August 2000

So, I've joined this Middle Eastern Dance class (yeah that's "belly dancing" to you my friend). I've always been fascinated by this dance since meeting a friend in junior high who was trained while living in Turkey as an air force brat. So now, at 34, I am finally doing something about it. I'm calling it "cross training" (I also run) when I don't want to sound quite as ridiculous as some people seem to think belly dancing is.

So after my first class, I'm supposed to practice something like the Egyptian shuffle or something, and I'm not too clear on the concept. What do I do? Go to the trusty Internet for some directions that I've obviously forgotten, because I look like a slutty barbie doll sauntering around stiff legged (if you can imagine).

To my surprise, there are not any directions on the Internet about this, or much else that will help poor, silly looking me. In fact there is very little period except discussions about what zills are appropriate, or if you should accept tips - stuff I'm not worried about just yet. Hence my concept for a Middle Eastern Dance Diary - a perspective from a beginner, with my perception of what I'm supposed to be doing in class.

First let's get to the important stuff: What does one wear to a ME Dance class? And how can I assimilate my unique personal style and not feel like a complete oaf?

Shopping: I go to the NBC by my house thinking some of those broom skirts will surly be there since they are sooo out of fashion now. But no. No broom skirt. I look around at all the stuff a million times and finally decide on a color theme rather than a broom skirt. I choose bright pink and green and orange tiny tee shirts and bright silk circle skirts in orange, turquoise and my old stand by, black.

I get it all together and the haggard employees announce that it's time for everyone to take their screaming, running, hiding in the racks, crying, buggar laden children, and get the fuck out. I don't even get to try this stuff on! However since the skirts are only a dollar and the t-shirts are 3 dollars, I don't sweat it. I try it on at home and viola! it's pretty cool looking. I actually like the color. This coming from a gal with a wardrobe of black, gray and brown. It's a revelation.

Class 1: August 31st, 2000
Ok, I go in in my nice little outfit of orange skirt, red leggings (the other women in class wear leggings and so I suspect there will be some embarrassing move where you need leggings on to keep from showing your underwear - I find later this is not the case) a hot pink tee shirt, my aqua blue terry zip up hoodie, and my berkinstock bean shoes. Not bad.

There are several women there who are also new to the class, but I swear they have all had lessons before. First we do some shimmying. This is not that hard except it is hard to to other things while you shimmy. So for those of you looking for guidance from a beginner's mind, my impression of what to do to shimmy:

1. feet shoulder width apart, toes pointing ahead, chest out, stomach in, hips tucked forward just a bit
2. knees "soft"
3. bend knees back and forth in a wiggling motion like you've got rubber knees with out really locking them at any point
4. this produces a shimmy sort of

One thing I did read about shimmying on the web was that you are supposed to let the "flab" on the back of your thighs shake. Now what about those of us with out flab? I've been running every morning for 2 years now and I'm not given to fat anyway - I have no flab to shake. I knew this was going to be a problem! My teacher the instructor promised it wouldn't matter that I wasn't fat. We will see...

Another helpful tip about learning to walk and shimmy was to begin by shimmying and shifting your weight from one foot to the other and then move to lifting the foot and then walking and shimmying.

Next we do this thing where you get into my ol' favorite from my martial arts days, the "cat stance" (one foot behind the other, you bend the back leg in a kinda sitting position, back foot at a 45 degree angle, and bring the front foot a few inches from your rear foot and the front foot is resting on the ball of the foot - I would link to a picture here but there are none) and straighten your knee to make one hip go up and down (we never did that in martial arts tho). I'm finally getting it when the teacher decides now we have to do it front, side, back and shimmy back up to the front. Needless to say I'm not able to do that, and I finally decide to practice just the basic hip to the side move. I hope she doesn't decide I'm lazy.

For the next humiliating event it's the Egyptian shuffle. It's not that hard until you have to do it on the balls of your feet instead of flat footed. This is where I got so confused and turned to the Internet for help. I thought we were supposed to do the on the balls of the feet one, but it's really just for old timers, not new ppl. So what is the basic Egyptian shuffle?

My interpretation is: It's just a small step forward(all the steps I've seen so far are like five - eight inch strides), touch with the ball of the foot first then put the foot down flat. There's a little hip shake that can go with this and makes it look a bit better. The hip shake seems to happen on the forward foot hip, I'm not sure at what point tho, prolly the ball of the foot touch. Keep the foot steps small, and the instructor keeps her toes pointed slightly out, heels in, I've noticed.

Oh when you are doing a lot of these moves you are supposed to also be doing stuff with your arms, but that is not happening. I did do some decent shoulder rolls at the beginning of class tho - not combined with any other moves. Your arms when out should be like you are embracing a large tree - mine tend to forget to embrace and begin to resemble chicken wings or a menacing presence in a room full of innocent dancers. Being 5'7" and thin doesn't help here at all. I look like a gawky praying mantis about to attack. Those readers who are larger in girth, here's your opportunity to feel smug in knowing that you would look much better than I as a belly dancer.

