Belly Dance

Since I moved to North Carolina 3.5 years ago, I have not taken belly dance classes on a regular basis. I have taken maybe four series of 6-week classes, but not like I did in Tennessee (two classes per week plus troupe practice on the weekend). I’ve missed the dance classes a lot — and especially performing with the ladies in my troupe. Last week, World in Motion tweeted that their tribal belly...

Jaia hosted a hafla (think open floor dance and music party) tonight. Talk about a blast! Mary Lou and I went and brought some food. Great food there too — people brought finger food that was really tasty. No potato salad or anything. Most of it was home-made goodness. Tasty. There was live music (and the name of the group escapes me). They play traditional middle eastern instruments and have performed with belly...

I talked with my dance instructor… We have a ton of upcoming performances with the troupe. It will definitely be exciting! As things are confirmed, I’ll post them here. Related Images:

We’re practising like mad. Performance is today. Here’s hoping it goes well! Related Images:

Our troupe’s dance instructor threw me a curve ball today: she asked if I would like to do a solo. I’ve been interested in doing a solo, but have not considered that I was ready for one. I’d like to have a better repetoire of steps, for example. Eep! So I have a week to come up with something. Related Images:

The big day finally arrived! We met in Oak Ridge for the Secret City Festival about 2:30 on Saturday. The performance started at 3:00. It was a blast! Jaia from Ananda Dance Company, BellaBelly Dance Company, and Gypsy Dream (my troupe). Check out the photography section for pictures. Related Images:

Okay, 90% finished, but still! Finishing the costume would not have been possible without the help of one of my friends. She spent Friday evening helping me finish the belt and the vest. Yay! Awesome person. I finished sewing the trim on the belt just in time for to leave for the performance. Related Images:

Easing in seams sucks. Or rather, I suck at it. I had to ease in four seams tonight. Learned how to do it while doing it. You know there aren’t any good Web sites that explain how to ease in seams? I found some pictures. The people in my belly dance class tried to explain it. None of it made any sense to me. It is really hard to visualize. If easing isn’t...

I love the Internet. When I am clueless, someone has posted a page that has instructions. Here are the ones I used tonight: Sewing darts General tips and trick for sewing belly dance patterns Reference site that has just about anything and everything What is really stumping me is that the shoulder seams are “eased in”. I’ve read a few pages on easing in seams. What I was told was to basically pin...

Okay, so our first performance for June is June 2 in Knoxville. I’m behind on trying to make the costume. I’ve been really trying hard to get things situated together. I’ve failed miserably. Well I haven’t when you consider the last thing I sewed was a t-tunic–up one side an down another. So here it is, 2:30 in the morning. I’m supposed to have the costume ready for a dress rehearsal tomorrow. I...

Ishani I began working on this DVD before the Hoover (old desktop PC) crashed and burned. The hardware difficulties created an issue for transferring the video from the tape to the hard drive and then processing the DVD. A new Mac Mini and several iterations later, the DVD is finally finished. Way back in March, Moria of Bellydance Superstars came to Knoxville. The evening after her sold-out workskhop, she performed at a hafla...

I keep learning more about belly dance and realizing just how much I don’t know. I have over 10 years of dance in ballet and jazz. Yeah, it’s been a while, but still the concepts and movements should still be (somewhat) in muscle memory, right? Nope, not as much as I would have hoped. I remember how to count phrasing and memorize choreographies. I remember about audience interaction and nuances in phrasing. I...

Our performance is tonight at World Grotto! We’ve been practising for weeks. I hope it goes well! I’m also video taping everything. Should be fun =) Workshop with Moria beforehand, too. I’ll be sore and happy. Related Images: