Venus Uprising Bellydance New York City

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.

HOLIDAY REFLECTIONS :: tanna

Despite job stress, inclement weather and poorly-timed illness, it's really been a rather lovely holiday season.   It started with an excellent Thanksgiving in NJ, featuring a beautiful table, gourmet food, and the joyous tidings that our newest family member will arrive in the early summer.  My own annual Christmas tree-trimming party, which I seriously considered canceling, ended up being a very entertaining evening with a diverse group of interesting individuals.  The conversational buzz was strong throughout the entire night, and I got some really nice emails afterwards.   I guess I'll have to keep having that party now!  Christmas day was another great family celebration, this time here in NYC, and bringing news of an upcoming family wedding in June.  And today my dear friend Lina took me out to an amazing dinner, and then surprised me with tickets to the Radio City Holiday Spectacular.   About a year ago I had mentioned to her that I had never seen the Rockettes, and she remembered.  It was such a fun show, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!   Interestingly enough, throughout this festive time, and despite the poor economy, I've actually had an unusual number of dance gigs.

This final week of the year, between Christmas and New Year's, is a time when I like to reflect on the events and accomplishments of the past year, and contemplate the possibilities inherent in the coming year.  I don't necessarily make "resolutions", but I do like to analyze the previous year's activities, and try to determine improvements for the fresh new year.

My family is my number one priority in life, followed by my friends at number two.  Number three is my job, and it is almost in a tie with number four, which is working out/physical fitness.  Number five, I guess, is bellydance, and it is here that I'm feeling the impetus to instigate some change.  I love bellydance on many levels, and this last year has brought some wonderful new experiences and triumphs.   Winning the 2008 BDUC Veil Champion title, performing live with Goth band Vasaria, the release of my newest DVD "Bellydance Show Basics", and some awesome photoshoots with Lina Jang just to name a few.   Along with those great experiences however,  I also started doing a lot of hard thinking about the current role of bellydance in my life, and, more importantly, the role I want bellydance to have in my future.  Between work, family, friends and the gym, my "free" time is extremely limited, and right now bellydance is claiming most of it.

The seeds of my bellydance career were sowed long ago, and I've been fortunate enough to have them  bloom like a beautiful garden.  But the sad fact remains that many flowers do not bloom forever.  While I'm still young and healthy and strong, I'm feeling a definite urge to plant some new seeds, and see what kind of garden blooms in ten or fifteen or even twenty years from now.   This is not a cause for alarm - I still have some special bellydance plants to cultivate and projects to complete.   And my greatest bellydance love remains performing to live music, so those opportunities I will not forego.  But for 2009, I definitely want to add some new specimens to my garden, even though I might not enjoy their blossoms until a date in the distant future.

 

The Road Goes Ever On and On:: Alyra

There are certain undeniable laws in the universe that define our existence in this world. And, most important to me, which I learned from the writings of Schopenhauer is that:

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, and immortal.
Many people fear change. There are hundreds of self help books geared to help people adapt to change because, as Darwin has so rightly asserted, it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Those who fear or resent change forget that,
There is no Oak without the full destruction of the Acorn,
There is no Monarch without the complete metamorphosis of the caterpillar,
There is no mountain without traumatic upheaval
And there is no growth, ever, without change.
I was lucky, I learned to embrace the challenges and strength of change when I was very young and I have geared my life to cleave to it. One of my greatest skills is the ability to take risks. For there is no great gain, without great risk. It keeps me going and stimulates my interest in the future and the possibility of what is and what is to come. And it is with that in mind that I have one again decided to focus and grow in a new direction.
I am resigning as a rooted member of Venus Uprising. As new paths begin to unfold rapidly before me, I find that I am desperate to tread these unknown grounds unfettered from other obligations. With this mindset, it would be doing the incredible collective that is Venus Uprising a tremendous disservice to continue my place without being a full and engaged contributor, which, if I want to forage these new roads, I will not be able to be.
I don’t make this decision lightly, but rather with a strong strategic mindset of my goals and aspirations combined with well calculated risk. I would rather achieve a few things with excellence than many things coated in mediocrity. So, here is what is on the Alyrian Horizon so that you know where I’m going and why I’ve taken this dramatic step:

On the bellydance front, I have learned that my book has now been translated into yet another language! I have editions in English, French, Spanish, and now Russian, with a Chinese copy set to press in 2 years. This newest edition is going to require considerable writing and marketing efforts to promote my book in a culture that is completely unknown to me and is going to devour a large amount of my time for the foreseeable future leaving VU unattended by me.