Class 2: Sept 7th, 2000
Class 2! Class 2! Well, the week before this class I practiced some other things besides the Egyptian shuffle, (since I didn't get that at all) like the hip up and down thingie and the instructions for getting in touch with your diaphragm (not the birth control device, the body part) from the one - yes just one - helpful site I found: Shira. So for class 2 we get to do some more Egyptian shuffling, I'm supposed to be able to move my chest up and down with just my muscles I guess. I'm not sure about this one. We did it in class 1 too (along with some "tighten your diaphragm" "tighten your lower abdomen" - wha?) and I am still not much better. Nothing on the instructor's body moves much except her chest and a little bit of her upper back around the shoulder blades. Ah, the mysteries of Middle Eastern Dance and those gals on Soul Train. They will soon be mine!

We also practiced camels. Now if you don't do these forward camels right, I have observed that you will seem to be looking for a lost contact. The forward camels are not too bad, but the reverse, I do totally wrong. The reverse camels are really odd. I wish I could give some directions here but I think I will wait a bit. the instructor came by and said I was scooping on the reverse, but when I did it better (with just my stomach and not my hips) I barely had any stomach movement at all. I pointed this out, and she just said, "you will" so I hope she is right. Meanwhile, I better get in touch with my diaphragm some more. The best advice I heard for forward camels is to imagine your chest making a circle during the movement.

Important fact about class 2: I made a belt to go with my outfit and (hopefully) emphasize the tiny hip movements I am accomplishing. Here's the pattern: ShanMonster Mine is gold shan tung with dull gold fringe and a top row of burnt orange tassels. Someone who shall remain nameless, (Strega) asked if I had found the upholstery department, but other more tasteful dancer's asked how much I would charge to make one for them.

Class 3 Sept., 14th, 2000
Well, I think we finally did some things tonight that will make me sore tomorrow. We did some Tunisian dance steps and they were mostly on the balls of your feet. The calves and outer hips took a beating. However the good news is I was not quite lost on this exercise, because the foot work was like a small-i-fied version of a dance style we used to do in my club going days. We called it "the skippy dance."
So here is how to do the Tunisian skippy dance as I know it:
1. start feet shoulder width apart with good posture, then put one foot, say the left one, about 7-8 inches more forward than the other and put your weight on it briefly. Lift the right foot briefly while the weight is on lefty.
2. also, when lefty goes up shift the hips forward in a horizontal twist, then bring lefty back 7-8 inches behind the back foot back and take your weight off the right foot briefly and shift the hips slightly back in a strictly horizontal twist.
3. the foot that is the right foot stays in the same place all the time. it just lifts slightly when the weight is on the left foot be it in front or back.
4. the knees here are soft but not bent, but certainly not locked. The movement should be isolated to the hips only, the upper body shouldn't move too much at all. The hips are strictly doing horizontal twists, not waggling up and down. the instructor describes the hips as a rotator in the washing machine.

All the torturous variables on this move are: to do it on the balls of your feet, on the balls of your feet moving sideways, on the balls of your feet moving forward, on the balls of your feet moving backward, on the balls of your feet in a circle, on the balls of your feet changing direction at 90 degree angles, keep those arms up like you're hugging a tree, no chicken arms! In short my calves and arms will be sore. And I actually got a stitch doing this! Inconceivable!

I really need to work on doing other things while I'm shimmying. I can currently do nothing but shimmy and do some uncertain graceless arm movements and then forget to shimmy. So, this week I plan to practice more shimmying, plus the Tunisian stuff if my calves are not out of order.

In spite of my complaining (mostly about my own performance) I am really enjoying the class.

Class 4 and 5 September 21st and 28th, 2000
Class 4 was fun we worked on walking and moving our chests up and down, walking and pushing our diaphragms in and out, walking and pushing our lower abs in and out, then alternating, then double pushes on each step. I sucked at this big time. My stomach just has no real movement - it's all I can do to move it a little standing still, walking was a joke. However I tried and that I suppose is the important thing. Also, I bought my zills after class (the Arabesque ones) and so I took them home and sewed on the elastic and my favorite beads on the thumbs (so you can tell them apart) and then sewed a very proudmaking zill bag with some black silk and my left over trim and tassels and some ribbon. It's quite a sight. :) Oh, and I also made some zill mufflers so as I don't drive the animals or the husband nuts.

A brief interlude - my purchases in the international building! The international building is really going to hell. It's mostly flea market style goods with (sometimes) foreign people manning the booths, not exactly exotic. However, thank god the people from Tibet were still there!They have been there since I was a teenager at least. A very handsome couple then, they are aging a bit now, but still manage to bring out the Tibetan goods. I bought a sequined batik scarf and a chain belt for dance class. Very cool and reasonably priced.

And- the weekend before this we went to the Greek Festival where Strega (who, by the way, had definitely found the upholstery department - perhaps this is a general greeting to those that wear international style traditional costumes) was dancing. She showed me how to do some of the dances and was appalled at my slow learning. Then at one point she hands me her zills and (for reasons unknown to me) thinks I'll be able to play them. Ha! I play alright, she cringes and says "haven't you ever played the zills before?" Well no, apparently not. She was very nice and patient though, and I'm considering working with her on some Greek dancing. I actually have grown to like her in 3 short classes and a shot of ozzo. She is genuine and not weak by any means and loves to dance.

