I’m Happy!

Photo by Chris Yetter.
Photo by Chris Yetter.

It’s a strange feeling, this happiness. I mean, it’s not like I was never happy in AZ, and it’s not like I’m never unhappy here. But right now I’m experience that special sort of happiness that you feel when you start to make your dreams a reality. Here’s what’s making me happy right now:

That picture up there? That’s me dancing to live music by The Nathaniel Johnstone Band at Skinny Dip. That night really exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were already pretty high. The band was in fine form, the other dancers were a varied and talented lot who each brought a unique interpretation to the songs they chose, and the crowd… Have you ever had that experience where it’s almost time for a show to start and there’s like two people in the audience? And everyone’s like oh well, we’ll have fun dancing for each other, and then you finish getting ready and you go out to dance and… WHOA where did all these people come from? Yeah, we had a packed house, and they were really enthusiastic with their applause and their tips.

Not only that, but backstage was just magical. Dancers and musicians mingling, hugging, and sharing glitter (thanks to Martina Crowe-Hewett, the wonderful creator of Glitter Goo). Everyone was so supportive of each other, even the people they didn’t already know. It was a really welcoming and fun experience. Anyway, click here to see the performance video. I’m dancing to “Zola” because yaaaaay violin! And a big THANK YOU to Carolyn and Sarah for making it all happen.

Next, and this is a big one which I would have lead with but I’m going chronologically here, I FINALLY PASSED CULTIVATION! I’ve been a little quiet lately about my retest experience because I wanted to keep my head down and just get the work done. I’m really thankful to Malik Turley, one of the first 8 Elements certified teachers, for working with me via Skype and giving me some really good advice on how to approach my practice for the test differently. I am so excited to finally have beaten this test after a good 9-10 months of struggling with it. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to continue my 8 Elements training sometime in 2017!

But wait, there’s more! This weekend I am going to JAMBALLAH! I’ve wanted to attend this festival for years, and now suddenly it’s just a couple of hours away for me. Not only do I get to attend, but I was incredibly fortunate and was able to purchase a spot in a sold-out Rachel Brice workshop from a dancer who had a change of plans. Since I am only going for one day (due to the next point on my list), and since I am celebrating my Cultivate status, I treated myself to a VIP ticket to the evening showcase too. I am really, really excited to study with one of my favorite teachers, shop from some of my favorite vendors (including some I’ve never seen in person but have stalked on Etsy!), and then watch some amazing dancers. I have heard really good things about Jamballah so I’m happy I could squeeze it into my schedule.

And why is it a squeeze? Because on Monday, my lease on my cute little summer sublet expires! Now, I am sad to be leaving the Stadium District of Tacoma, and my classes with Kat and my easy access to Portland (just 2.25 hours from my front door to downtown!) and all the sweet vintage touches in my apartment and the two walk-in closets (seriously you guys this place is a dream), but on the other hand I am moving in with MY BEST FRIEND! Who is also a belly dancer, so we are going to have a DANCE ROOM! I am looking forward to a life full of solo practice to work on my own stuff, and then drills with my bestie to keep my fundamentals in check and work up a sweat. Plus I will have someone to watch dance videos with, and to geek out about non-dance stuff too (like Doctor Who and Star Trek and games and books and the cute steampunk shop in downtown Edmonds). And while Portland will be further away, Seattle will be closer (we’ll be in Mountlake Terrace, which is just north of Seattle Proper and has OMG so many trees).

I have to admit, as I was getting close to moving out here and stressing about money and which stuff I would take and leave behind, and the knowledge that I would miss my husband, our corgis, and my dear friends (plus good Mexican food and my favorite brunch place…), I wondered if this was really a good, responsible decision. Was I building Seattle up as better than it actually was, because I was so tired of certain things about Tucson? But now that I’m here, and I have the opportunity to study with dancers who I admire and dance with bands I love and perform several times a month and attend awesome events, I have to say that I’m happy that I took the risk and stepped out of my comfort zone. I’m so excited to see what happens next!

happiness , , cultivate, cultivation, , happiness, i live in wa now, jamballah, life stuff, live music, moving, performing, skinny dip, the nathaniel johnstone band, Leave a comment

I get to dance to LIVE MUSIC tomorrow!

Artwork by Tempest.
Artwork by Tempest.

Dancing to live music isn’t something I got to do very often in AZ. Although I had a couple of casual live music experiences, and some workshops, my only performance opportunity with a live band was when I danced with Spiritchaser at Fully Fusion a few years ago. It was an awesome experience that I really enjoyed, but nothing else like it came my way for a long time.

Dancing with real live musicians seems like the ultimate improv experience. You may know the song, you may know how they usually play it, but there’s no guarantee that they won’t change things up.

But more important than that, you and the musicians are experiencing the same moment together. You’re all up there on stage (or they’re on stage and you’re on the floor), you’re hearing the audience, you’re each experiencing what the other is doing. It’s so much more interactive than dancing to recorded music. I feel like it’s a better experience for the audience and for the dancer.

ANYWAY did I mention that tomorrow I am dancing to LIVE MUSIC? YES! I’m part of a super amazing lineup for Skinny Dip Presents: Nathaniel Johnstone Band. This is going to be a really cool evening, with dancers of various styles. Looking at the set list, there’s some serious songs and some silly songs, some steampunk songs and mythpunk songs and beautiful instrumental pieces. All for only $10!

I’m especially happy about this because Nathaniel and his band have always been so nice to me. They’ve been part of the large group of people who have made me feel welcome in my new WA home. Many of the dancers in the lineup have also been a part of that. There really is a wonderful community of musicians and dancers up here and I’m glad to be working with them.

performing , , i live in wa now, live music, performing, skinny dip, the nathaniel johnstone band Leave a comment

MedFest!

Topher modeling one of my MedFest purchases.
Topher modeling one of my MedFest purchases.

This past Sunday I spent the day at the Mediterranean Fantasy Festival, or as it’s commonly known, MedFest. This is a popular, long-running belly dance festival held in West Seattle. Although there were a couple of workshops, the event is primarily popular for its all-day performances on two stages (indoors and outdoors) and the numerous vendors to meet your belly dance shopping needs. The event runs Saturday and Sunday, but since it’s almost an hour drive from my place, I decided to only go one day.

Celeste on stage with the Nathaniel Johnstone Band.
Celeste on stage with the Nathaniel Johnstone Band.

I opted for Sunday because the Nathaniel Johnstone Band was playing and my classmates from Tempest’s studio were performing to live music for the first time, so I figured I should be there to cheer them on. It was a nice day for an outdoor show, sunny and warm with a gentle breeze. I slathered on the sunscreen and spent a lot of time in the shade and managed to get some fresh air without getting a sunburn.

The band put on a good show, joined by dancers for every song — although the last two songs were people who joined in from the audience, including yours truly who found herself wishing she was dressed more appropriately for a raised stage! My classmates did a good job, especially considering the surprise pole at the front center of the stage. Oh, outdoor stages, you always have some quirks.

After the band’s set was over, it was time for SHOPPING! There were a fair amount of vendors set up outside, and a few inside. The offerings leaned a little bit more towards the sparkly side of the aisle. There was a bit of stuff for the tribal and fusion crowd, including Silk Road Tribal, but nothing of the scope of Magical Fashions’ booth full of 25 yard skirts or a Snake Church or Medina with mermaid skirts and fabulous bras, belts and headpieces. There were also a couple of henna booths, a music booth, a photographer, and Mishu Boutique, whose clearance rack I raided for a few cute shirts.

I also got some good socializing in during the event. The relaxed nature of things and the fact that I wasn’t performing or taking any workshops meant that I had a couple of hours to just hang out and talk with the people I knew and meet new people while I was shopping.

Lunaria Dance Theater, as seen from the sound booth.
Lunaria Dance Theater, as seen from the sound booth.

After shopping, it was time to report in for my volunteer shift! The hosts of MedFest had put out a call for volunteers earlier in the week, so I emailed Saqra and she was kind enough to put me in charge of playing the music for the indoor stage, which meant I was sitting, out of the sun, and I got to watch the dancers! As far as volunteer jobs go it was pretty cushy!

I’d like to take this moment to apologize to any dancer who performed between 2-4pm and had music problems. I know I made a couple screw-ups because I am not usually a sound tech. Those whose music I did goof on were pros about it, so thank you!

Over all I had a really fun day and I can see why people enjoy the event so much. It felt very community-minded, with dancers complimenting each other on their performances, and hanging out with the vendors.

Sadly, next year will be the 30th and final MedFest! I’m definitely planning to spend the whole weekend there, as I’m sure it will be a great send-off for a beloved event.

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Diceolations — A Fun New Practice Tool

Diceolations by Kendra Katz.
Diceolations by Kendra Katz.

Let me tell you, my inner geek girl was pretty excited to see these Diceolations. There’s just something about rolling a handful of dice, and it’s even better when those dice are going to tell you how to dance!

Diceolations is a set of 6 polyhedral dice that can create over 284,000 dance combinations. The set consists of three 6-sided timing dice, two 8-sided isolation dice (feet and chest) and one 10-sided isolation die (hipwork). The dice are color coded, white, black and grey, so that you can roll all six and know which timing is for what isolation.

What's inside?
What’s inside?

Diceolations come in a small, sturdy cardboard and metal tin. There’s a bit of tissue wrap to pad them, and a folded-up sheet of instructions that describes how to use them and what the different symbols on the isolation dice mean. The tin is designed to make it easy to put your dice in your dance bag or even your purse and take them with you anywhere. Stuck in line at the Post Office? Whip out your Diceolations and roll up a combo (but maybe skip the footwork).

