Venus Uprising Bellydance New York City

ARUBA SNORKELING TRIP :: neon

My boyfriend Scott and I have just returned from a few days on Aruba (a Dutch Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela). For me the greatest attraction was the opportunity to snorkel - I am a passionate fan of coral reef life, and a compulsive swimmer. I can swim for hours and from time to time I feel a powerful physical urge to do this: I suspect that my body needs some kind of adjustment that only swimming can give it.

Aruban reefs have a much lower density and variety of live coral and fish population than do the Red Sea or Hawaii, but they are still worthy of attention. The waters are blue and very clear, the fish are colorful, busy and friendly. Sea turtle nests are found up and down the sandy beaches of the southern coast of Aruba where we were, but we didn't see the turtles while snorkeling.

The most amazing experience was snorkeling the shipwreck of the Antilla, a World War II German ship. It is lying in 60' of water, but one of its sides comes really close to the surface. The entire ship is lime green from the corals covering it like a coat, some parts of its body have rusted off and vanished, the masts are reaching into the blue vastness of the ocean and schools of strikingly colorful fish, big and small, are swirling over it. I'd never seen a shipwreck before and didn't realize what a moving sight a dead ship could be.

I skipped dinner every day to indulge guilt-free in tropical cocktails, especially at a nearby bar featuring beds for two on the beach. The best local cocktails are quite creamy and heavy, with lavish amounts of Baileys, Ponche Caribe (milk and egg liqueur), Creme de Banana and the actual pureed bananas. In other words, they are your liquid dinner. It was fun, although the bar life survival was not easy: Many a bartender seeks to please your boyfriend by making your drinks strong enough to drop you off your feet (and into the boyfriend's eager hands) asap. So drinking required application of survival strategy.

While I love snorkeling, Scott's interest is mostly in exploring the land, especially driving in the "hinterland" observing the local economy, geography, and native vegetation. So our time was divided between snorkeling trips and traversing the dirt (or, rather, dust) roads of the northern, less developed and rugged coast of Aruba. While the southern coast is all white sand beaches, hotels, malls and casinos, the northern coast is barren reef rock cliffs, desert, and forests made of tall cacti and brush. The ocean eats into the coast made of ancient petrified reefs creating whimsical pits, caves and bridges.

A cashmere cardigan is the most important element of my snorkeling gear.

Snorkeling off the Brazilian-made wooden sail yachts is a great experience.

Aruba's endless wind forces trees into bizzarre flat shapes: The wind stops briefly only in September.

Coral rock pebbles

Northern coast of Aruba

Gold smelter ruins - northern coast

Salt crystallizes on the reef rock cliffs

Cactus thickets

CANDLELIGHT :: neon

My boyfriend Scott decided that he wants to enjoy his evenings by candle light. Fortunately, our household has vast deposits of candles, because performing with a candle tray and candelabrum are among my bellydance specialties.
So now many of our evenings are bathed in candlelight, with electricity making only vignette appearances inside the refrigerator and in other godforsaken places.

This is a striking change from our usual lighting which is a fleet of 26 high-wattage 5000k "daylight" spiral fluorescent bulbs, which are whiter than white, and, combined with our stainless steel furniture and kitchen, give our place a cold and sterile look that belies the hot-blooded humans that dwell therein.

Below: Candlelight rules... Scott in the kitchen: a rare sighting of electricity.

The candlelight idea was prompted by three large candelabra which used to grace the shop windows of Escada. Upon the window redesign they were captured by World Dance New York and used as props in the production of "Seven Veils - Romantic Bellydance" by Sarah Skinner.
We have other video production props that linger with us: bright red- and green-painted bistro-style chairs from "The Exotic Dance Workout" and "Exotic Dance - The Irresistible Art" with Lady Morrighan can occasionally be observed on the roof deck of our building; a skeleton from two "Yoga Inside Out" videos lives in my closet. "Yoga Inside Out" instructor, Paula Tursi, named him "Elvis."
But none of these props has affected our current lifestyle to the degree of the "Seven Veils" candelabra.

Below: Sarah Skinner in "Seven Veils"

Candlelight is a life enhancement, but to me it is neither soothing nor relaxing. It provokes in me an existential anxiety and a thirst for instant creative gratification (which is not easy to achieve if you don't have a dance gig that night).

Ironically, since we live in Midtown Manhattan, the street and car lights, the blaze of the shop windows, and the million candle power of light flooding down on us from the top of the Empire State Building one block to the south, are so powerful that in the depths of the night you can read a book standing in the street for blocks in any direction from our home. On Scott's candlelit evenings there is more light outside than in.

Midnight view from our window:

Candles are oblivious to the crushing noise of traffic and the vocal presence of the crowd at the doors of the nightclub across the street. Candles behave as if it's still the 19th century. Their flame is composed. They are waiting for something.

