the pinkcoinbelt chronicles

indian jewelry and vedic culture

2012-01-24T08:26:00.000-08:00

So last year (that's right, last year!) on October 5, FatChanceBellyDance® organized a miniseminar on Indian jewelry. The speaker was Ms. Colleena Shakti, the other half of Nakarali and Odissi dancer / teacher. I really don't need to tell you how fabulous Nakarali pieces are. I, err... I bought a piece of silver belt at last year's Tribal Fest and although it cost me an arm and leg, it's a good investment.

But I digress. Let's begin.

The beginning of Indian jewelry can be traced back to 5,000 years ago. The source of inspiration for the aesthetics came from the Vedas (ancient sacred writings of Hinduism). These Vedas have specific description of the adornments worn by the Gods and Goddesses (yes, I'm totally using capital "G"). These descriptions were made into illustrations by painters, and the poses of the Gods and Goddesses were translated by temple dancers into what is now known as Classical Indian Dance. This style of Indian dance is considered the epitome of Vedas, and therefore Indian, culture. The detailed carving of a God or Goddess or dancer from 500 years ago shows the exact same jewelry worn now.

What's remarkable is that every part of Chakra is covered in jewelry. This means there is a specific placement of each jewelry piece. Placing precious metals on the Nadis contains the power / spirit of the Mother / Goddess, therefore binding the Shakti energy.

The Indian idea of divine beauty is adornment. There is no end of adornment in the Indian aesthetics. The purpose of the body is to be adorned. Even in Kama Sutra illustrations (the classic ones, not the FHM ones) and sculptures, the clothes come off, but never the jewelry.

Jewelry also serves as an identity to show the caste and community. The 10,000 year old culture of India is passed on on both conscious and subconscious levels. The style of adornment reflects which tribe the person belongs to. Communal-mindedness is necessary in a tribe; there is no such thing as a stand-outness. Tribal costume (and jewelry) is not just adornment, but a lineage of ideas. The idea is how to represent people for having a pride in the moral system.

For example, the children of Kalbeliya Tribe, a caste of snake charmers, wear beaded jewelry (lighter, more comfortable, cheaper). When the girl is ready to be married, then she will wear silver that weighs at least 1.5 kg on her body. This is for financial security. Imagine, the people in this tribe lead nomadic life. This means no wall, no indoor plumbing, and now ATM. So if you had USD 5,000, where would you put it? On your body!

Jewelry is investment (like the belt I bought), it's also a transferable asset (you pass it down to the future generation), and it even guards you. Ms. Shakti told us the story of her Mataji who had an accident. Her leg was run over by a car, but she was alright because she was wearing a big-ass chunky anklet. The anklet protected her from too much damage, but it was broken to pieces. So they took the anklet to a shop to be sold to cover the hospital fee. The jewelry pieces are not pure or 92% silver, but they have to be mixed with other metals to endure the harsh conditions the tribespeople live in.

The Kalbeliya women are beggars, but they're adorned in jewelry and that's their right. The jewelry is not meant to be given up to feed the family (I know, right? THE IRONY). Sometimes, these people carve their names on the jewelry, like they have their names tattooed on their forearms because they're illiterate. Nowadays (I guess this also happens in Indonesia), Indians don't want to wear the older, more classic jewelry because they want to appear more western.

I was feeling rather intelligent that night and so I asked a question. The illustrations show Gods and Goddesses adorned in gold, so why is it that silver is the big thing? These are Ms. Shakti's responses:

Gold is more precious (more expensive) than silver
Silver mixes better with nickel and other metal
Gold is reserved for Gods and Goddesses therefore distancing mere humans (Silver) with Supreme Beings (Gold - representing Solar energy)

I hope I didn't leave out important details! I'm sorry it took so long to write this. Sigh. Now that one debt is done, I still have two articles to post: Male ATS costuming ideas and the Extended Prayer.

tribal spark

2012-01-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, on Sunday, 8 January 2012, Tribal Babes Indonesia hosted Indonesia's first ever Tribal Belly Dance and Fusion Festival. They were having a special guest coming over and it's none other than the lovely Ms. Cinzia di Ciocco of Les Soeurs Tribales (LST). I've seen LST's videos and I have to say that I'm most impressed with their fluidity, creative transitions, and very, very pretty skirt work. And as far as I know, in the videos, everything is Improv Tribal Style (ITS).

I danced two numbers, using FatChanceBellyDance® American Tribal Style® Moves and Steps to Caravan by Raquy & the Cavemen for the first one, and Tribal Fusion to Linetzky and Romeo's Sentimientos. I gotta tell you, though, one is the loneliest number in ATS®. There's no sense of the tribe. Nonetheless, I was happy because I got to dance with my Banjara Skirt and my old headdress. So, yay to power in costuming!

I wish I had pictures of me dancing to Sentimientos, but for now, those photos will not see the light of day. HA. I wore my white Tribal garb for that one in case you're curious.

Anyway, I was telling you about one being the loneliest number in ATS®. Well, guess what, at the end of the show when all the performers were called on stage, Ms. Ciocco took my hands and we danced together to none other than Shakira's Ojos Asi. Yes. We danced using the basic American Tribal Style® vocabulary (Egyptian, Arabic, Arabic Shimmy, Pivot Bump, Turkish Shimmy, and of course the luxurious Taxeem). I had seen her doing Double Back and Chico 4 Corners during her performance so I threw them in as well. I also threw in the Chico 4 Corners passing and she caught that. Some of the moves didn't "translate" well between us but it all made sense because later she told me that she did Gypsy Caravan.

Still, it felt really good to dance with someone I'd never danced with before, and we did it quite seamlessly. Of course I blundered by doing Slow Moves when the song was still fast (I hadn't listened to Ojos Asi in ages), but still, doing the on-the-spot improv felt so natural. After the song ended, Ms. Ciocco encouraged me to explain to the crowd that we had never danced together ever and then we shouted, "That's the power of Tribal".

Oh, and yeah, I also made another blunder by CHANGING INTO MY STREET WEAR. Haha.

It was a fun night, although I really wish we could see more Tribal and Fusion belly dance.

***

Photo credit:

All photos courtesy of Tribal Babes Indonesia.

In the third photo: (left to right) The emcee of the evening, Ms. Vina from Kalimantan (!), Ms. Nabila from Sahara Dance Jakarta, Ms. Miftahul Jannah from velvetRAQS / Dancewave Center (yep, that's my boss... and her ankle boots...), Ms. Enna from Sahara Dance Jakarta, Desi from Tribal Babes Indonesia, Ms. Cinzia di Ciocco from Les Soeurs Tribales, Ms. Christine Yaven from Bellydance Jakarta, Ms. Patricia from Star of the East / Interlude Dance Academy, Yours Truly, and Yulia Bollywood. Quite a lot of line-up, huh?

tribal fusion intensive

2012-01-16T04:49:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching again! This time it's for an eight-week intensive program and not for American Tribal Style® but Tribal Fusion.

It's only Rp. 800,000 per person for all eight sessions, but it's limited to Dancewave Center students. We're going to do drills and end with a choreography to a short song (Sourire by Les Nubians).

Here's the little poster:

For more information, check out the Facebook Event page.

well hello there, 2012

2012-01-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Alright, as usual, when I'm back in Jakarta, I hardly blog. I have reasons! As soon as I landed in Jakarta, the grueling practice sessions and rehearsals began, and I'm not kidding. A few hours after touch-down, I met my velvetRAQS girls and we practiced the two numbers that I choreographed for Dancewave Center's annual recital, The Dance Within 3D: One World. The sold-out show (yes, sold-out. Again.) was held in the legendary auditorium of Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (Jakarta Performing Arts Building) on Saturday, 7 January 2012.

Here are some photographic highlights from the show. Things weren't perfect (I'm trying to be modest) and by golly look at my bloated belly. Sigh.

I resolve to own six-pack abs for the next recital.

No, really. I do.

The pictures of the velvetRAQS in white Tribal Fusion attire (headdress, bra of the girls, my top, and my belt are all made by me) are of us dancing as Snow Flakes using choreographed moves from FatChanceBellyDance® vocabulary. I'm very proud of my posture as it totally slims down my belly. Haha. I wore my new Ivory Tulle bi Telli scarf from Safti Craft. I only have good things to say about Safti. Very timely production and shipment.

The second set of pictures are of us in black Tribal Fusion attire (my top and belt are made by me). I danced as Kali-Ma who slays the Three Goddesses of Time so Earth could return to her glory (before time, before humans exist).

I'm still waiting for pictures from the first Tribal Bellydance & Fusion Festival organized by Tribal Babes Indonesia, right the next day after The Dance Within 3D: One World, where I danced two numbers. I've got a really cool story for that evening.

***

Photo Credits:

Photos 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are by Diana Tri from PIKME Photography.

Photo 2 by Yudha Wiraghupta.

2011

2011-12-31T07:00:00.001-08:00

I would be remissed if I didn't write any review of the year 2011. However, I've done it on my other blog, the Pink in California. So you might want to head there if you're really, really, REEEEALLLY curious to know more about my life (you're such a stalker! But I like being stalked. So, HA.)

2011 marked the first time I've been away from my home (and my country) for a long period. True, I had a blast with EF at San Francisco and finally doing what I had been dreaming of doing since 2008: learning American Tribal Style® at FatChanceBellyDance®, and not only that, but I also had the opportunity to perform live with BlueDiamondsBellyDance, student troupe of FatChanceBellyDance®. Twice, actually. The second one with live music by none other than Helm (gasp!).

In the other blog, I wrote that I wanted to focus more on dancing and writing for 2012. I guess I need to be more specific.

What I really want is to further improve my American Tribal Style® skills and really making myself ready to teach it on my own, of course using the FatChanceBellyDance® format. As much as I love being in California (Californians are so friendly! NOT. Well, some are), I miss being at home, being in Jakarta, speaking Indonesian, and dancing with my troupe mates.

Well, here's to the good things and the bad things that occurred in 2011. And here's to hoping for a stronger, more beautiful self in 2012.

real time performances (this is improv, man!)

2011-12-12T02:12:00.000-08:00

During the two times I had the privilege to dance at Tannourine, I witnessed the FCBD ladies discussing their set right in the backstage. Clearly they knew the songs well, they'd been dancing with each other for a long time, and they didn't rehearse. The BlueDiamonds, on the other hand, had planned the sets earlier (like two weeks earlier) and had at least rehearsed the set once.

Being in Level 4 means either the present teacher or us gets to decide the songs for a set, then do a run through once to orient ourselves with the set. The second run through is the rehearsal, and the third (and last) is the show. After the first run through and before the rehearsal, we decide who dances with whom in what song to what (Floorworks? Levels? Spins?). We do this in the comfort of the studio, with great sound system, good lighting, and relatively reliable flooring.

Then came Friday, 9 December 2011.

Kelsey, one of our dance sisters was going to be proposed by his fiance. His fiance asked Laura's (another dance sister) husband if she could ask the members of BlueDiamonds to perform. It was a surprise proposal. He was going to propose at Palace of Fine Arts and they'd go to a restaurant in downtown San Francisco for an afterparty. She didn't know that we would go there and surprise her with a dance.

Then we'd ask her to join us dance. This meant we couldn't plan the set ahead of time.

None of us had seen the place. This meant we had to decide the formation and how many people would be the featured dancers and where the chorus would stand, on the very spot right before we danced.

One of the more experienced dancer, Shelly, advised to do it Cafe Style (diagonal, closer proximity among the dancers, and no spins). When I was putting on my make-up at Jennifer's place, there were three of us and she put herself in Cafe Style, as if knowing that it would be in close quarters.

In the end, we managed to pull it off and everyone agreed that it was so fun.

Me, I still can't believe we did it like that, without rehearsal, without practice. I still can't believe we did it on the spot and it turned out fine.

Moral of the story #1: ATS is about improvising and adapting to the situation and the condition of the stage (or lack, thereof).

Moral of the story #2: Having a responsible point person with attention to details is important (we were so glad that Laura took this job)

Moral of the story #3: Zills can really improve the presence and excitement.

Moral of the story #4: Bust your energy out. When I danced to Anathema, I did an Egyptian Half Turn and saw Shelly's hips moving with energy. I wasn't feeling like being totally out, but when I saw her and her hips, I told myself, "F*ck, I need to get my act together." and tapped into her energy.

Such a lovely night. Such a lovely couple. Such lovely energy. Such lovely dancers.

And such a lovely dance.

***

Photo by Maya Vella

(L-R) Jennifer, Shelly, Yours Truly, Laura

breaking the brick wall

2011-12-04T19:15:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is still about the brick wall.

Princess Farhana wrote an excellent article about choosing the music to dance to. I only have a few things to say about it.

The first one is: I agree with everything she wrote.

Whenever I see people who work hard to do what they do and do it so beautifully, I can't help but feel envious. I can never sing as good as Sarah Brightman or do melisma as precise as (the recorded) Beyonce. I was feeling nostalgic and watched Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (RIP Mary Wickes) and I realized that, just like in the first movie, those people could sing well, and it broke my heart that when I tried to sing along, I marred the song.

The same thing also happened in writing. I'm not talking about the big, published names. I'm talking about my classmates. There were times when I just closed my eyes when they read their piece and then heard great lines and thought, "Crap! That was an awesome line! Why didn't I think of that?"

Then there's the dance.

There are dancers with clear and precise pops and locks (Kami Liddle, Ela Rogers, April Rose, Samantha Emanuel). There are the dancers with spins and turns to die for (Zoe Jakes, Petite Jamila). There are dancers with incredible gymnastic skills and flexibility (Rachel Brice, Frank Farinaro). There are dancers with killer shimmies (Amar Gamal, Alexey Paraschuk, Bozenka, Dondi Dahlin). There are dancers who are amazing choreographers (Jillina, Sabah Saeed). There are dancers with effortless grace (Colleena Shakti, Devi Mamak, Sonia Ochoa, Mihrimah Ghaziya, Maria Aya). There are dancers with such posture that command the room (FatChanceBellyDance, Tamalyn Dallal).

But most all, these dancers (and more whom I didn't mention) can move the way I want to move. Every time I see the pops and locks and every time I listen to songs that move me and inspire me to do the pops and locks and ticks, I get frustrated and hit the brick wall. Why? Because I can't do them.

Every time I listen to Bollywood songs and then get to my feet and want to move, I get frustrated and hit the brick wall. Why? Because I know nothing of Hindi moves and mudras and what have you.

There's a little Tribal get-together that Tribal Babes Indonesia hosts right the next day after The Dance Within 3D: One World. Cinzia di Cioccio of Les Soeurs Tribales is going to have a workshop and then she's going to dance in the get-together. I was asked to dance two numbers and there are already a million songs to choose from.

Finally, I chose two songs and just sent them to Desi, the organizer from Tribal Babes Indonesia. I told her that I was sending the songs to her so I could stop making it harder for me to choose the songs I wanted to dance to. By sending the songs, I could concentrate on practicing with the two songs. I'll be dancing an ATS solo for the first one and Tribal Fusion for the second one.

I'm taking Princess Farhana's advice. No matter how hard I want to do pops and locks and ticks, I'm going to do what I can do with my body, at least for now.

hitting the brick wall

2011-11-27T18:49:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I was thinking how time had gone so fast. How I had landed in San Francisco this year on that cold January night and then had struggled to get into a university in the USA. Now my first semester as an MFA student is almost done and I'm a quarter closer to earning my degree.

Then just this morning, a friend told me how she felt time had gone so fast - as if she had blinked herself into the end of the year. And it's true.

Let me tell you my deepest, darkest secret. It won't be my deepest, darkest secret anymore after I've told you, so at least that's one out and millions more to share. What can I say, my life is an open book and the secrets are there, waiting to be revealed to anyone who cares to read it.

Now, about that deepest, darkest secret: I sincerely wish I could stop time. I sincerely wish that I could take the happiest moment of my life with the people I care about and just freeze it and live it forever and a second. Maybe that's what Heaven is. Possibly.

The point is, as I'm getting closer to earning an MFA, that means my days of taking classes at the FatChanceBellyDance studio are also numbered. I had already complained about not being able to go to Thursday classes next semester (February until May) because of the new school schedule. This means I'm only limited to the Saturday classes and Dance Conditioning sessions. This means I'll be missing my friends who usually come only on Thursdays.

Then there's the physical limitations. There's so much that my brain has to process. There's so much that my muscle memory has to take in. There's so much that my reflexes has to train themselves to remember. I've been away from the weekly velvetRAQS practices for less than a year and now whenever I try to do the Turkish Shimmy or the Arabic Shimmy with my left foot as the dominant one, my shimmies will get stuck. Shimmies have never been my best friend. Layering movements on regular Oriental shimmies has been so hard. Doing the sharp pop, lock, and hit with my body has been almost impossible.

The fears and paranoia are the cherry on top of the cake. What if when I go back home to Indonesia, I can't find anyone to dance ATS with? This is not about the invested money and energy and time and what have you, this is about not being able to do the dance that you love so much. This thought scares the bejeebus out of me. The fact that this dance demands so much and the fact that I, as a teacher, also demand so much because I want to keep the purity of FCBD ATS, posture and all, they may not be appealing to many people.

Then I realized, heck, if I can get only one or two people to dance with and they give their best like I do, I will be happy. Then I realized, I am a human, there's just so much that my body can do. But I will work with my strengths and my flaws and I will learn to love myself and accept that probably I can never shimmy while doing a full split. And these realizations came after watching this video:

That is Oskar, the blind cat. I wrote earlier about Ms. Wendy Allen's three-legged dog, the sweet Abby Noodle Bumskooter. And I have to repeat myself: it's amazing how animals (some, like Oskar and Abby, aided by kind humans) can constantly amaze and inspire me to do more and never give up, even when I'm hitting a brick wall.

the dance within 3d: one world

2011-11-25T16:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm excited.

I'm half way across the galaxy, inundated with school work and classes at the FatChanceBellyDance Studio, trying hard to keep the insects from occupying my apartment, and making the most of the Thanksgiving break. All this while my fellow dancers back home at our dance institution Dancewave Center are plotting and toiling our third annual recital, The Dance Within 3D: One World.

The Internet is really making our lives easier. I'm not just talking about posting events over at Facebook or tweeting the latest updates, or uploading pages of information to DancewaveCenter.com, it's also the convenience of reviewing drafts of designs for the posters, fliers, tickets, and other promotional materials, the Messenger chats with Ms. Miftahul Jannah, velvetRAQS director and general manager of Dancewave Center, as well as conversations with Monique Chai, co-general manager of Dancewave Center and director of the Hip Hop and Burlesque troupes of Dancewave Center.

The result is this:

The Dance Within 3D: One World is Dancewave Center's third annual recital. It's going to be held at the prestigious Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, on Saturday, 7 January 2012. It features signature dance-theatrical performances with dances from around the globe: Hip Hop, Oriental (Folkloric and Modern), Tribal (American Tribal Style and Fusion), Burlesque, Bollywood, and Contemporary.

This year, after reminding our beloved audience of the importance of Dance (2009), and the Dream (2010), it's time to remember the Duty. Hence the 3D: the Dance, the Dream, the Duty.

And this Duty is to our beloved blue planet, to the great Mother of all: Earth.

Tickets are on sale now. For more information, go to the website.

areas that need improvement

2011-11-21T14:06:00.001-08:00

Hokay. Where in the world should I begin?

I know where my stance is in the belly dance world, or any world for that matter: I am to never stop learning. This is not just for humility sake, but for refining the techniques, skills, and presence needed in order to really grace the stage.

At times I feel the need to constantly realign myself with the dance and its rules, and by dance I mean American Tribal Style (ATS). Sure, there are also rules within Oriental, such as: chest lifted, arms never in chicken wings position, feet close together; but as someone who've been studying Oriental for three years, I feel that these rules are made for aesthetic purposes. I am probably wrong, since I'm only a baby dancer, but the point I'm trying to make is that with ATS, every body angle, every arm sweep, every floreo, every head tilt, is a cue. That's why it is essential to make sure we execute the Moves or Steps correctly.

Laura, one of the fellow dancers who also danced that night at Tannourine last Friday (November 18, 2011) convinced her husband, Luke, to take videos of the sets. She then sent the links to us. I had felt good about the dance, so I watched it. Then I cringed. Here's why:

Limp wrists. My God my wrists are so limp. I have dainty, limp wrists. I overdid the playfulness of the wrists in some of the Steps. In my daily life, I love my limp wrists. They are somewhat a statement of my masculinity (HA!), but in dance, I want to project strength, although not necessarily masculine strength. I had the same problem with my bouncy neck and head. After dancing with my sword and doing ATS, I think I may have succeeded in overcoming it. I will do the same to my wrists.
Forearms too close to the chest. Holly hallelujah. I was so sure that my forearm and my chest had enough distance when I was doing Pivot Bumps. My right forearm carriage was okay, but my left forearm was definitely too close to my chest, and that is wrong. Whenever our arms are in Table Top position, or when we're doing Split Arms in ATS, the arm(s) that is/are in Table Top should be extended with the elbows making a soft curve as if there is a big Swiss Ball in your arms.
Slow Song Face. With my thick lips, if I try to project a thin, mysterious smile, it will end up looking like a frown. During Maleh U Filfil (a slow, mysterious, instrumental, haunting song), I gave my usual thin, mysterious, sly smile. That wasn't captured nicely. It made me look smug. Maryann was giving a genuine smile and that translated so well.

Sensei Kae told us about having the Precision in the dance. I totally understand that. I've seen non-FatChanceBellyDance ATS troupes doing FCBD moves (on YouTube) but they lack the precision, the arm carriage, the lift of the chest and chin that the moves looked so sloppy.

No.

I know this might sound zealous and overbearing and probably a bit scary (like Single White Female scary), but if I want to bring FCBD ATS back to my home country, I have to make sure I have what it takes to present it FCBD style, posture and all.

At least I remembered to engage my abs that night.

***

Still photo from the video by Luke Terheyden, showing (from left to right: Miriam, Julia, Maryann, and yours truly).

class notes (new steps, laybacks, more floorworks)

2011-11-08T02:02:00.000-08:00

The past two (or three?) weeks have been some kind of a whirlwind, what with Sensei Kae taught us a new way to spin (I'll write it up in another blog entry, I promise. Oh, and that blog entry will also include the Extended Prayer. I just need to doodle and scan it to better illustrate the full gorgeousness of the whole Puja), me recovering (I'm 98% healthy! Yay!), and another Tannourine show coming up (Friday, November 18), this time with live music by Helm. I know, right? This is going to be my first performance with live music and it's the great Helm of all bands. Oy, the pressure.

These notes are from Sensei Kae's class:

Egyptian Sevillana

Start with Basic Egyptian (first until fourth counts), then angle the body on the fifth count so your chest faces the left wall of your phone booth and you almost show your back to the audience in front of you.
When angling the body, drop the two arms, just like in the first part of Sahra Turn (actually, the body angle at this moment should also match the first part of Sahra Turn).
On the sixth count, move your right arm just like when you do the first turn of the Sahra Turn (like holding a tray above your head). Also like a Sahra Turn, to your right on the sixth count.
Keep your left hand near your left hip and bring it up only on the seventh count (while you're turning), but slowly so it floats up and ends its float on the eighth count.
The eighth count (or half of the eighth count) of Egyptian Sevillana is spent by doing the pose with arms raised and waiting for another down beat to start a new count.
You have to pay attention to your leader when he/she is doing Basic Egyptian and cuing to Egyptian Sevillana. You might not be able to execute the first move (arms sweeping down like Sahra Turn) properly if you don't concentrate and therefore have to rush the sweeping down and the turn.