The dice want me to do what now?
The dice want me to do what now?

As an example, the above roll would have me doing a horizontal figure 8 with the hips at my choice of time signature, and a chest circle in 3/4 timing while walking to the left in 3/4 timing. If I wanted to repeat the combo, I’d probably do 8 counts walking to the left with a counter-clockwise chest circle and a front to back 8, then do 8 counts to the right, reversing the direction of my chest and hips. WHEW!

Of course, if that’s overwhelming, you can just do one or two sets of dice, or roll three isolations and leave the timing dice out of it, just working with everything at the same timing. Or start out with one set of dice and add more to ramp up the challenge. There’s so many possibilities!

You may be wondering why there’s no arm dice. I was wondering too, but it quickly made sense to me: arm patterns tend to be pretty personal and can’t easily be distilled down to a symbol on a die. If you’d like to add arms to your random combo, you could either arbitrarily assign yourself an arm pattern… Or take a normal polyhedral die from your local game store and assign an arm pattern to each number, then use one of the timing dice to determine the timing. Alternatively, assign arm positions or poses to each number, roll 2-4 of them, and then roll a timing die to determine how quickly you move from position to position. It could get crazy!

Diceolations: Cat tested, dancer approved.
Diceolations: Cat tested, dancer approved.

I see a lot of possible uses for these. Use them to spice up your home practice by generating unexpected combinations. If you’ve got a tricky set of four 8 counts in a choreography, try some Diceolations combinations to see if anything sticks. Use them to come up with some crazy layers to teach in class — maybe even bring them to class sometimes, and let your students roll up a combo which you all then have to try to learn together.

Perhaps the most fun would be bringing these to a belly dancer party or a retreat, and coming up with various drinking or wagering games that involve challenging each other to do whatever the dice tell you — of course, please drink responsibly, and maybe just wager M&Ms or pennies!

The only real problem that I have is that the price ($40 regularly, currently on sale for $35) is a little steep for 6 dice. I mean, I understand it, it can’t be cheap to have them custom-imprinted with the symbols, and there’s often a hefty set-up fee for that sort of thing. But I have a feeling the price tag is going to chase away a lot of budget-conscious dancers. Also, I checked in and apparently they are “partially made in the US.” I’m not sure if that means that some parts of the package are made here and some are not, or if like the base dice are manufactured overseas and imprinted here… or the other way around? I don’t blame Kendra for not wanting to divulge the intricacies of how her products are made, as that sort of thing tends to take a lot of legwork and research!

I also wish they came in more exciting colors. I mean, black white and grey do make it easy to tell at a glance what timing goes with what isolation… but my gaming dice bag is full of iridescent, speckled, and glittery dice in shades of blue, green and purple. Maybe someday, if the idea takes off, we can get some limited-edition Diceolations in more fabulous colors?

Over all I’m looking forward to playing with these. It will be a good way to add more variety to my daily practices!

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AZ to CA to WA

One of a zillion friend selfies!
One of a zillion friend selfies!

I’m going to try not to make this into a novel, because SO MUCH has happened since I set off on my big vacation/moving adventure.

For those of you who didn’t already know, I met my friend Sabien at 8 Elements: Initiation and we hit it off in a crazy way, hanging out every day, exploring Portland after class, sharing meals, and studying together. There was one problem: I’m from the US and she’s from the Netherlands. Distance didn’t do much to stymie our friendship though, as we found a window of time when we were both awake and could chat almost every day.

Sabien wanted to come back to the states for a big belly dance festival so I was like “You HAVE to do Tribal Fest!” Being the sort of person who likes to plan ahead, she went ahead and got the time off and the tickets to SFO. Then shit went down. There was no more Tribal Fest. “Whatever!” we said “We’ll just have a vacation in San Francisco!”

And so we did.

The San Francisco Bay Area is a great place for a dancer vacation, because even without a big dance festival to go to, there was more belly dance stuff than we could do, plus lots of shopping and beautiful nature and cool people.

I drove all the way from Tucson to the South Bay in one day, with half my life in my car with me. I don’t really recommend that, but I had the audiobook version of Ancillary Justice queued up and I just powered through.

We spent our first few days in a tiny house in Emerald Hills, aka The Minotaur Maze. This was the makeup shopping portion of our trip, during which we went to Sephora and Nyx. We also took a day trip down to Half Moon Bay, which has an adorable main street and a beautiful walking path along the coast. We also did a walking path along a marsh preserve which was not as beautiful, but it was still good to get out and walk and see birds and flowers. I managed to get sunburn on my lips because I forgot to pack my hat and SPF15 lip balm was not cutting it!