Funny aside: Strega brings out some ozzo at the Greek fest and gives me and the instructor some. We toast, and I, the ugly American, down the ozzo. the instructor laughs and says "you're supposed to sip it." Man, was I embarrassed. It was funny too, but what a dope I felt. the instructor said my eyes watered a bit - but I felt fine.

Oh, "what did you wear to the Greek fest" you ask? Well, my black full sequined shorts, Doc Martin Mary Janes and a vintage tuxedo shirt of course!

Also our favorite little girl was there again this year. She dances with the kid's troupe, and has a natural grace. She is getting older but is just as endearing. It was a relief to see she was still dancing. She has a new costume too. Red velvet with gold trim. Gold trim here is an understatement, you must understand there are 5x3 heavy gold lacy diamond shapes on a scalloped red velvet coat with some more trim on the upper bodice - someone loves that kid, or loves to dress her at least.

Basta! on to Class 5!!
Class 5 was fun even tho I didn't do things exactly right, because we did a whole (or maybe that was just a part) of a dance. Ok, I really had to work on my forward camels and I was sucking. One of the more experienced dancers tried to help me. One useful thing the instructor said about the camels, was to "open the chest" on the forward move. The experienced dancer also had good advice "to think of it as four parts moving out and isolate each move. So forward with chest, ribs, stomach hips, and back with chest, ribs, stomach, hips," plus some help with remembering to bend the knees and get good balance first. I never can tell sometimes if it looks wrong because I'm not fat or I'm not doing it right. Prolly a combination of the two.

We also worked on Snake Arms for which I got some verbal instruction which was to start (again breaking each part of the move down to precise body parts) shoulder up, elbow up, wrist up, then shoulder down, elbow down, wrist down.

We did some turns which I gave a little too much shake with those fries, so it was fun, but incorrect. We also did some little "scuse my butt moves" which is just feet shoulder with apart, and bending each knee and scooting your butt (hips) forward like you're trying to avoid hitting someone behind you with your butt.

I also have come to the conclusion that I must have some sandals or something because the twisting on the balls of the feet was murder and eventually my feet got slightly sticky and that made it worse. So I'm going to order some, and in the mean time I'm making my own "Lyric" style sandals out of some ultra suede that I have.

Class 6, 7, 8 and 9 - Ok, I'm cheating here
Class 6: Started working on a dance Rox a lay la (not sure how to spell that) Fun! but challenging! This is also the class where magically my forward camels started looking good - well not quite as dumb.
Class 7: Worked on a dance that starts with an F that the rest of the class had already practiced, I was lost! Worked on Zills! Cannot move arms and zill, really can't move feet and zill, can shimmy and zill a little. Got shoes, turns are much easier now. Figured out what the reverse camel involves: 1) bend knees (start from a good dance stance), 2) tuck tummy up, 3) as you straighten the knees, roll stomach out from lower abs to upper abs (bottom to top).
Class 8: Went to a bachelorette party! Skipped class! Bachelorette liked the gifts I got her, the party was pretty tame tho, and ended in drunken tears from a coworker. oh well!
Class 9: Strega is back from Greece! Now I won't be the only trouble maker in class. The teacher has us follow some complex dance that we've never seen before at the beginning of class. She is prolly mad at me because I said her husband was too good to work at teamtulsa.com, and I wondered why he put up with them - or else she was happy to see Strega. Some parts of Rox a lay la are improving while others suffer, worked on zills again, did a bit better at moving the arms and zilling, still not doing the footwork and zilling. I'm constantly scowling at myself or puzzeled looking, not a good dance face. I'll have to work on looking impassive. Rebecca used to say I had such an impassive face - guess that's changed. Learned a new step but I don't know what it's called. 1) start with feet a bit more apart but in a good dance position, 2) bend one knee, drop that hip and step to the side with the same bent knee leg, 3) 4 one way then 4 the other way. It's easy but gets confusing when you change direction.

That's right "Level2"! After all this practice and the penance of looking foolish all the time, I have made it to Level2. Level 2 dance classes that is. And guess what? Most of my class favorite students got to go to Level 2 also. Thank heavens, or I'd have no one to watch and figure out what we are supposed to be doing. Thanks Amanda. Strega is also in Level 2, but is learning to be a computer genius this month - so no zany antics.

"So what's so important about level 2?" you may ask. Well there's new costuming for one. (You can always count on me to start with the important stuff.) I have finally gotten too, too, tired of ironing my silk circle skirts and moved into wearing those "ahem" broom skirts. Well, many of the better dancers wear them to practice...they look fine...especially with my new belt! I made the foray into making my own ethnic style belt. It's a black velvet base with all natural beads and bells and shells to produce an odd clacking while shimmying. I have also acquired a new veil. Her name is Mimi (after my friend Amanda Wall's Grandmother, who actually has a whole room that looks like Mimi) she is a peachy pink with a gold lame ribbon edging. She moves quite well. I also bought some silk. So we will see what veil comes of that soon. (I know you are all waiting with baited breath)

What else is new? Well a large portion of my time is also now being spent with a nefarious group of drummers. They are currently unnamed, but dangerous. And (dum Dum DUMMM!) the introduction of yet another purchase (where does all the money come from?) my drum, also known as Honey, the Amazing Zarb. Honey is the name, the Amazing Zarb is more like a title, Zarb is the kind of drum that she is. Honey is great. A guy I drummed with invited me to the drum group and when he first witnessed the Amazing Zarb's deep melodious tones, said she sounds like honey. She definitely has a big rich bass sound. People seem to like her in spite of my drumming skills. Although Donna (our selfless and patient drum teacher) assures me that I'm doing well.
See the Zarb though my Zarb is ultimatly cuter than these pictures.

