Photo Credit

I just thought I should mention the fact that I've been posting pictures. I haven't taken any of these. Some I found via Google-Image, but the shots of The Neighbourhood Strays and events, myself dancing with the Strays, and Monique Ryan's photo were taken by the lovely Ms. Terri Lynn Coldford (with some minor editing by myself).

Thank you Terri. You're fantastic!

CIBC's Run for the Cure

The Neighbourhood Strays put their coins scarves to good use once again. Our team raised money for CIBC's Run for the Cure (for breast cancer) this past sunday (oct 5) here in St. John's. It was a beautiful day, some of the girls performed and some of the girls ran/walked, and the Stray Kittens joined in all the festivities :) I really can't say much more. But it was well worth the effort, so thanks to everyone who contributed. It was greatly appreciated

Monique Technique

Introducing Monique Ryan of Cabaret Serpentine in Halifax! Monique comes from Halifax and started bellydancing when she was younger, but put it on the back burner when she realized that it's not what she wanted to do and the style she was studying wasn't true to who she was. She checked around a bit and found Tribal Fusion; which is right up her alley. She joined forces with Laura Selenzi (spelling) of a "rivalry" troupe in town, so to speak, and formed Cabaret Serpentine. Laura now dances with Arabesque in Toronto, but still comes back to CS to dance with her longtime friend. Here's a video snapshot of Cabaret Serpentine.


So Monique came down to St. John's for a special weekend workshop. I convinced my friend Kiah to join in and get a feel for bellydancing, she's always been curious, well since I started at least. So we took the workshop together, and let me say, "ouch!" My legs were burning the next day. We did a solid 45 minute warm-up and muscle training and then followed it with fundamental technique and some seriously amazing combinations. Which I might ask if I can throw in my solo ;) One in particular is one that involved "mardi jumps" and "melting." It looks pretty. It was nice to get a different take on a different style of bellydance. I do enjoy a lot of the elements of Tribal Fusion, but I realize the Gypsy is more free flowing and it's easier to "feel" the music and become a part of it. So I'm somewhere in between... Gypsy Fusion? I guess that puts me in there with ATS as well doesn't it? *sigh* Oh to find a style.



Back on track; OhMaya hosted a show (monique ryan show case = MRSC)later that evening featuring performances by 6 or 7 local bellydancers and troupes and an interesting addition; Ted & Jenn Crawford. They do drumming! I thought a lot of their rhythms were mesmerizing. I can't wait until another show comes together like DOTE or MRSC.

Audra Simmons is coming to town soon as well :) OOOO more workshops

Cirque du Summer Dance

I performed again! Twice. The Kittens performed during the 2nd day of Summer Dance at pippy park with Aisa, Shimmy, Suerte (from back to basics) and a zills number. I didn't take the back to basics class, so I didn't join in Suerte with the other girls, but I killed with the Zills. I love them. There's videos on Facebook, under the NHS group of the performances from the summer. Check it out. The performances were absolutely beautiful! :)


I also performed as part of the Strays this summer for the Cirque Du Soleil pre-show at Empire Theatres! I managed to teach myself Suerte in the weeks between Summerdance and cirque, so I did Aisa, Shimmy and Suerte with the girls. Amanda and Lori did some improv pieces, and the kittens who came passed out fliers and cards to people who came to watch. It was fun. Enjoy the pics!

Enjoyable Beats

Hey again! Long time no post. I've been otherwise entertained, to be honest. For today I'm going to post a list of quiet enjoyable artists for the bellydance realm to enjoy. They've all got samples on their myspace sites, and their albums are available on Amazon... or wherever you chose to do your dealings.

Gypsy Caravan
Hossaam Ramzy
Beats Antique
Solace
Paul Dinlentir
Taraf de Haidouks
Beriut
Galactic Caravan
Upper Egypt Ensemble
Pentaphobe
Turbo Tabla
The Indigo (compilations from performances)
Neena & Veena

But my most favorite is Beats Antique, which is where my new solo music is coming from! :) I'm choreographing a routine to "Beauty Beats" off their newest album. It's about half done now, but I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to perform it, so ... who knows. I'm in love with it, so here's to hoping someone from NHS or Ohmaya or CBSBD or any of the other local troupes don't use it for their routines. I'll be so sad :(


Enjoy! SHIMMY!

Ansuya

Zills by Ansuya. I can only hope to be half that good with them, at some point. She dances with the Bellydance Superstars. I don't know a whole lot about her, but I do know she has a few instructional videos out there in the world. My advice; google her to get more information.

Dancing On The Edge

I performed. I got on stage and performed not one, no. Not two, no. But THREE dances with the Strays!! :) EEE I've never been ore nervous or excited about anything in my life. I got the rumbly "wake you up in the middle of the night" jitters in my stomach and the night before I'm not sure I even slept. I got on stage and it all went away and I finally realized this is what I love to do most. I love swimming, I love reading, I love cuddling, but dancing tops it all. I still felt somewhat like a baby moose, but a little more graceful. The stray-kittens performed Aisa (choreo from beginners), then Shimmy (with the Strays). Later in the program a select few (who felt confident enough) performed Chifitelli (veil choreo from intermediate veils). Myself, Karen, Diana and Erika got on the stage elevated behind the main group and it was aweeeeeesome! I finally had a chance to show my friends and the people I care about what I do every Sunday evening and most mid-days and afternoons. My guy came up to me before the performance started and gave me a kiss. It was just what I needed to bring the nerves down to a tolerable level. I can't wait, and I mean CANNOT wait until Summer Dance this summer in July. It's the weekend after I get back from my Family Reunion, and hopefully we'll be able to perform the zill number! Who knows!?

Zills

I'm taking my 3rd class under The Neighbourhood Strays and this time it's Zills. Good lord. I love those things, although it seems like I'm the only one who does in class. I studied piano for 8 or 9 years on top of being in 3 concert bands growing up, and well the good old music class in high school. I guess you can say that I understand rhythms and timing and musical patterns. So when Andrea busts out a new zill flourish I can catch on almost instantly. The steps and combinations we learn for our bodies aren't overly complex, just tricky to keep them in line. For example, Laura was sub-teaching 2 weeks ago and she taught us a grapevine step with hip locks, with snake arms, and again with back bends. This week past she went through double-step grapevine which threw me for a loop , but I learned a trick pretty fast: don't turn your body when you switch directions, you're already set up to step front-front, back-back. Yay me. In either case, once you get around to it, it's not all that difficult for either of the individual pieces. Adding zills to the grapevine with a back bend is a little more complicated, but not impossible. I can see myself improving each week and it's fantastic. I think I might even want to incorporate my zills into my solo that I'm slowly dreaming up. It's pretty vague and spaced out so far, but it will involved back bends leading into a drop with some floor work, and it will also have belly rolls and mad isolations. I don't know how I can manage zills in that, might have to come up with 2 of them :) We'll see...

Next Class in the Fall: Improv or ATS

SHIMMY!

Hafla!

I went to the halfa I was talking about on April 6th. My parents were in town, so it was the first time that they got to see me in costume, which was a little more revealing than I had planned as I didn't find a shoulder shrug in time. I had red silk pannels made (triangular) and decided that they looked good around my waist, so that was that. Mom had stayed up late with me 2 nights in a row to make my pantalooooons. I love them. Andrea sold me a pair of pantaloons earlier this winter, but they weren't quite what I was looking to wear under costume. She didn't have any red silky ones left until her new order came in so mom and I went on an adventure: a sewing adventure! Anyways, everyone looked great, especially the newly formed unofficial sub-stray-training-group the Stray Kittens consisting of myself, TerriLynn, Mallory, Erika, Karen, and Diana, as well as some others who joined for the Dancing on the Edge gala in May.

We set up a bazaar and sold a few things for a while before we went to the dance studio and danced just for the sake of dancing. I had a ball. It was the first time that I just danced, without being led by Kristine or Andrea. I felt somewhat like a baby moose....awkward and unbalanced. I pretty much went home and started practising right away.

Can't wait until the next one!

Classes

So I'm nearing the end of my 2nd set of belly dance lessons; Intermediates II (Veils) with Andrea Kitta. She recently just got her Level 1 teaching certificate from Suhalia's school of dance. We have no more classes! No more rehearsals! Our final class will be a quick review of our choreography with our veil and then a performance to those who come to watch. Then we eat. Most excellent! I know the choreography, I know the steps, I know the facials and expressions, but I don't know if I could step it off in my sleep, like I would like to be able to do. It's a little nerve wracking, but at least it's only a small crowd, 3/4 of whom are my classmates. I'm excited, and nervous, and I know I'm going to miss it.

