Kismetisms emporium of the old

Choreography

2012-03-06T22:07:00.000+11:00

Got lots of stuff on the fly at the moment. Kind of nice to be busy, but not too tiring at least. Here's a pic of my costume from this last weekend's festival outing that we had. The school had 5 acts - the beginners with some advanced students using wings, the teacher's solo, our intermediate/advanced class choreo, the latin dance workshop students and then the professional dancers that do all the good gigs.

For those who are interested - here's my section from the videos uploaded. If you check out the other video's on the channel, you spot the other 4 from the gig.

In other news, I'm trying to put together a stick choreography at the moment... I'm finding it hard as when I perform it in class and when I practise it I get two entirely different batches of steps. Mind you, it looks fantastic no matter what I do, but it's just oh so difficult to make it stick right now.
It's really doing my head in as I wanted to have this piece done and dusted, but it feels like what I'm doing when I'm practising and when I'm performing it in class are two different songs! Don't know quite how I'm going to get around this as yet, but I've got a long weekend coming up this weekend, so I plan to dedicate a lot of time to this piece and really just get it sorted out.

Quick post

2012-02-11T14:21:00.004+11:00

So, I meant to post so many times over the last four weeks, but somehow life got away from me.

I've started doing yoga on a Monday night... choreography class is back on Tuesdays, dance class on Wednesday (omg did someone say a performance is coming up?) and then hockey with the shiny-jingly-appreciative husband on the weekends.

Posts shortly on all of the above. Stay tuned!

A contradiction in terms

2011-12-31T11:28:00.002+11:00

Before I get into my end of year conundrum I thought I'd open with a big wish that you've all had a happy festive season and that your 2012 is fantabulous no matter how it starts on NYE or how horrible (or good) 2011 was.

"Life is what happens when you start living outside your comfort zone"

Oh, and I have smexy new glasses too. Proof with an appalling webcam shot!.

But... onto my thoughts about a contradiction in terms.
I was put onto the following video of "belly burlesque" by someone on Tumblr:

The commentary posted with the video was:

"I can’t help but rant about this dance. It’s very sexy but very offensive to the belly dance. The way she takes off her close reinforce the idea that anyone who belly dance is equivalent to strippers and it was created an audience, especially male audience for their pleasure. That’s not how the art form began. This dance gives mix signals. I love her outfit but she doesn’t have to take it off to be sexy. She is sexy with her clothes on!"

Reading the info posted with the video on YouTube gives a very different impression of what the video is about:

"Kristina Nekyia performs a burlesque piece with belly dance elements set to Drumspyder's "Nocturnal Stealth of Cats". The performance took place at Leela's "Arabian Summer" event with Kaya and Sadie in August 2009."

Which led me to think that the person who posted the video on Tumblr really got the wrong end of the proverbial stick here. While I agree that the girl in the video is very sexy with her clothes on, it got me thinking about belly fusions (don't worry, we're not going to go over the contentious grounds on tribal fusion here) - specifically belly burlesque.

This is where the contradiction in terms comes in.

Belly dance is a feminine dance which focuses on a clothed yet modest dancer embracing her movement, curves and other female attributes in a very sensual way.
Burlesque is a beautifully saucy dance which focuses on teasing the viewer with the dancer embracing her movement, curves and other female attributes in a very sexual way.

So we've got a fusion here which is sensual yet sexual, modest yet saucy and suggestive.

Sounds like it really shouldn't work. In the eyes of those in the belly world who are trying to separate people's thoughts on bellydance from the "wink wink nudge nudge" of the late 1800's American sideshow ideas which permeated modern culture it really has no place. After all, all dance styles borrow from each other. It's the natural way for a dance to grow and change with the moving times and remain relevant to the people who are experiencing and participating in it.

On the other side of things, burlesque has also taken on new meaning in this new century. Burlesque was the original cabaret show. It was saucy, showy and later in the night a bit more raunchy. However it was still relatively modest with most girls never showing more than a glimpse of naked skin to the audience. Think more The Moulan Rouge / can can girls than Showgirls.

It's one of those fusions which might just remain on the "no go" list until the one and only act which truly shows how it can be done (with no one else ever getting close).

Anyway, I should let you all get back to your days (rather than writing an essay) and go finish cleaning for my group of friends who are gathering here tonight at Chez Kis to celebrate the depature of 2011 and the arrival of 2012. Enjoy however you end this year and see you all next year.

My christmas present to you all

2011-12-20T22:12:00.000+11:00

All my christmas parties came at once last weekend with my work do on Friday night and my dance school one on the Sunday. As with each year, students are invited to perform at the christmas party. The lovely miss V and I did our duet that we've been working on.

It went down a treat. We had a ball performing it and the food we got to eat was even better afterwards!

For those who are interested in viewing the video from the performance - it's up on facebook here (opens in a new window). I haven't gotten to putting it up on YouTube ... feel very unsure about putting it up there... would hate to become the latest internet sensation for the wrong reasons!

Learning to fall and other such wonders

2011-12-14T21:36:00.002+11:00

I feel a little sad. I've finished all my dance classes now for this year. However, there's one final glimmer in the dance schedule for the year - the christmas party!

This year, the performers for the class will be us choreography class students and two group pieces by the beginners and the latin workshop girls. So Sunday is the big day. I will have some video from the performance by V and I to show you all after the day (when I've gotten up the courage to watch it!).

It's been a funny week. I've had to learn how to fall (for the piece on Sunday), have found a need to disconnect from my online social world (it's not really all that social, lets be honest about it), have found that the best inspirational times is when I cannot write anything down and am living in "fear" for what this Friday's work christmas party is going to come up with (beach theme).

Well, at least the world is never boring.

When you think you've tried every road,
Every avenue, Take one more look at what you found old,
And in it you'll find something new
~ One Caress - Depeche Mode

Calm blue bellydance ocean

2011-11-30T20:44:00.001+11:00

It's funny how your brain can get in the way of your body doing what you want it to do.
Yesterday at the choreo class it painfully got in the way.

The piece which V and I are putting together has "the works"^TM. Strong entry, veil, drum solo, zill, matched sections and improv sections. Oh and the track is turkish so it's all done at speed. It's a killer track. I'll post video after we perform it at the dance christmas dinner coming up in 3 weeks.

But I digress. We start the choreo class with presentations and peer review. Usually I warm up the zill (the zill and veil are mine alone, the strong starting is V's, the rest we share) before we get started, but not always. If my mind is clear, it just works for me and it's all good. This week I was rusty and off beat. H commented that maybe it was something on the mind or a heavy weekend which had put me off.

It dawned on me as I wondered off with V to do our practise that it was something on the mind which had taken away my usual great zilling. Something to do with 3 suprise deliveries (so sad when you forget that you've ordered things on ebay or post delivers earlier than expected!), some wins and losses at work and a job offer that you're really not sure you're wanting to take.

I think it was the job offer, but I'm sure the rest didn't help.

New motto - it all goes into the dance and disappears when dancing. It has nothing to do with dance so has no place while dancing is going on. Calm blue bellydancing ocean.

Assistance requested

2011-11-20T22:12:00.001+11:00

So... I'm working on this bra - using Naima's sew along as a guide. But I've hit a point where I need some help. The original plan I had for the bra was to have two layers of beaded fringing. I've put on the first one, put the line on where the second one will go (so i know the area I have to sequin/play with) and when i pin it on, I'm now not sure if it looks good or if it looks Stripper-esque.

So now I ask you. Good? Bad? Other? Please give me your feedback.

The current look of it.

With the second layer of beaded fringe.

Excuse my black shirt under it. I've got some gems to put on the top and wrap in the gold beads/sequins plus another large gem to go between the cups in the centre.

The one where Kis wants to become a gypsy...

2011-11-09T22:23:00.000+11:00

I have found myself being drawn to a particular strain of music of late. I'm sure there's some deep-seated psychological reasoning that could be applied to it all, but you know what... I'm happy to just go with it.

I am being pulled towards gypsy sounding music. Tracks like:
Prenzlauerberg by Beirut

And The Traveller by Rouge Fonce - who are a fantastic local Melbourne band. Sadly the track I've mentioned above isn't available on their site until after Nov 12 (only 3 days away) as they still haven't technically launched the EP it's on yet... But, when it's up, you oh so have to listen to it.

It makes me want to buy fantastically gorgeous skirts like this:

From Velvet Peacock - http://velvetpeacockdesigns.com/gypsy-skirts.html

However, no matter how far this starts to head towards the Tribal side of the belly-world, there's a part of me which still wants to throw some sort of glitz over the top of it all to keep it different (there's another whole psych session in that I'm sure!).

What music is pulling you along by the hair demanding that you listen/dance/pay attention to it right now?

"She was a traveller, a gypsy child, she cast a spell, his heart grew wild..."

Productive weekend

2011-11-06T21:25:00.001+11:00

This weekend was rather productive. Shiny-jingly-appreciative-husband and I went to the shops to buy what we needed to make some curtains for our front room so that we can move into it before we start our renovations.

We came home with what we needed for curtains... and 5 hula hoops from Aldi!!

Photo via Aldi website.

Guess I'm learning how to hoop over summer now... :D Everyone needs a hobby for their summer break!

Best thing about birthdays ...

2011-11-03T19:55:00.001+11:00

The best thing about birthdays ... is the CAKE!

Oh and that you get to eat as much cake as you want!!!

The turkish choreography is coming along really well now. If only I could view the videos sent to me via mms on my phone which were taking from us impro'ing the drum solo section... then I'd be set.

Hopefully should have some video of this over the next 4-5 weeks to show you all what it looks like. :)

Girls Night In, Concert and workshops day 1

2011-10-22T17:38:00.001+11:00

The Girls Night In gig was a really fun night.

Victoria and I had a ball (after a small issue where we couldn't hear the music) getting the guys up. From looking at the video of our performance, we were perfectly in sync. We figure that's a good sign for the turkish piece that we're working on for the bellydance idol class!

The Bozenka concert with Hathor Bellydance was a lot of fun last night. Shiny-jingly-appreciative-husband came along with me (up in Sydney) to see some very beautiful performers. Devi Mamak and the Ghawazi Caravan girls also performend which allowed s-j-a-husband to see what tribal dancers should look like.

Today was the first two workshop sessions with Bozenka. A great "all-in-one" with veil and zill. I needed some more time and practise, but I still had it all together. Just not as well as some of the other girls did. But then again, it was a really mixed group and I wasn't falling behind at all. I had the feet going good and the veil and zill in the right spots. I may not have been as graceful as some, but I do know that I need many repetitions before I really get everything moving right to be really graceful.

The second session was a Shakira inspired workshop. Using her song "Gitana" we used full skirts for a beautiful choreography that we actually picked up so quickly that we spent the last half hour working on beautiful hand movements and learning how to express emotion through our hands. Such a fun piece of music.

Now... I'm sitting in my hotel room with sore hips and an exhausted brain. However, I feel like I've had the best dancing day, even if my brain is trying to tell me that it's really not interested ... in anything.

Tomorrow - earth, air and fire workshop in the morning (drum solo and fan veils), followed by a raks assaya in the afternoon, then off to the airport to get home and see my lovely husband.

