Ahh, England again and having a wonderful time. But I am finding it hard to  get my work done, writing, blogging, emailing, etc. when access to a computer and internet are not to be had. So after a week of no access, I am back on my computer at my lovely friend Louisa’s home, preparing dinner, and sipping celebratory champagne, toasting to my lovely hostess and host for having my in their delightful home, and she is sponsoring my Collective Soul Level 2 that starts tomorrow.

We had a fabulous weekend at the Majma Festival in Glastonbury, my first time to that magical little town where the historically mystical Chalice Well is, and so funny to be driving to Glastonbury and right in front of us on the highway was Stonehenge. Oh my…just right there. Well then, I have now seen it, driven by it, and viewed it under the stars on our way back home after the festival. So much I don’t know about the magical history of these places. I so enjoy driving through all of these very old, crumbly farming towns, sheep covering the hillsides, as we wind our way to our destination, laughing often, and comfortably silent as we view the countryside through the windows.

Glastonbury, a town full of magic shops, fairie wings, soul readers, and of course, our bellydance festival. My workshops were great fun, sold out, and we laughed (as always), danced, swirled shawls, played zils, experimented with dance concepts, tranced, and more. The shows were packed with performers of all genres, the crowd was great and enthusiastic and I was honored to be a part of the event.

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and now, while I am on the computer, I think it is time for a monthly CD giveaway!

Gypsy Caravan’s Awakening

I love this CD, recorded by Jeff Rees and Bruce Beaton of Gypsy Caravan, with special guests, Jeremiah Soto and Wayne Gilbertson. Some slow and fast and in between danceable pieces, tribal-ly. I can’t sit still when I play this CD, it has memories that I cherish, and the music makes me groove.

**Write a comment here, on this blog, and tell me what kind of music makes you move, groove, and dance; and why. Short, long, or in between, send me your words by March 20th to have your name put in the turban to be the lucky winner of  that CD, Awakening, and include your email address. I look forward to reading your words to share.

Life back at home and I get crazy busy… I realized that I have not finished writing about the rest of the Oz journey. And I must, it was love, work, dance,and more dance. In between the Collective Soul adventures were yet more workshops. In Brisbane, I taught five workshops on the weekend. Blistering hot, too, let me tell you. I was drenched Saturday morning before we even started, and here I was with a Madonna headset on my head and back and sweating and laughing and making everyone dance hard and sweat too. A great weekend of many questions, thought-provoking comments and corrections, intuitive dance moments, and lots of new ideas for the dancers to take home and work on.  I sold out of my stock of my Tribal Vision books—autographing them as we went, Dvds, Gypsy CDs, and other little items I had brought with me. Everyone kept calling me the everready bunny, and asking me where I got my energy. You know, I love to dance. Pretty basic and simple. But what keeps me going is the music. If I love the music, I can’t stop! So find what moves you and use it to the fullest…there you go…

I said good bye to my girls on that last day, Dee, Nina, Heidi, and Christine (sporting her first ever brand new tattoo!) with a champagne birthday lunch celebration for Dee.

Onward I went to Wollongong, south of Sydney, to torrential downpours, but cooler weather. Miss Jacqueline of Tribal Jewels was my lovely hostess again; it had been two years since I had seen her, and a joyous renunion!

Two more days of workshops, ending with an intense and wonderful trance class again. That is the best way to end a workshop session because it helps to release but rejuvenate you and your body, really letting yourself move after the intense structure of learning and refining moves.

Sandy joined us, from AsIf troupe, for some delicious wine tasting, and it was great to be there again. Wonderful dancers, great feedback, and time to go home.

But again, I was enamoured of the bird life there, and all over Australia. The songs of the parrots and all the creatures was thrilling, loud, raucous, lovely. Wild parrots would land to eat in Jackie’s mom’s backyard, where I stayed, and I could sit and watch and listen for hours.

It was a great trip, one I will remember and treasure always, with several invitations to return for more dancing. Maybe next year…

Thank you Australian dancers for your vitality and desire and friendships…

keep on dancing with passion and grace!

