Paulette reaching out to all of you! Happy New Year!

this is my last One More Thing of 2009…

Thank you all of you who have read, thought about, and taken action of any kind in our One More Thing. What a great year of thought and action it has been. I look forward to a fantabulous, new year.

I fee-eel good. (put in a little James Brown yell.)

the best to you, you supercoolhappylovething,  and remember…

be the change you wish to see in the world.

Peace

Yes, time to think about our dance and the new year! 2010…what do we want from our dance in this new year? let’s dance, trance, and write about it, together.

Join us as we kick in the year with the continuation of our fabulous series…

Tribal Trance Dance, the Friday Night Series

Fridays, once a month, 6:30-8pm

Friday, January 8th, with Paulette and Lynea—

Celebrate Winter with African Dance, Trance, and Writing–

Dancing with wildness and using words we emerge with jewels from the beauty of our own inner spirit,

with time to capture that spirit and put it down in the private pages of our journals. Wear loose dance clothes.

6:30-8:00 pm

held at Om Studio, 14 NE 10th, Portland, OR

Space is limited, sign up now to reserve your space.,please register in advance by emailing Paulette at

dance@gypsycaravan.us

we danced in the light,

we danced with the light,

and with the darkness,

we connected, with ourselves and each other

let us shine

~~~~~~~~~

our tribal trance night was a glowing spectacular, and Myla Stauber shares her words again, so eloquent and deep, as we all took our dance and word journeys…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

busy women who dance through darkness and start laughing
the sound tinkling in my heart
the sound of the thin
veil around around my heart shattering
their laughter
gets in
and the one inside
who also laughs
joins in
and I am not
and you are not
but
we
are.

Happy Solstice to you…..

So many thoughts going through my brain this morning, sipping on my coffee, while the day comes into view. Making my lists for the day, and the week, with plans for the coming year. Today brings the longest night, darkness.

Can you reflect in the darkness, upon yourself, and your past year, and where you are?

On my farmette, it is very dark out here. I love it. No sreetlights, no cars,no neighbors. Dark. We have hung some colorful lights in the house and around the patio. Twinkling in the darkness, so pretty. I relish the outdoors, whether it is cold, raining, snowing, sunny. I need to be outside. And I must be too, to go the barn and the coop everyday, several times a day, to take care of the animals. It is a hike, and I lug buckets of hot water down to them about 4 times a day in this freezing weather. But when I am outside, I get the big picture. My picture. It is so real for me, if that makes sense to  you. It keep me in my body, and in my soul. It makes me shine.

And so on this day I do think about the past year. What an amazing year with my dance work—traveling, teaching, dancing with amazing women, writing. It has been very rewarding and full of heart-warming events. Not to mention the rest of my life away from dancing (yes, I do have one!) I am thankful.

We all need to acknowledge what we have done, and give ourselves more credit. Being cynical is not pretty, or just downplaying something we have done  so not to seem boastful or full of our own ego. But I’m talking about taking our own personal credit, patting ourselves on the back,  and moving forward. We need to feel good about what we are doing so we can continue. When we feel good about ourselves and our work, then we can help others feel good.  It can fuel us. Sadly, I see women who criticize themselves or make fun of themselves, not taking themselves seriously, and are afraid to step up and say, hey, check me out.  Me, I love what I do and I feel like when women come to take a tribal bellydance class with me,  they leave feeling really good about themselves, on so many levels. It may take a few weeks, or a few months, but they get empowered, and they can see the beauty in themselves and in each other, which is so lovely to witness. No competition, just support, and also networking. Building community and acceptance.

This is what my universe told me today!

When driving down the road of life, Paulette, rarely do you know how good you have it, until you see it in the rear-view mirror.

Which is not to suggest that you should look back now, but to remind you that where you are today is more awesome and amazing than you probably realize.

10-4,
The Universe

Thoughts become things… choose the good ones! ®
© www.tut.com ®

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of my One More Things for this next year is trying to not use/buy so much in leather goods. A talented friend of mine makes fantastic handbags, first knitting them and then felting them—what beautiful works of art to carry around with all those items we must carry. And there are so many good recycled  and innovative bags being made now too. In general, that is a good way to shop, anyway. Many artful uses of sweaters and other used clothing items are being made in to new groovy wear.  How about YOU?

