Celeste's musings

Just listening is not enough

2012-03-08T13:32:00.003-05:00

When you're preparing for a performance, be it improv only or choreographed, you will obviously need to listen your piece... A LOT! I know that I've mentioned this before but, when I have selected my music for an upcoming performance, I listen to it back to back for like 1 hour each day for a while, typically at work or at home while doing something else.

Whether you've listened to your piece a few times only or back to back for 1 hour each day for a while, you may be surprised when you start playing with the piece in the studio/practice space that the dancing is not flowing as fast as you thought it would. What gives? Why isn't it just flowing out? You love that piece so what's wrong?

First thought that may come to mind is reconsidering whether this is the piece that you should be doing. While, sure, you can reconsider it, I would challenge you actually to keep working on it. You love the piece and you should follow your instincts. Also, quite honestly, it has been my experience that my best pieces have started very very awkward in the studio and have required a whole lot of work to make it happen... and those are the pieces from which I learned the most. So keep at it.

What I think is happening actually is a disconnect between how your ears are taking in the piece, how your brain is interpreting the sound waves, what emotions the piece evokes in you, and how your body responds to all that. First off, that's a whole lot of input that your body has to react to so it may get confused as to what it should be obeying to.

Secondly, when you're listening to the piece and not moving at the same time, your brain will generally be free to wander in whichever direction it wants to... but when you decide that it's time to dance on it, your left side of the brain may kick in too hard and is forcing your body to obey it and its very strict appreciation of the piece... or if it's your right side of the brain that kicks in too hard, you'll find yourself twirling and going "wheee!" and you'll be left wondering where the dancing went. :p Bottom line: you need both sides of the brain to work together... but it's very likely that they will fight at first. They'll eventually come to an agreement of who keeps track of what and it will get better from there.

Also, quite honestly, sometimes your body doesn't quite know what to do... and your brain may not even know what to tell the body to do. It happens. Again, it doesn't mean that you need to ditch the piece.

One striking example that I have about this phenomenon is whenever our troupe practices for an upcoming performance. We agree on a piece and everyone listens the hell out of it. Cool beans. The first time that we do our group improv to it in rehearsal, it's choppy, it's messy, and it never goes as planned. It comes as a surprise to a good number of the members. Well, the thing is that they had listened to the piece but had not tried to move to it. So now the body was going "Huh... what do you want me to do here?" and the left side of the brain is going "Where's the beat again? This is the first time that I'm hearing this!" and the right side of the brain is going "What do you mean I can't play now? I know that piece!" ;) Then we do it again and it gets better and better.

There are two take away messages that I want you to get from this blog post:

If the first attempt at working on a piece isn't perfect: do not despair! It will get better!
For all that I'd love to tell you that you can just pick a song and dance to it right away flawlessly, that'd be a lie. Just listening to a piece is not enough. You need to actually move to it too to get ready.

Go all out!

2012-02-28T14:14:00.003-05:00

This is a post that I meant to do right after 3rd Coast Tribal but then I forgot and time passed and all that. ;) It was particularly evident at 3rd Coast, where the crowd is always oh so supportive but I'm sure that you've seen this phenomenon before.

Nearly inevitably, in a belly dance show, there will be a dancer whose technique is just all right or not that great but, damn, she's having fun on stage, she doesn't care what the hell people think, she's just giving it her all... and the crowd reacts to her and give her some lovin'. Meanwhile, another dancer's technique is uber polished and she's hitting all the accents of the piece spot on but it's a little cold because she's holding back or something and the crowd is not reacting nearly as much.

As a fellow dancer, this may leave you scratching your head... but there is one important lesson here: whatever you do, GO ALL OUT!

First off, going all out means also exaggerating things. See, with distance between you being on stage and the audience, your normal smile won't cut it. I joke with my students and tribe sisters to do the "crazy cheerleader on crack smile" to get a smile that will be noticed in the crowd. Many have tried it and, you know what? This is generally just about the right amount of smile that will be noticed.

Secondly, the crowd will react oh so much more if you just give it your all vs. being reserved about it. So, yes, looking like a damn fool will give you more kudos than restraint. The stage ain't a Victorian salon. ;) That being said, that's not to say that you should strive for looking like a fool at all costs. But you know what I mean right?

It's oh so much easier said than done, I know. It took me quite a while to get the hang of it... it's getting much much better.

I know you've most likely heard this one before but it's oh so very true: no one on their death beds (or late in life) will lament "I so wish that I had held back for that performance!" It's rather the opposite.

So go all out! Much better than holding back!

Group Number = Trust!

2012-02-13T15:12:00.002-05:00

After we hit a little glitch or two during our performance this past Saturday, it made me ponder on how a group piece is all about trust... ESPECIALLY if we're talking about ATS/ITS. But it's actually true also in choreographed pieces.

That trust is not built overnight but takes time to develop. Depending on your personality, you'll either start with trusting others until proven wrong or mistrusting of others until proven wrong. It's okay. It's normal.

Whichever way you start out, though, the trust is built in the studio in rehearsal time. How can you make people trust you? Well, you need to show up to rehearsals, participate in them, learn what you need to learn, you probably will need to practice on your own too, and just simply be there when you need to be there.

So, for a choreographed piece, if you're the choreographer, you trust that your fellow dancers will learn the choreography and practice it so that the group looks polished and delivers on the choreography's promise. If you're a participant, you trust your choreographer that he/she will do a good job interpreting the music and putting together a cohesive piece that will make the group look good. If it's a choreography built by the group, then you need to trust each other to do all that: learn what needs to be learned, practice, interpret the music correctly, etc. You will also need to trust each other in a group-built choreography that each member can speak his/her mind freely and a healthy discussion can be had about ideas.

When it comes to ATS/ITS, again, there's a whole lotta trust there! As the leader, you trust that the followers will understand your cues. As the followers, you need to trust that your leader will cue the movements correctly. And that's why we drill, right? To get those cues in your body memory.

Note also that whatever I said that you trust the other person to do is what that person needs to deliver. For the trust to be built, you need to deliver on what people trust you to do. ;) And there's nothing like glitches to prove how it's actually going to work.

So, Saturday, one member of our group ended up having a brain fart... but we followed. The ending of the piece didn't go exactly as planned (natural pitfall of dancing to live music) but I made them shimmy the hell out of their bodies and they followed. I didn't even have to turn around to know that they were following. I felt it. Granted, us three who were performing that day have been dancing together for 7 years now so we're VERY familiar with each other. But the point is that, even though we were totally off ITS script, we still were able to deliver a cool performance... because we trusted each other.

When you see a troupe that has great chemistry, the #1 ingredient is trust... even beyond friendship and just liking each other. We've all had friends that we love to pieces but, damn, they're always late, never do what they promised, etc. We still love them, but the trust is not fully there. So the same thing can happen in a group. I dare say that a good chunk of group drama is about this trust issue... and, well, crystal clear communication (but that would be a topic for a whole different blog entry). So, just like I mentioned in my Be A Good Belly Dance Citizen entry (see http://celestesmusings.blogspot.com/2011/08/be-good-belly-dance-citizen.html), you need to do what you said you would to build your trust with your group. And then you have fun moments like shimmying for ever while on stage and get to laugh about it. ;)

Belly Dancers Crowd

2012-02-06T13:13:00.003-05:00

I want to go back and expand on some of what I talked about in last week's blog (http://celestesmusings.blogspot.com/2012/01/3-groups-in-crowd.html ). Namely, I want to address the fears around dancing in front of other belly dancers.

It is very common for belly dancers to be afraid of performing in front of other belly dancers. I used to feel like that too and I still do every now and then but that fear has eased substantially over the years.

Fears

One of the biggest fears is that other belly dancers will figure out where you went wrong in your choreography. Really, we don't know. There is no way for us to know where you went wrong in your choreography unless you give it away. So if you have a good poker face, we won't ever know. Heck, there have been a few times when one of my students added in her performance one of our ITS combos but the combo had been tweaked... or so I thought... so I would say something like "I really liked what you did in that combo, how you modified it." and nearly every time, the answer was "OMG! I messed up the combo! I had meant to do it as is." And that is when I teach them the lesson of just saying "Thank you!" :p So, again, I knew what the combo was supposed to be but they had changed it... and I had no way of knowing that it was an accident. ;) There actually is no magic guide that tells me where you went wrong unless you tell me either through your words afterwards or in your face during the performance.

Another fear is that dancers will see all your technical flaws. Well, yes, it's possible that we'll see them. Generally, though, that thought will quickly come and go, especially if you're really flowing with the piece.

You may also fear that another dancer would disagree with how you choreographed the piece. Well, you know, there are many ways to skin a cat. So while, yes, I may have had a different approach, yours is valid too.

Really, what it boils down to is the fear of being judged. Unless you're participating in a belly dance contest, you won't be. Seriously.

Advantages

On the surface, dancing for the general public seems like it's so much easier. And it is easy. But, actually, there are a number of advantages to performing in front of a belly dance audience.

Educated audience

You'll have the benefit of an educated audience. They will know what belly dance is (and isn't) so you don't have to educate them as to that. For example, you won't get the "take it off!" cat calls. But more than the crude comments, they'll actually understand when you're doing a piece that is more folkloric or the intricacies of lead/follow in ATS/ITS or things like that.

Technically savvy

They'll also be technically savvy so your amazing combo won't be lost on them. The general public will have about the same reaction for a simple hip drop vs. an amazingly well layered combo... seriously, they won't see much difference. But the belly dance audience will see the difference. They will also realize when a simple isolation has been very well executed.

Feedback

You can get valuable feedback if you ask the appropriate people (see this previous blog entry on that topic: http://celestesmusings.blogspot.com/2010/09/finally-long-awaited-follow-up-blog-on.html ). I know, you don't want to be judged and all but you can ask someone what they thought about your performance, what can be improved upon, etc. This is material that will help you grow and you simply won't get that from the general audience.

Understanding of your level

For the general public, they won't realize the difference between a belly dancer who has been doing it for 6 months vs. 6 years... so they will lump all performers in the same bucket and judge you equally. So, yes, of course, your performance may not stack up but they won't get that nor why. A belly dance audience will totally understand what your level is and will assess your performance at that level.

We're all in this together

Another thing is EVERYONE who performs gets nervous before going on stage. Seriously. Even Rachel Brice and Ariellah and Tempest and < insert any dancer's name >. So there's this element of "we're all in this together" that brings us closer and makes for a supportive feeling that you won't get from the general public. In the general public, just a few people are performing... in a belly dance crowd, lots of folks will step on that stage... so they understand what it feels like to step on that stage.

Bottom line

So while, yes, a general public audience is less nerve racking, a belly dance audience is not nearly as much of a monster as you make it out to be. I seriously can count on the hands of one hand the events when the belly dance audience wasn't extremely supportive. And I can't think of a time when it was downright hostile. It's really all in your head.

Having seen also a number of dancers who very rarely perform for a belly dance audience, I can also tell you that I've generally seen less improvement in their performance quality than those who routinely dance for belly dance audiences. Again, I strongly believe that you will learn a whole lot about performing by dancing in front of other belly dancers. And they won't judge you the way you think they will.

The 3 groups in the crowd

2012-01-31T10:36:00.002-05:00

As most of you who read this regularly know (or if you know me), you know that I used to have stage fright. It's really an irrational fear of looking like a fool on stage. But who's taking notice, right? The audience is. That's who I was afraid of. As I mentioned in the past, really, the audience wants to be entertained and just wants you to do your best. They're really on your side. Logically, that sounds true but I had a hard time believe it...

Until I had a dream. The dream itself wasn't important but it revealed to me the 3 groups in the crowd who will always be there, pretty much wherever you go.

The Fans

These are the audience members who love you whatever you do. Bless their hearts, they make you feel good about yourself. These can be your students if you're a teacher, your teacher if you're the student, people who have seen you progress and grow, your spouse, your family, etc. As you progress in this dance, this group will become larger.

You don't need to worry about these folks when you perform because they will love it, no matter what. You can actually use their positive energy to fuel your dance! I most certainly do that! Finding one of those friendly faces in a crowd is a blessing! Use them to your advantage.

The Haters

Those people will hate what you do, whatever it is. So, yes, the total opposite of The Fans. Now, why they hate what you do may be different depending on the source of their hate. It could be that your style is one that they abhor. It could be because they don't like belly dance in general (that'd be the case when I'm dancing at the restaurant, for example, and I find someone (or a group) who seems to give me dirty looks). It could be because they only like < insert narrow definition of belly dance > and that's not what you're doing.

You also don't need to worry about these folks! There is absolutely no point in spending time and energy worrying about them or trying to convince them that they're wrong. They have passed judgment on you already... oftentimes even before you're hitting the stage. Don't let their attitude bring you down. They will generally not tell you anything anyway so you won't even know much that they're there. But, again, no point in worrying about them.

Interestingly, as you progress in dance, this group can become smaller or bigger! It all depends on so many things.

The Rest aka The Jury

The rest of the folks have no idea who you are, what you do, what you are about, and they're just willing to go along for the ride. So, I called them "the jury" because, simply put, the jury is still out on you. Quite frankly, for all that you may try to bucket folks into each of the categories, the truth is that the bulk of your audience will be in this category. I don't quite like the term "jury" because it's not like they're really passing judgment on you... though they are certainly entitled to have an opinion about your piece, just like everyone else.

Now, should you worry about them? No, actually, you don't even need to worry about them whatsoever! With them, you are actually starting with a completely clean slate and, well, they are taking you in as you're dancing and all.

General Population versus Belly Dancers

So, whether you're doing a show for belly dancers or for the general population, the 3 groups will be there... the proportions may be different, though.

General population

Generally speaking, in a show for the general population, nearly everyone will be in "the jury" category: few people will really have seen belly dance before and, unless they have some misconception of what belly dance is, they will be quite open to the experience. Now, there's a possibility that you will have some "haters" because of said misconceptions. But it's actually a much smaller proportion of people than you'd think. And, quite frankly, I've had a number of folks who have told me that they started with a misconception and I dispelled it. (Happens a lot when I dance at the restaurant.) So they were not full on "haters" but more like "biased jury". :p

Belly dancers

We often feel sooooooooo self-conscious dancing in front of other dancers. You think that they'll figure out where you went wrong and all that. Truth is that, actually, the bulk of the audience will still be in "the jury" category, unless it's a toxic crowd, which happens every now and then... but I think that I can count on one hand the number of times that this happened to me. Really, we're not there to pass judgment on you. Just like the general population, we want you to do your thing. Now, you may find a bit more "haters" in a show for belly dancers but, again, they'll generally be silent so you won't even notice them too much. You will have a whole lot more fans there, though.

Bottom Line

Really, bottom line, for all that these 3 groups are in the audience, there's really no point in worrying about any of them. You can use the fans to your advantage, pulling their positive energy to keep you going. The rest is up to you. Simply put, you need to do the best that you can under the circumstances and the crowd will react whichever way it will react. Some audiences are very supportive; others are not. It's unfortunately part of the performance experience. Learning to deal with each type of support is an important part of learning how to perform. But it's also important to realize that what each group in the audience is thinking about you is totally out of your control.

The only thing that you have control over is what you are actually doing on stage. That's why you prepare these things ahead of time. The day of the performance is the time to execute to the best of your abilities. Be present, in the moment. And don't spend time worrying about what the audience thinks.

Music exploration

2012-01-16T08:41:00.002-05:00

This has been a disturbing trend that I've noticed (at least I find it disturbing) where some new dancers wait to be spoon fed music instead of doing their own research.

Finding out new (to you) music is a big part of belly dance. I think that it's crucial that you dig around for all kinds of music. Beats Antique is awesome and totally danceable and has good roots in Middle Eastern tones but it's not the end all be all of belly dance music.

Digging around for music is going to help you pinpoint a bit better what you personally like in terms of style and music tone. There are so many options out there, don't stop at just what you see the big names do.

Speaking of big names, I think that there's a little known fact that most of them know classical Middle Eastern music and modern music from the Middle East as well. I was lucky that my first instructor, who was teaching Raqs Sharqi back in Quebec, was a big fan of the likes of Hossam Ramzi and George Abdo so she was using those classics in all classes.

I've seen tribal fusion dancers dismiss the good old classics and even generally Middle Eastern music altogether because they do fusion. While, yes, when I do my fusion work, I do use modern Western music, I think that going back to using more downright Middle Eastern music every once in a while (at least in your practice) is a great idea that will help you deepen your understanding of belly dance. Why? Quite simply, the moves fit the music... and, well, vice versa. If you're doing some of your even most basic moves to Middle Eastern music, you'll find that it's a natural fit and you'll feel the moves differently.

So, how do you find new music? It's really everywhere.

Using iTunes

You can definitely use your iTunes to help you. You can follow threads of "people who bought this album you're seeing also bought XX." And keep following those threads. You'll discover interesting things that way. Also, you'll be able to find podcasts and users' playlists as well as "essential" lists. It's quite useful. If you like a song excerpt and want to hear more, head over to Youtube and do a search for that song title. You'll be surprised at how many songs/pieces are in full on youtube. Sometimes, though, you gotta use a little faith and take a plunge. If it's just a song, then it's a risk of 1$ only.

Using Youtube

As weird as it sounds, you can follow "threads" on youtube as well. So you do a search for a song/artist. On the right, you'll have a list of other videos probably by said artist or other artists who have done other versions of the same song... or just something entirely different. That's actually how I discovered Infected Mushroom, an Israeli electronica band and I fell madly in love with their piece Becoming Insane, which I danced at Tribal Revolution a few years ago. And I have other examples of finding amazing music that way.

Using Pandora

Pretty much everyone knows about Pandora but, in case you don't, it's a very interesting thing where they have categorized music based on characteristics instead of just styles. So if you like an artist, you can type in the name and it will create a radio station for you based on other music that has similar characteristics. I've discovered a lot of good music that way too. Their link is www.pandora.com

Using internet searches/Wikipedia

This should be obvious but people forget about it. You can simply do a search for an artist or a song or a genre and should find other artists/songs in the same style. Why? People will often list their inspiration or what they sound like so searches will pick up on that. Wikipedia has a lot of information on there and, especially if you look up a style, you'll find other artists in the same style. Don't know the style of the artist that you like? Search for said artist on Wikipedia and they'll tell you... and then you can click that link... and follow links after links after links.

Take the time

We all have busy lives and, in this electronic age, it seems like everything is going super fast... but you can actually use this era to your advantage: finding music is easier than ever! I remember the days pre-internet when you had to take a chance on a cassette (yes, cassettes back then) that was a compilation with Arabic writings and (most likely) a camel on the cover. And those were expensive... and so hard to find! Now, we can find music from the Middle East without even leaving your house! And you'll even find reviews, translation of lyrics, etc. That being said, it does take time to follow threads and search for music and listen to it and all. But that is an extension of your belly dance practice. That is part of what being a belly dancer is. You can dance without music (Onca proved it magnificently) but, you know, generally speaking, you'll need to dance to music... do your homework and figure out music on your own.

Note: You'll notice that I didn't mention very many music artists. The reason for it is that it would be the equivalent of spoon feeding you the music. ;)

Performance objectives

2012-01-10T09:18:00.003-05:00

So, as an expansion of a point that I made in yesterday's post, I wanted to address some things from the first performance and subsequent ones too. In the blog, I mentioned "Will it be the best performance that anyone has ever seen? Of course not."

This is where there is a natural dichotomy that will happen:

On the one hand, you'll totally realize that it's your first performance so you'll keep your expectations reasonable.

On the other hand, you are aspiring to do something good and have seen many shiny dancers that you wish you could emulate.

