Venus Uprising Bellydance New York City

DANCING AT THE KOOZA AFTER-PARTY WITH ANIL: BY AYSHE

I wanted to wait for the photos before blogging about this..... Well they only just came, but were definitely worth the wait.  Geri, the photographer for the event, really caught the ambience I thought- pure exotic elegance (www.geripix.com).  Working for a large organization like Cirque du Soleil can be maddening with its complexity, but they really treat their artists with love and respect-- it's almost a shock, as in NYC one is often on the defensive, waiting for the next underhanded hit.  We worked hard, but were well-paid. Indian costuming was important as the event had to have a lush Indian feel to match the feel of Kooza.  Anil has so many costumes in his collection and the event organizer was in awe-- (seebelow)  

made me email photos to the board of directors in Montreal so they could oogle......

THE COSTUMES: Here are some of what we wore: my costume in gold/orange, flowers, garlands  and gold ornaments for the gods.  In India, a classical dancer can take 4 hours to get into costume and character.  In our case, 2 hours was the limit.  We were 3 American and 3 Indian dancers.  The two Americans, besides myself, had no Indian dance training at all, but Anil was great at giving them movements they could easily imitate-- that, plus an extra bit of makeup, some braided hairpieces (see photo above),  3 saris, and, presto, we fit in seemlessly (lol). 

THE BEST PART: THE MUSIC--- The event director found and amazing trio which played on top of the Cirque dj's mix.  The sound system was perfect and the mix was so spectacular, my anxiety just disappeared and I went out and danced with abandon--- What an unexpected thrill!!!  

There were other performers as well: a fire dancer, and my yoga teacher and his partner performing a yoga duet.  There was a gorgeous Brazilian bodybuilder, who Anil dressed up in the gold pieces to depict Shiva.  He spent the evening serving tea and basically presenting is be-jeweled physique.  An old guru read palms and a bunch of lovely ladies did henna and Indian makeup for the guests.  We were introduced to the board of directors and the owner who had come from Montreal for the premier.  All the performers attended, as well, and we got to entertain them for a change.  One upset, at the last minute the organizers decided my incense pot might cause allergic responses and the flower petals for the ceremonial offerings might be a safety hazard, so we had to stick the flowers in the pot instead of using the incense (it's always something)-- but the upside was that they gave us endless supplies of Red Bull on ice in our dressing room, so I forgot the let down of having to balance flowers on my head.  Below are photos to hopefully lend some of the excitement of the evening to the readers.  MAYBE SOME OF YOU WILL EVEN BE INSPIRED TO TAKE OUR WORKSHOP ON JUNE 13!!!

 

Spirit of the Tribes 9-- incredible spirit and inspiration:: Ayshe

Well, I just never expected to have such an amazing experience as what I encountered on my recent trip to The Spirit of the Tribes in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  I have been out to Rakkassah East and Spring Fest over the years, as well as dance camps, NYC workshops & Haflas, and the unbelievable New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (which also includes a lot of dance), but this was something else, and totally unexpected. The performers were so different and inspiring, and incorporated so many different styles of dance and elements in so many unique ways-- it was awesome!!!! and awe-inspiring!!!  Plus the weather and the people were so gracious,..... and the Saturday after-party down by the riverfront was so perfect with live drummers and firedancers on the outside cafe, and world music with the dj inside. 

Maja is a true spirit of the ethnic dance and her troupe blended the Indo- Sharqui together with such exquisite costuming, color, and staging.  The Friday and Saturday night shows featured true ethnic dancers and those that danced with that "ethnic" flavor plus so much more!  There was tribal mixed with hip-hop, modern dance, burlesque, gothic, fantasy, fusion, Indian ethnic, North African ethnic, african ethnic, Persian/Azeri/Afghan ethnic, and Latin/Flamenco fire.  What an amazing melting pot of excellence in dance this "bellydance" has become.  Like our country, our dance is evolving into something new, fresh, and absolutely magnificent!!! 