So you may wonder now that I've made it to the big time Level2, what is life like? Well, for one we are working on more freestyle/improvisational dance. I had a really hard time with this at first, but thanks to Amanda and Strega, have pretty much gotten over the more painful parts of dancing "american bandstand style" in class. American bandstand style meaning: one person dances *everyone* watches. Oh gawd, it is so not in my nature to not look cool at all times. It was like starting dance class all over with everyone watching just me this time. However, it's good experience, and I'm getting a tiney bet better at it each time.

And what of the glamourous world of drumming? Well, I got to drum and dance at the instructor's 50th birthday party, and now I'm really hooked. Drumming for dancers is really fun. I can't explain why exactly, but it is really cool. I danced mostly with Amanda, because she made me. I told her I would tho, and I did. So there! And actually it was fun. "What was I wearing?" you may ask. Well cute shiney red satin pants from the gap and a skin tight black shirt with a big metalic red lip print accross the chest. Clunky mary janes with really small black socks, and a silk sweater, since it's winter.

Eeek! Must sign off to go practice drums for Ren. Faire.

3-7-01

When we last wrote I mentioned the dreaded Ren Faire. I have mixed feelings about the ren faire, like maybe I'm too cool for that; but then again maybe it would be fun. Don't know till you try I guess. So with the added upcoming experience of dancing in public "It's time to decide on a dance/stage name!!!"

• Gülfem - Rose colored
• Gülpembe - Pink rose
• Lalegün - Tulip colored, pink
• Pembe - Pink

3-11-01

Chapter 3 where in our hero enters the dark world of African drumming and wonders if she has gone too far.

So, I go innocently to an African drumming seminar just for an hour a couple of weeks ago, and lo and behold feel compelled to buy a Djembe. So I go to a nice reliable source Mid-East and pick out of their seconds my newest addition. This drum is even bigger than the Zarb, and there are actually bigger djembes you can buy. I got the mid sized one (13x22 inches). It arrived last Monday and I thought it was great. It's got blond fur around the head, flowers carved into the base, and rather plain brown cables that allow you to tune the drum. The head is actually held on by a metal circle that is somehow attached to the brown strings. Gotta get something cuter than those brown strings.

Anyway, I played it a bit, as much as I knew how, and thought it sounded great. I hear there's a group of African drummers here in town so I decide I will go to their practice so I can figure out how to play this new baby. The class is Wednesday. Tuesday night I try to make a fashionable case for the drum out of two skirts I got at the thrift store. It doesn't work out. Wednesday night I undo all my Tuesday work and start over - this time producing a fashionable case with a built in ring holder. "What could be more fun than playing the Djembe, but carrying it around in this fashionable bag with a built in ring holder?" Really, I should write copy for catalogs and stuff - don't you think?

Finally, I go to class with my fashionable self. Well the first thing they ask is if I've ever played it - guess the new was still on her. Then I forgot to take off my rings, so the teacher goes, "um you'd better take off your rings" - doh! I knew that, I was just nervous. Next thing he does is ask me to play it a bit so he can hear how it sounds. Immediatly he says it needs to be tuned. He does however show me all the different hand positions/names of sounds (which of course are difficult to remember since they are in African- ok I know "African" is not a language, but honestly I have no Idea what language that was), but it's apparently more than he's shown anyone else before, because the other students complain of this. They just aren't used to the MinimalG charm in action.

So I play along for about 2 hours, knowing that my out of tune drum must sound like crap to the trained ear. I, fortunately, am mostly tone deaf. *Sigh* it was still fun, and the teacher said if I show up early next time he would show me how to tune the drum.

Those are my African adventures for now.

3-18-01

More drama in the dark lands. So I go to my second class early so that the teacher can have plenty of time to help me tune the drum. He tries for like 60 seconds and then goes (something like this) this drum's no good, you'll have to re-string and re-head it, these strings are no good, this head is blemished, you can't tune this drum, where did you get it, what did you pay for it, you should have shopped around more, and other embarrassing comments for which I would now like to smack him.

It's not that I'm mad that he told me what he thought, it's the way he said it all like I was an idiot for not consulting him on my purchase. Worse than that, he made it seem like the whole drum was worthless, and there was no point in it at all. He didn't help me figure out how to fix it, or attempt to be the least bit consolitory.

A nice person in the group did explain some options for tuning the drum, like restringing or wetting the head and streaching it a bit more. But, while he was explaining, the teacher just starts playing drums so that I can't hear the guy. Needless to say, after I finished my discussion with nice drummer guy, I gave the teacher the evil eye and left - much to his suprise. MinG is no one's punching bag - so ta!

So now I'm working on fixing my drum up - pride produces a lot of extra work. Yesterday I started the re-stringing process, and my hands are sore. I'll work on it again today. Here's an explanation of the process, tho I'm starting at the part about the strings, not doing the whole head replacement just yet .