Obviously, in your first performance, you'll want to keep your expectations reasonable. What would those expectations be? Nearly all the dancers that I know or have seen do their first performance will say "One of my goals is not to fall on my ass." As weird as it sounds, it's a fear that happens a lot when we start. Believe me: you won't. So that's an easy objective to attain.

Beyond that, though, you should simply strive to do the best that you can. Sounds corny but, seriously, that's really key here. And that is actually an objective that will follow you through all your dance years. Whatever level you are at, you will strive for that.

For the first performance (and first few performances at that), that should suffice in terms of objective: not fall on your ass and do the best you can.

As you are progressing, though, you'll start to have more specific objectives. You'll want to pick 1 or 2 things that you want to focus on for that specific performance. For example: Don't look down/keep the gaze level. Make eye contact with one person. Make sure that the moves are completed before doing the next move. You know... things like that.

The key for any performance is being ready ahead of time. Whether you do improv or choreography, you'll want to have worked with the piece enough to be ready to perform it. For all that you may believe that top names just whip up something, hell no, they don't. They do spend the time in the studio working the piece. And, again, that's whether they do choreography or improv.

So prepare yourself for the performance as much as you can, set up some reasonable objectives, and set forth and conquer this skill, one performance at a time!

Work in progress

2012-01-09T10:33:00.003-05:00

Just got back from 3rd Coast Tribal, which was awesome, as usual. I studied a lot with Donna Mejia and Deb Rubin this time. There were interesting revelations/discoveries that I won't go into except to say that, for the first time in a long time, I have specific things that I want to work on. That is always awesome when that happens but, I have to say, it's also humbling. Because it's an acute reminder that you are still a student in dance and, whatever you have accomplished thus far, there is more to learn. Again, which is awesome and one of the reasons why I love dance so much.

On Saturday, as my brain was absorbing all the info from the weekend and I was watching the show, a part of me was wondering why I perform when, really, I still have so much to learn. I quickly quieted that part (the stupid Censor/negative voice) but I figured that it was actually a great topic for a blog.

I have a bunch of students who are interested in performing and the #1 comment that they retort when I tell them to just start doing it is that they feel that they are not ready. But I know these ladies. They are ready to perform. Will it be the best performance that anyone has ever seen? Of course, not. It would be their first performance. But are they ready to take that first step? Absolutely.

The truth is that you will ALWAYS have something to learn. You could ALWAYS do something better.

Nothing you do will EVER be perfect. It can get close to perfection. But I believe that perfection is never fully achieved. I have seen countless big names in belly dance backstage and, while their performances can achieve something that we perceive as perfection, I can tell you that all of them always have a little something that they wish that they had done better/differently.

So, with that said, if you wait for being perfect before hopping on the stage, you will never hop on that stage.

Moreover, performing is a skill just like technique. And there is absolutely no substitute for actually doing it. So while you may get ready as much as you want in your living room or dance studio, it's not the same as performing in front of an audience. It takes multiple times of doing it to get the hang of it, to understand what works well, what doesn't, what you need to do (or not do) to get in that performance mode, etc. Again, you can read about it, you can think about it but it will never be the same as doing it. And, just like it takes time drilling moves so that they become ingrained in your body, it takes time performing to become a good performer.

So, I'm imploring you to quiet that part of you that is making you think that you are not ready to perform: you most likely are. And, importantly, you will always be a work in progress, whichever level you're at, so you may as well improve your performing skills as you're improving other aspects of your dance. Just go out there and do your thing!

Advice received

2012-01-03T14:50:00.002-05:00

I actually meant to post this before the Holidays but, hey, right at the start of the new year is not a bad idea. ;) This post will contain some of the very valuable advice that I have received over the years. I have received many more pieces of advice but I'll just focus on a few pieces.

Fake it until you feel it! - Lala Hakim

This takes me back to my early days in belly dancing... all the way back to Quebec City. My first workshop was with Lala Hakim, an Egyptian dancer who lived in Montreal. Anyway. I know that this is an old saying but that was the first time that I heard it. And, well, it's so true! It will hide a world of issues/insecurities.

The only failed performance is one from which you haven't learned anything - Mira Betz

We all have times when you are afraid of performing. If you have stage fright as I used to, it's even more acute of a feeling. But we all go through times when we're afraid. Mira's point here is that, even if the performance failed (and that definition is up to you), as long as you can learn something from it, it was worth it. Learning what didn't go so well is about as important as learning what went well.

Knowledge over trinkets - Asharah

Okay, that's not exactly how she had phrased it. I don't remember the exact words but that's me paraphrasing. Asharah had posted a blog many years ago about her not having the latest fashion in costuming or spending a ton of money on costuming but, instead, choosing to spend her money on workshops. I have spent money on both myself but, now that I have a dance studio, money is tighter... so I've cut back a lot on my costume spending... but I didn't cut much on my workshop spending. For all that I spent a lot of money on costuming items in the past, I spent way more on workshops. Knowledge sticks. Fashion comes and goes. While, yes, you do need to look polished enough in your costuming for a performance, if you don't have the skills and knowledge, you'll just be wearing a pretty costume. You need to keep honing your skills. Branch out and explore new styles, new things. You may decide that it's not for you. Or you may find something of interest. But you won't know until you do it.

Just Dance! - Ariellah

I am an habitual overthinker. So, after a lot of e-mails back and forth in which I was asking Ariellah a ton of philosophical questions, she told me to stop thinking and just dance! Sometimes we spend too much time in our heads, contemplating, pondering, imagining... but, at some point, you have to actually dance if you want to dance and be a dancer. Alternately, I had a student who read the blog post entry where I had written about that advice originally and, to her, that meant forgetting about other stuff that weren't dance-related... and just focusing on dance. There are many ways that this could be interpreted. Whatever works for you.

A performance isn't complete until it is performed. - Tempest

This was in a private session where I was lamenting about how I have great ideas for what to do on stage and practice and I even used to choreograph... but then sometimes it just wouldn't come out as planned. Tempest was encouraging to relinquish control when that happens and let whatever will flow out of my body happen. In taking that advice to heart, I ended up looking less hesitant on stage because what would happen is that something else would start flowing out of my body but my brain suddenly remembered what I was supposed to do and stop the motion... so the moment was gone and I ended up looking indeed like I had started the "wrong" thing. She also explained it that it's like telling a story: even if you tell the same story over and over again, every single time, there will be slightly different nuances, different words used, etc. It's near impossible to replicate the same story identically each time. No worries. It's still a good story. Her point also was that you can rehear in your living room (or dance studio) as much as you want but it's not a performance until it's performed.

Focus on yourself. - Belladonna

This was in answer to me complaining that I should be further in my dance and Bella told me "Really, the only thing that you can do is focus on yourself, hone your skills, work on your technique and your artistry. Forget about everyone else." It is SO easy to get caught up/wrapped up in comparing yourself with others. The tricky part with belly dance (and it may be true with other art as well but can't vouch for it firsthand) is that there really isn't anything that says that you have been dancing for XX time so you should be at XX level. No two people develop in the same fashion. So you may have been dancing for 10 years and see this youngling who has been dancing for 2 years and is quite successful... and maybe even more talented than you! Art and dance aren't fair. It doesn't work that way. I unfortunately spent some time myself comparing myself to others... that time that you spend doing that is totally pointless. And, worst of all, it brings you down. Instead, if you re-focus your attention on yourself, what you've accomplished, the progress you have made, where you want to go with your dance, etc., it's a much more sane way of spending your time and energy. And, well, obviously, THAT is what will bring you the results that you are striving for.

It will happen whether you're ready or not... so you may as well be ready.

This one's from me. This was my lesson of 2011. There have been a number of events in 2011 for which I've dug my heels. I didn't want to go. So many reasons and excuses for why not. Timing wasn't right. Money was tight. Performance piece wasn't as ready as I'd like it to be. I don't want to leave work. I don't want to leave the house. If only I had more time... If only... Well, you know what? The events happened. They were fun. It all worked out. I'm damn glad that I went to them all. The truth is that time will not stand still. It keeps moving. So the time that you spend worrying or, worse still, being in denial that an event is going to happen on XX day, time will move on and the event will still happen. So, instead, spend the time getting ready. You need a performance? Prepare it, work at it. Money is tight? Assess options to do the event on a budget. Work is crazy? Try to get as much done as you can and, well, you know what?, they CAN live without you. Of course, you can also choose not to go to an event. But, believe me, you'll regret it afterwards.

Be a good belly dance citizen

2011-08-15T14:37:00.001-04:00

As I’ve travelled extensively over the last few years, I’ve seen all kinds of behaviors from dancers. I’ve even seen or heard of dancers behaving so badly that they ended up being banned from participating in certain events. I was trying to think of what makes the difference between a pleasant dancer that you love having at your event vs. the not so pleasant one that you hope won’t ask to be part of your event ever again. What it boils down to is ethics and common courtesies! Here are a few things that help (in random order):

Be there on time! Oftentimes, an arrival time or check in time will be requested out of performers. Please try to respect that as much as possible. This helps considerably lower the blood pressure of whoever is hosting. Plus, that ensures that you’ll indeed be there for your performance. I’ve seen countless dancers arrive late and then the line up needs to be re-shuffled. Most hosts/hostesses are nice enough that they will accommodate you but try not to abuse their good grace. There was one event that I went to years ago when the MC was going down the list: “Next up we have XX.”… crickets and no dancer… “Is XX here? Not yet? Okay… is YY here?”… crickets… “Okay… Is ZZ here?” Seriously, I think that it took like 5 times of the MC saying that before she got to “Is Celeste here?” and I got to reply with a sultry “I am.” that got me a cheap pop of applause if only for actually being there.

It’s okay to say no. Women often have a hard time saying no but, believe me, you’re better off saying no than cancelling at the last minute. It is okay to look at your schedule and reply to an offer with a polite decline. Seriously, the person on the receiving end will appreciate this reply much more than you cancelling at the last minute because of whatever reason. It’s a tricky thing, though, of course. First off, when you get the offers, it seems like it’s all doable. So it does take a few times of overdoing it to realize what is your maximum amount of dancing that you can do (in a day, a week, a month…) and accept that that’s what it is. Secondly, it inevitably feels like you’re prioritizing someone’s event over someone else’s… and it feels wrong on so many levels. But, at some point, you have to do just that. Thing is: you can’t do it all! And giving a subpar performance or having to cancel on someone will look much much worse than having said no at the start.

Honor your commitments. If you’ve agreed to an event, please do show up! I’ve seen many flaky people who just don’t show up. Even in the situation above, if you can muster it, even while being exhausted, try to show up to the event. It will say volumes about you. Not showing up on a regular basis will definitely give you the reputation for being flaky… and then you either will be banned or a last-minute addition to a show (which sounds cool on paper but is far from cool) or just plainly people won’t believe that you’ll be there. It’s really hurting your reputation.

Don’t take too much space. When you’re getting ready, try to minimize the space that you are using backstage. If you look around, you’ll notice that, frequently, the level and fame of the dancer is inversely proportionate to the amount of space that a dancer is using backstage. It’s almost like some dancers believe that there’s status or something in having their stuff all over the backstage area. I’ve had to fight for my tiny spot countless times. Thanks to working in a restaurant where I have a tiny office room to get changed in, I’m now very much used to only needing a small amount of space to get ready in. Essentially, you want to try to use about the size of your bag and not too much more. And try not to monopolize the mirror(s)! Seriously, there are steps that you can do without being in front of the mirror, you know… ;)

Try not to (unknowingly) sabotage another dancer. This is tricky because it can happen without you realizing what you are doing and different people will react differently to things being said around them. However, I’ve seen countless shows where dancers get so frantic backstage that they will say things that are really baffling… off hand remarks that really originate from nerves but, given that the other person is nervous too, it may ruffle their feathers. And I’ve been to shows where the backstage area feels like a slaughterhouse. I know that I’m goth and all but, lemme tell you, it ain’t a fun feeling… and it ain’t the “good” spooky kind. If you do feel like the atmosphere backstage is very bad/poisonous, you may need to remove yourself from it… but then again sometimes you need to get ready in that darn room. Sometimes even putting on the iPod is not enough so you gotta learn to make do. Now, what you can do to help is try to keep a positive state of mind. It’s sometimes easier said than done but, seriously, try to be as positive as you can and it should help.

Assume that others have good intentions. Until proven wrong, I try to assume that others have good intentions or rather don’t have bad intentions. Even in the event of someone who is casting off bad vibes backstage that feel like sabotage, I will typically assume that it’s just her nerves getting the better of her. I think that a lot of drama and hurt could be avoided by this mindset. I won’t add too much about this as Tempest had two great blogs about it that you should go read (http://darklydramatic.blogspot.com/2011/04/like-dislikes-like.html and http://darklydramatic.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-make-it-in-bellydanceor-not.html )

Sometimes, you should just shut up. As we get nervous, we sometimes will say the darndest things (see above). So sometimes, you should just refrain from saying what you want to say. And just in general, try to keep your filter VERY tight. You never know who is listening.

In line with the title here, if you are in someone’s workshop or class, don’t make it all about you. You can (and should) ask questions about moves and all. But it shouldn’t detract from the progression of the workshop or class. Unless you have a private or semi-private class with someone, don’t behave like you’re having a private moment with the teacher. We’ve all been in workshops where it seems like this one dancer is having a private lesson with the instructor because she wants to converse as if that was the case… but there’s really 50 other dancers who are trying to move forward with what the workshop is teaching. So, again, do ask questions but be careful not to monopolize the teacher’s attention.

Remember who you are representing. This is taking it a step further but, really, when you behave badly or weirdly, you gotta remember who you are representing…

You are representing your teacher, from whom you’ve taken regular classes. Chances are that you will divulge who said teacher is so what you do will potentially reflect on her as well.
You are representing your town/area where you are from. Taken to the extreme, some could say “oh, the girl from XX town is like (insert negative remark).” Next time they see someone from your same town/area, they may think that she is like you… until she proves them wrong maybe but you’ve set the stage for a rough start for someone else.
You are representing YOU! Above all else, though, you are representing yourself. So if you behave like a bitch, chances are you’ll be seen as a bitch… and bad reputation travels FAST! You don’t want people saying “Oh, you don’t want XX at your event because she’s a total bitch (or insert other negative comment).”

Be as gracious and as flexible as you can be. Performances and events are seldom easy and smooth sailing. There will be shifts in timing, schedule, the stage may not be what you were expecting, the crowd may not be what you were expecting, all kinds of things can go wrong. I’ve seen dancers throw near temper tantrums over shifts whereas the big name of an event is just rolling with the punches. The more you do this, the easier it gets to do, of course. But you can still be gracious about it. Now, I don’t mean to be a “welcome mat” and let people abuse you. Of course not!

Do cite your source. I’ve seen it too many times when a dancer is inspired by someone or blatantly stole something from someone else (be it a costuming element, dance move, whatever) and try to pass it as their own (i.e., as if they have created it themselves). There is no shame in saying “I was inspired by XX for this” or “I learned XX from YY.” It actually makes you appear savvy! And it gives back to whoever you drew inspiration from or who you learned something from. And it’s just plain good karma! :p

Treat others as you would like to be treated. This is an old adage that we all know, right? It totally applies in all things in life, including belly dance, of course. It requires somewhat of a taking a step back and assessing whether the behavior we are about to do or did would be something that would be okay if we are on the receiving end. Also, if you’ve seen behavior that annoys the hell out of you, try not to repeat it.

It's all cheesecake!

2011-08-01T10:28:00.003-04:00

This weekend, in the Museum Quality Intensive with Tempest (great time... will write a review on it soon), we were talking a few times about "it's cheesecake." Here's where that originates from.

This actually came from a conversation between Jeff (my hubby) and I about how, when you're seeing a lot of good performances in a show (and it's true just in general), what you end up preferring is like which cheesecake you prefer. Most people love cheesecake but there are a few who don't. If you fall in the latter category, you could replace cheesecake with another dessert but cheesecake works specifically well because there are a ton of different kinds of cheesecake.

Note also that your cheesecake preference can vary from day to day. So some days, you feel like having just regular New York style cheesecake with nothing on top; another day, you may want to add fruit toppings; next week, maybe you want something with chocolate; and then maybe something that sounds far out like "key lime pie cheesecake". That goes for you as the audience member as well as you as the dancer. ;)

Now, a good, solid, show will have like bite size (hopefully bite size) samplers of a bunch of cheesecakes. And, well, you'll probably go "Oh my god! This was awesome! Oh my god! This one's awesome too!" You may get points where you go "you know, this wasn't working for me" and that's fine. At the end of the evening, thinking back upon the samplers you tried, you may find a few that really hit a spot for you, some that didn't, and some that were really good still.

Bottom line: it's okay to have an opinion about what you are sampling (i.e., have an opinion about a performance... whoever the artist is). If you are the dancer, realize that there will be people who will like your cheesecake better than others but it doesn't mean that it wasn't a good cheesecake: it's a matter of preference.

Keeping with the analogy: it's important as a dancer to create the best cheesecake that you can with the ingredients that you have... and put your personal touch on it!

Museum Quality Intensive with Tempest

2011-07-04T10:03:00.003-04:00

Just a reminder that we are hosting Tempest (http://www.meddevi.com/ ) for an intensive in Indianapolis IN on July 29-31 titled Museum Quality: Art School for Bellydancers. Note that the early bird price will go up tomorrow! You don't want to miss this event! http://celestebellydance.com/museumquality.html

Growing up

2011-06-22T11:24:00.012-04:00

Interestingly, I was thinking of writing a blog about enjoying the process (and it's going to be the next blog) when I read one of Tempest's last blog posts (http://darklydramatic.blogspot.com/2011/06/inspiration-artist-audience.html ), which reminded me of a feeling that I've had lately when thinking back on when I started doing solo work... and it fits as a good preamble to enjoying the process. See, the "process" is different when you're in different phases of your journey.

So, yes, belly dance is a journey, especially if you are putting in art in your belly dance. And it feels a lot like growing up. Yes, again! Note that the length of each of the phases may differ from one person to the other but the ball park figure should be about right. I got the time estimates cited below from Tempest in a workshop and it kind of made sense at the time but not nearly as much as it does now that I can look back upon my growth as a dancer. Since the times and accompanying attitudes line up so well with different phases of our life, it made sense to dub them that.

Baby (0-1 years of dance)

The "baby" stage is when you've just learned your first few moves. A little bit like the babies in the picture, you'll have a mix of uber joy and dread. Like, "Oooh! This is fun!" and "You want me to do what?" At that stage, you are actually just trying to wrap your brain around the technique of the moves and everything seems so wonderful and whimsical. You're bombarded with information and probably don't know what to make of it... yet... so that part may seem overwhelming. But, generally, it's a happy place. ;)

Toddler (1-3 years of dance)

This is a time when you love absolutely everything that you do. It's so cool! You just love it all! It's a pleasure to dance, to perform, just going up there and doing your thing, whatever it is, is really blissful and enough of a reward.

Looking back upon it now that I'm further along my growth, to me, that time feels like I was a toddler doing finger painting, paint all over myself (as the picture depicts), flicking paint everywhere, hoping that it makes nice shapes. Also looking back at videographic evidence of those performances, I now shudder. Understanding that I was still a new dancer helps but it is still a bit of a reality check now... and, in a way, a cool reminder of how far I've progressed.

