Dancy done

[bethlakshmi]

Yeah!

Got to see dancing ladies last night. FINALLY.

Mostly it was wonderful to see the gang. That was definitely my favorite part. The day's topic was Karshlama - a 9-beat Middle Eastern rhythm. Specifically how to dance to it, given that our improvisational experiment called "The Road Show", uses this beat for one of the songs -- a song called "Rampi, Rampi".

I'm gonna jot down a few notes... on about your business, unless you're a big dance geek.


So... you're still reading? I warned you this was gonna be geeky.

Karshlama is 9-beats, and it has a reeling feel to it:
D-t-D-ttt

Which is:
*1*-2-3-*4*-5-6-789

Where the numbers in stars are the D=doum (see Jas' Drum page if the drum terminology has lost you). The 789, are the three teks at the end.

This means you can do a lot of dance combos:
- slow, slow, quick, quick, quick
- slow, slow, pause, pause, pause
- quick-quick-quick, quick-quick-quick, some-thing-else
- quick-quick-quick, quick-quick-quick, breathe-breathe-breathe

Some of the combos we did:

NOTE: R=right, L=left

- 2 repeats of the rhythm:
- Doum - 2 right hip ups
- Doum - 2 left hip ups
(end measure one)
- D-t-D - right-left-right hip
- ttt - step left, pivot
(end measure two)

- 1 repeat of rhythm:
- doing a body "slither" - a vertical figure 8 of both chest and hips
- Doum - step R
- Doum - step L

- 1 repeat of rhythm:
keeping a slightly bouncy quality, powered by the L foot
- D - R foot back
- D - R foot front
- ttt - step R, replace L, step R

- 1 repeat
- D-t-D - step right, rock back, step R, angling R
- ttt - float pivot to angle L
- repeat on other foot.

We also did:
- 3 pt. turns, which a final floating step
- grape vine with a hop on the fourth step


The first two are probably my favorites, but they are all nice "what do you do with 9 beats?" solutions.