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

How did this Anthology, Delicious Divas Dancing Dreams A Tribal Dancer’s Anthology, get started? Dreams, visions, ideas…my desire to stay connected, to hear about other’s experiences, and to get dancer’s writing.
Here is an exceprt I wrote, from the Anthology.

This Tribal Bellydance has brought a world of riches to me and my desire over the years has been to spread the word, instigating and encouraging women and men around the globe to come together to dance and make music together. Idealistic, yes, but I see it happening as Tribal evolves and revolves its way across the continents.
Achieving the goal of getting my Master’s Degree in Writing with an empahsis in Publishing in 2007, at age 50, I proceeded to start another publishing company, Cultivator Media Group, and finished writing my part memoir/part experiential book about my experiences along the tribal path, along with other dancer’s journeys (Tribal Vision: A Celebration of Life Through Tribal Belly Dance, Cultivator Press, 2008).
Part of my newest goal, now, has been not only to get people dancing, but to share their experiences along their own dance journey, since this dance has enriched, empowered, and fulfilled so many women. I see what these dancers go through, daily, monthly, and yearly, and to see them blossom is one of the biggest rewards as a teacher. These stories need to be heard, I kept saying to myself. I can write about them, but why not offer a place for them to write and share? Since I am an avid writer and journaler, I started incorporating writing into some of my classes and workshops, to a full spectrum of responses—fear of slowing down enough to write, fear of getting it out of the head and onto paper, fear of not being a real writer, fear of being heard, but there was much joy too, the joy of realizing thoughts and dreams and being able to put a voice to them and release them to the paper. Writing is such a powerful tool in dreaming, living, and expressing oneself. It can be therapeutic and  healing, a way to empty the brain to move forward, a place to silently acknowledge emotions, a place to dream, to start a story or a poem, and even just a piece of paper to babble on and make lists.

Do you write? What are your dreams and visions? How do you make things happen?

Purchase info for Delicious Divas Dancing Dreams A Tribal Dancer’s Anthology

Click here

As it turns out, when this blog got updated a few weeks back, the place for you to leave comments was changed. I wondered why I had not heard from any of you in sooo long! We have supposedly fixed that now, so you can write to me quickly again! Let’s see if it works. Got anything to say to me? Try it out.
I do so love to hear what you have to say about all stuff tribal, farmgirl, One More Thing, and beyond.
In gratitude…

When I was in the UK a few weeks back, I went to see Tinariwen, berber musicians from Africa, in London, on the last night of my dance tour. It was a sold out show, and hey were wonderful to see live, playing that kind of strutting, sexy, slow, desert blues. I have seen them once before, when we shared the stage at WOMAD in Seattle, and have loved them ever since.They had a slow groove that was hypnotic. And there new CD, Imadiwan, is really similar, and wonderful.

The opening act, a group called BK, put on a great show too, with a drummer, melody player on some sort of stringed lute, and a female vocalist. They had two male and two female dancers, who did several costume changes and danced in solos, duets, and all together. Let me say, I have never seen such shoulder shimmies in my life! Wow, I was shouting with accolades, which I’m sure the guy in front of me was not too thrilled with! But they were so exciting, and very high energy. They did amazing head and hair whipping, enough to make my head spin. And the most amazing shoulder isolations, and shimmies, and popping. It seemed to be some sort of mating dance, as they each strutted their stuff, in a very show-off-y kind of way, and it seemed to me to be very much a part of their dance culture, but I can’t say for sure.
I was telling my dance class about them last night and miss Veronica went home and found some footage of traditional Ethiopian dancers and music on YouTube. This is not the band I saw, but the dancing is very similar.
So I wanted to share it with you. I love to find out about other cultures and dances, to see how tradition and ritual is passed down and shared and performed. Of course, putting it on a stage does change the impact and turns it into entertainment, but that is how so many of the ancient ideas and inspirations are shared. Just like with my troupes, Gypsy Caravan Dance Company, and the Caravan Dance Collective. We are inspired by the days of past but have the need and desire to make our dance a part of today’s culture!

Enjoy these videos. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMRz_M3iVkk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l83–yUHQXo

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1999/9/Eskesta%20%E2%80%93%20Dancing%20from%20the%20Shoulder

I”ve mentioned SARK to you before, her books, her writing, her wonderful craziness!

Well here is a bit more info for you about some stuff that she is doing!

SARK’s Awesome Anytime Adventure

SARK’s Awesome Anytime Adventure is a 30-day tour to the most breathtaking destinations within you!

Check out her website, books, what ever, for some great insights to living a full and happy life… she is a delightfully colorful woman with a lot to share!

So you want to dance? Get up and do it. What are you waiting for?

So many of my students have said that as a little girl they always wanted to bellydance. What happened between then and now is not important. Now is important. Now you can bellydance! And do it with intention. Get to that dance class now, while you can. Go after that little girl dream, or that adult girl dream! What a lovely gift to give yourself.

A favorite blogger is Cathy Stucker who helps bloggers network (http://bloggerlinkup.com) Last week she posted some of her favorite quotes. I love to take good quotes and change them to relate to my worlds of dance or writing (or whatever is relevant for me at that time.)

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” Margaret Atwood

Do you ever feel that way when you dance? You are trying to learn something new, or master a move, and you stop yourself because of fear or frustration. I see it often with new dancers. As much as I feel it is important to be able to laugh at yourself when you mess up, because you really do need to keep that sense of humor about what you are doing/learning/striving for. But I see dancers really poke fun at themselves in a way that makes me sad, as if they always put themselves down so as never to achieve anything. There is a distinct line between joking and tearing oneself apart. What has our society taught us? I am constantly confounded at what some women put themselves through and how they view themselves.

My goal is to help empower you through our dance, to help you move forward with intention, to assist you in accomplishing bits and pieces of the dance, which in turn helps you blossom into your own beauty, strength, and self-expression, both in dance and in the outside world. It does take practice, patience, and perseverance, and can be loads of fun to undertake that journey. And to remember it is about the journey. The end product, if there is one, will come in its own time. What have you learned during that journey? Sometimes it might feel like you are jumping off a cliff to get started, but go ahead, take the risk. What can it hurt? What it can achieve is so much greater than if you hold yourself back.

If any of you read the tarot cards, my soul card is the number nine, the Hermit. The Hermit is a teacher, and she holds a lantern to shine the light on the path in front of her, into the darkness. But it only illuminates a short distance, so she makes her way a little at a time, and trusts in her intuition to move forward with patience and wisdom. That works well for me, and I keep that image with me, because I can be too goal driven. But really, so much of my dance world has unfolded for me a little at a time. I never expected to be traveling the world teaching women to dance. It just became clear to me that that was my path after I had learned and created my dance. All I wanted to do was dance. So I did. And I do.

Dream on, but bring your dreams to life!

What are you dreaming of doing? What are your wildest dreams? Or maybe it is just a simple dream? Can you manifest it or all of them?

Write it down, expand it, detail it, make it real. Out of your head and into reality. What are you afraid of? Push through it, maybe write your fears down to. Fear of succeeding, fear of failure, fear of someone talking about you, fear of not being liked.

I’ve had big dreams, and done them. I’ve had small dreams, and did those too. If I think up a dance idea, we try it. It works or it doesn’t. If it does, fantastic, if not, throw it out. Nothing bad happened. I dreamed of making music and  recording a Cd. I have been on at least ten recordings! I dreamed of telling my story, wrote a book, and published it. See, it can happen to you too. Or better yet, you can make it happen.

Chris Guillebeau, on his blog (The Art of Nonconformity),  says that he would

…feel bad about missing out on something because I was afraid. What scares me the most is NOT doing something.

Ever had that feeling? What do you want to do? With your dance? Work? Life?

Is that enough questions? OK, then…

Surround yourself with good people, positive energy, and get out of that negative rut. Bring on the dreams…

Would you share it with us? We can all benefit from each other’s dreams, inspirations, good vibes, ah yes…

Just to share with you someone who is doing good stuff…check these gals out!

http://mondobeyondo.org/

I was reading about joy this morning…Happiness…do we expect something or someone to bring us happiness, or make us happy? I have seen many students who expect the dance to make them happy. On many levels it can, but ultimately doesn’t it need to come from within us?

Personal power, inner awareness, outer consciousness,  confidence—the dance can help us gain these attributes because it makes us pay attention to ourselves, to our breath, to our bodies. We dance, which means we move body parts, get our circulation and our metabolism churning, get our blood pumping, get sweating and get our glow on. As the dance spirals through us, we  relax into the dance, into the moment, and into ourselves. We watch not only ourselves, but each other, and then we laugh.

May Dance fill your Life with Happiness…
May Happiness fill your Dance with Life.

ok, those of you into the business side of things, must check out Paul Myers…

http://www.talkbiznews.com

he’s great, since I tend to mix business with pleasure!

and then buy him a beer, and maybe me a glass of syrah!