But progress you will or rather should. This stage is fine for a while but you have to move on and work on delivering more refined performances. I've seen dancers stuck on this stage... it ain't pretty... :s

Teenager (4-6 years of dance)

Teenage years are different from one person to the other. In the case of dance, it will be the self-loathing, "I hate everything!" version. This is a period where you will hate what you're putting out. Now, whether what you are putting out is bad or not is totally debatable... or, actually, more often than not, it's actually not bad at all. There's just something missing... it's not quite what you want to present... it's not quite as spiffy as you'd like, not quite as technical, not quite as intense, not quite as < insert whatever thing you desire in your

dance >. In reality, this is the moment when you are finding your voice in dance, your artistic side, your personal style, etc. It's probably THE moment when you are going through that belly dance ADD that I mentioned in a previous blog post the most (see http://celestesmusings.blogspot.com/2011/02/belly-dance-add.html )

These years will feel like they take forever to get through. Believe me! It's really disheartening at times! You'll be disappointed in performances, sometimes right after you're done, sometimes days later... You'll feel like hanging your tassels a thousand times over. A lot of people actually will quit during that time. I danced for about 5 years while in Quebec before taking a 4-year break. Now, it's a long story but I think that I was mostly in that "toddler" stage the whole time or maybe had just entered the "teenage" period but I still did quit (and started the process all over again ;)).

You will greatly miss the blissful ignorance that you had in your toddler years and yearn for a similar feeling of being happy with your dance again. Teachers, mentors, fellow dancers will keep reminding you that it will get better and that what you are doing is good... it will be hard to see that there is an end to that period... but, yes, it WILL get better. Trust me! I just got out of that period!

Adulthood (6-?? years of dance)

Once you're through 'the dark years', you'll find a freedom to have fun and do whatever you want. It's quite blissful. As I mentioned already, I'm in this phase now. And I can tell you that there's a whole lotta fun to be had!

You will put out performances that you do like. Are they perfect? Of course not! But you won't be flustered/frustrated with the little hiccups as much. You'll keep refining your pieces, your general style, your eye, etc. But you'll generally be happy with your dance and where you're going. Will there still be pieces that you'll hate? It's possible. But, by this point, you'll have had enough training and experience to work out kinks in the studio and be prepared for the actual performance so that there should be few disappointments. In trying new things, also, you may hit a snag. But, again, you'll generally be happy with your dance and will find great freedom. (It's pretty exciting too, lemme tell ya!)

What's next?

When I started writing this blog post, I asked myself "What is there after the 'adulthood' stage? Is there anything? Is there another step or just retirement for dancing?" And then I remembered Artemis (who I've met many years ago and see at least yearly), Lee Ali (who I met at Tribal Fest this year), and Amel Tafsout (who I met at Tribal Revolution this year)... and I realized that that was the answer! These ladies just have fun. They don't have anything to prove to anyone anymore (not that it should be the basis of your dancing but there is some element of that whether you admit it or not) so they just do whatever the hell they want to. I picked this lovely picture of Amel because it shows a serene bliss that I sure hope to attain one day! ;)

Noir's process

2011-05-27T10:05:00.006-04:00

Today, I feel like sharing what was my process that I did for my piece I did at Tribal Fest, Noir. I did the piece a few other times but, ultimately, I knew that it was going to be my Tribal Fest performance piece. ;) You can see the footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rSEgKjjj5g&feature=share And go look it up before I divulge what the story is... so that you're not biased. ;)

Music

I stumbled upon that piece by Vernian Process and fell madly in love with it, especially since it had some sampling from Sin City and I LOVE that movie. I also very much liked the film noir feel... which is obviously what he was going for. He said he wrote the piece after having seen Sin City. A man after my own heart!

I have to say that, while I was in the beginning stage of working on Noir, I found out that he had re-edited the piece. I don't like it as much. It's not as raw. Kind of too polished. That's my opinion. ;) You can hear the newer version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fofqO2CwHdU

First Impressions

So I started out by wondering who I would really be: the femme fatale or the city? Sin City has this thread of the city as a femme fatale. So there was the option of actually doing both right there. However, the piece contains more sampling than just from Sin City and you can see them in the original video of the piece (you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btWrnnrRxtM ). So I decided to do some more digging.

Research

I was actually not very familiar with film noir movies. I mean, I knew the term and had seen some neo-noir movies (discovered that it's actually my favorite type of movie!) but I had not seen the vintage ones. I started by looking at the list of movies cited on the video to see what I could find from Netflix. I actually requested the DVD for Sin City and have not even looked at it! Bad Celeste! It's still in our house. *headdesk* I ended up watching a few vintage film noir movies. Laura was definitely my favorite out of the bunch and a big inspiration for Noir.

I also did some internet searches to find out what aficionados say about films noirs and the stereotypical characters. That was also extremely helpful in pinpointing characteristics of the personae.

The Plot Thickens

I shared my discoveries with Jeff and Tempest. At one point, Jeff told me "If you want to go a less obvious route, try being the PI (private investigator) instead of the femme fatale." So that opened up a new possibility that I hadn't thought about. Interestingly, I was reluctant to play a male character. But I still explored the possibility.

One thing that was trumping me (yet was a very attractive portion of the piece) was the gun shots. I wasn't sure how to address those. And I most certainly didn't want to be too obvious/cheesy about it. At first, I was contemplating portraying having been shot but it couldn't be too deadly as there's still a good minute left after the gun shots. :p So I eventually decided that it was me/my character (male or female) would be shooting someone. (Btw, this reminds me that I need to write a blog about not separating you and the character... coming soon to this blog near you.)

One other thing was that I really enjoyed was the sassiness/sensuality of the music. I was really yearning to portray that in my piece so I knew that I needed to portray the femme fatale... but I also liked the idea of the PI. I believe that it was Tempest who told me about this dilemma "Why not do both?" And there we had it!

(For the record: if you watch my video and hear 'dark and sassy belly dancer' in my intro, that was NOT something just for that piece. That's a tag line that I've been given by Tempest regarding my dance and I use it routinely. ;))

The Full Plot

So the piece eventually gelled in to the following:

It starts out with a PI doing some investigating. I was trying to portray a more male energy there.
When I remove the hat, turns out that I am a femme fatale who was portraying a PI. Mwahahaha!
The part after that is the femme fatale remembering what she used to be. A sort of flash back. When she was carefree and drew men in. (Flash backs are a staple in film noir movies, btw.)
Right before the shots, she comes back to the present time and remembers how hurt she was by her lover... and shoots him.
The rest is more of a 'haha! I win!'
When I pick the hat back up, it's a tie back to the start of, yes, she was the PI in the beginning and indeed won! Oops! :p

Bottom Line

You may or may not get the whole story when you see the performance. It's really irrelevant whether you get it or not. The point is that this is how I got the attitude for the performance. The story also helped fashion the moves for this piece. It helped determine the costume as well! I went for a PI/femme fatale costuming as such:

the hat is slightly oversized as it's Jeff's hat and it represents the femme fatale having borrowed the guy's hat (okay, really, I didn't want to purchase a new hat but it fits... Tempest was the one who figured that one out when I was waffling about purchasing a new hat :p)
pinstripe pants b/c, well, it works for the era and helps represent the PI
the black skirt was both to flatter my legs and add a touch of feminity
the sweetheart neckline choli was to mimic the neckline of the era
the corset vest was to represent the PI's trench coat
the curly hair was to represent the hair of the era (and we discovered after one performance when I couldn't do the curly hair that it was really a must).

The rest of the costume was to bling it up.

Now, this was probably the most researched piece that I've ever done so far. But it did pay off for me. I'm not saying that everyone should research everything and think details that much... and I don't do that for all pieces either. But it's one example of how you can go about things.

In a way, I think that I needed to go to that level of detailed research b/c, while the music is awesome, it's also a little bare... it's not one piece that can carry me... I had to carry it. I couldn't have an off night and do that piece.

I strongly encourage (as I often do in this blog) to think through a number of details. It does make the piece more cohesive. It also gives you focus as you will know what you're doing and it's less stressful that way.

Also consider sharing your ideas with a friend or a significant other or whoever. They may throw a new idea at you (like Jeff suggesting the PI idea). Listen to the idea and play with it, even if your reaction is a knee-jerk. ;) You can always dismiss it if it doesn't work... but you don't know until you try.

And, again, find your own process. And realize that the process can change from piece to piece. And, believe me, this whole research was fun. So when we say 'enjoy the process', I very much enjoyed that process, for sure!

Workshops tips and tricks

2011-05-02T13:10:00.003-04:00

I thought for sure that I had posted that at some point. I may have and it's either through Tribe or through my students mailing list. Anyway, see the previous blog post about pacing yourself. This here will be other tidbits to think about when taking a workshop.

Things to bring

Scarf/belt for your hips. Make sure that it's a noiseless item. When there's a lot of people in the same room, it could get noisy real fast.

Pen and notebook. Whether you are a habitual note taker or not, it's a good idea to have one. I bet that if there's a combo that you're falling madly in love with, you'll want to note it down or tidbits of something.

Yoga mat. That will depend somewhat on the topic, obviously. But a lot of tribal fusion workshops do a portion of yoga or some stretches on the floor. Let me put it this way: you're better off having it with you and not needing it vs. not having it and needing it. ;)

Zills/Finger cymbals. Again, depending on the topic, you may not need. However, a lot of that ATS workshops will have zilling in it even if the description doesn't precisely tell you that. While you can air zill, it's better that you have the real thing. And they don't take much space in a bag.

Shoes/socks. I love to dance barefoot but it's not always possible in which case I dance in socks but even that is not always possible. Inquire about the surface if you are unsure of what to wear on your feet for the workshop.

Water/water bottle. Some workshops provide water but you can never be certain so having some water with you already is a good idea.

Snacks. Again, sometimes those are provided but not always. You may want to have some snacks on hand for when you need a 'pick me up' in-between workshops. Trail mixes or just nuts are a good option.

Tylenol/ibuprofen/naproxen. Yanno, in case you overdo it and something hurts. Or you develop a headache. You'll probably find someone who will have some on hand but I bet that you'll be happy to not have to ask anyone.

Cash/checks/credit cards. For purchasing lovely things at the vending. I know of some folks who will bring in the amount of cash that they can spend and not go beyond that. Whatever works for you. But just know that temptation will generally be at hand so be prepared to have what you need to pay for it. ;)

Watch out for the workshop description details

This should go without saying but read the description fully. They will generally say at some point what you need to bring (if they want specific things) but it can sometimes be embedded in the description somewhere. So do pay attention. Also, there are sometimes unknown things like zills and ATS as mentioned above. ;) When in doubt, ask the hosts or your instructor.

What to wear

Wear comfortable clothes that you can easily move in and have no fear of sweating in. A workshop is not the time to take out your pretty things for a spin. You want practice wear. And it's not the time either to break out those Melodia Pants or other bell bottom pants that you've never worn before and will trip on the ends of... or any other such clothing that you've never worked with. Also consider wearing a shirt over your top that you don't mind getting sweat on. Once the workshop is done, you want to make sure that you won't mind putting that shirt over that sweaty top. ;)

Breakfast

The morning of a workshop, you want to ensure that you eat a good breakfast that will help sustain you for the day. If you can muster it, go with high protein and low carbs. If you're in a hotel, that can be real hard to do. But definitely don't skip breakfast! So if you need to do high carbs because that's what is available to you, it's better than running on an empty stomach.

Lunch

Lunch will generally be at your leisure and there will generally be places around the workshop. If not, it will generally be catered. If you're doing lunch on your own, make sure that you don't eat too much (if you have workshops after eating) and that it's high on protein and low on fat. For example, a burger with fries may not be a good idea. As you get experienced with workshops, you'll figure out what your belly can and can't ingest. Respect what it wants. ;) If you're not sure, picture that you're doing belly rolls... That should help you figure out what you can ingest. ;) I sometimes skip going out for lunch and will eat nuts and fruits. Or I've done the meal replacement bars before.

Dinner

If you're not performing, eat your heart out! You need to replenish your body's energy. But dinner is tricky if you're performing. Ideally, you'll know your order in the show by that point and will know whether you can eat. I won't talk too much about strategy around that as it's really personal and is something that each person learns how to handle with time. And, sometimes, there's just no time to eat a full meal. But even if you wait before eating dinner, consider eating a snack (again, high in protein) to make you go through the evening and your performance.

Sleep

Prior to the workshops, you want to ensure that you get plenty of sleep. It will help you make it through the weekend or festival. Now, once there, there may be a ton of activities going on and you'll want to hang and all that so sleep may be lacking. Even so, make sure that you use some strategy around your sleep. If you lack too much sleep, besides not being able to absorb the material, you could actually injure yourself. I know that firsthand as this is somewhat how I broke my foot (was extremely tired due to heavy workload at work).

Keep hydrated

Throughout the days of workshops, make sure that you stay hydrated. I know that I said bring in a water bottle but I feel like this is worth repeating. Your body needs the water. Replenish it!

Alcohol

All right, I won't be all judgmental on you as I love alcohol as much as anyone and will drink during festivals. What I want to warn you about here is the pitfall of having too much fun and downright getting drunk... but especially having a hangover the next day. If you have time to recover from the hangover and all, no biggie, really. But I've seen a number of dancers over the years who end up having to miss workshops because they were too hungover to be able to do them. So when I drink at an event, I pay real close attention to my intake as to ensure that I'll still be able to do all that I want the next day. Plus, see the point above about keeping yourself hydrated. ;)

Note: I won't go over the issue of alcohol and performing as it's worthy of an entire blog post by itself (which I may do at some point). But it's about in the same lines of using good judgment and not performing drunk.

Footwear in general

This is a foreign concept for a lot of folks but I got that concept from coworkers who are runners. There is such a thing in the running world as 'recovery shoes.' They are shoes designed to make your feet recover from the run. I have a pair of sandals that actually does something similar to my feet after hours of belly dance. So I do bring them with me whenever I can (Winter time and sandals? Not so much.), You may have some shoes like that or find some at some point. It's very cool. Said sandals feel like a massage on my soles.

In general, also, make sure that you wear comfy shoes because there are few things worse than your feet being tired and cranky from all that dancing only to be put in constricting shoes that torture them even more. And, yes, before anyone asks, my Fluevog boots (the ones that everyone wants to steal off my feet) are extremely comfortable, hence why they are good candidates for wearing them at workshops.

Bath/Hot Tub

Most hotels will have a hot tub. That can be a real muscle saver for you. If no hot tub is available or you don't like them (I don't like them), then most hotel rooms have a bath. A hot shower will be helpful but, if you're very sore, consider putting some Epsom salt in your bath and soak for 10-15 minutes. It totally helps your muscles and feet.

Don't be shy!

For the newcomers and less experienced dancers, don't be shy in the workshop. Believe me, we're all really focused on our own understanding of what the instructor is asking us to do. So to put it bluntly, for all that you may feel that everyone will be looking at you, no one really is. ;) As such, just relax and enjoy the experience. And workshops are a great place to experiment with stuff. More and more workshops are on artistry and conveying emotions: do allow yourself to push your boundaries in the workshop.

Also, during breaks and all, don't be afraid to chat with folks and introduce yourself. We all love meeting new people!

Pace yourself!

2011-05-02T11:37:00.002-04:00

After the EDNF event, I realized that I had never told my students about pacing yourself for workshops. Ahem... sorry... Before I selected my classes for 3rd Coast Tribal 2010, Ariellah wisely advised me to ensure that I was pacing myself enough because it can get overwhelming. And it's good advice for any festival. So here are some guidelines.

Ball park figure

Generally speaking, most people will be able to withstand 3-4 hours of workshop in one day.
If you are really new to belly dance, maybe 2 hours will be enough.
If you are an advanced dancer, 6 hours should be doable.

What it will really boil down to is your general stamina/physical shape. The better in shape you are, the more you'll be able to do (again, ball park figure). If you don't practice much outside of your classes and don't do much physical activity outside of that, stay within that 3-4 hours per day... or else you may have major muscle aches.

Festivals vs. 1-2 days workshops

Again, generally speaking, that 3-4 hours per day should be doable whether you do 1 or 2 days of workshops (so Saturday only vs. all weekend types). When we're talking multiple days festivals (e.g., Tribal Revolution, 3rd Coast Tribal, Tribal Fest), then you may want to consider your general physical shape again. You will hit a wall at some point and you ideally want for that wall to hit after you're done with workshops.

In the 3rd Coast Tribal 2011 edition, I overdid it: 5 hours on Thursday, 6 hours on Friday, 4 hours on Saturday, and 2 hours on Sunday. Well, I had a hard time walking right on Saturday after the workshop and I had to perform that night. I did manage to get my limbs to cooperate again and all was fine. But, yeah, hit that wall.

The first time that I did a lot of dancing was for the Golden Opportunity intensive with Ariellah and Rachel Brice in 2008. I had prepared myself ahead of time but it was still not exactly enough. We had 3 hours with Rachel in the morning and 3 hours with Ariellah in the afternoon. I was hurting A LOT on the Saturday as well. But once you go beyond that wall (in that case on Sunday), you can do stuff more normally (yes, like walk and lift arms :p).

Instructor and topic

Some instructors are hardcore drilling mavens and you know that 2 hours with them will be harder than, say, another instructor who will talk about concepts or go easy on the drilling. So keep that in mind too.

In terms of topic, well, there's a whole gamut, obviously. Something on artistry will generally have a lot of introspection and exercises won't be about flawless dancing so easier on the body (but harder for the brain; see below). Veil workshops will kill your shoulders. Sword workshops will kill your head (and may create a whole lot of tension in your body). Bhangra/Bollywood workshops will kill just about everything in your body. So do slow and slinky workshops. ;) But you catch my drift. Keep the topics in mind as well and see whether you would be overworking the same area on the same day.

Pace yourself DURING the workshop

In general, it's always a good idea of pacing yourself during the workshop as well. I wrote something about that a while back. Given that I was really bad in phys-ed when I was a child/teenager, I knew when to stop. It's easy for me to figure that spot. I'm not encouraging you to slack off but rather to know your limits and not go beyond them.

Also, knowing the workshops that you have coming up, you may want to do less in a certain workshop to keep your energies for the next one (or for performing). That will be highly dependent on your schedule, obviously, and where your priorities lie. But I've heard countless times people whine "I was really wanting to take XX workshop but, when I got it, I was so tired from YY workshop, that I don't remember any of XX." So you don't want to do that, obviously.

Recovery time

When booking your workshops, also consider the amount of recovery time that you may need. For some festivals, workshops are back to back because they expect folks to spread their time. If you can do all those hours in a row, go for it. If you need recovery time, do plan for it. I generally like 1-2 hours in-between workshops but it's not always doable.

Think about your mental fatigue as well

Right now, I've focused more on the physical aspect but, lemme tell you, your mental will take a toll too! There's only so much material that you can absorb in one day (or over a festival)! At the Golden Opportunity again, on the Saturday morning, while I could still physically dance, I couldn't absorb the choreo/combos that Rachel was teaching... but I was still dancing on the sideline. I just couldn't absorb new material. So take that into account as well when booking your workshops.

It's not a contest

It's important to remember that it's really not a contest: no price is awarded to the person who dances the most. Really. What is most important is that you come out of the workshops with material and a good experience. So if that means that only 2-3 hours per day is what you can do, there's absolutely no shame in it. It's actually more shameful to overbook yourself and not remember any of what you learned. So do pace yourself when booking yourself for workshops. And, heck, consider practicing more at home to build your stamina if you feel like you want to do more. ;)

Don't be a clone! Be yourself!

2011-03-23T12:58:00.006-04:00

There was a thread on tribe (yes, it's still alive) asking if something was plagiarism. The gal fell in love with the music and costumes of a performer and wanted to use both elements but do her own choreography. I've written here and there plights to do your own thing, not be a copycat, etc. This is a more specific exploration on the phenomenon.