Bellydancers overload day 4 of 10

2011-10-20T13:17:00.000+11:00

In the middle of a huge week and a half right now where I have something belly related on every night for 10 days... You could be forgiven for thinking that if I'm still sane at the end if this time, I'll be a dancer for life, but I have a feeling that its already too late for me.

So, why 10 days of belly I hear you ask. Some how, some where, worlds collided and the following occurred:

Monday: rehersal for Thursday's performance (eek! Tonight!) which ended up being a mini performance for a workshop group at the school, rather than a solid working session.

Tuesday: belly dance idol class! Choreography workshop class where you have 5 weeks dedicated time to develop your own piece including peer reviews each week of your work in progress.

Wednesday: class as per 'normal'.

Thursday (today!): show with the beautiful Victoria for the Cancer Council Australia's Girls Night In charity night.

Friday: fly to Sydney to see Bozenka perform with other local dancers.

Saturday / Sunday: workshops with Bozenka.

Monday: rehearsal for belly idol class.

Tuesday: belly dance idol class.

Wednesday: normal belly class.

Thursday: fall down, go boom.

Add on top of that I'm working every business day except Friday on top of that and it looks (and feels) quite full on. Mind you, I'm really loving it all too.

Belly idol class has been the best thing so far this term. We've done two weeks of the five scheduled so far and have really gotten a lot out of it. Victoria and I are putting together this kick-a$$ Turkish piece (Dansoz Dunya by Sezen Aksu). From the first class where we were told that it was 'ok but not what it could be' to really hitting it this last week, it can only get better from here. I am learning a lot about what you can do in a duo that you really can't get away with in a larger group (which appears to be just about everything!).

Will report in tomorrow after tonight's performance.

Inspirational videos

2011-10-02T15:17:00.002+11:00

Two clips, that although I'm not a tribal dancer, I still take a large dose of inspiration from.
Enjoy!

You can tell it's love... and that's not the alcohol talking...

2011-10-01T11:31:00.000+10:00

A picture taken of me and the shiny-jingly-appreciative-husband about a month ago when we took his parents to the Yarra Valley. The photo arrived in email about 10 minutes ago and I just had to share it. The picture was taken at Domaine Chandon cellar door looking out over their vines and the beautiful Yarra Valley.

Australians - you seriously need to go here. It's so pretty.
Non Australians - you oh so need to come to Australia!!

Green bra and belt set!

2011-09-28T20:42:00.002+10:00

Bra

Belt

So... here's the finished set!

Now I've just got to do some pretties on the green and orange skirts to put under it all and I've got a complete set.

I've been looking at the halter straps and I'm thinking that I need to adjust the way they sit so that they are more bra with a strap at the next style, but that can always wait for later.

I'll post a pic of me in it soon - I'll likely wear this for a performance coming up soon - so will even have some in use shots!!!

Sometimes things just turn out right if you wait.

2011-09-19T22:39:00.002+10:00

No pictures of costume... sorry, life has gotten away from me a little.

But in lieu of the pictures - a moment of clarity has appeared today.

I was trying to work out what I was going to do with my classes next term. I had bought 10 yoga classes - which were always on Mondays and Wednesdays, I both wanted and didn't want to go to two classes a week, and I really needed a kick up the perverbials to get those choreo's finished.

The world answered me. All I had to do was wait. Classes are being turned around. Monday's class is being retired, so we'll all be in Wednesdays together with the others. Monday's will now be workshop classes every 2-3 weeks instead and Tuesday's late class will be a choreo assistance class instead for a few weeks!

I still need to take a look at the yoga classes to see if they'll be ok for me to do, but it's looking pretty good. All I had to do was wait.

Pictures of new costume-y goodness next post. I promise.

La Trobe University ISA Ball 2011

2011-09-10T23:18:00.000+10:00

Am probably not going to last much longer awake as I'm so close to crashing after tonight's show. This show is the highlight of our year - the La Trobe University International Student's Association Ball. Sadly not as many people at it this year as last year, but still a fun show to do.

It also forced me to finish off that lovely green costume that I've been making - photos of that to come tomorrow or Monday. However, it wasn't to be for tonight as there was already a green costume and that lovely lass didn't have a different one to wear, so my great orange and purple one got pulled out for the night. Mind you I was *that* close to being able to wear my leopard print one.... *that* close!

Anyway, bed for me. Hope you're weekend is going great too!

The bra... obligatory progress shot

2011-08-25T13:22:00.000+10:00

So... I've been working hard to get this bra completed so that I can focus on some other projects (which I'll talk about in my post tomorrow). As you can see, I've gotten a little way along with both arm straps completely sequin'ed in and the top section of one bra cup done.

Thankfully the bra cups are taking less time than I thought they would, so all going well, I should be able to knock this over this weekend. Well... one bra cup anyway. :)

If you need some reminding of things... here's the belt, and here's what the bra used to look like...

Letters...

2011-08-19T22:35:00.000+10:00

Dear sleep,
Please give me enough tonight to be able to be functioning for all that tomorrow has in store.
Love,
Sleepless down under.

Dear costume project bra,
Please finish yourself.
Cheers,
Loves the work and outcome, yet still would like a fastforward button.

Dear zills,
A gallop goes 1-2-3-rest, 1-2-3-rest ... get with the program. It doesn't make sense that I can play complex and or fast rhythms and yet you escape me.
Regards,
Person who holds the noisy, cat scaring things...

Dear body,
Lets keep off the kilos so that we fit into the Nandi (Firefly tv show) costume for the charity screening next weekend.
Best of luck,
Trying to not eat so much.

Time to get back into things

2011-08-10T20:47:00.000+10:00

After a week and a half of looking at fantastic morning views like the one above, I'm now feeling rather well recovered and ready to get back into things.

I'm wanting to start getting my brain around some of the dance stuff where it's been not so great - better with my feet for some of the tricky steps we have done in class, get back on my zilling practise, and oh... choreography for my tracks which I want to do. That's perhaps the most difficult bit.

Always something to work on. I feel like I know what I'm doing, but I just can't get it going in practise. One of those speed humps.

First however, I need food. Pizza it is!

The return of Kis

2011-07-19T13:47:00.000+10:00

So... 3 weeks no post huh. Bet that you've not wondered where I was...

Well, on the odd chance that you had, I've actually had a combination of:
- insanely busy at work and
- in hospital for surgery and then recovery at home

So while this has all gone on, the world kept moving (strangely) and now I'm back!! Feeling a bit sore from the surgery still, but raring to get back into things.

The few weeks off the world that I've had has been really great for energising my brain back into dance mode. It's also helped kick a few of the ideas which I had back into life too.

So... more dance, more pretties, more life. Live what you've got.

"Egyptian Ella"

2011-06-21T21:44:00.000+10:00

This video which I share with you is from the weekend just gone.
It is of my teacher Azura dancing to the Cairo Club Orchestra's "Egyptian Ella" at a local carnival.

Best thing ever about this piece... we're learning it. You can't imagine my glee about doing this. Imagine a small child bouncing on the spot all hyped up on red cordial and multiply that by 100 and you're getting close. :D

Improvisation

2011-06-08T21:17:00.000+10:00

And now for some bellydance news.

A few weeks back I attended a workshop on improvisation hosted by Kristen from Arabesque Bellydance. It was a really great workshop which was more about overcoming the inner blocks which stop us being able to express ourselves fully in dance and also learning how to put on "faces" to let us express other things in our dance too.

After the workshop was done, as what I'd learned started to sink in, it got me thinking about who I am as a dancer.

Here are a few of my thoughts...
- I am bold and dramatic
- I allow others to see how I see/hear the music playing

It was really interesting to do the workshop and start thinking about all of this.
What sort of dancer or person are you?

Anniversary

2011-06-07T08:00:00.001+10:00

2 years ago, I married someone who appreciates me, listens to me, buys me pretties and means the absolute world to me.

I love you so much. xox

I Believe in Installation Art

2011-05-25T20:51:00.001+10:00

This piece of installation art at the end of my street is somewhat well timed.

What do you believe in?

I believe that I'm doing the right thing by dancing my own dance.
I believe in me and all that I do.
I believe that there is goodness in everyone, but that you need to know when to stop digging for it.
Oh, and I believe in love (especially that which ties me to my jingly-shiny-appreciative-husband).

What do you believe in?

Axe lady has an axe...

2011-05-16T22:33:00.000+10:00

In something non dance related for a change, I was just flipping back through some old photos when I came across this picture from a photoshoot that I did with the lovely Miss Monika. There was a variety of themes shot on the day, this one taken from one of the few "in the moment" themes that we came up with.

Seeing as it's not quite obvious from this particular shot - my darling jiingly-shiny-appreciative-husband is being held up (by his arms and legs) underneath the axe by four rather fetching ladies.

Suffice to say, I can be trusted with an axe, and D was not complaining for the four girls who had a hold of him...

Wings - redux

2011-05-07T17:57:00.000+10:00

Week 2 of wings choreo leaves me feeling only slightly less ungainly than week one. Slightly more in control of the arm movements (and my shoulders aren't screaming at me in quite the same way anymore), however, I still feel like I'm Jackie Chan spinning his way through a room full of bad guys when it comes to the spins! This may be because we've got 8 of us in a smallish space... but I know this will get better as we all improve.

At the moment I'm trying to perfect the "barrel" spin which is in this video at around the 0:38 mark...

More practise is required. More spins, more wings... more space... I need to clean up my house a little so that I have enough space for the wings. Or get up enough courage and clothing to head out in to the cool autumn days and practice in the car park at the back of the house.

Flying high...

2011-05-01T19:14:00.000+10:00

So... new term, new challenges.
This term, the intermediate class is tackling isis wings. Strangely enough, we sounded like a bunch of small kids with practise swords - *crack* *crack* as we attempted our best to learn to do spins and barrel turns with the wings in a small confined space (and the class is no where near the size it was last term, so I'm worried how we're going to go if they all come back to class).

Wings have highlighted one small issue with my technique - I'm scared of multiple turn spins. Scared of getting dizzy, of not being able to get around quick enough and of being able to spot properly.

Advanced class hasn't started yet (tomorrow), so the only other thing on the run is the choreography that V and I are putting together. We're going Turkish and dramatic and different to the neater more conservative styling which we do in class. All the ideas we've got are really great and it's going to look fantastic!

hoops of fire

2011-04-12T21:54:00.001+10:00

So... they say in life that everything happens for a reason. I am prepared to accept this as I like to learn from what life throws at me (even if the lesson is "don't do that again")...

This post is my apology to the readers who've been waiting for my next update here.
The apology is for being dragged away into the real world due to some very real things happening that I'm not quite prepared yet to talk about on here.

It is also a promise that a post is on it's way shortly, so please stick with me. Online life will resume soon. :)

Oh and to post a picture of the card which arrived today... which in a funny way describes real life and also brought a smile to my face - as much for the image as for the words which the card contained. ;)

Costume!

2011-03-22T21:00:00.001+11:00

Hellllo late March!!

Time has been getting away from me with all the different, strange and exciting things going on around here. While there are a few projects which I can't talk about yet, I do have some good news for you all on the costume that has been in the works for a while now...

THE BELT IS DONE!!

And to prove it, here's some photos of it:

The Front

The Back

On "Vera" with a skirt (bad colours due to no flash on my camera phone)

The panels have 4 gold sequin and bead appliques across them, around them is sequined in green with green beads. Then dropping from the bottom is two layers of green and orange beads and discs. I'd love to say that this took no time, but it was a true labour of love.
Each of the three panels was one series of a tv show, and the beading was many episodes of Chuck.

The bra is still a work in progress, although it is actually in progress (unlike some other projects which are on hold). It still may take me a few more weeks to finish it, but I want to get this done so that I have one less project on the run.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-03-07T21:30:00.000+11:00

I've decided that the gig I was going to take on I'm not going to do anymore (unless things change back against the current flow). The gig was with another bellydancer who's done more time around the scene who wants to do fire-dance stuff. Some belly work, some not. She wants to go to the heavier side of music, almost metally. Earth metal sorta if you really need to pigeon-hole it.

The current flow is heading towards something really different for me. Still belly, still dancing, just something else new coming on. More on that soon (promise I won't forget to tell you about this).

Gig coming up on the weekend after the one coming. We're the last act on a community event stage. Really looking forward to it. Have a friend taking photos of it so I can share some with you all.

Awesome.

2011-02-21T22:39:00.000+11:00

Life has been very busy of late. Classes have started back - Monday advanced, Wednesday Intermediate and an open class on Saturdays (in place of Zumba). Plus work has gotten really busy, so apologies on the lack of updates here.

But today has been full of the awesome, so I needed to post about it.

Where to start... but with a picture:

Taken at the Domaine Chandon winery in the Yarra Valley. That's me and my totally adorable jingly-appreciative-husband on the grass overlooking the grapes and the Yarra Valley ranges in the background. From our weekend (or day) away back in January. I only got to going through the photos last weekend, so I thought I would post one here.

We've got two shows coming up. Sadly, I can only make one of them - but that doesn't matter. But from the work we did tonight - OMG is it going to be awesome. Many tracks all melded together over a 18 minute epic show piece. Including double veils, latin fusion, bollywood inspired interpretation on a classic egyptian piece, and some beautiful belly-work too. Oh and improvisation... I oh so need to work on my improv.

Another piece of awesome - a friend of mine just had her second baby on the weekend. A bouncing baby boy.

I got an awesome letter in the mail which made me laugh (and got glitter on me, even though none of us know where the glitter came from...).

A friend of mine is returning to town tomorrow on her birthday and there will be dinner.

This blog got an award from the Guide to Art Schools for being one of the top 30 belly dance blogs. Look! Shiny purple star!

And shiny-jingly-appreciative-husband made the most delicious canelloni for dinner. Oh. So. Yum.

You've got mail! And other such happy things.

2011-02-01T20:34:00.000+11:00

If you remember a short while back, I posted an offer to exchange real mail with any of you who read this. Last weekend, I received the first spoils of this great idea. It was a card from the gorgeous Namia!

And she even put a fantastic stick figure belly dancer drawing of herself in the inside!!! I was grinning bigger than a Cheshire cat!

If this makes you think about taking part - feel free to comment here and I'll happily trade a letter, card or postcard with you!

And in other news of things which have made me smile this last week:

Week off work!!!
Trip to the Yarra Valley to relax in a little B&B and by wine tasting.
Unexpected certificate of appreciation from the organisers of the Myer Christmas Parade arriving (at first class back for this term yesterday)
First class back for the term - with a different style of class which is really fantastic.

Videos

2011-01-23T08:21:00.000+11:00

For those who've been hanging out to see my first solo from back in December, the video has been sorted out and is now up on facebook.

Here's a link to the video (open in a new window). If you're not on facebook, fear not - it's available without a login.

There's three other videos on the same page (here) if you'd like to see the other performances and feel free to like our facebook page if you'd like to do so while you're there!

I still feel a little odd about the video. It's great to see it, but I'm not sure that I want to watch it again myself... Anyway, now I'm off to some wineries for the day with my shiny-jingly-appreciative-husband after a delicious breakfast at a friend's cafe.

Have a great day!

Doors

2011-01-18T22:10:00.000+11:00

They say that doors open when opportunity knocks.

I've also heard it put that when you've got a positive outlook that great things come your way. I don't know what it is, but I've been working on a few things in the background since Easter last year and maybe, just maybe it might all be coming together. I don't want to say just yet what's going on, but when things are a bit more solid, I'll write it up.

In the mean time...

Beating the bully

2011-01-10T21:47:00.001+11:00

The darling Miss Twist posted this fantastic "2am pep talk" which really struck a chord with me. The line in particular which stuck with me is :

The voice we keep being told we have to silence isn’t an inner critic at all. Its our inner bully.

Many of us listen to the wrong voice in our head. As women and dancers - we believe what we've grown up being told - what the perfect person should look like, what's in, what's out of fashion. Even men are not immune to the noise of the inner bully.

For some, removing the influence causing the inner bully is enough. Others need to go a bit further and realise that they are worthwhile and that what they are doing is beautiful - be it art, dance, or even just existing. We should support anyone who is working to remove their inner bully. Remember that sometimes it's the little things that you don't think mean much that may help shift someone to listening to their critic (who, lets be honest about it, is a lot easier to handle).

Miss Twist and I, March 2007

To give credit where it's due - Miss Twist is the reason I started bellydance. She wanted to try it out and I went with her. She has a brilliance for words that I don't think she realises she contains sometimes.

Oh and while I'm thinking about it - if you were interested in participating in a real post exchange, it's not too late! Send me an email to kismetdoll at gmail dot com and we'll exchange details.

... and then all of a sudden bing! a light went on inside ...

2011-01-05T20:55:00.000+11:00

So, new years eve was a ball for me. Nice new corset (made by shiny-jingly-appreciative husband D) and skirt to be worn (made by me), my new Tuk mary-janes all ready to go. But somewhere through the night something happened - I had a revelation! Before I tell you my revelation though, let me set the scene for you.

NYE Outfit

We had two events planned - one we had paid to go to was a Steampunk (definition) affair. Very pretty costumes and nice acts. A couple of them were ATS/ITS bellydancers who, although really good dancers, I was left feeling disappointed from. They weren't really anything to write home about, although technically they were very well done.

The second event was a paid DJ'ing gig at a favourite club of mine. The level of the club I was dj'ing on is a alternative retro floor. This music is my heart (the part that's not dedicated to the shiny-jingly anyway). Unfortunately the DJ booth and bar though do not get any aircon on them at all. Even worse, we'd just had a 38C day and it hadn't really cooled off by 1am when we hit the club, so it was a STINKER inside. I had taken a singlet top with the thought that if my (gorgeously well fitting and comfortable) corset got too warm to wear, I could change into that. But with the warmth, it was too hot to even wear that top. I ended up just running around the DJ booth in my bra and skirt! Good thing I remembered to wear a nice bra huh! The bar staff were my inspiration as they were all dressed about the same!!

Now, onto the revelation that I had on new years eve... Somewhere along the line, I have developed a dancers body!!

Proof!

Where the f*ck did that come from?!?!?! I don't remember doing anything which would cause such lithe niceness as the above!

I'm not going to complain for having altered my body as much as I have, I think this is a most fantastic thing, but it kind of took me by surprise when the other DJ on just about fell over when I took off my top (I heard about her reaction from D) and there was an increased number of gentlemen coming up to "request a song"...

Oh and for those who were curious - that's my shiny-jingly-appreciative husband in that bottom photo there with me. He was being a "Steamed Punk" for the night. I love the way his hair came out for the night.

Post - real post

2010-12-30T21:11:00.000+11:00

This christmas period has made me realise something.

I like receiving real letters.

Not just an email from someone or even as far as a 10 page opus, but cards, short notes. Something hand written. I figure others have this same like as well.

So. Here's my idea. Most of you who read my blog are not in Australia. Who'd like to do a card swap? I'll find something here and forward it to you, and you do the same over to me. It could be something silly, something funny, or even serious. Your call. The act of sending and receiving the mail is the important part. Light up a day.

If you're interested - drop me a note here and we can use email to exchange details.

Got a few things boiling away here in the background in costumes, new years outfit plans and dancing (even if I did miss Zumba tonight). Will post more on them in the coming days and will even complete the 12 days of cider too (for those of you waiting to hear what the other 9 were like).

Christmas

2010-12-26T21:29:00.000+11:00

I really enjoyed Christmas this year. I think the lack of travelling requirements may have had something to do with it, amoungst other happy things.

The only thing with "snow" on it anywhere...

Now that Christmas has passed, it's time to clear the decks for visitors, then New Years and lots of dancing between the two.

For those of you who celebrate anything at this time of year, I hope you enjoy your celebration.

Now that I have some time to myself, pictures of the new costumes coming this way soon!

Found: one ring of fire

2010-12-24T08:09:00.000+11:00

"I fell into a burning ring of fire, went down down down as the flames got higher, it burns burns burns the ring of fire, the ring of fire..." - the wonderful Johnny Cash singing of how his love and passion felt for him.

I think we I forget from time to time how much my body loves and needs to dance. Well, while I'm dancing anyway. I've taken the past week off to help get the house ready for the festival of food, family and visitors and I'm feeling the lack of movement in me!

Funny how bodies work sometimes!

First Solo!!

2010-12-14T22:13:00.000+11:00

Friday night was our Christmas dinner for our school. It was only a small group - about 16 of us - at a Turkish restaurant not too far from my house. The idea was that we had a friend of our teacher's perform for us (for the second year running) as she dances at that place (amongst a few others). We usually add one or two other performances from the advanced students. This year in the other performances there was our teacher, one of the long term students who's been with the school for near on 10 years and ... *drum roll* ME!

I got to wear one of the two new costumes that I purchased on Wednesday - a gorgeous purple and orange one. I've got no photos (that I know of), although one of the girls was nice enough to video it for me on my camera. I'll post the video soon - it requires a little editing first before I can post it for you all to view. I ended up dancing infront of the rest of the girls and also about 4-5 other couples who were eating in the restaurant and came over to see who was dancing to the music. It was rather exciting.

It's been a good couple of days. Can't wait to see where all this leads to next!!! Pictures of my oh-so-great-new-costumes soon... One more bit of fixing and then I'll be able to do a bit of show and tell :D

Goals revisited - again!

2010-12-10T18:08:00.003+11:00

So I thought to keep reviewing the goals I set back here and here to see how far I've come and work out where I'm heading. As I have actually succeeded in some of the goals, or had some of them become less important, I've cut down the list of goals to what was still being worked on or still important to these:

1. To attempt a construct a choreography to one of a half dozen tracks I've been listening to.
So... I've got about 4 more tracks... and 4 half done choreos. And I came up with a new one today on the trip to work... I'm getting better at working out what to put where, so maybe there's a possibility that this one might come off the list soon!

2. More zill practise.
This is one I'm definitely getting better at. I have been doing some improv zilling in our Wednesday Intermediate class with this pretty classical Egyptian piece that is soft and pretty and very literal to the music. It's got me feeling more and more confident with the sound that they can make and getting better with the timing of the zill to my feet and other movements.