Also, the same person that was nice to me was at the Nubian Drumming Seminar I went to that started this whole thing, gave me some pictures, on disk thank god, so now there are new pics on the minimal site. Go - run like the wind!

Ok, enough about the drumming you say, this is the dance diary dammit! How's dancing going? Hmm, well I'm learning several choreographies at the same time and they are all confused in my head. I suppose they will sort themselves out. The political world of dance has been a bit distracting actually. Being friends with the instructor, I am privey to some of the inner turmoil in the class and the troupe. It's all so soap opera sordid and puts me in a bad mood. I'm working on staying out of everything and remaining as neutral as possible. But it ain't easy. It looks like most of the dust is about to settle though, and I'll be happy when it does.

I've been working on my Ren Faire costumes and makeup and such. Got one outfit together, getting close on another one. I'm sure it will be fine. I hope to get some beading done today. The belt I'm working on is going to be kick ass. I really neeeed a new digital camera, because scanning just seems so tiresome. Aren't I a spoiled geek thing?

5-24-01
Wooohoo, where have I been? It's been an insanely busy month in the land of middle eastern dance and drum. As you may have seen I've been drumming the midieval faires in Muskogee. Everything went well, a few flub ups, but mostly lots of good drumming some pretty large crowds too. I didn't get into the midieval-speak, but managed a "good day" here and there when addressed. Everyone says "good day milady" at the ren faire. Costumes? well they are of paramount importance. The first weekend, I wore my same costumes as for Norman, but for some reason, this time the head scarves made my head itch insanely. So for the second weekend I whipped up a choli and a little pill box hat with a trailing veil, no more turban for me. It was just lovely and everyone was properly impressed, plus it was blissfully comfortable.

Since I didn't get to wear a facial veil with this new number, I did the faux facial tattoos. Men seem to like those. Heavy flirtation mostly not appreciated by moi because of the skank level of the men. Apparently there's just a ren-slut trend with some of the rennies (ppl that work all the ren shows as a career). I did get a few respectable flirts here and there (please don't feed the ego).

I also started dancing for the Camel Cigarettes Casbah themed promotions here at local clubs. The pay is awsome $255 for 4 hours of work, and it's a great op to dance in public where no one knows any better anyway. the instructor always says dancing american bandstand style in class is like dancing in a safe place, but i find it more comfy to dance in front of ppl who have no idea what you're doing and won't know if you've messed up.

Costumes (again): Well I finished a red velvet costume I was working on for the first gig. The gigs are all color themed, so you need a new costume for every gig. A new costume could cost as much as you get paid (or more), but lucky for me I'm an old school sewing machine user. That's right, back in the day, when the machine used a treddle, I was playing with it. Electric scissors were a toy. So I whipped up a red and gold costume. After this tho, I have made a quick and dirty gold bra and belt, and I'm just making different colored skirts from fabric on the 2.00 table at Hancocks to match the dam theme color. Much cheaper and less time consuming. Besides some of the colors are not what I would want to keep necessarily. Tonight "the luck of the irish just ran out," it's Leprechan 12, revenge of the Irish belly dancer. Meaning, I'm wearing a green and gold costume. With my newly red dyed hair, I'm looking like a dam leprechan.

Middle Eastern Dance Diary - High Performance

Entries for: 8-19-01, 2-1-02

Ok, so now I actually have some performance experience under my sparklie shiney dance belt, and life keeps moving forward. The shows at the TPAC were all sold out and well recieved. I drummed so much to get ready, then again for 2 hours a night, that I got a case of tendonitis. So I'm taking a drum hiatus, and working on the dance stuff.

the instructor offered to let me dance at Fred's (also known as Shiskebobs) a Persian restaurant here. It's no great shakes, no pun intended, as far as atmosphere goes, but it's great to be asked. I'm not sure the instructor has seen me perform before...what if she sees me and doesn't like it...omg! Oh well, it's $60 a night plus tips and obviously I need the money.

Our next public appearance that I will hopefully be able to dance in, is the illustrious Stroud Ren Faire...he he. Then a big big crowd at the famous Oktober fest. Don't laugh, people in Germany have heard of our Oktober fest here in Tulsa. It's big! Can't wait.

I've taken to making and selling costume components for the beginners. They are selling pretty well. I'm selling them out of my trunk between classes, so as not to disrupt class. Now I'm getting to be a real gypsy I guess.

I went to Starfest in OKC last weekend. It was really fun, tho I spent more money than I intended. the instructor and I got mooned on the way back to my moms (where we were staying) too. Then the guy pulled over and did a nude victory dance. Couldn't see anything too clearly. I guess he had a juicy bootie, kinda big for a guy. Crazy country boys.

What about the other performances? Well, they were ok, the instructor of the seminar was the best performer (other than the instructor and Nwar). the instructor did Sambra Mora, which always gives me chills. Nwar kicked ass with Hebina and Kodo, plus a nice veil solo from Carol. Then there was this really funny thing that happened. A fairly good dancer from (?) Lawton was doing a number to a drum solo, and then the solo started having these strange gastro intestinal sort of sounds, and what does she do to this, but some crazy stomach work. Gracie's mom was laughing right out loud and eventually I couldn't help but laugh either. I looked and sounded like a night after a visit to Taco Mayo.

