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alonewiththemoonWhat a weekend. Friday night I saw the video footage (and it was literally footage, as in feet pictures, at times) from oddville vaudeville, and wasn't too horrified. I am as always annoyed by my posture, but I was amused by the overall look of the Cramps number and pleased by how well the set with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nepenthe01 went. It was a good start. I loved everybody else's performances, which I couldn't see during the show. I am as always thrilled and honored to be part of such a creative and motivated group of people.
Saturday we got up earlier than we would have liked to bring Seti to Angell for his monthly Lupron shot. He's doing really well on the Lupron, but it is postponing the inevitable adrenal gland surgery. Once the weather is a bit warmer I'll schedule another ultrasound for him to see if we can tell yet which adrenal gland is the one that's acting up. (His adrenal gland disorder was diagnosed through various symptoms, but the initial ultrasounds revealed normal sized glands, so we have to wait for the disease to progress so that the surgeon will know which gland to remove. The Lupron corrects the hormonal imbalances that cause the symptoms of adrenal gland disorder, but doesn't do anything to slow or halt the actual disease) I don't want to do the ultrasound while it's still cold, because they have to shave his belly to do it and we don't want a poor shivering naked-belly weasel.
After the vet appointment, I went home and got ready for the Bozenka workshop. I walked away with very mixed feelings about the workshop. The material being taught was great and Bozenka is a lovely dancer and a good teacher, very good at explaining the why of things. I certainly took away concepts and movements that I will use for myself. But the workshop was seriously overcrowded and it was very frustrating trying to see what was going on. Bozenka did make sure we rotated, and sometimes she organized us all into a circle and taught from the middle, but there were still times where I had to just give up trying to follow along. Occasionally I'd follow a dancer located somewhere between me and Bozenka who seemed to know what was going on, but that's not really right. In the end, I was glad I'd gone, but felt a little bit cheated of an excellent workshop experience. Next time I see Za-Beth I'll try some tactful feedback. One very positive thing that might emerge from this though is that I was previously unaware of this dance studio, located within walking distance of my house. I got a contact number for a person to talk to about rental. It would be super not to be dependent on just the Dance Complex, and that whole walking distance thing would be a major plus.
Then home to madly get ready for my show later in the night, and off to the Bellydance Superstars show. I did enjoy it, although I couldn't help but have Dondi's review floating in the back of my head. I do think she was really correct about the Desert Roses' lack of energy. I'm sure they are under great phyical demands as the tour goes on, but that lack of energy extended to their faces, and that's not good, or very professional. (I wasn't bothered by Colleen's tattoos per se, I was more bothered by their random placement on her body) However, I didn't think anybody looked like they were starving, except maybe Adore but gymnasts are uniquely built. So, my thoughts: I think there's some kind of hero worship transferance thing that goes on after a workshop, but I really, really loved Bozenka's dancing. I would say she was by far the best dancer up there last night, on the cabaret side. She's so fluid and graceful, yet grounded enough to make her raks assaya look like she means it. And her expression was wonderful, extending right out to her fingertips as she discussed with us at the workshop. Just seeing her made me very glad I'd picked up a copy of the Monte Carlo solos DVD, so I can watch her and study her. I liked Sonia a lot better than I did the last time around--maybe it was just that I had second row seats and so could really see her face, but she seemed much more animated. I still find her dancing a little too restrained and not earthy enough for my taste, but I enjoyed watching her perform. I also loved the beaded tassels on her drum solo costume and have filed that away for future reference. Another pleasant surprise was Adore; on the Folies Bergere DVD, I wasn't impressed by what I saw as limited belly dance ability used to justify gymnastic movements. But last night, we saw her dance before doing any flips or cartwheels, and she can indeed dance, and more importantly has a really nice stage presence, an infectuous joy in what she's doing. I still don't think her belly dancing is that well integrated with the gymnastics, but seen live, her personality makes it work. This was the first time I'd seen Jillina live, and I was actually a bit disappointed, given the hype she's had over the last few years. Her extended drum solo was very good, but there were times when I was thinking "just because you can shimmy that hard doesn't mean it's really a good idea to do it." I see very clearly why some people object to calling Jillina an Egyptian style dancer. I think those were all the cabaret soloists...
