In my ongoing attempts to avoid my chores

I've decided that I might, possibly, could be talked into the following:

Preface (cause I talk too much, so I need structure) I have eleventy billion, six hundred fifty thousand squintillion dvd's.* Mostly belly dance related, although I have a bunch of work out ones as well.

Issue 1: Many of them are still in their shrink wrapping, cause that's a lot of dvds.**

Issue 2: I'm a little lazy and need structure***

Idea: I'm thinking about doing an instructional(s) dvd monthly. One on drilling, and another choreography. At the end of the month, if it doesn't violate copyright, I like it, I'm not feeling fat and can tolerate the look of it on video, time allowing, the stars align AND I have chocolate, uploading a clip of the choreography with a review of both dvd's and whether the drilling / training or impeded the execution of the choreography.****

Need: people nagging me. that's pretty much all YOU'D have to do. *****

What do you think? Interesting? or a flop? How about bets on whether I can do it or not?

IF you think it's a go, this August's will be Karen Barbee's "Belly Dance Drillz and Intermediate Variations", for drills obviously (slightly cheating since I've done this already, but then again, it's the 5th) and Jillina's Bellydance with Jillina, Vol. I, Entrance Choreography.

I probably have enough dvd's do this for a few years, so think carefully :-D

*this may be an exaggeration. I'm not gonna count them, however
** that's NOT an exaggeration.
*** see preface
****whew!
***** Oh, and read the posts AND ask questions.

Reviews: Streaming Video Title: Insider Secrets, Marketing Yourself

 I'd like to make this a regular part of my blog, since there is a never ending source of inspiration!

Artist/Instructor: Michelle Joyce

Producer: Cheeky Girls Productions, exclusively for www. Raqstv.com

Length: Approximately 2 hours

What you’re supposed to be learning, from www.Raqstv.com “Description: In this exclusive online seminar Michelle talks about how to push your dance career to the next level. So if you can already bellydance and want out "bust out of your local bubble" and be seen on the international stage, this is the workshop for you. This workshop covers…”

Content:

This workshop covers a lot of ground. An amazing amount of ground. So much ground, you might want to consider transportation to get to the other side.

The topics covered range from webpage design and content, tips for modeling, including an interview with the fabulous Michael Baxter, my brother from another mother., networking, how to use social media, dvd production and how to’s, and rounds it all out with a demo of a professional makeup application.

In other words, it should have been titled “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Doing Everything As a Professional BellyDancer, Including Some Mild Swearing”

But that would be too long.

I watched this on www.raqstv.com. This is an amazing website where you can pay a small fee and watch bellydance instructional dvd’s (and presumably you would actually do the “class” so to speak).

I watched this in one sitting. There is so much content in this production that you really must take it in chunks. Two hours is a long time to watch, but a short time to try to absorb the tips and tricks that Michelle presents.

What I liked:

The content is fabulous. Michelle initially talks about a concept, for example, professional photographs. In her characteristic attention to detail, Michelle starts out by discussing HOW to hire a dance photographer, including what to look for when you are purchasing your images. There are tips for how to use lighting, what is flattering, what is not, and even a photoshop demonstration on how to improve a fairly good photograph to a great one.

Who doesn’t like that?

The topics covered go on from there to webpage, youtube tutorials, what to pay attention to in video tapes, tips on getting the best view, what a reviewer or a potential workshop sponsor might be looking for, to how to conduct your workshop so you get asked back…

There is a TON of content, well worth the rental fee for all the information that you get from it.

It’s not so much like watching a dvd, more as if you were in a deep conversation with your mentor who is teaching you how to get ahead in this  very specialized niche market.

Michelle as an instructor is funny, expressive, honest, down to earth and blunt. One of the things that I really appreciated about the many of the tips for using social media (and I can think of a few people who could use this info) is on not only how to use the various opportunities you have for marketing effectively, but also how to give back to the community.

Michelle demonstrates her desire to give back to the community by concretely providing not only the tips and tricks designed to help you to effectively market yourself, but also providing real resources to support your endeavors by way of web sites, youtube video and even some free stuff you can download.

I’m not going to give away all of her giveaways, I want you to go watch this so that she can make more :-)

Tips to maximizing your rental, watch in full screen. If you’re like me, you may take the time when you’re watching something like this to bead, draw, something to keep your hands busy. You’ll miss out if you do this with this title. Michelle demonstrates, on screen, things you’ll want to watch.