Then there were the people from another state. Now that was wierd. First this woman in a fishtail dress comes on and does a number to some Lawrence Welk sounding shit. It wasn't too bad, but then another member of the troupe came on - a blond with a real super cut's kinda 'do - and did a veil routine, and it was to that Lawrence Welk shit too. Then the fishtail lady comes back with some Fredricks of Hollywood lace gloves on and does a real creepy Lawrence Welk number with creepy hands. By now I'm thinking Blue Velvet. And to top it off and cement my thoughts, on next is the fish woman's son, a 15 year old in green satin pants and a matching vest. The poor chap, couldn't dance, and at first I was excited cause I thought he was going to dance to They Might Be Giants "Istanbull" but it turned out to be a jazzy (you guessed it) Lawrence Welk style rendition. Go figure. But the whole thing left an after taste of like incest some how. Strange. I imagined them all in one trailor with like one record, "Lawrence Welk's Greatest" practicing for this show.

The next night as I was picking everyone apart I started to feel a little guilty. I mean I wasn't doing any better. Course I wasn't on stage dancing either. I guess one can't help but compare after seeing dancer after dancer, troupe after troupe.

Feb. 1, 2002

Summer seems so far away now. It's been a while so you should be caught up on the dance adventures. WeLL! First of all dancing at Freds was mortifieing to the point of freezing terror. I didn't really think about it, but the people are there to eat. And they do. This seems to reduce me to the status of annoying mosquito panhandleing for tips. There were all of 3 tables of 1 or 2 people the whole evening for each performance. Fred kept hinting that I shouldn't go on, but I knew he would have to pay even if I went home, because that's the instructor's policy. If you book a dancer, and she shows up with everything in order (3 costumes - caberet with matching veils, makeup - loads, hair - big as you can get it, music - bewildering arabic stuff) you have to pay, rather the dancer performs or not - assuming it's your choice for them not to perform.

Here's the run down in case you missed the show:
Show 1: Frozen with terror, can barely move, my head is spinning
Show 2: There's a kid in the audience thank god - everyone else seems afraid to look. Before I left the dressing room, I resolved to do everything at least 4 times so it might look like I knew what was going on, head was spinning a little less, Mike showed up.
Show 3: Almost unfrozen, Muslim guy leaves because he's offended at dancing in general - not necessarily mine, but I wouldn't be suprized.
Show 4: Where did everyone go, I'm finally dancing dammit! One big table left, with one x dance student what a blessing. Her dad thought I was arabic - ha ha

So after 4 excruciating 15 minute shows, I got my 60 bucks and trotted out the door. Oh God I felt guilty taking that money. Fred prolly hates my guts.

What about my exciting Oktoberfest performance? Well that didn't come out like it was supposed to....at all. Let's start from the top, I'm supposed to share a booth with an aquaintance - she wants me in to help fill space. I get everything (everything being middle eastern dance gear) ready to sell, inventory list, price tags, clothing rack with matching hangars, not to mention extra inventory that I busted ass to make. Thursday I'm supposed to go set up with the girl. I call early and make sure everything is go, and she says yes. I get there with everything in order, and her friends are like, "There's not room. Why don't you come back tomorrow?" Like there'll be more room tomorrow? What tha? I argue with them a bit and then say "Fine" and turn on my heel as only I can do. I try to call her from my house to explain what happened and try to work something out, and she won't answer her cell. In fact she never has said anything much about it. What a pig.

So, Thursday night (yes that same Thursday night) at dance practice (the final practice before Oktoberfest, my first time to dance on stage, mind you my mom is coming out to see me - driving 2 hours to get here) and in the middle of practice, the instructor starts picking me apart for little shit that everyone else is doing just as poorly. Ok, we go through the number again and she's like "well you're not ready." I choke, "what?!" "Ok fine" aAs only I can do, and turn on my heel and go sob in the bathroom. Too much dissapointment for one day. So I dry up and come out and practice by myself with out the group. Then it's finally over, and I go home and cry really hard.

So that brings us to Friday night. the instructor will let me drum, so I'm Johnny on the Spot with the drum. Well a seething Johnny actually. We planned to all ride in Nancy's van cause she had the pass to park and parking at Oktoberfest is Hell. So I get in the van and someone, (the instructor) has been drinking waaay too much. Someone who always says "don't drink before a performance girls." I can't freakin' believe it. So we do Oktoberfest, and the instructor does the now infamous "corn dog dance" and Joey gets on stage and Zagareets.

Next night the instructor says I can do one of the dances that "I'm comfortable with." Oh joy. But since my mom is there, I swallow my "cut off your nose to spite your face" pride and I do one dance. I'm so annoyed that I'm not even nervous. I have no idea how I did, and I don't care. My mom and my husband said it was ok/good. But you can't count on them for accurate reports.

Stroud Ren Fair? Ugh! Lots of repetitive shows to sit through before we got on stage. Only the professional troup danced. I spent most of the time hiding out in the tent sleeping, or shopping. Lots of bad english accents from the cast...very funny stuff. Oh well, it's small and new. It'll get better.

Castle Boar's Head Feaste? More of the same...I just drummed and ate.

All for now, check back soon for more adventures!

2003

So much blog to choose from and it's all about that damn Middle Eastern Dance! Some people just have a one track mind I guess.