3. Work on getting further definition between sharp and soft movements to really get them looking nice.
This is coming along nicely too. The more I practise, the better it'll get with time.

4. Finish the costume I've been working on.
Well... ummm.... I've done a little more... Mind you, I've also just bought two more and have found a way to refresh one of my old ones which isn't as good quality as the others... so it might be done soon.... maybe....

5. Learn more about the drum beats and instruments used in the music and about the theory behind it all. Maybe even learn to play some of the tunes on the various instruments in the house.
Someone put an idea in my head - gypsy music played on a piano or violin... I'm going to get to this over summer... along with the costume, choreographies and practise while class is not on... Feel like I might be overcommitting though, so this may wait until I have nothing else I'm able to do.

This feels good, although I feel my goals are changing. Here's my idea on where my goals are going now.

1. Choreographies - the solos and duos.
2. Keep practising my technique to make my moves look better and like it really is easy.
3. Costumes - although this is lower priority with having the new ones (pictures soon!!)
4. Practise my presence while dancing.

I've got my first solo performance tonight. I'm still a little worried about remembering the steps (although my last lot of practises tonight have had it being ok) and it's only infront of the other girls at the school at our christmas party, so it's not so bad. Probably the best place really to do your first as there's nothing but love from the audience for what you do. Hopefully I should be able to get a video of it (that I'm not sure I'll want to watch), but if it's half decent, I'll find a way to show you all.

On the third day of cider

2010-12-09T21:38:00.002+11:00

On the third day of Christmas, cider gave to me, a brut traditionnel from France, a strawberry and lime cider, and a Genesis cider made from apple trees.

Cidre Breton - Brut Traditionnel!

This cider is apple made from trees grown under the skies of Brittany, France. It's certainly different to the other ciders which I've tasted, it's sweet and strong ("full bodied" is how one website describes it). It's very cloudy in colour and actually has a small amount of sediment on the bottom. I found with this one that if I had some mineral water to drink it with, I would have found it a lot nicer. It was a tad strong in flavour for me. Still, not a bad drop.

4th cider review in a few days. If you want to read the previous reviews, click on the particular day in the song at the top of the post!

Me? Graceful? Huh!

2010-12-08T21:34:00.001+11:00

In an earlier post on dance goals, I commented that I was getting better at one of my goals. Specifically: To learn to be more graceful and light on my feet when I dance.

On Saturday, after Zumba, I ducked down the street with our teacher and a few other students to have a coffee and a chat between our teacher's two Zumba classes (there's a flamenco class in the middle of them). After stretching out my arms upwards while we were sitting still, the girl turned to me and laughingly said: "You even stretch gracefully! I was watching you in class as you were doing the moves really well and looked really graceful in how you move!". It was really great to hear as I've been trying to be more graceful - even in situations like Zumba. I guess it's good that some of the stuff I've been trying to (like relaxing) while dance is actually starting to pay off when it comes to looking like it's no effort to move.

Sky Walk at Mt Tambourine, just outside the Gold Coast, Qld.

Feels good to be actually getting close to achieving my goals. Might have to drag them out again soon and refresh them. It's been nearly 6 months since they were last aired! I wonder which of the others I'm close to achieving too.

On the 2nd day of cider...

2010-12-07T20:11:00.001+11:00

On the second day of Christmas, cider gave to me, strawberry and lime cider, and a Genesis cider made from apple trees.

A glass of Rekorderlig Strawberry and Lime Cider,
sitting right beside the bottle.

The second cider selected from the fridge is a Swedish import by the name of Rekorderlig. I am not new to the Rekorderlig cider as I have tasted their pear cider previously whilst enjoying an afternoon at a local bar. But never had I the nerve to try this variation of strawberry and lime.

I must admit that it wasn't quite to my tastes. While I enjoyed the balanced favours of the strawberry and lime, I found it overall just a little too sweet for my tastes. It's a bottle that I'd have one of, but not more than that in one drinking afternoon.

3rd cider review to come soon as I'm about to crack the lid on cider 4 and I don't want to fall too far behind! If you want to read the previous reviews, click on the particular day in the song at the top of the post!

The Myer Christmas Parade 2010

2010-12-05T18:34:00.000+11:00

On looking back over my blog, it dawns on me that I never reviewed the Christmas Parade! We had an absolute ball doing the parade. The day was raining pretty strongly, so we were making plans on how to dance without wearing the awful clear plastic coveralls that we were offered by using umbrellas in one hand and our veils in the other! But as things turned out, the rain cleared 10 minutes before the parade and stayed away until 10 mintues after it was all done.

2010 Myer Christmas Parade

It was a hard trip down the street, made even worse by the wet ground being picked up by our costumes - which included sand from the trams being happily deposited on our feet and into our shoes by our costumes. You could see the water line in the costumes if you were really paying attention! My orange costume got another wearing as you can see from the picture above (which was also my image over in The Belly Whisperer's "Why Should We Care?" interview).

The kids are what make the parade really great. Watching some of them fiercely waving at everyone just hoping that someone might wave back is just cute. We also got a few minute feature on the TV special which was aired last night (which I've taped of course!!).

Shoes worn in the Myer Parade drying in my bathtub.

All of our costumes got a very good wash afterwards. The shoes (pictured above) are still sitting in an undecided world of if I keep them or trash them. They were only cheap - bought deliberately for the parade as you really do need covered toes to walk that far down the street - and I didn't want to lose part of a toe nail again like I did in 2009.

Some more costumes are on their way to us from Cairo at the moment, and I've got my eye on a second hand one. There goes my christmas bonus this year! Pictures of those beauties when they fall into my hands... There might even be a reason to wear one of them one more time before christmas. ;)

The 12 days of cider

2010-12-01T21:20:00.001+11:00

On the first day of Christmas, cider gave to me - 1 bottle of Genesis made from apple trees.

In a moment of (apparent) sheer brilliance, I have enough bottles of different brands and types of cider in my fridge to do a 12 days of Christmas cider. So for each of these ciders, I will post a review and a picture... and even try to keep to the pretty ditty that someone wrote many moons ago.

Genesis Cider - pictured with my husband's bottle of Beez Neez

This first of 12 happens to be the best cider I think I've ever tasted. Even more shocking was when pretty-shiny-appreciative-husband had a sip (and I do mean a small sip) and then proceeded to take a full swallow of cider!! He really doesn't like cider, except for this one.

It's very dry and soft. If you just happen to read the label on the back, it happily proclaims to have "NO ADDED SUGAR". Which, on tasting it, Is thoroughly believable. The only really sad thing about this particular cider is that it's so easy to drink that all of a sudden you find yourself clutching an empty bottle wondering where all it all went.

Oh and on the question of where to get it (in Australia) - Dan Murphy's. :)

So... there is the cider of day one. Day two soon. More bellydance news coming shortly - as soon as I confirm something exciting (and terrifying all at once)!

Mummified

2010-11-23T21:26:00.000+11:00

It's quite bemusing... my two classes a week are radically separated in the style which we're working with.

In one class - we are doing a classical Egyptian piece. It involves classic lines and zill "highlights" to really show off the beauty of the piece.
In the other - we're putting together something fantastically theatrical.

The theatrical one involves hard joints, awkward movements and slumped posture (shock!!). It has elements which "run" at the audience, which will make you laugh at the fact it isn't what you were expecting but that it still works oh so well. Oh and the choreography is both fully done and completely open all at the same time.

The music is catchy for both pieces and they're both a lot of fun. The theatrical piece almost seems easier, although the classical piece means that I'm working on my arabesque steps (which I'm really not that fantastic at - my balance is all wrong).

Anyway, I don't know if there's a point to this post other than to go OMG polar opposites! So, let me finish here with - this won't be the last you'll hear about the theatrical piece... if my intuition is correct, then we'll be performing it soon and I'll be able to tell you more about what the piece is all about... other than what's in the title here anyway ... :)

Dance!

2010-11-08T22:22:00.001+11:00

Sunday was the Fawkner Festival. It's only the 4th year that the festival has run, and it still draws a local crowd, but they're good sports when it comes to an interactive display.

Some crowd improvisation before starting the workshop

We did a choreography piece, and then a small spot of crowd interaction before bringing people up with hipscarves for a workshop. A lot of people got up to try including a lot of the little children. It was so cute wrapping them up in the scarves twice around!!

After the belly show, we had 15 minutes (less by the time we finally got to the green room) to get changed and run back to the stage to do a zumba demonstration!
Again, we tried to get people up, but they were less interested in Zumba as it seemed scary and energetic! It was a fantastic show though as the crowd gave some great feedback to us while we were performing.

In my zumba outfit

I'm also feeling more calm now about doing some solo work during the Myer Christmas Parade this coming Saturday. One of the other girls in the group at the Fawkner show commented that she's seen my dancing improve significantly since I've started performing, which was great to hear! She also gave me some good tips to help me with doing the improv solo work for the parade too. The best of which was to pick 3-4 movements which you can fall back onto when your brain goes west. That way you've always got something which you can dress up/down depending on the speed of the music.

The show smile...

2010-11-01T21:30:00.000+11:00

A question for you all out there... how do you get into practise for "keeping face" during a performance? Specifically - the cheesy grin. It's the one thing I'm really not doing great at in the few performances I've done of late. I keep getting it and losing it and then remembering to smile again.

I don't think it helps that I don't like the look on my face when I'm not really smiling. Which probably doesn't help.

Do any of you have any tips/tricks for getting a cheesy grin going?

I should be doing something else

2010-10-28T20:22:00.001+11:00

But instead, I'm putting a quick post down here.

Over the next two weeks, I've got three performances written down. One is at the shop, doing a "window" performance as groups of people are toured down the street to look at the community groups and shops. The second is a "closed street" community party for a nearby suburb that we've got a stage spot at and the third is my most favourite and most feared event.

Myer Christmas Parade

It's quite possibly the most difficult show you can do. 45 - 60 minutes of non stop dancing in the full sun with no chance to stop and have a drink, sit in the shade or go to the toilet (not that you want to do that until like 2 hours after the show when you've drank half of the water in the local region).

Me at the 2009 parade

Mind you - it's also one of the most fun. To give you an idea - it's like a miniature version of the Macey's Thanksgiving parade in the USA. People line up behind fences along the side of the street for 5 blocks of the city to watch Santa and other floats of community groups and famous people ride down the street.

Need to build up the stamina for this as at the moment, I'm not sure I could do 45 minutes straight while keeping my face, poise and use the beautiful veil that we'll be throwing around this year...

Zumba!

2010-10-09T18:15:00.000+11:00

So. Today I tried that hot new fitness phase that will almost inevitably go the way of step aerobics in about 5 years - Zumba!

I must admit, I like it!

My belly teacher has taken it on at the studio and quite a few of the girls have signed on for the classes. It's quite a lot of fun. You get great "caffeinated" world dance music (primarily latin based, but all variations on this) and easy to follow steps. It runs in waves of high energy moves that get the blood pumping and low phases where you cool off a bit before beginning the next rise.

I'd heard from a few friend's who'd tried it, that you really need a dance teacher leading the class, not an aerobics instructor, and I can see why. It's dance aerobic activity, not aerobic movements.

