Venus Uprising Bellydance New York City

TE AMO BUENOS AIRES :: sherene

If you’ve completely lost faith in the ever-declining value of the American dollar—this is the destination. After traveling to Paris and having to cough up $7 for a cup of tea, I had almost resigned to falling in love with domestic travel. Although I used to make yearly pilgrimages to India annually, enjoying the 45 rupee to a dollar exchange rate (back in ’06), after an onslaught of health issues, as is par for the course when traveling there, my immune system begged me to stop.

B.A. has been toted as the Paris of South America, and although it deserves such comparison in terms of its café life and fabulous shops, it also deserves its own status. It’s truly unique in a myriad of ways and the people are unbelievably warm and charming.  They dress to the nines, and say exactly what’s on their mind, no censorship! – so refreshing!

Famous for cheap plastic surgery and Botox, but what might be less well known, is that it’s a Mecca for psychoanalysis. They take their Lacanian analysis very seriously. It’s actually fashionable to be in analysis the way it was in New York City in the 60’s, when great artists like Martha Graham swore by their analytic experience in fostering their creative self-actualization. Especially in the trendy district called the Palermo, (their equivalent of Nolita or Williamsburg) brimming with emerging young designers and artists, there is a strong buzz around Lacanian analysis—an interesting branch of psychoanalysis where the analyst can decide to end the session whenever he or she feels the analysand needs to be interrupted, even after only 5 minutes if he feels it will wake the person up or shake the process up. Can’t say I agree with such extreme measures, but it’s fascinating to me that it’s become so popular there.

Highlights of B.A.:

The Recoletta Cemetery: a dream setting for the next GBD DVD—I wonder how many music videos have been shot there?
It’s gorgeous, sacred, dark and eerie at the same time despite the throngs of tourists.

Lingerie shopping at Las Oreiros in the Palermo—what you imagine naughty Argentinean princesses wore. They even wrap up your prized possessions in a satin hatbox. Sigh.

High Tea at the Alvear Palace Hotel in the Recoletta

Day of Beauty at any of the notable spas. You can get pampered for an entire day including facials, body scrubs, mani/pedis, reflexology etc for under $200, something that would cost a small fortune in the city. And the aestheticians are amazing there!

Dinner at the Café Tortoni. The best grilled cheese (or jamon y queso if you’re not veg) and hot chocolate in the city!

Shopping in the Barrio Norte. I snagged some of the most amazing vintage Swarovski crystal costume jewelry at a store called Faroma. For shoes: Mishika; and for handbags, Own. They will soon be selling their pieces of art at Barney’s, but in B.A. you can get creations that would cost you upwards in the thousands for under a $100. Crazy! I sound like a materialist mama gone mad! It happens there with so much affordable beauty! Watch out!

Pastries or fresh orange juice at Francesca’s in Patio Bullrich in the Recoletta. Their version of a mall is like a palace compared to some of our corporate-fueled mega-monstrosities. It’s tiny and only filled with magical little shops and cafes. No screaming children, and you’re not left with that feeling of nausea after .002 seconds of entering.

The art museums are fantastic: Bellas Artes is my favorite.

FREE BIRD BELLYS :: sherene

I just got back from teaching at Planet Dance in the 'Natti (I'm told this is the proper terminology when referring to Cincinnatti now) home of Sarah Jessica Parker, Skyline Chili and some of the best up-and-coming dancers in the country! 

Planet Dance was founded by two former Broadway dancers, Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard and a famous dancer and choreographer from LA who has worked with everyone from J-Lo to Justin Timberlake to Prince: Kristen Denehey.

It's a fabulous event where they bring teachers in from various backgrounds from all over the country and the kids get a weekend immersion in different styles and techniques. I don't know where these little souls come from, but they will steal your heart and blow you away with their talent. They are beyond Broadway bound with their endless pirouettes, boundless leaps, and inexhaustible supply of energy!

They range from ages 7-18, and come from all over the country to offer their blood, sweat and tears to study ballet, jazz, hip-hop, free-form authentic movement (which is what I have been teaching at Planet Dance for the past 5 years)

and for the first time... this year...

BELLY DANCE!!!

I just had to report how much these gorgeous kidlets were absolutely mad for bellydancing (guys and gals alike!)
They had never been exposed to it other than watching Shakira and Christina shake their bom bommas and bust a few hip drops.

And I have never had such a large group get the steps and the technique in "on-demand" speed like that!
Mind-blowing and so inspiring to see their passion and fearless faces. Please enjoy the photos!

The kids favorite song was by far "Brooklyn Baladi" by Djinn -- they shrieked with delight when they heard it!
We used it for the across-the-floor work... Aw, the raw, gutsy energy of youth! Let it live on in all of us at any age!