Although we rarely talk about any life that we might have other than Bellydance, I can no longer contain the extensive professional role that I carry at one of the world’s most prestigious asset management companies. It is as much a part of me as bellydance is and so deserves to be highlighted. I have been promoted into an international role that is going to require travel across the domestic US as well as the Bahamas, India, Poland and other locations in Europe. I am delighted with this opportunity and am forced to recognize it will make my ability to commit to VU very unpredictable.

Then, at long last and after 5 years in development, I have officially launched my natural cosmetics company, Mythology Body. This company has been my DREAM AND ASPIRATION for a very long time and to finally see the full manifestation of the logo, trademark, financial investment, product, design, labeling, etc… which I have done from scratch is that dream realized! I’m SO EXCITED! For those that don’t know about Mythology Body, rather than explain it here, you can read up on it at MythologyBody.com.

Sales are pouring in like mad and have my husband and I very busy with filling orders and getting out packages. I shudder/delight to think how that is going to increase once I have the mythologybody.com internet site fully complete. Someday, I earnestly believe, the fulfillment of all my hopes of professional freedom will be through Mythology Body. I will be able to leave corporate America for good and focus exclusively on my creative self where I can brew soap, elixirs and lotions all day in my herbarium, open shops and take the cosmetic world by storm. But once again, the full launch and obligation of Mythology Body will consume a large portion of my life and I just can’t see how I can turn it from a fledging company into a Mogul and keep up with the progressive and serious artists that comprise Venus Uprising.

And saving the biggest and best for last, in 4 weeks, I will be a parent. Of all things, this is the single greatest commitment and obligation that I willingly take on for the rest of my life. Popularity shines and dims. Interests come and go. Careers wax and wane. Friends dance in and out of our lives. But this girl, this little creature, is forever and will require the very best and committed of me, and so I give it, to the reduction of many other things, Venus Uprising included.

God, I’m so excited, I can barely sleep at night for the breathless anticipation of what is right around the corner for me.
As Charles DuBois said, and I believe this to my very soul.

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

And here I am, at the crossroads that lead in so many different directions. With choices and goals and hopes and dreams. And I take the first step, and I feel it happening, I am

Becoming.

And with that, I say to my dear Venus Sisters and VU Readers. Good luck in all things,. Although I might not be with you in body, my heart and thoughts will always be wishing you well!

With love in the great dance that is life,
Alyra

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

-Bilbo Baggins

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.

TWO FISH SWIMMING IN TWO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS :: jeniviva

Welcome to my first reflective rant, I mean blog post!!!
: )
According to certain Buddhist beliefs, "through suffering comes transformation".
Never before in my life has this statement held more truth for me than now.
It has been a long year (I measure a true new year from birthday to birthday) and a very curious road I've travelled down, but the time has finally come when I can finally rest, breathe, and clearly reflect upon it.
As a dancer, a girl, and a myriad of other strange incarnations, I had come to a crossroads.
So much to be, so much to do, so many ideas brewing inside the walls of who I am supposed to be as wished upon by others, and finally who I am now. These have been the contents of my head for some time now and needless to say it has been awful struggling!
I have struggled with what I should be, how I should represent myself "out there in the real world" as dancer and as a thinking woman. I have been frustrated with who I am for too long.
But in the solemnity and the misery of solitude I have come to some conclusions.
These are a few:
Never cave in to the desires, the constrictions, conventions, and negative criticisms of others....even if they guilt you into it!
Never compromise who you are as an Artist...as dark, as macabre, as luminous, as blinding, as awkward as you may be at times.
Allow yourself to grow in every direction, become a glowing orb of energy beaming outward from every cell in your being. Allow this to direct you in your dance...and make no apologies once you've gone there...EVER!

The most relevant finding I have come across in this long year is that yes, there CAN be balance between my artist side and my academic side.
I have managed to put my fears aside (and the fears projected upon me by others!) and put my insecurities on permanent vacation and tried to be both things simultaneously.
Essentially the two sides of me are the same...
Scholar and Artist are fueled by the same fire:
PASSION.
I spent a long while pushing one side down and nourishing the other; the results sparked an awful uncomfortable mess in my Soul.
Those who are close to me, saw into me; I was wrestling, fighting, even self-sabotaging myself. Ultimately I became depressed.
It was not until I was all alone in a dark place that the truth came...
I can be both...unapologetically and at the same time!
I wondering what took me so long to reconcile the two, but I know now that the rough road was worth it.
So here I am, some time later, doing the things I love...passionately.
As a dancer I began learning new styles of dance and embracing long forgotten ones.
As a writer I began collecting the stories of my Great Uncle Salvatore...stories of the old country and how to make it in the new one in the early 1900's (good stuff, food for the Soul). I am taking writing classes to strengthen my skills as a would be biographer and lastly later in the year I will be applying for Graduate School to claim my PhD in English (roarrrr!).
No longer will I be afraid to do the things I love or sacrifice one part of me for another.
I am whole, the two fish swimming together upstream, at long last.
What is next you may ask?
Well I reckon talking is nothing without doing... so...
I will teach!
I will dance!
I will teach dance!
and if they're lucky I'll even dance for teachers!
Im silly. It is late.
I promise no more long reflections or missives to God. I just thought a first post up here should be something of interest to both reader and writer. Its me. Its real.
I hope you've enjoyed the view from that small crack in the window.
Welcome to the world of lil ole me.
: )
Evermore,
JeniViva