After that we went to Berkeley to begin the dancing part of our adventure (although Sabien had done some dancing before I got there). I have to say Berkeley was probably my favorite stop off on our trip. We had a little studio apartment in a very walkeable neighborhood. We got to explore a lot of local businesses, including a Burmese restaurant — YUM! And we were able to walk to The Works studio, where we were supposed to take class with Kami Liddle, but Kami was sick so instead we had a substitute teacher — some lady named Mira Betz? Ha ha! Oh yeah, and there’s also Shadowbox, the adorable pop-up shop run by Zoe Jakes and Beats Antique, which was open on one of the days we were there.

While in Berkeley we went into SF twice to visit FCBD, once for ATS classes and once for Strange Brew with Mira Betz (yeah that’s right, I got to study with Mira twice in one week!). I’m really glad we were able to visit the original Mothership before it closes down at the end of June. It was also fun to discover that I know/remember more ATS than I thought, as I was able to hold my own in Level 2 and even take some turns leading. It’s good to know that while ATS is not my focus, I can still participate in a classroom or jamming with friends.

Also, after so long of not being in a regular belly dance class, it felt so nice to be in a classroom situation again! There’s a really different vibe between a workshop and a classroom. Workshops tend to be more about the teacher working to get a specific concept across, and then you’re off to get another concept from another teacher. These classes had more of a back-to-the-basics feel, especially the second class of our Mon evening with Mira in Berkeley, when there were only a few of us so she asked what we wanted to work on, whipped up a class based around that, and gave each of us individual corrections and encouragement. I couldn’t stop smiling when I was in class!

SF was not my favorite, we took the BART in one day, which was fine for getting in but not so great for going back late at night, and then we drove in for Mira, which involved lots of traffic and parking. Plus I really wish the city would do more to help its homeless population get off the street. It’s ridiculous to walk by all these cute, overpriced trendy boutiques and bistros and see people sleeping under tarps on the same street. Talk about a painful reminder of the wealth inequality in this world, and especially in cities where the cost of rent is fast outstripping the median wage.

After Berkeley we took off for Sacramento. It’s funny that I spent my first 12 years in California and finally visited its capital city well into my adulthood. Anyway, Sac also seemed like a cool town. We were there for Hot Pot. I didn’t end up doing any classes because one of my freelance projects blew up and took over my life, but I did attend a casual hafla which was fun. We were in another cute, walkable neighborhood that I didn’t get to enjoy due to work, but we did explore Old Sacramento when I finally tamed the work-beast. It’s a cute old timey area with shops and restaurants, kind of touristy but still fun, and the weather was nice for playing tourist. Also our apartment was great and our host was a peach, definitely one of my best AirBnB experiences.

Finally we went over to Sebastopol, because we wanted to do the Sonoma County thing and I found an adorable eco-yurt for us to stay in. WE LOVED THE YURT! It was cute and comfy and surprisingly roomy, and had an outdoor shower with a sandstone floor. I wish we’d had a couple more days there. We had fun walking around downtown Sebastopol, eating ice cream and exploring all the local businesses that I never had time for during Tribal Fest.

We took a day trip from Sebastopol to first drive through some redwoods and see Jenner (where the above photo was taken). So much gorgeous scenery! Then all the way back down to Oakland for Ariellah’s 10th Anniversary Home Studio Student Hafla, which was amazing! In addition to her students she had some awesome Bay Area dancers joining in, including a couple original members of FCBD, and Verbatim (one of the Unmata offshoots). The performances were on her patio surrounded by trees and looking out onto the city and the bay, and the weather was perfect, and I got to see some friends.

THEN our day still wasn’t over, because we had to finish out our trip with a big treat — back down into San Francisco for an amazing evening of entertainment from Sorne, Zoe Jakes’ House of Tarot and Stellamara — and you bet some of those House of Tarot dancers got on stage with Stellamara, too! What an incredible show it was. And it was held in the beautiful Great American Music Hall, which was all rococo and shit. We were out way too late but I don’t regret a moment of it.

One of the amazing things about our trip was how we kept running into the same people over and over again — We saw one lady in class with Mira, then at Shadowbox, then she was running the merch booth at the concert. Some people were in various classes, and at Ariellah’s hafla, and at the concert. One of the dancers we met at Hot Pot, who I’d also briefly crossed paths with at Massive, came all the way from Sac to SF for the concert. Oh, and Kami Liddle was in the audience at the concert, too. It was really nice to see people supporting the dance community with their time and money. I also witnessed or heard about a lot of people giving each other rides home, or walking them to the BART station or just otherwise watching out for their fellow dancers.

Anyway, Monday morning came and I had to drive Sabien back into SF for her last few days (if only we’d known about the concert when we chose our AirBnBs, we could have saved ourselves a lot of driving!) and then I was on the road again all the way up to Portland! I had a lovely overnight visit and breakfast with my teacher and mentor Jolie and her family and their dogs and got to see their lovely new home. I hadn’t seen her since the last TF so it was great to see her and also to see how her baby has grown into a toddler!

