i survived and really it was all ok

[alonewiththemoon]

Started the day off yesterday by being a half hour late for the bharata natyam workshop--I had written it down as starting at 2:30, but apparently it started at 2.  I didn't really mind my being late, apart from the rudeness to the instructor; I just wasn't going to let it bother me.  And I was rather pleasantly surprised that apparently I have been exposed to enough bharata natyam through various workshops and talking with shnells  that I could jump right in and not be lost.  We learned a bunch of mudras and footwork and performed a short devotional to Shiva.  I was relaxed enough to feel devotional about it and all in all the workshop was a good idea.

Then the show, which featured some really nice stuff.  Sabrina's veil piece was so joyful and blissful, in her white costume she was just the spirit of spring personified.  kinadancer  was also stunning in white with her brilliant A'Kai veil, very elegant and regal.  I loved the Celtic Gypsies--on paper I found the whole concept of belly dance/Irish dance fusion very unconvincing, but they convinced me all right!  There's not a huge step from mizmars to bagpipes when you stop to think about it, and I think the use of Rom movements were what really tied it all together.  Nikki was amazing as always with her sword.  Mary Koperski, who taught the workshop, was also wonderful.  Oh, and I won a $30 gift certificate to Asiana Grill in Arlington, sushi here I come!

The show of course ran late and I flew home to get ready for the Providence show.  I had to eat dinner in the car, but otherwise managed to stay on top of things.  Arrived at the club, got situatated, and then it was time to hurry up and wait for a few hours.  The other dancer, Mai'iah, went on at 11 and performed with two big boa constrictors--they were really impressive snakes.  She confirmed later that they were quite heavy.  They also seemed very sociable, but I have to admit that while I am not at all phobic about snakes in and of themselves, I am a little phobic about contact with reptiles in general because of the salmonella issue.  Look but don't touch is my approach.  Anyway, she did a great job with them and it was nice to make face to face contact with somebody from the New York scene.

Finally, I performed.  There were a couple of minor issues, like the thing that got stuck to the bottom of my left foot (a little rock or something, I am guessing), but I was able to tap into a good emotional place for the music and felt it went well.  When I finished, the applause seemed a little thin and I thought "oh well, people didn't really like it."  After I changed, though, people were coming up to me all night to tell me how much they liked it, so I guess that's just how they are down there.  Also I had just been to a belly dance event and expecting the same kind of crowd response from goths is not exactly fair ;-)  I had a small stage to work with; the club was a sort of horseshoe shape with the stage at the top of the arch so I had to constantly shift my focus from side to side, but I think I did pretty well with that.

I liked the club space.  As seems to be a pattern here on the East Coast, the club is part gay night club, part goth club, depending on the night of the week.  The decor was great, all dripping chandeliers, stonework, comfy couches, wrought iron, etc.  It's the kind of place that would have been a perfect venue for Reverie, back in the day.  The crowd was pretty good too, apart from a rather obnoxious quartet of a guy and three women.  If you go to goth clubs, you know the type--they're being oh so daring by being at the goth club, the girls with their dangling beer bottles on the dance floor as they dance in a tight little cluster, the guy taking off his shirt and humping his ladies.  The guy took quite a fancy to me as I was having some henna done (and thus could not move).  He actually tried to grab me with a full body hug but fortunately that was just as the henna artist had finished so I was able to leap away.  Literally, leap away.  rojagato  was there ready to clonk him with something but luckily he took a hint and left me alone.  I'm sure she will have something to say about their conversation later ;)

And now, off to dance class with my screaming quads--this will be interesting!  My laybacks, drops and folds are so much better than they used to be, but in performance you always give it that little bit more and my muscles are emphatically informing me that I hadn't quite prepared them for that.    I'm using this routine a couple more times this month, so they'd better get used to it...

Comments

[fajera-danse.livejournal.com]

I'm curious about the belly/celtic dance corelation. I know that there is a school of thought that the doumbek was originally a celt drum.. But, you're right, there isn't a huge difference between the bagpipe and the mizmar.

[kinadancer.livejournal.com]

I might be wrong, but isn't the bagpipe a transplanted mizmar? I think I read that one had been brought back during the Crusades for a little cross polination? Or was it earlier? As a historian, I suck, but I think they are connected.

oh, and blush :-)

[fajera-danse.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if many of the instruments were related.

[talesinsdaughtr.livejournal.com]

I think I've heard of a small tradition with bagpipes in some parts of India. I was under the impression that the English had brought the instrument in and it was found that it happened to work well in the sound of some forms of traditional music. I've heard some of it. Maybe the tradition with that instrument, or a realted one, goes back further?
(Bharata natyam workshop! I wish I'd known)

[panzerkunst.livejournal.com]

It is a pretty nifty-looking club, innit?