All of this has coincided with the start of a new life plan for me. I've put on some unwanted weight, but I don't want to put myself into a routine that will be hard to keep up long term. I need to change what and when I eat, and what I'm doing for exercise. I'm not in my 20s any more (by enough years) and the lithe thin body I used to have just doesn't quite deal with the world in the same way anymore. So really, I need to start changing a few old habits.

This is phase 1. Bellydance classes x 2 per week, 1-2 Zumba classes (depending on how much time I get), 3 minutes per day on the ab circle pro machine (5-6 days per week) and eating less at dinner, more at breakfasts to help get the energy levels and food amounts better managed.

That's the plan. The bellydance classes are a no-brainer, the food will be the hardest part (with cooking for the two of us) and the 3 minutes on the ab machine might get a little old after the first time it really hurts... but I'm going to give it my best.

"What am I" ... Wednesday

2010-10-06T20:48:00.000+11:00

I don't always follow memes that go around, but this one has me interested. Especially after the hand wrenching that went into writing the last post here. :)

Following a posting from A Little Bit of Kaos's post... here's mine (click through to check out her what am I).

What am I watching ...
Currently I am in the middle of watching old Season 2 Goodies and trying to keep up with Season 1 Deadwood. Trying to keep up = Shiny-obsession-supporting-husband is watching it and I'm not catching all the episodes...

What am I reading ...
Richard Morgan's Woken Furies It's the third (and last :( ) in the Takeshi Kovacs novels. Cyberpunk and mind bending and the best read I've been recommended so far. Behind that, I've got three other books all lined up and ready to go. Never without a book :)

What am I listening to ...
A mixture of bellydance music - both for choreo's for class and stuff that I'm thinking to build myself and my usual eclectic mix of pop, goth, alt and retro.

What am I making ...
Too many things if you ask shiny-obsession-supporting-husband. Currently on the go in various states of distress - a 4 season knitted wool jumper, a shiny bellydance outfit (skirt, belt, bra), a crochet'ed "something" that has never really taken form...

What am I playing ...
Actually don't have any games on the go right now. The itouch has backgammon loaded on it, but that's really about all.

What am I cooking ...
Dinner! Actually, that's already done. There's thoughts about making cupcakes though for extra daily noms this week though.

What am I wearing ...
From the bottom up - cushy red Peter Alexander slippers, my UK socks - black with bright red stars, my grey&white skulls half slip, a grey skirt for bumping round the house, purple and black fine stripy top... oh and a smile ;)

If you want to join in, pop over to A Little Bit of Kaos and pop your name on the list!

Slaying the dragon

2010-10-03T19:59:00.000+11:00

When fear stares us in the face, our only real option is to pick up our sword and slay a dragon. Any other action leaves us feeling smaller than we really are.

From The Emotional Aspects of Learning Bellydance (opens in a new window)

Me @ 2009 Myer Christmas Parade.

The link above got me thinking. It's true. We all have our moments while we're learning. And even when you think you've beaten it, it comes back and slaps you upside your head and makes you re-evaluate everything. One day you're all with it... the next you've got two left hips and can't string together a shimmy to save your feet.

Getting past insecurities is difficult. I sometimes wonder if we ever truly do.

Have you slain your dragons or got stories of battles won?

Stepping up to the ball.

2010-09-09T22:32:00.000+10:00

On Saturday, I'm stepping up as a dancer. And I'm only partially nervous about it right now.

One of the university's International Student Associations annual ball is on this Saturday and we're performing. Small group of six, including our teacher (and me!!!). 4-5 minutes of choreography then 10+ minutes of crowd interaction improv.

The choreography I know will be good. The more I push myself when I practise, the better my body remembers what it needs to do and the more relaxed and soft I can appear to be while dancing the piece.

What has me a little nervous is the crowd interaction. I know my moves, I know what to and what not to do, but as I've never actually done it before, it's a small hurdle to overcome. The girls are being really great about it (as everyone has been the 'green' kid once) and I will team up with one of them until I feel confident enough to step out on my own. The offer is even there to change around between the girls if there is time!

Another rehearsal tomorrow, then performance on Saturday. I'm excited about what this means for me and my skills as a dancer. It's so fantastic. Next update - after it's all over. Hopefully I'll even have a picture or two!

Click!

2010-09-02T22:49:00.000+10:00

The intermediate class is 3 weeks into a new piece.
It's a very technical piece, with a very high potential for slapstick, classical moves and some power-bellydance. Oh and that's all in the first 4 movements of the choreography!

I didn't like the piece. Well, maybe the better way to put it was that I wasn't enjoying the piece. I was enjoying dancing, but I found it all very difficult.

Something went click during last night's class and all of a sudden, I love the piece and the music. I don't know exactly what it was that made the difference, but it happened.
You can tell that it's a real like for the dance as I've just spent the last 10 minutes singing the song and dancing the steps infront of a very confused cat who thought I was suppose to be giving her head butts and scritches rather than humming a tune and moving towards and away from her....

Me? A Versatile Blogger? Fancy!

2010-08-31T20:01:00.000+10:00

I was a tad surprised when I was reading my dancing blogs the other day to see that I'd be nominated as a "versatile blogger" by lovely Roxy over at Shimmies, Sequins & Slippers (ta!!!).

So, after the initial shock, I figured I should put aside the half written blog entry that I was about to work on further and do the polite thing when nominated - follow the bouncing ball.

Nomination Conditions:

(*) Thank whoever gave you the award

(*) Share seven things about yourself

(*) Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs

(*) Let your nominees know about the award

So, lets see...

I had never thought of doing any sort of formalised dance training before starting dance two years ago now. I was always the musician, never the dancer (well, except when out at clubs and that involves alcohol so doesn't seem quite so foreboding!)
I tend to surprise people with how far my interests reach. I DJ, bellydance, love hot rods and the rodding scene in Australia (had one built for me for my wedding by my lovely and ok-with-me-purchasing-sparkly-shiney-things husband!), work in IT (one of the boys), sew and knit and help out with putting on punk and rockabilly band gigs and doing sound stuff at them.
Being that I reside in the alternatively cultured side of the world, I find that I don't own an awful lot of colour that isn't black ... or red. Except in my dance costumes, belts and veils. My veils are in reds, oranges and my current favourite is yellow and green. My belts range in a similar bunch of colours and my favourite (new!) costume is bright orange.
I'm currently knitting what is shortly to become a "4 season jumper". That is, as of about 8 weeks time, summer season icehockey starts for the 2010/2011 season. I started this jumper in the winter season of 2009... :S
I was brought up to believe in myself and that I could do anything I wanted to. This has brought out a bit of a rebellious streak in me where by I don't tend to like doing anything which is considered the "normal" thing for me to do. Not that that seems to stop me from being a "sheep" from time to time (everyone needs to conform at some points in time).
Before my now darling hubby and I got together, we had the same conversation in the same club (which ran yearly) two years in a row. We were introduced by the same person and none of us remembered, nor put it together that this had happened from until after we started dating (I still maintain it was because he had long black hair that I wasn't interested...)
I have two gorgeous middle-aged cats. I got both of them as kittens. My boy cat was the runt of the litter (not that most people believe me when they see the size of him now!) and my girl cat is a cat who is perfectly graceful - until she's not.

Nomination time... Lets see how I go for blogs...

I can't quite get to 15 sadly. But definitely check out the ones on this list, as these people inspire me in one way or another to keep doing what I'm doing.

An update

2010-08-23T20:55:00.000+10:00

Oh my have the last few weeks been all over the place.

Dance stuff is going really well. I've hit another learning block, but I can feel how good the moves I have working right now are going. Most of the learning block is around slow expressive taqsim style movements. Slow hand turns, snake arms (not the basic movement but combining and modifying the movement within an expressive section of music) and other similar things. I have the basic movements and can hear the motion in the music that I want to catch, but just need to practise getting things timed right, sequences falling together nicely (no jumping awkwardly between movements) and looking right. Some of the looking right is actually more the impression given out by the dancer than a precise "this is the motion" sort of thing that just comes with practise and time.

Getting some good feedback which is fantastic and now it's just a matter of finding time to complete a little more work on one of my pieces so that I can get some feedback from my teacher and one of the girls in the advanced class who's offered to help me with my piece (in return for me video'ing one of my practise sessions so that she can get the steps for the choreography down).

I'm really loving class and the girls right now. Although, that said, I'm glad I didn't have class tonight. I had a job yesterday (with my shiney-sparkly-habit-appreciative-husband) doing sound engineering / stage work for two bands at Manifest. My body is feeling a little exhausted and sore from lugging around gear (mic stands, rolls of cables, foldback speakers) and running up and down the side of the stage to move objects (chairs/stands/keyboards) on and off stage. Very fun day though.

Planning a holiday away soon. Looking forward to getting away from the freezing cold weather down here. Mind you, by the time the holidays roll around, it will be warmer down here, but at the moment, the thought of a holiday up on a beech in the north is making the world a little warmer.

Inspiration of a different source

2010-08-01T19:19:00.000+10:00

On Saturday, I went to show my teacher my "new" costume (the one I bought in Sydney) so that I could get a new veil and be able to use the costume in the next show at the end of this term. It's quite funny how different two tone veils look when against a costume on the ground versus how they look when you're in the costume and throwing the veil around!

I found a new veil. Gorgeous orange and black. It looks dramatic against the costume and while there are a few black costumes in the groups, it will also blend in nicely with the other colours. As I was heading off, my teacher gave me a second veil. It was lemon yellow and lime green. Very summery and definitely also went nicely with the orange costume. It had a few marks on it that you'd never notice while watching a performance, but that look to be easy to take out. She told me it was for all the hard work I've been putting in. :)

This, of course, has given me a little extra inspiration to practice and get better at dance.
It's funny how the little things often mean so much.
Here's a picture of all three of my veils. Freshly washed and dried (and even had an iron run over them to take out any creases!).

Ask and you shall receive...

2010-07-26T21:38:00.000+10:00

Sometimes you need to be reminded of the simple things which you should do rather than thinking about making it all too complicated...

Thanks Daily Belly Dance Quicky!

Inspiration

2010-07-25T22:24:00.000+10:00

I've hit a point where I've lost my inspiration. There's lots of it out there, but I've still come unstuck. I've started 6, 7, 8 pieces in my book of choreographies. But I've finished none of them. I get distracted, lost, worried. Is the piece too dramatic? Is it to repetitive/boring? There are better dances who do more, less, different.

Maybe it's inspiration overload. So many great things to look at that I've become overwhelmed with ideas. Either way, I need to kick it and get my work done. No point starting things if you don't finish!

What do you use as your energy to keep moving forward when starting new enterprises? I'm sure this isn't something which is only experienced with dance. After all, we all start things and never finish. Help me with your ideas!

On weight loss and body chemistry

2010-07-14T20:45:00.000+10:00

One thing I don't like about losing weight - the changes in my body chemistry which leaves me feeling overly smelly (not that anyone else notices) while my body settles into it's new reshaped goodness!

