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

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

Visit 29-Day Giving Challenge at: http://www.29gifts.org

Another thing I can do is pass on information that I find useful, informative, inspiring,for you and our One More Thing ideas!
So do your thing and be fantabulous!

Before I continue on with CS3 that just finished, I need to congratulate the CS 2 grads from England in October!

After I finished up with CS 1 in Aylesbury, with six lovely dancers getting certified, I taught at the Tribe Vibe Festival for a weekend, and then went on to do three more days of CS2 in Lewes with five more dancers! Who all did fantastically, by the way. I so enjoy working with dancers who have been studying with me for quite awhile now. To see them grow into their dance with more confidence and skill is exciting for them and rewarding for me, and they looked so beautiful dancing together!

so hugs, kisses and gold stars to to

Louisa, Steffi, Eleanor, Mel, and Emma! woo hoo…

keep on dancing, sistas!

Thank you for being so dedicated and hard-dancing, and for loving this dance. You keep making your mama teacher so proud…

and I did write more about this in the latest newsletter, Caravan Trails, you can go to the website to subscribe

gypsycaravan.us

more on CS3 to follow…

Listening to some tunes on my itunes mix and what comes up, but a favorite Gypsy Caravan song from Remarkably Remixed…

Six/Eight Reloaded

a grooving 6/8 rhythm with a wonderful bass line…

what do you think?

13-six_eight-reloaded-1

When I was teaching in Australia awhile back, I nonchalantly said how much I loved this song. Deb, a lovely dancer, went back to her troupe that day, and they decided to perform to it for me at the hafla that weekend. Pretty cool, eh?

you can view the CD here!

Last weekend Gypsy Caravan and friends had a great opportunity to grace a dock on the river with our dance for a very large private party. Karen Harte from the Collective joined myself and Gypsy Carol, along with former Gypsy dancer Karen Hunt! What a treat for me as well as the audience. Karen Hunt is a soulmate to me, an amazing dance partner with wonderful energy, and it was wonderful to have her join us for this show. With Carol’s beauty and grace, and with Karen Harte’s poise and stature, along with my smile (that about fell off my face when we were done dancing!), the four of us fired up the party and rocked the boats (literally). With the sunset behind us over the water, and the full moon coming up in front of us over the hilltops, the audience was in fine spirits, and really watched us with full attention and let me tell you, you could feel the love! It was a great, short set, included our new dynamic sword piece, and K. Hunt added some flag twirling. We ended with a really fast and furious song but I think we could have danced forever. And we were lucky to have Gypsy Jeff and his friend Brett come to play horns and drums for us as we processed in, and they played for the audience to dance when we were done. They sounded fantastic!

We were able to hang out afterwards and did a bit more casual dancing. And our hostess was forever gracious and grateful. She had also hired Jeff to come back EARLY Saturday morning (a bit after sunrise) to play the didgeridoo; a dream of hers was to wake up hearing the didg over the water. He was more thanhappy to fulfill her dream! So we set him up, also on the dock, with the misty morning waters drifting behind him as he played his haunting didg tunes, adding a bit of light percussion, and it was awe inspiring. Karen Hunt and I joined him with some drumming for a few songs—and I love playing my frame drum—and it was a fantastic morning. The campers had that special treat of the low vibrational sounds that reach into your heart and soul as they woke up and came to the dock for the morning coffee. Ahh… I love the didgeridoo. The whole event was magic.

(Top that off with a concert by the amazing Lyle Lovett that night, and I can say…heaven! Brought me to tears, wrung my heart out, and what an entertainer, that’s what I’m talking about.)

I love being on the road, and teaching  our dance sisters around the globe. I feel like I’m pulling a thread that is bringing so many of us closer to each other as well as to ourselves, through our dance. I usually take Collective Soul and Teacher Training on the road, so I’m excited to be having it at home again this July, in Portland, and in my little town of Clatskanie! I get to share my farm and my home dancers with these women from other places, so we all get to experience each other, and they get to take classes here with my dancers. We have dancers coming from the UK, Florida, Canada, and several from right here in Portland.

After taking my courses this June in Philadelphia, one of my certified CS1 and TT1 dancers  wrote me with exciting and inspiring news:

“Since leaving the workshop I have been overwhelmed with new purpose and drive to succeed. I have quit my job and decided to teach, dance, vend, and do henna as my primary income. It has been a long time coming to this realization. I have known this is what I wanted to do for a while but hadn’t had the confidence until now. I have had many inspirations and hope I can be an inspiration to others to follow their dreams and make their passion their reality.”

That just makes my work so meaningful and fills me with even great aspirations as well.

I look forward to sharing my home dance space with those coming, and then I take it on the road again this fall, to Milwaukee, England, and Italy, then to Australia in February, and I hope Bali next summer! I hope you can join me on the quest for deeper roots and meaning in our tribal bellydance. I want you all to dance with me and each other!

The Gypsy Caravan  Dance Company

(with the Caravan Dance Collective)

will be dancing at Folklife in Seattle, WA

Saturday, May 23, 7pm sharp!

at the International Dance Stage at Seattle Center….

with a great lineup

Raqs Serpentine, Skin Deep w/ George Sadak, Aubre, TriBellas, inFusion/Gypsy Fire

and The Indigo!

www.nwfolklife.org

alright folks, thanks for writing in, I love to hear what songs you like… still have  few days to go before the deadline to win my free copy of Tribal Vision, deadline March 25th, see post below……

Mary and Duane choose Zeffa, from Migration

11-zeffa

Lorraine choose Queen of Hell, but it is too long to post here, it is from the Awakening CD!

and Jana choose Lamentation

from the Quest CD, it is also too long to post here!

One of my all time favorites is still Mystery, off of Quest! But Lorraine is right, it is sooo hard to choose

01-mystery

You can go to Amazon or Itunes to hear more!

Ah, a filmmaker, Charlie Nano,  just sent me an email about this clip of a Gypsy Caravan show, t at the Fez Ballroom from a few years back! So fun to reminisce, and I especially love the view through the ghawazeeing hips! The song is T’yem—one of my favorites, from the Quest CD. Tom Cooper from Domba is sitting in as a guest musician with Jeff, Bruce, Hans, and Jared. Then Carol and Cammi play the big Italian tambourines on Allesandra, while Dulcinea, Michele, and Karen dance. Did you see Dulcinea’s eyebrow raise?

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ONKijGfzGHU&feature=channel_page