Ugh, and gawd! here's the long awaited blog about what's going on in my little world of bellydance. Maybe we'll all learn something here. Welllll...let's see, we last left off at high performance. Last summer 2003, Camel Cigarettes didn't do thier high priced little parties because I guess they are just as broke as everyone else...ok well not really, but "scaling back" shall we say, to maintain their executive's 6 figure salaries.

So what kind of performing did I do? Well lemme tell ya, once I was 'allowed' to perform a coupla times, I really didn't care that much about it. I guess partly because I started teaching and partly because it's stressful and a charge but not that big of a charge. It seems more gratifying now when my students perform...and less stressful for me in a way. I still like to preform, and still intend on working on that, but it's like sex in a relationship, it's not a problem as long as you're having it...it's only a problem when you're not allowed for 2 years.

So here's how the year or so has gone. I started teaching last year 2002 in November. It is a basic basic class for beginners in dance. I worked up little lesson plans and note sets to give and even cds for my students. It's been relatively successful as a class, but more lucrative are the private lessons I've generated from said classes, or just from people realizing that I'm available to teach private lessons. I must say that aside from the money, it's very addictive and gratifing to watch my students advance. I have been on a haitus for the Christmas/New Year Season, and I really miss teaching and dancing-in that order.

I'm supposed to be working on creating my own group within the studio. "Queens of Chaos" (copywrite mark) will be the name of the group...assuming I'll be able to get people to do my bidding. :) My first work has been to choreograph several of my favorite songs. I'm about half to 3/4 of the way through about 3 of them. Choreography is hard. Especially all alone. Now I see why my instructor likes me so much. It's nearly impossible to find anyone crazy enough to devote this kind of time to the dance. Everyone is on a "career track" or at least has a day job and a family/school. It sucks to be all alone in your madness.

I'm still drumming and teaching a beginning drums class for two students who really want to drum. I'm enjoying that too, it's just not as frequent as my dance activities. I'd like to do more, it's a time crunch strangely. All the drumming I could do outside of the studio happens when I'm obligated to be at the studio. Dance stuff too. Guess one can't spread out too thin with out loosing.

I got some new drums this year on Ebay. I got a pretty pretty Ashiko, a very different Llamador, a higher pitched Djembe, and I reheaded my first drum the Zarb. Now the Zarb is known as "Frankenstein", the Llamador is "The Frenchman", the Ashiko, I guess we could call "Spot" for it's beautiful discolorations. The original Djembe is known (still) as "The Old Goat". The new Djembe I just got for Christmas, so it has no name. Maybe "Mr. Fancy Pants" since it's one of those Indonesian carved bases. Everthing must be named when you have no children. It's a well known fact.

Wassim (Wes) is moving to Dallas this summer 2004, so I'll be all alone as the oldest dedicated drummer at the studio. Nancy (Isara - a dancer) moved to Dallas this year too. It's a great opportunity for her, and I hope it all works out, but I do miss her. Looks like Katie (my favorite dance conspiritor) will be moving after high school too. Such is the transient world of dance. In fact it's been a big shake up this year. Joe got ousted for lack of enthusiasm first, lack of tallent second, Michelle left with half our drummers, Ebony left (later joining Michelle). Amanda left quite a while ago in a fury with the instructor, Carol and Nabila (Wes's Mom) quit for one reason or another.

Coming up is the January workshop with Nirhan Al Boudi or something. I am supposed to help with this thing. I hope she's good. She's supposed to teach circular veil on Sunday, so I'm going to have to make some circular silk veils to sell. Not too many, but some. Even if they aren't sold that day, once ppl know how to work them they may want a nice silk one.

Bringing us to the point that I'm still doing the KittieSparkle.com thing. Vending out of the studio. I've got a lot of imported things as well as the usual stuff that I make. Finally found good vendors...it took about 2 years to find just a couple of good ones. It's harder than you think. Or I'm dense. Go figure.

Last January we had Ansuya here in Tulsa for a seminar. I really liked her a great deal personally and stylistically.

During my birthday (June 7th) Morocco came to Tulsa to do a seminar with us. It was great. I really enjoyed her. It was like having a bellydancing grandmother in town, very cool. No offence to my own grandmothers, but it's nice to have an extra GM. She was really sweet to me and I'm going to try to sell a bunch of KittieSparkle stuff and go on a "business trip" to Egypt with her in June.

In August I went to the Zahara Zahir Seminar in OKC. What a neat performer. She was a great dancer with a really unique figure, that made things interesting. She was short and shapely. But she had some great combos to teach us. I would study with her again given the chance.

I guess sometime in the Fall we went to see Dina in Dallas, then also Badia. It was a bit of a political snafu sorta thing, but I enjoyed both shows. Dina was great for her energy, damn! She was something to see. Badia was great because of her technique and also her attitude about dancers and teachers. She was right on.

I did Summer Stage as a dancer this year - Hell must have frozen over. I think I did ok. Lots of comments on my stage presence, which is what I had hoped to gain from the experience. I did a silly snake solo, that was improvisational - got some ok photos from that. I learned a lot of dances pretty well, and am getting better at remembering choreography. Finally finished my first costume in a decent way.