The rental is broken up into chunks. You may benefit more from watching each section at a time, rather than watching them all together. Unless you have a photographic memory, if so, have at it.

Why you should watch this: you will come away with a better understanding of this market. You may be able to maximize your experiences in workshops and seminars to create more opportunities for yourself. You get to hear Michelle swear. What’s not to like?

On Energy

“Please take responsibility for the energy you bring into this space.”
~Jill Bolte Taylor

I just read that quote on a friends status update.

It inspired a thought (brace yourselves!)

When you’re an introvert, as I am. And shy, as I am (shut up! I know! Doesn’t mean I’m not shy!)

This can be a difficult concept to grasp. As an introvert, often we are unaware of the impact that our presence has on the world around us.

I’m typically a quiet person who hangs out in the back, I don’t draw a lot of attention to myself and try to stay our of people’s way. So I usually think people are unaware of me.

In a classroom setting, a studio setting, or anywhere that I am NOT the center of attention, you know, being Jemileh, I think I’m pretty much invisible.

I was very profoundly touched by the friends who have come around, who did indeed notice me and who cared about me in my darkest days.

In any case, one day about a year ago or so, when I was more in control of my emotions and able to interact more or less in what had become my new normal, I went to a day long training.

On my way to that training, I accidentally erased the very last message that my partner had left on my cell phone. I had faithfully kept this message and listened to it whenever I needed to hear his voice.

I had a major meltdown. I was sobbing hysterically as I called T-mobile and begged them to restore the message (they couldn’t) until the operator who tried to help me was also in tears.

I continued into my training, an interactive one where the trainees were people who worked with those with brain injuries as well as people who were hired to present them with services.

I tried to stay in the back. I had to share a table with a gentleman who had previously had a normal lifem until an electrical accident at work had caused him to lose consciousness and hit his head, leaving him with a significant brain injury from which he would never regain his normal level of functioning.

So I’m sitting around, struggling with how to manage my renewed feelings of loss and how to continue my day, let alone my life and this man, who had lost his wife, his child, his home, his job and everything that he felt had made him who he was, spent several hours trying to cheer me up.

Imagine that.

I’d like to say that I looked at myself and was adult enough and unselfish enough to reward this person’s kindness.

No. I’m still me, even staring in the face of my own limitations.

I was not cheered. His ability to be cheerful in the face of his own loss was not inspiring to me. I was too sunk in the morass of my own pain and loss.

I finished my training, of which I learned not a thing, and went back to work.

I walked into an office, where there was laughter and people were cheerfully doing their work and it was like a lead bomb.

I headed into my corner, and started my day.

Where before there was lightness and joy, darkness now reigned.

Boy, I can be melodramatic.

Anyway, people went back to work, but there was no lightness, there was dragging to the day. My supervisor pulled me aside and asked me what was wrong.

I told her, and her response was why did I come into work? Why hadn’t I taken the rest of the day off?

My response was that just because I was miserable didn’t mean that I couldn’t work, after all, I had been doing that since M had passed away.

She asked me why hadn’t I thought about what I was doing to the rest of the team? That it had been a difficult couple of months for the group and had taken a great deal of effort for people to come to some sort of equilibrium.

I was stunned, why didn’t people understand my pain? Why didn’t they take that into account? And for an introvert, dude, I was stunned that *my* pain would be enough to bring the whole office down and that they wouldn’t be able to ignore me.

I try not to be selfish and to consider how my actions impact others, but being told, and reprimanded no less, about my *energy* was stunning to me.

So. No real deepness to this post, just as light occasionally dawns on Marblehead, this quote, randomly seen on Facebook, has helped me to *get* this concept.

On the Sisterhood of Dance

I wrote the following post in February 2007.

I re-read it this morning and it still seems relevant. Mind you, this particular post was not inspired by anyone in particular, but was the build up of a "slow burn" so to speak, of things I had observed and thoughts I had in general. I've edited and dusted and brushed it off for public consumption. You're welcome.

This may annoy some of you, this may make you nod in agreement. What I *hope* it does, if anything, is make you (the generic you, obviously) think about your community and how you contribute to it.

I'm blessed that my community is filled with supportive and loving people.

