tribal fest – Sophia Ravenna

Why I am not attending TF16

September 23, 2015September 22, 2015Sophia Ravenna

Alright. Let’s see if I can provide all of the relevant links here, so anyone who is not caught up on the Tribal Fest situation can get caught up, before I share my opinion.

On Sunday, this happened… although at the time, no names were attached to it: Public Statement Regarding Tribal Fest. Even without names attached, the people who were sharing it were people who I know and trust within the dance community.

Today, we received two separate responses from Tribal Fest, one from Kajira and one from Chuck (one of the perpetrators of the events mentioned in the Public Statement).

So my thoughts on this? I stand with the teachers and vendors who are pulling out of the event. I share their feeling of having their trust violated.

Regarding Kajira’s response, I believe her when she says she did not know about the secret group. I believe her when she says how upset she is. On the other hand, I have heard from multiple sources that she did not, in fact, reach out to them to apologize. Since I am not directly involved on either side, I cannot know for certain what happened, only what I feel in my gut.

My gut feeling? No one would pull out of Tribal Fest lightly, not when they had already been announced as a teacher, not when they had a years-long relationship with the event, not when setting up there as a vendor served as a large chunk of their annual income, not when being accepted to teach there for the first time next year was going to give their career a big leg-up. As such, I am choosing to believe the teachers and vendors when they say that the official response they received before going public was insufficient.

It has been promised that despite the number of teachers and vendors pulling out, TF16 will still continue next year. I want to make it clear that I am not going to judge or think less of anyone who chooses to attend, for whatever reason. However, I will not be joining you. Why? For me, Tribal Fest was never about the fact that it was Tribal Fest. It was not about Kajira and Chuck and Sebastopol. It was about the friends and teachers and vendors I wanted to see. The people are what truly makes an event. The people are why I go to LVBDI year after year even though I kind of hate Vegas. And the people are why I will NOT be attending Tribal Fest next year, because most of the people I know and love will not be there. An event is not a name or a place. It is a community, and that community can be relocated or renamed.

There has been some push within the community to go anyway, to support Kajira. They say it’s unfair that she should be punished for her husband’s actions. I agree. It is unfair. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is going to happen. Actions have consequences that reach beyond yourself. Chuck’s behavior hurt a lot of people, and in turn, a lot of people will be hurt as a result of those actions coming to light. Kajira will be hurt by the damage done to her event, as well as whatever emotions she is feeling personally. Local businesses in Sebastopol will be hurt by the smaller attendance at the event. The teachers and vendors who stay will be hurt by lower class enrollment and less shoppers. The people who choose to attend will be hurt by having less awesome teachers, vendors and performers. The photographers and videographers will be hurt by having less performers there ordering from them. And so on and so on.

Does it suck? Oh yeah. But that’s the way things are. Any bad action and its resulting consequences ripple far beyond just the perpetrator and the initial victim. That said, my primary sympathy is still with the victims.

Will I ever return to Tribal Fest? It’s possible. But not in 2016. I’m leaving it to other dancers to attend, and tell me how they felt. Did they feel safe? Did they feel welcome? Did they feel like all of the perpetrators of this hateful event were expunged? Do they feel like the event can return to its previous wonderful reputation? If they say yes to all of these things, then maybe a few years down the road I’ll feel willing to give it a second chance. But broken trust is not easily mended. In the meantime, I want to explore some of the other events I’ve heard good things about, and visit with other parts of the global dance community.

So that’s my .02. Again, I’d like to reiterate that I don’t blame anyone who has decided they want to continue to support the event, and I wish good luck to Kajira and any teacher, vendor, or student who chooses to be a part of TF 2016.

My Tribal Fest 15 Performance!

May 25, 2015Sophia Ravenna

I feel really fortunate that this year I was not only able to share the Tribal Fest stage with two of my Fire & Gold Belly Dance troupemates (our first time performing out of state!), but that I was also given a solo performance slot. Of course, there were 24 minutes between the end of our group set and the start of my solo, so I’m not going to try to pretend that wasn’t a little stressful! Melanie and Ashley had to help me out of my troupe costume and into my other costume. Luckily neither was very complicated, and my solo didn’t require any special hair or makeup, unlike last year!

