(no subject)

[alonewiththemoon]

Had a great time at the Middle East last night.  It's very educational to watch other dancers and see how the crowd responds (or not) to various stuff and think about what would have made a difference in each performance.  Not sitting around being judgmental, just learning through observation.  One dancer last night was really lacking faith in what she was doing and it deadened the room.  Those nights happen to everyone, but I know now just how it feels to be in the audience when it happens and am resolved to let it happen as little as possible to me.  nepenthe01  did a wonderful birthday presentation for Najmat--I would have been terrified to balance cake on my head but she did it with aplomb.  And I loved kinadancer 's set, especially her cane.  Her set was educational for me as well in knowing which guys will get up and dance nicely with you.  At this point I know who the regulars are, but I'm still learning which are the nice regulars and which are gropey regulars, given the chance.  (Big Lebanese guy outside the club watching a couple of men dancing: "That's not proper dancing.  Arab men dance just with their arms and feet.  They dance like they're gay. ... Or maybe they're Egyptian."  Spoken with, as far as I could tell, no irony whatsoever.  I don't know quite why it struck me as so funny, but it did.)

Drawback is that my knee is in surprisingly sharp pain today, and I've got a two hour dance class tonight.  Too much dabke, I'm guessing.  Luckily we've got tylenol here in the office in bulk.  Also only got about five hours of sleep last night, but I had a cup of tea in the afternoon, which I never do, so that I hope will get me through.

Made two more panels of my Voodoo Dolly belt yesterday, just two more to go!  Then I have to tackle the bra, which is a scary prospect.  I've got meddevi 's plan book though, so hopefully that will get me through...

Comments

hee!!!!!

[kinadancer.livejournal.com]

"(Big Lebanese guy outside the club watching a couple of men dancing: "That's not proper dancing. Arab men dance just with their arms and feet. They dance like they're gay. ... Or maybe they're Egyptian." Spoken with, as far as I could tell, no irony whatsoever. I don't know quite why it struck me as so funny, but it did.)"

That is hysterical! But I think I know what he means, all the Arab men I've seen dance with no sort of flowy, looseness to their movements, which I thought these men did. My gaydar went off as well. Especially when one of them grabbed my cane and tried to twirl it over his head, which put everyone in the place at risk, let me tell you!

Najmat also took my cane, took the stage and danced to Talakik. sigh.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

OK, the Egyptian/gay thing is hilarious to me, too. Now I want to see more Egyptian men dance to compare it to other Arab men.

[meddevi.livejournal.com]

do not fear the boobs! Just check your fit repeatedly, pin things in place, try it on, bounce around, then stitch the key points into place.

and oddly enough...sometimes taking a photo of something your working on and looking at it gives you a whole other view. (says she who is 60% of the way through shooting a bleeping catalog that must be layed out, edited, etc, and ftp'd before I leave for Hong Kong...but really, even a look in the view finder is a transformational process...)

[nepenthedreams]

That's kinda like me and A. always say "Gay or Californian?"

Audience interaction is definitely something I need to work on. I'm also worried about having a not-so-nice audience interaction, and have no idea how to start up a nice one!

In retrospect, I think the problem with Sunday night was that there were too many dancers scheduled in a row. Audience fatigue was going to happen one way or another.

I hope your knee feels better soon.

Re: hee!!!!!

[nepenthedreams]

I wish I hadn't missed that!

Re: hee!!!!!

[alonewiththemoon]

It might be true that Egyptian men are more flowy when they dance--definitely singers like Saad and Hakim aren't afraid of undulation and hip articulation, at least in their music videos and stage shows. But yeah, I figured about those particular guys as well :-)

[alonewiththemoon]

I'm kind of thinking of faking the corseting part of the bra by mounting the panels and lacing on a firm backing--I can get a lot of bounce going on and more control is better. After all I'm used to those bullet-stopping Egyptian bras ;-)

[alonewiththemoon]

Yeah, it's funny--shen I heard Sahar was changing things to a total of only four dancers plus any open mike people (instead of five, as it had been, two paid, three unpaid) I was disappointed, but now having been an audience member on nights with four dancers and nights with five, I agree that it makes sense. I think it's better for the dancers too, the audience is happier and more relaxed if they get a chance to dance too and that makes a better show for everyone.

[nepenthedreams]

She told me that too - that she only wanted two unpaid dancers and that's why she was only giving me one date in October. After Sunday, I'd MUCH rather dance less often, but dance to a more appreciative crowd.

I'm also trying to look back and remember that gay Egyptian guy seemed to be enjoying my set and there were other people who seemed to like my show, even if the general feeling I got was 'meh'. In reality it was just two people in the audience (and I'm not talking about Najmat) that made me feel like it was a bad show.