Oh and the snake tried to go down my top during the last show. Having worked with him before, I knew to get him back where he was supposed to be would turn into a snake wrestling match, so I put a stop to it quickly. Luckily, this scenario had already been forseen by one of the cast's mom, and we figured out what to do in such a case before hand. I quickly pulled him back before he was permanently entangled in my straps and gave him the naughty finger wag. During my serious "nightmarish" themed dance it was out of character and funny, but at least not a disaster. You can't believe how many people were afraid of this little bitty snake. It was silly.

This summer also, my instructor got our studio dancers a gig at a deli like Lebanese restaurant that was serving a nice dinner. So dancing at a restaurant. So I went into a costume making frenzy, only to find that my instructor's daughter got the gig 'permanently' because she looked Arabic. She's actually Mexican. Anyway, I got to dance there once and the owners were happy (and actually very nice, with the cleanest run kitchen I've ever witnessed in all my days of waitressing), so what ever. It's been fairly irregular for her anyway, because business is so bad in Tulsa right now. I can't imagine why the restaurant agreed to do it in the first place. Now I have lots of pretty costumes and no where to go.

I also danced at....the Okc Zahira Zuhair work shop, OktoberFest, um a nursing home (not a very lively crowd, but one little ol' gal told me I had a great body ;)), oh gawd the Blue Whale Days festival in...Coweta? It was a total fiasco...we arrived late, having been lost for 45 minutes, we performed in front of a cattle coral, a dog wondered on stage during a sword solo, we screwed up big time, I totally forgot part of a choreography and made it obvious (ok now I'm laughing), I pulled an oblique on another solo, ouch!, and for the end of the show, we all finally got it together and did our final pose, and the big livestock truck behind the stage went VROOOMMMMMM, really loud and right on que. Damn, it was funny to me. My instructor seemed pretty pissed off. :)

Also, I got some large Sally Rand style fans this year. And a large Hawksbill sword that I really like. It's nice and heavy and stays put better than the lighter Soroyan knock offs I had before. The fans are like a fantasy come true. I have always loved them, since seeing them as a kid on tv (kinda like belly dance) and now they are mine. Woo! One of the choreographies mentioned above will be with the fans.

I got my septum ( the thing between your nostrils ) peirced. You can't believe how hard it is to find pretty jewelry for this peircing. I can't find anything but tusks and pointy, mean things to stick in there. It's crazy! Let me know if you know of where to get something feminine and pretty to put in the old septum. Other wise I'll have to expand my skills further and learn how to make jewelry.

Well that's about enough catching up for now,

January 2005

Got kicked out or quit the studio, you decide...

Been getting bad vibes all year from my instructor, everysince I started teaching a class at a fitness center in addition to the studio. First she says it's not ethical for me to teach unless she can make some money off of it, so teaching at the gym is unethical. ?confused? Then it's that I'm talking too much in class, so no more talking. Then it's that she wants to start her own boutique, so I have 2 weeks to clear out 8000.00 dollars in merchandise. At this point, I try to talk to the instructor, and reasonably/no hard feelings, withdraw from the studio, but she insists that she doesn't want me to go (she hasn't gotten enough torture in yet I guess). Then it's that the girls in this years summer stage (which I didn't participate in but did attend to support the show and the dancers in it) thought I was laughing at them during the show...totally insane idea, wonder where that came from?

It ends in a bait and switch meeting, where I'm supposed to be talking to the girls from summer stage that had a problem with my delighted facial expressions ( i suppose they would have preferred a grimace? ), that turns into a you're getting fired in front of all your fellow dancers, plus the instructor's husband is there to yell at me in front of everyone (about, of all things, professionalism...let's see who's the one yelling at a meeting here? is that professional?) What ever. She just doesn't want to look like the bad guy again, because her reputation is so bad right now, so she brings in her husband to 'play devil's advocate' and herself, tries hard to look like the victim (plastic tears take one). I'm not kidding about the tears thing, she's told me for years, laughed about it, how she fakes crying when someone leaves or gets fired so people won't think she's mean.

I don't know if you can consider it a firing, if one hasn't been to classes for 2 months and is actually studying with another instructor. In fact I had only been to 2 months of classes during 5 months. Oh well, we knew the instructor was psychotic, and that once she gets a bug up her butt, she'll pick and pick till you're ready to leave. I've seen it before with other students. I've tried to keep things reasonable with situations like that in the past, because the instructor seems to focus on irrelevant stuff that irritates her, like how people raise their children, live, handle finances, etc., rather than proffessional reasons for firing someone. But of course no one had the balls (who was invited to the meeting that is) to stand up for my rights or say one positive thing about me.

I knew what to expect from my instructor, and had predicted fairly accurately what would happen to Wes and Katie, months ago...but I was most disappointed by my fellow students who I'd tried to help and befriend in the past, turning on me so quickly. I suppose this has been the year for me to explore human nature for sure.

At any rate, I've been studying with Jo Lynch, and will be renting from the Desert Wind studio in the future. I've joined their group because they are such a nice bunch of gals, and I really like the sisterhood factor in dance. I hope these sisters turn out better than the last bunch. I'll be more careful in my associations this time.

On a positive note, I started a level 1 class this year for my die hard students, and it's been a lot of fun stretching our capabilities. I've focused on choreography skills, and am finding some new approaches to a difficult process. There's lots more to pontificate here, but I've got to get on with my day.