Tuesday, July 31, 2012

.not.boycott.tuesday.

Boycott Tuesday is going to be sporadic at best for the next couple of weeks foreseeable future. My day job is on a 10 hour day/4 days a week schedule, and I completely forgot how entirely exhausted and useless that schedule makes me. And by the time we're off this schedule we'll be on overtime, which means 10 hour days 5 days a week, and very probably an eight hour day on Saturday as well.

Excuse me while I go bury my head in the sand.

[edited to add]: Also this schedule I'm on means I have to be at work at 6am, which means I have to get up to get ready for work at 4:30am and that's just entirely unreasonable.

Monday, July 30, 2012

.music.

This weekend while I was at the River Markey Farmer's Market I heard some wonderful music.
These guys, the Knobtown Skiffle Band...

I wish there was more information on their facebook page!!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

.sketchbook.wednesday.


I'm still recovering from the weekend. Raqs Bohéme on Friday, glutening on Saturday followed by Duendé's Fusion Factory for Fringe then coming home to an impromptu party....
...but mostly it's the gluten.

There's a plan for shrinky dinks...I'll get to it eventually.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

.tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Raqs Bohéme!!!
If your anywhere near the Kansas City area you should come out to Czar Bar and see some of the best bellydance in the region! Ami will be arriving in approximately 5 hours and I'm so excited to see her and all the goodies she'll be vending at the show.


Tuesday, July 17, 2012

.boycott.tuesday.

Last week I left a blank book in a small park not far from my home.
Sunday I went back to pick it up.

I was apprehensive because I had no idea if anyone had even touched it. But to my delight, it was almost completely full. Here are a few of the pieces I found inside.
Unfortunately it rained this past Friday, so some got a little ruined.





Despite the water damage, I'm pretty impressed. Next time I think I'll leave waterproof markers though, just in case...

Monday, July 16, 2012

.adventures.pt.2.

(In which I almost died.)

Several weeks ago my friend Ali and I bought groupons to a "Haunted Wine Tasting for 2" at Belvoir Winery. We weren't really sure what a haunted wine tasting would entail, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Then we got emails notifying us of a time change - no longer was the Haunted Wine Tasting at 8pm; now it was at noon.
Which is kind of a crap time for a wine tasting. Or a haunted tour.

Nonetheless, Saturday we rounded up our fellas and headed out there.
Belvoir winery is on a beautiful old estate, none of which it seems is original to the grounds. But the vinyard is downhill from the cemetary, meaning the grape vines are fertilized by corpses, so at least the wine is haunted.
The first section, with the history of Belvoir was....ok. Presented by someone else it probably could have been fascinating. The wine was....varied. Some was good, some was sticky sweet. The Chardonel(25$/bottle), the Norton(25$/bottle), and the Casanova(18$/bottle) were quite nice - the others I only drank because they were already paid for. Mostly it was overpriced. (Excuse me, I'm an artist, and I'm cheap/generally broke. I can find perfectly wonderful bottles of wine for less than 10$ any day of the week). Also, there was a cheese plate that was somewhat less than impressive.

But the tour of the grounds was fantastic.
Especially the particularly falling apart building, with the "Bridge of Death", which Taj and I crossed illegally to figure out if that puffy thing down the hall was real or not.
Totally real.

After the tour we settled down - the boys wanted more wine, and it was a really nice day so long as you stayed to the shady areas. And any time you hang about on a porch drinking - other drunk people will congregate. And one thing leads to another.
And I got force-loved into almost-a-concussion.

I'm sure - watching from the outside, it was obvious what was going to happen.
New friend went to give me a hug. He stumbled. I stumbled.
Hug turned into falling tackle.
And my head got slammed against a cement door jam.
 Kind of like this.
Except with less funny, and more pain.

I still have a lumpy head, and some truly spectacular bruises emerging on my left shoulder and thigh.
Our new "friends" evacuated pretty quick after that....and so did we once it was established that I wasn't bleeding or about to pass out.
The boys found a wonderful pizza place that I could eat at - and after I got watched for a few hours to make sure I wasn't going to slip into a coma and die, I was finally let to go home.
Where I promptly finished out my pint of Glacé Fluer de Sel and passed out on the couch.

Suffice it to say - Sunday was spent playing video games from the safety of my couch.

.weekend.adventures.pt1.

In chronological order!

Thursday was RAW.
We're on a new schedule at work - 4 ten-hour work days with a three day weekend, which would be so bad except that one of the two extra hours is tacked on at the beginning of the day, and I have to be in my chair at 6am, meaning I have to get up in the morning around 4:30. Not the easiest schedule to adjust to, and mostly I the spent the week getting more and more sleep deprived. By Thursday I wasn't doing so well, and I left early to slip in a powernap before getting ready to head to the Uptown for RAW.
I very easily could have gotten ready there. But once everything got rolling it ran very smoothly aside from me being so tired I was almost delirious. Beautiful art displayed all around the Conspiracy Room. Fashion, music, drinks, live painting - everything.
 Art by Ethan P. Harris, photo by Drew Wayne Denny.

