Dancy stuff
Apr. 22nd, 2005 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bethlakshmiSo... I'm trying to stay true to my word and use this journal as a way to track dance stuff. So... the latest in dance is below...
So... the Pennsic dance tent scheduling is well under way by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
asim, he's put together a quick text based schedule, well before the May 1st class reg deadline. He's set me up as:
Energetic South Indian Dance
(not Sweating with Lakshmi :) )
Mon-Fri, 10-11 AM
Which, IMO is perfect!! Yes, I'm not a morning person, either, but Pennsic sunshine will get even me out of my canvas tent by about 9:00/9:30, so I can toss on a sari and run out the door to class. I don't like to eat first thing, anyway, so it's all good.
Plus, I REALLY wanted to avoid the ME dance expo (Tuesday afternoon), and the heat of the day. This is ENERGETIC. Sweating with Lakshmi is no lie. Making anyone do this in the heat of the day - 12-3 - qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment for the fittest of us, and possibly a capital offense for the lesser fit of us. Even me.
So... now I'm looking for ringers... I've sent mail out to the dancing_ladies (the Belly Dance Troupe run by Anne) and to a few select people who I would dearly love to have as ringers. My ringers will be people who have learned the steps ahead of time, but come to class, so that there's a few bodies who already know what comes next and can demonstrate it, while I focus on singing the rhythms and watching the class. This peice is so energetic, I cannot sing and dance simultaneously.
If you happen to want to do this, mail me privately and we can talk.
My chatty karshlama goodness did wonders this week. Having written down a blob of stuff about 9 beat steps from last week, I had an easy time remembering them this week. A real boon, and largely unexpected. I'm a pretty good memorizer (two dance classes a week for years will do that to you...), but this really helped! If you happen to have trouble memorizing - I strongly suggest it...
So.. in the spirit of continuing the goodness, this week we:
- saw Karen's center field peice - a really cute piece. I think Karen's super ninja belly dance talent is finding wacky, and yet belly dancer-y moves to completely unexpected songs. I think that perhaps Karen's "box" is quite a ways out from the rest of my "box" so that she is constantly "out of the box". I love that.
- reviewed karshlama steps. A fine point:
- the step, step, snake in a box step is really almost a horizontal hip figure 8, not a veritical snake. Or else it's a vertical eight with maximum "swivleness" in the toes. It's hard to pin down, precisely, and definitely open to individual styling
- worked on the pair of ladies "give 'em good dreams" moves. As part of our improvisational Road Show, we are doing a slow, sensual song that we are pairing off for. The idea is that the ladies are very in each other's space, twisting and swiveling around, defying skeletons and gravity. It's hard for me... I'm rather a solo dancer much of the time. When I pair dance, I'm used to ballroom/latin dances where there is one leader and it's really clear. I'm a natural lead, so it takes a strong, sure lead to get me to follow. I find myself struggling with it, as I don't want to be "bossy", so I often react tentatively, not sure whether to lead, or try to follow. Girl-girl politics often make me so nervous that I think myself into a hole before I've actually gotten into the politics. This may be one of those times.
But... there were some cool moves:
- Teresa and Andi worked out a "I push you pull" large undulation move, done same shoulder to same shoulder, so you are not facing each other directly. This might help with height differences and undulation-syncronization issues. You can also do this face-to-face, but you need to have really well aligning movements, and similar heights, or it becomes the face-smooshed-in-boobs moves. While that may inspire nice dreams for our audience... belly dance is not a contact sport.
- Keri and I played with moves growing from a latin step. The basic footwork is :
stand center
cross R foot to L corner
replace to center
cross L foot to R corner
rinse and repeat - a classic 4/4. Latin will often do this with a breath in the centered pose, so it is quite striking. There's a lot you can do with this and belly dance - undulations on the crossed movements, undulations for all movements?, 360 spin instead of cross?, veritical figure 8 on cross, etc, etc.
You could also modify it so instead of 1 measure of 4/4, it's two measures:
cross R foot to L corner - undulate 1
- undulate 2
- undulate 3
stand center 4
cross L foot to R corner - undulate 1
- undulate 2
- undulate 3
stand center 4
done face to face for standing center, it creates a lovely diamond of front face -> corner to corner sideways glancing.
- Anne and Lynne came up with a combination of undulations for 4 and snake in a oox for 4, that was on a similar corner to corner -> face to face positioning, but I can't remember the details.
- we all played with an altered grapevine:
step R
cross behind L
step R
pivot over R shoulder ('kick' left for momentum) (?180?, ?360? -- I'm still not clear if there was an original mandate)
reverse and repeat
- we found:
- with a 180 pivot, it becomes facing -> back to back -> facing -> back to back
- with a 360 pivot, catching balance isn't necessarily easy, but when working it feels very latin-ish, I rather liked it.