Oh! Also, my first belly dance Hafla came and went, but it was canceled by snow, so I guess it never really came. It's been rescheduled for April the 6th, in CBS. The Neighbourhood Strays were invited, but the said that they wouldn't mind bringing their more serious students; which means me and a few other girls. Well at least I'd like to think of myself as being serious, I may not be the most talented but I try and I want it just as bad as the rest. So April 6th. Here I come.

I've also come fairly close to finalizing my costume, or at the very least, the image I wish to portray with my colors and styles. Maybe I'll call it "Tribal Gypsy" ... who knows. But when I get some pictures of myself I shall post them.

Rachel Brice

I just noticed that I haven't actually written anything about Rachel, but I continuously refer to her as one of my 2nd most revered belly dancers. Her breakdown follows that of any dancer who wants to be true to her heart. She fell in love with belly dance after watching a "whole lot of woman shake her everything, while loving her body and letting the audience know" or so the tale goes. She studies under the ever-so-famous Suhalia Salimpour (under whom my teacher, Andrea, also studies). She's been involved with a number of troupes, and most recently have joined the Belly Dance Superstars, later to form her own dance troupe; The Indigo. She has a mastery of Tribal Fusion, and is one of the most graceful dancers I've seen in a while. She's mesmerizing. So here she is; my 2nd inspiration!

Samantha Hasthorpe

I've found yet another dancer whom I admire; Samantha Hasthorpe. I can't really say anything further about her than her website or her danceography says about her. She's a Tribal Fusion dancer, much like Rachel Brice. She's quite similar to Rachel in many of her moves, which is a difficult task all on its own, but her step up is that she's more grounded and isn't afraid to stray from the style of Tribal Fusion; mixing techno, cabaret, even some breakdancing. I also admire her for her sense of accomplishment. She was told that she'd never make it as a dancer, yet here she is. She traveled with Caravans, living the nomad-life from town to village, mastered fire-dancing and best of all; she's British! So here she is, my 3rd inspiration;

Tribal Fusion

So I've been sick with strep throat, or the very least an awful awful cold, for the past 3 days, and have had nothing better to do with my time than be lazy and surf the web. I came across a few links to a belly dancer who I find fascinating; Rachel Brice. She dances her own mixture of Tribal and another type of bellydance, dubbed Tribal Fusion. Following her career via the lovely and ever-so-useful google and youtube I've come to realize that perhaps this might be a bit more of my style as well. It's more isolated, earthy and distinct. Gypsy is more free-spirited and flow-y. I haven't physically tried it out, what with my illness, but there seems to be a Tribal Fusion dance troupe here in the city; OhMaya bellydance. The costuming is beautiful regardless. I may continue to think about a possible change in style... who knows. Just thought I'd throw that one in for good measure. I think the costume with all the beading and metals and deep, rich coloring is quite catching to the eye. So here it is; Tribal Fusion.

Veils

Veils at it's finest! Enjoy!

Yip!
vanessa*

Shimmy

I must introduce myself first and foremost. My name is Vanessa, and I'm a bellydance-a-holic. I began taking classes from The Neighbourhood Strays gypsy-style bellydance troupe based from St. John's. My first beginners class happened during the fall of 2007. I went to sign up, partly as a joke, partly as a way to get out of the house, partly as intention-only, I wasn't sure it would be my idee fixe. It was different, but I'd heard great reviews.

I met Kristine Nolte, my instructor, and fell in love with her love for the art. She was constantly motivating us, letting us know that even she is still learning, and that not all of her ease and grace came without much aggravation and practise. With her constant joy, help, witty jokes, and guidance I fell in love with the dance itself. I knew that bellydance was something I had to do, be it through my living room or otherwise. My lessons progressed and I felt more and more confident with my self-image, more and more womanly, more and more proud to say I danced. It wasn't until Kristine dressed in costume, and performed her solo for us that I knew I would stick with classes and learn all that I can from the troupe. I quickly acquired for myself, hip scarves, veils, skirts, jewelery and that diluted-self-confidence twinged with a goddess-aire that only comes from belly dance.

I'm taking Intermediates (veils) classes now with Andrea Kitta and find myself dressing in costume hours before class, waiting in anticipation, shimmying through my living room, with awkward gazes from my roomates. I am hooked. It wasn't until I talked my parents through the difference between bellydance and stripping that they approved. I'm hoping to join the troupe at some point, when I do not know, but it will happen.

Until then, I shall post a video of my liking, links of choice, and entries of discovery, weekly (hopefully). Until next time:

Yip!
vanessa*