Taking ATS at LAST!!

I am really excited to be taking lessons with Nandana http://www.nandanabellydance.com/ .  I have wanted to take lessons with her for a while, but can't because I can not drive to Durham on Sundays.   I love Tribal style & ATS is my very favorite of all tribal styles.   

I asked her about private lessons after returning from Tribalcon (& 2 workshops with Megah from Devyani) in Feb & it grew into a group of 6 of us from Sara's class taking a group private lesson once a month.  We had our second class on May 23 & it was AWESOME!!!  It is especially great because all of us are at about the same level, so we are really moving in the class.  We also have a group to dance with!

In just 2 2-hour classes, I have learned several new moves & patterns that are SOOO fun!   We did fading and the circle transition - I love both transitions.  Fading is a bit confusing but worth the effort to learn.  I wish I had a group here to practice with! (soooon.... :-)  The circle is really neat too - the dancer interaction is much more intense & fun, because of the eye contact.   We learned a variation - the grapevine spin - which looks AMAZING and is fun to do too.  Of course, there's that pesky getting-dizzy thing but I am working through that :-)

I have been taking lessons with Sara Beaman http://www.sarabeaman.com/ - who I LOVE!!! - on Saturdays too for maybe a year & a half.  Sara teaches 3 classes now (so on Nandana class days, it's a really long day :-)  I am the TA in her Core class and then I take both the Flow & Mega Challenge classes.  I have learned a huge amount of info on technique & conditioning, plus several cool choreos, lots about musicality, tribal fusion improv, & all kinds of other stuff.  Her classes are always fun & challenging. 

I have been taking regular classes with Daliana http://www.dalianadance.com/ for about 2 years, except in the summer when she takes a break.  I HATE that!!  :-(  I was taking only the Creative Expressions class on Thursdays, but since I am only 15 minutes from her Monday Advanced class, I started going to that one too.  I love both of the classes & Daliana as well.  She is fun to be around and has more energy & stamina than anyone I know.  Really.    REALLY!  She has given me good advice & feedback when I asked for it too, which I like a lot.  I really wish she was doing classes this summer.  I forgot to mention - her other regular students are really nice which makes the classes lots of fun.

Last but not least, I take continuing classes with Carmen at Studio 318.  I have been taking classes with her for several years.  As far as technique, there is not much more she can teach me but she is still teaching me a lot.  She is an excellent performer and knows how to dance to a crowd - something I'm working on.  She has come up with several clever exercises for our class to teach us performance skills.  We also work to hone our swords, veils, & zils.  And we have fun. 

I'm not even going to start on workshops, but I will say I have taken lots & lots of them.  LOTS and lots.  I am known as the Workshop Queen in my troupe, Torque  :-D  Some were not too difficult, some were so far above my level I barely understood what they were talking about, but they have all been lots of fun and worth attending.   I can't think of one that I wish I had not gone to.  The next biggie for me is going to be Triboriginal in Oct.  I went once before & it was fabulous, amazing, incredible,.... I loved it!   I can hardly wait to go again. JILL PARKER will be at this one!  Yow!

Thoughts at the Beach

I'm sitting here at the beach, looking out at the ocean from the inside of out cottage. The wind is blowing like mad. I came in an hour or so ago, covered with sand & quite chilly. I am a hard core beacher but not that hard core! Tomorrow we head home, on my birthday & my mom's birthday AND Mother's Day. I wish we could stay another day or 2.

I missed Sara's classes today, which is killing me! I am very happy to be at the beach, but I wish I could have somehow worked in both. She taught a new move - several - in Core class today, along with practice in trios. I did get to practice with her in the prep class but I would have loved to have been there for the class. I also missed the second part of the new choreo in Flow. Argh. The music went from slow to fast today too. I have no idea what I missed in Mega. Hopefully someone was able to film it.

I have been making good progress in my dance in the last few months. My isolations are good & my leg & core strength is improving. My memory for choreographies is improving too. When I first started this stuff I couldn't remember 8 counts withough repeating it a zillion times. I can now get down many counts of 8 before I start losing it. I was also told recently (by a dancer I respect very much) that my hands are looking really good now - a compliment! I have worked very hard to improve that aspect of my dance, because it is so important.

I have so many things I want to improve that I have not been able to develop a good practice routine for myself. I've been hopping around. Other than attending lots of classes, which I love to do, my practice is kind of choppy. I added in Diane's Monday class, esp. since the Thursday class is done until next Aug. Dang. The Mon class only goes until June 1 too. I am glad that Sara is keeping her classes going.