BAND MEMBER COMING SOON :: sarah

So many people in the belly dance world are pregnant right now! I had the opportunity to photograph the drumming trio Sedio, Kazuki and the soon to be announced member. I photographed Neon in her swan costume earlier this year. She left behind this gorgeous huge piece of coco brown silk. So when Kazuki showed up in her favorite color: pumpkin spice, the coco silk was an instant thought. I dragged it out and we had a blast. Even the comedy hound that Sedio is, was in awe of how pretty she looked and he got right into the moment.

Capturing the character of the couple was a great deal of fun too!

SARAH SKINNER, THE SEDUCTRESS :: neon

The first dance number filmed for the upcoming "Fantasy Bellydance" performance DVD (World Dance New York, September 08) was "Salome," starring Sarah Skinner, Kazja, Tava, Sherene Vismaya, Patricia Delgado, Kelly Wasilishen, Tanya Michaca, Melissa Voodoo. "Salome" is a series of solos (Sarah Skinner, Kazja, Tava) and group compositions based on the story of Salome and the dance of 7 veils.

First presented at the Venus Uprising's "Cult of Myth" spring show, "Salome" was conceptualized by Sarah Skinner: it's a second installment in her "Femmes Fatales" series, the first being Mata Hari from the "Gothic Bellydance - Revelations DVD. "Salome" features diverse choreographies (by Sarah Skinner and Kazja), spectacular costuming and fine acting.

"Salome" will also be included in Sarah Skinner's upcoming "Seven Veils - Romantic Bellydance" instructional DVD (World Dance New York, July 08).

Here are a few screen shots from the "Salome"video. For more images, visit the "Salome" Flickr set.

Veil dance from "Salome"

Sarah Skinner - Dance of 7 Veils

The last veil off, Sarah delves into the depths of passion, seducing King Herod

Transition to the zar number that closes "Salome"

Final pose: Melissa Voodoo as Death, Sarah Skinner - Salome

"Seven Veils - Romantic Bellydance" - instructional DVD by Sarah Skinner

OBSERVING AND DOING GOOD WORKS :: sarah

I was sitting and having a in depth conversation with a friend about life and relationships. My friend talked of coming to a peaceful place about others wrong doings and that Aristotle talked about the recipe for a balanced life must include observing and doing good works. The realization that forgiveness and charity are necessary concepts in everyday life regardless of the search for religious faith. I woke up yesterday with renewed energy to let go of my irritations with people and search for good works.

I went into the studio to photograph a client that wanted a photoshoot while she was pregnant. It is mothers day weekend to boot! I didn't expect to be so profoundly affected by this womans joy and emotion about being pregnant and  capturing it in combination with dance. Dance having been a life altering thing in her life. I became very thankful that I had the honor of doing that for her. It was great to see yet another case of how much dance affects peoples lives. It is so easy for me to take it for granted, since I barely know life without dance.  It was refreshing to see someone so full of joy. Having this experience with her gave me a rush of uplifted energy.

Though I did engage in a sin: envy. She dyes silk and she created this stunning earth goddess veil with little leaves adorning the edge. I just had to share the joy, a photo of Shaula with her coin costume, created copper pants and stunning veil.

MOTHER'S DAY :: sherene

In honor of Mother's Day, I want to dedicate a blog to my beautiful Venus rising (Taurus rising, like Blanx) mama--Zarifa, who gave me my first bellydancing lesson at the age of 4 back in the 70's when bellydancing was still a truly underground scene. Back in the midwest, it was considered a great workout and way to revive bored suburban housewives' sex lives. My mother was a brazen pioneer and true artist who brought culture to an otherwise sleepy midwest town. Of course our suburban neighbors were horrified by the strange arabic sounds competing with their Billy Joel records, but my mother never let the judgments stop her from doing her thing.  She taught lessons to women who would drive from miles away in the tiny basement of our duplex apartment with royal blue indoor/outdoor carpet--(sooo 70's! )Eventually she formed a troupe that would perform in hotels around the Detroit area with either my father or her Greek boyfriend, Neo as the MC.  Greektown in downtown Detroit was the hub for the bellydance scene. I have wonderful memories of eating Saganaki and watching my mother perform in those nightclubs (think Lafayette grill but darker and fabulously more seedy)  when I was just a wee bit of a gal. During my rebellious angst-ridden, punk rock adolescent years I swore off bellydancing in favor of gymnastics and slam dancing, but now I am eternally grateful for my roots. I tortured my poor mother with my displays of horror and typical teen embarrassment when I realized our Egyptian-inspired decor was nothing like the whales, polo horses and plaid wallpaper of the other suburban brats. I also owe her for all of the costumes I ruined when my friends and I would rollerskate around my basement to disco tunes and inadvertently ruin the sequin when our blades would get tear the hell out of the poor hems. But mostly I owe my beautiful mother the gift of inspiring and encouraging me to develop my own artistic longings. I was never inculcated with silly notions of trying to be something I'm not, or living by the norms or expectations of mainstream society. I praise my mother's true renegade spirit. And of course, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her.

