What's going on in your dance life?

[Aniseteph]

It's quiet lately,so I am going to be proactive and start a new thread.

Whatchabeen doing lately in your dance life? What are you working on right now, what's going on in your classes, what workshops are on your calendar? General current BD musings, new musical inspirations?

Me, I am signed up to TF classes though each one convinces me more that I am not a TF gal. But the drills pay off. Our old class, now monthly, happened last week, and the fact that I had been having to think hard at fighting my defaults really made a difference. Also myTF teacher told us how to use a tennis ball against a wall for back massage, and I've been pummelling the evil lumpy muscles in my lower back which seems to be loosening it out, and amusing the family at the same time.

My Egyptian-style teacher has some workshops coming up locally (very locally - the benefits of showing that the old gang is committed enough to come up here from the big city ) which is exciting, and two haflas on the horizon - one of which is ours :dance:. So I need to start work on at least one solo. And a costume.

I didn't sign up to Shimmy in the City, even though it is pretty close and easy to get to, because I hate those huge workshops so much. But it got cancelled!!! Such a shame after all that work. Big stars couldn't get visas or work permits or something. It's embarrassing to be the country that won't let Raqia Hassan and Nour in. What do they think they are going to do, stay on illegally and become benefit scroungers?

 

[Kashmir]

I'm organizing a formal show for teachers and students in Christchurch so I'm running about collecting music, tech sheets, program notes etc and then trying to organize a balanced offering. It was meant to be part of the Christchurch Body Festival - read free publicity - but due to a snafu it wasn't included - so add publicity to the list of tasks. Oh, and rehearsing my students.

I'm also on the ground contact for the MEDANZ mini-Festival here. Most of that work is now complete - venues, teacher contracts, funding applications etc. So now I hope I can just kick back and enjoy it.

I have applied to teach in next year's main Festival in Auckland (5 pages) and am still thinking about applying to dance in the show.

So much paperwork!

I've picked up a new beginner belly dance class from the students I teach Exercise Dancing to. Not sure if it will run for long - but it is a hybrid class so takes a little more preparation than my standard beginner class.

I should also fit in some of my own work on a piece for the show - no problem I have almost 3 weeks ray:

 

[Darshiva]

I've decided that this is the year I overcome my fear of choreography and have set aside an hour a day to that end (writing choreo, learning choreo, etc) I also started taking on skype students and have started learning tribal via skype with Nina Martinez. Like you, I'm not certain if tribal is my thing, but Nina's a great teacher and it's a challenge learning a style that's so similar yet so very different to what I know.

Also, I moved from a very toxic bellydance community to one where I am having to build my own from scratch. More challenges and the year is only 2/3rds done!

 

[Sophia Maria]

It was quiet lately, wasn't it?

I'm back at university for my senior year, which means I spend most of my time dancing anyway, in order to not have to think about my future.

I practice on my own a few days a week. I've mostly been doing structured improv, where I'll learn a small chunk of choreography (maybe with a new movement I'm not used to), and then improv off of it. Right now I'm not doing regular classes with my teacher--she has just made a cute little addition to her family, and she needs her time off!! However, I am excited for next weekend because I'm doing a weekend workshop package with Artemis Mourat. I pretty much never do Turkish, or listen to Turkish music, or do Turkish anything, so I really need to expand my horizons, and this is a good way to do that.

For BD sewing, my caftan is on hold right now, because i'm still not proficient enough to fly solo with my machine. But I swear it will get done!!! Eventually!

I am also continuing to take Arabic classes. It makes my day when I realize I can understand my music a little better--even if MSA and dialect are so different that after MSA I'm going to have to go ahead and learn Egyptian Arabic separately...

Question: How do you use a tennis ball for massage?

 

[Kedma]

My teacher has been on holiday for as couple of weeks, but classes start again next week and we will be practicing for a Hafla at the beginning of December. We are also planning our own Hafla next Spring. It's been quite an eye-opener this last couple of years as I didn't know there was such a thriving belly-dancing community, so many groups and styles, especially since not much tends to happen round here (I live in Staffordshire, England - we're usually the last to get anything!)

 

[Aniseteph]

I had no idea how much there was round here either. That's one of the nice things about organising a hafla, building networks.

The tennis ball massage - get tennis ball between wall and gnarly part of anatomy, and move about a bit like a bear on a scratching post, pushing tennis ball around over affected part. You can control the pressure by how much weight you put on it. I've seen massage balls on yoga sites that have knobbly bits and probably are a bit softer going.

 

[Sirène]

My dance life is on semi-hold. I don't know what I did but BOTH feet were hurting in different spots, and after x-rays the doctor said NO DANCING for six weeks. :wall: So there went the Halloween Hafla group performance , and it's probably going to put a serious dent in my plans for the Snowball Hafla in December.

I'm semi-thankful I procrastinated signing up for Ruby Beh's workshop in NYC. I know it's rare that she comes to the east coast, but I would have been beside myself to have paid for a workshop my feet aren't healthy enough to attend. Hopefully I'll be 100% the next time she's in town.

For now, I sit in a chair during dance class, which has been great for my zil playing, but watching everyone else move around kind of depresses me. I WANNA DANCE! :yay: But until I get the doctor's all-clear, I'm focusing on sewing my cover-up (still only ½ done :redface: ) and enjoying the dancing of others. Luckily Rakkasah East starts this Friday.

 

[Sophia Maria]

Sirène, that's too bad!! Honestly. though, it can be a mixed blessing. There are actually really good dance exercises for upper body and head expression that you can do in a chair. But I can understand that you want to use your feet!

However...workshops with Ruby Beh, you say? ...I may have to get in on that

 

[Shanazel]

Poor Sirene! Get better soon.

My classes started two weeks ago and I picked up half a dozen new and delightful students, increasing the class size by almost half. Maybe we're about to see an upswing in BD interest in central Wyoming? Hope so. Also lost the student who was so obviously unhappy with my class; I wish her all the best with her fire poi busking and burlesque performances in local pubs.

This semester I branched out from strict Am Oriental to add debke to the mix. I hesitated over whether to do this or not since my debke skills were rusty but memory is returning and we are having so much fun!!! With so many beginners mixed in with my old girls it has been a boon to have everyone learning a new style. As an experiment I paired new girls with old to help move the Am Ori along at a better pace. It's working beautifully to help the new gals get the moves and has the added benefit of drawing them into the social aspects of the class.

I am the first to admit I am not as fine a teacher as all those impressive names my ex-student studied under but I'll bet none of them have finer students. Lucky me!

 

[Sirène]

Sirène, that's too bad!! Honestly. though, it can be a mixed blessing. There are actually really good dance exercises for upper body and head expression that you can do in a chair. But I can understand that you want to use your feet!

However...workshops with Ruby Beh, you say? ...I may have to get in on that

Here's the Ruby Beh info:
Ruby Beh Workshops

 

[Sophia Maria]

Thanks! Although I will still have to work out if it's feasible...mostly for transportation. But it's good to know that there's always something going on.

 

[Yame]

It's been a super crazy year in my personal life, work life, and dance life. Everything seems to always be happening all at once and I can hardly make plans for the future because there is always something happening *right now* that I need to focus my attention on.

I've been performing a lot, especially this month. Other than Ramadan it's been a busy year and now it's getting busier. I'm dancing at so many events it's getting hard to keep track of, plus I'm getting more gigs than ever even though I haven't been advertising.

I moved to a new house and set up a mini-studio in there. A few weeks ago I just finished putting the mirrors up, and now it's functional even though there's still a lot of work to be done on the details (which I won't get to until probably next year).

I was supposed to go to Cairo, so I passed up on a lot of workshops this year in order to save up the money. That didn't work out because the week before I was supposed to go was the most violent week in the recent history of Egypt, when we saw the army cracking down on protesters, the MB burning down churches, hundreds of people dying, travel warnings against going there, etc. So when that didn't work out, I decided to use my vacation time to go to Viva la Diva in Boston and do the belly dance competition there, and I ended up winning a few categories, which was pretty cool!

Now I'm just taking it week by week. Seems like I have a performance every weekend for the foreseeable future, so I can only really think about the upcoming one/s each week otherwise I'll go nuts. I'm doing duo and group work with some peers as well.

I'm taking 3-4 dance classes a week, and going to NYC when possible for classes with teachers that tour most of the year but happen to be around. Also doing rehearsals fairly often for said duo and group work. And I'm choreographing more for myself, too, even when I am not really intending on using the choreography. I have found that working with choreography more often has helped me improve my improvised performances.