Triangle Step

This is a very beautiful eight-count step indeed. I will ask the assistance from the big-ass footprints once again.
Imagine there's an inverted triangle (dotted orange) inside your pizza box (red). On the first count, place your right foot on the upper left point of the triangle. Make sure that your toes point to the front, therefore stopping the lower body from twisting too much but still get the upper body to twist just enough so that you feel like showing the audience your back (but not much). Your arms should be framing your body as if you're doing a Wrap Around Turn, however, your right arm should be lower (the right arm in Wrap Around Turn is table-top height, the right arm in the first section of Triangle Step is about 45 degrees). There is one soft floreo on each wrist when bringing the arms to frame the body. Chest lifted at all times. The corresponding number in the diagram is number 1. On the first count, the weight of your body goes to your right foot.
Stay until the second count.On the second count, the weight of your body switches to the left foot.
On the third count, move your right foot back near your left foot, but keeping the arm frame and body angle the same. Body weight distributed evenly on both feet.
On the fourth count (not the fifth!), move your left foot to the upper right point of the triangle. This is the mirror image of what you just did on pointer #2, including the floreo. The corresponding number in the diagram is number 2. Body weight is on left foot.
On the fifth count, switch the body weight to the right foot. Arms stay.
On the sixth count, move your left foot near the to the right, but as you step in, the toes of the left foot should point to 10 o'clock (or somewhere like this). This will give you the momentum to do a T-step turn on seventh and eighth counts. Starting on the sixth count, move the arms up with a soft floreo, just like when doing the turn in Arabic Twist with Turn.

These notes are from Ms. Kristine Adam's class (featuring a photography also by Ms. Kristine Adams. This photo is a series of a very fun project involving Ms. Nericcio and Rachel Brice switching their costumes and make-up!). Also, when I realized that it was going to be Ms. Adams teaching for that Saturday, I really wanted to work on laybacks and floorworks, knowing that she's one of FCBD troupe members who did that Layback Song (as featured in Volume 7). So it was really nice that Theresa, one of my classmates, requested to do a layback.

Laybacks, like Diagonal Trio, Dueling Duets, and Floorworks, have to be discussed prior to dancing.
Do not initiate (that means cue) a Layback if you don't feel comfortable doing it, or if you haven't done enough warm-up for your back.
The cue for a Layback is what makes it different than a Deep Bodywave. When doing a Deep Bodywave, your head stays level while your upper body (below the neck) undulates. Imagine having a sword or a basket or something balanced on your head. You want to keep the head level and stable. On the other hand, when doing a Layback, you sort of fuse your head to your neck, and they should be one line. Think of this as having an apple wedged under your chin. You don't want to squeeze the apple, but you also don't want to drop it.
The initial arm placement is Split Arm #2 (right arm up, left arm table top).
To do a Layback, lift your ribcage up, so you have the slight tilt on your upper back, and when you can't lift your ribcage up anymore, start to bend your upper body backwards. DO NOT FORGET TO BREATHE. DO NOT BEND YOUR KNEES TOO DEEP. DO NOT THRUST YOUR HIPS FORWARD.
When you have achieved the degree of bending that's comfortable to you, sweep the left arm down your body and to your left to go all the way up above your head (not above your forehead!) while sweeping the right arm to your right and ending with your right hand next to your right hip. Then (without stopping, actually), sweep the left arm down along the left side of your body and the right arm up along the right side of your body, the left hand should end next to your left hip. Then as you go up, with your left hand, trace an imaginary half circle on your left, so both arms will end above your head. I hope this makes sens.
Remember to always breathe. Not breathing will make you see stars when you come up.
Bending the knees too deep will make the hips thrust forward and will put more strain on the lower back.
To keep the hips from bending forward, you may want to create the sense that your lower body (hip downward) is anchoring itself to the ground by squeezing your thighs together and or engaging your core muscles. This also helps with Torso Twist. I actually tried squeezing my hips together and engaging my abs and my hips stopped swinging when doing Torso Twist!

On a somewhat related note, on Dance Conditioning last week, Ms. Lalwani showed us a really cool trick for a Backbend when doing Floorwork.

If you don't have anyone to spot you and you happen to have one of those exercise bands, use it like a rower. Secure the band, grab each end of the band, and get on your Floorwork position and try the Backbend. As you come up, if you feel tired, the exercise band will help pull you up. The goal is to rely on the band less and less as you work on the Backbend. Work on your Quads, Glutes, and Abs for the effortless look of a Floorworks.

Well, that's it! Quite a long post, eh? If nothing of this makes sense, I'm really sorry, but I hope these notes will help you. And remember, always do a proper warm-up before doing Layback and Floorworks.

kali and medusa

2011-10-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

My fascination with sword dancing began when I was traveling in Greece. I took a private class with Ms. Maria Aya of Oriental Expression and she introduced me to the art of sword balancing. Ever since then, I was hooked.

My first scimitar, Lilith, has been dancing with me since April 2009. I don't get to dance with her much, only during special gigs and Dancewave Center's annual recital (the third annual recital is on Saturday, January 7, 2011 in Gedung Kesenian Jakarta! More details will be posted!). One reason why I don't dance with my scimitar a lot and at every chance I get, is because I'm worried it's going to be a schtick, a gimmick, and it'll lose its sense of exclusiveness.

I left Lilith in Jakarta. I can't afford to bring her to the USA and have her confiscated. That justified my getting another sword, one that looks similar to her. Lilith's kind is called the Balady Scimitar. I contacted several vendors about this type of scimitar and only one responded kindly (I have no idea why) and had it available in stock. So I got Kali from BellyDanceProps.com.

While browsing for another Balady Scimitar, I also fell in love with a unique sword called Sultan Scimitar. This particular sword seems to be available only through Atlanta Belly Dance. The experience was unnerving. I admit I was late in paying (through PayPal) the purchase (four days), but after I did, I contacted them and never received a response. I didn't know if they had accepted my payment or if they were sending me the sword. It was so unnerving that I had to "Like" their Facebook page and posted a comment concerning the status of my purchase. I paid on Sunday, October 9, and Medusa finally arrived on Tuesday, October 25. Medusa has a brown stain, but she balances really well and looks fierce and huge.

I'm planning to leave them in my Berkeley apartment when I'm returning to Indonesia for semester breaks, but I will have to bring them to me to Jakarta, and I think I know of a way.

Flight regulation from USA to anywhere in the world doesn't prohibit sword from being carried, but not in the cabin compartment. Ms. Wendy Allen suggested I buy a gun case, but I think I will buy golf stick carrier instead. Either way, I'm so excited.

from pink coin belt to pink turban

2011-10-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well, on Friday, October 21, 2011, I just had my first experience of dancing in the USA and as a member of BlueDiamondBellyDance, student troupe of FatChanceBellyDance. There is a little story behind this.

I was supposed to be in the Chorus only (first performance), but on Wednesday night two days before the show, at 11 PM, I got a message from Miriam, the dancer in charge for the evening's performance, that one girl got a nasty fever. Miriam asked if I felt like replacing her (which meant dancing not only in chorus). I wasn't sure about this until Miriam forwarded me her e-mail exchange with one of FCBD teachers about my being more than a Chorus and the teacher responded positively.

So that was how my first experience came to be.

Of course, I just had to have my mozuna and scarf that I used as my turban accessories fell off. Well, not really fell off, but the dangling parts of the mozuna and the scarf wrapped around my neck. Thankfully it was on the last song that we danced to, although I did have to be careful during the Calibrated Spin for the tip song.

From that moment on, I shall now be remembered as the boy whose bits of the turban fell off.

Oh, and this entry will not be complete without mentioning the awesomeness of one Tasha Hudick and her Mini Cooper (and her co-pilot for that evening, Ms. Kristine Adams) who got me on time and safely to 16th Street & Mission BART Station to catch the last train home.

Another funny thing was that the FCBD members who performed that evening: Ms. Anita Lalwani, Ms. Kae Montgomery, and Ms. Adams, were the ones with whom I had my initial contacts with FCBD (aside from Ms. Nericcio, obviously). Ms. Nericcio referred me to Ms. Adams about taking private lessons, then Ms. Lalwani became my first private instructor, then Ms. Montgomery became my second private instructor. I don't know. I just felt that that night at Tannourine was when everything became sort of a full circle.

I'm officially ill now. I was sneezing at Tannourine, and then last night after the classes at FCBD. Finally, I simply couldn't get up for this morning's Dance Conditioning session with Ms. Lalwani. I felt really bad because they're doing chest opening work-out and I had suggested that and they endured the torture without me.

Whee. I'm off to make dinner and chow down some drugs. I still owe you the Extended Prayer sequence and some more Class Notes.

CREDITS:

Group shot by Ms. Kristine Adams (courtesy of Miriam Fiorenza Landini). Action shots by Yuka Sakata.

class notes (attitude, levels, floorworks)

2011-10-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

What started as a mere procrastination has eventually become a justification: I'm going to post class notes every two weeks. I'm really sorry, but I'm inundated with so much work from school that I sometimes woke up not having a clean bowl to eat my breakfast cereal.

Two Thursdays ago, I had my first BlueDiamondBellyDance rehearsal at the FCBD studio. BDBD is FCBD's student troupe, so it was a really humbling experience and also a huge booster for my ego (what can I say, I'm just so honest).

The rehearsals start at 6 PM, and that is also another excellent point because I don't have to waste my time going back to my apartment from school. I can just go directly to the studio. Although that means I'll have to pack my pantaloons and zils and scarves as well as some food so I won't get too hungry.

However, there was a power outage at several BART stations in downtown SF, so I arrived late and hungry (I couldn't eat at the bus, I couldn't eat at the BART station nor on BART). So I just plopped myself on the chair near the books, ate my sandwich, and changed. By the time I entered the studio, the ladies had been dancing half the first song of our chosen set. I decided to just get into the chorus and wear my hip scarves after the set ended.

It was a big thing also because Ms. Sandi Ball, who was responsible for BDBD, was accompanied by none other than Ms. Nericcio. Ha. I just ran into that. I was tired, hungry, unprepared, and I just had to be observed by the Big Mama during my first ever student troupe rehearsal.

Many moons ago, I had the chance to interview Ms. Nericcio for this blog and in one of the series, I asked her what made someone a good FCBD student, and she said: Show up on time, leave your baggage at the door, be open minded, be in a good mood, allow your mood to be transformed, follow directions, and be polite to the teacher and be helpful to other students, but don't micromanage others.

I was late, my mood was almost down there, so my dancing that night was off. Here are a few pointers from Ms. Nericcio:

Remember the body and performange angle
Work on the formation placement and blocking
Communicate with your fellow dancers (this also means giving clear cues)
Be much better than what we are now. Push our own envelope. Work harder at just dancing (without thinking what moves comes next, because that should come naturally).
If you want to lead, grab the moment and move forward to the lead position with conviction and attitude.
Show your personality while dancing.
Match the music with the movement. Articulate with the arms, hit the beat on the right time, know the song, familiarize yourself with the music, improve your musicality. Find which moves or steps go well with the music.
A Turn is a big and powerful thing, never forget to end it beautifully with a powerful follow-through so you can seamlessly blend the Turn into another move.
Think of the audience! The audience have obviously come to see you dance and have sacrificed other things, so entertain them!

Ms. Ball added these comments:

Do what you know! Don't pull out a fancy Step or Move without really knowing how to execute them.
Simplify your movements and never forget the follow through for completion.
Drill, drill, drill! Go back to Levels 1 & 2 if you have to.
Less can be more.

Then Ms. Anita Lalwani took over and we worked on truly milking the moves using Samai rhythm. Man, that was so grueling, just like yoga, but it's really true that you can never be slow enough for Slow Moves. We also worked on the Extended Prayer / Puja that was created by Ms. Megha Gavin of Devyani Dance Company. Ms. Lalwani let me take photos of the Extended Prayer notes and I'll share them with you on the next entry (I'm so, so tired, and I still haven't write my assignment for school, so I hope a picture of the lovely Ganesh will make you forgive me).

On Saturday, it was with Ms. Wendy Allen. We did Level 1 Floorwork. Here are a few pointers:

Always talk about this with your fellow dancers before doing it. Floorwork is not for everyone.
The Propeller Turn is used for Level 1 Floorwork because the turning section makes the skirt (if you wear it) blossom and out of the way so it won't mess with your legs and knees.
When doing Level 1 Floorwork, there's no need to go extremely sideways like in Level 3 or Level 4 when you're doing the Zipper (because you don't want to show your crotch to the audience, plus it just looks more dramatic and nicer if the audience can see your descent from sideways). Just be in your dance angle.
You can do a Floorwork Fake-Out. Here's how: Do Propeller Turn and just as you descend, just barely touch the left knee on the floor and then go up again. Do some few Moves, and then lift both arms, drop the right arm (this is the last section of the Propeller Turn before the actual turn), then turn, and descend on the floor for the actual floor work. So the second time before the actual floorwork, you don't have to do the whole Propeller Turn. Again, you have to discuss this with your fellow dancers prior to dancing.
When doing Levels, place your right foot in front of the left, slowly raise yourself up onto the balls of your feet, then descend down gracefully and slowly. Or, you can pick up the right boom in the music, and instead of descending slowly, place your arms on table top just for an instant, and then drop all the way down on the boom. Squeeze your thighs together and engage your core for more stability. Keep the back straight the whole time (unless you're doing Torso Twist).
Neither Levels nor Drops can be used to go to Floorworks position.

Here's the link to FCBD's Tribal Basics Floorwork DVD.

dress like an egyptian

2011-10-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

I forgot the time I first fell in love with an elusive piece of fabric called Assuit / Assiut / Asyut / Tulle-bi-Telli. However, like so many things Egyptian (their reverence of cats, the jewelry, the pharaonic scale drama, the eyeliner, the dark and handsome men), I've come to fall in love with this fabric.

This is going to be weird, but I just bought fortune-worth loads of books that I'm using as references for my (hopefully) up and coming novel. In one of the books, The Cat in Ancient Egypt by Jaromir Malek, it is said that:

"The earliest known remains of a cat in Egypt come from Mostagedda, south of Asyut in Middle Egypt, and are dated to sometime before c.4000 BC. One of the graves in this cemetery contained the burial of a man who, judging by the tools and other material accompanying him to the next world, probably was a primitive craftsman. The bones of a gazelle and a cat, the former probably intended for his funerary repast, the latter perhaps his pet, were found at the dead man's feet. (p. 45)"

I know there's something sinister with the Egyptians, or rather humans, in that when they're dead, they expect their loved ones to follow suit, hence the killing of the cats, the entombing of lovers, etc. In Classical Cats by Donald Engels, the Celts also killed cats by roasting them slowly in a basket to ensure fertility, a horrifying tradition that was later adopted by the English and the French (pp. 128-129). Perhaps the inhumanity of humans is so innate that at times I wonder what makes us think we can be called humans indeed.

But, I digress.

Let's get back to the subject.

After a long, dwindling fascination I had with Assuit, not unlike the fascination I had with Banjara skirts, and after a few unsuccessful eBay bids, I found this site: Nilemarket.com. It was selling quite a few Assuit shawls, including one cream with gold metals and one black with silver metals, each for the mere price of... drum rolls please... USD 35. So, I ordered those two shawls and a golden Ankh necklace. Sounds like a perfect bargain? Wait, here's the catch: Nilemarket ships from Egypt.

I cleared the payment for my package on September 12, and the next day, I received a notification that my purchase was shipped. I contacted the seller about the tracking number straight away (because there was no mention of the tracking number on the notification), but my e-mail wasn't answered. I used the website's inquiry form, and still no answer. I was worried and half-pissed, but then Haitham (the seller) replied my e-mail and provided me with the tracking number. He also wrote that the number would become visible once my parcel landed in the USA. So, I waited.

I waited, waited, waited for about ten days, each day opening the USPS website to track my package, and then one fine day, the USPS website said something else other than its usual: No record of this shipment, check back soon. It said: Origin post is preparing shipment. That sounded strange. That sounded like it was still in Egypt. I asked the omniscient Google and it confirmed. Still, I decided to wait.

Then ten more days passed, and me being the paranoid that I am, checked the USPS website every single damn day. And it stilled showed the same message: Origin post is preparing shipment. So I shot Haitham another e-mail, concerning the fate of my package. I also grew worried because I learned that some mails from the USA to Egypt had been experiencing difficulties due to the uprising in Egypt (but this issue was later resolved, thank goodness), so I thought that the same thing might have occurred the other way around. Haitham was at first unresponsive (like the first e-mail), and I also used the form to ask him the whereabouts of my parcel. Then he finally responded and told me not to worry because the package would arrive within the week.

There is one thread on Tribe.net about Nileart / Craveegypt, which I think is / are the same with Nilemarket for two reasons: the eBay page of Nileart / Craveegypt sell the same things with, or at least using the same photos of Nilemarket and if you look at Nilemarket's contact page, the e-mail that says @nilemarket.com will link to @craveegypt.com if you hover on it. In the Tribe.net thread, one purchaser wrote that she was happy with the purchase, although she had to endure a long wait (19 days). Here's the link. So, I took solace in it.

Then two days after Haitham responded my e-mail with warm consolation, the package arrived. It appeared out of nowhere on the desk in the building's lobby. I touched it and the inside felt soft, like layers of cloths. I was also expecting another shipment of clothing, so I didn't think it was my Egyptian parcel. However, I was in a rush to go to school and my bag was packed as it was so I put it back on the table (I also didn't have time to run upstairs to my apartment and place it inside). It was during a very boring lecture at school when I was approached by an epiphany: it had got to be my parcel from Egypt because my other package would have been a lot thinner! So the day went by so slow because all I could think about was to rush home to open it.

When I finally arrived home (it takes me a good one hour of commute with bus and BART and bus where it takes only ten minutes by car), I grabbed the parcel that was still waiting on the lobby desk and examined it as I climbed the stairs briskly: It had Arabic markings. My heart raced. Then once I'm in the safe confinement of my room, I opened it, and here they are, my first Assuits, 21 days after the payment:

Oh, and the weird thing is, up until this very day, the USPS website still displayed the same message when I tracked my package: Origin post is preparing shipment. I stumbled across another, more detailed tracking website called Track-Trace.com and up until now, it displayed the information that it had been sitting in the Cairo customs office since September 22, 2011. Don't believe me? Type in RS002330044EG (the tracking number of the parcel) and see for yourself.

skirts

2011-09-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I got connected to a male ATS dancer, the first male to ever receive the Teacher Training 2 certification for the FCBD format. His name is Valizan. I shot him an e-mail, asking him about the costuming guidelines for male ATS dancers. He told me about two more dancers, one of them is Michael McElhaney (formerly of Azure Bellydance, the first male ATS dancer, and part of FCBD student troupe in the nineties). Michael's name came through quite a few times during Teacher Training 2 where we discussed male ATS dancers, and both Ms. Nericcio and Ms. Sandi Ball agreed that he was very handsome. Valizan sent me Michael's photo and I had to concur.

In our e-mail exchange, I told Valizan that I was envious of the fact that our dance sisters could wear skirts that accentuated their movements (have you ever seen ATS dancers spinning while wearing the full, 25 yard skirts? It's a gorgeous sight to behold!) and he told me to try one of those Banjara Skirts.

So, thanks to Valizan (he's the male dancer in the video above that showcases how awesome Shades of Araby is), I caught the Banjara Skirt bug. After many months of the fever, I finally relented and began my quest for the perfect skirt. Tribal Fest 11 came and went and still the skirts were too Goldilocks-and-the-Three-Bears for my taste (too blue, too red, too orange, too many colors, too little colors, too wide, too short, too expensive, too new, too old, and other toos). Then I scoured for many nights and days (mostly nights, therefore sacrificing my precious sleep time) for the perfect one. If I had to be broken in, it must be perfect.

My trusted Amazon.com didn't have anything, and so, with a heavy heart, I opened an eBay account. Then I found Sirik's store. It's like a candy shop for kids, a sex shop for lonely adults, a sequin shop for Cabaret Oriental dancers. It has so many things to offer for ATS dancers, and then some. And I saw it. The Skirt.

Alas, it was still quite expensive (USD 89, plus USD 10 for shipping and handling), so I retreated. From time to time, I stalked Sirik's page, looking at the beautiful thing (and some others), and then it happened.

A 30% discount. So I bought it without thinking more.

After a few hassles (Erec, Sirik's owner, didn't respond to my initial messages asking for the tracking number, and then during my search on the Interwebz, I realized that the USPS Priority Mail didn't offer tracking number unless requested - and there's a fee for that; I ended up not knowing when the package would arrive, and finally received a notification in my mail slot that the package was waiting for me in a nearby USPS office), at long last, I received it.

And yes, it is beautiful. Despite the initial mixed-up, I highly recommend Sirik. He replied to my other messages with genuine concern, so yes, there is a good chance that I will buy from him again.

class notes (spins, shimmies, smiles)

2011-09-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know. I didn't post anything for more than two weeks and I know I have my notes with me, beginning from a Thursday night class two weeks ago until the Saturday two days ago.

I'm really glad to be able to ~~generate hits from~~ help people who are looking for specific moves and steps, like the Chico Four Corners pass, for example. I hope I did help you, whoever you are! Probably next time you can leave some comments?

Okay, now on to the notes from Thursday night class with Ms. Stefanie Kelly:

Spins: When doing them, always make sure that you open your feet as wide as your shoulders. This might not be automatic at first, but it comes with practice. Ms. Kelly gave a cool analogy: the Nutcracker doll! Feet planted firmly shoulder-width apart, arms and elbows are gracefully up, not droopy. Hmm... So I took one minute to look for a picture of the doll and wasted ten minutes to drool over ballet guys in tights. Here. You're welcome. Here's uh... Some more... If you're into that sort of thing.
Spins: Remember the Phone Booth / Pizza Box (PB) concept? Well, Spins is one of those things that will greatly improve with the help of PB. The head faces the right corner of the PB to spot. This way, the whole body opens up and not closes up, therefore providing an excellent Kodak moment.
Spins: Another thing to remember (and to help angling the body) is to make sure the outer side of your right foot faces the right corner (see the picture I made. Haha, sorry for the quirky-looking toes and footprints, but you get the idea. The red square is the PB outline).
Spins: in addition to not setting your feet too wide apart, watching the body alignment will also help balancing your spins. Make sure you have a straight angle from the top of your head to your feet.
Performance Drills: Ms. Kelly reminded us about checking in by turning whenever we assume the lead position (this works for both one-side and multiside gigs, although assuming the leadership can be trickier during multisided performances). However, if you happen to screw-up, keep smiling! Don't change your facial expression, don't mouth or drop the F-bomb, keep your cool and do a smooth transition. It happens, and if it does, then let it slide off. There's no disappointment with yourself or other dance members.
Shimmies: make sure to bend your knees to create larger shimmies and more upper-body stability (therefore, your upper body won't jiggle along with the hip shimmy). Ms. Kelly showed us a really neat thing: she did the Turkish Shimmy with Arms and Turns WITH the Turkish Shimmy, meaning she didn't lose the shimmy even while turning. That's my goal. I mean, seriously? Sometimes I just get too caught up in the turn itself that I lose my shimmy.

