It was a blissful, sweaty (in a great way!) weekend, with fifty one dancers, Lynea’s great yoga and african dances, Amel and her beautiful voice and healing dances and cultural information, and all the dancers brought such abundance to our circle!
A beautiful informal salon on Saturday night left me in tears as I watched the evolving tribal dance, so much of my language in many shapes and attitudes. I am the proud mama as I see the women dance with honesty and integrity and make the dance theirs, with a proudness they deserve.
With time to soak and sauna and eat so much food, and chocolate, and meet new dancers who are hungry for what tribal has to share…
Thank you all for coming and sharing and partaking in our smorgasbord of culture and art and community.
I am waiting for everyone to send me photos so I can post them…

and until next year!
dates to be posted soon…

Oh, yes, I am dreaming of soaking in a hot tub! and will be doing that tomorrow….

packing up for our annual Tribal Vision weekend at the hot springs, this is our 16th year, do you believe it?

many new faces, and many returning dancers, I can’t wait to see them all. And dancing with Lynea and Amel, my lovely and wise dancing friends, along with my troupe mate, Carol, and fifty women dancing, can you imagine? We’ll be doing hours of tribal and african and algerian dances, and journaling, and singing, and yoga, oh my….add some chocolate, saunas, and someone cooking for me great vegetarian food all weekend long, and  no doing the dishes, yea, sounds a bit like heaven to me!

and on top of that as soon as I get back, Dulcinea, Gina, and I are off to Barcelona Spain to perform and teach all next weekend. I hope to get some good photos to share with you form both weekend… meanwhile check out our new postcard, wow, my fab gal Mary (Working Web Solutions)  did a great job!

although I’m nost sure why I can’at get the whole postcard to show up… need to do some checking!

have a great weekend, and I’ll think of you…

Yes, farmgirrrls, we met again!

Another full afternoon of food, drink, some knitting, and disasterous cheese making! Although we tasted some great cheeses. We tried a vegan almond cheese that I made that was quite good, along with another local yummy mild white cheese. Laurita, our local culture queen, brought some villi, a cultured milk that she makes. Our big hoo-ha was trying to make 30 minute mozzarella from Ricki Carroll’s fabulous cheesemaking book. Well, we sure did laugh when the experiment went awry….

But we had a blast, dug into artichoke dip, thai peanut soup, the biggest head of ralsted elephant garlic I have ever seen, and a diversity of great salads. And several new farmgirls join us! Brandy was knitting on an amazing shawl she is planning to wear in her wedding, and a few others dug out their yarns… Everyone needs to wear their aprons next time, and Karen is trying to sew some fab knickers

Nexst month we will try that mozzarella recipe again next month, it must work!

D-Quad,
or
Delicious Divas Dancing Dreams!

Enter your words in the monthly newsletter,

For May D-Quad, let’s write about an experience we have had dancing with our partner, our troupe, or alone, that has touched us in some way, given witness to ourselves or each other, or reflected something back to us. Deadline is April 27th.

In the cyber pages of my monthly e-newsletter, Caravan Trails, I am extending an invitation to you to write about your dance. I’m dreaming about publishing a yearly dancer’s anthology, a tribute to you and our dance, and this is our starting gate.
Each month we will write about a chosen topic, so that you can visualize and verbalize something about your tribal dance. You may be chosen to be published, either in edited or full form, in this newsletter or my new blog, and awarded a token gift from Gypsy Caravan. Let’s share our tribal vision. And if you have art to share, send it in.

I look forward to reading your words! Thanks for being a part of our writing community.
Email your submissions to dance@gypsycaravan.us, with a short bio, a photo, and your mailing address so I can send you a token gift for writing! I look forward to reading and sharing your words.

It is Earth Day, and I remember all the parades the Gypsies have marched/danced in to celebrate the day!

Lots of musicians and up to 50 dancers parading in the streets of downtown Portland, costumed up in fiery reds, yellows, oranges, colors to represent the element of fire. Rain or shine, it was great fun and a wonderful spectacle! One of my dreams was to take to the streets, and we have done so…

I”ve been doing a lot of blog surfing lately, there is so much good stuff out there now, wow…

This morning as I was taking away from “me” time, catching up on my enormous quantities of emails,  (I try to stay below 200 every day, but it is not working!), and I ran across a good article on bone health. The excerpt below about getting a bone scan is important, but I just love the comment in bold! Check out her blog.