~~~~~~~~

…and shoes, well, shoe fanatic that I am! Here is a vegan shoe site for you to check out! And they have a donation/give back program which is way cool!

NEUAURA is proud to donate 10% of all online sales to Keep a Child Alive and The Humane Society of the United State

~~~~

Do you have a give back program? I”ll tell you about mine next week!

One More Thing, don’t forget!

Happy Solstice to you, beautiful people. You rule…

~an excerpt from some Solstice thoughts from my friend, priestess and poet extraordinaire… T. Thorn Coyle

Know Thyself
….
What do you wait upon? The light is heard,
You know the name of every ant and leaf
And sing the spell in every woven word,
Your chambered heart beats yearning. Yearning.

You are the light. You are the one returned.
You are the shining thing that always burns.

T. Thorn Coyle, with Solstice Blessings, 2009

http://thorncoyle.com/

I mentioned in my last enewsletter that I had something to say about country line-dancing and tribal, comparing the two, or maybe it is about experiencing them both. I was recently in Ohio visiting my mother and sister. My mom, who is 83, rocks hard! She takes several dance classes weekly, sings with a bunch of bluegrass guys, and is learning to play the auto harp. Nothing slows her down.

Of course I go dancing with her whenever I can, and she joins in my bellydance classes when she comes to visit me.

I went with her to line-dancing last week, which is so much fun, and I had this thought. One of the lessons I try to teach all of my students is even though tribal is a very grounded and earthy dance, you need to stay light on your feet. Sound contradictory? Not really. As a dancer, you need to move with grace, to flow over the floor, even though you stay connected to the earth. You do not want to grip the earth with your feet. That means staying connected through your belly—your power center—as well as moving forward from your heart, by keeping your chest open and shoulders down and back. What beautiful posture that makes, and then you can dance from your heart and soul, with that intention of showing yourself to your dance, with your dance.

But the idea of improvisation in tribal is to move quickly, changing on the spot with your leader, which is a very scary concept for many dancers who do not understand the power of improvisation, of being in that moment. That is why I think so many “tribal” dancers don’t do improv, they don’t  know how to start and trust themselves as dancers.

So in this line-dance class at the senior-center, the dances are about these mini-choreographies for each song. You learn a pattern of moves, and then repeat them through the whole song, with lots of turns, sashays, little kicks and touches, vines, etc. This particular teacher would quickly show a series of steps and then you just do them, over and over, for the song. Whether you understood the choreo or not. Now, I have always been very good and quick at picking up choreographies. You show me, I do it. That came about in my early jazz and ballet training.  I love dancing choreographies.  Here I was, with a room full of senior women, dancing to some fun and grooving, and some sappy songs, and we were all moving, about twenty women and a couple of men, as one big unit, 1/4 turn here, 1/2 turn here, kick here, and a hip shake there. Even if I could not remember what she taught, I allowed myself to step lightly, follow whomever I could, turn with the crowd and keep moving. Being light on my feet. Moving with grace. Going with the flow and allowing the group energy to help direct me.

That is what should happen in tribal when you are following your leader. The leader takes charge, listening to the music, and dancing with intention and deliberation, in the groove, and paying attention to who is following her. As a follower, you need to be in the flow, and not even think about what could happen next. Just move your feet or hips or arms, trust your body, stay light on your feet, yet grounded, feel the energy of the movement and the moment, and just do it. Quit thinking! Know what I mean?

Improv at it’s finest, that ’s what I say.

Dance with grace, and live the same way.

Last month we had such a lovely tribal trance dance night, and as I  prepare for this week’s session, I delight in sinking into and reflecting back into that night when we danced with the element of water. Water, for me, is so healing and soothing. One of my favorite outings is to go to the ocean and watch and listen to the waves, sometimes so dipping and peaceful, others so loud, angry and thrashing, with a million ways in between. It can sooth my soul, as I stand and just breathe in the ocean air, overcome with the power of grandmother ocean; there is no way to harness nature, of which I am grateful.

In the classes we are incorporating more writing with the dance, and so  the  first journaling we did after doing some evening pages (which is just freestyle writing to clear the brain) was to write a list of twenty words that had anything to do with water.

pond, raindrops, swirling, thunderstorms, swiftly moving creeks, baths…

What other words stand out to you, as you think about water?

Chelsea shares with us some of those words:

…of my 20 water words (the ones that stood out were)
-cleansing
-thirsty
-refreshing
-rain down
-ripples (this to me means… starting with your inner soul (the first ripple), connecting with friends around you (the 2nd ripple), reaching out to the world/shinning (the 3rd ripple) This is living life from the inside out.

~~~~~~

This ripple effect (!) is very poignant; what a wonderful analogy of water and life.

Often dance takes us out of our comfort zone, and sometimes we can get stuck and dance becomes our comfort zone.  I love our trance nights because it can open up the dance for us in ways we cannot do in our structured dance classes. I see fear in many newer dancers as they try to loosen up. I love tribal for it’s structured language, but as a dancer I need to move in other ways, and shake the insides out! Trance dancing give us a great opportunity to use dance and our bodies as tools for healing, or for finding bliss, or whatever it is that you are needing at that moment. I love to see the looks of sheer bliss and peace and openness on the new trance dancer’s faces when we are done with the class, like they have experienced something so different for them; they have found a new source.

Chelsea had never done this type of dancing before, and she writes:

I have been lately dancing more freely by myself at home in the evenings and it brings a lot of centering and joy and passion for me. But that is more scary doing that in a group. So I was most comfortable facing the corner and freely dancing on Friday. At one point I could feel moisture on my hands like water energy and could
really imagine that I was outside in the rain, bare foot with my feet splashing in the water.

~~~~~~~

Dancing, in all of it’s forms, can be scary.  And so can writing. But our bodies and our voices are to be celebrated. This next trance session will take us into the darkness of winter, with the intention of finding joy in the quiet and dark times, celebrating by writing, chanting, and dancing, possibly finding new ways to release and express ourselves with our bodies and our voices.

Myla Stauber, many of you have read her words in the Anthology or in the past Caravan Trails enewsletters, participates in the trance classes. She is an avid and brilliant writer, and shares a poem about darkness, with redemption in the dance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Journey In Darkness

Tip the stars toward me, bring closer my true map

Take this ugliness from my soul, my prayer

Lift up my prayer

Let me be better than I think I am

This violence inside this reaction the opposite of what I crave

I cannot rip down the wall to be in the arms of trust

Though I long

For the mother to know me

Know me mother? See me as I am

Take me in your arms again

My mask of violence my animal inside this is not all of me

The lotus inside

The child I can’t hide

As they dance in each other’s arms I am jealous

I admit

I cannot open my mind to these ways

These days

I turn my face away and the ripping

Has begun

To want… more than is my station

And the ultimate knock down is the rise up

All I got is the stars.

*a form of prayer is dance

I cover my eyes and spin

I turn around touch the ground (heard my mama’s voice)

MS 11/29/09

I think it is time to remember that everything we do makes a difference, some good, some bad. Everything…

You dance, you think, you teach, you eat, you read, you share, you create, you do the dishes. It all matters. If we spend just a few extra minutes thinking about  what or whom we are touching in our day to day lives, we make a difference. We can change that too, correct it, recycle it, watch it, talk about it, share some more, and make more of a difference.

But also remember, take care of yourself, then you can help to take care of others.

Here’s some thoughts to share…

~~~~~~~

If you make a difference, people will gravitate to you. They want to engage, to interact and to
get you more involved. In a digital world, the gift I give you almost always benefits me more than it costs.
If you make a difference, you also make a connection. You interact with people who want to be interacted with and you make changes that people respect and yearn for. Art can’t happen without someone who seeks to make a difference. This is your art, it’s what you do. You touch people or projects and change them for the better.
This year, you’ll certainly find that the more you give the more you get.
(Seth Godin, one of my heroes, is a blogger and speaker. His new book
Linchpin comes out in January.)

Creating ways for people to solve their own problems isn’t just an opportunity in 2010. It is an
obligation.
(Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder of the Acumen Fund and
author of The Blue Sweater.)

It is about reminding people of what it is we are trying to build—and why it matters. It is about painting a picture of a better future. It comes down to pointing the way and saying, “C’mon. We can do this!”
When times are tough, vision is the first causality. Before conditions can improve, it is the first thing we must recover.
(Michael Hyatt is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He blogs on “Leading with Purpose” at MichaelHyatt.com and also Twitters at @MichaelHyatt.)

~~~~~~~~

Hey there, what is your vision? I get pretty excited when I can stop to think about all the things I can do to help to change—in my home, my town, my dance, my little world, or the big world—to make that difference.

Big thoughts and small actions make a difference. (Seth G)

Seth has just put out a new ebook, you can download it for free. Do it!

What Matters Now: get the free ebook

and let’s here it for One More Thing!

Gypsy Spectacular

by Wendy Shortman / Vanguard staff

Gypsies: Jingly outfits and swirling skirts are all part of the package when you see Gypsy Caravan’s celebration of tribal dance.

You may have heard of them. You may have seen them, but this is the kind of show you can’t see just once. Inspired by, and based on “different styles of Middle Eastern dance, flamenco, Indian classical dance and modern dance,” as explained by the founder of the Gypsy Caravan Dance Company herself, Paulette Rees-Denis, this unique performance will surely seduce you and your senses.

Rees-Denis, creator and innovator of the Gypsy Caravan, got her master’s here at Portland State in writing and publishing. She recently published a book about the new form of tribal dance.

The book, entitled Tribal Vision: a Celebration of Tribal Belly Dance, provides the meaning and significance of the new dance style.

Rees-Denis, whose company has been based in Portland since 1991, has been a dancer all her life and finds it to be an important aspect in the celebration of the feminine community.

“It’s important that we dance as women today,” Rees-Denis said. “It’s a community-based dance, and it’s really about dancing as a group.”

The book about this style has been an ongoing process.

“I’ve been writing it for years,” Rees-Denis said. “It’s part memoir, my dance history and the history of the tribal style of belly dance and how it evolved, and what it means.”

The book talks about the feminine and communal nature of the dance, “and it also includes other women’s experiences [with the dance], it’s really important and it’s very profound.”

The tribal dance style is also unique in the sense that it’s unpredictable.

“They’re not really choreographed. The dance is based on improvisation, it’s a structured language of movements but it’s based on dancer’s attitude, inspiration at the time, music and audience,” Rees-Denis said. “The dancers feel like it’s a gift that they give to the viewers.”

With this kind of format, every performance is different, so even if you’ve seen them before, you can get a new experience out of it every time.

“It’s about being in the moment,” said Rees-Denis, whose company offers tribal belly dance lessons. “It’s for all ages and all sizes, it’s not discriminatory and it’s really fun!”

Gypsy Caravan Dance Company

~~~~~

This was in the paper about a show we were going to do! What fun to read what others say about you, and how others view you. That’s all!

dance@gypsycaravan.us

Ok dancers, here are a few goodies for you this month, take advantage of these savings and free offers! gotta love that…

behind Door #1.

December Souk Missy P Shorties and Sides- SALE

**Only a few sizes remaining –1/2 price! go to the Monthly special pages! woo hoo….
Shorties and Sides 1/2 price- buy now!

paulette wearing a red and white polka dot shortie!

AND behind Door #2

Hoodie Special…FREE DVD-Tribal Travels- with hoodie!

FREE DVD with hoodie!
Buy our winter warm GCDC hoodie on sale for $36.00 (normally $42.00)
and get our documentary DVD—
Tribal Travels: A Collage—
for FREE! (a $20 value)
Gildan hoodie- with pockets, zip front, fuller cut
50% cotton, 50% poly
Black–sizes small to extra large
Maroon- sizes small to extra large
go to for purchase
http://www.gypsycaravan.us/shopping/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=75&products_id=331>

GCDC hoodie in maroon

through December 30th…