From our area, Sera solstice added her own unique blend of modern, gothic, tribal, martial arts, robotic, hip-hop bellydance-- just amazing!!!  Elena made a riveting, breath-taking appearance to music by Phillip Glass, which had a Spanish feel to it.  She glided out on the stage with a flowing silk veil in brilliant chinese red, with one end fading to black. Her dance layered moves with highs and lows, and seg-wayed into a fan dance.  The auditorium was so still you could hear a pin drop.  Also, there was the electric salsa dance of Griselle Ponce and her group from NJ.--- what a wild freeing dance they did....  Oh, and me-- the fantasy/ fusion/ wings representative.  I did my Firebird dance with all red costume and wings, which appears on our new Fantasy bellydance dvd.

I wish I had time to go through all the different groups I saw and describe their unique visions, but no words could describe the beauty and delight of their performances.  I will post photos here as they come in and suggest you all visit Maja's website to see what went on:  www.majanile.com..... and of course, if you ever can get there, I highly recommend a journey to the Next Spirit of the Tribes!!!

Many, Many, Many thanks to Maja who created this event and makes it all possible year after year-- you are an amazing blessing to our community and to women everywhere! 
    

THE VENUS Rx :: sherene

Venus Gets Ugly
The Venus Rx
40 Bad Hair Days?

Why does everyone get all crotchety whenever the word “retrograde” is muttered? Even if there is little to zilch interest in the astrological arts, it’s as if we’re all programmed to recoil in horror at the mere mention of the term “retrograde” (especially of the Mercury variety). Since Venus retrogrades only once every 18 months instead of several times a year like Mercury—and more importantly because she rules precious commodities like love, money and beauty—things get ugly.

Just because she’s taking a little retreat, do we really have to start dressing in drab colors, breaking hearts, eating millet, swearing off dating, mating and relating for forty days, and stashing cash under the mattress refusing to buy ourselves anything except bread? What kind of goddess, even in repose, would ever wish such a thing on her mortal worshipers? 

Doesn't it feel like some cosmic Nazi force suddenly raided our psyches ripping out all the sweetness and light leaving a slew of bottomless Mars-worthy temper tantrums to contend with for forty long days and lonely nights? Or like someone stole all the candy and flowers and we’re now being force-fed rice cakes and made to wade in the dead prickly weeds of our past? As Lynda HIll so aptly observed, this is a forty day test of wandering in the desert like Jesus--no wonder I feel parched. Somebody bring me some water!

With everyone fiercely clutching their wallets in reaction to the current economic collapse, you’d think Venus was out of phase for months already. (Luxury items—faggedaboutit!) Nahhhh… that we can link to the fallout of Pluto in Sag, or better yet---The Bush era!  But in our quest to preserve the beauty and bounty that Venus brings (ok, so she’s in her detriment in Aries, but so the fu*k what), let’s re-commit to living life like we’re on fire, or at least dancing in the flames. Venus in Aries is all about the hot-potato approach—catch but then let go before you get burned. Clinging is where we get burned. 2012 is only a stone’s throw away—isn’t it time we embraced the concept of self-interest as having a healthy place in relationships? Aries is about preserving our individualistic instincts.  It’s so June Cleaver and Marion Cunningham to cow-tow in southern bell like deference to the proverbial hubby, humbly serving up a pot-roast while totally keeping the needs, gripes and passions tightly suppressed until we implode with migraines or run off with the milk man. If nothing else the current Venus in Aries demands we fiercely love ourselves, our lives with an all-consuming fire that rages on even in the face of discord. If we insist that everything be continuous sweetness and light, we might as well pack up and move to Candyland until we give ourselves Diabetes.

EVER FALLEN IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH?

And yes you can expect heaps of break-ups just as you can expect many to rush head first into red flag-heavy love relationships that will most likely crash and burn when Venus gets her groove back, and can discern the real from the fake. And yes you can expect to cover old ground as old lovers come crawling out of the woodwork.

when out to brunch with your sweetie or even your BFF (if the Venus Rx hasn’t split you guys up yet), cease all tweets, emails, google searches, word warping, shazaming, status updates and texts for the duration of your precious time together. I have seen more fights break out over what should have been a romantic meal because someone couldn’t curb their addiction to their crackberry or I-crack. I’m not pointing fingers, because I’ve been screamed at several times myself to put down the crack.

