Welcome back, welcome to fall... happy new year

I really do think of September as being the new year.

My kids go back to school, my classes start up again, the weather changes, and the sun starts its disappearing act. My youngest son is in school full days now, so I have more time to work, which is both good and bad.

I'm getting loads of stuff done, but I'm also doing more...

There's an Inversion show upcoming (late November), various workshops at the studio and elsewhere as well as a great new project with Joanna and Ritesh. We'll be doing a collaborative show May 2010!

I'm also starting to purge. I've heard a lot of people are doing that too. I've gone through several drawers with a few more to go. Next are my books, my cds and dvds and even vhs (do people still use those?) I'm tired of the clutter, the piles the mess. In my head and outside of it.

So here's to a new, fresh, clean September. Happy new year!

Waterfalls performance nights

I'm so happy to announce that every second Saturday, dancers from The Dark Side Studio will be performing 3 sets of non-traditional, tribal fusion, modern belly dance!!

Waterfalls restaurant
Indian tapas & grill
303 Augusta Ave, just south of College Street

Shows at 8, 9 & 10 pm
No cover

June 20 - Danielle
July 4 - Audra
July 18 - Monika
August 1 - Karen
August 15 - Sadie
August 29 - Laura

Getting centered...

I have the unfortunate trait of being highly influenced by other people.

Now that's not what you might think at first reading. What I mean is that I get emotionally charged by what others do. I say that the trait is unfortunate as I feel these days that I am mostly effected by the negative things that the so called professionals around me (and I don't just mean physically) do or are doing.

I do get quite discouraged by the lack of responsibility that some professional belly dancers and instructors regularly display. I should say that I DID get quite discouraged...

I have decided to become more centered as of a few weeks ago.

My journey is my own. I am the one who decides where I will go, how I will get there, and what the trip will be like.

I have spent enough time on things that are not what I want to be, not where I want to go. Some of them have assisted me greatly though, as they've fine tuned where I know now I want to be.

It's a great feeling. Lighter...

More centered...

More me!

Gearing up while gearing down

In many ways, things are gearing down. There's only a few weeks left of school for my kids, the summer's on it's way which means several other things are coming to a close (another belly dance session for example). Summer's on it's way, well, okay, some may say spring is still on it's way, but you get the feeling that the nice weather is coming anyway. Thoughts of ice cream, long sunny days and swimming invade my brain more often than I'd care to admit...

In many ways though, things are just starting to gear up for me.

With the end of the spring session comes the annual gala student show, This Ain't Egypt. This is year three and it always fills me with excitement and joy as I get the students ready, teach them choreography and drill and drill and drill the dance into them. I only do this once a year, as the rest of the sessions are focused on teaching technique and there's just not time to do both and have the technique at the standard that I want.

Learning (and teaching) DANCING, is totally different than teaching/learning movements or technique. It's an entirely different thing to string together some undulations up to down, a few hip drops and a floreo as your arms are in high 2nd, rather than walking with hips on the up matching the stepping foot. (As a complete aside but topic for later, what a shame that many instructors and dancers don't realize that there IS in fact a difference, sigh)

Each week sees new movements incorporated into their repetoire, and then the unveiling of the newest combination of the dance does my heart good.

I'm also excited to see what Danielle, Karen and Valizan will present, as this is the first year others will have presented group choreography besides myself. Another first, and another exciting addition to TAE 09.

I'm also working on notes, ideas and teaching strategies for the upcoming Dark Summer Intensives. This year I'm doing things completely differently than the previous two - no choreography will be taught, but instead I'll be concentrating on integrating creative aspects with technique and technical aspects to bring everyone (this year 3 levels!) to a new awareness in their dance. I'm very excited, not only to see the various out of town/province students who have already signed up, but also to work with everyone on this level. More intense than weekly classes, more in depth (no matter what what level they'll be taking) and (I hope) altogether more rewarding for everyone.

A few performances here and there including the second Hipnosis gala in a few weeks as well as a spot in the Eros Avant Garde Cabaret (a beautifully non-bellydance event) and then that's that... A few weeks off for me, spent at farmer's market's, swimming, sewing and generally hanging with the family! I can't wait...

In the meantime, I have more than enough to keep me excited and busy - speaking of which, I'd better get on it!

INVERSION: ROUGE

Spectacular show this Saturday!

Inversion is a twice yearly show in which local belly dancers are encouraged to delve into their experimental sides and present non-traditional work. In each show, performers present two pieces, one entirely of their choosing, the other piece reflecting the common theme.

Inversion: Rouge
featuring performances by Audra, Danielle Davies, Laura Selenzi, Lisa Missen & Lavish Dance Company

Saturday April 25, 2009
St Stephens-in-the-fields church, 365 College Street, Toronto

Doors open for shopping and seating 7:30 pm
Show pm

Tickets $20 in advance and at the door
416-925-1638 1-800-431-0418

See you there!!

Hips on the up, hips on the down drill

RL singles on the up walking flatfoot

RL 3/4 on up walking in releve RL

RLRL 3/4 on the down walking RLRL flatfoot

Walk forward and backwards - arms in low 2nd - don't sway to the right of left with the hips, keep weight centered

In Praise of Simplicity

Tribal Scribe Audra writes in Mid-Bits magazine (Canadian belly dance mag)

In Praise of Simplicity

I recently had an online exchange with a friend regarding simplicity with regards to belly dance and that got me thinking…

Simplicity: the state, quality, or an instance of being simple
Simple: not elaborate or artificial: plain

For many of us, belly dance grabs us and it becomes, well, let's be honest, an obsession. We learn new ways to move our bodies, often to new music and using new dance concepts and ideas. We take as many classes as we can, we take workshops, we learn other people's dances, we make our own dances…

I have found that in fact many dancers get caught up in the opposite of simplicity. We move from beginner to advanced classes, things get more complicated and faster. There is a desire to learn the newest move or to learn the hottest new combination. All of this is somehow equated with better. But is it? I've taken a look at some of the dancers that I admire and I beg to differ.

When a performer embodies simplicity, there is a clarity of movement present that is completely engrossing. Rather than being the only movement the dancer is able to perform, instead simplicity is the dancer's choice at that time. The dancer is saying 'of all the movements I am able to do right now… I choose this one'. That one movement is a fully loaded movement though. Paired up with that one move is the right glance, the just-so arm placement, the subtle gesture with the hand and often times that gloriously perfect ah-ha expression of the face.

I personally love watching that. It's expressive and genuine as opposed to technically proficient. It's subtle and skillful. To me, that is watching someone dance rather than watching them execute technique.

Over the past 20 years, the standard for belly dance technique has risen to new heights. That's great for the art form as now we actually have a large percentage of casual dancers who know how to use their bodies. Many people even know which muscles are in use when executing movements. Workshop instructors no longer teach how to perform basic belly dance movements, but instead work on more complex aspects of the dance or areas of their personal specialization. Instead we now discuss the pros and cons of using the obliques versus the glutes to execute hip work as we execute our ¾ shimmies on the down. It's amazing!

What that has translated to as far as performance goes is far from amazing in many ways though. Many performances (and I use that word deliberately as opposed to dances) from well known local and international dancers these days are merely technical demonstrations without any feeling, any connection to the music. Standing and showing us all of the 15 isolations you can perform with your hips or performing complex high speed sequence of selected isolations isn't dancing, that's demonstrating for technical proficiency. If you feel the need to do that, perhaps you'd better reconsider your choice of profession in my opinion.

I'm not putting in a plug for dancing slowly, though I do personally love to do so. I'm just saying you don't have to pull out all your moves in a single song to impress. I've been saying that for years.

I'm not saying that learning technique isn't important. Anyone who knows me or has been to a class with me can attest to the fact that I think the opposite. I think it's a vital aspect of being a belly dancer (or dancer of any genre), no matter what your level is or how long you've been doing it. Practice and attention to technique are essential.

What I'm saying is let's take a look at what we're presenting as belly dance (and I know, that's a loaded phrase in and of itself). What is it your trying to say when you get up there and perform? What is it that the audience is going to see when you dance? Let's think about that instead of thinking about our next performance as an opportunity to demonstrate the latest complicated trick we can perform with our bodies. If you think it's an art, then treat is as such.

Renew and refresh

Rejuvenate your dance by following one or more of the following:

- take some dance movements that are at home in your body and put them to new music.
Sometimes 'old' movements that are almost habit in your body or movements done specifically to one song can find new life when you put them to new or different music. Let the music be your cue and see if the music tells you to modify the moves to suit to the new tunes.

- make some new dance combinations or movements.
Put on a song that you simply LOVE and move to it without censoring yourself. See what phrases or movements are repeated throughout the song. Does the chorus beg two hip accents just before the singing starts? Is there that little bit at the beginning that needs you to shimmy to it?

- go back to basics.
Once we move onto a new level in classes or conquer that new movement that's being done, what is left? How about going back to re-introduce yourself to the basic hip, chest and arm movements? Learn to refine and isolate more, use fewer muscles - every time you repeat a movement, make it even more 'perfect'. Go slowly and thoroughly...

- watch someone else dance.
Check out someone new on Youtube or borrow a new dvd from a friend and see what's new and exciting out there. Or, go the other way - check out some tried and established 'greats'. Look for Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca, Nagwa Fuad, Nadia Gamal, Naima Akef, Souhair Zaki...

- check out some folklore.
Find out where what we know as belly dance came from. Try Tanoura, or some male dancing (not trained dancers, but just men dancing who were caught on tape...), celebratory dancing, wedding dancing.

This is one of the original blogs that got me thinking....

Sharon Moore's Blog

Happy new year!

I've been reading a lot lately about what other dancers think of tribal fusion or fusion belly dance, the scene and it's dancers. It's been about the disappointment they've been feeling about the lack of 'sisterhood' in the dance and the craze to discover the latest cool thing to fuse into belly dance to make them the newest sensation. The lack of originality and of true passion for the dance.

Frankly, I try to keep myself a little out of the larger tribal fusion scene in order to concentrate on my own scene. I'm not shoving my head in the sand in any way. I do take the odd workshop here and there to see other dancers, I watch YouTube every now and again, and I talk to my friends who are some of the makers and shakers in the TF world.

For the most part though, I read about dance (not just belly dance), I find and listen to new music and choreograph what I feel regardless of what the rest of the TF dancers are up to. I have goals and reasons for each of my pieces that I create or perform (as much of my solo work in improv) and those goals and reasons are constantly changing to reflect the changes in my life. To reflect the things that are important to me and to my dance. To reflect what I have decided to explore for the now. I rarely perform solo to the same music twice.

Long ago, I tired of watching the same dances over and over again performed by one of the 'top' local belly dance companies. Where is the creativity? Where is the self expression? Where is the growth?

To me, belly dance is all about self expression and it's a continuation of my life journey (god, that sounds so new age trashy) and so my dance will continue to change. The others? Ah, each to their own, no?