GROWING AS A DANCER :: blanca

What exactly makes a dancer or a choreography advanced? By "advanced" we usually mean a difficult choreography or a dancer's ability to execute fast, physically demanding movements... but this is not necessarily true.

Let's imagine a dancer. She is performing two pieces. The first one is packed with complicated movements, fast transitions and challenging isolations. Our jaw drops and we feel happy to witness what the human body is able to do. It is obvious that dancing at this level takes years of work. In the second piece she appears to be floating on a cloud and having a good time. As she dances, we forget where we are and what we came here for. For a moment we feel what she is feeling. Our imagination soars... our heart opens. "Wow! –we think– that was so simple but so beautiful".

screen captures from "MYSTERY: FANTASY BELLYDANCE"
top: Neon in "Serpent", bottom: Ayshe in "Phoenix"

These are two very different examples. They both can be called "advanced dancing", but the second example often appears deceptively easy. If the dancer's intention for the second piece is to portray the simplicity and joy of being able to bellydance on a cloud, it would be inappropiate to choose her fastest moves and most elaborate isolations. Like in the first case, her body and mind are performing at a level that only years of training and development can achieve, and much of this hard work was put for the purpose of making it look easy, effortless.

I think that what makes a performance advanced is the dancer's ability to take what needs to be taken from her toolbox of skills and knowledge and weave all the elements seamlessly together for the purpose of communicating her message effectively enough to move the audience, rather than looking like a mere athletic feat. By these "elements" I mean muscle control, musicality, facial expression, the use of props, costuming, choice of music, etc. By "message" I mean anything from interpreting the music, to portraying a character, to telling a story, to expressing one or more feelings, to communicating something abstract so effectively that the audience intuitively understands it and is moved by it.

And how do you do know what elements to take? How do you even decide what to communicate? To do that, you need to grow as a dancer, as an artist and as a person. You need to fill your heart and mind with images, music, knowledge. You need to see many performances, of bellydance and other arts. You need to read and enrich your imagination. You need to know yourself and find out what moves and what inspires you.

To me, another thing that makes a dance advanced is the effective use of all those little details that turn a dance into magic. It could be a subtle tilt of your head, a hand gesture, a nuance in your timing, a deliberate pause or a glance... these little things can create something very special and meaningful and the way you are able to do this is by being truly present in the moment.

And how can you be present? First and most importantly, you need to work on your craft, you need to take your classes, do your drills and rehearse your choreography. You need to master the technique until it's ingrained in your muscle memory. Once you have it in your body, your brain no longer needs to think about the steps and can go on "automatic". Then you can begin to engage the emotion and play with all the different little nuances that are possible. You will begin to do things your own way... and that's what you want: to grow and be your own dancer – not somebody else's copy.

AVERAGE BAD DAY FIX :: tanna

Today was an average bad day.  Stress and anxiety abound at work - non-stop teenage tears have been flowing in my office.  Many of these are the usual crocodile tears of kids that think they can play me, but some tears are unaccompanied by coherent explanation.  These are the ones that worry me.  If I can't get the child to articulate the problem, then I can't even begin to work towards a solution.  All I can do is stay calm and patient, and hope that I said the right things to the right child at the right time.   

And let's not even start on the topic of the parents crying in my office.  Usually it is the mothers, but I am no stranger to the sight of grown men in tears.  It used to make me very uncomfortable, but sad to say I am used to it now.  I have to keep piles of napkins on hand because we constantly run out of tissues.   When I leave the sanctuary of my office, and my very wonderful staff members,  I find myself dealing with entirely too many individuals that aggravate me.  It is difficult to tell if they are truly incompetent, or just uncaring, but the end result is that I am constantly explaining the same procedures over and over and over again.  When that fails, I end up doing the work myself, because otherwise nothing gets done.   Very frustrating and exhausting.