Nearly at my ideal weight now and all done in a way which means it's not going to be difficult to maintain. It's all down to eating less in my meals (so not over eating) and doing the 2 hours of dance class plus other dancing each week. Lets see where my body feels is the right place to stop...

Goals - revisited

2010-07-11T12:36:00.000+10:00

I've hurt my shoulder joint and the muscles in my upper arm. Didn't even do anything special (isn't it always the way!). Unfortunately, it's meant that all the work I'd planned to do this weekend dancing has been shelved so that I don't hurt my shoulder further - also class starts back tomorrow night and I really don't want to miss any this term. Especially seeing as we'll be doing a big show towards the end of term.

So, I've decided if dancing is difficult today, perhaps a revisit of the goals which I posted back in January is in order!

1. To learn to be more graceful and light on my feet when I dance.
This I am most certainly getting better at. I don't feel (or look) like an elephant trundling around when I dance anymore. I'm not sure I look like a cat - fleet footed and graceful - but then again, if you use my own cats as a guide, maybe I do!!

2. To work out some of the tricky footwork which I've been having troubles with.
Well, I sorted out the stuff that I was working on at the time, but tricky footwork seems to be one of those items for me that will always give me issues. A week last monday we did a workshop to learn a skirt prop dance. Really pretty dance. And it has some tricky footwork. While I am still having issues getting the feet right, at least the rest I can do, so I can fake it to some degree. I think that this is something which I'm going to have to accept is always going to be a difficult thing for me and make sure I keep working at it.

3. To attempt a construct a choreography to one of a half dozen tracks I've been listening to.
Ah-ha! In progress!! Actually, there's four of them... and none of them I can work on today with my sore arm/shoulder :( (at the point were you really need to dance them and alter them as you dance).

4. To get better using my zills (and to get a new set of zills!)
Well, I got new zills. And they sound awesome. As for getting better - still need more practise, but I sound much better than I used to :)

Here's a few others I want to add to my goal list. Because, as far as I can see, you never stop learning and pushing yourself in this game.
1. More zill practise.
2. Finish the choreographies!
3. Work on getting further definition between sharp and soft movements to really get them looking nice.
4. Finish the costume I've been working on.
5. Learn more about the drum beats and instruments used in the music and about the theory behind it all. Maybe even learn to play some of the tunes on the various instruments in the house.

I think that's a good start for now.

Veil Fans!

2010-06-25T20:19:00.001+10:00

I've had them for two weeks now and I think I've managed to practise more with them than I have my choreographies! The excitement of new things. :)

I don't have any pictures in use - unfortunately inside our house isn't great for action shots (a bit packed with stuff to really throw them around at enough of a distance for a shot), so here's a still to show you the beautiful colours.
Oh and the colours in the picture - the veils are really as vibrant in colour as they appear here!

Hopefully the weather here clears up enough soon that I can go outside and swirl them for some action shots!

HERE! NOW!

2010-06-15T22:00:00.000+10:00

My fan veils arrived today!!!!!
I've not played much with them yet, but will do some in use shots to post here a little later this week. So far... not as difficult as I thought they could be, but I'm looking forward to throwing on some music and seeing how they fly through the air while I'm moving properly.

Just had to share the exciting news. :)

If only I looked like this every day...

2010-06-08T22:24:00.000+10:00

So... you may remember I posted about a weekend away in Sydney where I did a photoshoot.
Here's some of the shots. If only I really looked like this every day!!

As a dancer

And as a pinup

There were others, but these I'm happy to share here.

I have a set of fan veils on their way from mainland China at the moment. They're due to leave Hong Kong tomorrow. So hopefully should have some new dance toys at the end of this week.

A quicky

2010-05-31T21:16:00.000+10:00

A short post as it's difficult to type on a flat keyboard on the couch arm while trying to not to crush the cat who's (happily) planted himself between you and said keyboard...

But an important post. Tonight in class... I SAW IT! I saw what our teacher had been saying about the whole choreo looking good. I could see how great our moves looked and how great it looks together!

And now for another two days of work before I can try to see the same in our Wednesday intermediate class... (and hopefully only two work days until my fan veils arrive!)

Sometimes you need things.

2010-05-27T21:41:00.001+10:00

Sometimes;
- you need a little inspiration as a dancer.
- you need to understand where someone has come from.
- you need to dance your heart.
Here, I hope to cover a little bit on all of the above.

Firstly - Inspiration
One of the girls in my advanced class sent in a photo to a lady she knows in Perth who was putting together a set of Bellydance Soul Cards. Her's was one of the ones selected to be used. In support of her selection, a few of us at the school purchased decks of the cards (get yours from this page here!). The cards truly are a source of great inspiration to look at - even aside from using them as oracle cards.
I selected one today - The Language of Dance. This card celebrates the art - our passionate love affair with music, life and dance... (I have just added to my collection of shiney dance objects a set of 1.5m flame coloured fan veils about a half hour ago) and pushes us to take that step towards completion by starting out on a journey (we're planning for our future at the moment on so many different levels).

Second - Understanding.
I've learnt two things recently. That you don't always need formalised training in a specific area to be a good dancer (see next section), and that sometimes knowing a persons background and aims gives you a greater understanding as to them as a person and what they're trying to achieve. Both of them have had a profound influence on me of late.
What I've found inside myself and what I've learned from others has changed who I am as a dancer. I'm more proud of what I can do, proud of what I (somehow) can make my body do and proud of the advances I've made and how this makes me feel.

Finally - dancing your heart.
This is the one thing that you can't be taught as a dancer. You can be taught the moves. Taught the language of the dance. Taught the emotion and how to act it. But none of it quite compares to how it looks when you actually dance from the heart.
I've been encouraged recently to start taking the steps out of my head that are banging around in there, and commit them to movement. Dance the songs which are making my brain fill with ideas and movement. Part of this is the reason for the purchase of a beautiful set of fan veils. While I know props don't make a dancer, one of the songs bouncing around my brain wants pretty movements of colour above and beyond what my body can reach.

Anyway, there is some of the thoughts running through my brain, and some pretty pictures. :)
The last two are of me and my supportive-of-my-sparkly-addiction husband. The last, was on our wedding day. The shot was taken by a very dear friend. I think it perfectly sums up how we made our wedding day last for as long as we could and for how we try to keep ourselves going.

Remembering in the brain

2010-05-22T14:11:00.000+10:00

Why is it so difficult to remember some choreographies, yet others stick so easily?

One that we're doing in class just doesn't want to stick properly in my head... I've written it down in my terms to try to remember it easier, and when I dance it, it's just not there. Is all rather frustrating.

I know it's just a matter of applying myself to this particular track and searching the drum solo that it's for to find audible queues that I can use to help me before the music changes (this piece doesn't seem to really have any obvious ones which makes it just that little bit harder).

The weekend that my new costume found me...

2010-05-11T21:17:00.001+10:00

This weekend just past, my loving (and supportive of my shiny belly dance purchasing habits) D and I went to Sydney. This wasn't really a "quiet weekend away". The way it worked was more of a "got things to do" sort of thing.
We flew up on Thursday afternoon with enough time to check in and grab a bite to eat before going to a concert at The Big Top @ Luna Park.
The up early on Friday morning for D to dive with sharks at Manly OceanWorld.

Then over to Sydney Wildlife World to visit Rex - their large croc!

But!!! The highlight of the weekend was Saturday. This day held the origins of our trip to Sydney. A photoshoot for me at Studio 504. Had some great shots taken - including some in my burgandy costume. Shots will take a few weeks until they're ready for me to have (and post one of here!)

And in the afternoon... I went to a bellydance shop and managed to find (and purchase) MY costume. I say MY costume, instead of just "a" costume as the whole thing couldn't have worked out better if it had been labeled "Waiting for Amanda".

Why?

1. It requires only one alteration (which may not be required). This is to the under bust band on the bra. It's slightly too tight (like about half an inch at worst).
2. The colour is absolutely perfect for my skintone (strong orange colour).
3. The style looks great on me (not too tight at the point in the skirt before it kicks out / not odd around the bust in the bra etc)
4. The costume cost was 75% off the original price!

Pictures soon (when I next put it on and take a few to show lovely Miss S in Perth before she comes over here).

Additionally to this - I picked up a full circle skirt in an awesome dark green with gold print. It was 50% off (which it shouldn't have been but as the sign was still up, they honored the price).

Yesterday was back to work and dance.
We've finished off a single choreography in the advanced class and we're not far from finishing a veil drum solo piece either. All rather exciting. Just polishing of the piece to go (and some formations etc to make it pretty).

Of holidays and photographs!

2010-04-29T23:15:00.001+10:00

So... I won a photography session in Sydney.

It's for styling, a 1.5 hour photo session and some shots out the other side.

I need to find at least 5 outfits to take with me (on my holiday) to wear to this part alone!!

Add onto this, that I need clothes to wear each day and a nice outfit for a dinner with the inlaws and one to go out in to a club and all of a sudden, I feel like I'm taking my entire wardrobe with me!

I have no idea what I'm going to take for the photo shoot yet, I have some ideas for 3 of them. One of them is my pretty red costume (with my new "I don't have an addiction" red, black and gold hipscarf), the second is a gorgeous red mesh dress with leather corset, the last is one of my parasols with some lacy/ruffle knickers (saucy!). So there's three... but I feel like I'm still missing parts of me.

This weekend will be dedicated to working out what else I'm going to take so that I can buy whatever else I need.

Feels like I'm defining me right now.. part belly dance, part goth/fetish, part vintage... maybe that's the place to find the rest of me to include in these shots!

And now for something completely different

2010-04-28T22:05:00.000+10:00

Instead of a post with lots of words... or a photo... or promise of costuming goodness, I give you some great belly dance videos that I've happened across.

We'll start with a laugh from a fantastic German Trio doing a comedy piece:

And them move onto the gorgeous Kami Liddle, who is a gorgeous tribal dancer, although I will admit to getting a little distracted by her tattoo...

Finally, from the Bellydance Superstars 5, Sonia doing her gorgeous best in "The Art of the Drum Solo". So inspiring.

How often do you really read the words...

2010-04-21T22:42:00.000+10:00

Today was a great day.

You don't hear it often enough in blog posts in my opinion. Why was it great? Many reasons, but a big part of it was dance.

Second week of classes - two a week. Monday - advanced, Wednesday - intermediate.
We're doing two great, and challenging, choreographies.

Monday's is bouncy, light and has pops and locks, can-can/moulan rouge inspired bits and a cutesie little bum thing... It's pushing me as a dancer to hit the right spots and beats to keep up and get it right (and light, but that'll come a bit more as I get more comfortable with the steps!).

Wednesday's is a veil dance to a drum solo. It's soft and flowy and light too. It has turns and precise hand positions and movements to make the veil do the right motion.

I love how each of them make me feel and can't wait to see where we take them over the next few weeks for the end of term student performance.

Also. A girl who did beginners with me and my friend who got me started (otherwise known as miss S), joined our intermediate class tonight. We were trying to convince her at the school christmas party last year to come up a level, but she resisted. After class she had the biggest compliments for me.
1. "You've lost a sh*t load of weight haven't you" (with the subsequent "it looks great hun").
2. "You look so great when you dance."
I felt like I had two left hips at some points in time through the class, but I know that sometimes what I feel I look like and how it actually comes across are two different things.

