I have just returned from performing and teaching at the Cues and Tattoos Tribal Bellydane Festival in Seattle, more on that later, and now it is time to pick the winner for the Gypsy Caravan CD, Awakening! Excited to draw a name…

and it is angeluDemonai!

Below is what she wrote in response to my request:

tell me what kind of music makes you move, groove, and dance; and why.

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Hello Paulette – I’ve only recently started following your blog, but I’ve known of your site for a while now and I just wanted to say it really helped inspire me to explore more about bellydancing. After I graduate college I hope to move to Portland and hopefully learn more about tribal style from the Gypsy Caravan.

As for your question – really, almost any music that I love, and has a good beat, I am happy to dance to. Whether it’s traditional Balkan music, rock, electronic, pop or metal, if it moves me then I am inspired to move. I guess, the power of music is to touch the soul, and dancing is an expression of that, so I’m not too picky.

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Oh, that is so true about music touching the soul. If I cannot feel a connection with a musical piece, a link, an inner beat that speaks to me, I can’t dance to it. And my movement comes from that touch, whether it be a glimmer or a bang on the head, it reaches in, down deep, and comes out in my hips, my hands, my smile, or whatever part of me needs to speak the dance.

Thanks everyone who wrote in. I do love to hear about your dance and music and art and farmworld! It is such a great way to share our thoughts and actions here on this blog.

Be well!

And now, what does Tribal Farmgirl Paulette move into this spring? My handsome man, Jeff, and I are opening up a shop in our little town. Soon—April 1^st is the projected opening date—oh my. A shop of local organic foods and produce, freshly baked goods, farm-fresh cheeses, fair-trade coffee, and oh-so-good wine! We are extremely excited to take on this new adventure for our life now and our future, as we grow and nurture ourselves through work, community, necessity, and desire. Cultivator General Store, where farmgirl meets a funky, eclectic blend of sustainable home goods and yummy foods. That is our next step to create community, eat good foods, and live sustainably. What about you?

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

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!

What a journey this has been, the last few weeks in Australia. I have had the opportunity to meet and dance with some beautiful women, who have undertook intensive study with me. Congratulations to them for getting their certification, both in Collective Soul Level One and Teacher Training Level One. And not without a few giggles!

Collective Soul Level One grads...

Back row: Kelly, Colleen, myself, Shanne, Kate, Julie, and Dee

Front row: Margart, Heidi, and Becky

Heidi, Becky, and Dee did the course as a refresher, to get ready for the next intensive that immediatly followed, Collective Soul Level 2, testing today!

Lately I’ve been discussing how the dance is empowering to the women, on so many levels. Appropriately on Chris Guillebeau’s blog today, he writes:

Empowerment, as I think of it, is all about the beautiful principle of transferring knowledge and helping people consider possibilities that previously seemed out of reach.

This was a perfect read for today:

http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/the-small-man-builds-cages-for-everyone/

Fulfilling, rewarding, with sweat, tears, and joy… we reach for what we desire, experience our own journey along the way, and listen and share with the other’s we are joined with. Trust and community building: that is beautiful. I am constantly awed and rewarded by the women I dance with.

Thank you gals for giving me you trust, your time, and your dance! andhere is to the next step on your dance path.

Celebration!

Good work Teacher Trainees: Becky, Christine, and Sienna (photos to follow!)

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…

paulette's foot on the beach

Time is moving so quickly now. I have been dancing for days and days, many hours a day with the most delightful and inquisitve dancers! Becky sponsored a weekend with me, called A Journey Back to the Heart, a Weekend Tribal Intensive – ‘Heart’ of Tribal Style, the Gypsy Caravan Way.

She did a great job arranging the weekend, with dancers coming from primarily the west coast of Australia. It was another full on weekend, six hours of workshops everyday, and a super fun hafla in a winery Saturday night. But we started out with that 2nd gonging (!), a bit of sightseeing, a beach walk and some wine tasting (of course!)

Facebook being what it is , there are already tons of photos going around from the journey so far. Go to my fan pages for a quick peek

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paulette-Rees-Denis/71253377401

windblown becky and paulette

The dancers had lots of good questions about what is tribal and what is my style and what are the differences in all the styles, and how tribal is about dancing together and from the soul. We talked  about this over the weekend, working the brain, while we worked our bodies hard too. Nothing like dancing and discussing dancing, I love hearing what others think and feel about dance in general, and dance for them. And how they adopt and adapt my tribal stylings to suit themselves and their artistic endeavors. Dancing is such a good source of healing, fun, community building, or rebuilding, and a good physical workout. Women met new tribes, saw old friends, reunited friendships, and learned not only from me, but from each other. It really is all about empowering ourselves and each other when we do tribal. More to come…

I love the country side down here around Albany. Rolling hills, lots of farmland, cool breezes, great birds and animals, lots of wineries because it is good land for growing grapes, and miles of beachfront, although the water is a bit chilly! Nothing like a good windy walk on the beach to clear the cobwebs though… a great way to kick off the weekend.

2^nd part of the journey

Wildlife and plants…

I love seeing other countries, cultures, and the tribal dance variations, and I also love seeing the different wildlife and native plants. I was so fortunate to stay at the Banksia Farm in Mt. Barker, when I was teaching the dancers for those few days.

It is a B&B that is known for it’s 11 acres of the native plant, the Banksia, which is an amazingly diverse plant, with wildly exotic blooms and pods. Not only are the grounds are great walking tour to see this plant, but also to see lots of wildlife. The birds themselves were numerous, with loud calls throughout the day, as they flew in flocks around the grounds, the bush, and the pond.

I awoke every morning to the shrills and calls of the white-tailed black parrots, the ducks, the other assorted parrots, the guineas, and other birds I have no idea what they were, but there were lots of them! I saw the Blue Wren, the Honey sucker,  along with the guana lizard ( a monitor), an ibis, several hawks and crows, tons of cows and sheep with the assorted goats, a gorgeous baby donkey, and others.

And of course the variations on the eucalyptus and gum trees were outstanding, the bark alone diverse in its striped and peeling nature was a visual treat, as always.

And Kevin, the banksia expert, gave me the informative lecture on the banksia, which are just so cool!

and now, on to a weekend in Denmark with Becky and a full on two days of dancing and a hafla….