yay me :-)

As soon as I was off the stage last night, Sahar (the woman who does the booking) asked me to do a regular 10-minute slot a couple of times a month in regular rotation. Yay! I guess I really am a belly dancer! :-) It's very nice when sometimes things happen in exactly the fairy tale sort of way you secretly dared to hope they would.

So if you missed me last night, you'll have plenty of more chances. :-)

(no subject)

ArtBeat on Friday was fun but the experience was a bit off set by my wrenching my jaw out of place as I was eating an over-stuffed wrap. I put ice on my jaw as soon as I got home, but it still hurt to talk into Saturday and still doesn't feel quite normal today. Note to self: don't do that ever again. Anyway, we saw bits of Leah Callahan's rock opera that I think we saw previously at the Kabarett, but it was cool to hear it through a big sound system. Ms. Nomer did a lovely reverse striptease, and Ad Frank was fun but I am sure would be much better in a club. I'd go see him again; I could imagine him in a lineup with Lifestyle, if they are still together.

Saturday we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Fresh Pond, where we had a sucktacular movie-going experience as far as the theatre went, but once we were about ten minutes into the film, all that was forgotten. I really enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I was pretty skeptical about Johnny Depp's performance after seeing trailers, but the trailers don't capture at all what he was doing, and I liked what he did quite a bit. It's much closer to the spirit of Dahl, where Willy Wonka isn't some kindly twinkly-eyed benefactor a la Gene Wilder but rather really is a different sort of human being. It's been years--decades even--since I've read the book, but I want to read it again.

I did go to yoga class before my performance on Sunday night, and I'm glad I did, it was the right thing to do. I noticed a real difference in my strength even from the week before, I assume because I kept up with it* during the week. I still get all muscle-shakey during certain movements, but I'm learning how to use more of my muscles so that I'm not overburdening any particular ones. I also like the meditative portions of the class as well (it's an anusara class). I've always been a scoffer about metaphysical things, but I've found a way I can think about these things for myself and it works well for me. It definitely helped soothe pre-performance jitters. Hooray for mind-body integration!

*I can't quite bring myself to say "my practice" but I suppose that's what I should have said.

I already wrote briefly about Sunday night, but I'll just add that I was fairly happy with my performance, and obviously Sahar was too. The Arab guys tipped me and I was very grateful for the support I got from friends both in and out of the dance community. I feel very aware of launching myself into a next level now. It's exhilerating--scary, but good :)

Today is shaping up to be pretty good. This morning I really craved a scone from Quebrada, but I told myself that I did not need the extra calories and should just eat my regular breakfast of toast and fruit at home. But then our wildly unpredictable toaster carbonized the last two pieces of bread in the house, so I got my scone after all. Thanks, toaster! And tonight is the big international dance and music show at Arabesque Mondays at Club Passim. I've been so wrapped up in getting ready for last night that I had completely forgotten I was going to see some of my favorite musicians tonight. Sleep will happen at some point later this week :-)