I've got a half written post about body image, and one about being strange (people are strange, when you're a stranger...) which I'll add more to and post over the next few weeks. The past 2 months have given me so much more insight into what I can do and who I am and I just want to share some of what I've found with you all (my silent mob of belly dance blog readers ;) ).

Comedy Festival

2010-04-13T22:32:00.000+10:00

Went to the Melbourne Comedy Festival for the second time tonight and had a great line (that stands nicely on it's own) which I thought should be recited here. Especially seeing as I'm sure I've posted here about the show biz deal before....

"There's only two rules in show biz.... 1 - make everything look easy. 2 - don't f*ck the elephants."

Tonight's show was the ever lovely Nina Conti. And of course that line was uttered (through her) by her foul mouthed monkey.

Anyway, back into the real world. I've got a few posts lined up that I just need some time to finish, but there's a war going on between sequin'ing the belt for my costume and writing blog posts and strangely... the belt is currently winning (and looking fantastic - pics soon).

An alternative costume post...

2010-04-06T21:13:00.001+10:00

Every so often I go "GAH! I have nothing to wear!" when a decent sized night out comes up.

So when I decided to go out to a club called Cyberball (the light of my life was DJ'ing so who was I to say no to free entry!). I thought that I might as well make something shiney and pretty to wear along to it.

Thankfully... I had a few weeks notice about this. Which meant that after all the performances were over, I could give some thought to what I might want to wear. Insert some black and purple one way stretch PVC into that thought pattern and the next thing I know I'm making a tribal inspired outfit. Throw in a trip to Sydney to manage a band event and all of a sudden, I'm finding belly dance belts and scarfs at the markets in the lingerie shops. D decided he could do with a purple net top to go out in and all of a sudden I have an idea of what to do with my hair... it was like it was mean to happen.

So... did it all come together? What did you do? DETAILS woman!

Yes it did. And from all the compliments and the offer I got that night (no, not the Michael Douglas $1 million dollars for a night with your wife variety)... I'd say it went rather well!

Excuse the cheeky grin, but I was caught slightly off guard with the shot!
The skirt is a 6 panel 3/4 full skirt made of purple and black pvc with a simple black waist band. The bra has two over breast panels (which more than happily looked after my B cups without any thought for a bra even with bouncing around) with a simple beaded trim around the underbust and the ribbon straps crossing at the back.

I found a beaded stretchy belt (something like this one - link opens in a new window) to add to the top of the skirt for a bit of movement and voila!
A bit of makeup, a pair of boots and two black embroidered scarves later (one over my pony tail and one to hide the tie on the first scarf) I was dressed for the ball.

Had a ball of a night. Got to catch up with a lovely couple of friends which D and I have not seen in a very long time who both needed a night out.

The day after, while sitting on the couch trying to do as little as possible, I started work on the sequin'ing of the belt for the green costume. More on that soon though. For now, I leave you with a pic of M and I taken right before we all left for the club.

Oh... and the offer I got... it's dance related and I'll cover that in another post soon. After I've had a bit more of a discussion with the person in particular on the details. Would hate to shoot myself in the foot before all the chips have been placed.

Costume - part "The Skirt"

2010-03-25T21:17:00.000+11:00

So... pics as promised.

The bra hasn't had any work on it from the last time I posted, so I've skipped that for now. It's got beading, sequins and flippy things work to go on it.

The skirt on the other hand... is going to be overhauled. I'm not quite pulling it all apart, but I'm going to separate the main elements to make them all work better together.

Pics - Front, back, belt

The green over skirt is going to get a bit of a shape change... the belt become a little wider and have some pretty motifs attached front and back (maybe these, maybe something hand created similar) and the orange underskirt requires the bottom seam to be done with a thread that makes it sit up and round and pretty.

So... here's stage ... ummm.... 23 of ... ummm ... lots on the 'Green and Orange' Costume.

I have also decided that I need to purchase more cabaret style costumes as my red/burgandy one is starting to lose it's lyrca sheen... I want some solid bold colours (not light/soft colours) - and not black. Which is what a lot of them seem to be so far. Anyone got any ideas for good online shops that don't cost the world for really great costumes?

Costume - the "not much to go" list of things to do...

2010-03-23T22:30:00.000+11:00

And now that there's one more lesson for this term and all the performances are out of the way, I suppose it's time to catch my breath and start again on the costume.

Much has changed since I last posted here, there is more work to do. I have started an underskirt - in bright orange. It currently only has one layer. I need to pull the "belt" layer off and make it into an actual belt - much easier to use. The green "over" skirt will become a proper overskirt. The bra needs the beading to be much larger and more orange. With the tear/leaf shaped elements on the edge, a florally pattern will be very simple to pick up, or the swirlly pattern of the motifs that I have for the front and back of the skirt belt.

Yeah... "not much" to be done... heh. It's going to look gorgeous once done though and be very useful.

Oh and not to forget that I've still got to sort out some orange arms with green patterns on it.

So... a lot to do. And more practice. I'm thinking in dance steps, now need to start the body being able to do what the brain asks it to do. Lots of picture filled posts soon when I start working on it all.

Friends and performances

2010-03-16T20:56:00.004+11:00

Friends. You love them, they upset you at times, but you still love them. It's all a part of the way the world works.

When you start dancing (although this equally applies to other observational things such as sports etc), all of a sudden, you "lose" friends.

"What do I mean by this?" I hear you ask. Or maybe you don't... perhaps you're sitting here right now nodding your head understanding what I mean already.

So. What do I mean? I mean that at any other point in time, you could get any number of friends to come for coffee, to drop in for a "quick" visit (that lasts 3 hours), or "drag" people out for dinner. Except when you have a show on. Be it free, cheap or even something a bit more expensive (such as $30AU + food for a dinner show). All of a sudden, all of your friends have something on. Or are sick. Or the honest ones "just don't feel like it".

It's kind of disappointing - you want to share the pretty moves that you can make with people who say they support you in your endevours to learn. But when they always have an excuse - even if you give them plenty of notice, it starts to get to a point where you feel jaded. While performing for complete strangers is fine - you don't have to worry about facing these people and their potential criticisms later, sometimes it's nice to be able to show your friends what you can do.

As with every rule, there is an exception. The exception in this case are the cultured kids. They're there for every performance (unless they really do have something else on). From what I've seen though, there's far fewer of these than there are the others.

Anyway, this post was brought to you by the two beautiful people who made it to watch me and the other girls in my classes dance at Club Rakkasah on Sunday.

It was an awesome night. We were all on such a buzz after the performance. It really went that well. From what my lovely husband and friend told me, the ladies at their table were all in love with how well we performed and that it looked fantastic.

There were 5 parts to our performance - first the pro dancers from our school, then the bollywood performance girls did a piece (made up of two tracks), then us belly girls did a stick piece to Habibi Ya Aini, a drum solo choreo to a track from the new Doom Tek Project album and finally, all of the other girls returned for a zill piece to Bahija (below).

* Click any of the pics to view a larger version.
Pic 1 - Me dancing to the arabic band that played pre, post show and during intermission
Pic 2 - Me performing
Pic 3 - Azura's Oasis belly girls
Pic 4 - Auzra's Oasis Showcase dancers (I'm in the back row between the blue bolly and black and red cabaret costumes).

It's this weekend!

2010-03-12T23:25:00.000+11:00

So much running through my brain... I guess that's what happens when you're done with work for the week and all you've got ahead of you is rest, a rehearsal and a performance.

Oh and a visit to the vet with the boy cat.

At the tender age of 10 years, 3 months and 9 days, the boycat had his back tooth out. Just one. Thankfully. He's been much more nice since the painful tooth was taken out. And tomorrow he gets a check up 4 days later to make sure it's still healing correctly.

Other than that distraction, this weekend is all about Club Rakkasah. After that... It's back into costume making, and maybe even a purchase for the mid year school performance... depending on how organised I am. It'd be nice to have another cabaret style outfit other than the mermaid burgundy one I wear. Sadly, I don't have my nice new jewelry in time for it, but that'll teach me for leaving it to the last minute.

Anyway, back to the man who purrs and needs my cuddles while the cats are asleep. ;)

One down... one to go

2010-03-04T21:49:00.002+11:00

Sydney Road Festival was fun. We had fun - even when the music stopped, jumped and then got restarted.

And we coped. The teacher's main feedback for most of us was to not lose our faces while concentrating. It's a difficult thing to do! (Click on the pic of me to see more pics - opens in a new window)

Week and a half now until Club Rakkasah. A stage show in front of other belly dancers. Tough gig, but it's going to be great. I have moments we're I'm not sure if I'm going to be good enough, but I know the steps. They're not as tricky as they used to be. It's now just practise and refinement.

I've hit that point of exhaustion that comes when one pushes the paper for a long time. Working on the other side of the city (traveling 1hour per direction per day), then class/rehearsals 3-4 times a week is starting to take it's toll. I'm glad there's only a week left after this, then I can relax it off and start to reclaim me.

I know I can do this. It pushes me and I love how much it does for and to me. My body has changed shape significantly recently, I can feel that I have better endurance and I can see how much better I am getting in my moves. The advanced class has become my push class, and the intermediate is the reinforcement. Next term, it might change as we start doing different things in each of the classes, but at the moment it's good to help push my learning..

Oh and this is a special message for the one, lovely, beautiful, honestly loving man who's putting up with me being so short on time. It's his birthday today and I love him so so much and really do feel a little bad with not having as much time for him as I have had prior to these shows. Happy birthday, my love, I love you.

The day before

2010-02-27T17:47:00.000+11:00

Today's rehearsal was tough. By tough I mean sweating within the first 5 minutes pushing ourselves over and over to get the two choreo's right.

We went over so much again. But apparently it looks good. I was so exhausted by the end of it that I felt like I hated the tracks. Well, maybe not hate, but I didn't want to think about either of them again. Tonight.

Tomorrow morning will be fine. It'll be great and fun and fantastic. We'll be pretty and impress the audience. They'll be lovelies that I know in the crowd (even if my honey will be over the other side of the city heading towards his icehockey match).

I really do love the two tracks. Habibi ya aini is a really gorgeous track and great choreo. Doom Tek drum solo is so. much. fun. And I really do mean so much fun. It's chunky and bendy and yum!

Going to wear the red cossie rather than the new green one, I need to do some more work on the green one to really make it work for my skin tone and to finish it off.

More Quotes

2010-02-25T20:38:00.000+11:00

Of course the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you--if you don't play, you can't win.
- Robert Heinlein

Every dance you watch has a purpose. To tempt, to entertain, to show off something that looks fantastic.

As a spectator you get the intended view - even if sometimes a dance isn't quite executed the way it was planned to. That's the deal of show business (or dance business!).

As a dancer it's a different thing. The game is rigged. It doesn't matter how well you prepare or don't prepare, sometimes it just doesn't work out the way you planned it. The music stops, you put forward the wrong foot, the wrong whole step, go the wrong direction... forget where you're up to.

It's how you deal with it that makes it work. I guess that's the difference between a good dancer and a great one.

