...not so lonely anymore

Another busy bellydance weekend in the 'burg - and beyond!

 After much debate on dates, we finally had our Student Hafla this past Friday night, at TAJ Indian Cuisine, a brand new restaurant in town. TAJ is actually in the OLD 'Aladins' location, which is where I did my last gigs as a restaurant dancer, about four years ago (before my hip replacement). Since TAJ has redecorated inside, dancing there again did NOT bring back any memories! That's probably a good thing, because that last Aladin gig was pretty emotional since I knew it was my last.
 Happily, since then I've moved on mentally and emotionally, and don't miss those solo performing days. I always did feel lonely doing restaurant and party work by myself. Maybe someday I'll write about The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Bellydancer, which was the story of my life for twenty years. There were no social networks then either, so it was lonely in a way most dancers today don't experience.

Getting the party started!

 Anyway, I danced a short Raks Sharki solo to get things started, then we enjoyed a handful of student solos and duets, including the lovely Souris who performed twice. After the performances we got Open Dancing going, and my students danced with their friends old and new. Even some guests joined in - notably, Richmond dancers Khalima and Heather, and the dynamic Ken Crampton, African drummer extraordinaire! Meanwhile, the TAJ staff seemed to enjoy our enjoyment, which is always a good thing at these restaurant events!

 What really pleased me about this Hafla was that it brought my students (and their families and friends) together not only from all class levels, but even from different towns. That is my real goal, creating community and sharing; taking away that lonely feeling I had as a dancer, I guess! And whenever we can get students and dancers past their inherent shyness in sharing their dance with others, it's a win. So I call this Hafla not only a wonderful social event, but a true success on that score.

 Then, up early Saturday for more! After a short ride on Jessie James, and the small beginner class I teach for my instructor at White Buffalo, it was off to the last Drum Session of the year in downtown Fredericksburg. PRISM Dancer Pixie and drummer/Buugeng artist Jasif turned up. Jasif is working on learning AND creating Drum Solos - with only about a year of drumming under his belt he's come far by studying all he can. I'm looking forward to having him play for us soon.

 Sunday brought a road trip to Richmond, our Capital City. There's nothing more fun than a road trip with my peeps!
 The plan was for me and Souris to ride with Pixie and Jasif, but Souris decided not to chance the trip south because this was the weekend Hurricane Sandy came to town. East Coast, meet global warming! So just the three of us traveled to Brett's house for Rose Ravia's special class on dancing to live music.

Pixie freestyle dancing in Ravia's class

 I have extensive experience in dancing to live music but I thoroughly enjoyed Ravia's approach; her teaching method is clear and dynamic, and she gave the students instant correction and feedback on their solos. Her class was exceptional, I'm so glad she offered it and invited me to bring my students.
 A fun bonus of Ravia's event was a free photo session with photographer Paul Murphy, of which we took full advantage, needless to say. Bellydancers love photographs of themselves almost as much as they love mirrors!

Brett in his element

 Partying at Brett's is always fun, he's the best host - and we got to visit with some of the Richmond bellydance community as well, they're such a warm and friendly group. And imagine my delight when I met Cozette, and found a new horseriding bellydancer to talk to - for me, that's the best of both worlds!

  Anthea / Kawakib
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Staying on top is everything!!

Do I ALWAYS have to hurt myself before a show? NO (just sometimes it seems like it).

I'm not hurt badly, just a bit achy from the unexpected gymnastics I did on top of Reece Sunday. No smart-aleck remarks please!

Reecie's an adorable retired racehorse, a hidden gem in the school where I ride. We usually practise the canter going left, but Sunday we tried going right... and he sped up and zig-zagged because I gave him bad cues. I couldn't help it, since I was losing control and flopping around on top of him, having lost a stirrup as well. But at least he stopped quickly so I only ended up hugging his neck before I managed to get back in the saddle. Bless his heart. So I have some sore muscles in my left hip from that escapade, but it's way better than falling off!

Reece: "Are you done?"

When I'm riding, why does it take me so long to remember to do the things that I ALREADY KNOW from bellydancing? The same things I'm always telling my students before they perform, whether it's in class or at a show:

• Relax
• Breathe
• FOCUS on what you're about to do
• Enjoy the moment

That's "staying on top" of the situation. I did NONE of those things prior to our canter practise, and the result was almost a fall. And with my Student Hafla coming up this Friday, when I'm looking forward to dancing, that wouldn't be good.
LESSON LEARNED: Teacher, follow your own advice!


  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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