On the tribal side, while it was a disappointment not to see Rachel Brice, Sharon Kihara was a star in her own right. She really does seem to have come into her own over the last couple of years. Her bearing is just so regal, yet her humor comes through in her dancing. She's got the right kind of body to carry off the popping and locking and occasional odd postures. With some of the other tribal dancers up there, I wanted to go pull their shoulders out of their ears--it just doesn't look nice and it's disruptive to the eye--, but Sharon managed to keep her lines fluid and graceful. The other three tribal dancers were very talented, but aren't quite at that level yet. Kami Liddle had great personality but she was the worst of the shoulders in the ears offenders. I do really enjoy this kind of tribal fusion, but I think it runs the risk of losing some beauty for the sake of angularity and punctuation. I like Art Blakey but I don't like Ornette Coleman, I think is the best way I can put it. Rachel to me is still in the Art Blakey camp, and that's where I draw my personal inspiration.
The fusion numbers were better than I thought they would be, given how negative the internets have been about them. The Latin number was a little ragged, but Bozenka's salsa, Sonia's I'm not sure what it was and Adore's samba were breathtaking. The tribal flamenco was a good idea in concept but needed some ironing out in practice. The first half of the hula number dragged, but the second half, with the heavy drums and the yips and yelps, was good entertainment. I have no idea if it was good hula or not, but I liked watching it and I warmed up to Sonia a bit more because of it.
Then after the show, I rushed home to change into my own costume and jet off to a party where I was performing. I was 45 minutes late for my first set, but the entire night was running late and I didn't go on until about an hour and a half after I was originally scheduled anyway. I had fun performing, though the space was very limited. After I blew out some of the surrounding candles, I had just enough room for veilwork. I was not at all at my best (lost control of my veil not once but twice!), but it went well enough, judging from audience response and people's comments. Rachid Taha's Rock el Casbah was a big hit, I'll definitely use that at parties again. My second set was... it was good, i think, at least the sword part. I did a combination of trance dance with sword, treating the sword as a sacred object or perhaps a pathway to possession. I don't even really know, I was too busy fighting off going into real trance, since I was just that tired enough to slip into trance if I let myself. Didn't even notice my sore quads at all, not even dropping back to the floor at the end. However, rising up from the floor for the Bassnectar song, I definitely noticed my sore quads and sore everything else, and fought a major battle against muscle fatigue to get through the song. Made it through without falling over though. Hung out at the party for a while talking to people and doing my share of educating about belly dance and trying to avoid this guy who was massively hitting on me even when I went and stood next to M and talked about when 'we' would be leaving the party. I should have just said right out look guy I'm married and monogamous so give it up but I wanted him to leave me alone because I wanted him to leave me alone, not because I 'belonged' to some other man. Blah. He surprised me with a hug on my way out and I was too taken by surprise to do anything but poke him in the armpit with my sword and not hug back. Hopefully that got a message across as I'd been hugging other friends all night without poking them with sharp metal objects.
Ten hours of sleep and a big breakfast later, i'm ready to start the day now at 5:30pm. I'm going to do some kind of workout because my muscles might lock up if I don't, but I will be gentle with myself. Then a hot bath. Then make a straight skirt and do some costume adjustment on my St. Patrick's Day bedleh while watching Jon Stewart say funny things about movies, and hopefully to bed at a reasonable hour. This week I have Sekhmet practice on Monday, Najmat's class on Tuesday, dinner with my brother and his fiancee on Wednesday, Amira Jamal's class on Thursday, the Xmortis performance on Friday, the hair salon and a photoshoot with Amira Jamal's dancers on Saturday, then the St. Patrick's Day set at the Middle East on Sunday. I am Wonder Woman, oh yes I am. If I keep telling myself that it might get me through the week...
nepenthe01 went. It was a good start. I loved everybody else's performances, which I couldn't see during the show. I am as always thrilled and honored to be part of such a creative and motivated group of people.Saturday we got up earlier than we would have liked to bring Seti to Angell for his monthly Lupron shot. He's doing really well on the Lupron, but it is postponing the inevitable adrenal gland surgery. Once the weather is a bit warmer I'll schedule another ultrasound for him to see if we can tell yet which adrenal gland is the one that's acting up. (His adrenal gland disorder was diagnosed through various symptoms, but the initial ultrasounds revealed normal sized glands, so we have to wait for the disease to progress so that the surgeon will know which gland to remove. The Lupron corrects the hormonal imbalances that cause the symptoms of adrenal gland disorder, but doesn't do anything to slow or halt the actual disease) I don't want to do the ultrasound while it's still cold, because they have to shave his belly to do it and we don't want a poor shivering naked-belly weasel.