Hoping for some luck with this on Sunday. As much as it's a much more relaxed affair... dancing out front of the school, it's not so bad if it doesn't quite come off right, but it'll still be nice to have it go right.

Step up...

2010-02-22T21:58:00.000+11:00

There was a great reminder tonight in class about the fact that we are in the advanced class and we do need to step up and *be* the advanced class. Be a leader for the other classes or step back and try again later when we're ready.

That's what I joined the advanced class for. To push myself and to be pushed to be a better dancer. I've noticed it happening, the teacher has noticed it recently too. I'm more aware of my body position, how to put myself forward correctly, step right, look right.

So, it's time to push it even further. Practice practice practice! Work on getting the tricky footwork right with less repetition. Work on being a better dance and to become a more natural looking dancer (rather than a flared nose stiff one.... ;) )

In a side note - so far... since new years, I've lost 1cm off my hips, 3cm off my waist and gained 1cm on my bust! Don't know how that happened, but I'm still a B cup, so all is well in the world.

Anyway, back to the costume...

observation

2010-02-21T19:55:00.000+11:00

Isn't it funny how sometimes the "cute" footwork that looks oh-so-perfect in a choreo is the hardest thing to learn...

So close... just got to get the timing right now...

More costume later this week.

Quote

2010-02-18T21:55:00.000+11:00

Today I feel a lot like this -

" If you dance, you dance because you have to. Every dancer hurts, you know"
- Katherine Dunham

From here.

In the ancient art of "last minute" we're doing quite a few "extra" rehersals. And if my body actually did what I wanted it to do today, then I'd probably not be feeling so tired right now.

Quick question to the silent masses...

2010-02-17T21:49:00.000+11:00

Belly dancing has some element which it either borrows or which have been borrowed from it in other areas.
Eg. Ballet - we copy some of the arm positions. Jazz borrows on some of the hip motions.

Are there other areas in which it's all similar or is it really just restricted to a few bits per dance style? Interested to hear opinions....

daily dance mails - a week's worth of catch up and thoughts on dance classes

2010-02-16T20:40:00.000+11:00

Now that the emails are back... I'm happily ignoring posting about each one.
But!
Today's daily quicky email was about classic songs.
Specifically 'Habibi ya aini' (in english - Beloved! My Eyes!) It's a love song, all about soul mates and seeing deep into someone.

The reason I mention this is that yesterday it was decided that for the two shows coming up, us belly girls would be doing our choreo's of Habibi ya aini (stick) and Dum Tek (drum solo) and Bahijia (Zill). It seemed like strange timing that she'd pick this track. Granted, it's a bit of a folk favourite track, but still :)

Next two performances are - Feb 28 - school openday and Mar 14 - Club Rakkasah :)

Costume - The Bra

2010-02-14T13:10:00.000+11:00

I know this has been long coming... To make it easy for myself, I'll split this into two parts. Part 1 - The BRA.

(Click to enlarge)

There are two different lots of visible fabric and sewing techniques in this. Oh and a lot of beads!

Across the bra front is a chiffon with sequins, and the bra straps (neck and body) are the same tie-dyed chiffon without the sequins.

The bra has been constructed by hand entirely. Soft forms were used for the cups, and the rest has been stiffened and designed to fit into the correct shape.

Construction pics later.

costume

2010-02-10T22:55:00.000+11:00

ok... it's coming... I'm spending more time on it than posting about it. You'll just have to forgive me and know that you'll get all the pics and in motion shots soon :)

Gratuitous costume shot

2010-02-08T22:31:00.000+11:00

This is my post, in place of a real post, about my costume.

I've really not had the energy to sit and write (nor the time really) with a packed afternoon yesterday and work + rehersal and class (in the 34C heat) today.

The daily quicky dance emails have dried up (hence the lack of daily posts about them). Hopefully they'll restart again soon. I should jump on their site and see if I can find out what's happened.

Anyway... picture just below is the current state of the costume... still has a bit to go on it - bra is basically done.. skirt requires bead work and hemming... and it needs a pair of arms... but that's not much compared to what it started life as.

Enjoy. More on it tomorrow when I have time to sit and write.

Daily dance post - online purchases

2010-02-06T17:54:00.002+11:00

I've skipped a day due to being out watching the movie Nine. Fantastic movie. Really gorgeous outfits. One word of warning... it's a musical. If you don't like musicals, don't bother going. The pretty girls and gorgeous almost-not-there outfits don't outweigh the fact that a lot of the plot is delivered via song.

Anyway, onto today's dance thought... online purchasing.

Such a hard thing to do. For every great experience you have or hear about, there are two people who had issues.
I'm always very careful when purchasing wearable items online. As a general rule, I don't do it unless I have no other choice or I've managed to find the same item somewhere close to me and it's cheaper to purchase online.

At the moment, I have two items still to come this week and have had two items just arrive.

The two items which arrived were ebay purchases of "dance feet". Protective ball of the foot coverings - one pair of "foot undies" with a great suede spot on it and a pair of "dance paws" which are "invisible" or something close to that. The foot undies are fantastic. They do look like underwear. I had to cut the toe holes a little bigger to fit my ungainly toes, but they're comfy and fantastic to wear in class. The dance paws, I think I'm going to have to do a little work on. They don't quite fit me like they should... I'm not sure if that's just me, or if I got the wrong size.

The two items left to come - a new pair of zill and two pairs of earrings... and a new indian silk veil. More on these when they arrive.

Tomorrow's post... the costume!

pretty shinies that flutter and go clank!

2010-02-04T20:20:00.000+11:00

I'm all rather excited... tomorrow, all going well, in the post at work should be a new pair of zill and two pair of earrings for dance. *squee*

It's going to be difficult to not want to pull them out and make noise at my desk all afternoon, but I'm sure I'll survive until I get home.

Then... to extend the excitement further... in the middle of next week... my new silk veil from india should be arriving! One of a kind in the colours (unless someone else happens to like orange and green), hand dyed on 6mm silk. *squee-flail*

This will complete the current evolution of my dance gear... Now to get back onto the beading on this costume or otherwise it'll never get done! (Full update on costume with pictures on the weekend).

Daily dance posts - technique in movement

2010-02-03T22:00:00.000+11:00

Today's quicky while an excellent tip about how to move up and down (kneeling to standing etc). Sadly it caught my giggling 14 year old because of the the following wording:

To come up, think of driving a pole down from your core into the ground between your feet, pushing against the ground as you come up...

Sadly it managed to associate the whole thing with stripping and it took until after class for me to really get what was being said :)

Class tonight was fun. Starting a new drum solo group choreo. It's so cheeky and a lot of fun. And hell on the abs!!! Looking forward to seeing how it develops as we keep working on it though.

Daily dance posts - music

2010-02-02T20:48:00.002+11:00

Today's quicky was about music - specifically mawwal - or the introduction within the music when done by a lone voice mimicking the sound of an instrument. It allows the singer to show off her/his talent without music to set a boundary.

I can see some similarities in western music. But rather than it being at the start, it's more likely to be a "bridge" in the middle of the song. If it happens at all.

Daily dance posts - inspiration day

2010-02-01T22:37:00.002+11:00

Today's quicky was on inspiration.

After tonight's lesson and with starting a new choreography, this is my current inspiration: Bellydance Superstars 6 - Egyptian Nights

The girls move so softly and fluidly. Tonight, I was so tired that I was having issues keeping my balance. We're using this same track in a different way, but it really does remind me of all the different interpretations that the one piece of music can generate.

Daily dance posts - stretching

2010-01-31T17:06:00.002+11:00

Today's quicky is the Saturday stretch.

It's funny how much we think about stretching... and the fact that we often don't stretch the muscles that we need to.

Today's stretch tip is for stretching the neck and shoulder muscles. It's a really great stretch.

It's also not one that I would have previously thought about stretching... arms, legs, bum, back all a big yes. Shoulders/neck - not really on the "front of my mind" stretch list. But thinking about how all encompasing belly dancing really is, it's actually probably one of the more important ones that you can do.

Daily dance posts - movement in improvisation

2010-01-30T14:00:00.002+11:00

Improv feels like it should be hard. It fills one with a sense of dread of "oh my! I don't have any pre defined steps to follow!!". Mind you, we use improvisation all the time in life. Out at a club or even just bouncing around at home to music.

It just seems to be that when you have been taught to follow a path, when it comes time to step off, it's all a bit scary.

I'm still not great at belly dance improvisation. Well, maybe it's that I don't feel confident doing yet, might be the better way to put it. It's one of my things that I want to work on more (seems to be something new each day at the moment!), but something that I can feel will start evolving very naturally on it's own when I get more confident in the dance itself. It's all just a matter of being able to "melt" into the music and go where it takes you I guess...

Daily dance posts - the sounds zills can make

2010-01-29T21:15:00.006+11:00

Today's daily quickly was about the different sounds that a zill can make.

It got me thinking about the zills that I actually use for classes. They're beginners zills. They're smaller, lighter and brass. This means their sound is a lot more tinny and flat in sound than the zills you hear in professional performances.

It got me thinking about everything that I originally bought or made for performances these last 12 months and how much of it I'm now getting to replace - with something more colourful (costumes and veil/stick) or better sounding (zill).

In many ways, I feel like I'm evolving and growing as a dancer and now I'm changing over my gear from being beginners or child like gear, to professional or "grown up" dance ware/gear. It's interesting to also think back that I've only been doing this for a year - with no previous dance experience at all (excluding all club related nights out drinking/dancing of course!) and that I've come so far, so far. I've got a long way to go still... my technique isn't all that fantastic... I still bounce/stalk/walk like an elephant, not a cat.... but I can see how far I've come and so can other people.

Anyway, there's the thoughts on Thursday's quicky... can't wait to see what tomorrow brings in the inbox!

** image used from Saroyan Mastercrafts - Arabesque II in German Silver - which I've just enquiried about purchasing a set of!

Daily dance posts - dance goals

2010-01-28T19:55:00.004+11:00

Ok, so while I'm costuming my new dance outfit, I've decided to post a daily dance thought into this blog to keep up using it. That said - costume update tomorrow as there's quite a few pics and details to put up. :)

Yesterday's 'Daily Quicky' from She's Got Hips was this awesome veil dance youtube flick. It's a lady using three half circle veils which are all UV light senstive in a stage bathed in UV light only. It's a really awesome dance.

Today's quicky is about dance goals.
So. Here as I write this, these are my current dance goals.
1. To learn to be more graceful and light on my feet when I dance.
2. To work out some of the tricky footwork which I've been having troubles with.
3. To attempt a constructu a choreography to one of a half dozen tracks I've been listening to.
4. To get better using my zills (and to get a new set of zills!)

I'll probably keep adding to this as I get better and have new ideas.

New projects, new year

2010-01-19T21:17:00.002+11:00

Ok, so I kinda got carried away in the wedding and then in the relaxing post wedding and forgot this was here.

The wedding went off fantastically and the girl's dresses looked great. I also ended up making a last minute tie or two for the groomsmen to wear.

So... leaving that behind, I'm now costuming a belly dance outfit. And this I'm going to remember to blog!

So tune in shortly for a blog post about my dane costume :)