I continue to be impressed by how well-run the three-day Tribal Fest show is. They work really hard to keep things running on time, and to make backstage as well-organized as a room full of stressed-out dancers can be! From Chuck the DJ to the three emcees who share the duties throughout each day to the backstage volunteers who keep everyone apprised of when they need to be “on-deck” to the people who get all the performers checked in, everyone is polite, professional, and on top of their job. On top of this, the performers themselves are delightful, loaning out safety pins and other small emergency items, wishing each other luck, watching from the wings, and congratulating each other as they come off-stage. It’s such a supportive environment!

As for my performance, I feel pretty good about it! I was really stressed in the lead-up to Tribal Fest, as I was having some real difficulty finding movement that worked with certain parts of the song, but finally it came together in the few days before I left for California. Even so, I wasn’t sure how it was going to look on the big stage, since I only got one chance to perform it in a studio, and then a practice performance at Open Stage. Other than that, I had to develop this entire performance in my living room!

But I feel pretty good with my technical skills, and my artistic presentation. I resisted the urge to throw out every fan veil trick I knew, instead focusing on what went with the music. There are a few areas I see for improvement (I’d like my turns to be cleaner, for sure!), but I definitely see myself as dancing better this year than I did last year.

Check back tomorrow for Anatomy of a Costume, where I’ll discuss the thought process behind this costume and the artists whose work I’m wearing!

Tribal Fest Workshop Reviews!

May 21, 2015Sophia Ravenna

As usual, I used Tribal Fest as an opportunity to study with some of my “old favorite” instructors and some “new to me” instructors, so that I got a really cool, well-rounded experience and learned lots of neat new things to work into my dance. Let’s talk about each one in turn.

Fire Fans with Emily Aiyana. I have two pairs of fire fans and I’ve never properly learned how to use them. This workshop was primarily choreography based, but it did teach me some tricks. It also taught me that if I really want to do tricks, I should probably buy a third, smaller set of fire fans better suited to tech, which means I need to decide how serious I am about this prop. I had a lot more fun once I decided to stop stubbornly using my own fans and switched to the smaller, lighter, easier-to-spin fans the teacher provided. My enjoyment of this workshop was also hampered by the fact that it was cold and windy. That said, Emily was a nice teacher and her choreography was very dancerly and musical, which is how I like to see fire performance done.

Upper Body + Helping Hands with Donna Mejia. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a total Donna Mejia fan girl and I take workshops with her every chance I get. I love the way she dances, teaches, and talks. This workshop was all about warming up, exercising, and becoming more familiar with your upper body. We learned a lot of cool exercises for diagnosing and strengthening your own body, and it was all stuff that can easily be done at home in a small amount of space, no gym or fancy equipment needed! We used some canned goods for those exercises that required a little extra weight, and then they were all gathered up for the food bank. Awesome!

Bellydance DecoPunk with Tempest. You know who else I’m a fan girl of? Yep, Tempest! But I specifically wanted to take this workshop because I’m really into Art Nouveau and steampunk stylings. This workshop covered some of the material from Tempest’s latest DVD, so I’ll be able to practice it along at home. I really had a great time in this workshop, learning some new movements and enjoying some awesome music. I really like the combination of earthy, folkloric-inspired movements and very elegant arm frames that Tempest uses for her Nouveau Noir dance.

Prop Shop with Mandala DanceWorks. This might be the workshop I was the most excited about, and I definitely had the most fun! Mandala gave us a pile of props, the option of layering an emotion onto whatever we were doing, and set us loose to explore the possibilities. Several members of the troupe were on hand to provide advice, perform duets, or serve as a spotter if you were dancing on a ladder, for instance. Hey, did I mention that despite my fear of heights/falling, I used a ladder as a prop and it was awesome? After exploring a few props, I went to my default fan veils and discovered some new ways of using them, too. I really enjoyed that this workshop was very exploratory and fun, allowing us to totally indulge in our creativity, while still being able to receive guidance when we were stumped. (By the way, Mandala is offering this again at Waking Persephone, if you want to try it yourself!)