Art by Kelly Aaron, photo by Drew Wayne Denny

I was so exhausted I slept until 11 the next morning.
Then I found a dead cat in the backyard.
And there is very little that will ruin a day like finding a dead cat in your backyard.

Me: Hi, there's a dead cat in my backyard.
311Response: Is it a stray?
Me: Well it's not mine.
311Response: Is there any gate or lock that would prevent us from getting into your back yard.
Me: No.
311Response: What's the animal look like?
Me: I don't know...orange? I didn't get that close.
311Response: Ok. I've put your request into the system. It'll probably be 48-72 hours before someone can pick it up.

Then Taj came home and asked me how it died, as if I would know. Plus it died right next to the vegetable garden, so that's probably going to die too, unless it rains.
Typical.

Also I feel really bad for whoever owns that cat.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

.bellydance.arms.

One of the things I love about watching classically ATS trained dancers perform is their arms. Well trained ATS dancers have the most beautiful armwork. I was reminded of this the weekend before last when I went to Cyndi Cyreigna's ATS Bootcamp at her home studio in Auburn, Kansas.
Cyreigna is awesome - super welcoming and kind and a really great teacher. The fact that she's FCBD certified makes it even better and the only problem I have with her and her troupe (Irie Tribal) is their location. If it wasn't an hour and a half drive from Kansas City I'd be in her classes several times a week (and I really want to be in her classes several times a week).

And for my friends back on the East Coast who still think Kansas City is a tiny weird backwards dirt road one horse town out of a western....don't be silly - those don't really exist anymore. Even Auburn which is SO SMALL has paved roads. And cable. And running water.
It is really tiny though.

But I'm getting distracted.
Arms.
ATS dancers have beautiful arms - even baby beginner ATS dancers have decent arms, which is not something you can say even about some professionals in other styles. And I'm convinced it's the style formatting that does the trick.
Because bellydance is so folkloric...it doesn't tend to have a lot of rules like you find in Ballet. In Ballet, third position is third position. A Battement tendu is a Battement tendu, and if it's not right, it's wrong. Everything is precise, and unless you are the prima ballerina (and even then, that individuality is very limited) well, it's kind of like you are legion. You are the company. And perfection is expected.*

ATS carries smackings of that - individual troupes may vary slightly (not talking ITS here) but the arms for a Basic Egyptian are one certain way. The group improv format makes it imperative in order to carry that impression of group mind or choreography when there is none. It's a silent language that speaks volumes (very loudly) and the grammar is precise - unlike American English where we make up words all the time.



Not that dancers in other styles don't have great arms. Lots do - I just don't see it with the same consistency as I do with ATS dancers. And I rarely see it at the beginning level. And it's one of those things that's immediately apparent in "Tribal Fusion" dancers who don't actually have ATS training. Or ITS training. Because I am one of those people - I don't really think the phrase "tribal fusion" applies unless you've had ATS or ITS training. Otherwise where is this "tribal" that you're fusing? Despite my own ATS training (which has been limited though not for lack of trying) I've dropped tribal from my self description...most of the time. Because I'm in a weird inbetween place where Egyptian style dancers think I'm very tribal, and most ATS dancers probably think I'm not very tribal at all.
But I am fusion - and I'm well aware of what all I'm fusing as well.


And I'm distracted again.
Point: ATS dancers have great arms. And they are a joy to watch perform because they are almost always have a great time dancing. ATS is awesome.
That was my point.


*This is my very limited unknowledgeable observation. If I'm wrong in this giant big assumption - please educate me! But everything I've ever seen, read or witnessed in the professional ballet world is sort of like that... sort of.

Friday, July 13, 2012

.whovians.unite.

If you love Doctor Who, and you're in St. Louis (or can be the evening of August 6th - you're in for a treat!

Get to the The Way Out Club, get there early - 9pm the doors just opened early.
Exotic Rythm's Urban Cabaret is hosting a very Geeky night of excellent awesomness, and I'll be there, representing the Who crowd. The music has been choosen, and the costuming is in progress.
Have suggestions? I'm making a list...
And! Depending on how things go over the next week - I'll be test driving it at Raqs Bohéme this coming Friday the 20th!


(I'd expound on the RAW performance and show last night but it's not sorted in my head yet, and I don't have pictures...yet. Suffice it to say I did do that sword dance, and did not drop my sword.)

Thursday, July 12, 2012

...and then I did something stupid.

Normally I'm really good about warming up every time I teach, practice or perform. It's my ritual, gets me into the right brain space for dancing or working on dance, and it's a very rare occasion that I skip this step. Last night I skipped the step.
And I was actually fine until my cat wandered in while I was in a half-crossed extended position on the floor with my foot in the air trying to balance a sword.
On my foot.
And I wobbled. Because I was distracted by the cat. And I'm pretty sure if I'd stretched like I should have I'd have been fine - as it stands there is something not good happening in what I think is my Rectus Femoris muscle - right about where the muscle attaches to ligament.
I can walk, and I can mostly dance - however level changes and floor work are completely out of the question until whatever this is stops being whatever this is. Which is mostly painful.
And it's not the good constructive kind of pain.