Lynette Shepphard

http://www.menopausegoddessblog.org/

“Stress Reduction 
Last, and certainly NOT least, stress level has been shown to adversely affect bone health. While it may seem that the Big M is nothing but stress sometimes (gee, could that be the main mechanism for osteoporosis?), take care of yourself. Curl up with a good book, take a bubble bath, sit quietly under a tree. Don’t wait until everything is done (because hello, it never is done. Ever.) Don’t put it off and don’t put anything ahead of your “me” time. One of our Venuses calls it “exercising my me muscle”. And if anyone asks you what you are doing? Tell them you are boning up on health and wellness. Don’t wait until you get your bone scan to start exercise and relaxation. Do it now. Goddesses’ orders. ”

ok ok, I will! After I feed the goats, chickens, dogs, oh, and myself, and get my dance stuff sorted…

Yes, I am always searching for enlightenment, on many levels and in many ways. Staying in the moment is a big step for me, and my dance always helps me do that, as I need to be in the moment to dance with my sisters!

This below comment has been passed around the internet, and I’m not sure who wrote it, but I found it again this morning, and it just gives me a great chuckle…so here it is for you!

I am now the proud mother of six baby chicks. We have them set up in our T@B camper (until we go glamping  [glamour camping] next weekend!) In this batch I have a Barred Rock, a silver Banty, a lovely striped Americauna, a Golden Sexlink, a Rhode Island Red, and a Buff Orpington. They are all so tiny, as they were two days old when I got them two days ago. What a wonder of nature to  watch these exquisite little creatures, and hold them in the palm of my hand. They chirp, fall asleep standing up and fall over, run around, and nip at each other. Delightful and beautiful. Now I just need to name them. that is really hard. I am observing them as they develop their personalities. So far I’ve got Diamond and Cutie Pie. Got any good chook names?

And to think, I”ve got nine more coming in June, after my two baby goaties, Gimli and Sully! A few of them do this lovely long stretch with a wing and a back leg, that has inspired me to create a new dance move. Just needs a little refining! And it is NOT the Gothic Chicken

I am so excited about my summer teaching and touring schedule. Please email me if you have any questions, or for an application for my intensive. The Gypsy Caravan web pages has much information about these intensives. Hope to see you there!

ANNOUNCING Summer 2009 DATES!

**Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 9-11, 2009–Collective Soul Level One—
June 12, 15, 16, 2009–Teacher Training Level One,
Contact Rima rimomdancestonight@gmail.com
Plus workshops June 13, 14 contact Vikki geela@tribalbellies.com
*************
**In and around Portland, Oregon-
July 23, 24, 25, 2009–Collective Soul Level One
July 26, 27, 28–Teacher Training Level One
July 31, August 1, 2–Collective Soul Level Two
It’s a country and city dance adventure and more!
contact Paulette
dance@gypsycaravan.us
see gypsycaravan.us for schedule and itinerary

*****************
Paulette in Milwaukee, WI!
September 2009
Collective Soul Level One, Two and Three!
Sept 11, 12, 13- Collective Soul 1
Sept 14, 15, 16- Teacher Training 1
Sept 17, 18, 19 – Collective Soul 2
Sept 20, 21,22- Collective Soul 3
contact Amanda
doctordeltazeta@yahoo.com
*************
Collective Soul Level One and Two in England,

CS Level One in Aylesbury, England
October 14, 15, 16th, 2009
plus…Tribe Vibe Festival, Oct 17, 18
contact Steffi
barefootsteffi@hotmail.com

Collective Soul Level Two in Kent, England
October 20-22, 2009
contact Louisa
louisathomsen@btinternet.com

********

I will soon have two new kids, two pygora from my friend Wendy at Sunflower Pygoras! My herd is growing, the sun is shining, and everything is fine.

That’s my mama with baby Gimli, a little caramel colored pygora. Awwww….

and already he is sparring with his buddy, Sully, my other new guy (actually a wether), but I won’t have them until I get home the end of May, from Tribal Fest.

I sowed wildflower seeds yesterday after distributing 10 yards of compost in the flower and veggie beds. Jeff is building a fabulous chicken coop, with the first batch of chicks coming tomorrow.

My life on the farm…