Welome 2015! L1L2L3 24 Jan 2015

Today in L3 Drills and Improv, we addressed the Moroccan Six zil pattern and the feeling of circles in the music.

The song we used was Sadats by Cheb i Sabah (see playlist below.) We tried to match the feeling of the music with circular steps:

Arm circles with floreos - vertical circles [arms] with little spinners [hands]
Barrel Turn - vertical circle
Pulse Turn - vertical circle
Wrap Around Turn - horizontal circle upper body
Circle Step - horizontal circle lower body

I wanted the students to understand that American Tribal Style® is not meant to be a historically accurate representation of the North African cultures, but rather a way of bringing the feeling of the cultures to the audience via the dance. We talked a bit about the Gnawa and Griots. I recommended reading Paul Bowles, especially Their Heads are Green and Their Hands Are Blue, where he mentions that Egyptian music sounds like a square and Moroccan music sounds like a circle.

We looked at some videos of Gnawa trance music and ritual, to give the students a visual to apply when playing the zils like gargabas and the circular nature of the pulse in the music.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V5UFau6ZOLg

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BOzbhIlrQu0

Lyrics to Bounce

Thank you Sofia Salazar-Rubio for researching the lyrics for Bounce from the CD Opium Head by Jeremiah Soto and Solace.

And as you may recall, we made a choreography for Bounce, so that we could "nail" the emphatic parts of the song. Here's the link to that blog post.

Sofia says, "Apparently, the lyrics are a poem by 17th Century Pakistani Sufi poet Bulleh Shah.

Not sure the title of the poem, but here are the lyrics with translation."

Diva Bal Ke Mita Le Hanera Ni
(Light a candle and extinguish the darkness)

Kulli Vichon Ni Yaar Lab Le
(Find your beloved in his dwelling)

O Na Kar Maan Rupaiye Waala Ban Ban Ke Na Bage
(Don't be proud of your wealth, you'll never tire of accumulating it)

Vei Na Kar Maan Rupaiye Waala Ban Ban Ke Na Bage
Khara Khota Tu Parakheya Jaave Pave Sharif De Aage
(You keep inspecting to see what is real and what is fake)

Vei Khara Khota Tu Parakheya Jaave Pave Saraf De Aage

O Bolo Poora Tolo Poora Sat Sirre Tere Lage
(Practice what you preach, weigh the truth, beware that it does not come back to haunt you)

O Bolo Poora Tolo Poora Sat Sirre Tere Lage
Bulleh Shah Tu Kaudi Ho Ja Vatta Mul Na Lage
(Bulleh Shah become worthless so that you cannot be appraised)

Kulli  Vichon Ni Yaar Lab Le
(Find your beloved in his dwelling)

Bold As Brass-Nakarali

Hi All,
If you haven't seen the new Nakarali Bold As Brass collection, head on over to www.nakarali.com.

We have amazing new designs that are both luscious and very affordable, due to the magic of brass, designer Colleena Shakti and the artisans in India. We've priced them individually and in "collections" so you can get a little or a lot. We recommend a lot.

Here's a photo from the Tribal Roots show at Club f8 last Friday, produced by DJ Amar. I used two necklaces for a belly drape, as well as a stack of bangles and giant hoop earrings (the kind that can be a wrist bangle or pop open for gauged ears.)

 

And here are some shots from the Bold As Brass launch party on 8 Mar at the FatChanceBellyDance® Studio in San Francisco.

 

Week Two L1L2 and on-going L3

Week Four and Dueling Duets

Working on diagonals and rounds

Week One

It's Week One of both Fundamentals L1 and Tribal Combinations L2!

backstage at Devotion, in pictures

There's nothing quite like seeing your production on the theater marquee.

 The cast have a silly moment after a day of rehearsal.

SuperKate and I compare our differences, along with our similarities.

Back at the FCBD® Studio, we learn about the influences that Teresa Tomb and Rakadu Gypsy Dance are inspired by.

Megha breaks down the Devyani Vol. 9 combos.

Malia DeFelice teaches us about Tunisian Dance.