The following Thursday, we had a class with Ms. Elliott and I was late. Of course. I missed the bus and I ended up missing the BART ride, and so I came to the studio about ten minutes later. The disadvantages about coming late to a dance class are not getting a good spot (I can be very nit-picky about positioning myself on the back right of the teacher, because it's the follower position) and not being able to mingle and chat with the other dancers before class.

In the class, she also taught us the regular Oriental Shimmy (not the Tribal Shimmy where it's actually the Three Quarter Oriental Shimmy). She likened it to the unhinging of the hips, so the hips go up and down and up and down in a rhythmical way. I find that by bending the knees lower, I can get bigger up and down range of motion.

She also drilled us on milking the movements. She said that it was impossible for a Slow Move to be too slow, but it was possible for a Slow Move to be too fast. Then she reminded us about the Arm Undulation while circling. Sometimes we get too carried away with trying to get from Point A to Point B that our feet star to move fast and our Arm Undulation automatically follows. We need to remember to isolate our arm movements from our feet.

Last Saturday's classes were taught by Ms. Wendy Allen and we did a very mind-blowing exercise for multigig performances!

We grouped up in trios and here was the plan:

Shimmy to expand and move into position (leader, followers)
Arabic and Turn
Arabic and shrink (the dancers bunch up together, sort of like a modified Arabic Orbit)
Arabic and do a quarter turn
Back to Shimmy to expand and another dancer take the lead

It sounded pretty simple. It was level 1. Then we moved on to level 2: use corners, instead of the walls, for the audience. Then we moved on to level 3: use whatever object in the studio as the audience.

Honestly, I found that the level 2 was the hardest. I believe this has to do with my needing more PB exercise. I also found that this exercise helped me in three things: be aware of my body alignment / performance angle, give a clear-cut cue, and take the lead with conviction.

the birds at tannourine

2011-08-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Last week (yes, last week. I did one heck of a procrastinating job), I finally went to Tannourine, the Middle-Eastern eatery at San Mateo. The restaurant is small, intimate, and quaintly located on a rather ordinary street, in that you wouldn't know Oriental and Tribal decadence regularly takes place inside it.

It was a special night, since not only FCBD performed, but also many of my friends from L3 and L4 - known as the BlueDiamondBellyDance (BDBD) - including three special ladies with whom I was particularly close to (we had a couple of private sessions with Sensei Kae and all of us seem to have a rather unhealthy fondness of cats). Needless to say, I simply had to watch them perform. Julia, one of the three girls, picked me up, her mother (an engaging conversationalist and excellent backseat driver), and Theresa (another friend who was performing).

The show opened with FCBD troupe. As usual, I chose not to take pictures and just see the performances. The numbers were energetic, although at times, due to Tannourine's seating arrangement, I couldn't see when the dancers were doing floorworks.

Up next were the BDBD gals: Michiyo, Theresa, Jennifer, Shelley, Kelsey, Yuka, Laura, and Julia. I'm telling you, when they performed, you wouldn't know that they were students. Even Sensei Kae said, when watching the performance video, that the smiles and the hip works were really the kind of smiles and hip works that she would like to see every single time we were practicing in class.

Another highlight of the show was Colleena Shakti. I just... I have so many mixed emotions whenever I see her dance, and that night was no exception. She was so amazing, so graceful, so effortless, her hand gestures and fingers were so beautiful, I mean, Colleena Shakti is definitely one of those people who couldn't do anything wrong. After being stricken by such grace and beauty, I became envious, and then motivated... and then I went home, saw the bed, and forgot everything. Ha!

The last picture shows the three girls (Yuka-Julia-Laura) I talked about, and we just christened our "troupe" name (there's another girl - Maya). The idea of the name is not that we are going to accept gigs or dance in public on our own anytime soon, but so we know how to call ourselves. I told the girls that I could only stay in the USA for two years and I really hoped to be able to dance with them before leaving. It is truly an honor to perform with people you grow up with, in ATS that is.

I'm getting so melancholic thinking about this.

I proposed "Four Gals and a Dude", but Julia came up with a better one: "Rara Avis". The literal meaning is "rare birds", but the expression really means a miraculous being that exceeds all expectations.

DEEP. And it's Latin! You can't beat that.

Well, my expectation is to dance with Rara Avis before I leave this country for good. I hope I can exceed it. For now, here's to the birth of the Rare Birds.

CREDITS:

Second photo by Mr. CheekyMonkey. Third photo by Luke Terheyden.

class notes (fades, dueling duets, passes)

2011-08-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

The Thursday class was so nice and it felt a lot like a reunion - a good kind of reunion. On Saturday, after classes with Ms. Sandi Ball, we did a little session with Sensei Kae. I forgot to bring my notebook yet again, so I could only recall some few notes from the class with Ms. Ball:

There is such a thing as a Wet Dog Fade, but the leader needs to angle his/her body instead of being flat like the original Wet Dog (that travels backwards). The angling of the body serves not only as a cue for a fade, but also to give room for the followers in the back to move forward.
Always communicate with your group if you're going to do floorworks and what level of floorwork you will be doing.
Chico Four Corners Passing (duets) can be done in two ways: the first one is while already facing each other, turning flat to face one another, then doing the first eight counts of Chico Four Corners as usual. On the second first count (of eights), step closer to your partner (this signifies that you are going to do the Passing), and then the second set of the Chico Four Corners is done with back-to-back passing on each one-two and five-six (etc.) and stop in front of each other during three-four and seven-eight (etc.). Remember that Chico Four Corners set consists of sixteen counts.
The second way of doing Chico Four Corners is from the usual Leader-Follower position, but the Leader stays in place in fifteen-sixteen counts after doing the thirteen-fourteen counts, this will make the leader and the follower face each other. Then you can do another set of Chico Four Corners Passing just like the above recipe. I hope this makes sense.
Egyptian with Spins Fade: Egyptian, cue Spin, then Fade with another Egyptian. If the Fade leader still continues the Egyptian for eight counts (that means two sets of Egyptian), then spin happens automatically.

Then here are the notes from Sensei Kae:

Dueling Duets can begin in two ways: from a circle and then two dancers fall in to the place to become the leaders for the each of the duet; or with a fade, with the fade leader pivoting and then stopping when in the position for the Dueling Duets, then the others will fall in to their places.
Dueling Duets can be neutralized by going into a circle and circling each other.
Picking Up is done while circling and opening the circle for the next dancer(s).
Dropping Off is done also while circling and then the dropped-off dancer(s) can slide back into the chorus.

Oh, and before I sign off, I just have to share this: Ms. Kristine Adams decided to travel around the world to document American Tribal Style from all corners of the Earth. Amazing, huh? You can follow her blog here: From the Belly of a Traveler. Below is the hilarious and inspirational "press conference".

I hope one day she'll stop by in Indonesia!

back to the mothership (which is currently on sale)

2011-08-14T05:45:00.000-07:00

I couldn't have planned it better: I arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday and planned to go to FCBD on Thursday. I jetlagged myself to Friday. So, I missed the class and had to wait all the way until Saturday to go to the mothership. When I finally did, I realized that I had been so out of shape! I was limping and practically dragging my ass during the second set.

Ms. Suzanne Elliott was in charge and here are the few notes during drills that my brain managed to recall (I didn't bring my notebook):

The Rainbow: it begins with the arms in table-top position; even if your arms are above the head, put them down into table-top and do the Rainbow. It's four floreos on each side, during the first two floreos, the head looks at the direction of the fingers; during the third and fourth floreos, the head looks to the front. Dance angle is important so we won't flat-out on the second section where our right foot crosses behind the left. Wrap Around Turn looks good after the Rainbow, but not necessary (I remember Devi Mamak also said this when I took her workshop a few months ago at FCBD studio).
Wrap Around Turn: Gathering (right arm floats and the right hand floreos in front of the body but not directly in front of the chest, left arm floats down and the left hand floreos on the back side of the left hip); Tension (right arm stays there, left arm floats so both arms are in table-top, while doing the half turn, both hands do reverse floreo, weight on right foot); Release (both arms float up, and while doing the one and half turn, both arms float down in front of the body and follow it through with the arms floating up again to the sides of the body, but with power, as if swimming in honey).
Push Forward Push Back: On the eighth count as the foot switches from one to another, there will be a slight bump, this is acceptable.
Shimmies: unhinge the hips so the shimmies will look better.

Then there are some notes from performance drills:

When there are multiple sides where the audience sits, face the side with the most audience, then switch to the side with the second most audience, and so on.
Come in with a bang, stay in with power and skills, take a bow with attitude, go out with a bang.
You don't have to throw in all the different moves, it's good to have a sort of continuity using the same moves, especially if you're dancing in a quartet or doing pick-ups.
Know the phrasing of the song so you'll have perfect timing to milk it (superslow Taxeems, Bodywaves) and to wow it (rapid Pulse Turns, Reverse Turns, etc), so the number doesn't come out monotonously.

Oh, and FCBD is having a summer sale, 25% off store-wide, except for some items. The sale is until 31 August 2011!

Now excuse me while I tighten the elastic band on my zils.

lilith's new scabbard

2011-08-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

The one thing I missed when I went to San Francisco was my scimitar, Lilith. I was (still am) clueless about taking a weapon, albeit a dull one, on an international flight, into a country as paranoid as the USA. I'm still shuddering every time I remember getting into a full-body X-Ray machine, and if Lilith got confiscated, it'd be even worse.

Being back in Jakarta has been quite surreal, and just like the old adage, as cliche as it sounds, time does go by so fast when you're having fun, and it's been a lot of fun, indeed. Still, it's time to go back to face another reality, and although it is exciting, I'm heartbroken to once again leave my loved ones. I know it's just for a few months (if everything is in order, I'll be coming back for Christmas) and hopefully with all the school work and dance, it will be over before I know it (I have to admit, I'm feeling very intimidated).

As a parting gift to my gorgeous scimitar, I made her a new sheath. Originally, Lilith came in with a leather scabbard and, well, leather and animal products just don't mix with my lifestyle. So, last year when I went to Bali in August, I bought luxurious purple velvet. Being a procrastinating lazy-ass that I am, the fabric sat in multiple places for approximately a year. I was feeling sewy (is there such a word?), so after mutilating and modifying some shirts and turning them into cholis, I decided to finally make a new dress for Lilith.

It was not a tedious experience, I finished it in under an hour. Mom's Singer has been broken for a long time so I'm used to hand-sewing; it gives me calluses, I know, but I don't mind.

Apart from Kenji, my cat, who was just being a cat by lounging on top of the fabric exactly after I set it on the floor, I didn't meet any significant challenge. Then again, the design was also not difficult and I'm quite happy with the result.

I was thinking of putting sponge-like material inside the velvet sheath, but after some thoughts, I remembered why I also decided against leather scabbard: leather makes the sword rust easily, especially when the sword is stored inside the leather scabbard for a long period of time. I'll be leaving Lilith for at least four months, and at least I know now she has a new cover to protect her in dry and breathable environment.

I guess my next project is to sew (or make) handles so I can easily carry Lilith. Maybe attach it to the sword handle and the hilt... Now that would take some ingenious design skills.

improv tribal style workshop

2011-07-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

"So there's this dancer who said to me, 'Hey, why are you still learning belly dance? You already know how to move! Why not focus on working as a bellydancer?' and all I could do was give a friendly smile and a nod," my friend told me the other day.

I looked at her with disbelief. "Wh... What?" I stuttered. "I mean, the money I get, either from performing or teaching, goes to costumes and taking classes and workshops!"

"My husband said the same thing! He said that all my money went to more costumes and more workshops!" she replied.

I know I've dedicated the last six months of my life learning ATS the FCBD way straight from the source, but when my friend told me about a dancer called Mihrimah Ghaziya and that she was doing ITS (Improv Tribal Style), I was intrigued. So, I signed up for Mihrimah's workshop and my belief is reconfirmed: you never stop learning new things.

Mihrimah's format of teaching is well-crafted and nicely laid-out - this has to be related to her vast teaching experience. She explained the dance and the movements very eloquently and even took the opportunity to tell the students briefly about the history of Tribal and Ms. Nericcio. Her structure and method made it easy even for those who had never tried bellydancing, let alone Tribal Style bellydancing.

I learned the different dialects for Egyptian Half Turn, Arabic, Arm Undulation and also the format and shape of the chorus. She also taught about "gathering the chorus" to circle together. A really cute thing was when we (as a chorus) all knelt on one knee when the song was about to end while the featured (solo) dancer was doing her thing. She said that her troupe did it once to a very shy student who finally took the lead; it was a way to encourage the shy dancer or give props to a dancer who just did a neat thing.

It is just amazing that even when her tribe is very far apart from the Mothership (Mihrimah's tribe is in Germany), she still regards the ATS rules with much respect: have solidarity, have trust, and always follow what your leader does, even though you know he/she is screwing up.

I admire her, for she is not only a generous teacher, but she is one of those people who dedicate their lives for the dance. She has become a world citizen, travelling around the globe, staying with the Kalbeliya Gypsies in India to learn their dance. Now that's dedication.

Mihrimah Ghaziya dancing a modern version of "The Peacock"

* Photo by Kusuma Dewi. L-R: Veronika, Desi (the organizer), Lia, Mihrimah, Yours Truly

is this mainstream enough for you?

2011-07-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

Now that velvetRAQS & Dancewave Center's 3rd annual hafla - Arabesque: a journey into the world of belly dance - is a wrap (a nice, delicious wrap, thanks to everybody who performed and came to the show), I can take a breather and concentrate on keeping my promises (writing ATS articles in Indonesian, teaching, and focusing on upcoming gig with the troupe).

However, there's something I've been meaning to write (like three months ago), regarding belly dance as a mainstream form of art.

Here's to define it: Rihanna and Beyonce are mainstream. Tori Amos is not (it took me around 10 minutes to find another name for non-mainstream celebrity who is famous enough [is that an oxymoron?]). Bjork is mainstream.

Hip Hop is mainstream. There's nothing wrong with Hip Hop, although I'm really bored of seeing dance movies with Hip Hop / Ballet / Modern / Latin dances. I mean, there are many other dance styles out there, you know?

When a dance becomes mainstream, it becomes popular and more people want to try it. More people trying it means bigger chance of getting students, that's the whole salesman expression of "getting one's foot in the door" means. It means business: workshops, competitions, merchandise. Then there's the bigger thing than any of those: a new, respectable level. This leads to performance opportunities at prestigious venues and most importantly, a positive image.

There's a Youtube video of Sharon Kihara being interviewed and she said that when she told people she was a bellydancer, people would look at her in that "Aw, you don't have to do that" way.

On the second thought, and I'm not trying to be supercilious, I feel that if belly dance becomes mainstream, it will lose its mysterious and otherworldly charms. If everyone can do that, then it won't be that special anymore.

Still, there are many bellydancers who first tried out doing this dance because of Shakira. I know I did. I've grown out of my Shakira shell, but I still have to give her credit. Britney Spears jumped on the band wagon, so did Aaliyah (RIP) and Beyonce. I read news that Rihanna was taking up bellydancing to stay fit and that Sienna Miller (of all people) was going to play a bellydancing housewife fleeing to Vegas with her bellydance teacher to join a competition.

Oh, well.

ADDENDUM:

Belly dance is not for the faint-hearted. It is not easy. I've had people telling me that it looked easy, but when they tried it out themselves, they found out the truth. Some of our students stayed for one session and realized that it took a lot to do half of what Shakira could do, and she's not even a professional bellydancer. Some of those students left and never looked back. Some of them dropped in for a few lessons. Only a little number actually stayed and trained.

That's Darwin survival theory for you. When bellydance becomes a trend, or dare I say, a fad, then it won't stay long.

speak no evil

2011-07-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

There are competitors in this world. You'd think you baked the best pie because your children said so, but then you entered the county fair pie competition and realized you had nothing. You have two options: you can either give up making pies and start working on your hummus recipe or you can connect with other pie makers, learn their tricks, take pie-making workshops and seminars, buy instructional DVDs on making pies, and experiment by pushing your own envelope.

I'm not exactly here to talk about winning or losing in a competition. I've blogged about my objection to belly dance competitions. I'm here about the less direct form of it: the rivalry.

It's not only about rivalry. You can watch a dancer's video across the globe and wonder why he or she gets praises because you don't see that kind of magnetism found in dancers you adore. Do you push on the "Like" button and or type in positive comments anyway? Well, it's up to you, but I won't do that. Do you press the "Dislike" button and or write discouraging remarks? Again, it's up to you, but I won't do that either. So what do I do? Easy: I just keep silent. If it's someone I know, I just congratulate him or her on the performance, but I don't praise. It'd be dishonest to both the dancer and myself.

Now the big question is: what if the dancer asks, "In which areas can I improve my dance skills?"

I seriously don't know how to answer that, except from an audience point of view with a wee bit of belly dance background.

Then again, dancers don't really ask that question to rival dancers now, do they?

my first american tribal style teaching experience

2011-07-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

"Mba (that's an informal Indonesian way to say "big sister"), there's already another workshop on the 23rd and 24th," I said on the phone to Ms. Miftahul Jannah, my boss and artistic director of our troupe. For us, it is impolite to conduct a workshop while another seminar is happening in the same city on the same day.

"How long is your workshop?" she asked.

"Three sessions, each one is two hours. Six hours total."

"How about Saturday, 16 July?"

"But Arabesque (our hafla) is on the 17. Won't we be busy doing rehearsals?" I asked.

"Okay... Well... That leaves either the 30 or 31 July. That's the beginning of Ramadhan, though," she replied.

"Hmm... How about 10 July?" I suggested.

"That sounds great! Okay, 10 July. I'll get the ball rolling," she said. And in the next hours, text messages came in from her saying she received confirmations from many people.

The conversation was on Saturday, 2 July 2011. I came back to Jakarta from my trip to Bali at 1 AM a week after and found out that already eleven people paid for the workshop. The next day, the total participants reached 21 people, dancers from all backgrounds and experience.

Here is what I noticed: ATS is not for everyone (out of 21 participants, only 4 showed their interest in learning more). I'm not talking about physical limitations, not even the inability to keep the elbows lifted with the shoulders back and chest lifted. I'm talking about the constant need for choreography and the ability to just "wing it".

That being said, I found my experience exciting (to say the least - the four enthusiastic participants demanded an intensive before I went back to the US on 10 August) and humbling (many of the participants were newbies and never touched finger cymbals in their lives, and they played better than I did when I first started out).

Also, it reminded me to always, always be patient, because not everyone is on the same level as the others. Nobody was a bully in my class. I'm a victim of bullying and I will not tolerate that behavior while I'm teaching. No matter how long you've been in the advanced level, when a new person (who had just got promoted to the same level as you are) entered your class, you are obliged not only to welcome him or her, but to be forgiving. It is really, really intimidating to dance with people who are more experienced and it helps to see smiles and receive friendliness.

I'm in this for the dance, not for the drama. I'd go take acting classes if I needed drama.

The second picture in this entry showed me bowing to Ms. Miftah, our troupe director, thanking her for successfully organizing the workshop on such a short notice.

So, there you have it. I'm sprinkling a little of FatChanceBellyDance dust that I received during my training to the dancers in Jakarta. I hope this will be the beginning of a lovely path filled with flowers, old coins, fluffy skirts and pantaloons, cholis, old silver jewelry, zils, swords, and a whole lot of American Tribal Style.

arabesque: a journey into the world of belly dance

2011-07-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, Boys and Girls, I am proud to present: Arabesque: a journey into the world of belly dance... Also known as: Yuska's only 2011 performance in Jakarta, Indonesia. Also known as: FINALLY, after SIX MONTHS, I get to put on PROPER STAGE MAKE-UP!

I know, I'm sad too. There's a darn good possibility that I won't be joining this year's The Dance Within by Dancewave Center, what with school and all.

So, here's the plug: this event features performances from Dancewave Center's Oriental classes (managed by velvetRAQS), the velvetRAQS (showcasing Oriental, Tribal Fusion, and Bollywood dances), and special guest dance performance!

Best of all: IT'S FREE! Come one, come all! Oh, and this is a family-oriented show, in that the entertainment is for all ages.

If you manage to come, don't forget to say hi to me!

10,000 hits!

2011-06-30T03:48:00.000-07:00

Hello and thank you my loyal readers and those who get to see my little blog for reasons that I shall list below.

You have made the number of viewers of this blog reach 10,000! That's umm... rather a slow and self-deprecating feat, considering I began writing THREE YEARS AGO! It's really fun to notice that the ~~porn~~ blogs I ~~bookmark~~ occasionally visit can get 10,000 hits in 3 weeks!

Here are some interesting search leading to this blog that are memorable enough to be featured in this entry.

VERY POPULAR:

Killer Drillz with Zoe Jakes review

Whatever Lola Wants movie (sometimes with "Ismahan")

Aaron Eckhart shirtless

Aaron eckhart nude (thank you, you gorgeous hunk, you)

Fuck You I'm Cat

Carolena Nericcio spike jewelry

Tribal Fest 11 Review

Cross-dresser belly dance (I can't really find an entry where I wrote about this, though...)

There are those who visited the blog to see the pictures, who stay awhile (like 5 seconds), and who even like the blog so much that they follow it and even bookmark it.

Regardless whatever your intention of visiting, I sincerely thank you.

~~Now that the GuidetoArtSchool's best bellydance award has gone offline, I also need this to pat my back with.~~

I promise I'll blog more! I have so much to blog about!

fcbd presents: devotion 2011 - the home

2011-06-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

School ended on June 3, while Devotion, the one-night-only annual recital of FCBD, would happen on June 17. Also, an apartment was yet to be found. What was a boy to do? Well, he simply had to extend his stay.

So, he extended the stay, found a home that was coincidentally less than 4 blocks away from Devotion 2011, which was coincidentally, titled The Home.

That is the story of my life. Isn't it just amazing that so many things can fall into place and the pieces of the puzzle just match themselves up?

As I am writing this, I just came home from Devotion. It was too short. It was that good that I felt it was too short. I mean, I could just see them dancing forever (of course, the dancers and the musicians aren't gods, although they do convey god-like qualities when they are performing, I mean... just how many languages can Ling Shien Bell sing in? She just sang them without reading the text! French, Indian, and whatever other languages I didn't understand. And by golly, Colleena Shakti really worked that gungru! Talk about full-body coordination. And she is sooo purdy...).

Below are my photos, an unofficial documentation from the event. I just had to take some pictures to remind me of the moment I witnessed. I could always buy the Devotion 2011 DVD, which I recommend you also do. This year's performance had it all: dramatic, cheeky fun, with the always hilarious Rakadu Gypsy (dressed as plumbers) did a Raqs el Assaya number with plumbing uncloggers (you know, the sticks with the red rubber pumps attached).

It was not easy for me to take pictures with my pocket digital camera, so I had to miss the people I really wanted to take pictures of. For what it's worth, however, here are the pictures that I felt good enough to be shown here.

Oh, and I apologize to Colleena Shakti for forgetting to turn off the flash when I took a photo *smacks head*.

Helm. Nuff said.

