Bellydance: Experiences

We have pulled in to Carbondale

And this hotel has the hugest headboards either of us have seen. Also, the wardrobe has a light in it.

Happy Birthday to me! Me as a baby-dancer

Today was my 29th birthday, and I celebrated with pork chops from Greenwood farm today, and a night out with friends last night with Ethiopian food and a trip to the City museum.

Anyway, I figured what better occasion than my birthday to talk about myself shamelessly, right?

A reader named Rach asked me the following question:

May I know how you went from a beginner to performing?

I was giving this some thought, and I thought this might be a fun time to look back at my performance history... Some people look at baby pictures on their birthdays, I'm subjecting you guys to baby-dancer pictures.

My very first performance was a year and four months after I started dancing. It was a group performance at a dance recital organized by my first teacher, Monica.

You can see a very blurry picture of that first performance to the right. Our whole group wore these matching beladi dresses made from $20 veils. Best. Beginner. Costume. Ever. I still have that veil-turned dress, and have worn it since then, and have lent it to others. I am very glad that Monica had us wear a costume like this. At that point in my dance experience, I would have looked like I was playing dress-up in a full-on bedlah.

The performance itself went ok. I think we did about 3 songs, a plain oriental piece, a veil dance, and a cane dance. If I remember correctly, my classmates all opted not to do the cane, so my teacher and I did it as a duet. And thus a love affair with saiidi music and mizmar were born.

I was terrified before this performance, and in all truth, I think I kind-of stumbled through the choreographies. I had felt pretty confident in them when we worked on them in class, but I wasn't really ready for how different it felt to actually perform. Even though we were performing for less than 20 people, half of whom were there to see the adult ballet beginners we were sharing our recital with. (Who were also adorable, by the way) It could have been 5 people, and would still have been terrifying.

I felt exhilarated when it was over. I knew I had a long way to go in my learning, but I was so proud that I had gotten up and performed. At that point, the idea of dancing solo seemed completely unimaginable. I thought I might get there some day, but that day didn't seem particularly close.

Oddly enough, my first solo ended up only happening about 6 months later. I had by then moved to St Louis, and started taking classes with Diana. Since Dahlal is here in St Louis, I got sucked into buying a costume right away. This one was relatively inexpensive by bellydance costume standards, I think I paid $275 for the bedlah. I still have it, and still love it. I don't care if that super-long fringe is less fashionable right now, I love making that fringe fly.

I didn't really feel ready to solo, but Diana wanted me to, to see what my dancing looked like. I danced at a hafla, it was a very low-key thing, and a perfect venue for a first solo. I danced to the first 3-4 minutes of Ranet al Khul Khal from the first Jalilah's Raks Sharki CD.

The performance went reasonably well. Looking at the video, I looked basically like a two-year dancer. Not great, by any means, but enthusiastic. Too many oddly timed turns, some weird choices of accents, floppy fish/helicopter hands, etc. But for all that, it's a performance I don't cringe when I go back and look at. I'm happy with myself for having danced to traditional, non-pop music for my first solo. I don't think I did the song great justice, but I'm proud that I started out challenging myself.

Since then I have danced at a lot of haflas, and a handful of workshop shows. A lot of those performances continue to be group performances, with my friends, or my classmates. I also do a handful of more formal group performances organized by my teacher.

I haven't really moved very far into the world of professional dancing. As many of you readers know, I dance a few times a year at charity fundraiser variety shows organized by a couple of my friends, but I have not put myself out there to look to be hired by people I don't already know. To be honest, the world of professional bellydance doesn't seem particularly appealing to me - this is my hobby. I go to a lot of workshops because I want to be the best dancer I can be, and because I love learning, but I'm not looking to turn it into a job - strikes me as a waste of a perfectly good hobby. This is my escape from my daily life, I don't want to have to worry about hustling for gigs or students.

It was fun to dig these pictures up! Thanks, Rach, for the inspiration to reminisce.

Two new costumes

Just a quick pair of pictures.

This is the Pharaonics bedlah I picked up from a dancer in Oregon. I bought it inexpensively, it needs some TLC, and I need to completely re-construct the bra (move the cups closer together, angle them in, make it a halter and reduce the fringe). But I think it's such a classic, and I will love it once it's done.

And this one I bought tonight. It's at least 10 years old, probably closer to 15. I bought it from a dance friend, who had bought it from another St Louis dancer (who is now a great teacher and studio director). The style is very old-school - no one is making costumes like this anymore. (In the picture, there's a neck strap that is currently sitting loose under the shoulder straps. It needs a new hook.) The beading is very 3 dimensional, and I love the asymmetry.

