent wings fluttering in my face for an hour, I have a phrase I say to myself. TMIW. Too Much Isis Wings.

Props that I have limited exposure to, but would like to try:

Trays, Lit Candles on Trays: What is not to like about balancing a tray of lit candles on your head? Naima had a good post on this a while back.

Shemadan: There is something kind of freakish about shemadan that appeals to me. I don't think I can explain why,something to do with my overactive crown chakra.

Props that can Kiss my Ass:

Fans: What, are we fairies now? Fluttering coquettes? Sorry, I just don't get this one.

Poi: Since when did we move to Hawaii and why don't I have a large Mai Tai in my hand?

Turkish Spoons: Fuck off.

Animals of any Kind: You gonna bring out your cat and dance with it? No,I won't be dancing with my snake.

Dancing on Glasses: O.k., 1. are you out of your freaking mind? 2. this is so circusy/freak show-ish I expect clowns next and then a monkey with a bowtie.

So there it is.

Some more Pimpin'

2010-06-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

O.k. so I have said that I am a self confessed DVD Whore. When my favoritest teacher told us one day that despite all of her experience, workshops, etc. ( 30 some years of it) that she has learned most of what she knows via DVD/VHS, etc. I went for it.

Soooooo remember the Floorwork post ? I have been working non stop with that Ruby DVD and it is kick ass! Here's the thing, I own several DVDs/tapes with floorwork material on them, and they are not bad. But this one is superior. What makes it superior is that she shows you lines. Shows you alignment, shows you that even the smallest awareness of certain muscle groups can make or break not only the movements but your back. I feel like in comparison all of the other floorwork material I have is incredibly sloppy.
The ," warmup/strengthening techniques" part is AMAZING. If you have no introduction to Pilates this part will leave you saying..... damn. Ruby is a certified Pilates instructor also and even though I have done Pilates before and loved it, her approach is especially tailored for the bellydancer. I swear on the Lindt dark chocolate bar that I have waiting for me as a snack, I could see definition in my abs after 1 week of doing just the strengthening exercises.

So I have decided. I'm gonna marry Ruby....or at least send her flowers or something.

A Story

2010-06-07T06:07:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time back in the land of 2001, there lived a busy young morning show host. She had to rise at the ungodly hour of 3AM, drop her infant off at grandma's house and be at work at 4 to be on the air at 4:30. The bellydance classes that she started in 98' had to end abruptly, just when she had moved to intermediate, and had started to play with zills a little ( a cheapo Turkish pair that slid around when she tried to play them becuase she was too stoopid to get the right kind of elastic). So this radio host one morning, got tired of not dancing. She said to herself, "self, I may not be able to go to classes,because they start right at my bedtime,but I can get a tape." So get a tape she did....by a blond instructor with the name of a fish well known for its sea world-blow hole-we like humans tendency....

She practiced every day. EVERY DAY. For an hour sometimes more. In a month or two she decided that she was bored with the fish woman's DVD, and so she called up a well known instructor and said to herself, " self, we are making good money now, we can afford weekly private lessons".
So the instructor came. Saw her undulations. said ,"very good". Saw her shimmies. said," you have been practicing and it shows". Saw her whole repertoire of movements and nodded with approval. Just when things looked like they were all peachy she saw her hands. HER CONSTANTLY ROTATING HANDS. OTHERWISE KNOWN AS ,"STUPID HANDS". Her hands, like the fish womans moved like little helicoptors, circling at a frantic pace when she danced.
The instructors smile turned to a frown and she said,"WHERE did you learn that?" pointing aghast to her hands that twirled like a kid who had had too many fun pops.
" From the Fish Woman's DVD" The radio show host/bellydancer said timidly.
" well, unlearn it now." The teacher said. Shaking her head at the variety of crap put out there that is marketed as bellydance.

So what is the moral of the story, my friends?
Just because something is on DVD or Youtube, or even taught in a class doesn't mean it is worth a shit. Think before you dance, and don't ever ever twirl your hands around like a fucking low rent/video taught bellydancer.