There is no less stress outside of work either.  Despite my good intentions (which by now have paved much of the road to hell) I'm in my usual mess of ridiculous over-commitment.  It's like a sickness.  I think I need therapy.  Just yesterday, despite being in full panic mode over the amount of tasks that I need to accomplish between now and the end of April, I accepted yet another project.   Why?  It's a venue and situation that I've never been in before, I'm impressed by the personality and professionalism of the musician that made the request, and I just could not say no.   Making matters worse, I was terribly sick last week which put me even further behind.  On the family front, today I discovered that my mother had minor surgery last week (she "forgot" to tell us!), and one of my sister's dogs just died.

On a positive note however,  Scott Schuster was kind enough to lend me a wonderful book titled "Getting Things Done", and I have faith that once I implement the suggested actions I will be able to function more effectively.   Of course,  I started this implementation process during the week of Christmas, and I still have multiple piles of papers spread out all over my living room floor.  Still, I really think this system will work for me, and I am not going to give up.

So what do I do to try to put myself in a better mood and get other people's drama and emotional garbage out of my head so that I can get some work done?  I look at my flower photos!  Or in this case, my autumn leaf photos.  I love to get shots from inside the tree, with the sun shining down through the leaves and intensifying the vibrant colors.  Looking at these photos also makes me smile because my baby brother was with me while I was taking them, and he always makes me laugh.  Many of my habits irritate him, but for some reason he gets particularly annoyed by my picture-taking.  Some of these trees were along Forest Park as we were walking to our aunt's house, and he was mortified when a city bus rolled by while I was busily shooting up into the tree.  I told him that if I was the strangest sight those bus riders had seen then they can't have been in NYC for very long.   

                      

SENSUAL VARIATIONS :: blanca

Being artists in New York we sometimes reach that point when we forget why we came here in the first place. A couple of months ago, after an outpouring of dance shows and DVDs, happiness, bliss, friends and DVD release parties, I fell into a bit of post-partum depression and the classic existential crisis. It was then that I had an epiphany during a voice class:

I didn't come all the way here to be bored... I came for the magic! I came for that moment when you forget about the past and the future and with all honesty you take that which is in your heart and pour it out... I came for those moments when I have a magical performance and for a moment I feel connected to the audience... and to my soul.

And then I thought:

There's only one thing that could make me even happier than those moments... and that would be to find the key... the key that will unlock that magic every time. Not just when we are in the mood, but even when we didn't have a good day... I want to learn about that key that unlocks the magic inside each of us... and I want to teach it to others.

So my 2008 resolutions (in no particular order) ended up being:
1. Have fun
2. Share fun
3. Develop new teaching methods and choreography
4. Share them

Come learn a new combination each week. This Friday (Feb 1) will feature a fun, flirty song... it will make you smile!

Yes, you will learn technique. Yes you will learn steps. And... you will learn magic. How? Come and find out!

------------------------------------------------------
SENSUAL BELLYDANCE VARIATIONS
with Blanca
------------------------------------------------------
when: Fridays 6 PM (from Feb 1 - Jun 6. No class April 25)
where: Harkness Dance Center @ 92nd St. Y Lexington Ave at 92nd St.
room: Lower Dance Studio
price: 18 sessions: $220.00; single class: $16; ten-class card: $145
bring: hip scarf, veil. Silk veils will be available for sale.

Class notes and music available upon request.
Every class will include hip work and veil practice.
Plus, each week we will learn a new sensual bellydance combination. Upcoming classes:

FEB 1: MAKSOUM - sexy, fun, flirty
FEB 8: BALADI - earthy, flirty, sultry
FEB 15: RHUMBA - romantic, dreamy, elegant
FEB 22: MASMOUDI - passionate, rich, intriguing
FEB 29: CIFTETELLI - mysterious, dramatic and so sensual!
MAR 7: CIFTETELLI 2 - with veil work
MAR 14: TAKSIM - no rhythm... we'll work on feeling the music and being in the moment.
MAR 21 and 28: FLOORWORK - feel like an odalisque. [ bring kneepads ]

The class level is listed as "Beginner" but it is an Open Level class. I have my ways of teaching a mixed-level group.
You will improve in each class whether you are just starting or are an experienced dancer.

READ ALL ABOUT MY CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

WHAT'S IN A VOICE? :: blanca

Coming from a place where the prevailing mentality was that of "people are that way, they don't change", New York has been the nurturing environment I thought only existed in my dreams.

One of the most exciting things in this profession is to witness a student's immediate improvement after a teacher's correction. Whether that student is myself, a classmate or a student of mine is equally gratifying. The courage of the student to open his or her mind to new ways of learning, to push his/herself beyond his/her own capacity often fills my eyes with tears and my heart with indescribable joy. The generosity, intelligence, dedication and ingenuity of the teacher fill me with admiration, pride and inspiration.