And then just 2.5 hours more on the road Tues afternoon, and I was IN MY NEW HOME! I have the cutest little sublet in Tacoma WA and I love it and my new neighborhood and I can’t wait to spend the summer there. I can’t believe it’s finally real, I finally moved out of AZ. I did it!

Of course, now I’m back in AZ to get my braces off and bring my cat back home with me. But just two more days and I will be back and I will be sharing lots more about my new home, here and on social media.

WHEW! Not quite a novel, but close.

Tribal Massive Recap

I did it!
I did it!

This is going to be a different sort of recap post (and thank you Jolie for suggesting what I was already leaning towards, which confirmed I was going in the right direction!). Instead of talking about each workshop and what I thought of it, I want to share some lessons I learned, and general feelings I had, and why this was such a valuable experience for me.

The first lesson is about being at once patience and persistent. I got my spot at the Massive by supporting a crowdfunding campaign where it was one of the backer rewards, and I had a lot of trouble actually claiming my reward. It reached a point where I started to feel like I didn’t even want to go to the event, it was going to be too stressful to organize the trip and I shouldn’t spend the money traveling, blah blah blah. I almost gave up, but it all worked out in the end, thanks to persistence and helpful friends and Tori herself.

The second lesson was about not letting others color my opinion of someone (within reason). There were a couple of teachers at this event that I had avoided studying with because friends of mine had said things about them that made it seem like they were not nice to be around. I actually enjoyed my classes with those teachers. From now on I am not going to pre-judge a dancer based on one person potentially meeting them on a bad day.

The third lesson was not to outright dismiss a teacher that said a few things I disagreed with. After all of the years I’ve been dancing, I have some pretty strong opinions about dance. Some teachers like to share their strong, dissenting opinions in class. Just because we disagree about something doesn’t mean they might not later say something that will actually hold real value for me, so I need to keep an open mind and listen to everything they said, and filter the good from the bad.

The fourth lesson was that I am not as bad as I think I am. I’ve been in a funk lately. I haven’t been able to pass the test for Cultivation. I haven’t been practicing much. I’m really unhappy to still be in Arizona. I looked at the schedule for my 37.5 hours of class and I felt like I was not going to be able to handle it. But you know what? I handled it. I only sat out of class once for about 5-10 minutes when my body was tired and my brain felt like it was leaking out my ears and I just needed to take a breather and watch before tackling the next class. And even then I was active, quietly mouthing the steps of the combination and echoing some of them in my hands and body to try to better understand it.

Speaking of understanding, my fifth lesson was to finally learn the value of taking a choreography or combo workshop as a method of getting into a dancer’s head and getting a better understanding of how dances are put together. Instead of stressing about trying to learn it perfectly, from now on I’ll approach combos and choreos with curiosity, to try to figure out why the dancer chose those moves.

The sixth lesson is that my feelings about a dancer as a performer and a teacher will not always line up. Although I think every one of the teachers at Massive was technically incredible and an important contributor to the genre, there are a couple whose dancing has never particularly inspired me, and yet I learned a LOT in their classes. There was another teacher whose dancing I really liked, but whose teaching style did not really align well with my learning style — I still learned a lot in her class but it was more of a struggle for me to approach the material. The side lesson from this is that it’s OK to feel “meh” about a dancer that almost everyone else seems to love watching. Art is subjective!

The seventh and final lesson was more of a reminder… But there’s still so much I can learn, and so much work I can do to improve myself as a dancer! That’s always the best lesson, when a teacher can send you out into the world with a few new tricks or idea, and a whole lot of inspiration for further exploration and practice.

Now for… feelings!

My biggest feeling is that I am so glad I did this, and I really want to find a way to go back next year. I’m pretty sure I’ve written before about how my interest is shifting away from festivals. They’re fun, but it’s hard to really learn a lot in 90-120 minutes with one teacher, and then move on to another teacher. There’s a real value in being in a track with a group of students and spending a long time with a single teacher or a handful of teachers. I really value the time I spent exploring the dance world at festivals, but at this stage in my journey I feel like I can benefit a lot more from the intensive format.

I’m also feeling a lot of gratitude for Tori and Yaniv, who run the Massive. I didn’t really interact with Yaniv, but Tori was around every day, and we were provided with both of their phone numbers in case we found ourselves lost, in danger, or in need of a friend. So often at larger events the organizers have their hands full and you almost never see them, but Tori was a constant presence and I felt like if I had had a problem, I could have turned to her at any time. She was so very helpful in getting me up to speed after my crowdfunding hassle. I also really appreciate some of the things they did to make the event more all-inclusive: show tickets and shuttle rides were included with the package, our class badge served as a VIP pass to get into the shows a few minutes early so students could have good seats, and we even got a little welcome bag with goodies and info on Vegas.

I’m not going to lie, I also had some sad and lonely feelings while I was there (more about that in its own, separate blog post). But in the end I left happy that I had made a few new friends, who I will hopefully cross paths with again in the future. I did get to see a few old friends too, but they were all in different tracks than me, so we mainly just had hugs in hallways or a few minutes to speak before or after the shows!