Cloning

I've seen countless performances where it's like a copy of Rachel Brice or whoever from Indigo... or some other famous belly dancer(s). Unfortunately, what happens then is that your identity is let go of in favor of someone else's. I've even heard audience members dismiss performances on the grounds that it was the clone of something they've seen before (*insert sigh* "Oh... another Indigo clone.") While it's not a bad place to start (don't we start anyway by somewhat doing whatever our teacher does?), at some point, it's not enough anymore. Essentially, at first, the audience (including fellow belly dancers) will cut you some slack for doing what someone else did... but, at some point, we'll want to see YOU shine through.

But I loooooooooove this!

Okay. So you're madly in love with something. Instead of re-creating the same thing exactly, assess instead what you love about it.

So you like the music? What is it about the music that you love? Identifying that will help you maybe finding a different piece of music in the same style. By the way: if you use the exact same piece of music as someone else, your performance will automatically be compared to that other person's performance... hence why I'm recommending finding some other piece of music. However, sometimes, you may have a totally different take on the music and it's totally justified to use it.

So you like the costume? What is it about the costume that you love? You can work from there to tweak so that it will fit your body better or just be different enough that the audience's mind won't wander to that other dancer.

So you like the movements/choreography? What do you love about it? And how can you tweak that to make it your own. If we're talking about a specific movement, you can actually kind of replicate 'as is', just make sure that it looks good on you (e.g., leaning forward [or sideways] is a bit tricky on me as I have a belly; there's a sweet spot that works but anything beyond that creates too many ripples in the flesh). Now, for a choreography, I would recommend not re-doing the same thing exactly but rather parcel out moves here and there. And consider analyzing the choreography to gain insight as to how the artist had interpreted the music... and maybe that will help get YOUR creative juices going.

Put your thinking cap on

Even if you will recreate one element 'as is' (especially if we're talking about the music), it's really important that you assess what it is that you liked about the element. The reason for that is that it will give you important insight as to what your aesthetics leans towards. It's especially important, actually, if you are in the early stages of figuring out what you want to do with this dance. For all that dance is about visual interpretation and expression, putting some of it in words will be extremely beneficial. It will help focus your thoughts and your creative direction. What I'm getting at here is that you can't just say, when asked why you love something "just 'cause". ;) You need to have a more articulate than that.

Consider also not doing the exercise just for the items that you like but also for what you dislike. For example: So you didn't like costume XX. What was it about it that you didn't like? You can do that for any element of a dance. That will also give you another set of insight.

And, sincerely, go through the exercise. You'll find extremely important information that will help make you find that proverbial personal style!

Belly Dance ADD

2011-02-21T12:36:00.003-05:00

When we start performing, it's quite frequent that you'll be going through pieces like you're going through tissue in the midst of a bad sinus infection-inducing cold... which is what I've dubbed Belly Dance ADD. I've been there too. Let's explore this phenomenon, which is rather common.

Shiny New Toy

Whenever you pick up some new music, start coming up with ideas for the moves, the costume, etc., it's like a shiny new toy. It creates excitement and inspiration in you, at least for a while. You could view it as well as a creativity high. And then you work on it for a while and it's losing some of its newness, of course. I often hear from new performers that they can't wait to have performed the piece and be done with it. And that is actually sad but it does happen. And you'll find this more common in new performers than experienced ones. If you're in the category that does that, when you'll be thinking of your next performance, you'll want that rush again so you may switch if only to get your (momentary) high again.

Music Choice

One thing to contemplate is that the music choice may not have been the best one. In previous blogs, I've mentioned how you need to ensure that you are madly in love with your music because you will listen to it A LOT! And I do mean A LOT! We've all been guilty of choosing music that we thought we loved a lot but, really, it wasn't enough for the listening requirements of a performance. I've also been guilty of choosing some music b/c it made sense... i.e., it was a choice from the head... not the heart. That's another mistake.

Within Black Rose Caravan, there's one piece that we have dubbed the "unmentionable piece." It was the one for our very first performance and we have practiced a lot to it and have performed it a few times. There came a point at which at least one member said "I can't bear to hear it one... more... time..." Granted, in this case, the music was chosen for us. Still, it can happen that the music starts annoying you.

So make very good and conscious music choices!

Disappointment Factor

Another thing that could have happened is if the performance didn't go exactly as you wanted or didn't convey the mood/feeling that you wanted exactly. So you may assume that the music choice was wrong and you should move on to the next one. One thing to consider here is that the music choice may have been perfect but maybe the dancer and/or the dance wasn't perfect (i.e., the age-old "it's not you, it's me"). It may have been a disconnect with the piece. Generally speaking, though, it will be fear that held you back and you probably didn't obey some instinct. Nevertheless, you'll totally feel like not rehashing that piece. Understandable.

Exploration of Style

Very few people have a clear idea of what flavor of a style they want to perform from the get-go. Whichever style is your preferred style for performances, there are micro-differences within these and, for a while, you'll be trying to pinpoint what, exactly, floats your (creative) boat. As you're doing that, you'll need to explore those micro-differences and I think that it's one of the, if not THE main reason why people jump from one piece to the next. I think that it's an exercise that needs to be done and it's usually best done through actual performances, though you can get a feel for which flavor of a style you are more inclined for through your practice.

Redoing the Same Piece

At first, this will seem very boring to you. Why the hell would I redo the same piece? (Especially when I could move on to the shinier pasture over there!) There are many reasons, really, why this is a good idea.

Time efficiency

In 2009, I started having a number of performances in a short amount of time (happened a few times throughout the year). I absolutely did not have time to work, on, say, 5 different pieces. So that's when I started redoing the same piece. So having a piece/set ready to go will make your life so much easier than trying to come up with something in, like, a week.

Familiarity

Last year, I didn't heed Tempest's warning about Tribal Fest: she had said that she prefers to do pieces that she had done before for Tribal Fest. I so should have done that! I felt like my performance fell flat. Well, I didn't repeat this mistake for 3rd Coast: I ended up doing a piece that I had done a number of times before and it went super well.

There's definitely something to be said for the familiarity of a piece... it has a soothing factor. Also as another example, my latest piece is named Noir and I did it for Sans Sheriff. I did a different piece two performances in a row and will be doing Noir again for a few performances (yes, including Tribal Fest ;)). I'm actually very excited about working on Noir again!

Stress Relief

In line with the concept of familiarity, there is an element of stress relief attached to it. So if you know the piece really well, it will lessen your stress considerably. Again, totally speaking from experience! I was extremely nervous for 3rd Coast Tribal (given that it's a bigger festival) but the fact that I knew my piece inside out was totally helping! I knew what I had to do. I just had to deliver. Much less pressure than trying to remember what to do AND trying to deliver. ;)

Digging Deeper

So you do the piece once, have some satisfaction from it, see pictures and video, and can assess the tweaks that you need to do. And you get the option to dig deeper into the piece. You get to ask yourself what else is missing, what could you do more of or less of, etc. It's a great learning opportunity. Also, most of us have had a moment or two of remembering after the fact that we forgot to do XX for the piece. Well, if you redo it, now's your chance to add it back in! ;)

Strategy Around Redoing Pieces

So there is somewhat of a strategy around redoing pieces. Like you ideally won't redo the same piece in the exact same city... ideally, not even in the same state. But the key is really figuring out who will be at the event. If you know that it's the exact same crowd as the other event, then you may want to do two different pieces. If you know that it's in the same state, let's say, but people attending the event are totally a different crowd, then go for it: do the same piece.

I generally juggle two pieces at a time to help with that strategy. Usually, one will be a piece that I've done before and just needs to be dusted/brushed on and one is a new one that I'm working on. I also generally know which events I will be going to way ahead of time so I will create pieces according to that schedule. For example, I knew that I was going to Tribal Fest and was going to need a piece for it... so that was Noir. Next up is Tribal Revolution. I will want something different for that. I have this other piece that I started working on and will perform at the Festribal in Quebec City (and maybe other venues in-between).

Favorite Song by Artist

One other way that you could view re-doing the same piece is like your favorite song by a certain artist. You know, you go see the artist live and the show isn't complete for you until the artist has played your favorite song. So it's a bit the same way with pieces. I distinctly remember seeing Tempest and Ariellah several years ago and they each did certain pieces that I had seen on video but never live. I got so excited each time that happened! And, for Sans Sheriff, the lovely Carrie Meyer was hesitant to perform a solo because she didn't have any new material but the piece that she had done at The Belly Dance Show With No Name. I insisted that she do it again... because we all loved it and would love seeing it again! So don't be afraid of doing the same material!

Bottom line

So do consider giving yourself a break and re-doing the same pieces, recognizing that the urge to do new material will be there... but it's a good exercise to really dig fully into a piece... and, heck, you'll be ready to perform at the drop of a hat. ;)

It's < You > Belly Dance!

2011-01-17T14:53:00.005-05:00

It took me years to shake off all the labeling and angst over which style of belly dance I'm doing. It's a very normal process... but don't let it bug you. The earlier you can shake all of this off, the greater freedom you'll feel!

Personal Style/Artistic Voice
This is a loaded term: your own personal style. Every single time I mention this in a blog or to my students, there's an immediate recoil from some folks. Again, it's very loaded. I think that we have made it more than what it really is. I actually now prefer the term 'artistic voice' instead of 'personal style.' It seems less loaded. ;)

With the term 'artistic voice', it seems a bit clearer that all that it is really is your take on this dance using a given piece of music. It's your viewpoint on a topic. In a Zen fashion, there's no right or wrong... it just is. And it can change through time.

The truth is that all that isn't necessarily pre-planned. I mean that, for all that you may be on a quest for personal style/artistic voice, what will emerge as such is dependent on what you put out as a performer and what sticks with you. What I mean by that is that you will do different pieces and then common themes, ideas, moves, etc. will start to emerge. And then you're edging towards that Holy Grail of artistry. But you can't know it until you have done enough performances and experimentations with your art. And even then, it doesn't have to be set in stone.

(I'll most likely expand on this whole personal style and artistic voice concept in a future blog... I can't write everything here... but you have enough to get my gist.)

So I'm saying to not even bother with that at this point (unless you are an experienced performer/artist). It will come all on its own. Don't fret.

Misrepresentation
A big pet peeve of mine is when dances are misrepresented. For example, you say that it's belly dance but there's only a chest circle in it. Or you say that it's tribal but all that's tribal about you is the costuming... or vice versa if we're talking cabaret/raqs sharki. I think that that's what prompted some of my pondering on which style of belly dance do I normally do.

Labels
If you look back at some blogs that I posted on tribe.net, you'll find a good chunk that have to do with me wondering which style I'm doing. Am I more fusion? Or downright tribal? Or cabaret? I think that it's a normal process also because we are all somewhat seeking some sort of appartenance. If you don't fit neatly in a bucket, it can feel a tad lonely... or so you think! Mwahahahaha!

All kidding aside, this was what plagued me the most for a while. And, with Tempest reminding me on a regular basis of how pointless this was, I finally let go of it. So I do whatever sub-style of belly dance... so what? THE most important thing is that it's belly dance and that it's MY take on belly dance!

And, yes, people will try to bucket you. Whatever. Let them try! A prime example is Tempest who is dubbed (by different folks) tribal, tribal fusion, gothic, steampunk, oriental, North African, raqs sharki, etc. belly dance. (Oh and never mind that she's not tribal at all... although she's very tribal friendly.) People feel safe putting others in neat buckets but, truth be told, very few people really fit neatly into just one. ;)

And the answer is...
Well, if you don't have reading comprehension, you may still remember the title of this blog: it's "you" belly dance. So that means that the true style of belly dance that I do is simply "Celeste Belly Dance". This is really the most important thing: to be true to your art and your heart. And, as such, everything else will fall into place.

So don't fret over the style of what you are doing. Don't fret about whether it's like anything that anyone else has ever done. Don't fret about being as good as so-and-so. For all that so-and-so is good at their style (so "so-and-so" belly dance), they can't be good at "you" belly dance the way that YOU can be.

What makes a belly dance performance interesting and entertaining is seeing someone's take on the whole thing. Again, be the best that you can with what you got! And everything will be A-Okay!

Workshop offerings

2011-01-17T13:21:00.001-05:00

I now interrup this usually introspective blog to do some self promotion.

Please see the link for my current workshop offerings: http://celestebellydance.com/workshops.html

Contact me to get me to teach workshops in your town! And feel free to spread the word! :D

Much love!
Celeste

There's enough to go around for everyone!

2011-01-10T16:36:00.003-05:00

I know that I must not be the only person who has ever felt like that. I am a woman (no revelation here, I hope). As such, I can be competitive as often unfortunately happens to our gender. And I can be real hard on myself. So there have been a number of times when, if I go in a show after someone who has had tremendous applause that I feel like I will fail, be boring, blah blah blah... insert negative comment from my stupid inside negative voice. There have been a series of experiences that have made me realize that, really, it's not because someone had success that I won't.

There's room for all of us!
Well, one night, a couple of years ago, I was watching two local dancers whom I really love (Amirah and Gabriela) and I mused that it was so neat that there was enough room/space for all of us. I meant there that we all had something very different to say with our dance and it was great to see all 3 different perspectives and aesthetics.

The audience wants to be entertained!
Truth be told, the audience wants you to succeed! Mira Betz mentioned that in her intensive I took with her a few years ago and it was a revelation... as silly as it sounds. Seriously, the audience wants to be entertained from start to finish! They don't want to be bored! (And don't let that statement make you nervous!) They want to see what YOU can do with the dance. That is really what they want. And for those who do funky stuff (I most certainly am funky), the audience may have some preconceived notion of what they want but, hey, you can shake that up. Sometimes, we don't know what we want until we see it.

And, again, it's not like they're looking at the program, pinpointing at a (random) name and say "I want to be entertained by THIS person." Well, they are bound to say that of the main act in a belly dance show... that person at least better be entertaining. But they also want the rest of the acts to be entertaining as well.

It takes many different acts to make a circus!
I was talking to my student Adriane and my tribe sister Kat (while at the airport on the way back from 3rd Coast) about this concept and I found a good analogy. It's less intuitive because you may not perceive the competition as much because they are technically different disciplines but, say, for a circus, there are magicians, trapeze artists, contortionists, jugglers, etc., and they all have their place! We need to have them all! Adriane is the one who came up with this: THEY make the circus. So, yes, they might be competing each for a place in the show to begin with but we need all of them to get a circus show. And it's the same thing for belly dance: we need all acts to make a belly dance show!

Focus on what you have to bring!
I started to come up with that whole concept right around Tribal Revolution and I pulled from it also at 3rd Coast. At Tribal Revolution, I was going after Sarabi who had brought down the house. At 3rd Coast, Raphaella did a splendid job (for as much as I could tell from backstage). So I focused on what I had to say with my dance. Those ladies did their thing and presented what they had to say. Next was my turn. I was presenting what I had to say. It was most certainly different than what they had done. But it's a case of neither is 'right' nor 'wrong'... they're just different... period. It's kind of like having a differing viewpoint. Or, actually, one has nothing to do with the other (except for being in the same show).

Do the best that you can with what you have!
Tempest often mentions in her workshops and in her blog posts that you should do the best that you can with what you have RIGHT NOW and under the set of circumstances of the day. So do the best that you can with your skill at the level that it is right now, with the body that you have right now and under the day's circumstances (e.g., if you're tired, do the best that you can given that you are tired). You don't have to be the next best thing since sliced bread to be in the belly dance show, you know! Just do your best!

What will you do with your dance?

2010-12-21T13:07:00.002-05:00

As the end of the year draws near and it's time for pondering on what happened over the last year and making New Year's resolutions, I invite you to ponder a few things about belly dance... or if you are an artist who does another form of art, you could easily substitute "belly dance" for "your art". ;)

Several years ago (about 4, to be precise), Sabrina Fox (then from Atash Maya) had posted on tribe some questions that left me pondering... and I'm asking them to you.

Where do I want dance to take me?
This one was interestingly hard to answer. I mean, to give an honest answer requires you to dig inside of you and see what you want... what you really really want. (And I'll stop there because I'm starting to sound like a Spice Girls song. :p) "Where" here is obviously not a physical location... although it could be.

Where will I let dance take me?
This one initially totally highlighted how much of a control freak I can be. "What do you mean, let dance take me somewhere? I'm in charge here!" It actually ended up being the start of me realizing that, oftentimes in art, you have to let go of your heavy grip on things and allow the art to take over. If you don't practice art daily, that can be real hard to do. I promise that it gets easier with time, though. ;) But the question is also more than this... explore it.

What will I do with dance?
This one, I'm adding to the mix. It wasn't part of the original set of questions... only the first two were. So you've been taking classes for a while and have been enjoying them thoroughly. You've watched a few shows and have been amazed at what you saw. Now... what will YOU do with dance? Will you join in the ranks of performers? Or keep it as a physical activity without the performing aspect? PLEASE note that neither answer is right or wrong... it's right or wrong for YOU... and the answer might be different depending on the moment.

Fun in dance... NOW!
Performing is loaded with so many heavy things... but, please have fun with this dance. That's really what it is about. And don't push out when you'll perform based on some silly notion that only exists in your head (if only I was 10 lbs lighter... if only I had these many years of experience... if only I had this piece of costume... if only...). There is nothing like RIGHT NOW to get you started. Don't wait!

Write down thoughts/feelings
Do feel free to grab a notebook and pen and write down thoughts on these questions and your feelings around dance and performing and whatever else you feel like writing about. Vent your heart out on paper. Or you could do it electronically. I find that, oftentimes, writing down my feelings, especially if they are heavy, helps me get rid of them and gain better clarity.

Remember to DO!
For all that I'm inviting you to ponder and write and all that, don't fall prey to what I do: I tend to overanalyze, overthink, over-whatever... It took SEVERAL times of being told by both Ariellah and my yoga mentor that it's time to do stuff instead of thinking before it finally sank in. Now, I know better how to keep a balance between all of it. Why, yes, you need to actually dance in order to dance. :p

Tips for preparing a performance - Other considerations

2010-12-08T11:07:00.002-05:00

So this is essentially part 2 from the last blog. Again, I want this to be at a high level so I won't go into like choreography 101 or things like that... I'll cover those more detailed things in other blogs at some point.

All right... so you have figured out your music... what else do you need to think about?

Costuming
You want to think of your costuming early. Sometimes it takes time for the ideas to fully develop and will morph as you're working with the piece. But thinking about this earlier rather than later is a good idea... b/c you don't want to be scrambling at the last minute to find costuming items or make them. As I've talked about in a previous blog, remember that the costume should ideally work synergistically with the performance to enhance the mood and the overall aesthetic of it all.

Remember practical considerations:

Will the venue allow for bare bellies? (Most do.)
Will you be using a prop? If so, does that mean that things are off limits because of it? (e.g., be careful with anything protruding like spikes if you're doing veils)
Will you be doing floorwork? If so, you need to make sure that your costuming is something that can allow you to go down and off the floor without hindering. Also consider whether you would wear kneepads and, therefore, whether the costume hides them well enough.

Those are just some ideas of things to keep in mind.

Accessories
What accessories will you put with your costume? I'm putting this as a separate category because, sometimes, we forget about those. ;) Also think of the level and style of bling you want to wear. Do you want to go for mega sparkle? National Geographic look? Minimalistic? Just like everything else, it all should work in synergy. If your costume is already very sparkly, maybe your jewelry doesn't need to be... or you could go for the 'disco ball' effect (not necessarily bad... it depends on what you do).