So unless I can modify my "Dream within a Dream" piece very quickly this afternoon, I'll be dancing to something else. Something familiar and comfortable that I've danced to a hundred times so I can pay a little more attention to my body, and let my body react to the music rather than relying so heavily on my brain.

Lesson of the week: STRETCH!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

.boycott.tuesday.

 
This weeks boycott takes the guise of public art making. Public art making by other people for a change. I went to this adorable park, and left a blank book on the park bench for anyone and everyone to make marks in: drawing, doodles, writing, scribbles. Anything goes. I'll go back next week and see what's been left for me.
  Cute park!

A little guideline instruction card...

 
 I even left markers since people don't always carry pens and pencils on them!

Monday, July 9, 2012

.RAW.

It's only three days until RAW: Mixology, and 11:59 tonight is the last chance to pre-purchase tickets and save yourself 5$ (or just be kind and buy a ticket to sponsor my performance).

After tonight if you're nice I might be able to leave a ticket for you at the door - message me.

Meanwhile, for your auditory pleasure, here's one of my performance songs:

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

.boycott.tuesday.









 ...or really more like boycott this weather.
Do you see this?
from wunderground.com

No rain (except very maybe possibly Saturday when it's supposed to be 108˚ and how is that ok?), and we haven't had any rain is forever it seems like; along with every day 100º or higher since before I was in Alabama.
Unacceptable.

So here's the beginning of my Rain Dance.
The two sides of my front porch.

And as soon as they dry, I have a whole bunch more to hang...
Take that Tuesday weather!!!

.thoughts.and.thoughts.

I said something yesterday that I wished I'd expanded on - but I couldn't because it was a little abstract and I had to think about it a bit.
It's what happens when you draw in public.
People look. And it's creepy. And when people say stuff about what you're doing in your private brain space, it's even creepier.

The part about working in your private brain space - that bit is important.
My sister tells people that I have creativity leaking out of my ears. And as much as I appreciate the compliment, the statement is a little misleading. It might look like I have creativity leaking out my ears - really I think my brains just works a little roundabout and backwards.


For example...
When I'm working in my sketchbook, which is really more like a train-of-thought-drawing book or visual diary, there's a lot of stuff going on. What I'm actually putting on paper is only part of the story. That last spread for instance - it started with that clipping of the flapper lady - because I needed something to be looking through the window from the previous spread. I'd been holding onto it for awhile, and was a little concerned I'd muck it up as I muck up all things given enough time, so glue and go. And then something - I'm not sure what, perhaps looking through previous pages - made me think about rabbits and that carrot-and-stick proverb, and then it was rabbits lusting after a carrot on a rope. I'd recently had a photoshoot with Phil Koenig, so the corn on the left and the barn and windmill came into play. Then I thought I should continue the horizontal border line from the previous spread since that window was there, but first I needed to put that floral wreath border around my flapper - and finish out the balance with the corn on the right side.
There was no grande genius moment of inspiration - just a short series of thought that might very much worry my therapist...or possibly make her feel better about a few things. It's a lot less about worrying over what would be awesome; and a lot more of just letting things happen.


Which is why I get creeped out when people watch me draw - at least in the beginning drawing stages, when I'm really sucked in and vulnerable. Because it's a very vulnerable space - lots of things flashing around in my brain and I have to take my guard down to put it on paper where it wants to live. It's pretty much the same reason why I absolutely can't have people around when I'm practicing dance - I know it doesn't look good because it's still getting all muddled out and rethought. It's a very vulnerable space and very much like a baby bunny - it needs shelter and protection and nourishment and to be left alone.


Speaking of Phil - I got new pictures!

And as long as I'm shamelessly self promoting...
JULY 12th!
I'm performing at RAW: Mixology, at the Uptown's Conspiracy Room, doors open at 8 and the show goes on to midnight. It's only 10$ and you can support me and buy a ticket here.
Because I have to sell 20.
And I'm offering things in return - Free entry to Raqs Bohéme at Czar Bar on the 20th (for the first five people to buy tickets only), or dance-class credit perhaps; even art prints if that's what floats your boat.

Monday, July 2, 2012

.sketchbook.monday.

...is moving to Wednesday!

For a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that I tend to have lots of things to chat about on Monday, and between actual things that happened and Sketchbooking - Monday tends to be a bit post heavy.
So we're going to spread things about a bit more evenly.
Like jam.

acetate, adhesive, collage, tape, ink, marker

There was an "incident" in the drawing of this spread.
An "encounter."

It's what happens when you draw in public.
People look. And it's creepy. And when people say stuff about what you're doing in your private brain space, it's even creepier.

But this was on a plane, flying to Alabama, and so I was super trapped, in the back row. The stewardess saw what I was doing and was trying to help by putting down the extra tray table, which wasn't helping. And as I was exiting the plane after landing she said, "And there goes our famous artist!"
Which was just super weird.

WEIRD!
And if I'm calling you weird.... that's saying something.