 Loretta and I experience the fabulous Sister Studio Quilt gifted to us from Deanna Freeman of Devyani Dance Co.

the short Solo class was really fun!

Aisha - City Of Love Maya's Theme - Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love Bounce - Opium Head 8 Pluto In Capricorn (I See Beyond the Black Sun) - I See Beyond the Black Sun Shimmabulous - The Dancing Drum, Vol. 2

Notes from 9 Jul with music referneces

Wayward - Muse Melodic Anathema - Muse Melodic Dayate Maali - Spice Box Gargabas - F'il Waha - At the Oasis Magreb - Muse Melodic Efrooh Bwadina - Bedouin Tribal Dance Salamat - Charcoal Gypsies

Happy Birthday to His Holiness Dalai Lama 6 Jul 2013!!

We had 3 great classes on Saturday.
In L1 Fundamentals we covered the Week 6*:Shimmy and Circle Step. It's been a learning curve, coming back to teach Basic classes, and I have to be really creative and time-oriented in order to get all the info out in a way that's understandable to new dancers.
In L2 Combinations we looked

*Yes, I managed to mix up Weeks 4, 5 and 6! I taught Week 4 on Tues, then Week 5 on Sat, then Week 6 on the following Tues....argh! It was brought to my attention at the end of Tues/W6 that I had failed to repeat W4 and W5 on their respective days. So I followed through with W6 on Sat and will flip flop W5 on Tues and W4 on Sat and then we'll be back on track! Apologies :)

as promised

Good morning!

As promised, I am at the keyboard again, bright and shiny. So now, let me tell you about producing Devotion...

The first few years of Devotion were a quickly thrown together show, nothing stupendous. Chaotic at the last minute as all shows are, but it worked. I was lucky enough to meet Patrick Coffield on a trip in New Mexico and he has been my sound and light tech from the first show. We just click. He is a Buddhist Cowboy and he keeps me sane by various means of humor and seriousness.

2008: The first theater, Climate, was a tiny flophouse of a venue. It was raw, but it had an underground feel so it made sense. When Colleena and I initially conceived of the idea of Devotion we thought we'd create a buzz for San Francisco by having the show in a small (50 seat) blackbox theater on multiple weekends; a Friday night show, Sat matinee and evening show and a Sun matinee, repeated on two weekends. The arts community in San Francisco is notorious for turning it's nose up at anything mainstream, so you have to make your event look like a struggle. That wasn't hard to do.

2009: Unfortunately, the very aspect of making the show available for multiple viewings put it in the category of "I'll catch it next time" and it was not well attended. We shortened the run on the following year, but this time the venue itself was the problem (the Climate organization was starting to fall apart) and we really did have to struggle to mount the production due to issues with wiring and structure. I employed a great publicist, Amy Kweskin, to brainstorm some audience building which involved a pre-show meet and greet at a nearby restaurant. Note to self-bad idea to pull the entire company out of pre-show preparations an hour before opening night.

2010: Suffice to say that we tried exhausted the Climate and had to move on. The next year we found ourselves at Shotwell Studios. A great location, just around the corner from the FCBD® Studio on 19th St at South Van Ness. We could park our cars once and just walk to the venue! If you live in SF or have visited, you know what a joy that is (parking protocol in SF is to find a spot and take the ticket so you can stay for more than two hours, as long as they don't tow it's worth the sixty bucks.) Shotwell was just 50 seats as well, but the layout had more "air" and it didn't feel as cramped. Really, if the owner hadn't been insane we could have stayed there. Sadly, said owner managed to personally offend every member of the company just moments before the start of the show. I was amazed at the professionalism of each and every artist; at first they registered confusion at the personalized insult, then a flash of anger and then each and every one of us pulled an invisible dome of calm over ourselves and walked onto the stage as if nothing had happened. At the end of the run, I think it was just one weekend this time; Fri-Sat, we all just walked away without looking back.

That's all for now. I have lots more to tell. See you in a day of two...as promised!

Celebrating National Dance Week at the FCBD® Studio