Here is a link to a pdf with  the Shimmy Magazine’sn interview with me by Hilary Giovales.

And I’m a cover girl! Check it out…
http://www.bellyroles.com/assets/Paulette%20Interview.pdf

Tribal Bellydance Intensives with Paulette of Gypsy Caravan–

Collective Soul Levels One and Two,

in April (CS1 April 8-10, CS2 April 11-13) in Hungtingdon Valley, PA, near Philly. last Call!

email dance@gypsycaravan.us

Can you join us? I would love to dance with you…

www.gypsycaravan.us

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!

Back on the farm and good to be home! 6:30 am, and it is getting light now, very happy about that. Frosty ground, not the sunny warm weather of Australia, but I love it! Visiting with all my little and big animals, and celebrate my man’s birthday while I dive back into the piles of work waiting for me. Unfortunately that does not go away while I do. Ah well…

paulette in brisbane

Now I have time to reflect back on my fabulous trip down under, and finish telling you about it! I am sorting through the tons of photos I took on my journey.

After the delicious CS1 intensive, I gathered with my three Level One Teacher Trainees, Becky from Albany, Sienna from Cairns, and Christine from Auckland, New Zealand. They have been dancing and teaching for the past year, working with my training program while refining their teaching skills. So after a year since we started that program together, last February when I was in Adelaide, we were able to come together in person, review the processes, and I am happy to certify them into the small school of graduates! I am proud and they have been doing great work!

so turbans off to them…

Teacher trainee grads!

I then continued on with Collective Soul Level 2, still in Brisbane. Another great 3 days of intensive dancing and talking. What a joyful, and painful process sometimes too. We stretch ourselves, with tired bodies, excited minds, and emotional feelings, it is a lot to take in in three days. And as always, sometimes three days is not long enough. We must honor our individual processes while we continue our work, and enjoy the journey before we get to the end result. But it does feel good to get to the root of the dance, what it means, how it works, and where we can go from there as dancers and artists, and I so thrive on being part of every dancer’s journey.

Congratulations to the Collective Soul Level Two dancers and grads:

Collective Soul Level Two dancers!

Sienna, Dee,Becky, Christine, Nina, and  Heidi–thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and your beautiful dance! what an honor to dance with you all…

and lastly!

Congratulations to Nina for getting certified in my Teacher Training Level 2 course.

We worked  one on one and she has made me proud! great work Nina! And so glad you will be joining the Gypsy Caravan and the Caravan Dance Collective in Portland, with Hilary and Amanda from Caravan Soul Collective International, and also at Tribal Fest in California this May!

Nina and Paulette

woo hoo!

pearls of denmark

more fruits of nature to experience: I am thankful for stunning seaweed, 25 black swans to wake up to

black swans

a gorgeous morning with time for reflection

a party full of beautiful dancing women having a great time. wonderful food and wine, good rockin’ music, and lovely new friends…

and a delightful gorgeous platter of yummy fresh cheeses right on the farm, along a country road loaded with wineries and flowers…

what a journey…

Awakening early every morning, my time clock is messed up! Not sure what day or time it is over here, since it is about 17 hours ahead of time at home

but I go with the flow and take a walk to the water near my hotel. Gorgeous, quiet, what a great way to start the day, and there are so many birds, singing, ranting, calling their wake-ups to the world. On the water is a group of pelicans, resting, bobbing for their breakfast while I sip on my instant Nescafe. (Oh, so waiting for that cappuccino!)

Without the internet for a few days, is a relief but also feels like hell. Not sure I am liking that addiction, but needing to feel in touch with my home, my man, my other life away from touring. So I journal some more.

The workshops are splendid, six hours in one day is a lot for any dancer to take it all in. More steps, more drills, more sweat, then more steps. Laughter, questions, chocolate, and another coffee. They tease me and call me the everready bunny, because I don’t stop! When I get focused, I can’t stop. Drill, drill, drill. but it is the only way for the dancers to remember what I’m showing them.