Look Alive! with Karolina Lux. After seeing Karolina perform last year, I really wanted to study with her, so I took this workshop on theatricality and facial expression. I have to say that while Karolina is a great teacher and a lot of fun to be around and all the material she presented was great, it was also all stuff I had learned in other, similar workshops. I should probably stop taking so many similar workshops! So this is not to say that anything was wrong with this workshop, and I still had a great time in it, it just wasn’t the best choice for me, personally. I’d definitely study with Karolina Lux again, and I’d recommend this for anyone who has not spent the last year or two taking every theatricality workshop that came their way. Also, I really enjoyed the mini-choreo we learned at the end, it was cute, sassy, and simple enough that I could focus on applying the theatricality we’d learned on top of it.

Trap Tribal Fusion! with April Rose. I don’t normally take choreography workshops, but I really wanted to take a workshop with April Rose, and my troupemate couldn’t come to Tribal Fest so I bought this workshop from her. I’m so glad I did! I had a blast learning and dancing the choreography, which was the perfect blend of familiar movements I could easily do, new stuff that I had to tackle, and stuff I had previously been unable to do but was surprised to find myself doing. What I really appreciated was that April Rose gave us a character/story for the choreo that made it about more than just learning the moves. I really got into it! Plus she had a really smart way of doing the warmup, by incorporating some of the shimmies and combos we’d need later on, and telling us which ones we needed to remember. She made really good use of the time and managed to teach us the entire choreo in 2 hours! I took it alongside my troupemate Ashley, so I hope someday we’ll get to break it out as a duet performance at Open Stage.

All in all, it was a great year for learning at Tribal Fest!

Tribal Fest 15…. Whoa

May 19, 2015Sophia Ravenna

A Tribal Family Reunion! (Ashley, Melanie, Jolie, Me, Kamrah, and baby Ripley). — A Tribal Family Reunion! (Ashley, Melanie, Jolie, Me, Kamrah, and baby Ripley)

I got back from Tribal Fest 15: A Tribal Family Reunion late Sunday night and I still can’t quite gather up the words to properly express how wonderful my experience was. Having two of my troupemates along with me, as well as my bestie Jen, just amplified the whole experience. Add in the fact that my former teacher/troupe director/mentor Jolie came up for a visit after I hadn’t seen her for an entire year, and I just had “all the feels” as they say over on Tumblr.

So today is going to be the short-and-sweet (well, probably not very short…) recap and then I’ll break it down into more details RE: workshops, performing, shopping and of course, Anatomy of a Costume over the next week or so.

First of all, I am so proud of and pleased with Fire & Gold Belly Dance. You know how traveling together can really make or break a friendship? Well, I think Melanie, Ashley and I have a stronger bond than ever after our road trip and week together. Rather than getting on each other’s nerves, we got to know each other better and developed a whole slue of in-jokes, some of a rather blue nature (Ashley was pleased to learn how many f-bombs I drop when I’m not on my best professional behavior). And as for pride, well, we all stretched out of our comfort zones to take some really interesting workshops, so we each have some new ideas to bring back to the troupe. And not to brag, but we nailed it on the stage. Nailed. It. And looked fabulous doing so.

Our "We Nailed It" faces. — Our “We Nailed It” faces.

Second, I had a great time in my workshops. I’ll talk about what I took and what I got from them in a separate post, but over all I had some good challenges and some inspiration and some time with some of my favorite teachers.

Third, I didn’t get to watch nearly enough dance, but what I did see was amazing! I got to see Mardi Love and Rachel Brice dance together as part of Mardi’s closing set on Friday night, and then, and then and then and then. VIOLET SCRAP came out! I had no idea she was going to be there! She’s even more amazing in person than on YouTube. I randomly ran into her in the bathroom on Saturday (everyone’s got to pee! Ariellah was in line at the same time!) and I had to resist the urge to fan girl all over her.