Devyani Dance Co. (directed by Megha Gavin), FCBD's Sister Studio in Birmingham, AL.

Ghawazi Caravan (directed by Devi Mamak), FCBD's sister studio in Australia.

Colleena Shakti, the other half of NakaRali.

Elizabeth Strong.

FatChanceBellyDance - as represented by Stefanie and Wendy, swathed in assiut goodness.

And finally, the creatrix herself: Carolena Nericcio.

a very important notice: the tribal code

2011-06-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

I received the ATS Tribal Code in an e-mail from Ms. Sandi Ball a while ago, but what with all the hoopla of moving to my new apartment (yay!) and packing to go home for a much-deserved two-month vacation (DOUBLE YAY!!), I wasn't able to squeeze in the time to write. I mean, you should've seen my room in the hostel. It was a total wreck when I started to pack. Well, it still is now, but it's more organized now. Somehow.

The Tribal Code is included in the BlueDiamondsBellyDance (BDBD - FCBD's student troupe) Guide Book. There are nine points in the Code that all FCBD dancers and students must adhere to, yet I feel they are also beneficial for other troupes in general.

I'm definitely going to print and put this on my wall so I can be reminded of The Code at all times. When I have my own studio, I'm going to make a big poster out of it too. I mean, I believe that it is the exact same code that resulted in the totally fascinating and intimate performance between Ms. Kristine Adams and Ms. Anita Lalwani during the Observe the Creative Process event at FCBD's studio on Saturday, 23 April, 2011. Just look at the photo. There's that moment of genuine warmth and tenderness shared between the two. And that, my Dear Reader, is the perfect example of great troupe camaraderie.

TRIBAL CODE

Commitment: Be there for your dance sisters. Whether it’s making sure your cues are strong or getting to a gig on time, we all need to depend on one another.

Communication: Ask questions and learn from the more experienced dancers and teachers. Also, don’t let things fester. Express yourself in a constructive, respectful way.

Awareness: Be aware of how your words or actions can affect others. What makes sense to you may be understood differently by someone else. Take considerations to think before you speak or act.

Teflon: Don’t take things personally! There are too many unique individuals in this group to avoid minor misunderstandings. Let things slide off your ego – don’t let things stick!

Humility: We all can benefit from going to Level 1 and Level 2 classes and working on technique. We can also benefit from allowing room for all our personalities to exist.

Trust: This dance form is founded on trust, on and off the dance floor. Earn people’s trust and give yours as well.

Respect: Treat your fellow dancers (and human beings) with compassionate respect and be mindful of others’ talents and limitations. Respect the dance form for what it is rather than how you would change it.

Support: Come to the shows of FatChanceBellyDance and of your fellow dancers. Not only does it support the dancers, it is a great way to learn about performance!

Joy: Dance for the love of it! Enjoy yourself and the company of others.

killer drillz with zoe jakes

2011-06-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has witnessed Zoe Jakes performing (live or otherwise), knows that this woman is the epitome of awesomeness. There are certain qualities that she embodies while dancing: confidence - without a doubt, control - absolutely, contagiousness - her power and grace just descend from the stage and grip the audience.

There are videos that show her dancing and putting a flair of comedy in her performance. Even when she's inciting laughter from the audience, that laughter is wrapped in awe. Her performance at Tribal Fest 11 that I had the honor to witness, on the other hand, was very dramatic. It was very, very grand. The dress, the headdress, the back-up dancers, the confetti, her spot-on facial expression... everything was just the right amount (nothing was over the top) to drop my lower jaw.

Zoe Jakes is perhaps one of the pioneers of fusing breakdancing with bellydance. She has perfected "ticking" (precise popping & locking) and she uses it in her performances, along with her crazy spins and turns. Meanwhile, I'm a sucker for drills. I don't really care much about choreography, which is why I thoroughly enjoyed Rachel Brice's DVDs, especially Serpentine (released by the fabulous WorldDanceNewYork who completely understands the art of videotaping and editing instructional videos and dance performances).

Unfortunately, Killer Drillz is not by WorldDanceNewYork but by Bellydance Superstars.

It's every dancer's pet peeve - and perhaps nightmare - when they bought an instructional DRILL DVD, hoping to get a clear picture of what's going on with the instructor's body so as to learn and emulate the skills, and yet the angle of the cameras and the edited video actually hinder the dancer from learning anything.

Yes. It's that bad.

There are four megasections in the DVD. The first one is the warm-up (two sections). The second one is the individual drills (with the crappy angle and editing) where Zoe briefly shows the drills with arms, shoulders, chest, and hips. The third one is the group drills, during which I don't quite know how to look. In the third one, Zoe is accompanied by several skilled dancers to mimic a classroom setting (doing drills with shimmy, chest, belly, and hip). The final megasection is the performance.

However, Zoe is facing the dancers (unlike in WorldDanceNewYork DVDs where the dancers are behind the instructor and all of them face the camera in clear-cut angle and no crazy fast editing). So, in a way, it is not really helping me. Then again, maybe it is just me and my absolutely dysfunctional sense of orientation (not sexually).

Even in the final solo performance, the editing is just crapola. Yes, yes, I totally want to see what Zoe's magnificent headdress looks like from close-up, but that doesn't mean I want to see it multiple times. I want to see what's going on with her whole body. There were instances when I gritted my teeth and took deep yoga breaths to calm myself down.

On the day I received my copy, I quickly looked at it and during my evening work out, I popped in the DVD and decided to do the Shimmy Group Drillz. My shimmy never looked so, so good. I still had trouble layering it with body undulation, but I really enjoyed the shimmy drill (it's 10 minutes and 34 seconds long, non stop).

In overall, I've only had two runs with the DVD, and for Zoe's effort, I'm giving Killer Drillz 3 out of 4, while for camera work, I'm giving it 1 out of 4.

zills on top of your head

2011-06-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Once, I heard a legend about Ms. Wendy Allen's method of teaching Torso Twist and Circle Step. She made the students put the four zills on top of their heads and just do the moves without dropping them. If the zills stayed on top of the heads, that means the head stayed level. That's the whole idea of doing Torso Twist and Circle Step: head stays level although parts of the body rotate and move.

Last night, we all did it. I managed to keep my zills on top of my head for a long time, but they fell in the end. What can I say, I just got a hair cut the day before (oh sure, blame the HAIR!!). The funny thing is, I was thinking of doing the Torso Twist and Circle Step two days ago because I realized I had to practice those moves. The Arm Undulation plus those two are my biggest problems. I'm still working on those.

We also did Chico 4 Corners. Ms. Allen put us in duets, and I paired with a gorgeous Amazonian named Tasha. She pulled up Chico 4 Corners face-passing with me and I was alert enough to catch it! Yay!

Apart from the Flock of Birds concept, there's also the Pizza Box or the Phone Booth (both are PB!) concept. A pizza box or a phone booth usually has a square base. Use this imaginary base on the floor your dance on, align it with your partner(s)'s imaginary PB and you won't go wrong while doing moves and steps that require angles, like said Torso Twist with Pivot, Circle Step, Arabic Half Turn, and Turkish Shimmy Half Turn.

It was a fun night, but that's not all! You see, Ms. Allen has a three-legged pooch called Abby (full name Abbynoodle as written on her tag... Or is it Abbey? I forgot). And the little dog is just the cutest thing! Abby is so, so friendly, so trusting, and so, so calm. She just sleeps in her little cot that Ms. Allen placed in the front corner of the studio. I told my boyfriend that I at first, I hadn't realized that Abby was a tripod: she just bounced around actively as if she had all of her legs. That taught me a great deal: to live life with a positive attitude and to remember that miracles exist and prayers are answered.

Imagine that. Me, being taught a life's lesson by a canine. What's next? A homophobic Tracy Morgan (be prepared, the comments are even more homophobic)?

devotion 2011 & tips

2011-06-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

I'm writing to remind you about a few things.

First: Devotion 2011 Show is on Friday, 17 June 2011. Have you bought your tickets? Don't forget that there are workshops by Colleena Shakti, Devi Mamak, and Elizabeth Strong starting on the Monday leading to the show.

Second: Posture. Ms. Suzanne Elliott reminded us to stay in performance angle all the time and not to flatten out and anchored by the mirror in front of us. Also, "leading from the elbow" means elbows are lifted while shoulders are down and back, at the same time opening the chest and engaging the back muscles. However, the elbows must stay in front of the chest. Never bring the arms to the back in order to get that lifted-elbow look. Imagine you're holding a big Swiss ball in front of you, and now lift the elbows so they face the ceiling.

The same arm position is held when the arms float above the head (elbows facing the back wall), and when the arms are down and wrists rest on the sides of the body (elbows facing the front wall).

Sensei Kae said that when being done correctly, it would really show off the triceps. Just like bodybuilders. And no, I'm not going to put a picture of big, burly, hunky, scantily clad hunks on this post. You can search for such images on your own.

props to props

2011-05-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a long time, I'm going to blog about something other than FCBD. Well, it's ATS-related (okay, so it's also FCBD-ATS related!), but not in a direct kind of way. Oh, alright, in a somewhat direct manner.

A couple of years ago, I read an article that compared and contrasted classic Egyptian set and classic American Oriental set. The article mentioned that both sets were 45 to 60 minutes long, but the similarity ended there. One thing that caught my attention was that a dancer in a classic Egyptian set might use his/her props in different ways from a dancer in classic American Oriental set.

Egyptian-style dancer uses different veil - heavier, more opaque, smaller, with trimmed edges. The dancer comes in with the veil covering his/her body, and after about 2 eight counts, sheds the veil and starts dancing (Sarah Skinner, in her Bellydance with Veil DVD by WorldDanceNewYork, also confirms this information). American Oriental dancer comes in with a veil wrapped around the neck and waist and usually doesn't unwrap it until the second or third song and even dances with the veil for one whole song.

Ms. Christine Yaven from Bellydance Jakarta said that Egyptian dancers weren't so big with playing zills. It wasn't that they were unable to play finger cymbals, it was more because the dancers wanted to show that they could afford to pay the whole orchestra - including zill players. So, instead of playing the zills, they would just focus on dancing. Meanwhile, zills for American Oriental dancers are like rice for Asians (if you think that's a stereotype, that's what I'm aiming for). For all intents and purposes, zills do catch attention and bring texture to the music, even if it's a canned one.

I think I've written somewhere in the blog that I asked Ms. Nericcio if an ATS troupe could call themselves ATS if they weren't dancing with zills, and she said that zills were mandatory for all ATS troupes. In last year's Devotion Show, there was one number when Sensei Kae and Kristine Adams danced without zills, but it was because the song was so fast that they just forwent the idea of dancing with cymbals. It was also understandable because they came in just to dance to that one song, whereas when FCBD dances to a set, they keep their zills on from beginning to the end, even when they're not using them during slow songs.

American Oriental dancers use more props (veil, zills, tray, sword, pot, Isis Wings, skirt) and actually incorporate those props in the performance because the dancers need to grab the audience's attention and maintain it. The US audience, thanks to MTV, has shorter attention span and can get bored in 5 minutes, let alone an hour. The Egyptian audience is somehow more resistant to boredom. Although I'm not really sure if it's still like this, since MTV (and stupidity) seems to be prevalent everywhere.

Did you know that despite the name, Isis Wings are actually an American invention? Loie Fuller was the first person to ever dance with "Isis Wings" in her "Danse Serpentine" number. Not sure why she called the performance that way since she looks more like a fluttering butterfly than a snake.

As for me, I'm a sucker for props. I love dancing with veils, zills, sword, and Isis Wings. I don't know if I'm still going to use veils and Isis Wings now that I'm dancing ATS almost full time. However, there's one prop that I don't think I'll ever use: Snake.

It's not that I'm scared of snakes. I love animals, and although I don't think I want to handle reptiles (or insects, for that matter), I still don't believe animals should be used for entertainment. That's not the only objection I have, though. I really, really don't want to buy poor little rodents to feed the snakes. The thought of that really makes me sick. However, seeing the Serpentessa video really made me aware that dancing with snakes is not an easy feat.

Shira wrote that Jamila Salimpour was the first person to ever incorporate snake in a bellydance performance, and that it was unintentional. You can read all about it here.

tribal fest 11

2011-05-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm in Sebastopol, CA, getting myself spoiled by taking classes from Ms. Carolena Nericcio, spending at NakaRali and Silk Road Tribal's booths, and watching hours of performances by my idols. Yes. I went to Tribal Fest 11.

Okay. Let's begin the review.

I wrote a separate thought on the location of Tribal Fest on my San Francisco blog.

It was sheer luck that I still managed to squeeze myself in Ms. Nericcio's workshop. And what a workshop it was.

We were taught the essentials of performing: formation, grand entrance, eye contact, absolutely no verbal communications while dancing, fade, chorus work, technique on taking a bow, and the grand exit. Ms. Suzanne Elliott also taught some new moves, a.k.a. Devi Mamak's addition to FCBD's movement vocabulary. We learned the Pulse Turn, Rainbow, Box Step (and Turn).

Many of the issues discussed in the workshop were covered in General Skills and Teacher's Training 1 & 2, but there were so many valuable inputs and constant reminders (of posture, eye contact, dance angle - I sucked on the latter), that I kept finding myself nodding to information both I had heard before and just heard then.

Here're the inputs I took note of:

Dance Angle: if the leader does not stand in dance angle, followers must stand in dance angle.
Eye Contact: breaking eye contact can be a nonverbal cue that someone will become the leader. Break eye contact when in the 7 o'clock position to become the leader.
Fade: flat out first to sign for a fade, then stay in flat angle (not dance angle) so the followers can see the cues better. However, when doing Arabic / Bodywave, flatten the angle to the left, and go back to dance angle when in stationary fade position.

Now, on to the performances.

I don't have so much to say, except the good ones were too short (Mardi Love and Rachel Brice each danced to one short song, Kami Liddle did a stellar Tribal-Hindi fusion), the crazy ones were too long (I won't name names, they're a mile better than I am because they actually had the courage to go up on the stage and dance), and the surprises were so, so good.

The numbers that were just perfect were: Zoe Jakes & Special Guests (including Kami! Yay!), Samantha Emanuel's duet with another magnificent dancer whose name escaped my ears (as usual), Persephone Dance Company (I took GS & TT 1-2 with two of Persephone dancers! My God, they're so, so, so good), Red Lotus (FCBD's sister troupe), and FCBD (the headliner, I swear, Ms. Nericcio won the longest flutter award! Although her solo was far, far too short! Ms. Lalwani looked soooo pretty in pink & black.). Jill Parker and her Foxglove Sweethearts were also a highlight, and I was completely awestruck by Unmata's dramatic performance (their ending was so apt, with the troupe members holding out signs that said "Do What You Want" - I almost cried).

I took so many pictures that I got confused on which one to upload to the blog, and yet I didn't take enough. It was so hard to take photos and see the dance. I made a difficult decision: I forsook (that's the past tense of "forsake". Believe me. I checked) taking pictures and just watched the dance.

I'm still feeling the jitters.

FCBD's set was so intense that it left me with adrenaline rush.

I was sitting there with Yuka and Maho (Maho's Sensei Kae's sister), both of them are FCBD students, and a conversation took place after I bought a pure silver NakaRali belt that Maho had put on hold and we discussed about the opportunity of being adopted by Bill Gates.

"I don't want to be famous," Maho said.

"Well, if you're dancing with FCBD, you'll become famous," I replied.

"Is that why you're dancing with FCBD?"

"No. I want to bring FCBD ATS to Indonesia, and have Carolena do a workshop in Indonesia," I felt a glimmer of hope in my eyes.

After Frank Farinaro's set, Maho asked if I wanted to be like him. I said no, I wanted to be like Mardi Love when I grew up.

"Really?" Maho egged on.

"Umm... I guess no... I want to be like Kami Liddle!" I corrected myself with rare determination. Maho smiled and we watched more shows.

During an applause, I turned to Maho and finally confessed, "No. I want to be like Carolena Nericcio!" I said it dreamily, not unlike a schoolboy fantasizing of being kissed by the handsome, athletic classmate.

born like an artist

2011-05-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

I just have to share this blog link here.

It reminds me so much of the path I'm taking. Although, as a dancer, I can only do so much that my body allows me to.

See more of the amazing artist's work, Jellyvampire, in the deviantart's page.

saturday, 14 may 2011

2011-05-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

This is the first entry that used a date for a title. I'm using that title because I will never forget that day.

I wouldn't mind being alone at this year's Tribal Fest, which I'm really excited to go to, but on Saturday, 14 May 2011, I found not one, not two, but three people who are going to Tribal Fest 11 and taking only Ms. Nericcio's 3-day intensive.

I danced with those three people. We tried so hard with our techniques and skills (mine were just mediocre - theirs were more superior than mine). There are times when I felt I did mistakes, but Sensei Kae didn't point them out, so I supposed the mistakes were tolerable. However, I know we'll never stop learning. Being not from San Francisco, we realized that the women who lived in close proximity to the studio were actually very, very lucky indeed. They could take as many lessons they want, refine their techniques, skills, and drill away with FCBD's elite teachers and troupe members. They will have direct correction from the source, that way no confusion or slight "variation" will happen.

Oh, and one lady also said that when we're dancing to more folkloric songs, it would be necessary to stick to the older moves and steps (Tribal Basics volumes 1 and 4), whilst the newer moves and steps should be done to more modern sounding or fusion songs. I asked Sensei Kae about this and she concurred. I love learning new things everyday, don't you?

I can't wait to go to Tribal Fest!

part 4: the love (5/5 of the series)

2011-05-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the last part of the series. I knooowww... I'm also sad. In this section, discover Ms. Nericcio's favorite things.

***

PART 4: THE LOVE

Could you tell me the Fast Step and Slow Move that you love most from ATS? It doesn’t have to be your favorite, though, but the one that you most often use.

The Egyptian Basic. The step is just so big and gorgeous and it’s good for all body types. It fits right into the beat of the song. For the slow movement, I think it’s the hand floreos because they just complement nicely to the slow movements like the Taxeem, Bodywave, and Circle Step.

What do you think is the most gratifying aspect of performing?

Being able to entertain the audience – it was only until recently, during the second Taiwan trip in 2008 that I discovered to just let everything go and have fun on the stage. I used to resent the audience and the idea of me having to entertain them. So, my conscience and I decided to have a talk. I had lots of moments when my Self and I would say, “Let’s have a talk because this thing isn’t working.”

One time, my Self told me to let everything go when I’m performing. I used to think that when people came up to me and ask where I bought my choli or what music I danced to, people weren’t paying attention to me, but to what I wear and the song I dance to. My Self said, “That’s right!” So, at that moment, I decided to just dance and I was so into it.

At the end of the performance, I was there, with people taking hundreds of photos with me. I used to dislike people taking photos of me because I felt they were stealing a bit of my soul, but I realized this made them happy. So I just stood there until everyone was gone, still smiling, asking if everyone’s sure they don’t want to have another photo with me.

And what do you think is the most gratifying aspect of teaching?

It is so good to have that lightbulb experience and lightbulb look on the faces of the students. It’s so good to know that they can connect to what you are teaching.

It doesn’t have to be in the class or about a move you’re currently teaching, but it can also be about the body image. Some people who are really conservative could put on a costume and just have that lightbulb moment when they feel that it is just natural for them to bare their stomach and dance in something that could be too revealing for most people.

This one might be a hard one. Can you point out the things that you love most, in the dance studio, in the book shelves (the resource center), and the goods that aren’t the merchandise.

Inside the dance studio, it’s definitely (the statue of) Quan-Yin. For the books, I have to say it’s Africa Adorned (a hard cover book filled with gorgeous pictures of African jewelry, written by Angela Fisher). For the goods… I have to say my War Rug and my first coin bra.

Africa Adorned? Not even the Art of Bellydancing?

(Laughs). Oh, right! My book. I would add the Folkwear Tribal Dancer Pattern as well. I am very proud of that partnership. (The Art of Bellydancing Kit is a starter kit that includes a book written by Carolena Nericcio, a DVD, CD, belly jewel, and zils. The Folkwear Tribal Dancer Pattern was published by Folkwear Patterns and features Carolena’s original costume pieces.)

Alright! Now, to close our interview: what’s the meaning of the matching pinky tattoo that all members of FCBD have?

That one! Well, we were at Cues & Tattoos last year and Kristine (Adams) suggested we all got matching tattoos… So we did! And to have someone like Kae (Montgomery) who didn’t have a single tattoo on her body to do that (get a tattoo) was a brave thing.

Thank you! That’s the end of our session. I wish you good luck with your endeavors, especially your book! When is it going to be published?

You’re very welcome! Ah, the book! Well, not very soon. Megha is helping me writing it, but I suspect not very soon. But if it does get published, you’ll be the first one to know!

Thank you again! I’m looking forward to it!

***

So there you have it. To be frank, there're lots to love and talk about with this lady. Her insights are invaluable and one can learn so much from a short chat with her. I apologize if I hadn't covered the tidbits that you would have liked to know.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this interview. You can read the PDF document containing all parts by clicking this link.

I also apologize for my dorky smile in this photo. I look like a geek posing next to Seven of Nine in a Trekkie convention.

part 3: the intimate details (4/5 of the series)

2011-04-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the third part of the interview, or the fourth part of the series. Here, Ms. Nericcio talks about veganism, Buddhism, knitting, and Mama Bess Nericcio.

***

PART 3: THE INTIMATE DETAILS

Okay. Now let’s invade your privacy a bit and question these things. The first one is: Why did you become a vegan?

I have always been concerned about the treatment of animals. Ever since I was young, I just couldn’t eat anything shaped like a body part of an animal. The meat has to be cooked just so it isn’t recognizable. One time when I went to Greece to visit our family there, they had a big feast for us. And on the table was the lamb I had just spoken to a few hours earlier, slaughtered and cooked. I told myself there was no way I was going to eat it.

I was seven years old when I told my mother that I was going to be a vegetarian. I was walking and I saw a man hacking a frozen animal. I told my mother I was going to be a vegetarian and she said I was going to die. At that moment, both of us didn’t realize that it was true, so I said, “Okay, if you want to cook me meat, make sure it’s not recognizable.” And I was very difficult about that.

At fourteen, I decided to really become a vegetarian. And Mom even went to a doctor to see if I was going to die and the doctor said no, there are people who don’t eat meat in their diet and they’re fine. So I became one.

At that moment, I knew that I was going to be a vegan but I didn’t know that such thing existed. I didn’t know that cheese and egg contributed to the killing of animals, so cheese and egg were always the go-to food. It was only eight years ago that I decided I was going to be a vegan. And by being one, I felt that I could look at the world straight in the eye and say I’m not participating in the poor treatment people give to animals.

Carolena’s commitment to veganism is reflected not only in the merchandise in the FCBD store, but also in the little refrigerator she shares in the studio: it is a completely no-meat environment. Carolena even convinced Wild Card (an American fashion company) to make a vegan based line to be sold in the FCBD store. And there’s no silk hip scarf to be found in sight. Nope. Just gorgeous, viscose and cotton fringe scarves.

Do you think your being vegan has inspired many bellydancers, particularly the Tribal dancers?

Well, I’d like to say that, but I think it’s also more to the fact that people heard about my being vegan and just asked how I did that. So they asked me questions and I answered whatever I can.