- Keri brainstormed, and the two of us worked out this alteration:
step R
cross behind L
step R
pivot over R shoulder 180 degrees
step back L - count of 2
step back R - count of 2
repeat on SAME foot (the right)
This is really cool. We named it "The Psychodrama Step" as the turn is very "I'm done with you now! talk to the hand!", and then the back left/right is sort of "wait... a minute... you're fascinating...", so it's endlessly breaking up and getting back together. It can be really intense when both dancers have the comfort of good footing and control, as you can really get close together and in each other's space. But when you feel rocky, you naturally tend to drift apart.
That's about what I remember.
Next Week: Make-up day!! Dancing ladies get good color consulting!! Yay! We will all feel more comfortable with our faces and our makeup options, I hope!
Sometimes I think I'm "Dancing Lady Agent: Special Ops" :)
So... I'm going to London the beginning of May. This is already super-cool, since I have never been before, and I'm going with two London veterans -new_man, High Pooba of Tour Guideness, and mermaidlady, High Pooba of Geeky Reseach Things. So I'm in good hands, and can largely suggest ideas and hear about their feasibility from two London Consultants. :)
But it gets extra special... I've already made an appt. at the V&A. I'm going to see Fustat textiles and a ~1600-1650 Mughal hunting vest. I have about an hour of appt. time.
The twist - my friend Mangal/Marcus - a crazy stuff-making-India-researching person whose crack pipe of insane projects is so large that I feel like dorky college kids with a kluged-together bong. We dearly enjoy each other's communication - as we are both one of maybe 10 people in the Known World with such similar interests which run so deeply, and so geekily.
... and he lives in England. So I wrote him months ago, and had given up hope... but he FINALLY checked his email, and got back to me. Now... he happens to be pals with one of the pre-eminent V&A early textile researchers -- Rosemary Crill. She's written the book on Indian Embroidery... several of them in fact. She's a researchers at the V&A, and is, by all accounts, very cool.
But that doesn't mean I'm not a bit intimidated.
Now... Mangal has apparently given her such good press about me, that she's clearing time in her schedule to see this mysterious Beth-person, that Mangal speaks of.
I don't believe this... I know it's mostly Mangal's good P.R., but I don't believe that she's finding time in a busy schedule, at this late date, to meet *me*... I'm neato in the SCA, but I'm neato in part because I'm a very big fish, in a rather small pond. In Professional Indian Research Land -- I'm tiddly winks.
So... now I may be at the V&A twice... or who knows what?? But I will at least have a good story, I'm sure.
So... the Pennsic dance tent scheduling is well under way by
asim, he's put together a quick text based schedule, well before the May 1st class reg deadline. He's set me up as:Energetic South Indian Dance
(not Sweating with Lakshmi :) )
Mon-Fri, 10-11 AM
Which, IMO is perfect!! Yes, I'm not a morning person, either, but Pennsic sunshine will get even me out of my canvas tent by about 9:00/9:30, so I can toss on a sari and run out the door to class. I don't like to eat first thing, anyway, so it's all good.
Plus, I REALLY wanted to avoid the ME dance expo (Tuesday afternoon), and the heat of the day. This is ENERGETIC. Sweating with Lakshmi is no lie. Making anyone do this in the heat of the day - 12-3 - qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment for the fittest of us, and possibly a capital offense for the lesser fit of us. Even me.
So... now I'm looking for ringers... I've sent mail out to the dancing_ladies (the Belly Dance Troupe run by Anne) and to a few select people who I would dearly love to have as ringers. My ringers will be people who have learned the steps ahead of time, but come to class, so that there's a few bodies who already know what comes next and can demonstrate it, while I focus on singing the rhythms and watching the class. This peice is so energetic, I cannot sing and dance simultaneously.
If you happen to want to do this, mail me privately and we can talk.
My chatty karshlama goodness did wonders this week. Having written down a blob of stuff about 9 beat steps from last week, I had an easy time remembering them this week. A real boon, and largely unexpected. I'm a pretty good memorizer (two dance classes a week for years will do that to you...), but this really helped! If you happen to have trouble memorizing - I strongly suggest it...
So.. in the spirit of continuing the goodness, this week we:
- saw Karen's center field peice - a really cute piece. I think Karen's super ninja belly dance talent is finding wacky, and yet belly dancer-y moves to completely unexpected songs. I think that perhaps Karen's "box" is quite a ways out from the rest of my "box" so that she is constantly "out of the box". I love that.