After the vet appointment, I went home and got ready for the Bozenka workshop. I walked away with very mixed feelings about the workshop. The material being taught was great and Bozenka is a lovely dancer and a good teacher, very good at explaining the why of things. I certainly took away concepts and movements that I will use for myself. But the workshop was seriously overcrowded and it was very frustrating trying to see what was going on. Bozenka did make sure we rotated, and sometimes she organized us all into a circle and taught from the middle, but there were still times where I had to just give up trying to follow along. Occasionally I'd follow a dancer located somewhere between me and Bozenka who seemed to know what was going on, but that's not really right. In the end, I was glad I'd gone, but felt a little bit cheated of an excellent workshop experience. Next time I see Za-Beth I'll try some tactful feedback. One very positive thing that might emerge from this though is that I was previously unaware of this dance studio, located within walking distance of my house. I got a contact number for a person to talk to about rental. It would be super not to be dependent on just the Dance Complex, and that whole walking distance thing would be a major plus.
Then home to madly get ready for my show later in the night, and off to the Bellydance Superstars show. I did enjoy it, although I couldn't help but have Dondi's review floating in the back of my head. I do think she was really correct about the Desert Roses' lack of energy. I'm sure they are under great phyical demands as the tour goes on, but that lack of energy extended to their faces, and that's not good, or very professional. (I wasn't bothered by Colleen's tattoos per se, I was more bothered by their random placement on her body) However, I didn't think anybody looked like they were starving, except maybe Adore but gymnasts are uniquely built. So, my thoughts: I think there's some kind of hero worship transferance thing that goes on after a workshop, but I really, really loved Bozenka's dancing. I would say she was by far the best dancer up there last night, on the cabaret side. She's so fluid and graceful, yet grounded enough to make her raks assaya look like she means it. And her expression was wonderful, extending right out to her fingertips as she discussed with us at the workshop. Just seeing her made me very glad I'd picked up a copy of the Monte Carlo solos DVD, so I can watch her and study her. I liked Sonia a lot better than I did the last time around--maybe it was just that I had second row seats and so could really see her face, but she seemed much more animated. I still find her dancing a little too restrained and not earthy enough for my taste, but I enjoyed watching her perform. I also loved the beaded tassels on her drum solo costume and have filed that away for future reference. Another pleasant surprise was Adore; on the Folies Bergere DVD, I wasn't impressed by what I saw as limited belly dance ability used to justify gymnastic movements. But last night, we saw her dance before doing any flips or cartwheels, and she can indeed dance, and more importantly has a really nice stage presence, an infectuous joy in what she's doing. I still don't think her belly dancing is that well integrated with the gymnastics, but seen live, her personality makes it work. This was the first time I'd seen Jillina live, and I was actually a bit disappointed, given the hype she's had over the last few years. Her extended drum solo was very good, but there were times when I was thinking "just because you can shimmy that hard doesn't mean it's really a good idea to do it." I see very clearly why some people object to calling Jillina an Egyptian style dancer. I think those were all the cabaret soloists...
On the tribal side, while it was a disappointment not to see Rachel Brice, Sharon Kihara was a star in her own right. She really does seem to have come into her own over the last couple of years. Her bearing is just so regal, yet her humor comes through in her dancing. She's got the right kind of body to carry off the popping and locking and occasional odd postures. With some of the other tribal dancers up there, I wanted to go pull their shoulders out of their ears--it just doesn't look nice and it's disruptive to the eye--, but Sharon managed to keep her lines fluid and graceful. The other three tribal dancers were very talented, but aren't quite at that level yet. Kami Liddle had great personality but she was the worst of the shoulders in the ears offenders. I do really enjoy this kind of tribal fusion, but I think it runs the risk of losing some beauty for the sake of angularity and punctuation. I like Art Blakey but I don't like Ornette Coleman, I think is the best way I can put it. Rachel to me is still in the Art Blakey camp, and that's where I draw my personal inspiration.
The fusion numbers were better than I thought they would be, given how negative the internets have been about them. The Latin number was a little ragged, but Bozenka's salsa, Sonia's I'm not sure what it was and Adore's samba were breathtaking. The tribal flamenco was a good idea in concept but needed some ironing out in practice. The first half of the hula number dragged, but the second half, with the heavy drums and the yips and yelps, was good entertainment. I have no idea if it was good hula or not, but I liked watching it and I warmed up to Sonia a bit more because of it.