One time when I was teaching in Milwaukee, I met the husband of the organizer. When we met me for the first time, he was a die-hard meat eater. At the end of the workshop, he became a vegetarian, and a week later, he became vegan.

Wow! That’s fascinating! Does being a Buddhist have to do with you being vegan? When did you become a Buddhist?

I didn’t really become one. I was being a vegetarian at that time and was researching for religions that specifically forbid the eating of meat. And it turned out that only Jainism teaches that and if I were to be a Jain, I would need to let go my current lifestyle and I can’t do that. All religions teach meat eating as optional, but I think Buddhism is the only one that says it is better for you not to eat meat because it’s going to be much better for the karma.

So, one time I visited a temple here and I asked a monk if I had to go through a ceremony to become a Buddhist and he said no. And I said, “Oh, okay, because I felt completely peaceful here (in the temple),” and the monk said, “Well congratulations then! You’re a Buddhist!” And so I phoned my Mom and said, “Mom, guess what? I’m a Buddhist!”

My mom is just the type of person who’ll ask me what I’m into or I’m doing so that she could try it too and experience it with me. She’s not religious but when she learned what Buddhism is, she said she liked the philosophy of Buddhism. She even referred to the Dalai Lama as her boyfriend because she loves him so much and he has changed and taught her so many things, including patience.

Was this when you discover the Goddess Quan-Yin?

Well, I’m a Tibetan Buddhist and the Goddess lives in Chinese Buddhism belief. For Quan-Yin, I believe that I’ve known her even before Buddhism. There was a picture of her silhouette given to me by my roommate at a time and I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever.

I didn’t know that there were so many interpretations, paintings and statues of the Goddess. So I figured out that the way not to lose the picture was to tattoo it on my body. At first, I was going to do it only as an outline because that was the only way I knew of the image. But my tattoo artist said that we had to fill it. So people started giving me pictures of Quan-Yin and I realized that there were many interpretations of this goddess.

Alright. Now, when we were doing the General Skills and Teacher Trainings 1 & 2, you sat there, knitting away, all the while listening and responding to our queries without skipping a beat. How did you get into knitting?

Well, after design schools and lots of sewing, I wanted to learn to weave, so when I asked a friend who was a fashion designer if I could try to weave, she let me give it a try, but then said, “Ummm… You should stick to sewing.” I wanted to weave but she helped me realize I was too slow for that. Later, I found out that I had to do something when I’m flying (to teach workshops), and so I took up knitting. At first it was so overwhelming that I gave it up. But then I took up crocheting and once I got the hang of it, I got back to knitting again, and here I am.

The thing about knitting is that it’s portable and I can do it anywhere. When flying, take the bamboo sticks with the rounded point. The metal ones just won’t work with the security protocol.

Do you have a piece you’re really proud of?

My biological clock has switched ON now. At first it said “experiment”, now it says “produce”. I’m making Stump Socks for Amputees with the Granny Peace Brigade, and Beanies for Servicemen and Servicewomen with Operation Beanie. I’m currently knitting a vest for myself, but this one can wait. I feel the need to create something that has social value with knitting, and it helps with the feeling of helplessness.

I converted my living room into a textile studio with two sewing machines, a loom and a spinning wheel. But I can’t take those things with me, so I carry my knitting when I travel.

***

Continued next Thursday, May 5th, 2011, with "The Love" - the last one of this series. Discover what Ms. Nericcio's favorite ATS Steps and Moves are, her opinions on performing and teaching, her favorite things in FCBD headquarters, and her future plan.

working out

2011-04-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hoboy, I've had Rachel Brice's Serpentine DVD way back last year, when it was first released. At that time, I had too many things going on so all I did was watched it, tried some of the moves, and got on with my life.

When I was packing for San Francisco, I made a very smart decision by including the DVD in my overpacked suitcase. Yes, I sacrificed my Spongebob Squarepants and The Simpsons DVDs for this one, or more precisely, these two, pieces of DVD (the Serpentine package contains 2 DVDs).

I've been in San Francisco for more than four months now and I realized that I needed to get into shape. I just love Ms. Lalwani's Dance Conditioning classes and I feel that it's high time that I start working out more than once a week. Walking has seriously improved my near buttless rear end, but I need to work on my upper body.

So, I purchased Everlast Multifunction Chinning Bar and Reebok Wrist Weights. The Chinning Bar took me a while to install - it turned out to be way harder than Lego, and the screws are not that steady (a probable design mistake?) but I got it to work and I just love it.

Now, on to the Wrist Weights. I purchased the 4 lbs ones, which means 2 lbs on each wrist. The fabric is soft enough, but I have to use my training gloves because the friction with the Wrist Weights can become irritating after a while. But the problem was solved with the training gloves. I used this during my whole work out, including squats and crunches. The velcro clasp is strong enough that the weights didn't come off even when I was disco dancing (to songs by Madonna and Sister Act original soundtrack, nonetheless - OMG I'm so gay!). I have really small and dainty wrists, but the Wrist Weights were still securely attached until the end of my work out session.

I also used the Wrist Weights to drill on ATS moves. The ATS arm postures plus the Wrist Weights really give a challenging work out for both Fast Steps and Slow Moves.

And as for Serpentine... I was doing abs today and decided to work on the Drills. Man, the Isolation Drills were so hard and I had my Wrist Weights all the time. I hope to get better after a while. I skipped the Yoga parts, though.

part 2: the 24/7 (3/5 of the series)

2011-04-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

Here comes the third part of the series, or the second part of the interview.

***

PART 2: THE 24/7

Okay! Now that the hard part is out of the way, it’s time to do something fun! Tell me, where was the first FCBD studio?

Ah! The first studio was in Noe Valley Ministry, that’s a Presbyterian Church in the Noe Valley Neighborhood of San Francisco. There was a gym on the upper floor that got converted into a dance studio

I also rented Mahea Uchiyama’s studio in Berkeley once a week for several years. We also rented the Mahea’s studio to shoot Tribal Basics volume 1.

Tribal Basics volumes 5 and 6 were shot in two places, actually: at World Gym in the Potrero Hill Neighborhood, and Mahea’s Studio for the performance.

And then, we finally moved here to South Van Ness.

You’ve been in the business since 1987, that makes it more than twenty years.

24 years.

Right, sorry. My math is awful. So what keeps you relentless and perseverant? What keeps motivating you in doing ATS?

I feel like I was given this dance (by the Goddess Quan-Yin) and that it’s my job to move it forward. I just wake up every day and feel that there’s always something else to do. So there’s really no need for motivation.

However, every now and then, there is this debilitating feeling of not wanting to go, but it’s more because of what people say.

Fifteen years ago, when Fusion was the thing and everyone was learning fusion with different styles of Tribal, I was like, “What are they doing?” And people were nasty to each other and it wasn’t fun or conducive for the dance. So, I felt deflated because of that and I just thought of quitting.

When we moved to the studio, as much as I loved finally being in the studio, we had been part of the underground movement and then we became above ground and our clientele changed. So the switch was just strange.

Then I realized I had to start traveling because that way the inspiration comes. I just couldn’t stay in San Francisco and watch the haywire. And then you know how it’s hard to find a home for The Devotion show and you lose money over it because there’s just no way that the ticket sales can make up the cost of the production. (During the February 2011 General Skills Training, Carolena told us that they were still looking for a place for the June 2011 Devotion Show – they’ve found a place for this year’s show, though. It’s the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley, CA)

Things like that can be a drag. And usually stuff like that is the result of people’s attitude.

But I guess what motivates me is the idea of happiness that ATS brings. It has brought so much joy to the lives of so many people. I feel the need to share the dance. The dance itself is fabulous. But as soon as people start to open their mouths…

Right. I completely agree. Now, I guess you’ve never been tempted to leave ATS to pursue other dance forms or add a dance form to your repertoire?

Well, I’ve learned Kathak, Bharatanatyam and Flamenco, and I feel that I have to give up ATS altogether to pursue these dances and I won’t do that. These dances are there to always inspire me and inspire ATS moves. I enjoyed learning them, but I’m sticking to ATS.

***

To be continued on April 21, 2011 with "The Intimate Details", where Ms. Nericcio talks about Buddhism, veganism, the Goddess Quan-Yin, and her mother.

dance happiness & observe the creative process at fcbd studio

2011-04-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

I've been taking lessons from Kae (Montgomery) and I have to say... she's one mean marine!! I watched Battle: LA and Aaron Eckhart (that handsome, rugged man, curse him and Viggo Mortensen for making me drool endlessly) said, "Marines never quit!"

So there I was, in the middle of the movie (I gave the movie 3.5 stars out of possible 4!) thinking that Sensei Kae should open up an ATS boot camp or some sorts. Sensei Kae is currently in Japan to teach workshop, so I asked Ms. Lalwani if I she could give me a lesson on Wednesday. She said sure, and we set up for a Wednesday morning session at 9 AM.

Well, well, well... Almost three full weeks without rain and suddenly... It was pouring! What gives, San Francisco?? I know earlier in the week I had complained about the wind, but that doesn't mean that you can over-complicate matters by adding water on top of it. I mean, come on.

And definitely not on the day I chose to wake up early and go across town for a private lesson at FCBD's studio with Ms. Lalwani! Thank goodness it was a good session (as always). Also, thank goodness it was Wednesday, which means it was the middle of the week. Two more days and HELLO WEEKENDS!

It's already the weekends now. As I've said earlier (in this blog or the other one?), my schedule is completely bonkers. I was too tired to continue blogging (I was blogging it on Wednesday evening and fell asleep) so I postponed it until... today. However, my memory of what happened is crystal clear.

It was the end of the lesson and Ms. Lalwani and I were having casual chats before I dashed out of the FCBD studio to go to school. Then I said, "You know..." in a nondescript manner and she said, "Well, you should just try to have fun! Dance is all about being happy and conveying that happiness across the stage to the audience."

Needless to say, I was surprised. I mean, how did she know I was going to say that? So I asked her how in the world did she read my mind, and she said, " I know you're always criticizing yourself and it's good to do that, but in the end, you can't criticize yourself during a performance. If you do, it'll show on your face and on your dancing. And where's the happiness in that?"

And she added, "There're so many crazy things happening in this world, and as dancers, we are responsible to offer happiness through our dancing."

I couldn't agree more.

Oh, and on a side note, if you happen to be in San Francisco during the National Dance Week, visit FatChanceBellyDance's studio for the Observe the Creative Process event with Ms. Carolena Nericcio. It's basically an open-house event where the upper level students will perform for the visitors and Ms. Nericcio will tell us about the creative process of the dance itself. The Observe the Creative Process event is held on two Saturdays: April 23rd and 30th, from 3.45 PM until 5 PM at FCBD Studio on South Van Ness.

part 1: the hard questions (2/5 of the series)

2011-04-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the second part of the series, also known as the first part of the interview (I just had to keep you waiting for one more week for the actual interview to be published! How do you feel? *giggles* Sorry for that!)

My questions are written in bold italics while Ms. Nericcio's answers are in more readable letters.

So here goes!

***

PART 1: THE HARD QUESTIONS

Hi there!

Hello!

Let’s begin with the hardest ones first. Could you tell us the typical process of creation of a movement? From the conceptualization until it’s out there in the ATS vocabulary.

Well, the core movements that you see in Tribal Basics volume 1 are the movements I learned from Masha Archer. Basically, for a movement to be admitted to the ATS vocabulary, everyone has to accept it first, in that it has to be doable. Because everyone has different bodies, it is important that the movement is created so that they complement to these different types of bodies. This also applies to the range of motion. Dancers must be able to do a move, otherwise it will just get sidetracked because no one’s using it because no one can do it.

Most of the later movements are layering and expansion of the core movements. First you have the Egyptian Basic, and then you have the Egyptian basic with half turn, with full turn, and with spins. Just like the Turkish Shimmy that evolved to Turkish Shimmy with arms and turns, half turns, quarter turns, etc.

The core movements in Tribal Basics volumes 1 and 4 are now officially called “Classic ATS” while the movements in Tribal Basics volumes 7 and above are called “Modern ATS”.

Some of the movements evolved from a choreography and then they just became cue-able. Some movements were created with a song in mind. The Sahra Turn, for example, was inspired by the song “Sahra” by Cheb Khaled.

Do you adopt other people’s moves?

Well, I’ve been doing business and tours with Megha (Gavin of Devyani Dance Company, Birmingham, AL) creating the show Tribal: Pura and she said she had some new steps to show you and so I said go ahead. And so, Tribal Basics volume 7 was born.

Partnerships like this will happen again in the near future. After this year’s Devotion show in June 2011, we will shoot a new DVD called Anatomy of Steps that will be released in the fall of 2011. The DVD will include new moves and steps from Megha, Devi Mamak (Ghawazee Caravan, Australia), and Jennifer Nolan (Tamarind Tribal Belly Dance, Milwaukee, WI).

Tell me, what do I have to do do to make sure I don’t get kicked out and banned from FCBD’s studio?

(Laughs). Show up on time, leave your baggage at the door, be open minded, be in a good mood, allow your mood to be transformed, follow directions and be polite to the teacher and be helpful to other students, but don’t micromanage the others.

We really frown on people teaching when a teacher is teaching, and commenting when a teacher is presenting. What is planned for the day is whatever the teacher is planned for the day.

What do you think is the worst thing an ATS teacher could do?

I’d say that it probably has to do with what they say, not necessarily what they’re doing. If he or she is overly critical of other dance styles and saying that other teachers are wrong, that’s really frowned on. Also if the teacher is overly critical of the students and doesn’t build a good rapport with the students,

A really good instructor, I think, would be magnanimous, confident, able to manage things as they come and go, creative, open minded all the while staying with the philosophy (of ATS). If a teacher has so much creativity within him or her that makes the teacher go completely off the ATS map, then ATS is not the right dance. Perhaps fusion will be more rewarding, because what makes ATS so great is the boundaries of this dance.

You’ve said that even when you’re doing your solo, it is considered as fusion.

Yes, because that is not ATS. To be able to do ATS, you need a leader and a follower. This is one of the boundaries of ATS.

What do you think is the worst thing that could happen to ATS?

The worst thing would be if boundaries of ATS were lost and became a blur by being taken away so off the ATS track and that we lost the essence of happiness in dance itself.

***

Continued next Thursday, April 21, 2011, with "The 24/7". Ms. Nericcio talks about her 24 years of dancing, her pet peeves, and where the first FCBD studios were.

competition? this ain't bodybuilding*!

2011-04-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

I follow Princess Farhana's blog and I always love to read what she writes. I checked her list of links and found a website called Project Belly Dance, it's a competition, not unlike RuPaul's Drag Race (the producers: the fabulous Lotus Niraja and Michelle Joyce of Cheeky Girls, even admitted that they got the idea from Ru's show). There are lots of dancing involved (obviously), lots of tests (get your perfect DVD cover photo in 5 shots, make your own bedleh using veils and staples, create a group choreography with people you just met, etc). I'm not a fan of Project Runway or Next Top Model (or any reality show, any competition, or reality show combined with competition), but I am a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race. Now I guess I'm a fan of Project Belly Dance (I love Sherena and Shems!). You can go to Project Belly Dance's website to watch the videos of the competition.

Now, on to my entry!

First and foremost, let me get this straight: I am a very competitive person. I strive to be the best, the youngest, and so very often the strangest person in the group.

I had always been the youngest in my class up to university and I take that in great pride. I may not have been the best or the youngest graduate, but I was the youngest in my class. I was even younger than some of those who went into university two years after I did.

My competitive nature turned me into a jealous and insecure person. Although I am still competitive now, I've started to make peace with losing and to accept defeat from time to time. There is much to be said about competition. It is gratifying to win in a competition. There are numerous dance competitions in the world, and even in Jakarta.

However, my competitive nature doesn't even bother to let a groan and urge me to just go out there and compete. The reasons are varied.

First, I started taking bellydance lessons in August 2007, so that officially makes me a baby dancer. And speaking of baby dancers, I think I can no longer call myself that when I've been dancing for ten years. That means about six more years. And that's only Oriental. I've only been dancing ATS for four months. I just don't feel like I'm ready to present myself to the world. My techniques aren't perfect, my posture needs improvement. I'm not going to kid myself (or others): I am not ready for competitions. However, I love dancing and showing off, and that's why I love haflas.

Second, who're the judges? Are they really qualified? Do they even know what bellydance is all about? Some bellydancers don't even want to participate in competitions as judges because, well... They also don't feel like they have the right to judge others.

There was one time when the gym where I used to work had a promotional event, one of them was a bellydance class with giveaways. So the event committee told me to select three participants who danced the best. Needless to say, I was so miffed. I mean, why would I want to make something like that into a competition? I always feel like an ego-basher when I become a judge of art. In Tennis or Soccer, there's a set of rules that the players need to follow. It's just like math: there's an exact formula. However, that formula becomes somewhat blurry when it comes to art and it takes a lot of experience and skills to be able to keep that objectivity as a judge. It's even harder to judge bellydancing than bodybuilding! I mean, just imagine, all those men in skimpy posing thongs, all oiled up and muscular, I know I'll have a hard time (pun intended).

Third, the ego. I know how it feels to lose, even when you've done your best and pushed yourself beyond the limit. It took me a while to realize how cathartic that can be. However, there are those who don't have a back-up plan. There are those who can't just simply brush themselves off and try again. There are those whose lives depend on winning.

Then again, winning competitions does open doors. The question is, will I want to go through those doors and experience what's on the other side?

*PS: no offence to bodybuilders. In fact, I have to say that bodybuilding and bellydancing take the same size of determination and dedication.

introduction (1/5 of the series)

2011-04-07T14:50:00.006-07:00

As promised, coming up is the first part of a long article that contains the interview with Ms. Carolena Nericcio of FatChanceBellyDance. The interview was done in FCBD Studio, San Francisco, CA on Thursday, March 24, 2011.

I will run each part per week and will publish a PDF file of the whole article at the end of the series.

I hope you enjoy reading it, as much as I have enjoyed interviewing Ms. Nericcio and writing the article.

***

The FatChanceBellyDance (FCBD) Studio on South Van Ness, San Francisco, is the mecca and ultimate destination for Tribal style bellydancers. It is hard to miss the red door in front of the studio, with the name “FatChanceBellyDance” written in bold black letters. The first time I went through the door, I felt like Alice in Wonderland. Behind the door is a staircase leading to the second floor. Photographs, media clippings, and event posters in various languages grace the stairway wall. There’s a sense of warmth and serenity every time I climb my way up there, relishing the photographs and the posters, as well as brochures of events by or endorsed by FCBD. The climb is even rewarded with more eye candy: ornate and one-of-a-kind textiles and clothes as well as drawings of the Goddess Quan-Yin.

The staircase serves as a transition between the outside world and the ATS haven on the second floor: the office, the resource center, and the celebrated studio of FCBD. In this area, there are even more beautiful hangings, cute trinkets inside or outside the glass cases, and, to a bookworm’s (that’s me!) delight, countless resource books and references on women studies, body adornments and embellishments (both permanent and temporary) and dance.

I’ve claimed my little spot on the left of the book shelf; there is only one changing room, so when it is occupied by the ladies, I put my bag on that little chair covered by woven fabric, and head over to the restroom to change. When I’m done changing, I just put my shoes and bag under the chair and off I go to the studio. Or if I still have time, I’ll grab a book and read.

All of those things: the fabrics, the jewelry, the books, and most importantly, the dance, wouldn’t exist without Carolena Nericcio, the lady behind Tribal style, behind Tribal fusion, behind it all.

It began in 1974 when a young Carolena studied bellydance with the now renowned jewelry designer, Masha Archer. Masha blended Egyptian style with folkloric moves and other dances she found enticing. Carolena joined the SF Classic Dance Troupe, Masha’s dance company. When the troupe later disbanded, Carolena went to teach on her own. Based on the movements she learned from Masha (that Carolena held as the gospel truth in belly dance), she expanded her repertoires and in 1987 began performing with her own troupe, FatChanceBellyDance.

The uniqueness of this style, an eclectic blend of costume elements from the exotic worlds – Afghani, Kohistani, Persian, Indian, and the Middle-East, gives the presentation an old look, although it is a new dance. Indeed, American Tribal Style (ATS), a nomenclature given by New York Oriental dancer Morocco, that Carolena has adapted to describe this art form, is a new dance style. But wait, there’s more than just the costumes.

“The philosophy of ATS is about leaders and followers dancing in total improvisation setting, but seamlessly, as if choreographed. It is achievable by learning sets of slow movements and fast steps and the cue that precedes them,” Carolena said, explaining the “flock of birds” concept. This way, a group of people who have never met each other before and don’t speak the same language can perform ATS bellydance together.

It may sound like magic, but it actually is not. It is pure hard work and dedication. This dance form has suffered lashings from bellydancers (“the purists”), but it perseveres. This dance form has suffered lashings from its offsprings (“the tribalists”), but it perseveres yet again. It has enchanted many dancers from around the world. Even non-English speaking dancers know ATS.

In fact, Carolena was kind enough to squeeze this interview in her hectic schedule. She just came home from teaching General Skills and Teacher Trainings in England and was on her way to Seattle with her FCBD troupe to teach even more workshops and perform. In between teaching, the lady is a savvy and compassionate business person. The merchandise in her shop is to die for, and yet everything is vegan. Her latest business venture, the fine Tribal silver brand NakaRali – a collaboration with renowned dancer Colleena Shakti – has taken over the belly dance scene by a storm. The pieces in the collection are authentic jewelry made and worn by the local tribeswomen of India. With NakaRali, the world will be exposed to this fine art, thus helping the remote tribe gain more awareness and ultimately welfare.

In my little spot on the left of the bookshelf I sat with the recorder in my hand. In front of me was Carolena, poised to answer my eager questions. And so, here it is: our little interview on that rainy day on a Thursday afternoon.

***

Continued next Thursday, April 14th, 2011, "The Hard Questions". Ms. Nericcio talks about how a movement is adapted into FCBD's movement vocabulary, the dos and don'ts of ATS teachers and students, as well as what makes ATS great.

teaser

2011-03-24T22:01:00.005-07:00

I just wrapped up an interview with Ms. Carolena Nericcio. Some juicy details that I'm going to share include: how a movement got selected to be in the ATS repertoire, Carolena Nericcio's favorite ATS move, how to get kicked out and banned from FCBD studio, what not to do when teaching ATS, being vegan, knitting, and the real meaning behind the pinky tattoo of FatChanceBellyDance troupe members.

So stay tuned!

monster jewelry

2011-03-23T17:59:00.009-07:00

During the FatChanceBellyDance Teacher Training 2, I asked Ms. Nericcio about jewelry. She told me that if it looks good on stage, then use it. As many of you know, Ms. Nericcio wears wicked spike cuffs every single time she performs. Click here for the photo.

Now, this is the little snippet from my other blog, Pink in San Francisco:

When my Acer laptop was still working, I made use of my lazy days going online, browsing for cute items. And I found this: a Pamela Love's Tribal Spike cuff (bronze, USD 645). And you know, many "fashion forward" bloggers reviewed it as completely original.

Umm... The same "Tribal Spike Cuff" has been owned by Carolena Nericcio of FatChanceBellyDance since ages ago and the magnificent design and work belong to the Kohistani tribe whose women wear the spike cuff as protection against stupid people. The spike cuff is also called Gokhru cuff, since it is designed after the Gokhru seeds and leaves. Here is the original and antique Gokhru cuff from TribalSouk.com (antique silver, USD 600).