Fourth, I made some cool new purchases to add to my costume wardrobe. I spent all my birthday money on a Medina headdress which is amazingly fabulous.

Fabulousness conveniently framed by fan veils.

Fifth, speaking of being fabulous I had an incredible photo shoot with Carrie Meyer and not only are the photos magical but I GOT TO HAVE MY PICTURE TAKEN WITH A HORSE. There were a couple ladies getting ready to put their horses back in the trailer and Carrie was like hey, can she pose with your horse for some pictures real quick? And they were like sure, we will let this random half-naked lady pet our horse and smile for a picture. Eight-year-old Sophia would be so happy with the life Adult Sophia is living.

Sixth, oh yeah, I think I kind of did a good job of performing. I’m really happy with my photos and video and I got some compliments from some dancers who are kiiiiind of a big deal. I’m still floating on cloud nine.

Seventh and last for now, so many friends, so many hugs! Tribal Fest is a wonderful chance to see so many lovely people, even if it’s just a quick hug as one of us is coming out of a workshop and the other is going into one. I got to be reunited with some of my 8 Elements classmates, meet some Facebook friends for the first time, and say hello to all my favorite TF regulars.

So in conclusion, Tribal Fest is basically the best thing ever and I wish I was still there.

En Route to Tribal Fest!

May 11, 2015May 9, 2015Sophia Ravenna

At the time this post goes up, I will be on the second day of road-trippin’ to Tribal Fest with my bestie and my troupemates! I am so excited about this trip! In order to save more room for all the costuming I’m going to buy, I opted to leave my laptop at home, so it’s unlikely that I will update this blog while I am in CA. Let’s face it, I’m going to be having way too much fun with my friends! However, I am going to pre-schedule a Beauty Blogging for Belly Dancers post, so come back on Friday for that.

If you want to keep up with my adventures in the meantime, the best way is to follow me on Instagram and keep an eye on my Facebook fan page. I’ll post plenty of updates from my phone!

If you’re going to be at Tribal Fest too, please don’t hesitate to walk up and say “hi”, I love to meet my readers!

Getting Ready for Tribal Fest!

April 14, 2015Sophia Ravenna

Tribal Fest is less than a month away and I am so excited! I really cannot wait to return to Sebastopol, see many of my dance friends, take tons of workshops, and watch endless hours of dance. It’s almost impossible for me to focus on anything else right now. I have Improv Roulette this weekend and Open Stage in a few weeks and I just really can’t even think about them. Tribal Fest has eclipsed everything!

The blog may be a little quieter than usual for the next few weeks because of this. Usually my brain is an endless stream of opinions about dance-related topics, but now my thoughts are all about getting ready for Tribal Fest! Since I’m performing with my troupe and as a soloist, I have two dances to practice and two costumes to work on (both a mix of purchased and crafted pieces). I have to work out the logistics of carpooling with troupemates and friends. I have to make sure that I have everything I need for all of my workshops. I have to try to pack things neatly, since we’ll have four people’s luggage in the car, and I need to have room for all the shopping I’ll do.

With that said, I do still plan to keep Beauty Blogging for Belly Dancers on schedule, which will include scheduling a post for the Friday that I’m at Tribal Fest. And I expect I’ll still have 1-2 other posts per week, even if they’re just costume teasers and event recaps.

Are you going to Tribal Fest, too? If so, let me know in the comments! And if you’re performing, share your time slot so I can try to be in the audience cheering you on.

Announcements and Reminders!

March 31, 2015Sophia Ravenna

Jodi's workshops are on MONDAY! — Jodi’s workshops are on MONDAY!

We now take a small break from my endless stream of opinions for a few event announcements and event reminders!

First: TRIBAL FEST! Friday is the big day! Fire & Gold Belly Dance will be performing as a troupe at 1pm and Sophia Ravenna (hey, that’s me!) will be performing as a soloist at 1:30pm. This will all be happening in Sebastopol, CA on Friday, May 15th. So exciting! Did you know this will be my troupe’s first big out of state performance? It’s true! We’ve only danced in AZ so far.