Hair and Makeup
Again, in that blog on synergy and all that, I mention considerations. But, yes, think of those things early too... what if you need to learn a new technique for something specific that you had in mind? Or you need a certain product?

Shoes or barefoot
Sometimes it's a stylistic choice... sometimes it's a practical one... and sometimes people can only do one or the other. But think about it proactively. It may modify your costume and your moves if you do one versus the other. So keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that, for all that you were thinking of dancing barefoot, sometimes it just won't be possible. So have an idea of footwear that you could wear. For example, I did a performance a few years back where I had planned to be barefoot but the stage was really in a bad shape; I ended up dancing barefoot anyway and got a splinter... not fun...

Make decisions
There will be times when you will be faced with options and ideas that are of equal values... they will fit but it will give a different slant or just a smidgeon of a different flavor... or they could even be drastically different but just as good. Then you just need to make a decision. There's no right or wrong oftentimes so it's not uber easy to just pick (though it gets easier with time) but you just gotta do it. Listen to your gut feeling. It will rarely stir you wrong. And if that gut feeling is conflicted, just pick. ;)

Time and its pitfall
Say, you are preparing way in advance of a performance or you don't even know yet when you will be performing or whatnot so you have a loooooooot of time to get ready. That's both good and bad. It's good because you do have time. It's bad because you will have a harder time making decisions, fooling yourself that, since there's so much time, you can choose later. Then your progress may end up being slowed because you aren't making decisions that you should. So don't fall prey to that.

Another consideration is that (and that's my issue often), I end up not working on things that I should be working on because I have plenty of time... and then suddenly it's crunch time. One day, maybe, I'll learn. Though, I've come to realize that I work better under pressure so maybe a part of me is putting myself under pressure purposefully. The pitfall with that, though, is that life will interfere at precisely the wrong moment... thus putting even more pressure (and less time to work with).

Things that you want to do with this performance
I will talk about this in more details in a future blog but one thing that you may want to think about proactively is what you want to do/accomplish with this performance. Here, I'm not talking about the message that you want to convey but 1 or 2 simple things that you want to work on to make your performance skills progress. (This tip comes from Miss Tempest. I used to have too many things that I wanted to do with a performance and she wisely advised in the workshops in Indy to pick only 1 or 2... more than that is too much to process.) For example, it could be things like 'Not look down.' or 'Remember to smile.' Again, more on that in the future but it's something to keep in mind as you are developing your piece and, specifically, when you get close to performance time.

Past performance playlist
So I talked about the 'Performance ideas playlist' in the previous blog. The 'Past performance playlist' is a list of all the pieces that I've worked on in the past. The reason why I keep it is mostly for a convenient and quick way to find a past performance music piece (my music library is rather large). I keep it in chronological order. And it's fun to look back and see what you have worked on... you may eventually notice trends about your work and what inspires you. And that is information that can be very relevant for future performances. In addition, should you want to revisit a piece, it's right there! ;)

Tips for preparing a performance - Music considerations

2010-11-18T11:03:00.005-05:00

In the last blog where I talked about seeking out performance opportunities, I mentioned that you could start preparing ahead of getting an actual okay to perform... and I also mentioned that I would write a blog about tips... so this is it. I started writing this post at first, thinking that I would cover a bunch of different tips but then I had so many things to say about music that I felt like it will be better served by putting music as its own post (other tips to follow in a separate entry).

This post (and the following one) won't be delving into being artistic and all that but do keep that in mind anyway. It will be more "Performance 101" type.

Picking out the music is obviously an important step. And one that sounds so easy... yet, you'll find that it's not. Here are a few guidelines that may help.

Duration
Generally speaking, solo spots in shows nowadays have a 5-minute maximum duration allowed. It varies from shows to shows. And, heck, it's now often being shrunk even more. So you want a piece that will be maximum 5 minutes. If you will be doing a group piece, the max nowadays will vary between 7-10 minutes. If you are doing ATS/ITS, a good rule of thumb will be about 1 minute per the number of dancers. So, say, if there will be 6 dancers, a piece that is about 6-7 minutes will be a good one.

Keep it short
You don't have to fill in the maximum time allotted. It's actually a very good idea to leave people wanting more! What's more: you need to be able to sustain it! When you are a new dancer, you will be surprised at how quickly your energy will be sapped out in performance. So you want to keep it short enough that you'll be able to sustain the stage presence and energy level for the duration of the piece. For newly starting performers, 3-4 minutes is again a good rule of thumb.

And I speak from experience on this... My very first solo was like 5 minutes long. I'm pretty sure that my energy level wasn't constant throughout the whole thing. And, man, was I tired after it. My 2nd solo was like 2:45-3 minutes. I forget how long exactly. The energy was much more constant. Since then, I've been hovering in that range from 3:30-5 minutes, generally, going on the lower end (so between 3:30-4). And it's not like I don't have the stamina to do more: I dance 12-20-minute sets at Greek Islands without any issues. Anyway, I'd rather do 2 shorter pieces than 1 long one. More from a 'not boring the audience' point of view than anything. ;)

If you will modify the music... do it well!
If your piece is too long and needs to be cut or you want to put a few pieces of music together or tweak the music however you feel, use a good software to do it and spend the time to do a good job. I've heard countless times bad mixes that make me cringe. It sounds so amateurish. I don't care what your actual level is, you don't want bad editing in your music to detract from the performance. There are a number of people in any area who will be good at it or you may have a DJ friend (or someone who knows someone): don't hesitate to ask for help instead of doing a bad job yourself. I took the workshop with DJ Amar at TF 10 that was about editing music in Audacity. It gave me lots of tips and tricks on how to do it... and made me realize how time intense it can be if you want to do a good job at editing the music.

Oh and while we're on the topic: if you will use more than 1 piece, consider using a software to put them together especially if the show asks for an mp3 version. The main reason for that is that you are much better off sending 1 file than multiple files that risk not being put in the correct order (even though you will have told the person in charge what order to put them in) or being cut short because the person in charge of the music at the show ends your music before the 2nd one pops or there's too much time (or more than you wanted) between the pieces b/c of the equipment used to play the music. Or other reasons... anyway, it's safer that way. Come to think of it, even if you will be providing the music on a CD, it's safer that way too... for some of the same reasons.

The "Performance Ideas" Playlist
You may end up having a ton of ideas of music that you would love to perform to... yet when comes time to pick some music, your mind goes blank. That's why a 'performance ideas' playlist on your iTunes (or whatever else you use) is a good idea (and if you don't have music in mp3, you can make a list on paper or in Word). That way, you can go in, review the pieces, and pick one from the list... or not. ;) But it's at least a starting point!

The music needs to move you or at least make you move
So, when choosing music, it obviously needs to move you. That's obvious, right? What we mean exactly by 'moves you' is stir something inside of you. It needs to create a response. It will usually be a feeling that you'll sense when you hear it (e.g., joy, happiness, contentment, torment/sadness/despair [for the dark inclined]) or it could be something like 'beauty'. Whatever response you have is what is going to make you connect to the music. And that's very important.

Now, when in a group setting, not everyone will react exactly the same way to the music so keep that in mind. We're generally striving in ATS/ITS for something that will make you want to move. Your hips won't stay still when you hear that music. And that's another way to connect with the music. It will also generally make you feel something... it just may not be at the same depth... or it may.

You need to REALLY like that music
In the course of practicing, getting ready, and knowing your music inside out, you will have to listen to the piece over and over... ad nauseam... so you need to really like it enough to listen to it enough. It may happen after a performance that a music is 'burnt'... i.e., you don't want to EVER listen to it again. In the early days of Black Rose Caravan when we were still choreography-based, there were a few pieces that ended up creating this response in us. And, even with the best intentions, it can happen. But do make sure that you can listen to the music back to back to be able to go through the whole process. ;)

Sometimes, you just have to pick!
At times, you will have 20million pieces that you feel like doing because they all sound amazing to you. That's both awesome and overwhelming. Then you just have to pick one. Just like, in the morning, you end up picking one outfit out of your wardrobe, you may need to just pick one. Now, if you know the venue and the theme (if there is one), this may help dictate your choice. But if you don't or there's no theme, then you just have to choose. And, believe me, you don't want to delay the choice for too long. I've been guilty of that many times and then ended up in a time crunch. So just pick one... you can always do the other ones later (make sure to put them on your 'performance ideas playlist').

So... you want to perform...

2010-11-10T14:42:00.005-05:00

You've been taking belly dance classes and want to do *something* with it... how do you go about that?

Ask around!
Most shows will have a 'call for performers' but sometimes there won't be. Back when I started doing solo work, actually, calls for performers were relatively rare. So I would ask the hostess if I could participate into the show. Yes, I was inviting myself. It feels odd at first but it gets easier the more you do it. Most importantly, just remember: what's the worst that they will say? They'll say no... that's it. No harm done. No worries.

Performance attached to workshops
Just know that there will be performances that are attached to workshops... so they will require you to take the workshops (either all of the workshops or a predetermined amount) for you to participate in the show. Apparently, it's not like that everywhere but it definitely is in the Midwest. So don't be surprised if you get a reply that states that.

Don't forget Haflas and World Music Nights!
Let your hair down haflas where people just show up and there's like a DJ or an iPod on random playing or you can bring your own music and dance are few and far between. But ISAMETD hosts them every now and then. And maybe Carenza will again once she's back in town (hint! hint!). ;) But those are excellent low pressure moments when you can perform.

Also, remember that we are very lucky to have il Troubadore who do the World Music Nights once a month. It's not a performance like being on a stage... it's actually better! You get the experience of dancing to a live band, in front of an audience that's right there. Most people around here seem to not realize it but, seriously, a lot of people I know would kill to have this opportunity. Anyway, it's another moment when you can hone your performance skills. Even though it's a different setting, it still very much counts.

Prepare for it... NOW!
If you've been contemplating performing, don't wait until you have an okay to start working on a piece. Chances are, you may get an okay closer to the date than you anticipated and then you will feel like you don't have enough time. Also, there are a number of events now that happen on an annual basis so it's getting increasingly easier to prepare ahead of time. (Note: I will write a separate post on tips and tricks that make preparation easier.) The more you do it, the easier it gets, though. ;)

Am I really ready?
If you are contemplating performing, generally, it means that you were ready to perform some time ago. Our sense of preservation and that negative voice are real good at putting doubt in our minds. My stance is that you hardly can start performing too early. As Tempest often points out, the key is doing the best that you can with what you've got. And I always bring up this example but there was one gal that I saw perform many years ago and she was obviously a beginner student and had a limited number of moves that she knew... but, damn, she did them well and had good stage presence. It was a great start.

Also remember that very few people are natural performers. So this will take time. So you may as well start now. ;)

Record performances
You will want to consider recording your actual performances for 2 main reasons: 1) to see how it actually went and analyze the performance to improve your performance skills; and 2) some shows will require you to submit a video of you performing in lieu of an audition. Since I have this quirk where people forget to take pictures or videos of my performances, I didn't have a video to show for the longest time. So for those performances that require a video, I was hosed.

That being said, one thing that you could do if you really want to put in a bid for such a performance is have someone record you dancing in full costume and all that as if it was a performance but it's in the dance studio or your living room or whatever. I mean, it's not the best, obviously, but it's better than not showing anything.

The dreaded bio/blurb
Once you're accepted in the show, they will often ask you for a bio/blurb that the MC will say or that will be in the program. I nearly guarantee that you will draw a blank. What should I write? Well, you don't have to write a whole lot. I've found over the years that short and sweet will do just fine. I typically write a simple sentence about me (it generally will be "Celeste is a dark belly dance and improvisational tribal style performer and instructor in Indianapolis.") and then add a sentence or two about the piece. That can contain like the name of the song, the artist, etc. or just be about the piece per se. If you need to put something in to bring context to the piece, you can. My stance is that I want the dance to do the talking. ;)

Performance preparation

2010-10-27T15:55:00.002-04:00

As I was getting ready for the Ooky Spooky Hafla, I thought that it might be important to blog about performance preparation. I’m talking here about the last minute things that you need to do; I won’t talk about how your piece should have been prepared or anything like that.

THE #1 advice regarding preparation for performing is that you need to be as relaxed as can be! The thing is that performing is very much a mental thing. There is a whole lot of prep that goes before to get the piece ready and don’t forget to do it, of course… but in the last day or so before performing, it should all be about being as relaxed as can be.

Pack your bag
If the performance is out of town, you will want to pack your costume, makeup, etc. Sometimes, even when it’s in town, it’s easier to pack things up. Here are things to include in your performance bag… some are optional:

Costume – unless you already are wearing it; there usually will still be items from the costume that you will pack like your belt, for example
Makeup – unless your whole makeup is applied… and even then you probably want some elements of your makeup “just in case” (for example, mascara, eyeliner, eyelash glue)
Cover up – you can use a veil but, at one point, you want to invest in a cover up that actually covers you up (for example, a kimono, kaftan)
Hair brush, hair spray, and hair accessories – remember that, even if you did your hair up before the performance, you may want to remove the whole thing before heading home or want to tweak your hairdo
A personal mirror – you never know what the room in which you’ll be able to change will look like… and even when there are full length mirrors available, there might be a strong competition for a portion of the mirror
Tampon or pad – you never know…
Makeup remover towelettes – I have found those especially useful in toning down makeup, especially if I did a crazy-ish makeup first and don’t want to travel with it on my face; and some people can’t stand makeup for long periods of time
Dance shoes – This is optional and will totally depend on the flooring of where you’ll be performing. I have my infamous Fluevogs that I often wear to get to shows… it’s not just to be stylish… I can dance in them if I need to. ;) So if you don’t know the flooring, make sure to have something to dance in and/or ask.
Bindi – I often end up putting those on at the venue
Change of clothes – unless you’re going home straight afterwards but even then we can’t wait to get out of our costumes sometimes after having performed

Another tip for packing your bag: if you will be wearing multiple costumes or if you are packing your whole costume to be put on at the venue, pack the items in reverse order of how will put them on. What I mean is that you want to put at the bottom of your luggage your topmost layers (example, overskirt, coin bra) and put at the top of your luggage your first layers (example, pantaloons, choli). If you have to put your costume on while being in a tight space like a small bathroom stall, you’ll be happy you did that as opposed to having to move stuff around in your luggage.

Oh and consider investing in a small rolling luggage to transport your costumes and other items (you can get some dirt cheap ones at Walmart or Target). The advantage of a rolling luggage (besides the whole rolling part) is that it will generally offer an amount of protection from crushing for your items… I’m thinking specifically here of accessories.

Drink plenty! Plenty of water!
You’ll want to drink plenty of water. Sounds corny but, seriously, it’s true. Drinking enough water will hydrate you enough and invigorate you. That being said, you want to monitor your drinking intake (of any fluid) when you get close to show start time… because, well, what goes in must come out. ;)

Bathroom time
I generally do one last bathroom run right before putting on my costume (or right before putting on my belt if I’m mostly dressed up already). And I do this whether I feel that I need to or not… think of it like when you were a kid and mom told you to go before you were heading on a car trip. :p And if you do feel the need to go while you’re all dressed up, just know that it could be the nerves… ;)

Sleep well!
Another corny and self-evident one but the better you sleep, the less nervous you’ll be. Now, of course, first reaction you’re thinking is that you’re too nervous to sleep the night before. What about those other nights that same week? Try to get enough sleep during that whole week. It will be beneficial.

Don’t finish your costume at the last minute!
We’ve all done that every now and then but try to minimize how often that happens. Strive to have all your pieces ready 1 week before the performance. That way, you’ll be able to practice with the full costume at least once but, mostly, you won’t be sewing your fingers off when you should be relaxing.

Hair and makeup practice
Along the lines of practicing with your whole costume, you may want to try your hand at your hair and makeup for the performance, especially if it’s a technique that you have never used before or seldom used. Of course, if you don’t do that, the day of the event, you’ll be scrambling trying to make it do what you want when you are pressed for time.

For this, I will typically pick a weekend day when I have all the time in the world and practice doing all of that. That way, even if I mess up and need to redo or it takes forever, it’s no big deal. You will also get a sense for how intensive and how long it will potentially take you to do that the day of.

To eat or not to eat?
Some performers absolutely cannot dance with something in their stomach so they won’t eat. Others need sustenance to be able to do anything. Generally speaking, you want to ensure that you have eaten enough the day of the performance. Consider bringing snacks for before and/or after if you are in the category who absolutely cannot eat. Just know, too, that it could be your nerves telling you not to eat: you want to have eaten during the day because no one wants to see you faint on stage. Just know your personal limits and don’t let anyone sway you on that: we each have our own metabolism.

To practice one last time or not?
That is another one that is totally a personal thing. I’m one of those who gets more nervous if I practice one last time before hitting the stage. I can listen to the music but I can’t do the moves because that makes me extra nervous. I dare say that the answer to this one is probably the same as what was your answer in school as to whether you should review the material the day of the exam or no. In my case, it was the same thing: if I reviewed the material ‘one last time’, it messed me up more.

Also, if it’s a matter of practicing one last time and getting ready/packing in a crazy fashion because you are running out of time vs. calmly getting ready but not practicing, go for the calm. ;)

Your performance mindset
It will be important for you to figure out what your performance mindset is. What I mean by that is what conditions give you optimal performance potential. And, again, I’m talking mostly mental here... the physical aspects (food, water/fluids, and sleep intake) should have been take care of upfront. From a mental point of view, what gets you ready to perform? Is it peace and quiet? Is it a certain attitude?

You may want to develop some sort of ritual that works in helping you out with this. One caveat to that, though: you don’t want said ritual to be dependent on too many things. Like if you absolutely need green M&Ms with Diet Coke with 3 ice cubes and Nag Champa incense burning, you may be out of luck if you didn’t have time to grab some M&Ms and Diet Coke, there’s no ice machine, and someone is allergic to incense… I’m exaggerating here but you get the point.

In my case, I need to be in a ‘goth club/party’ mindset. As I’m applying my makeup and doing my hair, I put my iPod on random on some specific playlists or artists that get me in that mindset and make me want to burst out and dance. I also need to withdraw myself from the group a few minutes before I actually go on stage. And I will do some breathing techniques as I’m waiting backstage (whatever that may be) for my turn. And then it’s showtime.

I found out what works (and what doesn’t) for me over the years. I encourage you to find your own way doing things. And don’t worry about being ‘antisocial.’ Most other performers will understand the need for you to do your own thing to get into the proper mindset.

What if the conditions are not optimal?
So you didn’t sleep enough, you’re running on caffeine, haven’t eaten since breakfast, and your hair decided to have a mind of its own… or some version of that. Well, you still gotta make do and, in good Tim Gunn fashion, “Make it work!” You can still put yourself into that performance mindset although it will be a tad harder. Mostly, what it means is relaxing as much as you can. When you feel these things happening and a surge of panic, take deep breaths, maybe walk a few steps while just relaxing (maybe grab a glass of water). You can also call and/or text a husband, friend, moral support and vent your frustration for a bit. Works wonders! Again, you want to seek a calm state of mind.

It's Belly DANCE!

2010-10-15T16:15:00.002-04:00

I think that there are 2 items that are sometimes forgotten when it comes to belly dance performances: it’s DANCE and but let’s not forget also that it’s BELLY DANCE.

It’s Dance!
I’ve seen a number of performances where the dance is out the door. What I mean by that is that the performance ends up being a mechanical and automaton-like stringing of moves one after the other… it’s almost like exercise on stage.

There is indeed a place and time for the mechanical aspect: that’s in practice and/or in class when you are drilling moves. You do them over and over again mechanically to get the hang of doing the moves. But there comes a time when you need to depart from the straight up metronome version and flow from one move to the other. Definitely, you should follow what the music is dictating and flow with it… not fight against it! And you should be able to do that even without music! I mean, there should still be a nice flow even without the help of music.