Like all retrograde periods, the invitation is to go within, slow the insanity down, and go deeper in the service of re-inventing, re-working, re-leasing, re-visioning. In the case of Venus, let this inner re-flection re-volve around beauty, love, relationships, values, and of course—moola!

Where did life go?...
and why did it run away??...
and how come everything has to change?
~Anonymous

Par for the Course during Venus Rx in Aries:

• Temper tantrums galore.
• Courage.
• Creativity.
• Lack of patience.
• Break-ups.
• Assertiveness.
• Retreats.
• Imposed Solitude.
• Bad Hair.
• Bad Men.
• Bitchy Women..
• Ugly Men.
• Aggression.
• Feeling Fat.
• Allergies to working.
• A surge in red wine sales.
• Chocolate shortages.
• Bad idea diets.
• Crankiness.
• Shotgun weddings.
• Interruption in flow.
• Fast fads.
• Bossiness.
• Egotism.
• Rage-aholism.
• Fist fights.
• Bad Fashion.
• Skin Eruptions.
• Fevers.Fizzling out.
• Identity Crisis.
• Bad impulse buys.
• A predominance of “me-me-me!!” attitudes.
• Machismo even in women.
• Fighting over petty issues.
• Narcissism at its finest.

BIG PARTY REPORT!!!! :: neon

Blanca's birthday party was big, lush and overflowing with the beautiful people of NYC's bellydance and world music demimonde. Even though Blanca commanded the spotlight as the birthday girl, I seized some attention by hosting her party at my place. OMG, it was so incredibly cool to see all our fancy and gorgeous bellydance friends circulate around a table laden with wines and hors-d-oeuvres on a late Tuesday night - all of them in one place.
Actually, it was not one place, but two places: My place consists of two lofts in a Garment District department store converted into a residential building. We've been talking about breaking down the wall between the two lofts for over a year, but on one side the wall is mirrored, and it's my rehearsal studio, so....we keep postponing the merger of the two apartments until I can live without the mirrors for some days or weeks, and it never happens.
So, space #1, candle-lit and unfurnished featured Blanca greeting our friends, pouring them wine under branches of cherry blossoms and relieving them of the birthday gifts they brought for her. Meanwhile, in the dark red-and-black kitchen of space #2 a clique of absintheurs presided over by Jeniviva indulged in absinthe rites and rituals, and watched "Honey & Spice," a new World Dance New York burlesque instructional DVD by Jo Weldon.
The photo report follows. You can see more photos here!

Elsa Leandros, Sherene, Cindy Dunaway, Blanca. Blanca is wearing a crown Cindy created for her.

Amy Staub, Neon, Pete List, Hanna Nour

Tanna Valentine, Blanca

Absinthe

Blanca makes a speech before destroying the birthday cake!

Jeniviva & Neon in the absinthe den

Ranya decorates her famous Groundhog Day cookies; Richard, Dennis Danaway, Frank

Richard, Blanca, Elisheva, Dennis Dunaway, Anasma

Sarah Skinner and Darshan

Tanna Valentine & Andy Troy

Amy Staub, Mariyah, Darshan, Hanna Nour, Sarah Skinner

Caught gossipping!!!! Anasma, Blanca, Richard

Frank & Anasma

Fayzah & Richard

Not fair!!!! Someone is having fun at my expense! They extracted my octopus cans from the refrigerator to count them! What's wrong with eating octopus for breakfast, lunch and dinner?!! And btw I am TIRED of all these jokes about my growing tentacles! Gimme a break already.

Brenna, Neon

INDIA PART 1 - DANCING WITH MALA :: blanca

When I was seven my parents decided that the entire family would begin to practice yoga every day. With her healing hands, her strong and slender body and her magical stories of India, our teacher Shanti initiated me into the journey of the body that eventually turned into my whole life. I am a dancer now and as I write this I feel humbled with gratitude for her and my parents. I had been craving India ever since the days I listened to Shanti's stories. I knew that one day I would finally get there but never acted on it until last October when I felt a sudden urge to buy a plane ticket and worry about the rest later.