Now, my .02 is that as far as I know, the Kohistani tribesmen still manufacture such cuffs and embellishments. And then there's some "fashion jewelry maker" who makes the almost exact replica but using bronze instead of antique silver, and selling the cuff for USD 45 more! Talk about rip off.

However, if you happen to be an exec at a cheap knock-off fashion manufacturer like Forever 21 and TopShop, you might want to sell this for USD 40. And so I ordered a pair of "Warrior Spike Cuff" along with two wicked costumey necklaces from TopShop.

So, I'm wearing the cheaper imitation cuffs. And I love them.

my celebrity status

2011-03-23T11:05:00.014-07:00

I quit Twitter about a month after using it. It was just filled with crap and people Tweeting and Retweeting unimportant things. And back then, I didn't think it was possible to mute a Tweet (or a user) without unfollowing the user. I mean, even the cultweets made me sick (and the consequential retweeting of such cultweets resulted in my Twitter feeder filled with the same junk), and then there were the sh*tweets. So I drew the line and joined Plurk.

My boyfriend and many of my friends from college were already at Plurk. College was the time I made many nice friends, so it practically felt like home. No pretentiousness, no one trying to impress one another or gain a "fanbase" so to speak. I am just so happy Plurking.

About two days ago, I plurked about my broken Acer notebook (damn you, Acer - I just bought that piece of junk like last December) and then my friend from college, in an out of topic but so sweet mode, said that she saw a video of me dancing. She immediately shouted, "That's my senior!" (that made me so proud - Thank you, Rismania). So that's the good news.

The bad news is that the video was for a wedding organizer's promotional video. It was professionally made and shown in a wedding exhibition.

I was filled with so many emotions when I found out about that. I mean, yeah it's good publicity. And I think that's one of the first signs of being a celebrity: your photos and videos are published without your consent (even from the age of 12, I found out that people know about me and I don't know anything about them).

However, first of all, it was not that wedding organizer who hired me to dance in that particular wedding. The mother of the bride was my former employee and she was the one who personally asked me to dance.

And then when my friend shouted that it was me, the staff of the wedding organizer said,with enthusiasm, that they could provide bellydancers for her wedding.

Riiiiight...

A bellydancer. A male bellydancer. Dancing with a sword.

So, Mr. Budi Prayitno (the wedding organizer who showed the video of me dancing, to the general public, in a wedding exhibition, to make people think that I am a bellydancer hired by your service agency), this is not a cease and desist blog post.

No.

I'm just going to say FUCK YOU and I'm looking forward to working with you.

i'm not gonna brag about this, but... - teacher training 2

2011-03-03T18:59:00.005-08:00

Ya know, I'm not much of a bragger (HA!) and I'll bet you all understand that I'm an underachiever (for my age, at least - and I actually wrote that once in my on-line CV... I took it down, though). So, yeah... I'm taking this whole certification thing as a big deal, because it really is a big deal!

I've blogged once about how some people consider "Tribal Fusion" to have sprung from an anonymous hole from the face of the Earth. I feel that having this certification really sets me apart from the rest of the Tribal Fusion dancers. I love doing Tribal Fusion, but if I have a serious troupe who really wants to do it ATS style, I might want to withdraw from both Oriental (either folkloric or modern) and Tribal Fusion, and just do it ATS style. And by ATS, I mean FatChanceBellyDance format.

Teacher Training 2: Carolena Nericcio & Sandi Ball

It's just amazing that both of these women were actually knitting when listening to us and giving complete feedbacks. KNITTING! And they didn't lose a beat in answering. Ms. Nericcio confessed that her brain works like a shark: if it doesn't move, it sinks down and dies. So, she knits. If she doesn't do anything, she'll just go blank.

From 11 AM to 5 PM, we sat there, fourteen of us (two teachers, eleven participants, and one translator), talking about starting up dance schools, avoiding confrontational competition with other teachers and "teachers" of ATS in proximity, burning bridges, motivating students, overcoming problem students (this one was the longest discussion and generated the most ideas).

Needless to say, Ms. Nericcio is not only a diplomat but also a savvy businesswoman. I mean, this lady started from scratch and went all the way to the top of the game and accomplished so much, not in a nick of time, but over time, through dedication and hard work.

I can truly see what began as a rough concept and draft of ATS, has actually become a sophisticated format of dance with standardized terminology and codifications that are used around the world by sister studios and those certified to teach ATS. One can only learn so much from her experience.

And this sophisticated art of movement, a contemporary, more modern style of bellydance that actually looks more antique than other genres, brings together people from different parts of the world that don't really speak the same language. We had Americans, Canadians, Taiwanese, Puerto Rican, Italian, and Indonesian in the class.

One thing that really touched my heart was how Ms. Nericcio and the rest of the participants (especially those who also took the General Skills workshop with me) said that I totally knew how to behave in class: a room filled with women, many of whom bared their bellies. It has been hard for me to fit in, let alone have friends, so that compliment just blew me away.

Later, when we were handed out our diplomas, I was informed that I was the second male to earn the three certifications.

And that makes me the first Indonesian to be certified to teach the one and only American Tribal Style (ATS) bellydance by the often imitated never duplicated FatChanceBellyDance (FCBD), the source of all things Tribal.

But I'm just not gonna brag about it...

the ats language and no fighting - ats teacher training 1, days 1 & 2

2011-03-01T19:25:00.005-08:00

So, General Skills Training was over. We had a two-day break and I used it wisely by skipping Jill Parker's class and going grocery shopping on Saturday. I hope I didn't miss much of the class.

On Sunday, I went to Dance Conditioning class at FCBD studio. The Dance Conditioning class is always amazing and I can't believe it's already on its fifth week! Only three weeks left!

And then, came the day for the Teacher Training (TT) 1. I sort of had a vague idea of what was going to happen. Ms. Lalwani said that Ms. Nericcio would make us do the steps and movements and teach them in front of the class. I was nervous about that. I mean, yeah, I teach bellydance, but it's ORIENTAL (and some Tribal Fusion, which obviously uses lots of movements from ATS). And then there was going to be other teachers (AND THE CREATRIX HERSELF) in the room, so I just felt unsure of myself.

On the first day, Ms. Nericcio went over a several pointers in teaching ATS. All of them are helpful, even for those with teaching experience. But there's one that resonates deeply, and that one is (written in capital letters in the Teaching Manual given to us): NEVER CONTRADICT ANOTHER TEACHER.

Clearly, this is the diplomacy that everyone in the bellydance world has to know. And that one point really slapped me hard in the face. There were instances when I just said, "God, how can that person be teaching?" and there were also times when people would say that my Tribal Fusion is WRONG.

Ms. Nericcio gave us an example. A student walked in to your class, learned a move, and then said, "But that's not how so-and-so taught me. So which one is the correct one? Yours or so-and-so's?" Here's how you reply: "Well, some teachers have different ways of teaching, but everything comes from one source. In my class, I teach it this way."

Now that's diplomacy. In most cases, the teacher was doing the right move, but with different choice of words than what you said, and the student didn't get it.

And telling people that a teacher is doing it wrong, is just classless and tacky and tarty. And so, from that day forth, I shall never, ever say that another teacher is wrong, be it Oriental, Tribal Fusion, ATS, or any kind of fusion. That being said, I still won't delete my old blog posts.

After the lecture, each of us had to pick a card that Ms. Nericcio placed in front of the room. I chose to do Shimmy (with Turn in Place). In case you didn't notice, my alias here is "the boy who shimmies", so it was just so apt that I got to do it. I'm not going to tell you the details, but it went well and I learned so much. After each of us presented the step or movement, Ms. Nericcio would give direct feedback and correct our explanation if it needed correction.

Before we went home, we had to choose three cards that each represent a step or a movement. We were to present the movement on the second day. For the slow movements, I chose Wrap Around Turn and Flutter. For the fast step, I chose Reverse Shimmy (of course!).

On the second day, we had two chances to present the moves. I finally presented Wrap Around Turn and Flutter. I decided that I'm so much in love with the Flutter and I had a hard time learning to do it so it would be good to share the way I learned it, as taught by Ms. Nericcio through her video (Tribal Basics vol. 4) and Ms. Miftahul Jannah of the velvetRAQS (my Oriental teacher for three years and counting). I guess I was doing a good job because one of the participants actually came up to me afterwards and complimented me on teaching Flutter. She had been trying to do it for sometime but never got a satisfying result. When I taught how to do it, she was finally able to flutter, albeit for a short period of time.

Well... I learned from the best teachers, and it took me a year to finally master it.

One last thing. Elizabeth from Italy (she's five month pregnant) made a very true statement. She speaks good English (although she doesn't want to admit it). But when she had to teach in front of the class using English, she sometimes stuttered and just lost her words. So after presenting a step (Spins - I LOVE SPINS!), she asked, "Would you like to drill?" and we all nodded our heads, she answered, "Very good! It's much easier to dance! No language!"

And that just about summed up this whole American Tribal Style thing. It's a language in dancing that transcends the verbal and written languages of the world. I can be dancing ATS with Sherry (a Taiwanese in our TT 1 class who doesn't speak very good English) or with Ilhaam (a Spanish in our GS and TT 1 classes who also doesn't speak very good English) and yet the dance just flows naturally.

And that, my friends, is not magic. That is hard work and dedication.

putting the "sun" in "sunanda" - ats general skills training, day 4

2011-02-25T18:02:00.005-08:00

I can't believe it's the fourth day. Everything just went so fast. One day I was in a room filled with strangers, and another day I was saying heavy goodbyes to those very strangers who had become my dance sisters, whom I'll most probably never meet ever again.

Well, there's Facebook, but it still won't replace the true feeling of meeting.

But, when there's a hello, there's bound to be a goodbye. I knew it was going to be this quick, but I'm still being smitten by the feeling.

Remember the two ladies I formed a trio with during the training? There you have it. The one in white is Mirna from Italy and the one in FCBD's Original Gangsta tank top is Karen from Milwaukee. Karen came to SF with her daughter, Daniella, who is also an ATS dancer. Isn't that cool?

Day Four: Carolena Nericcio & Kristine Adams

Slow moves: Wrap Around Turn, Barrel Turn, Sahra Turn, Laybacks, Floorwork
Fast steps: Sunanda, Re-Shamka, Reverse Shimmy, Chico Four Corners, Wet Dog, Egyptian Full Turn, Double Back (with Half Turn), Spins, Arabic Shimmy (with Arms & Turns & Fade, with Arms & Turns & Fade & Circle)
Yoga for Floorwork

I don't know what happened, but I got fazed out almost everytime Sunanda came on. I love this move, but I almost didn't make it to the second half on multiple occassions. I finally did manage to get it on, though.

There's this neat way that Ms. Nericcio uses to explain the Sahra Turn. We always start with arms above our head, then plunge down, both arms to our left hip, our body in profile, facing the left wall - this is the Jane Russel. Then, we do a reverse turn, landing on performance angle - this is the Ava Gardner. The last segment is another reverse turn, finally landing on a rather flat angle facing the audience - this is the Audrey Hepburn. You see, in the pictures of Jane, Ava, and Audrey shown to us, each of these ladies strikes the same poses in the three Sahra Turn segments. Jane in her profile, Ava in diagonal, and Audrey in flat angle.

Later, we did the Laybacks. I have love-hate relationship with Laybacks. Sometimes I think Laybacks have been done too many times. I know I've done it almost too many times. My last attempt was with Lilith on my head. The problem is, if I don't do proper warm up and or cool down, doing Laybacks will hurt my lower back. So I asked Ms. Nericcio if she had suggestions on doing warm-ups for Laybacks and she came up with a great idea: walk on the wall! Stand in front of the wall, and slowly do a Layback with the wall as your spotter!

And as for the cool down, she suggests to squat down and place our elbows inside our knees and push out. It felt so good when I tried it.

For the Floorworks, I spotted again with Ilhaam. She is just amazing. She always told me, "Neck!" and, "Again!" it was like working with a personal trainer! She knew if I didn't keep my neck one line with my spine and dropped my head back (an absolute no!) and she would tell me to try it again until I got it right.

Later during the break, she told me she enjoyed working with me because of my energy. Well, well... This came from a woman who beat me when doing two simultaneous floor drops. I just had to give it to her: she's one amazin' Amazon.

One thing that I realllly, really feel I need to work on is my A-SWAT (Arabic Shimmy with Arms & Turns) and A-SWAT Fade. When we were drilling in our Trio + Suzanne Elliott (!!!!), I had a hard time going on releve, staying on releve, doing the turns, doing the spins, doing the Arabic Shimmy... I will need to drill this with Ms. Lalwani. But Ms. Elliott joining our Trio was like a much needed professional help! And, oops... I stepped on her skirt during one of the A-SWATs. Sigh.

And then came the time for the diplomas. As much as I'm happy finally getting the GS Training certificate, I wouldn't mind going through the experience at least once more. So many good songs, so much energy... When we were circling the little display table to eat our lunch, we were like a big family. Well, there were times when the conversation would be awkward... I wouldn't even want to discuss what. It was so awkward that it was funny.

And there you have it. Ms. Nericcio and me with my certificate. I forgot two things on that day, though: my booklet (I left it in my room) and a big envelope to store the certificate. I was contemplating the idea of holding the paper from FCBD all the way back. Luckily, I remembered the Original Gangsta FCBD hoodie that I coveted. I got a 10% discount on that! So I bought it, asked for a bag and was given a bag big enough to safely store the certificate without crumpling it. So in that bag was two things I cherish the most: my FCBD hoodie and my ATS diploma! I'm wearing the hoodie right now too! It's so warming. However, I'd better remember to bring a big and sturdy envelope for the next two trainings to store my other certificates!

Oh, and Kristine Adams is the rockstar of ATS! She has this commanding presence when she teaches, she is very encouraging and giving, and she always has time to goof off with either Kae Montgomery or Suzanne Elliott, both of whom were there. Kae Montgomery and Kristine Adams have the best arms frame evah!

And Suzanne Elliott... What can I say about one of the original members of FCBD? ATS is like her second nature. When I grow up, I want to be like her: all bubbly and full of energy.

Well, I'd better rest now. I'm going to Jill Parker's class at ODC in the afternoon!

devotion - ats general skills training, day 3

2011-02-24T23:24:00.004-08:00

Day Three: Carolena Nericcio & Sandi Ball

Slow moves: Camel Walk, Ribcage Rotation, Head Slides, Belly Rolls, Flutters
Fast steps: Arabic Shimmy, Arabic 123, Waterpot, Arabic Hip Twist (with Half Turn & Flourish), Arabic Orbit, Shoulder Shimmy - Hip Drop Combo, Ghawazee Shimmy Combo
Music for Tribal Bellydance
Quartets and Duets

It was a somewhat somber day for all of us. To begin with, it rained and stopped and rained for the most part. There were forecasts that said it was going to snow. If snow happens, it's going to be the first after thirty years of going the Bay Area going snow-free.

And then Ms. Nericcio came into the studio holding a bunch of DVDs. When she asked us to do the Puja to bless the DVDs, I thought they were new DVDs that FCBD was going to sell. Turned out, those were last year's Devotion DVDs.

The good news is, each of us was given a copy of Devotion: the Harvest DVD. The bad news is, the 2011 Devotion show, which is supposedly in June, is seriously under threat; the place of the upcoming performance has been claimed unviable. So now, FCBD is looking for a place that can hold up to twenty companies (or dancers - I'm not quite sure) and enough room for an audience of fifty people or more. Preferably (well, I'd prefer it so) in San Francisco. Or at least somewhere near San Francisco. Oh, and there has to be enough parking space. If you have any idea of a place, go to FCBD's website and send an e-mail to Ms. Nericcio.

FCBD's 2011 Devotion theme is "The Home", which is ironic because this is its 4th year and FCBD is still looking for a home - a sanctuary where they can perform their yearly Devotion show.

I just finished watching Devotion: the Harvest DVD and I gotta tell you... Everything is just so amazing. I could really feel the "harvest" theme without the dancers pushing it on my face. I don't know which ones are improvisational and which ones choreography. What I do know is I WANT TO HAVE KAE MONTGOMERY'S AND KRISTINE ADAM'S BINDIS!!

Speaking of bindis, I remember that Sandi Ball is a bindi artisan. I asked her about her bindis after the training ended but sadly, she is currently not producing bindis due to lack of materials. Sigh.

The third day of GS Training went fairly well. Ms. Lalwani dropped in and I was so glad to see her. When Ms. Nericcio was explaining about Music for Tribal Dance, she played Hossani Oo and Ms. Lalwani and I glanced at each other - Ms. Lalwani gave that song for me to learn as a homework. It had changes from Maqsoum to Fallahi rhythms. The song was used to demonstrate how the FCBD format fits in to the music no matter if the rhythm changes. However, dancers need to really know the song (possibly even count the measure to determine which steps to use) to be able to dance to it with full confidence.

We also experienced dancing in duets and quartets. I did the Arabic Orbit with Ilhaam, a dancer from Spain who did really awesome job leading Chorus on the second day of GS Training. She is as tall as I am... Okay, she's a little taller... That's why I chose to work with her.

Ilhaam and I had difficulties in Arabic Orbit, so when break time came, I decided to try it again alone. She saw me and quickly joined me and we did it together. And finally, with a little help from another dancer, Diana, a Puerto Rican, who talked to her in Spanish on what we did wrong, we got the Arabic Orbit nailed down! Yay!

There are two little things that I like to point out. I really love the way Diana handled the situation. She didn't act all know-it-all, and when she did come to the rescue, she didn't gloat in the afterglow (when we thanked her profusely).

The second thing was that, as I was talking to Karen (one of my Trio members - GO GROUP FOUR!!) before the class started, she said that she was staying in a hotel where the owner didn't even know about FCBD.

That reminded me a lot of the fact that no one in EF knows about FCBD and that American Tribal Style - now considered a bellydance genre of its own - was born and now resides in San Francisco.

I mean... FCBD is like world-renowned. I'm not saying this to suck ass. I'd rather suck on something else - but that's for another blog. I'm saying this because I wonder whether Americans are really ignorant. I always thought that I'd been living under a rock, but when a foreigner asked me about an Indonesian(s), I'd usually know right away.

Also, I have a teacher who was surprised when I said I quit my job to become a dancer. He didn't know that being a dancer can actually support a decent living. Well, obviously, my teacher doesn't know anything about this business. It's both fun and money-making.

Sandi Ball is a bubbly, joyful creature with a face and voice that make her look like a 30 year-old. And it's just amazing to see that the FCBD dancers are so fit. They carry themselves in such an elegant way. I guess that's what years of dancing in a powerful posture can do to you.

double bump? more like double blunder - ats general skills training, days 1 & 2

2011-02-23T17:58:00.005-08:00

I've said this once and I'm going to say this over and over again, like this instance, for... err... instance: Learning bellydance from a video will never replace learning bellydance in a real classroom setting.

No matter how interactive the video is, nothing beats the real life human contact in a classroom. Especially when you're trying to decode American Tribal Style (ATS), an improvisational-based dance form that works in a group (hence the word "Tribal"). Everything is seamless and works as if it were choreographed, but it's not.

The term "ATS" is now exclusively only for those in the FatChanceBellyDance (FCBD) format. Others, such as BlackSheepBellyDance and the oh-so-cool Unmata, are classified as Improvisational Tribal Style (ITS). But the concept is the same: the leader gives cues on which combos (combinations / series of movements) to use.

I'm very lucky that while I'm in San Francisco, I'm able to join the series of certification programs of General Skills, Teacher Training 1 and Teacher Training 2 at FCBD. After all, this is one of two reasons why I came to SF in the first place.

Ms. Nericcio has given me permission to review the General Skills (GS) Training, so I'll do just that, hopefully on daily basis.

Eep. I might have to crash that hope. HAHA... It's already the SECOND day and I didn't post anything for the FIRST day, so I'm going to combine Day One and Day Two and the little tidbits.

Day One: Carolena Nericcio with Kae Montgomery

Posture
Puja
Slow movements: Taxeem, Reverse Taxeem, Hand Floreo, Arm Undulations, Bodywave
Fast steps: Egyptian Step, Arabic Step, Pivot Bump & Choo Choo (with Arm 1 & Arm 2), Shimmy
Group formations
Working in a chorus

We started off with a lengthy yet fascinating lecture called Basic Anatomy for ATS. There are sixteen pointers that Ms. Nericcio explained to us. Mesmerizing, strong stuff. We hear words like propriaceptors, closed chain, open chain, and all about muscle work. During this segment, we learned why certain ATS (or bellydance) movements look ooey-gooey and just defies gravity (there's the closed chain & open chain movement right there) or why turns are designed to keep the arms close to the body (to maintain balance).

In the picture above, you can see a little black and white booklet. That's the booklet that was given to us, it's like a mini ATS Bible.

After being given the movements and drilled with Ms. Nericcio and Ms. Montgomery leading alternately, we were told to form a trio. So I bundled up with two nice ladies (I'm the only guy in the room, sigh) and off we went. There were five groups of threes (fifteen participants). I'm so glad I'm with my group. They're just amazing. I couldn't stop smiling when I was dancing with them. I didn't even have to force a smile or fake it: it came naturally.

Finally, we were put in a group setting where the Chorus ("back-up dancers") forms a crescent-shaped line in the back and the "featured dancers" dance in front. Each group did their little number. It felt really good.

Kae Montgomery has a magnificent stage presence. I learn a lot about posture just by looking at her.

Day Two: Carolena Nericcio with Wendy Allen

Slow moves: Torso Twist, Circle Step, Walking Taxeem, Walking Bodywave, Reverse Turn, Propeller Turn, Corkscrew Turn
Fast steps: Turkish Shimmy (with Quarter Turn & Half Turn, with Arm 1 & Arm 2), Turkish Shimmy (with Arms & Turn, with Arms & Circle), Reach and Sit, Arc Arms, Up2 Down3, Double Bump (and with Pivot), Single Bump (with Gradual Turn & Half Turn)
Flock of Birds
Extended Puja

The day followed the same routine: each movement is broken down; questions are asked and answered; drills with the whole gang; drills with trios; chorus.

Today, I got to lead the Chorus. It felt reaaaallly good. In Day One, both Ms. Nericcio & Ms. Montgomery emphasized the importance of staying awake & alert when doing Chorus. Since you're in the back and doing less fancy stuff (more stationary movements that compliment the "featured dancers"), you might get transfixed at looking at the "featured dancers" doing their thing (I know I did), and ended up not following the leader of the Chorus.

When you're the leader of the Chorus, you have to make sure you're not doing something that's the same or too similar to the movements currently being done by the "featured dancers". Ms. Nericcio suggests that when the "featured dancers" are doing movements with both arms up (such as Egyptian Step), Chorus dancers can bring the arms down and do Turkish Shimmy. Therefore, the audience knows that there are two distinct groups working at the same time. The audience can also see the depth and dimension of the groups. Whereas if both the "featured dancers" group and the Chorus do the same thing, the differences will not be visible.

And so it was my group's turn and I (think I) did a good job in going into the "featured dancers" spot - Carolena invoked Valentino's (the fashion designer) mantra when he ushered his models on to the stage, "Long, elegant steps!" and so we did long elegant steps.