For the heck of it, I was looking at the Merriam-Webster definition of ‘dance’ (which is not really helpful, by the way) and it said ‘generally done to music.’ That is, dance can happen without music! You can look at Onca’s 3rd Coast performance from this year to see that. You can also give it a try in your practice. I found that enlightening personally.

In a way, having such defined moves as we have in belly dance is both good and bad. It’s good because it gives you a strong framework to work with. It’s bad because the framework can end up confining you if you let it. Last weekend, I was watching Step Up 2 The Streets and it dawned on me that, in hip-hop, modern dance and all that, while they do have some framework now, if you go back to how it started (or even if you analyze the dance), it’s a flow of moves... of limbs and body parts doing something. (Actually, a strong parallel could be drawn to the early days of belly dance over here before we catalogued it all.)

The point here is to remember that it’s dance and not be too attached to the metronome numbers.

And, yes, it’s applicable to ATS/ITS
While ATS/ITS has a framework that needs to be abided by (more so than other genres of belly dance), you can still flow with the music… or at least you should attempt. We most certainly have slightly modified some combos before for them to fit with the music that we were going to dance to. In general, if you do your homework and do your home practice to the piece you will be performing ATS/ITS to, you will find that some moves/combos will fit better to some music and others you will naturally censor because it just doesn’t work well.

You can also ensure that you start something at the start of a phrase. That will go a long way in respecting the music. You can even slightly customize the tempo of the move to fit with the music. And, believe me, dancers WILL follow you. There are still some rules to follow, of course (like starting the move/combo on 1 and not on 2) but you still have some wiggle room… and that makes the performance so much more interesting.

It’s Belly Dance!
I don’t know if, in an attempt to do something different, to try something more creative or artistic, or for whatever else reason, but there have been performances I’ve seen where, really, it was entertaining, it was dance, but it wasn’t belly dance. If you will label your piece as something that is belly dance, there needs to be more than just 1 chest circle. There is a misconception that the lack of belly dance is only seen in fusion pieces. I’ve seen it in all subgenres lately.

So, although I encourage everyone to be more dance-y, please remember to keep your belly dance movements in… and in control too. You should be able to name more (or show if you don’t know the name) more than one move for your piece. I strongly recommend everyone to assess their piece for this. I do that all the time. I love to mix in more dance-y and flowy items but I always ensure that it’s still belly dance.

Over the years, I’ve seen this debate of what constitutes belly dance on like tribe and other message boards. Well, belly dance, if you notice, will use your core a lot. A lot of the moves originate from somewhere between the top of your chest to below your hips. If these portions of your body aren’t moving much in your piece, you’re probably not doing enough belly dance.

This art form is beautiful… don’t be afraid to showcase it in a dancer’s manner, using musicality and, yes, your core belly dance moves!

Cohesion

2010-09-29T11:06:00.002-04:00

I posted already in a previous blog about Synergy of elements in your dance (see http://celestesmusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/synergy.html ). This time, I’m tackling cohesion, which should really have been a first step. Whereas synergy is all the elements working together to enhance the performance, cohesion is all the elements fitting together… i.e., cohesion is the first step and then, if you’re lucky and/or have planned well, synergy will be the next level.

Head scratching
I’ve seen a lot of performances over the years that have left me scratching my head… some of them are downright bad… but, you know, it’s not that often that it’s just plain bad. What happens often instead is that it leaves you scratching your head because the elements individually aren’t bad but putting them together didn’t have a good result. If you’ve ever watched Top Chef, you’ve heard the judges say something like “These ingredients together weren’t working… there was no relationship between them.” So we’re talking about the same principle here.

For example (and not that I’ve seen that specific example…), let’s say you’re using some classical music from the 18th century, wearing a post-apocalyptic type of costume, hair is totally 80s, facial expression is uber upbeat cabaret, and you’re doing some folkloric moves. Okay, this example is really farfetched but I’ve seen some that approach that level of schizophrenia.

Common thread
So you want a common thread throughout the elements. That’s how you can make cohesion work. Again, if you watch Top Chef and/or Project Runway, the critiques will often touch on that. It’s the same thing for dancing. It needs to make sense why those elements are brought in together.

Stand alone piece
And I’m not talking about explaining away why you chose all those elements and how they make sense to you… if it’s truly a good idea, it will need to come out in your dance so that it will be obvious in the piece that you are presenting. It’s getting increasingly rarer that you will get an intro before your piece… and even if you do, they may mess up what you wrote… there are some pieces that maybe would benefit from having a program so you could read about the piece (and programs are nearly a thing of the past... even rarer than the intros)… but if the idea is too intellectual and not enough represented in dance, then it’s not fully developed for the dance medium. Your performance needs to be self-explanatory as much as possible.

Back to cohesion
So back to the original point… and that farfetched example… if you love all those elements, it’s cool… but maybe you shouldn’t pair them together. It would be better to do individual pieces centered on one of the items and run with that thread… explore it in more depth. You’ll be surprised (agreeably so) with what you’ll find!

Discordance
Discordance can be way cool… but the way that this is done the most effectively is when only ONE item is opposite to the rest. It’s a statement when you do that.

Not all concepts are usable
Just a note that not all concepts are usable… there are things that are much better in your head and they should stay there. And it’s a matter also of some concepts, while interesting, may not be usable for your medium and maybe another medium would be better. So it may not be a danceable thing but would make for a great thing to write about… then why don’t you write about it? I’d like to read it!

Just do it!

2010-09-22T11:45:00.001-04:00

Part of ATS/ITS is obviously the whole leading and following thing. Following is generally not too nerve-racking (although you still want to make a good effort at understanding the cues and executing the appropriate movement). What trips up most people is leading. I’m not going to talk about exactly how you go about leading (i.e., the technical aspect) but more the mental preparation. And although the frame of mind that I had for writing this blog was about ATS/ITS, a lot of it is applicable to other styles of dance.

That’s why we drill
So you’re nervous about leading and whether you will do the moves correctly. Well, you know what? That’s why we drill those moves over and over again. The idea is that the moves will become so ingrained in your body that they will just flow. What will happen eventually is that you’ll do cue XX and the move that goes with it will just come out. That’s how much you want to know your moves. It makes your life much much easier.

Overthinking is a killer
I’m a big overthinker for most things… but definitely NOT for leading. If you start overthinking, that’s when you’ll second-guess yourself as to whether you should trust your body that you had the correct follow-up to a cue or whether you are doing it correctly on the beat and it all goes downhill from there. Just trust your instincts. Trust that your body knows what it is doing.

Don’t edit
Unless you’re about to replicate the exact same pattern as the leader before you (and even then…), don’t edit what you’re about to do. The main reason for that is that it’s then putting you into the left side of your brain, so in the analytical side, as opposed to keeping you flowing… and the overthinking will ensue… as well as the negative talk that we (too often) give ourselves. In addition, that will generally make you hesitate and, thus, will break the moment.

That’s why we practice together
You know, those rehearsals when we just do improvisation together? They’re as crucial if not more than drilling moves. You can drill moves on your own, at home. While you can do exercises on your own that will practice your leading abilities, it’s never the same as having some folks in the back relying on you to cue a move. So it is really important that you do those group practices. But please relax in them. You can totally mess up in those and it’s all in good fun. We’re all learning together when we do those practices.

Let go of perfection
In practice and in performance, you will mess up… you will cue something that you didn’t mean to or cue something wrongly. No biggie. As long as you don’t have a face of “OMG, I messed up!”, few will know. And your dance partners won’t flog you at the end. Seriously. We’ve all messed up. It’s perfectly fine.

Just do it!
To borrow the Nike slogan (it’s a damn good one), what it boils down to is that you need to Just do it! It’s that simple! Sounds complex and all but, really, all that you have to do is take a deep breath and take a proverbial plunge… you need to just do it! And the more you do it, the easier it gets. Trust me!

Soliciting feedback

2010-09-14T13:37:00.003-04:00

Finally, the long-awaited follow-up blog on soliciting feedback. Or maybe it wasn’t long-awaited! :p Ahem…

Note: This post will be about the person soliciting the feedback and not about how to give feedback/critique. Also, the post is really about soliciting feedback about improving your performance quality as opposed to how to do a move better.

Soliciting feedback is a hard thing to do at times as we often don’t really want to know. However, that’s one of the ways that we get valuable information of what to work on to improve our dance.

Who should you ask?
First off, you need to figure out who you should ask for feedback. Here are some of the characteristics of an ideal person to request feedback from:

Honest: You want to find someone who will be honest with you. That is, someone who will really tell you the positive, negative and anything in-between. As such, close friends make bad persons to ask… they will be afraid of hurting your feelings and may not tell you the whole truth.
Similar style: You want to ask someone who does the same style as you do or similar enough. The issue is that the person can only talk about what she/he knows and the comments and advice that you will get will come from that knowledge… and it will most likely not be appropriate. For example, if you were to ask me to critique a Turkish piece and give you feedback on what to improve on, I would be a baaaaad choice… while I could indeed give you my opinion and my feedback on what I saw, I most certainly don’t know enough to point you in the right direction. Also, I could potentially say that I liked something that is a big no no for the style… you never know.
Someone you look up to in dance: You know, someone who makes you say/think “I want to be like her when I grow up in dance.” (And, hopefully, you don’t want to be ‘just’ like her but you with some of her skills… but that was already a topic for a portion of a blog.) If you can find someone who you are looking up to, someone who has performance qualities that you want to emulate, you will find a lot of valuable information from said person. The person could tell you how she/he went about working on whatever item you like from her style and that could be useful for you. Also, you will get that person’s perspective on your dance.
Ideally, an instructor: Not all instructors are created alike, of course, but a lot have the knowledge and skills to give you pertinent feedback and critique and will be more apt to tell you how to work on whatever. Again, make sure that the instructor is one who will tell you the truth, though… I mean, some will be hesitant to tell you things because they want you to come back to their classes and/or workshops. Hopefully, this is not the norm.

Off limits?
Do you think that someone is really off limits to ask feedback from? Probably not. As I mentioned in the previous section, most instructors will do it… you need but ask…

Paying for feedback
What? Some people pay for feedback? Why, yes. Yes they do. I’ve most certainly done that. Generally speaking, it’s considered as a private session since the instructor spends time reviewing a performance and helping you figure out how to improve aspects of your performance. It’s totally customized for you. Believe me: it’s money well spent.

Timing
You definitely do NOT want to ask for feedback right after you’re done performing… that’s when you are at your most vulnerable and will generally not be in the best frame of mind to listen anyway. So you want to at least wait one day. Any time after that is fine. Note, though, that if some time elapses, it might be beneficial for whoever you are asking the feedback from to have a video to go by to trigger the memory of the performance, if the person saw the performance live.

Frame of mind
So, when you’re going to ask someone for feedback on your dance, you want to make sure that you are in an ‘open’ frame of mind. You need to be able to listen. And when I say ‘listen’, I’m not just saying hearing the words that are being said but actually understanding what the person is saying. So doing active listening.

Don’t be defensive
You may feel attacked or end up going on the defensive. Try to resist the urge. Don’t try to explain what was going on unless it’s something that will help the person give you tips on how you could have done something better. Actually, during the Mira Betz intensive, we received two critiques (one at the very beginning and one at the very end) and, during the time that we were receiving the critique, we were instructed not to speak but just take it in. It was hard to do but it was indeed very helpful. The goal was mainly so that we wouldn’t go into the defensive mode and excuse away some things. So you may want to even resist the urge to speak at all, especially if it’s to say anything that starts with ‘but’.

Don’t twist the words
I’ve been guilty of that many times over when Jeff (my husband) gives me feedback/a critique. In that specific case, I wish that I was perfect and all that… and it’s the typically husband/wife misunderstanding. But I’ve gotten much better at not twisting his words. It may happen in the course of the discussion that you will misunderstand what the feedback really was… even if you’re doing active listening and even if you’re not defensive. Take words at face value unless otherwise specified. So if the person says that XX could be improved, it doesn’t mean that it’s crap… it means that it’s an area where you may want to work on.

Follow-up questions
Now “the” time when you can speak (and should speak) is if you have a follow-up question. It may be because the person wasn’t clear so you’re not quite sure what the point is. Or it may be because it’s bringing another idea that you have. Or what if it was in a different setting. This will engage you in a conversation with the other person and it’s generally all good and fun… but do remember to go back to the original conversation. I’m real good at digressing so that happens to me a lot.

But I feel like crap now!
Hopefully, the person giving you the critique did a good job of stressing out areas where you did well. That being said, it’s super easy to kind of dismiss those and focus on what else was said… so those areas for improvement and all that. While, yes, some dancers that you look up to are near flawless, it’s important to remember that no one is perfect… not even them! So there will always be room for improvement, just like you can always bend your knees more and lower those shoulders more. ;) It most certainly doesn’t mean that the performance was bad. But, yes, even your best performance so far can be made better… and that’s what you’re learning: where to go to next.

Whoa! What a list!
After some of those feedback sessions, you may end up with a relatively long list of items that you could tweak. While it can seem like a daunting task, don’t feel like you have to incorporate everything all at once! Some of the items on the list will be technical aspects: those can be handled in drills so the more you drill those items, they will ‘magically’ (i.e., through work and effort) get better. There are other items that have to do with performance quality so you want to pick maybe 1 or 2 of those items and work on them for your next performance; you want to pick those that are actually applicable for your next performance and/or those that could have the most impact. Since performing requires so much and thinking of so many details, you don’t want to overwhelm your brain with too many additional items to keep in mind. ;) Once you’ve successfully tackled some issues, tackle other ones.

Suggestions – not mandatory
Unless it’s something related to potential injuries (for example, if you keep doing this move this way, you’ll hurt yourself), it’s also important to realize that whatever you are hearing are suggestions. It’s up to you to decide whether you will incorporate the items that you were told in your critique. No one really is the end all be all belly dance authority; therefore, realize that you may have a different take and that it may be okay… you still want to assess whether the item could have some application but there comes a point where some things will be subjective … and you most certainly can agree to disagree.

Personal style

2010-09-08T10:44:00.001-04:00

Well, I was going to answer Maria’s comment on my previous post but realized that it was going to be a long reply so it may as well be its own post. I’ve definitely felt that fear of ‘What if “my” style is lame/boring/uninteresting/yaddyaddya’. And I’ve definitely been on a quest for my own personal style for quite some time with a lot of question marks and wondering how to do it and generally a lot of overthinking.

Negative voice
Most of us have a negative voice inside of us… it’s the one that makes you think that your own thing may be <> (for example, lame, boring, uninteresting). Thou shalt not listen to that voice! It’s the thing that holds you back all the time. It’s why you haven’t done XX thing even though you’ve been itching to for like forever. You need to shut that voice down. I went with some creative and crazy ways of dealing with it: I wrote a poem to it and I did also a Q&A blog post about it (both are on tribe somewhere in my blog posts). Again, that’s my silly and crazy way of handling it. But it eventually worked. Whatever works for you, use it. You may want to write a letter about it and then burn it. Whatever. If all else fails, use the Stuart Smalley daily affirmations: I’m good enough! I’m smart enough! And doggone it! People like me! And believe it too!

Starting point
So, at first, you will follow in someone’s footsteps or imitate the way that they do moves. It’s normal. It’s akin to when we all started learning how to write and we would mimic the letters… nearly all letters from those first graders workbooks look the same. It’s because they’re copying those shapes that they were told make the letters. As comprehension of how to write those letters increases (and with regular practice), you start seeing some handwriting differences. It’s the same principle with dancing.

And then…
At last year’s Belly Boo Bash workshop, Leila Gamal was instructing us while dancing in diagonal lines across the floor to find our groove, find the way that a certain move fits on your body. After that workshop, I realized that that’s an important step: finding how a move really is on your body. To accommodate for your body proportions, strengths and weaknesses, moves will end up being slightly different on each bodies while the outlook will remain the same. It’s a subtle thing. But it’s an important one. And note that it doesn’t mean that technique goes out the window… it just means that you’re keeping your good isolations and your technique but with your body quirks in mind. ;)

Also, you will branch out from what your mommy (or daddy) in dance has taught you and may take some workshops and/or start being influenced by other dancers. And you’ll incorporate those items into your own dance and practice, therefore modifying (by default) the original style that you were taught. My whole blog post from yesterday around tweaking moves was getting at that too. ;)

The copycat pitfall
While learning from your teachers and from your mentors or whoever you admire is exactly what you should be doing, you should be wary of the copycat pitfall. It happens if you take something exactly as is and don’t modify anything. It also happens when you copy someone’s aesthetics down to the minute details… and, you know, not even to the minute details… If it’s too close to the original, it’s dance plagiarism (okay, I know that dance plagiarism doesn’t exactly exist… but you get the point). We’ve seen countless Rachel Brice clones and while it’s not a bad idea to learn things from Rachel Brice, you don’t want to be renown as a clone, do you? When you leave the stage, do you want folks to remember you as Rachel Brice copycat or as that dancer who had her own style? And, of course, you can insert any name instead of Rachel Brice… it’s just that it happens a lot with her.

While on the topic of copycat, even if a teacher taught you a choreography in class or in a workshop, you don’t really want to perform it on stage. Why? Because, again, you’re copying what the teacher has done… of course, it’s so much easier if the choreography has been made for you… you don’t have to come up with something and all that… you just have to execute the choreography. And therein lies a big problem. A choreography made by someone else is someone else’s point of view on that piece of music using belly dance as the tool for expression. And while you can learn the moves by heart, they will have been put in a logical order that is logical to the creator of the piece… not necessarily logical for you (hence why we sometimes struggle remembering the choreography). Moreover, as I already stated, it’s someone else’s point of view and not yours and, believe me, I’ve seen enough dancers doing someone else’s choreography to see how there is always something off. You can’t really replicate what the creator had in mind. Ever heard some bad cover songs? Usually, they’re bad because it’s just the song as is and not much extra. (And if you want to see a great example of a bad rendition of a song, look for this year’s America’s Got Talent where the father and son are singing All By Myself… yes… a duet singing All By Myself) A good cover song will be one where the artist who covers the song has made it his or her own. And that is usually done by tweaking the song to fit the cover artist’s aesthetics. One great case in point is Marilyn Manson’s version of Sweet Dreams. That song took on a whole different twist.

The “Quest” aka overthinking
At some point, you may end up on a quest for your own personal style. While it sounds noble and something that you should do, it’s a pitfall. You can read a great number of my blog posts from tribe (and I’ve carried them over on blogger too under a different address) of me being on that quest… which was really overthinking. Don’t let yourself be bogged down by this… it will come.

A lot like love…
Turns out that finding your personal style is a lot like love. Ever heard the saying “If you’re looking for love, you won’t find it but if you stop looking, you will?” It’s exactly like that with the personal style. The less you’re looking for it, the more it will come. Yes, I can vouch for that from personal experience. Eventually, Ariellah and Tempest, my mentors, each told me to stop thinking and start doing. Well, they were obviously right. The day that I stopped fussing over what my style was and started just dancing, I was much happier with my dancing in general and it just blossomed from there. So don’t worry about your personal style and just dance!

Doing your own thing
So “doing your own thing” really means simply doing whatever your heart desires. It’s as simple as that… and it’s as complicated as that. You still want to keep in mind Tempest’s sound advice: “Sure you can. Should you?” But, generally speaking, we all have filters that take care of the funky stuff… and even if something funky comes out… is it the end of the world? Heck, no. Bottom line, go with what attracts you, what makes you smile (internally or externally ;) ), what you find aesthetically pleasing, etc. The rest are details. So when I encourage folks to do their own thing, what I mean is dance however YOU want to dance. Have fun with it. Discover new stuff.