My mother was often asked to perform in the local malls (in the 70's malls were still glamorous)--I love the look of judgment and envy from the woman on the far right.
Bellydancing was a scandalous enterprise to many God-fearing suburbanites.

The second picture shows my mom and me dancing.

 

 

AYSHE'S FIREBIRD WINGS WORKSHOP :: ayshe

Well, today I got the photos back from this past Sunday's Firebird workshop.  Sorry, they did not come out that well, but I hope it is fair to say that the workshop was far more successful!  This time we had such a beautiful studio- clean, high ceilings, beautiful wood floors, lovely setting and plenty of space for wings.  I felt that this created just the perfect, comfortable climate for learning.  There was such a nice turnout and everyone was so pleasant and enthusiastic that I in turn felt quite motivated and inspired to teach.  The choreography was hard I felt, but I think I was able to modify all the movements so that all the different levels of students could learn something usable for their routines.  It was a rewarding day for me, and I was so happy to see and teach all of you who came.  Now, I must  get to work on getting the choreography footage out to all!

  Good luck in your dance endeavors!!

RHODE ISLAND WORKSHOP :: blanca

As Neon mentioned earlier, after enjoying an hour of Djinn and Pete List's music on television, Carmine and I hit the road to The Dancing Spirit in Tiverton, Rhode Island.

We had a full day of workshops, 5 hours total, and had a great time. We started the day with a Sensual Bellydance workshop, followed by Rhythms and Drum Solo workshops. Carmine also gave a zill workshop.

At the end of the day Barb and her students performed a routine that became increasingly complex. As they danced, Barbara gave meaning to each movement, it was very sweet with interesting symbolism that, like the dance, became more and more comprehensive.

 

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Next came the show and party. We had the best time! Barb introduced us to her musician friends. The band leader, Charlie, used to live here in New York and played for bellydancers.

Barbara opened the show with a beautiful dance to Balinese music. She truly is a dancing spirit! Throughout the night we enjoyed a great mix of styles from some of the dancers who took our workshop.

After the performances we danced for who knows how many hours! There were no clocks, no one cared, all that mattered was the music, the dance and the people. I overheard Barbara's friend telling her: "Barb, I never had so much fun in my entire life!"

Thank you Barbara and all the wonderful Rhode Islanders for this wonderful experience!

   

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photos above by Omar Bradley

photos below  by Izabelle Varanga Donahiue

CULT OF MYTH - PHOTOS! :: neon

Dear friends, thanks to each of you who joined us for the CULT OF MYTH - A Fantasy Bellydance Concert NYC April 25 & 26!! And MUCH LOVE AND GRATTITUDE TO ALL ARTISTS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE SHOW!!!! The house was sold out on both days. Thank you for helping us make this event such a success!

Here is a link to a collection of photos from THE CULT OF MYTH - A Fantasy Bellydance Concert - enjoy!
All photos are by Kevin Fox.

And this link will take you to a collection of photos from the Venus Uprising Saturday's reception that followed the show.

Zobeida in "Emergent" - choreography, costumes: Ayshe

Rayhana as Aphrodite, with Sirrah Nur, Elena Kirsanova, Miyoko Satoh, Nana Masuda, Kai Wen, Tanya Michaca, Jennifer Bowen, Patricia Delgado, Enzina (choreography, costumes: Ayshe)

Sarah Skinner as Salome, Tava, Kazja, Kelly, Sherene, Patrica, Tanya, Melissa- perform "Salome's Sin". More info on this performance at www.matahariunveiled.com

Melissa, Sarah Skinner, Sira - curtain call for the CULT OF MYTH

Blanca as Persephone

Neon & Sean Adair

Jeniviva & friend

Blanca & Andrea Anwar

Reception - Saturday

MUSIC BY DJINN ON ABC :: neon

Yesterday ABC broadcast the "Secrets of the Sistine Chapel" - a program exploring the possibility that Michelangelo embedded powerful and dangerous messages in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. The soudtrack for the "Secrets" incorporated a few tracks from Djinn's album "Djinn" and from "Songs for Kassar" by Pete List. "Jimmy Hafla" ("Djinn") and "Nuevinda" ("Songs fro Kassar" - the Kassar's performance music) played again and again and a few other familiar tracks faded in and out. Djinn's music seemed to be used mostly at the moments portraying passion, intense emotions and drama, while Pete List's music appeared in more serene moments.
I don't have TV and never watch it (I love it, but don't have time!), same with Blanca - she doesn't have TV -- so we converged on Carmine's couch to watch, or, rather, listen to the "Secrets." Remarkably delicious Turkish food was provided by the host and we watched with major enthusiasm everything - the program itself and the cute commercials (you may be sick of commercials, but for someone who never has a chance to see them, like myself, they are intense entertainment!). We recited the titles of the Djinn and Pete List tracks as they appeared in the "Secrets" soundtrack and had a blast. Our celebration didn't extend till the morning only because Blanca and Carmine were leaving that night for Rhode Island to teach a drum solo workshop.