Over all, I’m left with the feeling that I am on the right path in life, balancing my time between freelance jobs that help pay for dance, and intense dance training. As little as some people might like it, it’s also the right decision for me to be moving on from AZ to someplace where I’ll have more opportunities for growth. I had a few great interactions with teachers that reminded me how much I love to learn, and left me feeling encouraged to keep learning more, whether it’s in the studio or in a book. This all cycles back to my first lesson: patience and persistence!

Something Special for Tribal Massive

IMG_2745

This is my Beads of Courage “Carry a Bead Kit.” It’s coming with me to Tribal Massive this weekend, and those two beads will be safety pinned to my dance pants while I immerse myself in 37.5 hours of dance classes.

Are you familiar with Beads of Courage? It’s a great program that provides beads to kids and teenagers with serious illnesses. The beads help them mark the milestones of their illness and treatment, serving as a visual representation of their story. They also happen to be based here in Tucson, so I encounter them a lot at bead shows, and in fact one of my friends and favorite bead makers is on their board. It was her idea for me to bring a Carry a Bead Kit to Massive, although I had considered getting one in the past for either of my 8 Elements trips, but just forgot to get it done in time.

The idea of a Carry a Bead Kit is that you bring your two beads with you on some sort of major undertaking, whether it’s a marathon, a cross-country trip, or a week-long dance intensive. At the end of your adventure, you write a note of encouragement for the eventual recipient of your bead, and you send it back. Apparently you can also include mementos of your trip, so I intend to pick up some pretty belly dance post cards to send along with mine, maybe a silly Vegas post card too. You send one bead back and keep the other for yourself, so if you keep doing kits every time you do something exciting, you can build your own Beads of Courage collection.

It’s my hope that by doing this, not only will I brighten a sick kid’s day with some uplifting words and pretty images alongside their bead, but I’ll help bring awareness of this program to the belly dance community. So many of the dancers that I know do exciting things, journeying all over the world and undertaking all manner of physical challenges. Maybe some of you would like to bring a bead along with you?

adventure adventure, , beads, beads of courage, carry a bead kit, charity, tribal massive Leave a comment

I took a juggling workshop!

Public domain image from The Commons on Flickr.
Public domain image from The Commons on Flickr.

This weekend I took a two hour workshop on juggling and contact juggling with Jimmy and Maggie from Third Space Movement. Now, don’t worry, I’m not planning any wacky juggling-belly dance fusion any time soon. I took this solely for fun, mainly because I’m interested in contact juggling (in fact, I already have a glittery acrylic contact juggling sphere that is sitting around gathering dust because I’m not allowed to play with it until I know what I’m doing). I feel like it’s good to stretch my brain and body by taking the occasional workshop in a new-to-me skill, without feeling the pressure to get good enough at it to bring it to stage.

Since I was just doing it for fun, I had a pretty good time. I failed a lot, but I also surprised myself by catching on to some things more quickly than I expected. I laughed at my failure, chased my dropped props around the room, and helped my classmates chase their props. It was a nice way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon.

I really appreciate Jimmy and Maggie as teachers. The workshop had a relatively relaxed pace, giving us enough time to try out each technique and address any problems we had so we could fix them in our home practice. The students ranged in level from rank beginner to some juggling experience to a relatively experienced juggler. Each of us were given modifications, so if a technique was too hard, we could scale it down or figure out why it was too hard, and if it was too easy, another layer of challenge would be added. Corrections were given in a positive, encouraging manner, followed up with kudos when we were able to put the advice to work.

Additionally, they brought lots of props. I tried juggling two different styles of ball, rings, and clubs (I do not like clubs!), as well as using a contact juggling sphere that was a better practice size than my current practice ball.

I feel like I learned enough basic techniques of both juggling and contact juggling that I can practice at home and improve my skills from here. I’m really glad that I gave myself this fun new challenge, something that I can play with when I’m feeling bored and stressed by dance, or just want to work my brain and body in a different manner. A little improvement to my hand-eye coordination wouldn’t hurt, either!

So. Many. Workshops.

So. Many. Workshops.

JAZZ HANDS!
JAZZ HANDS!

Through a combination of purchasing workshops and getting comped workshops for teaching and volunteering, it ended up that there were only two time slots in the entire Waking Persephone weekend that I wasn’t in a classroom! Just like last year, there were a couple time slots where I had to make the difficult decision between two equally awesome-sounding workshops. Hopefully by next year I’ll have some sort of clone or time-bending powers so I can be in all of the workshops *and* shop *and* stage manage *and* watch the shows.