Oh, I've always been opinionated. Shocking. I know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the "Sisterhood"

I've been ruminating on this. Being a professional dancer is a business. As a business, you have competition. How does this fit in with the "sisterhood"? It doesn't. Emotions have no place in making solid business decisions. You cannot judge people by their intentions, intentions are useless. You must judge people by their behavior. If their behavior is shady, so might their business practices. If I have a gig, that I have researched, worked on, juggled, scheduled, come to terms with, in other words, developed, and someone comes in and offers to dance for less? That's shady, unethical and even worse,   poor business practice that will ultimately sabotage the market for EVERYONE.

Consider this, in the Boston area, the going rate for a restaurant gig has been the same since what, 2005? In every other industry, prices have increased.
If nothing else, consider that even your mascara is more expensive, are you working for the same wage? or are you in effect working for, what, 25% less than you did 5 years ago?



If you have approached someone else's gig, and offered to dance for less than the dancer who regularly perfoms there, you are unprofessional. And you know what? That sort of stuff comes back to you.

If you teach without having learned anything about HOW to teach, about anatomy and how to protect your students until they are able to move themselves safely and are in to make yourself feel good, you are unprofessional and unethical, because you can HURT people.

If you don't wear a proper costume*,  you are unprofessional.

If you can't be bothered to take classes, workshops (or practice) to improve your technique, you will not get better and are at risk of isolating yourself from the rest of the dance community.

Note how I did not mention the "sisterhood".

Let us explore the "sisterhood".

My complaint is not with the "sisterhood", my complaint is with disingenuous behavior that some dancers engage in, then cry foul when they are called to task for it. My complaint is with the "student" who debuts professionally under her teacher's wing, then goes in and offers to dance for less, especially when she is aware that the teacher had been struggling with the manager who wanted to cut rates.

Going to a dance class where the teacher does not correct you is akin to say, mmmmmm, going to a class on how to jump from an airplane and having your instructor tell you after you have landed that you had to pull the parachute out at 2500 feet -v- at 250, because that might make you "feel bad"**.

If you are unable to provide constructive criticism, (this may lay more in the realm of teaching, because learning how to give constructive criticism, as well as WHEN to give it is just as important) tell someone that their dancing is technically good (note, I'm keeping it out of the subjective) when it is dangerous or bad technique, you are perpetuating bad dancing and are not a 'sister'.  There is NOTHING wrong with saying IF ASKED "I enjoy your musicality, I'm concerned the your not keeping your pelvis in neutral and that you may hurt your lower back, which would shorten how long you can dance."

If you tell someone that a costume is becoming, when it is not*** you are not a sister.

If you allow someone to perform with obvious pinning issues, underwear over belt, poorly adjusted so vitals are exposed, you are not a sister, or a friend.

If you spend your time knocking other dancers, styles or performances, you ARE NOT A SISTER!!!!

*that doesn't mean expensive, it means not showing off your genitalia and or secondary sexual characteristics. You want blunt? No pubic hair, boobs or crack.

**Of course, to most people dance isn't a matter of life or death, but c'mon, I'm exagerating to make the point.

***Straps are too long and make it look as if her boobs are around her waist, belt is too low and shows crack, she looks like a stump, or it in other ways does NOTHING to flatter her, you are not helping her.

Proffessional venues:
Show up on time.
Wear a decent costume (as defined above)
Bring music, not 5 cd's asking for a cut off each, take the time and burn your own sets. you will garner the gratitude of the dj and will not piss anyone off. Bring back ups.
Pin your costumes
If you have an equipment malfunction, do NOT storm off, gracefully accept a change in music if necessary, switch out the cd's, do what you need to do to keep the audience entertained. That's your job.

Dancer venues:
DO NOT SIT IN THE AUDIENCE AND TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH BETTER YOU ARE THAN THE OTHER DANCERS! SAVE THE SNARK FOR WHEN YOU GET HOME!
If you cannot follow that, don't go.
Clap and cheer for EVERYONE. This is where you can be a "sister" and help people to work on self esteem issues.
Don't poach other teachers students.
Appreciate the curvy dancer, the thin dancer, the alternative dancer, everyone who shows a love of the artform. You may not like who they are, but in this, they are indeed, your "sister".
Don't knock other styles. All styles have flavor and substance. While you might not appreciate the aesthetic, appreciate that someone took time and effort to put something out there in the universe that isn't negative. If you don't "get it" consider that this is YOUR lack and not that of the dancers.