THE WORLD NEEDS MORE DANCE :: sherene

Came back from THE BLAST Astrology Conference in Sedona, where I taught and was taught by both veterans like Rob Hand, and brilliant up and coming pioneers in the field like Chris Brennan. I gave a lecture and a Zodiac Dance workshop. The topic of my lecture was why we need Saturn now. Saturn is the archetypal ruler of time and getting our act together and is currently opposing the planet of illusion and delusion, Neptune. The Saturn-Neptune opposition that we've been experiencing since last year conjures up lessons all humans are going through right now. On the one side, we are being pulled towards defining our reality in no uncertain terms; bold self-love and self expression; following our hearts and making time to actually manifest the dreams we had for ourselves as children. On the other side we are confronting disillusionment with what we thought would make us happy, especially if it was more about pleasing someone else. There is further tension between wanting to be inclusive of everybody (the Aquarian pull), not wanting to be above anyone else, and not caring what others think of us and a need for praise, accolades and VIP treatment.

So here we are, trying to integrate these opposites. Saturn is in the proud constellation of Leo: It's time to shine, create and express our lust for life, whatever it is that we feel truly passionate about! We MUST make TIME for it. However, if we get caught in our ego and feel that we have to be special in a way that degrades others; if we get trapped in the mentality of "look at me, me, me" in some blind delusion forgetting we are part of a greater collective, then we're basically up shit's creek. The point is to embrace and embody what is special about you so you don't expect others to incessantly remind you and flatter you ad nauseum until you get it. If you create just for your own self-gratification to have one-up over other people, the Neptune in Aquarius side will kick in and you'll spiral into an empty abyss, the kind that creates the insatiable kind of spiritual void that the most relentless addictions are made of. To avoid that trap, aligning with a greater, more universal purpose is necessary. This doesn't mean you sacrifice your uniqueness, join a cult, or suddenly fall into the background in an anonymous fashion to be humble and serving some greater cause.

It's all about where your heart is. Most importantly, if you can love yourself enough and realize you are special, not special in comparison to someone else, just that YOU are special: honor yourself, love your neighbor and think that the reason you are doing the creative work is so you might actually contribute something to this world, or open someone up, you're honoring both parts of this polarity. If you ego-trip and fall into the delusion that it's all about how fabulous you are and being number one, watch out: this is why all the celebrities are going off the deep end right now. The most miserable celebs are the ones getting the most attention. The higher they rise, the harder they are falling. The old Hollywood myth that happiness comes from being the most popular is clearly a big lie that always plays out in the same tragic ending—overdose. We are a culture OD'ing on our own excessive needs that never get filled and this current cosmic configuration of Saturn and Neptune is bringing that point home on the cover of every trashy tabloid mag. Why are we so fascinated with whether Britney is wearing undies or Lindsay is drinking Red Bull with or without Vodka? "Rehab is the new black", just like this sick t-shirt I saw a man parading around in the West Village so sadly but aptly stated.

On a more "dancish" note, I also led a Zodiac Dance workshop at the conference, and it was fascinating to see how much the older astrologers as well as the newbies got into it! These are not dancers mind you. Many have never even taken a yoga class or stepped foot on a dance floor. Zodiac Dance is a form of authentic movement that can be quite intimidating upon first encounter because people are so used to being told what to do rather than trust their own inherent sense of movement. I loved seeing all these kids (i.e. anyone under 30—ha!) instantly immersing themselves in it—they'd go right into their bodies, emote and express fearlessly. The older cats were inhibited at first but then seemed to love it so much—they even regressed to angst-ridden teenagers when I busted out the Bjork music. Wow, it's amazing how much people are longing to dance and how much they need to get out of their heads. In the past people were able to sit at a conference for hours and hours on end but it seems like people can't hang out in their heads for such long periods of time-thankfully. It's time to return to the bones and the heart.

Yes, we need that Leo rock star energy in each of us. The idea is getting back the creativity and spontaneity we had as kids. We form addictions because we've forgotten how to just plain enjoy ourselves without reaching for something outside of ourselves. During the Zodiac Dance, we work through all 12 energies of the Zodiac from Aries to Pisces. When we got to Leo (the energy prominent for all of us now), there was the greatest impact and sense of joy. Many were saying "I love this archetype!!!!" The energy was the most alive and playful—even grown men rolling around, doing somersaults—yes, total romper room hysteria but in the best kind of way you can imagine. Aquarius was embraced with equal enthusiasm. The song was "Emerge" by Fisher Spooner allowing people to experiment with bizzare, freakish and futuristic movements—most importantly to not give a fig what anyone else would think and to just move. That is the essence right now.