And now, brief reviews of the workshops I took, in the order I took them in:

Emoticon with Kamrah — I think of Kamrah as my “big sister” of dance since she started in Skirt Full of Fire at the same time I started in Fire & Gold, so we did a lot of gigs together. Now that she’s moved on from AZ, I really enjoy taking workshops from her when our paths cross. It helps that she teaches subjects that really work with my style of dance! Emoticon was about imbuing your entire body with emotion when you dance, instead of making your face do all the work. I take a lot of these kinds of workshops so I was worried that I wouldn’t get anything out of this one, but I really liked Kamrah’s technique for getting to neutral so you’re ready to receive the emotion you want to convey, or to get back to neutral after doing a difficult emotion on stage.

What are you wearing? with Zahara Solomon — This was a really cool workshop on the symbolism behind a lot of what we use in tribal-style costuming, from the meaning behind colors to the reason why coins are used to adornment to what, exactly, is the evil eye and why were certain items believed to repel it? I think this is great information for any dancer who likes to wear textiles and jewelry from “over there.” Plus it was fun, and we got to have a nice and respectful conversation about cultural appropriation.

Life is a Cabaret with Inanna le Fey — It’s funny that I had to go to WA to study with my friend who lives in Phoenix. This is a workshop that I just took for funsies. I don’t come from a jazz or theatrical background and I’m not sure if I’ll ever want to put Fosse elements in my own belly dance, but I had a really good time learning the stylization and combos in this class. Inanna is really well-versed in jazz and Fosse’s style, and has a really cool way of fusing it with belly dance so that both styles are represented and blended together to make something awesome, so if that’s something you want to learn, you’d really enjoy studying with her.

It’s only up from here with Elizabeth Joy — Headdress construction! Yeah! I am always happy to get more costuming skills, especially of the variety that I can do by hand on my couch while watching Netflix. I learned a lot of tips for how to make headdresses and got started on one, although I am going to start over with a less problematic fabric and then return to my class project once I’ve got the basics under my belt. Elizabeth not only gave us construction knowledge, but she shared valuable resources for materials, ideas on making pieces modular, and she brought several examples of headdress to inspire us.

Beyond black eyeliner with Celeste — I’m not going to lie, this workshop disappointed me. I was hoping for some more advanced makeup technique but it was more about the basics and Celeste had too much info to try to share in 1.5 hours (plus she was late due to an unavoidable mishap). I feel like if a dancer is going to teach a stage makeup workshop in a short time frame, instead of trying to rush through the entire face, they should focus on one important aspect — like how to know your face shape and enhance or alter it with contouring, or how to do a smoky eye, or lipstick looks for performances ranging from daytime county fair to evening restaurant gig to big lips for big stage.

Understanding learning styles with Sara Shrapnell — I signed up for this one even though I’m not a teacher yet, because I figured it would be good info to file away and it might help me learn better, or facilitate Improv Roulette better. This class was great because it taught me more about how I learn and communicate, what kind of teacher I like, and why some people just don’t seem to get things that I’ve already grasped. I think it’s going to make me a more patient and empathic dancer! It was also fun to take a turn being a teacher and realize that yes, I can explain myself, and I can see what corrections a student might need to improve their form. So while I still feel like there’s more I need to learn before I’m ready to teach, I feel confident that once I want to take that step, I will be able to communicate with my students.

Playing Finger Cymbals with Modern Music with Nawal Doucette — I was really excited for this one and unfortunately it disappointed me a bit. I felt like we spent too much time learning combos and not enough time playing zils. I think Nawal had some good information to share and a good approach to sharing it, the class just needed to be a little longer in order for her to have enough time to let us experiment with zils over a combo and then try zils with various kinds of music. I did get some good food for thought on how to work zils into non-traditional music and knowing when to play and when to be silent or at least quiet, so that was good.

Narrative Belly Dance with Somni — You guys, Somni brought a carafe full of hot water, tea bags, and fresh-baked homemade blueberry scones to class! These ladies know how to kick off a Sunday morning! Seriously the scones were delicious and worth the price of admission alone, but the workshop itself was also awesome. Somni took us through choosing a narrative, characters, story arc, how to adapt literature or film themes to belly dance, how to make good use of costuming to establish characters, how to establish your relationship with the stage and audience… I think most if not all of us were left wanting to do a weekend-long intensive with Somni so we could leave the event with a fully-fleshed-out concept almost ready to go on stage. You know that for the last two years I’ve been taking a lot of theatrical belly dance workshops, and I had started to feel like all of the teachers were just saying the same things in different words and having us do the same exercises. Somni stepped beyond the basics and gave me a lot of new information and ideas. I cannot recommend these ladies highly enough.

Bellydancer’s cookbook Vol1 with Ami Amore — Have you ever wondered how dancers come up with their own signature moves and combos? I sure have! Ami Amore broke down some of the ways that she comes up with things, and then let us try all of them. This was a fun workshop that involved a lot of movement and thought exercises, first as soloists and then coming up with a combo in a group. I think that if I combine Ami’s way of thinking with Rachel Brice’s stacking method, I’ll be able to come up with a lot of my own material. I’d definitely recommend this workshop for anyone who either wants to develop combos for their group’s improv language, or who is looking for ways to come up with new material to teach their students.