This week is full of new wonders as I pushed myself beyond my limits and began to sing in front of a group. Not just any group, mind you. I'm taking part of Tom Burke's NUTS AND BOLTS weeklong workshop and my classmates are amazing singers. Some of them have graduate degrees in voice performance, some are voice coaches with published books on the subject, some have toured the US singing.

And here I am, a dream come true: I can stand in front of them and actually produce a song with my voice. I'm strong enough not to allow fear to grab me by the throat (literally).

My first attempt at an acting career was at the age of 6, when my older brother was trying out his new camera. I put a veil over my head (actually, a towel) and took this huge metallic scorpion that my mom had for decoration, pretending I was some sort of scary creature as I spoke to the camera. I was so into it! I was so excited to see the result... but got devastated after hearing my voice on the TV screen.

Unable to understand that the sound quality of that camera sucked, I decided that my voice was hideous. I decided to bury it. I decided that there was nothing I could do to change it or improve it or learn to love it (thank the gods dancing is usually mute!)

After moving to New York I began to take voice lessons with wonderful teachers. They were very supportive and great teachers, but being my own worst critic, it was almost as if the more I practiced and studied, the worse I felt about my singing. Perhaps my ear got better, making me more aware of my lack of perfection. Every note was a judgment: "Was I off pitch?" I would ask every 2 measures.

Today in the workshop I realized that the main reason why I'm now able to sing in front of an audience is because Tom never judges me. He doesn't patronize me or baby me either. He is very matter-of-fact, and simply tells me what to do to achieve the results we are looking for. Today he was telling the group how research has shown that students learn better by positive reinforcement every few attempts. That correcting a student after every single attempt is actually counterproductive. How true this is!

Tom treats me like a professional, and I'm starting to behave this way. His extensive and varied background allows him to combine speech pathology, Estill Voice Training (a mind-blowing / high-tech method of voice training), chakra/energy work, and other disciplines to craft each student's performance at a fast pace.

He often tells me after coming up with a mind-blowing correction: "Try that with your bellydance students and let me know how it goes"

And well... that's exactly what I have been working on! I'm very excited about my upcoming workshops:

SENSUAL VARIATIONS (starting February 1)
and
DRUM SOLO: TECHNIQUE, MUSICALITY AND SHOWMANSHIP
with Blanca & Carmine (March 29)

I could write some about these workshops... but that's another blog.

...

If you are a singer or just curious about your voice and looking to improve, discover or have fun with it... or if you want to become an amazing singer, Tom is available for coaching at the awesome Singer's Forum in NYC.
www.tomburkevoice.com

INSPIRATION FOR MYSELF AND OTHERS :: ayshe

After a long run of years dancing the wedding/party circuit and
restaurant circuit, I guess I finally burnt out a few years back.  So
then, what next?  Well, for one thing, I now feel the need to teach; to
pass on all the things I've learned so as to enhance the careers of
other dancers. If I coach a dancer and she performs beautifully, I feel greatly
satisfied and peaceful to just sit back and watch her do all the
beautiful and artful movements-- this is truly rewarding for me.

Besides teaching the technical, artistic, and creative aspects, I also
want to apply  dance technique for the physical health of the student.
Bellydance movement is unbelievably healthy for the joints and for
strengthening and healing the abdominal region of the body.
Strengthening the core, particularly the psoas muscle, leads to untold
health benefits. 

Getting to the point of grasping the mysteries of
alignment, and anatomical function and coordination, is a challenging
journey.  The more the dancer taps into her internal core, the more
centered and powerful she will feel.  Having a sense of personal,
feminine power and self confidence is not just a state of mind, it has a
definite physical dimension.   When I feel my physical body moving in
total connectedness, it is a totally powerful and spiritual experience.
Knowing how to access this is a physical, technical ability that is
learned. .... now, how to teach that to others.

When I teach something that I know has deeply changed a students life, I
feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction.  I struggled a lot with my
own physical health and used dance and yoga as healing vehicles.  It is
greatly satisfying when I help a student move to a new level in their
physical knowledge.  Such knowledge is so subtle to impart-- getting the
student to see and feel what you are trying to get them to understand,
and then the look in their eyes when it clicks, is a truly magical
moment--- that fleeting moment of inspiration and "enlightenment", when
they suddenly understand, is so profound.

I am including some photos of a little girl I am working with-- only 6
yrs old, she is so smart, talented, and determined.  Just a few little
things I can show her that may make the difference of her being just
"pretty good" or truly excelling in her athletic endeavors