I am using feedback to develop a plan for myself. I got some good feedback from Diane recently that has helped me quite a bit. Sara also gave me some good feedback and provided me & everyone in the Flow class with a fabulous opportunity to get feedback. The Flow series was on how to do solos and during the last class each of us performed a solo in front of the class and recieved feedback from everyone else. The feedback was written on a form Sara developed, so the feedback can be reviewed.

I am very hopeful that the Tribal Improv classes I am giving in Greensboro will take off soon. It is SUCH a fun dance style! I am looking forward to having a regular group to dance with. It is so difficult to show people what it can be without a group to perform it with. I do not like doing solos, as I prefer group dancing, but I believe I'll have to start doing solos with tribal improv moves just so people can see it. Torque doesn't have time to work on it enough to show what it is. I can hardly wait to get a local group together!!!

The Benefit show for Triad Health Project is a definite go, which makes me so happy! We have invited every BD performer in W-S & Greensboro to be a part of the show, along with performers of other dance types in the area. As of this moment, we will have African dancers, Salsa dancers, and Indian Fusion dancers. We invited hoop dancers & a breakdancer that is said to be amazing, but they could not make it. We also have invited several dancers/groups from the Raliegh/Durham area.

Well, off to read my non-BD related book & goof off for the rest of my last day at the beach.

Aziza's Ultimate Bellydance Practice Companion DVD

Just got it & tried it out - it's great! I had sweat running down my face before I even got to the shimmy section. I also know now why Sara B has such great range of motion. These drills really do urge you to push it to the limit. Will work this into my daily practice - maybe split it up over the week with the Asharah DVD for a while.

2008 - A year in bellydance!

This has been such a great year! I feel like I have progressed significantly in my dance. I've also become even more obsessed, and who thought that was possible? I was able to do all kinds of cool things I wanted to do, plus some stuff I hadn't thought of.

Torque is coming along. I knew what I wanted Torque to be when I took workshops from Zafira at Triboriginal in 2007. They were excellent dancers and really loved the dance & each other. I wanted to be part of something like that - and now I am!

This year I changed from taking every workshop I could find to taking ongoing lessons with multiple teachers. Workshops are excellent tools to show new things and to open eyes to different ways of doing things, as is dropping in on classes given by other teachers for 1 or 2 classes. I find that taking lessons as I am now is more useful in furthering my dance than taking many workshops or taking classes with a single teacher. Each of my teachers is able to see my progress & roadblocks over time & to better help me overcome them. I am able to understand my teachers better too, which helps me to learn more from them. I'll still take workshops but I am going to stay with my regular teachers over anything else. I also love my teachers and the people in the classes.

My performance skills have improved, as have my technical skills & technique. I slowed down in my practice over the year, but I am picking it back up again by doing at least 10 minutes every day. I did a lot of strength training last year, which definitely helped. I need to work specifically on my leg strength as well as general endurance. I performed in every show I could, always with a grou. I dance with Sara B's student group whenever I can. I signed Torque up for every performance I could. I was able to perform with my class in Daliana's Holiday Hafla (that was fun!) A major block is that I make a face when I miss a step - I have to figure out how to stop this annoying habit! I also need to do some solos. I believe that the only way I can bring myself do that is to visualize it a lot first :-) I feel great in a group, not so great alone.

I also started teaching this year. I had no plans to do that! The thing that got me going on it was my great desire to dance tribal improv in a group. I got very frustrated, knowing that the only people could do it with were in Durham or Cary or beyond. I just suddenly realized that the only way I would likely ever find people to dance it with closer to home would be to teach them myself. Sara told me she thought I was ready to teach it (when I asked), so I just did it. It is a challenge to get people interested, but I have faith that people will see what fun it is & decide to do it. I just have to stick it out. I was unable to teach at the studio, so I talked to Tavane at EBN & we worked something out. Now I am starting to teach at the studio too, this Jan. That will be a weekly series type class, as opposed to the drop-in class twice a month at EBN. I'll keep them both up.

Another frustration has spurred some activity - I decided that we need to start having haflas in this area that other troupes can join. I love the activities & mutual support that the dancers in RDU have - we have nothing like that here. The dancers are separated for reasons I can not fathom. We should be together, providing opportunities for each other & supporting each other. So, I suggested a Torque-sponsored hafla open to all performers to the Torquians, with the first being a benefit. We are planning it for July. I hope that this will be the beginning of a change in the way Triad dancers think. The Torquians are all with me in the wish for a tight belly dancing community.