Porn Face

2010-05-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

The dancer is hot, and right on. Layla ( or Samira, or whoever....bear with me this is a fictional story) casually tosses her hair and goes into a perfect backbend. My BFFF and I look at each other. It is great being BFFF's with a bellydancer, you can talk shop, and enjoy shows together. We give each other the," this is so much fun " look.
Then it happens. The dancer in what she thinks is a display of passion, makes the porn face. PORN FACE. My BFFF and trade elbow nudges and looks of disgust. Like a fruit that you bite into and then halfway through discover it is rotten, it is ruined for me. Aziza Al Funky Face could sprout wings and fly at this point and I would be unimpressed.

Definition - Porn Face: The moment in which a bellydancer, thinking she is displaying passion, or intense feelings, or being super Egyptian or whatever, makes a face that either A. looks like she is in pain, or B.looks like she is having an orgasm.

Porn face, my friends. You know, maybe I sound like a prude, but I am not. My second husband ( current and hopefully last husband) took years to slowly convince me that free love and living in a commune was nasty, unnatural and a disease minefield. I am a HUGE proponent of gay rights. I even ( please don't read this mom), toyed with the idea of going to " the other side" for a little bit, then decided that I was very happy with the side I was on, thank you very much. I have been to many strip clubs, I think porn is kinda fun sometimes, and I have an open mind. I think that whatever your sexuality, as long as it isn't illegal or harmful, go on wit your bad self! Enjoy yourself! Sex is natural, healthy, great even.

BUT when a dancer is performing, and she means to display passion, please please please, keep the expression one of passion, not porn.

I am all for passion. I absolutely hate the bellydance school of " I -must-keep-this-unnatural-smile-plastered-to-my-face-the-whole-time" . For that reason I enjoy watching tribal and fusion dancers, they don't feel the need to smile. I definately think that music should overtake you, that your whole body right down to your nose should dance. Let it wash over you, let you become it.

but for the love of god,...." I told you to sell it,not give it away" - Jerome Robbins
Have a little dignity.

I had an oh no moment the other day. I was dancing and thoroughly enjoying myself when I felt my face crinkle into a contorted position. I immediately stopped what I was doing and ran to the mirror to make sure that my face was saying" this is so awesome, I almost can't stand it" , and not," Oh Oh yes yes yes yes YESSSSSSS!". Luckily it was passionate, a little pain/passion, but not porn..... but like my hands which sometimes go floppy when I am super concentrating, I gotta watch it from now on.

This ain't that scene in When Harry Met Sally, folks, this is bellydancin'.

Decorate Like A Shiek.....

2010-05-18T05:10:00.000-07:00

For a lot of us bellydancers, bellydancing is just a hobby like tennis or tai chi. We go to class and then go back home to our white bread-pottery barn-soccer mommy lives.
Then there are the others.( like myself) Take this recent conversation I had with one of my teachers...

Me: "I love my neti pot, the thing works wonders. I hate that it looks like a big blue dildo, though".

Teacher:" oh I got one of those clay ones, so it will go with my decor".

Me: " You mean that you have your house decorated middle eastern bellydancer style, AND you coordinated your NETI POT to match?"

Teacher: " yeah it is so cute, it looks like a little Aladdin's lamp"

Well, frankly I don't have the time to coordinate neti pots, but I do love ATME ( All Things Middle Eastern). Even BB (Before Bellydance, can you see that I am all about the abbreviations today?), I have loved anything that even hinted at that part of the world. As an 11 year old I tried to decorate my room ME style, which meant throwing the one hip scarf I owned over my window and believe me, it clashed greatly with the yard sale chic decor that my mother had not so painstakingly done. But damn, I was proud of that scarf.

Two years ago I had a hookah party.( I am addicted to smoking hookah)...I did some cool things, including making a zillion pounds of chicken shwarma, and dressing a mannequin up like a bellydancer and posing her at the door, but the really cool part was that I didn't have to do much decorating. Actually, I didn't do any decorating. It was a nice revelation that bellydancing already fit right in with my tastes which have always been sort of exotic.

     So if you are yearning to break free of the pottery barn, if Target chic is getting you down, here are some places and sites to getting you started on the Bellydancer Decor thing. Which is also titled "one-more-step-into-bellydancing-becoming-a-part-of-everything-you-do".

Don't tell your husband that you got the idea from me.

Linkey-poos:

Star of Morocco Georgous stuff!

Egyptian Marketplace

Wunderly ( more high end stuff)

you get the picture...

Don't forget Ebay! Yard sales! Get a mental idea,color scheme, and general idea of what you want then put it together. I am NOT a big fan of paying retail, so why not hunt for what you want.

Have fun!