Next: OPEN STAGE! The first Thursday falls early in April, on the 2nd. That means Open Stage is the day after tomorrow! There’s still room in the set list for some dancers, so don’t hesitate to send in your music.

And then: JODI WASECA! The workshops are this coming Monday and there are still a few spots left. Tucson, we basically never get fusion-style belly dancers offering workshops in town anymore, and there hasn’t even been anything like this in Phoenix recently. Plus these workshops will be burlesque-friendly if that’s more your style. There’s something for everyone! So sign up now and come learn some awesome stuff from Jodi. I can’t wait!

Finally: IMPROV ROULETTE! Phoenix’s first Improv Roulette is coming up on April 19th. People seem really excited for it so far and I am really eager to see what sort of mix of performance styles we get. If you are in Phoenix and you have connections in performance communities outside the belly dance world, please help me spread the word! I want to see some cool collaborations happening here. And Tucson, your turn comes again in May!

Ok, I think that’s everything! Come back tomorrow for more opinions.

Time to Choose!

November 5, 2014Sophia Ravenna

Last night the Tribal Fest 15 schedule was posted. The shopping cart opens on Sunday. I have Open Stage tomorrow and out of town guests this weekend, so today I really need to sit down and figure out what workshops I want to take. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed because there are so many great teachers offering so many great classes! How am I going to narrow down my focus? Complicating matters is the fact that there are several other events I’m already committed to attending next year, so I should probably not spend TOO much on workshops…

Although I am feeling indecisive, I am also feeling excited because I get to share the Tribal Fest experience with my troupemates! I can’t wait to travel with them and show them this wonderful event and take workshops together and, if we’re lucky, perform together! It’s going to be SO MUCH FUN!

If you’re also thinking about attending Tribal Fest this year, be sure to head over to the website and start your list of classes you want to take. I’ll see you there!

Festival Addiction

September 16, 2014Sophia Ravenna

Hello, my name is Sophia Ravenna and I am addicted to dance festivals and workshops.

Just a week ago I was freshly back from Vegas. This weekend, I am attending workshops with Donna Meija up in Tempe. And next month it’s off to Washington for Waking Persephone. November is a local workshop with Amanda Rose (within walking distance of my house, no less!) and December is Kaeshi Chai in Phoenix. I’m not registered for anything in 2015 yet, but there are events on my radar. I may or may not sneak a visit to Third Coast depending on when my husband’s holiday-break TX business trip gets scheduled for.

Right after we both got back from LVBDI my friend Becka Bomb said to me on Twitter “I feel festivals could become an addiction how do you keep from wanting all the festivals” and I had no answer for her, because I already want all the festivals. ALL of them! I want to check out Art of the Belly in Maryland and the NY Theatrical Belly Dance Conference. I even want to go to the Henna Intensive & Retreat, and I don’t even do henna, I just want to serve as a model and dance and hang out.

It’s so easy to become addicted to festivals, because they’re a total and complete escape from real life. You go out of town, likely leaving work, family, pets and other obligations behind. You spend anywhere from a couple of days to a week surrounded by nobody but your fellow dancers. You take hours of workshops, watch hours of performances, maybe get to perform yourself. You get to shop, trying on tons of things, maybe even things you could never afford but you just have to try it anyway and daydream about saving up for it. You eat meals with your dance friends from across the country. Perhaps you’re rooming with a fellow dancer, too, and you spend all night comparing notes about your workshops and showing off your purchases, before doing a little yoga together and then falling into a blissfully exhausted sleep.

For however long you’re at the festival, you’re among friends. Everyone else there gets you. They don’t raise an eyebrow at the fact that you’re seriously thinking of spending $175 on one skirt. You never have to explain what tribal fusion belly dance is. You can walk around wearing sparkly makeup at 10am and you’ll get no strange looks, just questions about your preferred glitter fixative.

Who wouldn’t want to experience that constantly?

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out good ways to fit even more festivals into my life. I could try getting a job as a booth helper, since I have years and years of experience working the Tucson gem shows, but if I’m working at a booth, when am I going to take workshops? I could get myself a VW bus and drive from event to event, but I think my husband would miss me if I took off on a months-long road trip.