Everything was fine until our leader did a cue for a fade. So I went to the front and took the lead. Since we were drilling on Double Bump, I did a Double Bump TO FADE BACK. Bwahahahahaha... I knew Ms. Allen was trying so hard not to laugh.

So when the drill ended, Ms. Nericcio said, "Everything looked good except for one thing," and I interjected her, "The Double Bump, right? It is illegal to fade back with the Double Bump, right?" I guess the term "illegal" made everyone in the room laughed. Including myself. Well, I got a pat on the back. When I was doing the fade with the Double Bump, I realized, "Hey wait a minute... This is like the Pivot Bump / Choo Choo: WE ONLY TRAVEL FORWARD, NOT BACKWARD!" But, too late.

And that was the highlight of the day.

Wendy Allen is just so graceful. Her floreos are just so graceful. And I think she also (almost) solved my problem with the Torso Twist: FINISH YOUR RIGHT ARM UNDULATION! Although, I still need to practise that move.

Well, I'm pooped. I'll blog more later!

belly rolls, flutters, what's next?

2011-02-13T23:56:00.005-08:00

So today in Ms. Lalwani's Dance Conditioning class in FCBD studio, the one and only Carolena Nericcio dropped in, stayed the whole class, and in between the sets, drilled us on belly rolls and flutters.

And yours truly here, being placed in the Intermediate group, experienced the Staggard position that, at two times, was led by Ms. Nericcio herself. And since it's Staggard (meaning everyone in the group (there were five people) had to go clockwise to be the lead), I got my turn to lead. AND I WAS LEADING MS. NERICCIO. Of course I failed on the first attempt. Miserably. I mean, I thought I was in a movement where we weren't dancing on the beat and I tried to match it but the transition wasn't as smooth as I had imagined. It was good in the end, though.

Like I've blogged earlier, flutters are easier to do than belly rolls. I was lucky because the day before, at ODC, Jill Parker drilled us on belly rolls. When a very nice woman (with an incredible Tribal arm tattoo) told me that my flutters were good, I thanked and replied that I learned from Tribal Basics volume 4. It did take me a year to learn it. My Oriental teacher, Ms. Miftahul Jannah of the velvetRAQS is probably the first Indonesian Oriental dancer to ever master the flutter. She learned it during a workshop with Sadie in 2009. When she attempted to teach it to us, I still couldn't understand it. With Tribal Basics volume 4 and Ms. Jannah's explanation, I put the pieces together and slowly started fluttering.

However, belly rolls are totally different. It takes serious muscle conditioning to suck in the tummy and make it roll. Sharon Kihara has killer flat abs, but when she sucks her tummy in, it's just... IN. It's as if she's creating a vacuumed plastic. If that makes sense.

When Aiza from Malaysia guest-starred in Dancewave Center's / velvetRAQS's second annual hafla "1001 Nights", she did perfect belly rolls. And she has six-pack abs.

Ms. Nericcio doesn't have washboard abs, but they're made of damn steel. Or titanium. Holy crap that woman can suck in her tummy.

And just as I thought I finally got the hang of belly rolls, Ms. Nericcio showed us how she rolled her belly from side to side.

Yeah. That should probably take me about ten years to master.

She gave us a tip, though: practise the belly rolls by doing belly rolls. You can do crunches and whatnot, but it won't enable you to ROLL your stomach (from up to down or down to up anyway).

How I wish I'd taken photos of her and the class. Then again, I might've looked like a dorky paparazzi cum stalker.

And talking about flat objects: (courtesy of ICanHasCheezburger.com)

mid-term week

2011-02-11T17:55:00.003-08:00

Boy, oh boy.

So today was the last day of the mid-term exams at EF. I was just glad that I've passed the GMAT/GRE Writing mid-term test. Possibly with a good score. My mind just switched off when I saw the topic for the issue statement.

As I hopped on to the bus back to the hostel, I sighed a relief. It was finally over! Yay! And I had time to eat lunch and go to FCBD studio - today's lesson started at 4 because Ms. Lalwani had something to do. I won't mind having lessons at 4 PM, as long as I can go back to the hostel before it gets dark. After all, I live in Tenderloin.

So I arrived at FCBD studio at 3.15 PM. In total, I spent 10 minutes of going to from the hostel to the Civic / Market BART, take the BART ride to 16th / Mission, and walk to the FCBD studio. Wow.

I met Ms. Montgomery there and I paid for my General Skills & Teacher Training 1 & 2 (!!!!!!!) for the end of February. Then I headed to the studio to practise some moves alone. After a while, I decided to just browse around the shop (!!!!!!!) (SERIOUSLY WHY DO THEY HAVE TO HAVE SO MANY GOOD THINGS TO BUY OMIGOD! There were the burnt velvet hipscarves with fringes, Assuits, and the jewelery, forpetessake... I almost succumbed to temptation).

And then Ms. Lalwani came and as I was about to ask her the questions I wrote in my notebook... she said, "I'm going to quiz you," and I almost fainted.

I think I barely passed the quiz. I just have so many things to learn.

In the mean time, Ms. Nericcio will be guest-teaching tomorrow's Dance Conditioning class. She'll be teaching us belly rolls. Man, even after two years, I still can't do belly rolls. Flutter is a lot easier.

Oh, and I've registered and paid for FCBD's General Skills, Teacher Training 1 & 2 intensives, so umm... MORE TESTS!!

tried by 5 over 4

2011-02-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

Don't ask me what the heck the entry title means. It's just is. And it happens to be one of Tim Barsky's most memorable songs. Evah.

Tim Barsky's a one-of-a-kind flutist/beat-boxer/clown circus/all around guy. Apparently, he just wrapped a production in San Francisco that was in January and February. 2010. So I was late by a year. And I realized it after spending 20 minutes frantically figuring out where his production took place. Can I get a DUNCE hat, please?

Anyway, I was introduced to Tim Barsky's song (not the guy himself, although I'd be floored if I got introduced to him... One day) called "Tried by 5 Over 4" in this FCBD video below.

The dances started out with an upbeat music that the transition to a rather slow and, dare I say, emotional song was just electrifying, to say the least. The first time I heard this song and Ms. Nericcio's solo interpretation of it, I cried. There's something about that lady that just grabs your attention. She's just so fixating. Can I say that? I'm flunking over GMAT and GRE English classes, so I'm not quite sure about that word. But I know that my sight is completed glued on Ms. Nericcio. She has that commanding energy around her that just blazes out and radiates to the entire room. And to think that she did all that when barely moving or, as Orientals would prefer it, showing stage presence by travelling all over the stage. I guess Ms. Nericcio's arms are enough. Just one lift, one arc, and her energy is visible.

So today was the third private session with Ms. Lalwani. And I was almost overloaded with information. Who knew that dancing could be so hard? Well, I had some ideas when I first watched Tribal Basics volumes 5 through seven. And then new things were being introduced at FCBD's Youtube videos.

In the private session, we did all those. Or, well, I attempted to absorb all that new information. We began with fast moves and moved on to slower ones. During the slow-move drills, Ms. Lalwani introduced something that took me a long time to understand: dancing while facing each other.

It's not really a mirroring thing. It's more of a parallel kind of dancing. During the Reach and Sit with Pivot, when Ms. Lalwani turned to the left (her left), I turned to her left too (my right). I know. I can't even read maps.

And then there was the Arabic Orbit (I love this one! And finally nailing this move is just so fantastic!) and passes with: Chico Four Corners (fast moves!) and Barrel Turn, Wrap Around Turn, Camel Walk (slow moves). These passes are admittedly fun to do, but ya know... I might need a year to really understand them. They're just so effing hard! They look good up on stage too. It shows the skills of the dancers. But... Well... They're challenging. Ms. Lalwani's so forgiving, though. But yours truly here is a perfectionist.

Now, a little note that I'd like to share. It's really abstract but it struck a chord with me as I was chatting with Ms. Lalwani. We were discussing about manners in the class. Here are some manners that I think should be adhered to in a dance class:

Be on time
Set your cellphones on silent (not even vibrating) mode and put them in the locker or in your bag where you can't see it. If you have something more important to do than a dance class, don't come into class.
When a teacher is in the room, do not try to explain (or discuss) a move to (or with) a friend(s) who do(es)n't understand. Tell the friend to ask the teacher directly. It's not just downright rude, you also might not know how to do the move correctly.
When a teacher is in the room, do what the teacher asks you to do. If you'd like to create a class on your own, do not come into the class you're taking as a student.
Breaks are for drinking, not for checking messages on your ~~Crack~~BlackBerry, shitPhone or ~~Idiot~~Droid. Or whatever gadget you have. See manner #2.
Don't be over the top or invinsible. When you have questions, ask. But don't overpower the rest of the class and think you're the coolest of the bunch.
Do not play the zills when the teacher is explaining a move.

When I open my own studio, I'll impose these manners. Yeah!

Oh, and about Tim Barsky's Tried by 5 Over 4. When we were drilling the slow moves, we used this song and I felt all emotional all of a sudden. When I went back to the hostel, the first thing I did was download the song from Amazon.com. Now that I have it, I can't stop playing it.

fcbd dance conditioning class

2011-01-30T21:45:00.005-08:00

If you go to Yelp.com and seek out "Anita Lalwani", you'll notice that she has all the highest ratings. And all the ratings and stars are true: she is one hell of a lady.

Just so you know, today, I woke up with the sound of rain. Yes, it was raining AGAIN. And it was bad because I had to be in FCBD's studio by 10 AM. So I got dressed, hurried down to the dining area to have breakfast and went on my way. Turned out, it was not only raining, it was WINDY as well. So the wind blew my poor little green umbrella upside down (who knew that Samsonite didn't make sturdy umbrellas like they made the suitcases?) and I had to wear my puppy-ear flap hat to cover my head. It didn't cover my face, though, so the drizzles (it was only drizzling, thank goodness) hit my face.

Well, at least the BART station is near so I could get there in a jiffy.

It was also drizzling in Mission, but I got to the FCBD studio in time. Yay!

I've been to so many all female dance classes that I'm accustomed to the sight: yes, once more, I'm the only guy in class. It's a good thing that Dance Conditioning (with Ms. Lalwani) is not a general class so I can join.

We started with the floor work routine. There was this hard rolling styrofoam that we use underneath our calfs, butt, hips, inner thighs, and spine that act as a massager. Oooh, my calves hurt like hell when I was rolling on them, but it felt good afterwards. After that, we did the crunches on the mat.

And then came the dance drill and we worked on the Arabic, Arabic Hip-Twist, Arabic With Flourish, Turkish Shimmy, Turkish Shimmy with Arms, and Shimmy with Turns. Ms. Lalwani divided us in two groups: beginners and intermediates. I hurried off to the beginners but she told me to join the intermediate instead. Yeah. I had doubts myself. They turn out to be true.

The intermediate group was later divided into two trios and I joined two ladies. They knew the timing (and the vocabulary) very well. I blundered a lot. *sigh*

Next came the station work-out. Ms. Lalwani set up stations for us to work for two minutes on each station and go to the next for another two minutes and so on. The first station used a weight, the second one had a tiny inflated ball to be put underneath our lower back as we did leg lifts and under the center of our shoulderblades as we did the upper-ab crunches.

The third one had the big fit ball and we were supposed to do back-ups for one minute and change to push-ups on the next minute. The fourth one was shoulder press. The fifth one was lunges. The sixth one was squat and leg exercises using leg restraints. The last one was triceps work-out.

A red-headed warrior named Bethany who also lead my intermediate improv group, called me to spare with her (each station was done by two people). Holy cow. She was even more powerful than I was. I mean, I'm embarrassed. I know I've quit the gym a long time ago, so I can pat myself on the back and offer myself a proper justification. When I stopped to rest, Beth didn't. When I took the lower level challenge, Beth took the higher one. She later confessed (as I was catching my breath when we were doing the leg restrain exercise on the sixth station) that she had been taking body conditioning classes with Ms. Lalwani for years.

Well that's endurance.

After the whole station thing ended, Beth told me that Ms. Lalwani would make us redo the whole thing all over again. I glanced at the clock and saw it was already five minutes to eleven. I doubted it.

We regrouped and did dance drills to two more songs. I felt better than the first try. Yay! Although my arms were droopy due to the station work-outs.

And when it was done, ding ding ding... Ms. Lalwani told us to go back to our stations and do each one for only one minute. Thank goodness.

When everything was finally done, I felt exhausted. Extremely exhausted. But extremely happy. It had to be the most gratifying exercises I've had.

Beth told me to smile whenever it's painful: the more pain, the bigger smile.

I'm just glad I spared with her. I need the challenge.

floorwork - fcbd style

2011-01-29T10:38:00.006-08:00

During the Bellydance Evolution workshop series in Bali last year, I took a... Hungarian dance workshop with Louchia. Was it Hungarian? I forgot what it actually was, but it was Eastern-Europe and we had to wear wide skirts (of course I didn't have one... I improvised). The steps were absolutely frenetic (I have two left feet). What did capture me was the floorwork in the beginning. It was hard, but I loved it.

I love doing floorworks, with or without Lilith, my sword. It really shows off my flexibility and strength. Although at times, without proper warm-up and stretch (of at least 30 minutes), I can go wobbly.

Synchronized floorworks have been my dream. My troupe tried to stay away from floorworks, but in our last recital, I forced them to do the Berber Walk and it was so fun (I miss you guys!).

And now, I have the awesome DVD of Tribal Basics volume 8: FloorWork in my hands!! Okay, not quite. The DVD is inside the DVD player of my laptop. I bought it at FCDB's studio last Friday. And my shoppaholic self also browsed their online store and found a very cool black hoodie jacket. Oh, and it rained today! I guess it's still raining out there as I'm writing... So a jacket with a hood will come in extra handy!

Where was I... Oh yeah: the Floorwork DVD.

The video is opened by a yoga routine for floorworks designed by Anita Lalwani - a certified yoga instructor and FCBD member (AND MY TEACHER!!). I've always been somewhat baffled by yoga. There was a time when I would avidly join yoga classes in my old gym, but somehow after I got too busy with work and stopped coming to classes, my interest waned.

However, the yoga section of FCBD's FloorWork DVD, just like the yoga section in Rachel Brice's Serpentine DVD, is very beneficial not only for floorworks, but for my overall muscular strength and posture. So I'll look into it.

And then Ms. Nericcio explains about the way to get down and start the floorwork, getting up again and dance on our feet, and the floorworks themselves.

I like the crystal clear instructions and the spotting tip is very, very good. However, I don't understand why they have to shrink the size of the video during the drills section instead of showing the video full size like in the other sections. In the drill section, FCBD shows all the moves, but the frame is within a black box, smaller than actual screen. I'm very, very stupid when it comes to details, so I have to really look closely, so this is an issue for me.

You might remember the Tribal Pura (Tribal Basics volume 7: Creative Steps & Combinations) with the Devyani Dance Company. Now I LOVE that DVD. The drills have the same black-box type, but the camera stays still, no zooming in or out or panning left or right whatsoever. We can see one whole body and the movements of the feet (YAY!) of either Ms. Megha Gavin or Ms. Nericcio.

I love the Tribal Pura DVD and the Advanced Workshop DVD (Tribal Basics volume 4). In the volume 4 DVD, it's even much better because we can see the front view of Ms. Nericcio in the mirror and her back view. So it really feels like she's teaching in a class. Well, just like volumes 5 and 6.

But actually, in a way, I can always look back to the explanation sections of the DVD instead of the drill section to review the moves.

Last but not least: check out the features! It has the behind the scene part and it's so funny! I know, I know... I'm such a stalker, but it's hilarious. I just wish I they still had the FCBD chocolate bars to sell.

fatchancebellydance

2011-01-22T11:41:00.005-08:00

The day didn't start quite as expected. I was late for ten minutes, thank goodness there was only one class that day. And when I got there, I was handed the sheet of paper that contained by GRE/GMAT Argument essay and it wasn't relevant enough to address the issue.

I always know I have a hard time conveying a message in an effective and efficient manner. Oh, and I was so burnt-out the day before whatwith the application and everything and so I slept late and woke up late and didn't have a chance to eat breakfast.

After the class, I went straight back to the hostel, had a very quick lunch of triple decker peanut butter and honey sandwich, and, thinking that I was already late, decided to walk rather fastly to the UN Plaza BART. I stopped a bit, though. There was this lovely bazaar of strange things like rings and necklaces... Things that could've been easily found all over Bali and even in some places in Jakarta, but still: I love trinkets.

The BART ride was fast, as usual. There's only one stop between UN Plaza and Mission. Waiting usually takes longer time than the ride itself.

I blogged earlier about finding FCBD's Red Door instantly when I went there for the first time. Nope, it didn't happen yesterday. I got lost for about ten minutes and definitely knew that I was going to be late. However, when I instinctively reached for my cell phone to get hold of the time, I was relieved: it was only 2:32 PM. The class started at 3 PM. So, I cleared out my mind, took the map that I drew, retraced my steps, and got to the studio very much way before time.

In the studio, I met Ms. Kae Montgomery (I knew her from the videos!). She was minding the store and told me that Ms. Anita Lalwani would be there soon. She showed me the changing room and I changed in there, my gaze transfixed on the posters and Indian accessories that were hanging there. This was truly the room where magic was made.

And soon, Ms. Lalwani came and oh my God... It was just incredible. It was just amazing. I was ecstatic. I mean, we did the Pooja and so many slow and fast moves and we jumped right down to cueing and she even let me take the lead.

I told her that I would be in San Francisco for at least six months and that my goal would be to open a sister studio back home.

After everything was done, she told me that I was already in Level 2, which means I've basically graduated from the six-week course of Level 1. Boy, that was fast. Although still, I need a lot of practice with taxeem and arm undulation and basically, the slow moves. There's the T-turn in Circle Step and Torso Twist that I still can't get right, so I need to work on that. Ms. Lalwani also reminded me of my posture. "Lead from the heart," she said. That was it for me.

Remember when I blogged about how Ms. Pooja Bhatnagar from the Nehru Center in Jakarta commented on my slouchy posture when I was taking Kathak? Yep... Apparently nothing changed. Or not much has changed.

Ms. Lalwani asked if I were interested in the Dance Conditioning class on Sunday morning, of course I said yes. She said that she would ask Ms. Nericcio if it would be okay for me to join. She explained about how men had this energy that would require constant attention. I almost blurted out and said, "It is not hard for me to be invisible."

Although that could sound depressing.

So, when we were in the changing room and chatting, suddenly someone entered and it was... Ms. Carolena Nericcio herself.

HERSELF. As in person. I was sitting and my heart leaped out and I just had to stand up.

I guess I made a fool of myself but I was just so startruck. I mean... This is the creator of American Tribal Style. I told my boyfriend about this and I said it would be like him meeting Jamie Oliver (my boyfriend's a huge fan of Jamie's). It's when you have an idol and you're finally meeting him/her and you're being treated very kindly.

Ms. Lalwani then encouraged me to say my goal in front of Ms. Nericcio and so I did. I repeated the whole thing: that I would like to open a sister studio in Jakarta.

When I went to FCBD's website late last year, I noticed that they had a General Skills Training in February. People who want to open a sister studio must take (and pass) GS Training. After that, there's the ATS Teacher Training 1 and ATS Teacher Training 2. I was going to ask Ms. Lalwani whether she thinks I'm ready for the GS Training... But before I could do that...

Ms. Nericcio asked if I was interested in joining GS Training.

Needless to say, I almost died.

I forgot what I said... Did I say yes? I guess I didn't. I think I said I was worried that I wasn't up to it but Ms. Lalwani said that although I needed some pointers and corrections, I could do it.

Everything became a blur after that. All I remembered was finally going back to the hostel where I almost cried in Union Plaza.

The day started out like hell... It's amazing how that one session at FCBD studio changed everything.

Even if I didn't get accepted in any of the universities of my choice, I'd still be happy to spend six months training for that little studio somewhere in the near future, where I can teach Tribal Pura.

Oh, and that lesson with Ms. Lalwani really kicked ass. When she was talking and laying everything down so clearly, I could see how passionate she is with ATS. And learning something who's passionate about that something is the best.

This is my favorite video of FCBD. You can see Ms. Montgomery (orange skirt), Ms. Nericcio (black skirt), and Ms. Lalwani in the background in orange choli top and green skirt.

And no, there's no choreography. Only improvisation, cues, and transitions.

jill parker

2011-01-15T18:48:00.002-08:00

I took my first lesson of Tribal Fusion Bellydance today at ODC Commons Studio with Jill Parker.

Yes, THE Jill Parker of Ultra Gypsy.

THE Jill Parker I used to only see in Youtube and other videos.

THE Jill Parker who taught Rachel Brice and Sharon Kihara.

THE Jill Parker Sharon Kihara said had the strongest and most graceful arms.

Okay. I'd better stop there.

Anyway, the first one started at 1 PM for about an hour. We began with a yoga-based stretch and moved on to warm-ups. Jill didn't take too much time explaining or breaking things down, but when we asked, she would so meticulously put things into perspective.

She showed a very good way of making sure your body is in natural position by imagining you are holding a bowl of water inside your stomach. If you are tilting either way, the water will spill. So you have to make sure that the water doesn't spill.

The way the class works is that after warm-up, Jill asks what things we'd like to drill on for the day. Today, we practised on hips on the down and ups, three-quarter shimmies, omis, and more shimmies. I'm telling you, my shimmies had never felt so perfect. Of course when I got back to the hostel and tried to re-shimmy, I sucked. I was just too tired.

After the Beginner class ended, Jill said that anyone who'd like to stay for the Intermediate class were welcomed. So I stayed. I mean, the Beginner class was very nice and I could follow everything, but I also needed a challenge. The Intermediate class turned out to be quite challenging and I loved it. We even began with the Suhaila glute exercice (I hate it so much), but I could feel the squeezes greatly improving after the initial contact with glute exercicse with Sharon Kihara last year in the Bellydance Evolution workshop in Bali.

Nearing the end of the Intermediate level class, the students rehearsed a very complex choreography with Jazz fusion and there was another newbie in the class so the two of us just followed along. I'm telling you, it was a work-out. I am not at all familiar with Jazz so there are just so many things I need to work on, including layering a bodywave with a shimmy.

At the end of the class, I introduced myself to Jill. She congratulated me on doing a great job following the choreography (well, a bit), and I apologized if I had disrupted the class's atmosphere, but she said it was fine and she enjoyed seeing men dancing.

I was so glad.

Well, I can't wait for next week!

Oh, and like the cool girls from Unmata, Jill also appears to not shave her underarms. It was noticeable at first, but like, after 30 seconds later, I wasn't even aware of it. Here's a thread on Tribe about hair on underarms.

so much drama

2011-01-14T23:21:00.006-08:00

I finally got to see Black Swan this evening, and I have tell you: it was intense. The last time I came out of the theatre feeling the adrenaline rush was after Matrix: Reloaded. It is so... in your face. Almost everything is in a close-up and it gives the feeling of being there with the characters.

The movie is filled with so many female erotic scenes and a lesbian scene and I didn't feel a thing. I'm. Just. That. Gay.

But again, the movie drained me. It took me on a roller-coaster ride and I greatly enjoyed it. It's not just a dance movie. And I don't think it's a dance movie. I mean, yeah you get to see some moves here and there, but not too many. Still, it's a gorgeous movie.