The gem inside (aka being genuine)
If you dance from the heart and from something that is genuine, your dance style WILL be interesting enough. We all have beauty inside of us and we all have something to say. We’re all unique and different and that’s what makes the world interesting. So take it as your twist on dancing. Or, drawing a parallel to a different art form, it’s your way of telling a story. You know how if one person tells a story, it sounds a certain way but someone else tells the same story and it sounds different? It’s really like that.

Make it your own

2010-09-07T14:49:00.002-04:00

To add on to the good post by Tempest around learning (see http://darklydramatic.blogspot.com/2010/09/may-you-forever-thirstfor-knowledge.html ), here are some of my considerations I want to add.

Learning the basics – The Blaise Pascal story

Blaise Pascal was a monk in 17^th century France who was a mathematician and physicist… very brilliant guy… While at the monastery, the monks loved watching him re-discover math theorems and prove them and all that. While he went on to make great discoveries, that story makes me mad. Thing is, for a portion of the time, he rediscovered old knowledge. I’m puzzled and flabbergasted that they didn’t bother teaching him all of that instead of marveling at his intelligence as he’s rediscovering stuff. Imagine how much more he would have discovered? He didn’t have the tools for it until he discovered them… and it’s not like he was out in the middle of nowhere (well, kinda) with no one to teach him… there were people there who could have taught him what was known.

What does this have to do with dance? Well, a parallel can be drawn: if you need to discover or rediscover how things are done, you will accomplish XX… but what if you had all the tools in your possession… what lengths could you achieve? And *that* is why we learn or at least should want to learn by going to classes and workshops and all that: it’s so that you can learn technique and artistry and any other tool that you need for your art. There’s no point in re-creating the wheel if it already exists. There’s no point in you trying to figure out how to do a shimmy if someone can show you how to do it. To some extent you will have to figure out how it feels on your body but you catch my drift. The mechanics behind it can be taught. Same for artistry and all that.

Make the moves your own

While you’ll learn great moves and combos during classes and workshops, you can totally take those home and tweak them. They don’t necessarily have to be done ‘as is’ unless we’re talking about some folkloric moves done in a folkloric setting. Examples of tweaking:

Sometimes a combo’s timing will seem off to you… it obviously works for the instructor who taught you the combo but it may not work for you. There’s nothing that says that you can’t modify the timing to something that fits better.
A portion of the combo leaves you blah or doesn’t look right on your body: you can remove that portion or replace it with something that works better. Sometimes, though, just a simple tweak like changing the arms may do the trick. (We have an infamous combo that was tweaked that way.)

ATS tweaks

You would think that ATS is sacred and that no tweaks should be made… well, not necessarily. Let me put one caveat, though: if you want to play with other groups that do the same format, you don’t want to make tweaks… or at least remember what the original move is so that you can synch back with those groups. And this should be a group decision as to what you want to do. Some groups will want to strictly follow one format (FCBD, Gypsy Caravan, BlackSheep BellyDance) while others will be more flexible. It’s all good. Black Rose Caravan falls into the flexible category (our little known tag line is “We make this sh!t up”). Black Rose Caravan loves to incorporate any move or combo that we feel fits our format and aesthetics. But, in order to do that, we’ve had to tweak some combos and moves so that cues can’t be confused or to add a cue, keeping in mind that the move/combo will be done by a group in synch (hopefully, lol). We do that in a collaborating manner but we still do it. And no move is sacred… we’ve even tweaked good old Egyptian Basics because one of our members at the time had shoulder and neck issues and it also gave us an opportunity to have a cue to stop the half turns back and forth while still doing Egyptian Basics. We love the fact that we can incorporate anything that we like.

But <> does it a certain way!

Don’t be fooled by that. It’s not because so and so does a move or combo a certain way that you have to do it. It happens a lot with big names in tribal fusion (of course, most noteworthy being Rachel Brice). While, yes, it’s a nice way to do the move or combo, it may not look good on you… maybe not at all. It’s important to recognize that and either edit or tweak said move/combo to flatter your figure… or ditch it entirely. For example, while I think that pops and locks can be cool, given my fleshy body, it looks all wrong on me as there are ripple effects that don’t make the moves crisp as they should be.

Choreographies

So, you learned a choreography in a workshop. Bravo! But what to do with it? Generally speaking, you don’t want to perform that choreography on stage (even if the instructor said that it was fine). And the whole rationale for that is a blog post in itself so I’ll shelve that for later. But now you have spent moolah learning a choreography and what can you do with it? Surely there are some elements that you like about it. It may be an arm movement or a set of moves. It’s totally possible (and even a great idea) to excerpt those items that you find interesting and incorporate them into your own vocabulary and/or practice. If it’s an arm movement, you can layer that over some moves. If it’s a set of moves, you can turn it into a combo.

Bottom line

So the point of the whole thing here is that knowledge is important and is your foundation for (in this case dance) growth and you should seek it out as much as you can. But once you have it, it doesn’t have to become stale… quite the contrary! Borrowing back to the Blaise Pascal story, you can discover new things and further Dance. Most importantly, it will be YOUR way. Make it ALL your own. THAT is what will differentiate you from the crowd.

Synergy

2010-08-30T16:29:00.002-04:00

(You’d think that my next blog post would logically be about solicited feedback… and, yes, that was originally my intention… but then the unsolicited feedback brought up an idea so here we are. ;))

The idea came when I wrote about the comments that we sometimes get about the costuming… (see previous blog post). Same could be said about makeup... oh and hair too!

Not a feature

Isn’t it something to strive for, to have great costuming and makeup and hair? Yes… to a certain point. At a minimum, you want those elements to not be extremely visible… meaning, that it shouldn’t detract from your performance… and it shouldn’t be a feature of your performance. I have seen a number of dancers over the years whose performance gets carried through because of costuming, hair, and makeup but the dance itself was meh. Some people hide behind those tricks. (And, seriously, we've all done this at least once.) It’s a smoke and mirror trick that you want to use sparingly... if at all!

Dichotomy

You want to stir away from the cluster f***. That happens generally when you just shlap on something without having put any thought into whether it's appropriate for the performance. Because it's a gorgeous costume or one from renown designer XX that cost you XX$, it doesn't mean that it's appropriate for the performance!

Synergy

Ideally, you want everything costuming, hair, and makeup (and beyond) to be in synergy. What does ‘synergy’ mean? Synergy, in general, may be defined as two or more agents working together to produce a result not obtainable by any of the agents independently (per Wikipedia).So, with that in mind, I mean that we ideally want the costuming, hair, and makeup to enhance the performance in a way that enriches the whole final product that you’re presenting on stage.It’s a balancing act and a bit tricky. Just putting on a costume will already oomph up a performance… but if the performance doesn’t have enough oomph to begin with, a nicer bow won’t make it better.

Framing

Really, that’s the thing: you can view costuming, hair, and makeup as a frame for your performance… i.e., for your moves, for the mood and tone you want to set, the character, etc. So if you use the wrong frame, something will be off… and everyone will know it. Sometimes it’s easier to imagine a different art. Take a painting that would be very Victorian but you stick it in a super modern frame… something will definitely be off. Likewise, a very modern painting in a Victorian-style frame would be off. So keep that in mind while choosing your costume elements, your hair design, and your makeup!

Also keep in mind some technical/practical aspects too. You will be doing floorwork? A skirt may not be the best idea. You will be using veil? Maybe an elaborate do with lots of metal tidbits in your hair will most likely get the veil caught.

Another tip

I’ve most certainly been guilty of not having synergy in my costume. I think that it’s something that needs to be experienced with… and I don’t always succeed even when I’m trying to achieve it. For the record, while having a specific costume for a specific piece and only for that piece would be amazing, it’s near impossible to do for many reasons.

One thing that has helped me when I think of my costuming for an upcoming piece, though, is asking myself “Out of my stuff I already have, what would the person who is dancing this piece choose and does it fit with the music, mood, etc.?” (Note that I include jewelry and overall accessories in this self-assessment). It helps foster that synergy because you are getting in touch with the character and the piece in choosing your costuming elements. Same goes for hair and makeup. I ask myself “What would this character do for hair and makeup?”

Unsolicited Feedback

2010-08-25T14:12:00.003-04:00

What I mean by “unsolicited feedback” is whenever you tell someone after a performance your thoughts on it. Most people just say something like “I really liked your performance!” It’s great that you did… but, believe me, we all get that a lot (or a version of that). It’s helpful to know more, hence the reason for this blog.

Not a full blown critique of the performance

If you’re giving unsolicited feedback, don’t do a full blown critique of the performance… that really should be kept for solicited feedback (i.e., someone pointedly asks you to critique the performance). The critique/solicited feedback topic will be covered in a separate blog. So, instead of giving a critique, what we want to focus on is what you can cover in your unsolicited feedback.

Keep it positive

The things that need to be improved on should be covered in a full blown critique. Few people will dare mentioning to the performer what he/she could have done better, thankfully, but I still thought that I should put this disclaimer here… just in case…

Overall impressions

Knowing your overall impressions is good. So knowing that you liked the performance is great. If you can add more details as to why you liked the performance, all the better! For example, “I really liked your performance because I could feel the emotions pouring forth.” Adding that tidbit of extra info helps the performer tremendously. That’s how the performer knows what overall elements came through for you.

Specific moves/moments

If there are specific moves or moments in the piece that really captured you, please say so! One of the best unsolicited feedback I’ve ever received was from Matthew Hellrung and Laura Smith: after one of my performances, they told me specific moves that they really liked in my performance. Again, knowing that tidbit of extra info tells the performer which moves really captured you. That generally means that it’s a move that we should keep on rotation. ;) For example and interestingly, one of the moves that Matthew commented on was one that I had originally dismissed but ended up doing on stage since I do improv and, well, it just came out. Had I not known that it had worked, I would have dismissed it again from future performances.

Costume comments

Costume is cool... and if there are elements that you liked about it and that worked for you, it's fine to say. But if you comment only on the costume or you say "I really liked your performance AND I especially liked your costume", it may make the performer a little neurotic. As in, "Okay... my costume was super cool. But my dance wasn't? Drat!" (or variations with more or less angst).

Oh and if you will comment on the costume, as with everything else I mentioned so far, if you can add specifics, it totally helps. For example, I really liked your costume because it enhanced the moves, specifically the arm movements. Or, I really liked your costume because it helped create/further the mood of the piece. Or whatever else.

Keep it short

A few sentences with important and pointed info will go a long way! After a performance, it often happens that a lot of folks want to talk to the performer or the performer may be doing another piece in another portion of the show and needs to go change so keeping the chat short will be helpful. Of course, if the person wants to chat for longer, it’s totally fine.

Pros and featured artists

There is this misconception that it’s almost like bad form to go tell a pro or the featured artist in a show specific details of what you liked about their performance. So they often end up hearing “I really loved your performance” over and over again. The truth is that they want the feedback too! And they seldom get some! They also want to know what worked for you and what you liked. Again, unless it’s a solicited feedback, keep it short, positive, and specific.

Dancing in a restaurant

2010-08-18T14:15:00.003-04:00

As a follow-on to the blog on dancing to live music and also due to the upcoming hafla at Greek Islands, I thought that I would write something about dancing in a restaurant setting. This isn’t my “tricks of the trade” kind of blog post but just some considerations for dancing in a restaurant setting 101. ;)

Remember my #1 rule, though: Have fun! That’s what it’s all supposed to be about. ;)

Respect the patrons’ space

I saw this repeatedly at Greek Islands haflas during the first wave a couple of years ago and also at Pat’s Pub: dancers dancing too close to tables and patrons. While I do understand that everything is cramped and while I will get close to patrons, you need to pay attention to their space. Specifically, you want to watch out for skirts flying and brushing on the patrons’ arms, veils hovering over the table (and, thus, the food), and backing on patrons’ chairs/tables. There are other transgressions but those are the most common ones.

You may want to stir away from the 25-yard tribal style skirts for that very reason… especially if it’s tucked up on the sides. You won’t feel it flying off nor notice the tucked ruffles brushing on arms and all that. If you want to do veil, find a big enough spot to do it in (at Greek Islands, that confines you to the entrance) or wait until the venue is almost empty. If you need to back up for whatever reason, do look where you’re going… both for the patrons’ sake and for your own… objects are sometimes closer than they appear! :s

Sword

I’m sword challenged so it’s not an issue for me but I think that swords deserve their own subsection. ;) Swords are beautiful and cool. But, beware of patrons! They have no idea that that thing is not just a cheap prop and will walk right by you… like much closer than you’d expect them to. So do be careful if you will do sword. And if you are still a swordee-in-training (i.e., if you’re getting good at it but still have balancing issues from time to time), you may want to wait until you are more in control of the sword before doing it out in public, especially when people will freely walk around you. For more advice on sword dancing in the restaurant, ask Gabi for her ideas and advice. Personally, I wouldn’t do it. But if you want to do it, use extreme caution.

Let the wait staff do their jobs

That is another big thing that I noticed: waiters sometimes have issues walking around to wait on their tables. If you notice a waiter coming your way, try to get out of the way (without falling onto someone else’s table, of course). There are many areas between tables where you can duck. ;) Try to pay attention to the movement around you. If we were to take pictures of me non-stop while I dance at Greek Islands, you would barely see me with my eyes closed or my head lowered; one of the reason for this is indeed to keep track of the wait staff movement so that I can get the hell out of their way. I realized as I was getting ready to write this blog that one thing that I tend to do if I am on the lower level of the restaurant is do a quick-ish twirl every now and then and check the kitchen area to see if anyone is coming out. Don’t go all twirling dervish on us… but consider glancing over there every now and then.

Acknowledge the patrons

I know that it’s a little hard at times, especially if you are an introvert but do give patrons a little smile every now and then. Try also to refrain from dancing constantly with your back to the patrons. I mean, turn to them for a little. The more you do those things, the easier it will become over time. And, you know, for all that your back side can be cute, they want to see you from the front too (that’s usually the nicer side of our costumes [and moves for that matter] anyway).

Dancing in a group (added after edit)

It kind of goes along with acknowledging the patrons. I've seen this numerous times and have been guilty of doing it myself. Sometimes, you will start dancing with a group of women and will be facing each other... totally turning your backs to the patrons... and it sooooooo looks like way back when women would go out and dance in a club with the purses in the middle of their dancing circle. Do feel free to disengage from the group a little and face the patrons. And this has a tendency to happen more with tribal dancing... we somehow start by facing each other and we stay that way. Well, if you do pair up with me, just know that I may turn the whole group so that we end up facing the patrons. Unless you are specifically doing a duet or doing something where all dancers are facing each other, in tribal style, really, you should still face 'the audience' often enough. ;)

Children first, women next, men last

This is something that I learned in the SCA and is uber useful. When dancing, if you do acknowledge the patrons, start with children first, women next, and men last. Children will provide a lot of entertainment: the baby in the high chair who is bouncing to the music; the smitten little boy who blows you kisses from across the room; the little girls who call you Princess Jasmine; the little boys who are clapping when you’re away but shy when you get close; the little girls dancing with you and following you around… It’s real funny and everyone likes it. Women will really appreciate being acknowledged before men. They’re generally digging belly dance more than men anyway so you may as well give them first smiles. ;) It also proactively pre-empts the conundrum for men of “Should I look at her or not?” Since you’re not making eye contact with them (yet), they can glance at their lady and see her reaction and take their cues from there.

Tucking

Since there will be regular patrons, some of them are regulars or have been at Greek Islands before when there are belly dancers… heck, some did tip while at Pat’s Pub… so you need to think before you start dancing whether you want people to tuck bills in your belt or not. Really, it’s not that bad. You’ll be lucky if they tuck enough that the bill won’t fall off. But if you’re not comfortable with it, there are other ways. Amirah wears arm bands and point that the site of tucking should be there. So if you have arm bands, you can totally do that. Another method is to get the money in your hand and tuck it yourself. You want to do this politely and nicely… what you can do is like a little curtsy with your nicest smile so that they know that you appreciate the gesture.

Money shower

You may get a money shower. If you do, just stay there and be showered with money. I always have a big broad smile on my face when that happens because it cracks me up. And then I leave the money on the floor. I try not to bend down to grab money whenever possible. Don’t worry… someone will bring the money back to you… or put it on a free table nearby. You won’t lose your tip. ;)

Plates breaking

If Papa is there, he may break a stack of plates. That’s the way that he shows his appreciation and joy. It’s a Greek thing. Some people freak out when that happens: just know that it’s normal… and it’s fun. Again, that gives me the giggles. They will quickly clean the area where the plates were broken.

Shoes

Do wear shoes when dancing in a restaurant. You probably don’t want to be barefoot on the carpet that may have had some food on it. They vacuum each night but, still, a few hours have passed. Plus, I think that, per the code, you need shoes to be in a restaurant. ;) I personally prefer closed toe shoes but you can wear sandals or other footwear. If the shoes/sandals are not dance shoes per se, you want to assess whether you can go up on the ball of your feet; that’s crucial for some movements. If you do have time to practice in said shoes, it’s even better. If you’re used to dancing barefoot, it’s a different experience, dancing in shoes. ;)

Dancing to live music

2010-08-16T11:47:00.001-04:00

As we approach the time for the next Hafla with il Troubadore at Greek Islands, I thought that it might be a good idea to broach the topic of dancing with live music. It’s not a whole lot different than dancing with recorded music but there are some elements that you should note.

Don’t over-prepare
I’ve seen some dancers who prepare choreographies to go with live music. While it’s definitely a good idea to have the music in mind and have ideas of what you want to do at different points, if you over-prepare, you will be shooting yourself in the foot. With live music, you never know if they will speed it up (making some of your ideas impossible to execute), slow it down (now the ideas might not be interesting slow), or skip a part (in which case, your choreography is suddenly out of whack).

Work on your improv
If you can’t choreograph too much, what’s a dancer to do? Improvisation will generally work better with live music because it is so much easier to recover with anything that would be thrown at you. How to do improv is a big topic by itself so I won’t devote time to it here. What you can do, though, is practice with the music that the musicians will be playing. If you can get a hold of their rendition of the piece by said musicians, all the better. Again, it’s possible that they won’t play the music exactly as is. However, you can still use that music as a framework to practice your improvisational skills to that music. If you’re practicing for a hafla where you don’t know what the hell the musicians will be playing, just practice to some music. Improvisation is a skill that easily translates from piece to piece. :p

Flow with the music
Flowing with the music is obviously something that you can do (and should do) with recorded music too but it’s far easier with live music because you can synch with the actual musicians… right there! You’ll be more able to flow because you will have visual and audio cues from the musicians. This happens when you are relaxed and are really listening to the music as opposed to anticipating the music. It’s very helpful to notice changes in the music. ;)

Requests
If you would like the musicians to do something specific for you (for example, keep a certain tempo for a certain song), it’s perfectly fine to ask them. Making requests for specific songs is often fine… especially if we’re talking about il Troubadore. They are most accommodating. Anyway, the point is that, in general, you can ask what you want out of musicians and they are happy to help you out.

Acknowledge the musicians
It’s a nice touch to thank them for playing for you. It’s kind of a polite thing to do. They are happy to provide you with music and see you dance but let’s not forget that, without them, you’d be doing mime dancing. Not exactly the same end result. :p

Passing up performance opportunities

2010-08-10T16:55:00.002-04:00

I thought (after a nudge from a certain little Mouse) that it was a good idea to expand on passing up gigs and performance opportunities. It’s real hard to do… but it’s something that needs to be learned.