Well... it wasn't so sudden... I had been entertaining the idea of meeting in person my dear friend Mala. Mala and I had been email friends for a couple of years, matched through our love of bellydance. As Neon remarks, it's fascinating how two people who live at opposite sides of the world can be kindred spirits. It felt as if I had known Mala my whole life. She made me laugh so much. At  every moment, from the day I decided to go, she showered me with advice, contacts, a wonderful travel agent, gifts and more gifts... she shared her dear friends with me... and --best of all-- she danced for me. Mala is proof that dance instruction through DVDs WORKS. I was nothing short of amazed. She performed entire choreographies for me, including my very own "Venus" choreography. WOW!!! Her hipwork is really good. She is an extremely intelligent person who constantly self corrects. I can't wait for my next trip to India and witness her evolution... I had the privilege of staying at Mala's beautiful home in Delhi. She's a lucky girl with her own dance studio, packed with hundreds of dance DVDs, full-length mirrors and a huge basket full of hipscarves.

Mala and I share a love of Indian food. Her friends Prasanto and Moushumi took us to Oh Calcutta!, a Bengali restaurant (Prasanto is Bengali). The best food and the best company...

This item here was the most amazingly delicious thing I ever drank. Don't ask me what the name is but it was made of roasted mango and chili pepper.

Bellydancers love their bracelets.

I love Indian sweets! My favorite is Rasmalai but also Gulab Jamun and Kulfi.

Our last meal was at an elegant hotel in Delhi. The entire menu was Continental... for the tourists I suppose.

The elegant Mala matching her surroundings quite harmoniously.

You can read Mala's blog entries: My first live class Dancing with Blanca

VACATION JOURNAL: RODEO! :: tanna

No, your eyes do not deceive you.  This is about as far from bellydance as you can get.  (Although, the rodeo queens do get to wear sparkly  tiaras, just like mine!) A few weeks ago, while on my wonderful annual vacation back home, I went to a rodeo.  It was an impulsive decision on my part (I have not been to a rodeo since high school), but I knew that my father would probably agree to go with me.   

Currently a well-respected attorney and general sportsman, during his wild youth my father was a working cowboy who also participated in a number of rodeos.  When I was growing up we actually had mini-rodeos in our own arena, which had chute for calf-roping.  It was always big excitement when some of Dad's friends would drive up in a trailor, unload a horse or two, and Dad would head to the garage to get his lariat case.  Unfortunately, the less-good memories of my father's cowboy days (which included many injuries) contributed to his growing grey hairs when my sister started competing in rodeos in high school.

But on this particular Saturday afternoon my father and myself were safely ensconced in the stands, away from the dangerous part of the action.  And the danger is very real.   I observed one smart cowboy wearing a crash helmet during the bull-riding event.  He needed it when his ride unseated him quickly with a vicious throw to the ground.  During the barrel-racing one cowgirl's horse slipped and fell to the ground while circling the barrel, then got up with the girl's foot still caught up in the stirrup.  Fortunately she got loose before she was dragged too far.   Being this close to the action really makes you appreciate the bravery of the rodeo clowns, and the expertise of the "pick-up crew" - two mounted cowboys who quickly remove fallen cowboys from the field and distract the other livestock (read: angry bulls and wild broncos) as needed. 

I really enjoyed the experience of reliving this part of my youth, although it did make me feel a pang of nostalgia for times past.  My father also enjoyed himself thoroughly - he was like a little kid, and that was also a lot of fun for me.    One of the great legends in my family is about how my father rodeo-ed at Madison Square Gardens under an assumed name so that my grandfather would not find out.   If a rodeo comes to Madison Square Gardens this year, I'm buying a ticket.

   