By sunday afternoon, the 4th and 5th hours, the dancers are dropping out, tired, overloaded, brain full and body tired. But it feels good, everyone has a glow about them, and I feel rewarded for sharing and giving what was wanted and needed. We keep pushing as some dancers leave early for a long drive home. Some dance until the end, laughing still, but glazed over with more love for the dance then when they started, and asking me to come back soon (or they will kidnap me to stay). Ah, my job is done. Hugs, friends, passion, time for a glass of wine…

I thank you all, dancers, for your dance and your desire to continue on, for supporting Becky, your sponsor in bringing me to you. It was a pleasure…

Oh, where have I been? I”ve missed my blogging! and you…

The long lost traveler without her computer! Traveling across the world for the past week, on the road, without much computer access, but I’m still lurking with blog in mind!

I finished off the Tribal Vision book giveaway before I left Oregon, and Hiya was thrilled to be the winner. Such lovely entrees for the new year, may all of you receive your dreams and desires in the dance and beyond.

I have been writing the February enewsletter, which should be out next week. February already? Wow… the new year is cruising and life is good.

After a 30 some hour flight, a too brief visit with a good friend, I jumped yet another plane for another dance adventure. Dancing with the crazily wonderful girls called Tribal Thunder down in southern Australia for a few days has been such a treat. They get the true meaning of tribal dance, and it warms my heart to see such a beautiful, loving community of women who want to dance together to celebrate their friendship, creativity, and passion for life. They share it with their community, and when they do make money from a performance, they save it for their yearly giveaway when they pick a cause to donate it to. How lovely is that?

So we danced and talked dance for several hours every day, and then they treated me to sightseeing their beautiful countryside, their local wineries, and a gonging session!

Yes, I’ve been gonged, as everyone should be. I’ve had many different healing experiences, and tried varieties of methods. But this was a new one for me. This involved a vibrational sound healing using five different very large gongs in a teepee type room, plus adding the scent of sandalwood to help with the meditation. We lay on soft mats in a circle in the dimly lit room while our facilitator gonged around us and over us for almost an hour. The purpose is to relax our muscles and our minds, and it took me almost the full hour to let myself unwind. I figured it was because after teaching dance for four hours and then going into the gonging with the uncertainty of trying something new, my mind didn’t quite want to let me go.

So I went back the next day, now knowing what to expect, and being earlier in the day too. And I enjoyed it so much more. The facilitator was also better, with a healing rhythm to her talk and energy, and I was able to relax better, although that crazy monkey mind chatter kept jumping in throughout the session! Just breathe those thoughts away and let go… ahhh… I love the deep vibrations of the gong, and with the several different sounds and tones, it was a calming experience. Just like the didgeridoo sound healing I have done before, with that deep vibrational wave of sounds that washes over you. And vocal toning is another great method of using sounds as a tool for energetic healing where you are doing the toning instead of having it done to you. If you’ve ever chanted, it is similar, having not only the vocal release, but the vibrational sound within your chest and body.

ok, more tribal travels to come…

So many wonderful entrees. Thank you all for taking the time to write and share you thoughts about your dance and art form, and your desires… You are all possibiltarians!

The lucky dancer whose name got pulled from the turban is….

Hiya!

Here, again, are her words, about desires for 2010…

Last year, my new year’s resolution was to be better at leading – more comfortable, more smooth, more confident.  I didn’t quite make it.  We are a VERY small troupe (2-3 of us) and mostly it’s been our teacher, Petra, leading.  This year, we are hoping to expand a little, opening up to new students and possibly new troupe members – and I really want to make sure that I know my moves, the cues, and when to use them.  I love the beautiful, non-verbal interaction between leaders and dancers, and when the flow happens from one to another it is magical.  I want to create more of that magic!

This dance is magic, and life is magic. We create it and participate in it, and it takes us all to be a part of the supporting community. How blessed are we all to be able to dance with each other is some way.

I will send her my book, Tribal Vision: a Celebration of Life Through Tribal Belly Dance…

and I hope you all have a chance to read it!

Watch for the next giveway next month…

Thanks again.