- reviewed karshlama steps. A fine point:
- the step, step, snake in a box step is really almost a horizontal hip figure 8, not a veritical snake. Or else it's a vertical eight with maximum "swivleness" in the toes. It's hard to pin down, precisely, and definitely open to individual styling
- worked on the pair of ladies "give 'em good dreams" moves. As part of our improvisational Road Show, we are doing a slow, sensual song that we are pairing off for. The idea is that the ladies are very in each other's space, twisting and swiveling around, defying skeletons and gravity. It's hard for me... I'm rather a solo dancer much of the time. When I pair dance, I'm used to ballroom/latin dances where there is one leader and it's really clear. I'm a natural lead, so it takes a strong, sure lead to get me to follow. I find myself struggling with it, as I don't want to be "bossy", so I often react tentatively, not sure whether to lead, or try to follow. Girl-girl politics often make me so nervous that I think myself into a hole before I've actually gotten into the politics. This may be one of those times.
But... there were some cool moves:
- Teresa and Andi worked out a "I push you pull" large undulation move, done same shoulder to same shoulder, so you are not facing each other directly. This might help with height differences and undulation-syncronization issues. You can also do this face-to-face, but you need to have really well aligning movements, and similar heights, or it becomes the face-smooshed-in-boobs moves. While that may inspire nice dreams for our audience... belly dance is not a contact sport.
- Keri and I played with moves growing from a latin step. The basic footwork is :
stand center
cross R foot to L corner
replace to center
cross L foot to R corner
rinse and repeat - a classic 4/4. Latin will often do this with a breath in the centered pose, so it is quite striking. There's a lot you can do with this and belly dance - undulations on the crossed movements, undulations for all movements?, 360 spin instead of cross?, veritical figure 8 on cross, etc, etc.
You could also modify it so instead of 1 measure of 4/4, it's two measures:
cross R foot to L corner - undulate 1
- undulate 2
- undulate 3
stand center 4
cross L foot to R corner - undulate 1
- undulate 2
- undulate 3
stand center 4
done face to face for standing center, it creates a lovely diamond of front face -> corner to corner sideways glancing.
- Anne and Lynne came up with a combination of undulations for 4 and snake in a oox for 4, that was on a similar corner to corner -> face to face positioning, but I can't remember the details.
- we all played with an altered grapevine:
step R
cross behind L
step R
pivot over R shoulder ('kick' left for momentum) (?180?, ?360? -- I'm still not clear if there was an original mandate)
reverse and repeat
- we found:
- with a 180 pivot, it becomes facing -> back to back -> facing -> back to back
- with a 360 pivot, catching balance isn't necessarily easy, but when working it feels very latin-ish, I rather liked it.
- Keri brainstormed, and the two of us worked out this alteration:
step R
cross behind L
step R
pivot over R shoulder 180 degrees
step back L - count of 2
step back R - count of 2
repeat on SAME foot (the right)
This is really cool. We named it "The Psychodrama Step" as the turn is very "I'm done with you now! talk to the hand!", and then the back left/right is sort of "wait... a minute... you're fascinating...", so it's endlessly breaking up and getting back together. It can be really intense when both dancers have the comfort of good footing and control, as you can really get close together and in each other's space. But when you feel rocky, you naturally tend to drift apart.
That's about what I remember.
Next Week: Make-up day!! Dancing ladies get good color consulting!! Yay! We will all feel more comfortable with our faces and our makeup options, I hope!
Sometimes I think I'm "Dancing Lady Agent: Special Ops" :)
So... I'm going to London the beginning of May. This is already super-cool, since I have never been before, and I'm going with two London veterans -
new_man, High Pooba of Tour Guideness, and mermaidlady, High Pooba of Geeky Reseach Things. So I'm in good hands, and can largely suggest ideas and hear about their feasibility from two London Consultants. :)But it gets extra special... I've already made an appt. at the V&A. I'm going to see Fustat textiles and a ~1600-1650 Mughal hunting vest. I have about an hour of appt. time.
The twist - my friend Mangal/Marcus - a crazy stuff-making-India-researching person whose crack pipe of insane projects is so large that I feel like dorky college kids with a kluged-together bong. We dearly enjoy each other's communication - as we are both one of maybe 10 people in the Known World with such similar interests which run so deeply, and so geekily.
... and he lives in England. So I wrote him months ago, and had given up hope... but he FINALLY checked his email, and got back to me. Now... he happens to be pals with one of the pre-eminent V&A early textile researchers -- Rosemary Crill. She's written the book on Indian Embroidery... several of them in fact. She's a researchers at the V&A, and is, by all accounts, very cool.
But that doesn't mean I'm not a bit intimidated.
Now... Mangal has apparently given her such good press about me, that she's clearing time in her schedule to see this mysterious Beth-person, that Mangal speaks of.
I don't believe this... I know it's mostly Mangal's good P.R., but I don't believe that she's finding time in a busy schedule, at this late date, to meet *me*... I'm neato in the SCA, but I'm neato in part because I'm a very big fish, in a rather small pond. In Professional Indian Research Land -- I'm tiddly winks.
So... now I may be at the V&A twice... or who knows what?? But I will at least have a good story, I'm sure.
