Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Monday, August 27, 2012

.in.absentia.

Remember I said I've been very very busy?
I got married this weekend!

It was exhausting, and it's not over yet!

So while I have some posts prepared for the next few weeks - I'm really very much not here at all.
 

Thursday, August 23, 2012

.crossover.

The Draw Things Challenge this month was "crossover" - I wasn't planning on doing anything (I'm very VERY busy) but this sort of happened while I was trying to do some actual work at my actual job.
Not so bad...

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

.lovely.layers.

I do a lot of layering in my costuming, and my goal is to do more. In part it's a product of my frugality (read: broke), and in part its a product of my clingyness and indecision. I really like being able to use the same piece for multiple costume combinations. I know a lot fo dancers who don't do this - there's a costume and it's that one costume and the parts for that costume are only for that costume.
Which is great - especially when it comes to packing costumes since everything will live on the same hanger and you can just grab it and go.
But I really like to mess about and play with my parts and pieces and find new ways to combine them.
Take, for example, my blue velvet hip scarf.
It was a gift from a friend and I wear it All the Time.
It's the fabulous-ness of basic color theory. Colors change depending on what you layer over them and put next to them. Lighting has a stark effect as well. 

This hip scarf is so worn out now that I have to put it on with a safety pin - note to those of you with velvet hips scarves, it might seem obvious, but don't put it in the washer no matter how stinky it gets. Hand washing is your friend.
I pick pieces like that up all the time - its sort of how I shop for everything.  Just keep a weather eye open because you never know what you're going to run across.

Of course, all of this layering and all of these separate pieces run a risk - that you're going to forget a part. I nearly almost always do.  I haven't found a good remedy for that yet, aside from not waiting until the last minute to pack.
Good luck.

Monday, August 20, 2012

my favorite conversation from the weekend


...as Rebecca was loading her things into my car for the Yeh Shaam Mastani show...

Me: What’s that noise? (while poking at the Tardis)
Rebecca: It’s the Tardis.
Me: No, I was poking at the Tardis to see if it was the Tardis, and it’s something else....
(the Tardis quiets down and I listen)
Me: Oh, it’s a lightsaber.

Friday, August 17, 2012

.tonight.tonight!

Raqs Bohéme is tonight at Czar Bar! Rebecca Dharma, Kahleela, Brittney Laleh Banai of Springfiled, and myself. And for added awesomeness, here's a preview of Rebecca's dancing:


Sure, you could go to the Ethnic Enrichment festival and watch Siham and the Egyptian group dance...but for only 3 dollars more I guarantee this will be a better show.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

.home.again.

Monday Ms. Rebecca Dharma and I attempted to return home from our adventures in the east - and I don't know that we're allowed to travel together anymore. Setting aside last years misadventures with giant spiders, bleach, food poisoning and hail - which I cannot talk about - the trip home was....amazingly bad.
Traveling on I-70W home, we hit not one but two semi-truck accidents, the second of which got us trapped on the highway for about three hours. Not moving.
At all.
For three hours.
If we'd had a truly spectacular view like this picture by my friend Nathan VanArnsdale, we'd probably not have minded so much.

Instead we got the Piazza Food Delivery Truck.
And harassed by a creepy trucker  who kept coming to visit us.
You know, since all the cars were turned off and everyone had resorted to milling about on the pavement.
And peeing on the side of the road.
And then I decided to hide the food.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

.sword.dance.


Still processing the weekend and the insane trip home. Details to come...

Sunday, August 12, 2012

the adventure so far...

 Napoleon - Rebecca's Rooster. He's quite fancy.

 The halfway point - Effingham.

 I do love positive bathroom affirmations...

 Rebecca's performance.

Class today.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

.fan.girl.test.

Saturday I danced to a Tetris remix by Radioactive Project 11, and a Doctor Who Dubsteb remix - artist unknown.
The Tetris piece was fine. Not my favorite, and I was short on time to find a song and work on the dance.

The Doctor Who piece....
...I know it worked because people who were there who watch Who, and people who clearly never had - they all really enjoyed it.   And because it's not so clear in the video - another picture by Carrie Meyer of Dancers Eye, with the Silence Counts visible.



I'll be performing the Doctor Who piece again this Saturday in Pittsburgh at Club Cafe, along with my "Dream" sword piece.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

.saturday.

In front of the Way Out Club, with my Tardis.

 
photo by Dancers Eye
Beginning of the Doctor Who piece...

photo by Dancers Eye
"Silence will fall..."

Really amazing show last night - I'm not sure if I'm more estactic about being a part of it, or sad about not getting to watch the whole thing.
That's saying something.

Now off to figure out how to mount deer antlers to the wall...

Friday, August 3, 2012

.a bit more RAW.

Not my best, but this was the OMG-I-Broke-Everything Weekend.
And the OMG-My-Asthma Weekend.
And the worst possible angle for a video of me dancing.

Excuses, excuses...


Thursday, August 2, 2012

musick!

One of the things that any good Middle Eastern dance teacher will instill in her students is the importance of understanding the lyrics and cultural context of a song before performing to it.  There are many Middle Eastern songs that with or without their lyrics carry very heavy spiritual or political meaning and significance.
 If you haven't yet,  you should go read it now.

I don't generally run into this problem, because I don't generally dance to actual Middle Eastern music - but every once in a while it's something worth considering. One of my favorite songs in the world is Gloomy Sunday, which has been recorded and covered and remixed too many times (here's one list, it's really long!) to think about. I first heard it off the original Blair Witch soundtrack, as sung by Lydia Lunch.
Gloomy Sunday has a long sordid history, and is also known as the Hungarian Suicide Song because of it's rumored connection to so many suicides when it was first released, including the suicide of the composer. Fortunately this is mostly unfounded. What is even a little more interesting is the recording done by Billie Holiday in 1941, for which the lyrics were rewritten by Sam Lewis - mostly added to - in which the singer recants and reveals that they were only dreaming.
Without that addition it was deemed too depressing to be released during wartime. (This is the version used the the Venetian Snares remix).

This weekend, at the Urban Cabaret, I'm dancing to a remix of the Doctor Who theme (safe) and a remix of the Tetris theme. The song for Tetris is also funny - it's based on a old Russian folksong, which in turn is based on a poem: "Korobeiniki"
Fortunately - not only does everyone associate the song with the video game - the song/poem itself is about a pair of lovers.

Know your music. Know it's history. Even the "safe" American tunes.



And as an afterthought - if you do happen to accidentally offend someone (it happens) and they actually speak up and tell you (most people won't, assuming you're either stupid or an asshole), just acknowledge it. Be classy. You don't even have to apologize. But acknowledge their upset as a valid reaction, and let them know it wasn't your intention.