Black Swan is a story about a ballerina who becomes so obsessed about playing the most important role in the world (Swan Queen in Swan Lake). She gets the part but is still very protective and competitive about it. Nearing the end, she gets more and more insane, but the ending is just... perfect. In so many ways.

What I really want to blog about is how exciting the whole thing is. Okay, please excuse me if that previous sentence sounds so vague. I'm typing at 2 words per hour and I'm so sleepy but I also have to finish downloading something.

But seriously: it is not just a dance. It is everything. I know how ballerinas work, they take it as a full time job because when you are young and agile (and thin), you have to work your ass of to reach the pinnacle of their career really quick because as you put on age, you're out of the business. Well, not quite. You can still teach and maybe own your own school or dance company, but that's it. It's like air-hostesses, athletes, and to some extent, models.

Ah, athletes. I think that's one more reason to really compare dancers and athletes. After all, real dancers must pass rigorous training in the discipline(s) of their choice to reach a paragon.

The character, Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) loses her mind getting into the character.

One can argue that if it's how it's going to be, so be it. After all, the show is the most important thing.

And one more thing before I faint: I just love the story behind it. It's not just one piece of choreography thrown in one after another. There's a change of set, of decoration, of mood, all following a plot and a story, so beautifully crafted to fit a set of songs. There's a sense of continuity and flow and a story.

I think that's my ideal dance recital. But of course, in an ideal dance recital, money wouldn't be a problem.

Here's one video by my all-time favorite comediennes: French & Saunders, talking about ballet.

tribal pilgrimage

2011-01-08T18:58:00.003-08:00

The walk to the BART Civic Center was filled with perils and dangers, but I survived!

And it so happens that the way to FatChance BellyDance and ODC Commons Studio is just one station away from the BART Civic Center, that's USD 3.50 for round-trip.

The first studio that I tracked was FCBD's. When I found the door, it was probably like when Alice discovered The Hole. I pressed on the buzzer, the door got unlocked, and I went it. It was so warm and agreeable but since I could only be there in a flash, I didn't take off my jacket and overcoat. And so I almost got cooked alive.

Ms. Kristine Adams, my contact for FCBD wasn't there. I had tried e-mailing her yesterday (or was it two days ago), informing her that I'd arrived in SF and I wished to visit the studio, but she didn't respond. So I just gathered all my guts and went.

I was greeted by Ms. Suzanne Elliott, whom I know by face (and I was very proud about that), and she told me to write my e-mail and name and she'd forward it to Ms. Adams. So I did. I wrote a note, actually. I guess that kind of confused Ms. Elliott. But anyway, let's just hope everything would be fine and I could start the sessions very soon.

I took a peek inside the studio and I found people dancing. I should've anticipated from the hypnotic sounds of zills that I'd heard from way downstairs when I was climbing up. What I saw was very beautiful.

After leaving the studio, I realized that I hadn't drawn a map of the location of ODC Commons. And I also didn't take note of their address. It was somewhere there in the Mission District. I just remembered that it was on a street parallel to FCBD. I saw a streetsign that said "Shotwell". That rang a bell. So I took chances and just walked down the road on the direction back to the 16th Street/Mission BART station. If I didn't see the place, then I'd still have to go back to the station anyway.

And there it was. ODC Commons Studio. It looked so small on the outside, but when I came in, it was so huge. It was so big.

I kind of got the front-desk girl confused because, well... I was freezing, and English, despite what everyone says, is not my first language.

When I asked her if Jill Parker (Ultra Gypsy, former member of FCBD) Tribal Bellydance class had any gender restrictions, she said definitely no and that ODC Commons made sure that all the instructors there didn't have that issue either. So I was so glad. She told me I could get the first class for free. Yay!

For Tribal Bellydance, it's a drop-in only class and each session is USD 12. The next session will be on Wednesday. I can't wait.

The front-desk girl encouraged me to look around so I did. And oh my God. The place is huge! There are at least four dance studios on the first floor and two more on the second.

She also told me that in Suhaila's school, there's no gender restriction. Maybe I should check the place. Nigma told me that I should definitely try to take classes from Suhaila. Well... I think I'll start with FCBD and Jill Parker.

an award? for this blog? really???

2011-01-01T19:28:00.004-08:00

I'm an underachiever. I know that and I fully embrace that fact.

I don't have a mantle full of trophies (I only have one little trophy) or a wall full of winning certificates or medals or badges (none of those, even).

That's why I take complements seriously (I've blogged about this) because they're all I have to remind myself that I'm on the right path in life by following my passion.

So when I opened my Feedjit Live report this morning, I was surprised to see that I'm getting visitors from a link that says "Best Belly Dancing Blogs".

I surfed to the website and found out that this very sanctuary of my thoughts and rants and egomaniacal wisdom (???) is actually chosen as one of the Top Five of Bellydancing Blogs by GuidetoArtSchools.com.

Although the description somewhat cements my reputation as being a clown (crashing into a glass, anyone?), I am very much proud of myself (something that I very rarely feel).

What a great way to start the new year. I hope this good luck will not fade too soon.

So thank you, good people at GuidetoArtSchools.com!

Now, why don't they make a TOP FIVE BAAAADGE?????? *narcissistic streak*

farewell

2010-12-21T21:54:00.004-08:00

Let me tell you a secret: I hate goodbyes. I hate to leave someone or something because of inevitable priorities. I am someone who's attached to the past and when I love someone or something, unless there's a turn of events, I'll stick to that someone or something until the death.

That explains why I almost invariably order vegetarian fried rice and either mineral water, iced tea, or iced lemon tea whenever possible.

When I resigned from my *ahem* 9 to 5 job of three and a half years in early 2009, I cried so hard at the end of the 15th year anniversary party of the company I worked for. The last event I helped organized.

I left my job to prepare my *ahem* studies abroad. During the preparation, I got so engrossed with dancing and the first The Dance Within that I missed the admittance deadline.

But this year, I was prepared. Or... rather *ahem* more prepared. I'm leaving for San Francisco on January 5th, 2011. It will either be for six months or more. I'll definitely be home for Christmas if everything goes well.

Going away for such a long time means leaving dear friends, colleagues, and students I've come to grow with over the past years. It's been such a privilege to be able to also learn from them.

When I return, I will not see some of them ever again. Some of my students are foreigners and they will have to come back to their respective countries when I'm gone. And one of my colleagues is getting married and staying abroad to settle down with her husband.

I have resigned from the studios I worked at, teaching Oriental dance. My last class will be on Thursday, 30 December 2010.

A little Christmas gift and several farewell presents, and that... that really makes me sad.

But somehow, though I feel emotionally down, there is also a hint of hope that I will come back and teach again. And there's also this little budding feeling that everything is on its perfect timing. I'm on that path, the path that will lead me to the place I want.

In San Francisco, I will become a full-time student. There's a zilch chance of me joining a troupe (student visa only, lack of time management skill, and most probably lack of talent).

And then, there's always another goodbye there. And hello again Jakarta, some time after.

And that... that hello makes me smile.

room for improvement and the midas touch

2010-12-15T09:13:00.008-08:00

I love dance and I love the stage. That's why I always try my best to watch dance performances.

And yes, that includes dance performances and events from other dance schools and institutions. There are always things that can be noted to be applied or avoided. Second-hand experiences are sometimes just as good and even better than first-hand.

First, the factors that are not related to the dancers: building (location, facilities such as toilets, parking, climate control), stage (stage floor, curtains, lightings, sound and sound system). Surveying a place is one thing (going to the backstage to see if the backstage capacity is enough to accommodate the cast and crew), but looking at the place in action is another.

Then the dancers: costumes, music, stylization, blocking, mood, stage presence.

I've only been dancing for three years. I still consider myself a baby dancer. And I learn from anything and everything. Youtube. DVDs... But a stage show is something that I always crave and covet. It's an opportunity to learn from someone else. To take the positive things and leave the negative things.

I had a chat the other day with Monique. Some of the things that we talked about included taking lessons from other teachers and seeing the shows. Monique has tons of dancing experiences, that's why she "had the nerve" to open a dance school along with Misya and Mifta. They have been dancing for years and decided to give it a go and created Dancewave Center.

But Dancewave Center is not the only dance institution in Jakarta. And the Western dance scene (Hip Hop, Jazz, Ballet) is also flourishing in big cities such as Palembang (West Sumatra), Bandung (West Java), and Surabaya (East Java). And so, it is really exciting to have dancers from other cities dancing with us, even as students.

These places offer dances and some are the same with Dancewave Center (Hip Hop, Burlesque, Bollywood, Oriental and Tribal Fusion bellydance). So why not also learn from those places as well? We encourage our students to always learn from anywhere.

And they do. They enthusiastically gobble up Youtube videos. They go to dance workshops. They attend dance recitals. They note down things that appeal to them and things that don't and they share them with their classmates and teachers.

When I was in school, our teachers also said the same thing: Do not just learn from books at school, but expand your horizons, learn from sources that are not given to you, seek your own sources of information.

Of course I didn't do that because I was not interested very much in learning things at school. I was always an average student.

But in dance, it suddenly makes sense.

Oh, and about seeing the shows from other dance schools, it doesn't matter if you're the owner or creative director or general manager or CEO or whatever from a dance institution or company, by attending a dance show, aside from the fact that you can learn a lot of things, it also shows your support to dance.

You see, it's not about competition. It's not about personal feelings or pride. It's about something bigger than that.

It's about dance.

If you want dance to be respected, you need to appreciate and support it. Do this by attending the show. Especially if you have nothing better to do.

If you're really creative and gifted, you can even take some of the negativity from the performance and turn it into something gold. Like Midas.

I know I still have a lot of things to improve. One of them being my posture. Balancing something on my head does great things to it, but years of slouching can only be fixed with making good posture a habit.

And I had a most unfortunate wardrobe malfunction. I have a love/hate relationship with safety pins. I know some great dancers do not endorse safety pins, but sometimes they greatly help.

And in dance, it's all about the posture, the stage presence, the PERSONA: Posture, Energy, Refinement, Stamina, Ornamentation, Nerve, and Attitude.

a note to videographers and photographers

2010-12-12T07:45:00.010-08:00

Dear Photographers and Videographers of dance recitals (or any event),

You are the last threshold of all dancers, cast and crew. It is your work that will be used as THE ONLY remembrance of that moment under the spotlight.

If the performance is only once, then it's not you that's screwed. It's the dancers. But if we're going down, we're taking you with us.

That great moment under the spotlight is shared by all dancers on stage: fat or thin, curvy or twiggy, male or female, physically blessed or challenged.

Everyone deserves to be photographed. Imagine if you are one of the dancers and there is no photo of you. And yet, you are the choreographer of the piece, or worse: you are the dancer who always shows up on every single, painful rehearsal without excuses.

If you are unsure about what kind of photos the other photographers take, ASK! It's more than irritating to see that all the photographs are taken from the same angle, and all close-ups. No full-frontal group shots. Or vice versa.

Show up during rehearsals. It's the best time to actually find out which moments are the best photo-moments. It will make your portfolio more interesting. Dance is the art of movements. And it gets better with props. It's one of the most challenging things to take picture of. So use it to enhance your photography skills. That's if you're serious. This is also applicable to videographers.

Videographers of dance... Ah, your skill is the most crucial as you will capture the motion itself and immortalize it for the dancers and everyone else interested in seeing the recording for whatever reason.

This is the ONLY RULE IN VIDEOTAPING DANCE: TAKE A FULL BODY SHOT. Dancers are interested in seeing everything to learn from mistakes (if any). To re-learn intricate steps and correct posture and body alignments (if wrong).

If there happens to be another video camera, then you can play around, WITH THE CONSENT OF THE CLIENT. I had the most unfortunate video where I had Lilith balanced snugly ON TOP OF MY HEAD and only MY FEET were shown.

And when you are combining footage from multiple cameras, please, DO NOT BE GENEROUS WITH THE COMBINATIONS. It is okay if the three minutes from a three-minute-thirty-second song is only from one angle, one camera. It might be boring for you, but YOU ARE NOT A DANCER. If you happen to be a dancer, you will know what I'm talking about.

If you don't, well this is why: Dancers are interested in seeing everything to learn from mistakes (if any). To re-learn intricate steps and correct posture and body alignments (if wrong).

Sounds familiar? Of course. It is cut and pasted from a paragraph a little before this.

That being said, I'm glad the photographers and videographers for this year's The Dance Within 2: Beyond the Dream are so much better and well-informed than last year. Well, especially the videographers.

Monique and I just learned why editing could be so costly today. We edited the two-hour show (and more, whatwith backstage preparation and the aftershow mingle shots) in eight hours. It is a very painful and tedious experience, but Mr. Wawan from OneStudio Jakarta was so very patient with all our whims and wishes (and downright madness).

20 pieces of chocolate biscuits. 10 digital video tapes. 9 hours of footage. 10 hours of nonstop editing. two crazy bitches. one depressed video-editor. one computer.

One final ~~masterpiece~~ umm... thing that we can really be proud of.

The DVD of "The Dance Within 2: Beyond the Dream" will be released soon right before Christmas 2010.

bollywood enchantment

2010-12-10T05:54:00.005-08:00

Several months ago, I believe it was the beginning of 2010, I went to Nehru Center, the Indian cultural center, to fulfill my New Year's resolution: to study Kathak.

Nehru Center is ridiculously near my house. And I had always wanted to expand my dance repertoire. So away I went. I had been making phone calls earlier, but decided to just go. The registration fee was next to nothing and so I thought, "Wow, this is a great bargain!"

I told my friends from Dancewave Center and velvetRAQS to join, and finally, Monique, Mifta, and Yulia came on board.

Alas, work overwhelmed me and I missed lots of classes, and when I got in, it had become awfully hard for me to continue. I had to let it go.

In the end, only Yulia and Monique stayed. Yulia even got to perform with the teacher!

To tell you the truth, I've always been a fan of Bollywood movies ever since I was in primary school. Probably because of John Abraham. Okay, so I just spent fifteen minutes searching for the hottest, yet SFW (safe for work) pic of John Abraham, and I found so many that I'll just give you this link. And yeah, it's SFW, despite its warning.

But another more definite reason is because of the dancing and singing and the wide-angle shots and the gardens and the glitters and the sequines and the saris... When it's happy, it's bursting with colors and joy. When it's sad... It's dark and gloomy. Everything is full of drama.

Many of the best dance scenes aren't from Moulin Rouge or Chicago or Step Up series, but from Bollywood movies. (I'm not even going to mention Nine because everyone knows it's godawful.)

The real Bollywood dance, as the name suggests, is a blend of traditional Indian dances (I'm thinking the likes of Kathak, Bharata natyam, and Odissi), sometimes with the more modern Bhangra, and almost always with Hip Hop and Modern or Contemporary. It is either danced in a pair, or really epic.

For The Dance Within 2: Beyond the Dream, since the story revolves on dances around the world, Bollywood is on the list. I found a really neat song called "Aaja Nachle", one of the songs from a movie with the same title, starring the incomparable Madhuri Dixit. Just so you know, "Aaja Nachle" means "Let's Dance", so it's really apt for the show. Yulia then choreographed the dance and I could finally do one of my lifelong dreams: to dance Bollywood style.

There was a time when I got so depressed: I wanted to dance Bollywood, but I didn't know how. Everytime I tried, it looked too Oriental and I didn't want that. I wanted it to look Bollywood. I guess that night, our hard work was finally paid off.

"Aaja Nachle" piece in The Dance Within 2: Beyond the Dream.

Bollywood can be cheesy if the choreographer and the director demand it to be so. Bollywood can be over the top if needed. But I'm telling you, it takes more than that. In the show, the piece was danced by both Hip Hop and Oriental students and teachers of Dancewave Center. I heard one Hip Hop student said the dance we were learning was so damn hard that she would never look down on Bollywood movies ever again.

Amen to that.

The shoulder movements are different, the way we carry the movements are different, far different from Hip Hop and Oriental. I found myself trying hard to adjust to this new thing. But still, it is one of my favorite pieces of the show.

There's an Indian wedding gig coming up on the 26th. The client requests two Bollywood songs and one Oriental. Let's just hope we can really entertain those real Indians. One thing for sure: I wouldn't be wearing the dots above my eyebrows as usual when I'm dancing Oriental / Tribal Fusion.

Photo by Si Troy.

creative juices

2010-12-08T09:12:00.020-08:00

Call me an amateur in web-design. Call me whatever you want. I've been designing webs and blogging since 1998. That's been what? Twelve years? But I know we can't judge skills and abilities from the period of time ~~wasted~~ used on doing something.

Last night when I was sorting some four friggin' thousand (that's 4,000) photos from The Dance Within 2: Beyond the Dream, I found some really neat images I could play around and voila! In less than ten hours (yes, it was that long), the new Dancewave Center's website is up and running.

The screen shot.

I live in a house with somewhat little privacy. My parents never allow the children to have television in the bedroom. The TV (and dining) room is where we all meet and talk about the day's work. Sometimes it annoys me because I really want to just watch the television.

I have a laptop and my home is wi-fi enabled so I can bring my laptop to my room and do my stuff. But I really love working with my desktop since it's faster and the monitor is bigger. My desktop is situated in an area in the house with no partition whatsoever. So sometimes the noise from the other rooms reach my ears when I'm doing something.

After years of ~~suffering~~ adapting to the situation, I've become quite nocturnal. I appreciate the silence and stillness of midnights and early mornings or when my family is away. Don't get me wrong, I love their companionship. I'd go crazy without them. But I also like a time of my own when I can put on my headphone and create a choreography in 30 minutes (albeit a simple one).

Ah, Amr Diab... You sexy beast! I can't believe he's 47!

This is the song I'm talking about. It was sitting in my library for months and then one night,

I was listening to it and the inspiration hit me.

It left me sweaty and breathless and my juices running like the Japanese bullet train.

I rarely blog during the day, let alone write an essay or a poem. And since night is the only time I have for myself, to reflect and to think, I didn't have the time to blog about anything in November due to the rehearsals and practices and sewing.

No, I'm not trying to make an excuse as to why I've only written ten (eleven with this one) entries up until now and 2010 is almost over! And no, I'm not trying to write something random just to make it look like I'm being productive. *sigh*

It's really... I don't know... liberating to be able to write something that's almost not related to dance in this blog.

I think now that I can focus on other things in my life (more stressful than managing a dance performance), I can write more. Hopefully tomorrow evening.

Don't forget to check out Dancewave Center's new website, guys!

of dance and dreams (and manners in watching art performances)

2010-12-07T07:03:00.012-08:00

First of all, let me just say that I thoroughly enjoyed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Partly because of this scene below where Harry and Hermione dance to relieve the tension. That's such a propaganda coming from me, I know. But dance does things, and one of them is relieving stress.

And I almost cried three times during the movie, something that never happened during any of the Potter movies. And Beedle the Bard really makes me understand why many people think JK Rowling is a genius. I can't wait to see the conclusion!

Now, on to some notes regarding The Dance Within 2: Beyond the Dream that was finally wrapped on November 27th, 2010. The show took place in Gedung Kesenian Jakarta and was the culmination of the hard work of all cast and crew. More on that later.

One thing that I have to highlight is the fact that you have to be prepared for replacements (dancer, crew, etc). Our music technician got ill just a few days before the show and thank goodness the replacement did the whole thing just as well.

I know it would be another thing to replace a dancer, especially the lead dancer, but fortunately that didn't happen. It would be a lot harder because that means compromising many things, including artistic vision.

That being said, honestly, this year's recital leaves a somewhat different impression on me. Everything happened so fast. Last year, I had the opportunity to watch other numbers from the side when I was waiting for my turn. This year, it was all about costume changes. I danced seven numbers with different props that were new to me (cane and Isis wings). And I had to spend the last minutes before the end of the show as a blind-mute.

Honestly, I was worried about my sword routine. Lilith fell so many times during the rehearsal, and she even cut my fingers and palms at one time when I tried to catch her. But I guess I did an okay job as she didn't fall although I was practically blind when dancing in the show.

Unlike The Dance Within, The Dance Within 2: Beyond the Dream is a lot more gloomy and depressive. Yes, there were quite a few happy highlights like the Bollywood number, but in all, I felt gloomy. I played Azrael, the Angel of Death, and in the end I had to kill The Dreamer, the main character. Although the finale took place in Heaven (with "When Love Takes Over" by David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland, no less), I still feel it was less festive than the first.

The cast, in the finale scene.

Gedung Kesenian Jakarta did a pretty good job with the lighting. We had positive reviews from the audience and from members of the media who attended the event. There are some inputs as well that we need to share during the post-mortem meeting.

But this is what got me on my nerves: the ticket was sold out a week before the show. We even decided to sell the tickets that were intended for the press when they said they wouldn't come. Some people were actually waiting to the very last minute to purchase the tickets. I even took the time to deliver the tickets myself and there was more than one time when I was ready to deliver and I didn't receive any confirmation message whatsoever. So I sold the tickets to someone else and got complaints from the person who was supposed to purchase them first.

I hope next year I won't have to deal with that.

The next thing I'd like to blog about is manners in watching art performances in theatres or art centers.

The first one is of course: do not be late. Dancewave Center has the habit of starting things (quite) on time. The Dance Within started 15 minutes late and The Dance Within 2: Beyond the Dream started 7 minutes late. That was an improvement. Whoever came in fifteen minutes after the first act had begun had to wait until the intermission to be allowed to enter.

The second one is taking photos and videos. Holly Hallelujah... We've specifically told the audience on the ticket, the flier, the playbill, and the voiceover that taking photos and videos are prohibited. We stated that IN TWO LANGUAGES! And yet I still saw people with handycams videotaping the event. We should've confiscated that. It was very, very rude. I promise you, next year, the security will be much more strict. When we say no video and no photo taking, that means no video and no photo taking.

The third one is: READ THE PLAYBILL!! It's theatrical, and sometimes it's not that easy to comprehend what's happening. The playbill helps you to understand the dances and the story-line. Come on, even in Ballet, the playbill serves as a guide to understand the story.

But apart from that, our audience was the loveliest. I sat sandwiched between two very talkative groups (in front of me and behind me) during Bellydance Jakarta's fifth annual recital. And to make matters worse, the woman in front of me kept leaning to the right to talk to her friend during the show, and she raised her hands to take photos of the dancers. Now that was downright rude and inconsiderate.

And oh, this is the best part: thank you, whoever brought small children and taught them to behave. I didn't hear any crying babies or children during my frightening dance.

Our audience dressed well. That was one highlight. Although I couldn't help but notice a foreigner, who happened to be a hip hop dance instructor from another dance institution in Jakarta, sitting with his CAP ON and his FOOT UP on the back of the chair in front of him. This was after the show ended, I know. And he has long legs and Gedung Kesenian Jakarta has little leg room, I know. But come on, Dude. I thought you knew better.

The Dance Within (1 & later 2) has always been about the culmination of hard work from everyone. I believe that's why we refuse to open (or end) the show with a speech and giving flowers or some other type of ego-fest. We were just glad everything was over and we did all the best we could. And the effort was everyone's.

I can't wait for The Dance Within 3.

Photo credits:

Lilith & me by Diana T. W.

Cast finale by Si Troy