My original plan was to make Tribal Fest my one constant, and attend a different secondary event each year, but then I found that I really didn’t want to skip LVBDI. I have a feeling I’m going to fall in love with WP, too, which may be a problem since they’ll both be in September next year.

Ultimately, of course, the goal is to be awesome enough that I’ll be able to teach workshops myself and festivals will hire me, but that’s years down the road and I want to attend all of them NOW! Guess I’ll just have to keep being patient and keep working harder.

Anatomy of a Costume

May 22, 2014May 21, 2014Sophia Ravenna

I’ve been asked whether I made my Tribal Fest costume and the answer is a great big NOPE! In fact I did not wear a single thing that I made, which is unusual as I tend to wear jewelry that I created to go with a costume, but not this time. So anyway, I’d like to take a few minutes to acknowledge the talented costumers whose work I combined to put together the look for this performance. We’ll work from the top down!

1. Dreads and hair flowers by Diva Dreads. Not only that, but as I mentioned yesterday, Brandie also styled my hair for me. I cannot speak highly enough of Brandie and her family, they run such a wonderful business. I never thought I would go for dreads because I already have so much hair anyway, but they really added the perfect touch to this piece. I needed ALL OF THE HAIR to create an otherworldly style.

2. You can’t see it in this picture but there’s also a beautiful, realistic-looking leather moth clip in my hair garden, created by Angelic Artisan. I had decided at nearly the last-minute that it would be cool to have moths in my hair and it was surprisingly difficult to find something that looked like an actual moth and would ship from the US. Well, this moth is awesome and it’s made of a really heavy leather so it should hold up very well to years of wear.

3. Super duper amazing faerie crown by The Bold Oracle. I’ve had this for at least a year and had only worn it for a photo shoot. I was going to make an antler crown for this piece but then I was like, duh, I have this beautiful crown by Amy already and it matches this costume perfectly and I love the effect of the tulle around my face.

4. Bindi by Kuhl Jewels. I wasn’t going to wear a bindi but then Niffer bought us “bestie bindis” (matching design, but in green for me and aqua/teal for her) and I decided I had to wear mine. The vine shape and shades of green were perfect with the costume.

5. Silk wings by Firebird Fae Couture. I purchased these wings last year at Tribal Fest to wear when I performed this piece at the Plaza Variety Show. I LOVE them! They were the perfect addition to this costume. I’m sad the artist didn’t return to TF this year so I couldn’t tell her in person how much I enjoyed them and invite her to see me dance in them.

6. Prehnite necklace by Mermaiden Creations. Between the tulle drape and the tie for the wings there’s not a lot of room for an elaborate necklace with this costume. An organic prehnite bead on a simple chain seems like just the sort of bauble a faerie would wear.

7. Bra and belt set by Anaya Tribal. I love this set because it’s awesome for a belly dancing faerie but if I accessorize it differently it can be straight-up tribal fusion or steampunk. The fact that the bra fits as if it was made for me certainly helps!

8. Super Bootie skirt by Snake Church. True story: I was going to wear my olive green Super Bootie that I bought last year, but then I bought this old gold one and I decided that it was even better with the bra-belt set. Also I had learned that I had been buying my skirts one size too big and so my bootie looked even better in this new, smaller skirt. I definitely made the right choice because that gold under the stage lights against the soft colors of the silk backdrop? Magical.

9. Honorable mention: Katherine from Silk Road Tribal didn’t make the bracelet I’m wearing, but she did let me owe her $3 when I decided I NEEDED a bracelet to cover my entry stamp on my wrist and I didn’t have enough cash on hand. She’s a sweet person and sells lots of awesome tribal jewelry, costumes, textiles and DIY supplies.

10. I kept the jewelry really simple because I didn’t want to risk anything on my arms catching on the wings or in my dreads, but I did wear my emerald ring by Janish Jewels and my Mom’s peridot ring, because they were perfect with my costume but low-profile.

So a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped me be beautiful on Saturday!