Cassandra Shore

Just a short note this time:

I was cleaning my room (I know, I know, glamorous. BUT, you can't practice if you can't find the floor!)

Back to the topic:

I was cleaning my room and as I like to do, I put on some videos or a dvd to keep me company.

I decided that since I was feeling nostalgic for the IAMED award series triggered by my last post, I would start them again, from the First Awards on.

I put on the video and proceeded to start cleaning.

While the First Awards does not have the production values of the subsequent series, there is much to recommend it, despite how dark and out of a focus that it is. (sorry IAMED, I love you, but this one is not well it AT ALL)

So, imagine a dark stage, there must have been only the couple or so spotlights, with a band set up in the back, I don't remember off the top of my head which one it was.

Out comes Cassandra Shore, in a very simple white caftan / galabayesque dress. She begins to dance (not to live music, a cd).

This is NOT your lovely elegant Egyptian stylings.

This is raw.

This is primal.

Strong.

Powerful.

It starts with hand motions, an out of place look on her face.

It builds through some serious head and neck swings, her uber shiny hair (dude, this thing is DARK, her hair gleamed, nonetheless) swinging back, forward, covering her strong face at time. The perfect backdrop.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to have been in the audience that day.

As it was, about 10 years in the future (I think, have to check the dates to be sure) in a poorly lit video, in my bedroom, folding clothes, when the climax of the performance hit, Cassandra, collapsed, on the floor, her hair covering her face and the last notes faded away, I found myself standing in front of the tv, with no memory of having moved away from my bed and taking those steps, so enthralled was I by her amazing and powerful performance.


What a dancer.

What's in a number?

So, today I read a blog that was commented about in a blog (rather meta, innit?).

The blog is about a dancer who is considered to be overweight and despite this is happy, healthy and seems to be living her dreams. The hard part about something like this is that people nowadays are wedded to the notion that the number on the scale is the end and all and be all of their health.

It's not.

Allow me to explain just WHY it's not.

1. Body Mass Index is not helpful in that the numbers are generalized and only go by weight and height, taking nothing else into account.

Because this is so, even if you are heavy from muscle (muscle weighs more than fat, REQUIRING you to eat more to maintain weight, isn't that useful information now? Pick up heavy things and put them down and you can eat more!) your BMI will be high.

This is why you should ignore it as a measure of health.

2. While we're at it, ignore that number on the scale since it's tied into the myth that the less you weigh, the healthier you are.

3. The more you exercise, consistently, incorporate strength training AND maintain a healthy diet the healthier you will be overall.

your mood improves

your clothes fit better

your not cranky from hunger

your sex life improves

What's not to like?


So forget about dieting, eat sensibly, a variety of foods that appeal to you, some that don't, cause you'll get more vitamins that way, and pick up some heavy things and put them down again, and then stretch those muscles out (because too tight is as bad as too loose).

Do it with a trainer, do it with a friend, LEARN how to do it well and safely and your life will probably improve.

This is an excellent web site to get started, she's smart and knows what she's talking about.

Do. It.

Workshop Review

OK, I know I haven't updated in a while, but felt the urge to write this up while it was fresh in my mind.

I'm hoping to make it a regular part of the blog, considering that I take workshops regularly, it will give me stuff to write about, at least!

Why workshops? Because it improves your dancing, duh!

Why with different teachers? Because no 2 dance alike. Because you never know what you're going to take away from the workshop, be it a new movement, a new way to listen to music, a new combination, improvement in technique and in the very worst instances... what not to do.

When should you take a workshop? Not as easy to answer, it's different for different people. If you have the income and the means, take as many as you can. Always take the ones that focus on how to interpret the music, because those are the most valuable in my opinion, especially if you're not a native speaker of the language.

Take the technique ones, because even if you think you know everything, you don't. I don't care how long you've been dancing, there is ALWAYS something to learn. Beware the dancer who is overcome by ennui and the sense that she knows everything.

Ok, on the workshop

Yousry Sharif Weekend, Sponsored by Katia of Boston, Lakeville, MA. March 25 and 26, 2011.

1. Location: The Burbs. It's about an hour drive roughly south of Boston, not difficult to actually get to and a pleasant ride. Plenty of places along the road to stop and do a little shopping, if you're into that (I'm not, despite my costume lust, an actual "shopper"). The traffic wasn't bad, since you're headed away from Boston, but in the summer could be difficult since that's when most people actually leave Boston and head out to the Cape and other summery locations. No commuter rail access on the weekends, which sucks if you don't have a car.

2. Studio: almost a proper dance studio, with the exception of the floor, which was linoleum. Hated the floor. luckily I had my little capezio dance slippers (these) *which I LOVE. I also brought my dance sneakers**  which turned out to be a good idea for the saidi portion.  My only comment , other than the floor, was that it would have been nice to have mirrors on at least 2 sides so that you can check your posture. There was ample parking. The workshop was filled to capacity, there would have been space for maybe one more person, but not 2. I really didn't like the floor, which felt cold and hurt my feet.  But coming prepared with shoes and socks and leg warmers made an enormous difference.

3. Timing: as in starting and ending, exquisite. The warm up was a yoga based one conducted by Maisa, which was excellent, even though I arrived both days a bit late and missed the start up.

4. Communication: Excellent as well. Katia made sure that she sent information about every step of the workshop, location, directions, where to eat, etc. There was nothing left to chance and no ambiguity.

5: The Teaching! Finally!: this was NOT a workshop for beginner's. If you did not know how to properly execute a hip drop, there was no stopping and explaining. You either got it, or you didn't. I can't repeat enough, there was no breakdown. You should keep this in mind in the event that you want to attend one of these workshops, you will work hard. There will be no stopping for breaking movements down. You should study the basics and have them firmly under your hip belt in order to get the choreography, because THAT is the focus. Yousry did stop and explain when he wanted a certain look to a movement. For example, there was one portion of the song that is very slow and dramatic and the choreography calls for head and chest movements together. Obviously, you can do this in multiple ways, but he explained when the group was doing more just head movements that the feel of the movement wasn't static and required more emotion and emphasis, not just percussive head flinging (fun as that often is).

The choreography itself was incredibly thoughtful. There are accents and combinations that until you have listened to the music eleventy billion times you will not understand. As a person who knows that choreography is not my friend, I had to stop listening with my head, and only listen with my body. I couldn't intellectualize the choreo because then it didn't make sense to me. I had to do it, and AFTER (waaaayyyyy after) did it make sense to my mind.

There was a trick that Yousry used on the second day that I thought was BRILLIANT! Sooooo goooooooooddd that I'm hesitant to share it, I will, and hope I haven't stepped on any toes.

Throughout the weekend, there had been breaks for one side of the room to do the combinations, then the other side, then all together. At one time, he asked us to tag team, in other words, one side the choreo up until the music changed and then the other side did the next section. It forced you to think about what they were doing while listening to the music and anticipate the change so that you were there to catch it as it changed. For me, it created a dynamic thinking process which bypassed all my issues with choreography and made me think about the music and accents in a way that worked for me so I could participate and get it right.

6. What has it done for my dancing?: Well, I've made some breakthroughs with choreography. Given the different ways that I was forced to listen to the music in the workshop and experience the dancing (that of myself and others) it's made me a more thoughtful dancer. Of course, it's been just about 2 weeks, and I have the attention span of a gnat, so we'll see if it holds.

Has it improved my technique? Not really. My technique is pretty solid, and it wasn't a technique workshop anyway. It *did* work on my emoting during dance. When I perform, I'm an entertainer and have stuck to happy sunshiny performances (for the most part) this made me incorporate the mood changes in one single dance which was reminiscent of a mood disorder. This is not necessarily a bad thing when you are entertaining. I can see using this piece in several ways.

Would I take another workshop from Yousry? Absolutely. And you should too.


* These I bought as an intermediary between dance sneakers and ballet slippers for class. I started out with the ballet slippers, but since they didn't have as much arch support, they didn't keep my feet from pronating, which aggravates my knees. These give me enough support, are flexible enough so that I can still get a good point and arch that are visible when practicing, have suede soles so good for turning and are very light, so easy to carry around. The are not any good for high impact, but anything with low impact, this is an excellent shoe. I like these so much I bought them in "caramel" which is a much better match for my yellowish skin tone than "nude", cause seriously, who is clamshell pink anyway?

** My dance sneakers are MUCH better at higher impact (like Saiidi) and if you're going to spend a substantial amount of time on releve. Mine also have a "turn spot" which makes, obviously, turns a bit easier, less torque on the knees, more turning from core power. You can easily just almost think turn and you've done a pirouette.