Dancing in December...

   My PRISM Dancers have another couple of shows coming up in December, a short appearance in a Holiday Show (put on by MFA Studios, where I teach a mixed-level Bellydance Basics class), then one of our favorite events, First Night on New Year's Eve!

   In the Holiday Show we're only doing one Tribal Odyssey number, so I wrote about that here in my TOBD blog. The "First Night" show will be longer, and we're packing in a lot of bellydance variety! We'll be dancing with quite a few props this time - canes, swords, candles, veils, and fan veils. And of course, finger cymbasl! We've also got a couple of modern Raks Sharki solos in the lineup.

   Usually in these long shows I don't get much chance to dance since I'm producing as well as emceeing, but our wonderful drummer/roadie/Buugeng artist Jasif offered to emcee - so I'm looking forward to this! I've put myself in the show THREE times: a Sharki solo, in the Candle Dance trio, and of course the Tribal Odyssey set. Delegating is wonderful - I'm going to do that more often!

New Year's Eve celebration (weather permitting!)

The last few years we've really been fortunate with the weather on New Year's Eve. It's always a gamble - I remember traveling to First Night in Leesburg years ago through horribly cold, snowy, icy conditions... let's hope for the best once again.

  Anthea / Kawakib
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How to make the "Crafty Cuts" Tribal Bellydance Outfit

This is a fun outfit - big thanks to one of my Recital guest soloists, Yabani Cicek, for the original halter pattern, which gave me the idea! I call it "Crafty Cuts" since there's little sewing involved. This stretch velvet material doesn't really fray so it's not even hemmed.

Quick and easy costume

The Halter Top is a rectangle with two triangles cut out; and those triangles went into my jazz pants as side flares. Here's the halter top laying flat:

Halter, done! Finger cymbals show scale.

 And with the neck straps tied to show where it goes over the head:

Halter neck straps tied.

For the matching Hip Scarf worn under the woven tribal belt, I cut another velvet square diagonally into two triangles:

So I flipped one triangle around and tied them at the sides:

Hip scarf - it ties at each side of hip. Done!

For the Pant Flares, these offcuts from the Halter Top were trimmed up and inserted into the bottom sides of my jazz pants. I cut lengthwise right up the outer seam of each pant leg, and sewed in the flares. Much better, those jazz pants are BORING!

Halter top offcuts are a perfect fit for the pant flares!

And that Shrug? It's just a long tube, left un-sewn where the arms go... SEW easy!
This is the outfit I mentioned in my previous post

We can belly dance in small spaces!

tribal belt, yarn hair tassels complete the look

I wore this at a street art festival, Via Colori, in Fredericksburg, VA. Ken of Everybody Drum allowed me and a couple of buddies to come drum and dance at his Drum Dome; it was a great afternoon.

Does the tutorial make sense? Try it; it's a quick and easy outfit for informal performances like drum jams and class haflas. You can't beat a comfy costume!

  Anthea / Kawakib
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Tired, sore... but HAPPY!

The last three weekends provided many happy belly dancing memories, not to mention three new costume looks! Not too shabby...

Catching up from my last post:

• MidSummer Magic, my student recital, went well and now I'm working on getting the DVD done for the performers. I only danced in the group improv set with my advanced students, which was fine. Not only were there SEVEN other soloists, but I always forget how much work is it to produce the show, which leaves me low on energy.
• Two days later(!) I packed the truck and drove to Pennsic in lovely PA for a mini-vacation with my groovy Orluk Oasis family - PRICELESS. While there I enjoyed visiting with camp-mate Rajni (of Qamar), another Tribal Odyssey Bellydance™ teacher from Georgia; she taught several "Intro to TOBD" classes which was a great lead-in to my class on using finger cymbals in the format. Then I had several lovely lazy days in camp to recharge.
• Home again home again, to continue with our regular weekly classes and rehearsals right away. Yes, that trip to Pennsic was a "vacation"! My PRISM Dancers had a couple of weekend events coming right up, so it was back to work in a hurry.

The Creative Spirit gave me a blast of energy and I pulled some new looks together for these performances. You know how sometimes you want something new to wear but don't want to go shopping? That's me! Actually I've been thinking about the Skirt Panels and the Slashed Tees projects for some time, but they all came together for the September shows. Here's what I ended up with:
SKIRT PANELS - for our TOBD skirt combos when we're not wearing skirts!