This is no major accomplishment, but something that I just did not think I'd ever do - I was part of a photo shoot! I have never been much for getting my picture taken, so the photo aspect of being a performer has been a bit difficult. I am getting a bit better with it. As long as I am loaded up with makeup & have a costume I really like on, I'm not too uncomfortable. I have actually signed up for an individual shoot.

Last major thing I've done - that I can think of now - is that I learned some additional web programming & have written a website for Torque!. All it took was reading a few books, some practicing, & I was able to get it written & posted. At most it needs tweaking now! My daughter did the graphic and helped me wit the colors. I really like the way it looks now. I feel pretty good that was able to design & produce the site, as well as get the domain name & a FREE web service!

Like I said, it's been an excellent year in bellydance!

Thoughts in the Hotel

I am sitting in a hotel in PA, looking forward to going home tomorrow. I hoped to find some bellydance classes here but no luck there. I can hardly believe it but the nearest class I could find is more than 2 hours away. Since I have had to work almost every night I've been here, I guess it is just as well. Mon & Tue I got in from the office & had to log in withing an hour to do circuit cuts. The first night I got to bed around midnight & the second around 11. It's been a tiring week

I have spent much of my free time here practicing the new Goth piece. We are performing it at Haflaween (Blue Moon Belly Dance's annual sell-out event!) in just over a week. Luckily I was able to get Lori on tape so I could have a reference to my notes! I'll have 6 or 7 hours to dance it in my head on the drive home tomorrow, so I am pretty sure I'll have it down by Sunday's practice.

I missed all of my classes this week! I have been going through withdrawal. I was able to do the RB practice DVD last night & the Suhaila Buns DVD tonight. That is a tough one!!! I also watched FCBD DVDs on Improv choreography & Cues & Transitions. And I did a bit of beading on my ENT costume, read the Tribal Bible, & wrote up notes from the Lotus workshop a few weekends ago. I owed them to Sarah :-) I am continuing to listen to the Showtunes & Rock pics so I can make my votes before the deadline.

I have also been working on the Torque website pages. I went to upload them last night & lost connection to the server before I could back up the old stuff. I believe I hit them in the middle of a transition. They are changing servers & server providers, moving all the data. My IP is still up but it doesn't get to the site. I reckon I'll have a change of IP to implement when I get home. Anyway, I got the page revamp done & it looks great!!!! I am still having issues with that stupid IE6 png transparency thing. It took 4 different scripts before I could get the transparencies to be transparent. I added these cool list buttons and those don't work right! SOOOOOO irritating. The script that finally fixed the main problem also squashes the header graphic. Grr. I am going to leave it & hope most people have IE 7 or some other standards compliant browser.

I am still mulling over teaching bellydance. I started back teaching the ladies at work on Wednesdays, without choreography :-) and I also started teaching a class on Tribal Improv at Eclectic by Nature. Both classes are quite fun and very different. The class at work is modeled more on Diane's workout format, assisted by an article in the most recent Zagarheet magazine. The class at EBN is more of a dance style class, aided by input from the ladies at work & other teachers I know (I asked for input & feedback from everyone). I am wondering how to improve & make the classes more interesting to everyone.

Must be off - I have along drive home tomorrow & I need to get some sleep. Hopefully the class will get out before noon so I have some hope of getting home before dark!!!

All the blogs in 1 spot now!

Starting classes on Tribal Improv in GSO!! , MySpace, September 15, 2008

Starting classes on Tribal Improv in GSO!!
Category: Life

Yay! I am finally going to teach tribal improv in Greensboro! I am looking forward to having people to dance tribal improv with regularly. It is the most fun dance there is :-) Here is my class info (more classes to be added soon):

Location: Eclectic by Nature 2
406 State St
Greensboro NC

Dates: Oct 8, Oct 22, Nov 12, Dec 10 (Wednesdays all)
Time: 6:30 to 7:45
Cost: $10/class

I am so thankful to Tavane, proprietress of EBN, for letting me use her space! The place has great, positive vibes and will be a good place to dance & have fun. My daughter made a fabulous flyer for me, which I will begin to post everywhere tomorrow. I had copies made today.

Hurray!! I can hardly wait!!