I was feeling stuck in a rut earlier this year but right now I am feeling inspired and blessed for having so many opportunities to work on my craft and share it with others. I am happy with the progress I am seeing on my dance, and there is still much more I want to work on.

 

[Sophia Maria]

I've been performing a lot, especially this month. Other than Ramadan it's been a busy year and now it's getting busier. I'm dancing at so many events it's getting hard to keep track of, plus I'm getting more gigs than ever even though I haven't been advertising.

That's fantastic!! I hope you take time to relax as well.

 

[~Diana~]

Not much for me sadly as I'm down with a either stress fracture or sprain of my right foot Did too much dancing on it during a dance weekend workshop I guess LOL!!!!

 

[Munniko]

This month has been super crazy because of all these last minute performances. Apparently my Bharatanatyam teacher is comfortable enough with my dancing skills to have me perform solo bits in a group choreography and we have the "what have you learned" test coming up next week. It will be epic! I may or may not start carrying traditional Indian dance supplies.

In Bellydance I'm now a Teaching Assistant so I lead warm-ups and I also substitute for the Bollywood class. 50/50 they are going to open a new class for me to teach. I'm debating a Tribal workshop next month held before the hafla we will be hosting.

It sounds like everyone is gearing up O_O

 

[Duvet]

I’m busy practising for a wedding I'm performing at in less than two weeks. It involves drumming with a group of djembe players, who then lead into the troupe doing a number. Then I leap up from my drum and do a solo (although my aim is to involve the bride and groom part way through), and then all the troupe dance together. The bride also wanted a second slot with an Isis wings routine, but we've seen the venue and had to do a major rethink on what we can do due to the ceiling being low, with even lower chandeliers! (if I wore heels I’d have to duck!).

The wedding will be closely followed by a talk/demo to a Ladies Group, which involves routines and consideration of what we'll be saying and displaying and making the dialogue relevant to the dances (or vice versa). We’ve done this before, but we like to alter the routines we dance (based on the available dancers/venue/audience/length) so have to re-jig the talk slightly. Then I'm away for a weekend on a Linedance holiday (i.e. dancing until two in the morning, workshops all day, plus shopping, eating, swimming and general horse play!). When I get back I'm a surprise feature at a local AGM meal, then I have a performance for a residential home's Moroccan Evening. Then in the first week of November I have ‘The Fantastic Annual Weekend Away With The Troupe' (fantastic not because of the locality - but because of the company!) Predict that I'll come back knackered but happy.

Before any of that however I’m performing at two charity events this weekend (one a solo; the other a troupe performance). Neither are particularly local. I’m also teaching two days a week, and am hoping to co-teach with another dancer sometime soon with the idea of using that class to encourage more male participation (yeah - good luck on that one!).

For the medium term future I'm trying to get time with a darabuka player so that we can work on a dance piece together, and I need to get the troupe thinking about ideas for organizing another of our haflas for early next year, plus a workshop.

I'd also like to get to a few of the haflas going on around the south before the year is out, but not necessarily to perform as I’m just as happy to be there as audience. There are so many great people in this dance community, but why can't they just all live a bit nearer!? Plus there are a couple of workshops I’d like to do.

I’m also performing at an Irish dance demo for a ‘village day’; am helping out at a Linedance charity event (although that will just be a normal line dance social – only bigger); and there’s a couple of Breton dances I know I have been ear-marked for... Then of course there's Christmas!

I don’t think I’m normally this busy, but then again I’ve never paused to write it all down before. The only thing that worries me is that I'm not getting enough input for my own dance development. Performing and teaching are great for personal challenges and expansion, but I do need to find someone who will pick me up on any developing bad habits, loose moves or general malaise, and also lead me into ways of being a better dancer (volunteers in the UK gratefully received!!).

 

[Safran]

I've been back from Egypt for three weeks now, and life has been insanely busy with other trips, rehearsals, gigs and classes. I only managed to finally unpack my suitcases today. Aniseteph, I did go to Shimmy in the city... Even though it was nothing like initially planned, and still a bit crowded, it was a very nice and a very emotional event.

So, I've started with classes, I am running a troupe, I am organising a big festival, which is only a month away (eek!), and to top it off I've decided to join a morning pilates class. I hope this leaves me time to actually work with myself too