Side "Skirt Panels", worn with bellydance pants

We wore this tribal look for Art Attack Fredericksburg, doing impromptu belly dance performances up and down Caroline Street. I wrote about it here: tribal bellydance at downtown art event. I'll do a tutorial on the Skirt Panels on my Tribal Odyssey blog.

SLASHED TEES - what bellydancer doesn't love fringe, and lots of it?

Pat and I in our Slashed Tee outfits (also wearing Skirt Panels over our pants)

PRISM and I were more than happy to travel to the Lynchburg (VA) Tribal Hafla to dance again, this time with lots of colorful fringe flying about! The dancers worked hard to get their outfits done,and making them together was part of the fun for me.

Finally, CRAFTY CUTS - works best with non-fraying fabric.

Almost no-sew!

 I'll do a Tutorial on this outfit too (for this blog), because the blue velvet top, belt, pant flares and shrug only took a few hours to create. In fact, I only found out about Ken's Drum Dome event at the Via Colori a couple of days prior, and decided I wanted a new outfit! At last, something to do with the crushed blue velvet I've had forever!


I love it when things come together like that. It was a gorgeous day to dance outside; drumming with Ken (of Everybody Drum) was a blast, and a couple of my peeps showed up: bellydance buddy Janet, one of my Locust Grove (Va) students; and the amazing Jasif who not only drums fantastically, but also performs with Buugeng.

On each of these Saturdays, I'd taught a horse riding lesson in the morning so was already a bit tired. And after the third Saturday dance trip in a row I was bushed when I got home that evening. Plus I'd had another "horse-related injury" the previous Monday, falling hard in the stall when big old Jessie James pinned my foot to the floor. Oh my poor tailbone... among other things! So yes, I was "whupped" and pretty much played dead in my recliner Saturday night.

But I know one thing: at my age and after what I've been through, I'm going to stay active and do whatever I can. I'm not going to pass up dancing at festivals and art events, horseback riding, or what have you, even though they're quite wearing on me physically. We paid enough for this durn hip replacement, and now I'm going to use it!


 Anthea / Kawakib
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each dance is a further step to recovery

So for our New Year's Eve show in Fredericksburg this year my performing group PRISM did a number called Ich Inta. This dance is like one of those old Mahmoud Reda Troupe choreographies where the group is on their knees in a circle while Farida Fahmy dances in the middle. I eschew putting myself in the "star spot" when dancing with my group, so I typically assign the soloist part to one of my students, this time to Nashida who dances very prettily in Egyptian style. That meant I (along with the rest of the group) had to get up and down from the kneeling position during the dance.

Well, it was really difficult for me to get up from the kneeling position when we started rehearsing, and I was worried about how awkward it looked; but with some practise several times a week (using a cane to help) I did finally work up the leg strength to do creditably well on stage when we performed on New Year's eve. That's a relief!

Now we're working up another choreography with several up-and-downs to do! So this is great for my leg muscles; and wouldn't you know, it turns out I have to use my non-favorite kneeling leg too. I always love it when bellydance itself provides the exercise my body needs.

I'm a big believer using real belly dance moves for body conditioning whenever possible... now on to the next show!

Anthea / Kawakib
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resuming more activities...

So it's been several years since I could garden, but now without the hip pain I can again! So add gardening to my activities now! woohoo :)
I also think my leg is getting stronger, it seems to be staying in place better when I'm horseback riding.
And, my advanced dancers & I recently started working on one of my harder choreographies, and I'm really looking forward to our performance of it, whenever that might be - maybe this year's Student Recital!!! Yay ~

Woohoo! back to Cane Dancing!

I loved the Cane Duet with Nashida in our PRISM Dancers' folkloric set at the UMW Fair yesterday. The concrete was hard on the feet but otherwise, felt great. We used a song from Hasan abou el Saoud's cd - poppy but classic at the same time -

bellydance hafla celebrating Spring!

Last night was our Spring Class hafla, a bellydance party - the just-for-fun kind, not the performing-for-the-public kind. That's me dancing (with my daughter in the background) doing a little Tribal Odyssey group improv. Haflas are the only time we can really get all levels of students dancing together and that's one of the things I love most about them; plus, it's a PARTY!

out on the trail finally

Sunday after horse riding class I got to go on the trail again, it's been over a year since I left the arena. I was on Phoenix and he was amazing, that is as soon as we got in front of Tre who was slowing us down :) I've been reading Mark Rashid & Linda Tellington-Jones so was just working on managing my excitement at riding out again and keeping Phoenix relaxed and happy, he was great.