Don’t attempt something that’s not your style
I think that it is crucial that you know what is within your range and what isn’t. And, with that in my mind, to assess whether you can take on a certain gig or not. Most people would have the common sense not to take on a fire dancing gig if they’ve never done fire dancing. There are many risks associated with it that makes it really obvious that it shouldn’t be attempted if untrained… though I’m sure that some have attempted it. *sigh*

Anyway, what is less obvious is when we’re asked to do something that we’re somewhat familiar with and is generally without health-related risks. If you’re a tribal lady and are being asked to do a cabaret performance, as I mentioned in the previous blog post, don’t just shlap on a glitzy cabaret costume and expect to deliver a cabaret performance. Likewise, if you are a cabaret lady, don’t just shlap on a tribal costume and expect to deliver a tribal performance. Even if you think that you know what the other style is about, unless you’ve been trained in that style, it will not come out correctly per the style.

When I got the gig to dance at Greek Islands, it was clear that they wanted cabaret dancing. While I had 5 years of training under my belt in cabaret, that was back when I was in Quebec and I hadn’t really done it in like 6 years or more. Although there is such a thing as ‘generic belly dance moves’, to get the cabaret aesthetics, I really worked on remembering those moves, accompanying arms movements, attitude, etc. So, when you see me dance at Greek Islands, it is decidedly the cabaret style that you see.

Disservice to the style
While you may think that it doesn’t matter if you really know the style or not, it’s really a disservice to the style to perform it. Why? Well, those folks who are seeing you perform will assume that this is XX. So if you’re performing cabaret, they will assume that what you are doing is representative of cabaret. And, you know, you can replace ‘cabaret’ with any other genre or subgenre and it’s the same old story. Another reason why it matters is that there are people who spend painstaking amounts of time working on the style and showcasing it in a certain light and you may crush all of that work in 5 minutes flat (okay, I’m exaggerating here but you catch my drift).

Professionalism and courtesy
What it boils down to, essentially, is that you want to behave in a professional manner. So if something is not your style, it would be more professional to pass the opportunity… and it would be courteous to pass the opportunity on to another dancer in the area who actually does perform that style. It’s totally fine to say that you can’t take on the gig but you can refer the person to another person who could. And, you know what? You’ll receive that favor back eventually. For example, there is a cabaret instructor in the area with whom we exchange students: if they want to do tribal, she sends them my way and if they want to do cabaret, I send them her way.

Agreement with the terms/Paying to perform
What I wrote up until now was really more about gigs with a general public audience (and it’s even more true for paid gigs, obviously). Agreeing with the terms for the performance is really universal for paid or non-paid gigs and for the general public or belly dance shows. I’m really going to pull this from a thread that was on tribe a while back about whether performers should have to pay to perform in a show.

I get this question a lot. Do dancers have to pay to perform? Generally speaking, we are providing free entertainment (except for the headliner(s) who will be paid) so we generally don't have to pay the admission fee. So you can view it if you want as receiving a compensation of free admittance to the show in exchange for your performance. However, there are exceptions like fundraisers where performers will sometimes be asked to pay a certain amount anyway, even though they are donating a performance.

I still stand by exactly what I said on tribe so I’m copying and pasting here. ;)

“In my opinion, the organizer should be free to handle the financial matters as he or she sees fit so as not to get in debt over a belly dance show. I've not seen any abuse by any promoters here in the Midwest. I've had to pay to cover the room rental fee b/c the event was a benefit and I was totally on board with that. I had to pay a discounted ticket for performing and I was also on board with that.

Surely the dancers knew ahead of time the fee... I mean, surely it didn't suddenly spring up after they performed! If, as a performer, you don't agree with the terms for you to perform (whether it's fees or anything else, really), then just don't perform. I know that we all want to perform as much as we can but, hey, if the terms don't suit you, then you'll have to make a decision...”

That is the key: if the performance requires you to do XX and you're not fine with it (and it can be any element, really), then just don't perform. They say that you have to dance to the live musicians but you don't want to do it? Don't do it. They want you to pay 15$ to perform just like anyone else who will be watching the show and it irks you greatly? Maybe you shouldn't do it. They ask you to dance with a boa (feather or live) and it just ain't your thing? Don't do it. :p

Belly dance shows/Hafla
If the belly dance show/hafla has a theme that doesn't jive with you, your style, your personal values, or whatever else, you might want to consider passing up the opportunity too. However, that will generally not be the case. I think that it's very rare that this will happen but, if it does, do take time to consider whether it's a good idea to perform or not.

Most often, though, by all means, do feel free to explore different styles and genres in a belly dance show/hafla. That’s exactly what they’re for… among other things. You can experiment, try out different things, see what works out and what doesn’t. It’s fine. I do invite you, though, to still consider whether you are really doing a fair attempt at the style or just shlapped on the costume.

Setting is key!

2010-08-09T15:16:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday was the annual Gencon White Wolf party and there were a couple of my belly dance students there. One of my most regular girls totally had this look of panic when she saw me and she even whispered to me (though she may have been yelling… it sounded like a whisper b/c the music was so loud) that she was afraid that I was going to talk about her on Monday.

First off, apologies if y’all are scared of what I have to say. It’s really only my opinion and not law, yanno. ;)
Secondly, as I pointed out to said student, if there was any night where I wholly didn’t care what any of them did was the Gencon White Wolf party. That definitely is THE place to do whatever the hell you want.

Why?
Well, White Wolf is the roleplaying game company that brought us games like Vampire the Masquerade (now the Requiem), Werewolf the Apocalypse (now the Forsaken), Mage, etc. Their yearly Gencon party is technically supposed to be a representation of The Succubus Club, which is a club where anything can happen… so, really, whatever you do there is really technically in a different setting than real life… though not everyone knows that. ;) The point, though, is that, even if said student was dressed as a belly dancer and had danced very suggestively or whatever (and she hadn’t done any of that), it wouldn’t have mattered… it wasn’t going to be a representation of belly dance to a broad audience. It was utterly a night of ‘anything goes’… so no worries.

Okay, so what does this have to do with me?
For other folks who are reading this, it’s a valuable question. A point that I try to hone in often when I teach is setting appropriateness. Like even things that I really dislike like ‘chicken wings’ and the ‘claw hand’, which are really wrong most of the time, will be way cool if you’re doing a Michael Jackson homage to Thriller. :p Seriously, pretty much anything (maybe except suggestive gyration and other things like that) can be appropriate… depending on the setting…

What I do
Setting really is key for everything. Well, really, it will make things go better or stick out like a sore thumb. Here’s what I do (again, this is what I do… not law!): my solo work on stage is generally dark belly dance pieces; before I choose a specific piece for a specific venue, I assess the appropriateness of the piece for the venue. If the show I’m going to be performing in is like nearly only cabaret, I may edge more on the mellow side than the super gritty industrial sound.

One other thing: I generally do mention to the hostess what I do so that she knows that I won’t be the glitzy cabaret dancer but rather the opposite. I’ve never had anyone tell me not to do that style. But I think that it’s only fair to let whoever hosts (if she doesn’t already know me and my style) know what I’m about. I did have someone once ask me specifically to do something that was going to be easily distinguished for being tribal fusion by the audience as this was a show to educate the crowd on different styles of belly dance. That was no big deal: I just erred on the more tribal fusion side of things for the bulk of my set, though I did sneak in a dark fusion piece at the end. ;)

Passing up opportunities
It’s fine to pass up performance opportunities if it requires you to bend too much away from your regular style. I think that sometimes we are so hell bent on performing (and as a performing monster, I can relate, believe me) that we forget that it’s fine to pass up an opportunity if it just ain’t our thing. They want you to do cabaret but you really don’t know cabaret? Don’t try to shlap on a glitzy costume and do your routine. They will figure you out.

Also, I’ve had some pieces of music that, while I absolutely loved the sound or whatever, I’ve had to forego b/c it’s for a ‘trained ear’ (I’m talking here specifically about hard industrial music) or the lyrics are not appropriate in most settings. It’s kind of a bummer to do that but, unless I find a good setting for those, I just wouldn’t feel comfortable imposing that kind of music on an unsuspecting audience. ;)

So… I can’t do what I want to do in a show?
No, no, that’s not what I’m attempting to say at all. I just want to invite you to think about how your piece will be received in the setting that you will be performing. You want to do a pagan piece… cool!... it’s in a Catholic church… hmmm… maybe think about it? You want to dance to a piece that has cool lyrics but they say sh!t and/or f*** every now and then… or even just once… and it’s a family-friendly setting? … Again, think about it. It’s really just a matter of using your thinking cap to assess all of that. When in doubt, ask someone who will be honest with you.

Disclaimer
One big disclaimer that I have to say is that I definitely tend to overthink these things. I’m starting to get away from overthinking details but I will still always keep that filter in the back of my mind.

Everyday practices

2010-07-19T13:22:00.002-04:00

If you have a day job or even if you don’t, you will probably find yourself bemoaning frequently how you don’t have time to practice belly dance nearly as much as you’d like to or should. It’s really hard to sneak in some time to do a full practice, especially in this modern day and age when so many shiny things can distract us (smart phones, TV, computer, etc.).

Any practice time counts
With that in mind, I want to emphasize how any practice time counts! It truly does. Ideally, you’d do long periods of practice… but that ain’t practical. But you can sneak in moments. If you’ve been in my classes, you’ve often heard me talk about my practices while making coffee. (For those who don’t come to my classes, I have this espresso machine [superbly good coffee] and, when I make a latte, ideally, I have to stay close to the machine [as was painfully evidenced this weekend when the milk went overflowing and I had to wipe it from everywhere! :(]. The machine makes a ticking sound while warming up the milk and I use that as a type of metronome to work on some moves or combos.)

Think of all the times when you’re idle somewhere. Like how about doing some shimmy or hip work while brushing your teeth? That will showcase whether your isolations are good. :p Or you’re watching TV and there’s a commercial break… use that time to do something. Like you could do some drills… you could have your iPod handy and you plug it in when it’s commercial time… or you can just do it without any music either. Or you’re getting up to get a glass of water… how about you walk over to get it with, say, a 3/4 shimmy? Or some other traveling step? My tribe sister Stacy used to do the dishes while balancing her sword… and lemme tell you if you’ve never seen her with a sword that she’s extremely good at balancing that damn thing.

Shoulders work
One area that you can definitely work on very routinely is your shoulders. Very few people are naturally good at keeping their shoulders down. If that’s your case, bravo! For the rest of us, you can work on keeping your shoulders down on a daily basis in your everyday life. There are 2 things that I do:

Periodically throughout the day, I assess where my shoulders are. Are they down enough? Do I feel a mild pressure down? If not, I correct it. At first, I thought about my shoulders only a few times a day. Now, I don’t need to think about it so much (though I still do periodic checks) but my shoulders are very often in the proper down position.
Every hour or so, I do shoulder rolls. You don’t have to do them for long… just a few will help.

Seriously, doing these things is very helpful even at work. Most of us have desk jobs where we’re facing a computer screen all day. When you get tired or stressed out, your shoulders will automatically creep up and you’ll feel tons of tension. So working on your shoulders is good for belly dance AND for general stress relief at work. Two birds with one stone. Gotta love it!

Visualization
While not exactly like actually moving, visualization techniques are used by athletes and dancers. And sometimes it helps you understand the mechanics of what is going on when you’re doing certain moves. At any rate, it’s another way to keep belly dance in the forefront of your mind. You can review your choreography or think of a combo or move that you’ve been having a hard time pulling off and envision doing those perfectly. Since this doesn’t actually require any movement, you can do visualization in places where you couldn’t do the other stuff like while at the waiting room somewhere.

Other mini practices

Again, if you have a desk job, doing some wrists circles every now and then is very helpful too! Relieves the stress and will help you get better hand movements.
You can also do some of the fingers exercises to stretch your fingers. Always a good thing too.
Assess how you reach out to grab at items. This could be done in a cute dancer way with shoulders down and a gentle reach out. I’m not saying to make a show of grabbing items… that’s just for your own benefit.
Also assess how you’re sitting normally. Is your back straight? If not, what would it take for it to be straight? When we were at Tribal Revolution, interestingly, I could tell who had been dancing for a while by the way that they sat in their chairs. Experienced/seasoned dancers generally had a straight back (held on by a strong core) versus more novice dancers who were slouching. Yes, it exerts more efforts to have a straight back. But it’s so much better for you. AND that’s what we want in dance too!
You can work on level changes as you’re waiting for stuff… like, say, your toasts to be toasted… or whatever… The key to improving level changes is getting those ankles and calves stronger (though a strong core is uber important too). So while you’re waiting, you can practice going up on the balls of your feet and coming back down in a level change position.

Stay safe!
When you’re doing those mini practices, especially when you’re sneaking in some time at random moments (e.g., coffee machine gazing), it is NOT the appropriate moment to work on the crazy combo that kicks your butt. That crazy combo requires you to be warmed up thoroughly to ensure that you’re not taxing your body too much. Or like the level changes can be hard on your ankles and calves, especially if you are still struggling with those so go up very carefully. Bottom line: choose your moves carefully for those moments.

Not an excuse not to practice
While these techniques will allow you to sneak in some extra practice time that could add quite a bit time at the end of a week, those mini practices shouldn’t replace the formal practices entirely. So do keep some time for those. And one thing that you can do to help your formal practices is sneaking in a few minutes to plan what your formal practices will be. If you don’t plan ahead of time, you’ll start with your warmup and then won’t know what to do next… having a plan of attack is very useful… and that takes time to prepare it. ;)

The infamous videocamera tool!

2010-07-09T13:10:00.010-04:00

If you've ever been to a tribal fusion workshop, you've heard the instructor mention that you should routinely record yourself while practicing. Rachel Brice and Ariellah are especially strong advocates of using this tool to improve your dance.

When you first hear about this, you probably think that, yeah, sure, THEY can videotape themselves as they look so cute all the time and all that... but, really, it's not for you. What's speaking there is that part of you that is absolutely dreading to see yourself on video. It can obviously be a rough reality check... and that is EXACTLY why you should use it!

After hearing Ariellah tell me oftentimes enough to videotape myself while practicing and after reading in Twyla Tharp's book The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life that she records herself routinely also (thus corroborating what Rachel and Ariellah were saying, especially regarding recording the first improv to a piece) and after noticing that I didn't have enough video evidence of my work, I decided to invest in a videocamera with the company's bonus this Spring. So my message here is simple: they were obviously right.

First Try
I was working on a piece and, after much hesitation, decided to take a deep breath and go for it: I recorded myself. The results were astounding... in both good and bad ways.

A LOT of my flaws were easy to pick out... that's usually the first thing that we all notice about ourselves anyway. But I also realized things about the piece like I needed to tweak the timing on some moves. And I found some ideas that were really interesting.

More Ideas
I tend to go in patterns of 3... don't know why.... but it comes back all the time. Anyway, I recorded myself doing improv 3 times to that piece I was working on. The interesting thing is that, with doing the improv that was being captured, I ended up mixing things up way more than what I normally do when I practice. Well, I knew that I was capturing it all so there was no need for me to revisit the same idea over and over again, which is what I used to do without the camera because I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't forget it so I'd keep repeating it. Now, unless I accidently hit 'delete', I wasn't going to lose the idea.

Big Picture
We all work with mirrors when we practice whether in classes or at home. Mirrors are a good tool for instant feedback as to what you're doing but, because of the way your head is placed on your body and having only 2 eyes, you can only focus on so much at a time. You can't see the 'big picture'. And THAT is another extremely useful advantage of using a video camera. As I mentioned already, yes, my flaws were more visible... but not only were they more obvious but their context accompanied them. Examples:

My arms and hands had a tendency to do too much flourish; well, that really happens when I had no plan for what my arms and hands should be doing or where they were going next.

I've been told that my moves weren't finished... well, that coincides really with when I'm technically in synch with the music but the timing could be slowed down to fit with the music even better.

I was told that my technique could be improved. Really, it was because I was pushing too hard (i.e., applying too much strength) to some moves when I was really attempting to just make them more staccato... i.e., I was using the wrong application for what I wanted to accomplish.

I could never have figured these things out without seeing the footage. And, as I already mentioned, it's really the only way that you can see your whole body moving and can take it all in.

Focus on the Positive!
While the footage is a great way to see your flaws and find what you may need to tweak to help correct them, it's crucial that you also notice the positive... and actually focus on it too! There is no way in hell that there isn't something positive to say about your video. If you can't find anything, it's because you are absolutely too harsh on yourself. And it's okay to find good stuff about yourself. We all tend to focus too much on the negative and forget to acknowledge the nice stuff about ourselves! You will find cool stuff among the items that you did. Maybe your smile was splendid... maybe your posture was great... maybe this one arm movement is interesting... So there will be items that you should realize that you want to keep as is. Keep them in mind.

Other Tips and Tricks
Here are some other items that may be helpful:

Watch multiple times! Watch back your video at least 3 times (told you that 3 comes back around in my life). Usually, the first time, I dread it and only see all the flaws. The second time, I'm still disappointed but can stomach it better. Typically, by the 3rd time, I can watch the footage more objectively.

Objectivity is key! Get to that objective stage! Look at your footage and ask yourself: If I had to critique that person, what would I say? Pretend that it's your best friend. And PLEASE do a balanced critique.

Hedge your bet! Do record yourself multiple times back to back. You will get more footage and, therefore, more feedback.

Analyze in-between! If it won't throw you off, consider watching the footage right after you took it and before you'll do your next take. You will obviously see some things that you want to correct. Pick one or two things and correct them (or at least try something different) in the next take.

Have a good frame of mind! You may want to consider putting yourself in a great frame of mind before hitting that record button. I like to light incense and a scented candle. Consider wearing some practice gear that makes you feel comfortable and/or makes you feel good about yourself when you're wearing it. Heck, consider putting on cute jewelry if it helps!

Don't do it cold! Do warm up before (it should be an obvious thing). Consider doing drills. And, yeah, maybe run through the piece once or twice before.

Make notes! Not just mental ones. After you're done recording, watch the footage with a notebook in hand. Note down anything. Feel free to pause to scribble notes and/or watch multiple times (so that you're not missing some crucial info like a cool move).

Keep the footage! I worked on a piece for April. Then I worked on a piece for May. I had about 2 weeks from when I did the May piece until when I needed to do the April piece again. I dance mostly improv but with ideas of what to do for accents. Well, I had 'flushed' that April piece out of my brain to make space for the May piece... watching my practice sessions again and re-reading my notes totally put the piece back in my head quickly.

To post or not to post? I wouldn't advise putting your practice sessions on youtube or another public site. I see many people doing that. I mean, sure, if it's a killer practice that you want the whole world to see, go for it... but we generally are wearing practice gear, little to no makeup, there is poor lighting so you're not putting youself in the best light possible. And I think that practice sessions are really like drafts of pieces until you perform the piece for an audience. Oh and I can see another reason why you'd want to post your footage, which would be to get feedback from a mentor or instructor... but, generally, there are other ways that you can send the footage in and, more often than not, the instructor (at least those with whom I've worked) prefer to see an actual performance.

Still Scared?
Of course, you're still scared and don't want to see yourself. It's normal. Did you know that neither Rachel nor Ariellah really like seeing their footage all that much? Really, we all dread it. The key is getting used to it. Rachel and Ariellah have used the videocamera tool to their advantage because they got used to seeing themselves and managed to get over the dread and analyze the performance. I can vouch firsthand that it's really a valuable tool. I hope that no one will wait as long as I did before using it!