Then after the show, I rushed home to change into my own costume and jet off to a party where I was performing. I was 45 minutes late for my first set, but the entire night was running late and I didn't go on until about an hour and a half after I was originally scheduled anyway. I had fun performing, though the space was very limited. After I blew out some of the surrounding candles, I had just enough room for veilwork. I was not at all at my best (lost control of my veil not once but twice!), but it went well enough, judging from audience response and people's comments. Rachid Taha's Rock el Casbah was a big hit, I'll definitely use that at parties again. My second set was... it was good, i think, at least the sword part. I did a combination of trance dance with sword, treating the sword as a sacred object or perhaps a pathway to possession. I don't even really know, I was too busy fighting off going into real trance, since I was just that tired enough to slip into trance if I let myself. Didn't even notice my sore quads at all, not even dropping back to the floor at the end. However, rising up from the floor for the Bassnectar song, I definitely noticed my sore quads and sore everything else, and fought a major battle against muscle fatigue to get through the song. Made it through without falling over though. Hung out at the party for a while talking to people and doing my share of educating about belly dance and trying to avoid this guy who was massively hitting on me even when I went and stood next to M and talked about when 'we' would be leaving the party. I should have just said right out look guy I'm married and monogamous so give it up but I wanted him to leave me alone because I wanted him to leave me alone, not because I 'belonged' to some other man. Blah. He surprised me with a hug on my way out and I was too taken by surprise to do anything but poke him in the armpit with my sword and not hug back. Hopefully that got a message across as I'd been hugging other friends all night without poking them with sharp metal objects.
Ten hours of sleep and a big breakfast later, i'm ready to start the day now at 5:30pm. I'm going to do some kind of workout because my muscles might lock up if I don't, but I will be gentle with myself. Then a hot bath. Then make a straight skirt and do some costume adjustment on my St. Patrick's Day bedleh while watching Jon Stewart say funny things about movies, and hopefully to bed at a reasonable hour. This week I have Sekhmet practice on Monday, Najmat's class on Tuesday, dinner with my brother and his fiancee on Wednesday, Amira Jamal's class on Thursday, the Xmortis performance on Friday, the hair salon and a photoshoot with Amira Jamal's dancers on Saturday, then the St. Patrick's Day set at the Middle East on Sunday. I am Wonder Woman, oh yes I am. If I keep telling myself that it might get me through the week...
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Date: 2006-03-05 11:17 pm (UTC)Watching them all up there, I had a similar reaction. You've seen much much more bellydance than I have, but I felt at the end of the night like...I was mesmerized with the tribal costuming every moment they were up there, and it riveted me, and their stiff movements were in part because their costumes do not seem to allow them to be as fluid -- the headdresses, jewelry, etc. So I realized after awhile I was appreciating their costuming, but paying less attention to their bodies and their dancing. Whereas with the rest of the dancers, costumes could vary greatly, but they could move their entire bodies, and their necks, hair, shoulders, everything, and it made the dancing much more appealing to watch. Much more sensual and present and celebratory, whereas the tribal was so exotic and remote as to be somewhat unapproachable. Which has its own appeal but...damn girls, smile! I dislike that being dark, exotic and gothic somehow translates into "I cannot smile and look like I am having fun, I have to be intense and serious to be sexy." For that reason, Jilliana's drum solo was refreshing, because not only did she smile, but she was playful, flirty, silly in her interactions with both the audience and the drummer, and her joy in the dance became attractive. I thought some of the tribal girls were prettiest when they were drumming and not as aware of themselves, therefore grinning and comfortable.
That being said, the red tassel costume of Sonia's and all of the tribal costumes appealed to me most. The flamenco skirts, pinstriped & ruffled suspender leggings, and the all white/silver tribal outfits were stunning. I'm looking forward to building my blue fusion outfit. :) Borrowing from tribal, but building outfits comfortable enough for a full range of sensual movement, and simplified just enough as to not be detracting from the body, like what Sekhmet is building, seems just right to me.
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Date: 2006-03-06 04:36 am (UTC)Do you have any sense of what time you'll be on next Sunday? I ask because we'll be up in MA for a wedding that is supposed to run to 4:30. I'd like to come see you dance, though we're still trying to figure out what we'd do with ourselves between the end of the wedding and whenever. So if they have you set for like 11:30, we might not be able to pull that off.
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Date: 2006-03-06 03:57 pm (UTC)