Dancing is going well, stamina is much improved now and both of my legs are looking almost the same as far as muscle goes. Still slightly heftier on the off side, but I can do a full squat and either leg can bring me back up to vertical so that's wonderful.
We'll be having a class hafla later this month so I'll be dancing in that; between me & PRISM we've got several performances coming up this Spring, shows here in Fredericksburg and also going down to Richmond in May. That'll be great fun! Yay Spring!

yep, I forgot!

I've officially started horse riding classes again (that is, paid for them); I've been riding a little bit here & there, but both my favorite rides are lame-ish so nothing very spectacular.

Bellydance class is back on track & feels fine, & I hang (almost) upside down afterwards too. Haven't yet gone completely vertical on the inversion table yet, but almost.

Had a big weekend with Tribal Jam X on Saturday, teaching a mini-class, "Intro to Tribal Odyssey" in the afternoon, and dancing with PRISM that evening. Sunday went to DC to see Turku at the Turkish Festival... that was fun even though they only played 4 or 5 songs thanks to earlier tech difficulties that held up the whole afternoon program.
Then going back to the parking garage (under the Customs building) I went through a metal detector, setting if off of course. But the funny thing is I forgot about my metal hip & thought my underwire bra was setting the durn thing off! And there wasn't even any wine involved! I think that shows how great my hip's doing :)

Back to Fall Bellydance classes

Yesterday started our Fall session of bellydance at Parks & Rec; I danced pretty much through both Intermediate level classes just fine. Was a bit stiff when I got home; iced my back for a while.

I think tonight for the two Basics level classes that I should take it easy, beginners are more work & I'm already doing more than I'm used to. I'm really looking forward to it though!

4 months & counting!

I'm just back from a week of camping at Pennsic (historical re-enactment) and it was great. Lots of walking around, just a little touch of dancing (nothing too 'hip'tastic), and no pain or discomfort. I even drove all the way home with no issues (7 hours). People were alternately intrigued or amazed about the hip replacement (if they didn't already know). The dancers whom I told were a little shocked, but I hope they see that it's nothing to be afraid of; in fact a lot of people told me I looked much happier than before. I know I felt a lot better - I even made it out to parties & did the marketplace tour a couple of times. It felt great!

ummm, don't tell the Doctor....

After all, he did warn me (as my husband pointed out)... I was feeling so good I overdid it a little bit Thursday at Bellydance class, after two exercise sessions (with weights) that day. I was walking a little too fast & did dance around just a tiny bit... so I was sore when I got home. Had to use the cane again so I wouldn't limp.

So no exercises Friday, and today I'll try weights again....

Lesson learned!

almost 8 weeks with new hip!

I didn't use my cane at all yesterday! it's so nice to walk around like normal again -

I am getting quite a list of exercises & stretches to do though! Seems like every time I go to Physical Therapy there's a new one. Maybe I'm not "supposed" to do them all at home - not sure. But I do see some muscles developing in my leg so it's all good.

I asked my P.T. yesterday about sitting on my barrel again (horseback simulator) & he wants a picture. I also forgot to ask him about my bellydance weight belt... so that's for next time.

seven weeks after surgery...

My incision's healed up well & is a thin red line; there's still just a little swelling on the side of the hip. I'm on track with all the exercises to keep scar tissue from forming, and have a couple of stretches to do now too.

During the past week I started walking about the house forgetting where my cane was! So I can get around without it for a while, then just use it when my leg gets tired. Those exercises are really paying off! I even skip taking Tylenol sometimes. It's pretty exciting :-)

So yesterday I was able to take my favorite lesson horse out for hand grazing with no problems. It'll still be a couple of months before I can get back in the saddle though...

almost two weeks since surgery

Dr. took the staples out yesterday then (or rather the nurse did), then told me no driving for another month. Bummer. Other than that things are going great, physical therapists coming out twice a week with new exercises each time... and pain is minimal.

Stopped taking the hydrocodone a few days ago, really didn't like the dreams or digestion issues that went with it. Tylenol Arthritis is doing me just fine. And no more blood thinner shots, did the last one today, thank goodness. I hated giving myself shots ick!

The incision is 6 inches long and curved around my hip a bit. I might upload a photo if it's not too gross to look at....

I'm getting around the house fine with a walker, just being slow and careful and following all the rules. P.T. says we're going to a crutch next week as it's better for gait readjustment.