Marketing to Muggles with Natalie Brown — So I expected this workshop to discuss some social media strategy and advertising methods to reach outside of the dance community to find a bigger audience for shows and new students. And while there was a little bit about that, it was actually about a lot of high-level networking, marketing, making connections, getting funding, and getting taken seriously as an artist. Instead of focusing on how to get another restaurant gig, Natalie wanted us to ask if we even want to settle for that, or if we should be reaching for swanky corporate gigs, or if we should be finding sponsors to put on epic stage shows. It was really eye-opening! In a way I wish I’d been given this knowledge a year or two ago so I could have made a go of kicking Tucson in the ass and making some awesome opportunities. Instead, now that I’m planning to move in 6 months, I’m eyeballing Seattle and thinking of how I could team up with the cool dancers I know there and make the city sit up and take notice. Natalie is currently working on expanding her ideas into an eBook and as soon as it comes out I’m going to advertise it on this blog and you all should buy it and together, we can be a belly dance marketing army and create opportunities for our dance to grow. I’m excited, you guys. Really excited.

And that was it! So many amazing workshops crammed into three days. I learned basically a million things and my head is exploding with knowledge. I want to sew things and research the meaning of my jewelry and make new combos and be friends with the arts commission and make a plan for teaching classes and be sad but also have fabulous jazz hands while telling the story of a warrior’s fight against the elements and her enemies. Plus there will be scones.

Professional Ambitions: Teaching a Workshop

Me and my lovely students!
Me and my lovely students!

Well, this is something that I did a little bit backwards. Usually you’re an established professional dancer before you ever consider teaching your first workshop. And before anyone freaks out about a non-pro hitting the workshop circuit, I’d like to reassure you that I wasn’t teaching dance! No, I taught about blogging, which is something I do have plenty of professional experience with.

So how did this happen? The short story is, I applied and I got accepted. But of course there’s a lot more to it than that. Before I applied to teach at Waking Persephone, I had built myself a reputation within the dance community, as both a blogger and as someone who values being a member of the community and contributes how she can. I had attended WP the previous year, had nice interactions with Tempest and the rest of the event staff. Then I came home and blogged about it. This cemented my status as someone who cared about and wanted to support WP whether or not I was teaching. I don’t know how much any of this helped with my application getting accepted, or if they just looked at it and said “You know what? Having a blog workshop is a good idea, sure glad somebody submitted that idea.” But I’m sure that being an active part of the community didn’t hurt!

I had actually hoped to offer my workshop somewhere locally before Waking Persephone, so that I could be sure that the kinks were worked out and that I had enough material and whatever. Things didn’t work out that way, so WP was my first run of offering the workshop. I did a few things to make up for my lack of opportunity to do a local offering. I read my notes aloud to my husband. I got some really good advice from a friend who teaches classes in a different medium. I proof-read my notes repeatedly. I made myself a little agenda for the day-of so I’d remember everything I wanted to do. Leading up to the event and at the start of the class, I gave my students the chance to put in requests for what they wanted to know about blogs.

So my advice for teaching your first workshop boils down to:

  1. Be prepared.
  2. Err on the side of being over-prepared.
  3. Prepare more material than you might need (we didn’t get to one of the exercises that I thought might be fun, but wasn’t necessary).
  4. Seek advice not just from others in your field, but from those outside the field.
  5. If you’re providing notes, proofread them!
  6. Be prepared.

Because I was prepared, I actually wasn’t too nervous stepping into my workshop. And you guys, I had such a good time! It helped that 3 of my 4 students were people I already knew — one was a fellow AZ dancer who I adore, one was my LVBDI and WP roomie, one was a FB friend who I got to meet in person the night before, and then the new-to-me person was lovely too. It also helped that not only was I prepared, but my students were also prepared. They walked into the classroom knowing what they wanted out of a blog and where their “pain points” were, as we say in my day job. They made my job easier by asking questions and having specific needs that I could address, so that I didn’t rush through my material and then have a bunch of time left to fill. They helped me keep the workshop flowing, by sometimes saying something that flowed neatly into the next section of the class. And they asked questions that helped me realize where I could expand my material for the next time I offer this blog. In short, they were wonderful!

In performing, they say “Remember, the audience wants to see you succeed!” and I think it’s the same thing with workshops. You don’t have to be afraid of your students. For the most part, they are there because they’ve heard of you, seen you dance (or read your blog…) and they think you have something to offer them. They’re receptive and ready for what you have to offer. So just relax and enjoy the experience, then ask their feedback on if there’s any way you can make it even better next time.

I’d like to close this blog post with a big THANK YOU to Tempest for taking the chance on an untried instructor! I really enjoyed my first workshop teaching experience and am already planning for future workshops!