I'll be back soon, promise

I'll be back on the blog after May 13th, promise. Until then, I am studying like a crazy person! Actuarial exams don't pass themselves, you know! ;)

But until then, I wanted to show off a couple pictures of how much weight I've lost. Here are some pictures of me opening for a show. The show was organized by a member of a local band who were headlining. They brought in 3 other bands, and asked me to open. It was at a fun local bar, with a great enthusiastic crowd.

I bought the bedlah on a whim second hand on Bhuz. (Possibly even 3rd or 4th hand!) It's an inexpensive Egyptian set to begin with, and buying it used... well, I payed more for the skirt and vest I'm wearing with it than the bedlah itself. When I bought it, it was *way* too small, but I had figured I might take it apart and re-construct it into something that works better, but I never got around to it. Good thing, too, since now it fits! (It's not super-well-fitting, because cheap bedlah almost always have fitting issues, but it looks good, and that's what matters.)

An awesome way to spend a spring afternoon

I won 5th row seats to a Cards game at my company's Christmas party this year. They were great seats - just to the 3rd base side of home  plate. Here's a picture from where I was sitting yesterday afternoon (se how close!) I got a lot of sun and ate a ton of food - it's a shame the Cardinals  lost. ;)

Sewing some fun little zill bags

This past week, I have been getting re-acquainted with my sewing machine. It's a Kenmore 6-Stitch machine from somewhere around the late 70's early 80's. It's from the era that Kenmore machines were made by Singer (My mother has an old singer, and I recognized the threading sequence immediately) I bought it a while back at a rummage sale-type fundraiser for about $30. It belonged to the aunt of an acquaintance. A dance friend hooked me up with a good sewing machine repair shop, so I got it tuned up last fall, and it runs like new.

I was glad to get my hands on an older sewing machine, since ones made before the mid 80's are all metal parts on the inside So aside from a tune up every couple of years, they will run forever. Newer machines have a lot of plastic parts inside, and can physically wear out. Getting parts replaced is way more expensive than just a tune up.

I got tired of having loose pins floating around, and so I made myself a pincushion this morning. I love this psychedelic chicken fabric I got at Hancock's from the clearance section.

So here are two cute little bags. The chicken bag is zill-bag sized, it's built around a 7in zipper. The grey bag is a little larger, a good size for costume accessories like wrist cuffs and sleeves and stuff. (Also, it's a great size for carrying small knitting projects like socks)

Great pics thanks to Ani Corless

I danced this weekend at a fundraiser that, along with bands, included an art exhibition. It was a great night with a great vibe. One of the artists exhibiting was photographer Ani Corless. She is a fabulous photographer. She has a great feeling for using color in almost monochromatic photos. Go check her out.

I danced up in the art gallery instead of on the main stage, and had a blast. It was nice up there. Ani took a couple of fabulous pictures of my performance:

Look how much fun I was having

In mid-folky bounce

In mid-figure eight

A pretty black and white shot (which would be nicer if my belt wasn't skewed)

I wonder if she does any portrait-type work. I think these may be some of the best candid shots I've seen of my performances.

(Also, the paintings behind me are by Novei Beige, you can see her sitting by her art in the black-and-white picture)

I opened the show this weekend!

At the show for the workshop this weekend, I was one of two people doing pop music, so I got chosen to open the show! I was so crazy nervous.

I danced to "Al Laila Dy" by Sa'ad off of his Prince of Sha'abi album. It's cute and upbeat. A good friend of mine said it was the best performance she's ever seen me give. I felt a little bit like a typewriter, going back and forth across the stage trying to get people fired up. The audience was mostly dancers exhausted from the workshop, so it was pretty dead out there. I wasn't the only performer who thought so, either.

It was a pretty short program, just 16 performers, all soloists, no groups at all. Most people were performing Oriental, with just a smattering of Am Cab, and a fun tribal sword dance.

Here I am, in my fun pink-and-purple galabeya. I get a *lot* of complements every time I wear it.

Sumaya at Aya Sofia

Last week, I had dinner at Aya Sofia, and Sumaiya was performing that night. It is nearly impossible to take good pictures in there, but I got a couple that turned out ok:

She was wonderful!There was a couple of big groups in the restaurant that night - at least one of them was a birthday party -and she got the birthday boy up to dance with her, as well as someone from the other group. It was funny and cute. She has a great way with the audience, and puts on a great show.

8 inches of snow, and it's not even technically winter yet!

I had big plans to write a big post today about how awesome the Hohoho Habibi hafla was this weekend...  except a big hairy snowstorm intervened, and we opted not to drive up. I'm sure the highways would be clear, but it's no fun driving in a storm. Anyway, we ended up getting 8 inches out here west of St Louis, so instead of pictures of the hafla, you'll have to be content with pictures of the snow instead.

Here's some pictures from my deck, including a little statue of a dragon that sits on the railing to the right of the pots. He's barely recognizable.

And here's the view from my basement door. Check out the rabbit tracks!

Finally the view from the front: