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Ok, let me hear it for next month’s D-Quad.
Delicious Divas Dancing Dreams…our dancing writer’s forum. This is a place to share your thoughts and inspirations about your dance, maybe art work and photographs if you care to share those too! Once yearly I publish an anthology of the year’s collections, which comes out in the Fall.
Next month’s entrees due May 10th, can you write it down for us? Don’t be shy. And if not to share, at least write it down for yourself.
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Here is something for you to think and write about. In the recent past, we have discussed how dancer’s move on from teachers, and into and out of troupes, friends, relationships.
Now, can you look at a dance, or at a dancer, and revel in it’s/her beauty and awesomeness? Or do you immediately have to possess it/her? Can you just bask in the enlightenment of that beauty and wish that dancer the best? And then, can you find out how to bring your own beauty out instead of trying to take someone else’s ideas? Consumerism, ownership, ego, wanting what someone else has or does—is that so much easier than going inside yourself to develop your own? I see and hear this non-artistic quality of imitation so much in our dance world, as I travel around and meet other dancers, seeing what they do with the dance. I witness so many women striving to be and learning how to be dancers. But they take on other’s ideas, instead of taking the time to delve deep inside to find their own artistic freedom and developing into their individual beautiful expression. Again, there is a huge difference between dancing and performing. Hopefully every dancer takes the time to find the spirit in her dance before she takes on teaching and/or performing. Tribal is about dancing together and finding the joy and beauty within so that it can be expressed through the body and soul. My job and goal as a dance teacher is to make my students be the best dancer they can be. I give them tools, ideas, and experiences, to use and study and develop, to then be able to bask in their own artistic glory. And it does take time, years possibly, to find your own voice. Patience and determination, and taking the time to fine tune your own vision of delight—that’s what it takes.
Find out what is is about what you witness that strikes you as something you want in your own life. When you see a great dancer or troupe, what are the qualities that you want to possess for yourself? Take a pen and paper, right now, and quickly without thinking too hard or editing yourself, list five things about that person or that dance/art form that speak out to you. Do it. Now, look at those five things. How can you bring those up from inside yourself? And manifest them into your art form?
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Bring it on, writers and dancers!
Thanks for sharing….
For March D-quad, Delicious Divas Dancing Dreams,
Where has the dance lead you, or to whom?
Can you write about the experiences the dance world has shared with you, that may not even be about dance?
Take some time to think and journal about that, and then form it into a short story to share with us. Due February 20th. I look forward to reading about your journey. You can post it here, or email it to me (dance@gypsycaravan.us) so that I can publish it in the March issue of Caravan Trails! I look forward to reading about your journey!
Dancing Divas Delicious Dreams
For February D-Quad, thinking about goals, dreams, ideas….
What about what I said, or what she said? How does other peoples’ words or actions inspire or affect you? How do we affect each other’s goals and dreams?
Can you take those ideas and comments further and write about them for us? Whatever that means to you, send it in, poem, story, photo, list, and include your bio and a photo if you have one! For publication in Caravan Trails, February 2010, and next year’s Tribal Dancer’s Anthology…
Due by January 28th, 600 words or so.
Send to dance@gypsycaravan.us
Thank you so much for sharing…
and make sure to check out the Anthology from the past year, buying info below:
Click on the link for more info and to buy, only $6.00…
http://www.gypsycaravan.us/shopping/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=67&products_id=334>
and
Tribal Vision Book Giveaway
Reminder:
Let’s get this year off to a good start. I wanted to offer you a gift, a free copy of
Tribal Vision: A Celebration of Life Through Tribal Belly Dance,
Here is what I would like you to do… write comment back here on my blog—
What do you want out of your dance in 2010? It could be a simple request or could be a long waited for desire.
We’ve gotten many fabulous comments so far, see the previous post for this giveaway. Would love to have you join us…Let us know so we can all support you in your dreams! And I will pick your name out of a turban and send one luck winner my book to get you started on your dancing dreams! Deadline January 20th (right before I embark on my Australian dance tour), coming right up…
Peace…
I noticed that through my international monthly e-newsletter, Caravan Trails, dancers would read what I wrote and write back to me with thoughts, questions, and responses to my articles. How exciting to hear back from you, my readers and fellow dancing friends, and that I could ellicit a response from my thoughts. Well, why not take this idea further.
I had the thought of asking my readers to share their experiences in my monthly mailing, by starting a forum for writing. Delicious Divas Dancing Dreams, or D-Quad…
This did not have to be for professional writers, but a place to be heard. I made my proposal, and the rest was up to you. And you did it. I thought of a dance related topic. Some of you dabbled, and some wrote in length—it was all good. Lovely. Delightful. Colorful and emotional.
So out came A Tribal Dancer’s Anthology after the 1st year’s collection. I hope it will continue to inspire each of you, and remind you of the different paths and journeys we all have made and are continuing on, and that it takes all of us to complete our circle. Let us continue to write about the dance and I will help to share.
See below for purchasing information for the Anthology, and let me know what you think! and watch for the December issue of Caravan Trails, out next week, with this year’s first three entries of D-Quad.
Enjoy the season!
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
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
The Anthology is here!
Today, Thanksgiving! What a gift….
A Tribal Dancer’s Anthology —
$6.00
Delicious Divas Dancing Dreams A Tribal Dancer’s Anthology – a PDF download
D-Quad 2008-2009, Volume One 52 pages, 11 x 8.5″
You can click here to purchase!
Over the past year, many dancers have written in to my monthly enewsletter, Caravan Trails/Tribal Travels, to share their dance experiences and visions with me and our readers. It has been so exciting and rewarding to reprint these words, poems, artwork, and stories and put them into one beautiful anthology, our first one, for you to treasure, reread, be inspired by, and honor our experiences in dance, and life.
Here are just a few wonderful excerpts from the Anthology:
from the poem, Essence, by Luluna…
Head sways, hand swoops,
hip swerves, skirts swirl,
Bellies ripple, bodies whirl.
from Hilary Giovale…
Tribal Style was here in front of my eyes – the passion and deep beauty that women are capable of when they come together in a common creative endeavor. I suddenly understood it as the synergy that occurs when women move in unison, when they unite in a visual representation of heartfelt self-expression.
from Lynea Gillen…
I realize it’s the same thing I feel in circles of tribal dance. It’s the healing quality, and the community support that has been the most important aspect of the dance.
from Myla Stauber…
Women moving in their own perfect space, barefoot on the pavement, owning the pavement, and time slows, nearly stops, in their ticking moments of vulnerability and strength melding in movement and exposure.
And we have included photos and bios of the writers who have so graciously contributed to this gathering of dancer’s dreams! What is excitingly different, is that this anthology is available to you in PDF format, for you to read and keep on your computer, or to print if you desire the paper version. This is my way to experiment with technology to be a paper-saving, cost-efficient way of sending you this art booklet. Only $6.00 Buy Now
My desire is that you honor the art, the art form of this Anthology, and the Publisher. by not resending the PDF to others. This is a one-time download for you. We thank you for not giving away or sharing the Anthology. When you purchase this Anthology, please be sure to include your email address so that I can send you the PDF.
Enjoy, and I look forward to Volume Two, next year at this time. Please see the monthly enewsletter for submission guidelines, and be a part of the growing network of dancer’s words. Thank you!
**And an extra special treat for you! If you order my book, Tribal Vision: A Celebration of Life Through Tribal Belly Dance, now, you will receive the Anthology FREE! by December 10th.
May you have a splendid holiday season! Keep on dreaming and dancing, and being remarkable..
. 