MY FURRY-CRUMPET :: ayshe

     One of the dearest, cutest gifts to my life arrived in the form of a tiny, sickly, ratty 6 lb kitten.  Ready to be put down in the city pound, cat rescuer, Hilary, took her home and nursed her to relative health.  When I adopted her, I still had a lot of work to do.  Poor little thing, spent her first months with me getting dumped into smelly anti-fungal baths, being shaved, having all her teeth removed, and having medication stuffed down her throat and ears. She would sit in a corner and just stare at me with her little round eyes.  I tried strings, balls, furry mice to entice her to play; also bags, wrapping paper, shoe boxes.  Eventually she started to animate and play, but she was so weak she could not run and could barely get up on a chair.  I made sure to play with her every day and, after 5 disasterous attempts, finally found another sweet gentle cat  to be her friend and playmate. I tried many names but nothing seemed to fit quite right---then, I came up with Purrty- (Purr & Pretty combined).  After 3 1/2 years we are all doing so wonderfully together.  Purrt is still only 6 1/2 lbs, but she runs and jumps and constantly plays.  Her hair has grown out and her scraggly little tail is now full and bushy. In the beginning, she would obsessively groom her sad little fur-coat, but now it is full and lustrous and she has stopped her compulsive self-cleaning.   She has finally become my dear little friend and angel.  She has so many cute little positions and antics that constantly entertain and delight me.  There is no end to what she will figure out next.  Here are some pictures I wanted to share with the community.  I hope you all fall in love with her too!!

ST.MARTIN OFF SEASON :: neon

Last week I joined my boyfriend Scott, my sister Elizabeth and her husband Michael, visiting from the UK, on a trip to St. Martin, where we settled on the Grand Case beach, on the French half of the island, in order to vegetate there for a week.

St. Martin is divided between the French and the Dutch. The Dutch half is very developed - high-rise hotels, malls and casinos are numerous. The French half is poorly developed and more traditional because of restrictive tax policy on purchasing and selling real estate and policiies designed to limit money-laundering.

The French half of St. Martin is a perfect place for vegetation, esp. off season. It’s a bit too sedate for me, but it was enjoyable. During summer all the beach and shopping activities gradually slow down and totally die by September (the peak of the hurricane season.)

Grand Case is an island village with a beautiful narrow sandy beach, very clear blue waters, and small hotels with large rooms. It has an astounding array of top-notch French restaurants, local creole food establishments (“lolos”) and shops overlooking the ocean. In Grand Case, the horizon is entirely occupied by the long island of Anguilla, while from the other side of St. Martin you see the mountaneous St. Barth’s.

We moved into two apartments overlooking the beach, and for the following week our activities consisted of gorging on croissants aux amandes and pain au chocolat at breakfast at a local creperie, hiking up and down various slopes of St. Martin’s mountains, eating again - at fine French or local creole restaurants and then swimming for the rest of the day and drinking creamy liqeurs from Curacao and St. Martin’s own flavored rum punches (in hand-painted bottles) on the beach.
Michael shopped at the fish market in Marigot (the capital of French St. Martin) and cooked us a remarkable meal of three kinds of reef fishes.

Snorkelling in the waters of St. Martin is not prolific - not many good reefs. Driving around the island is not enjoyable bec. of the mountaneous terrain and extremely steep roads, but a couple mountains have patches of dark rain forest with thick mango trees and royal palms, and are worth visiting. One of the attractions is nude beaches, but I feel torn about them: They feature a lot of physical beauty, but you also end up seeing overt deterioration of the flesh, from age and poor self-maintenance. Nude beaches cause me heavy thoughts of mortality, more than celebration of human physicality.

I am a sun-avoidant individual, wearing SPF 50+ sunscreen every day, rain or shine, until 8 p.m. (AND SO SHOULD YOU!) I would go on the beach and into the water before sunset only for snorkelling. Otherwise, I show up on the beach after the sun has sunk deep below the horizon. Because I don't participate in beach activities, my beach vacations consist mostly of lying in bed, listening to the waves and thinking, or shopping.

This summer, I acquired yet another tool of sun-avoidance: The fellow sun-refugee Autumn Ward gave me a catalog of sun-protective clothing ("Sun Precautions") that sells items made of solumbra, the fabric formulated to provide SPF 30+ sun protection. The solumbra clothing is style-less, but a few items in plain white or black look okay, and the promise of extra sun coverage is above all (any regular fabric gives you only about SPF 3-5). I got myself a beach shirt (on the pictures in this blog) and a hat. The shirt has front pockets, a must for summer clothing (to hide your hands there!) unless you are a freak like me and are not embarrassed to wear gloves in summer. I do it all - pockets and gloves.

Life on St. Martin was pleasant but uneventful, the familiar thrills and stresses of NYC were totally missing (the only visible conflict and strife were amid the hosts of yellow-breasted birds fighting every morning for sugar cubes at the creperie). So when a business emergency called me home, I took off for NYC with enthusiasm. I have a problem sustaining more than 3-4 days of vacation, esp. if the vacation descends upon me more than once a year, which is the case this year.

With my sister Elizabeth at a "lolo."

St.Martin's fruit jams and flavored rum punches

Scott eating a mango found in the jungle

On Pic du Paradis, the highest mountain in St. Martin

Under a parachute tent

Birds feasting on sugar cubes

"Star fish" toe ring!!!!

PROJECT RUNWAY 2 :: tanna

Last year's Decotach fashion show, featuring original designs by dancer/innovator Angela Lambru (Noora) was such a success that an immediate decision was made to repeat it this year.  Final (& frantic!)  preparations are currently underway.  The signature style of Decotach is clean lines and great color combinations, and the signature secret is that these patented costumes feature interchangeable and multi-functional decorative elements. 

This year's fashions are going to be presented in the context of a Berber bride preparing for her wedding by choosing her special clothes.  This story line allows for the models to actively demonstrate the versatility and changeability of the Decotach costume line.  Eleven lovely model/dancers have been selected and coached.  A recent renovation at Taj means that the designs will be shown off against an elegant wooden backdrop, and that (fingers crossed!) we will have some decent in-house lighting.

In addition to the featured show, a supply of costume items will be on hand for cash purchases, and a henna artist will also be vending her wares, for the reasonable sum of $5-$10 per design.  Information will also be available about Noora's intriguing future costume workshop, in which participants can purchase "kits" from her and construct their own Decotach costumes.  All in all, this is shaping up to be an extremely entertaining evening!

BLANCA'S TAROT PARTY:: neon

When you enter a NYC apartment and you find no couch (instead it’s silk beaded cushions scattered on the floor and a bed with a canopy and exotic embroidered fabrics), and no TV (iPhone instead), you know that this New Yorker lives an intensely metropolitan life. Add to this a toy-like Shih Tzu named Lola, strange carved objects of antique Indian wood, a host of Turkish and Moroccan lamps hanging from the ceiling (along with “silks” for practicing aerial dance), and closets stuffed dead with bellydance costumes, swords, jewelry and high-heeled silver sandals, and you know that you have found the place inhabited by the NYC bellydancer Blanca.

Yestserday Blanca’s became the scene of her “Meet your Destiny” Tarot-reading party. The readings were performed by Sherene, Jungian scholar, astrologer, dancer and therapist. Sherene wears long strings of crystal beads around her neck, writes astrology sections and celebrity horoscopes for Elle, publishes the astrology magazine “Constellation,“ teaches dance-based therapy workshops and does readings for those seeking souls who are concerned about their path and destiny. Yesterday’s readings were “public,” we all could listen in on what the cards predicted for each of us. Upon facing one’s destiny via the cards, everyone was left marveling at the insightful and often scary-spot-on nature of the readings.

I had two readings: one was done for me by Blanca - she is a psychic-in-training, and I was eager material for her Tarot skills practice session. It was a simple reading interpreting three cards: past, present and future. One interesting thing she said, to which I could strongly relate, was that my present offers me many opportunities, but that I will succeed best by serving others. My past was represented by Death and future was represented by Aeon. Both were interpreted with a deep message about my life’s journey and the promise of an “outcome of a high order.” My second reading was done by Sherene with multiple cards spread in an elaborate way. My future contains unexplored avenues of personal progress and at the bottom of my reading was the money card. “One thing you don’t have to worry about is money,” said Sherene - which was nice to hear, but I know myself: I’ll worry, I’ll worry!... Other than money, my destiny did not appear straightforward. My life seems to be turning in an unknown direction. I keep thinking of this with trepidation.

A few cards kept coming up in almost everyone’s reading, in particular cards referring to patience and refraining from immediate action or decision. Perhaps they reflected the place where we are collectively — not the right moment for decision making, for some reason.

Among the wines served at the party was my favorite “Roaring Red,” from upstate NY. Food highlights included lovely miniature sandwiches, gigantic strawberries, and CUPCAKES that had a magnetic appeal to the more care-free souls amongst us.