Mm Mm Monday - Aida Al Adawi

One of Suhaila Salimpour's proteges, a famous member of Bal Anat, Aida has been an inspiration to thousands of dancers over the years. She continues to teach workshops, and is generous and enthusiastic in sharing her knowledge online as well. She has begun posting some of her personal performance videos on YouTube, and here is one to get your zill fingers wriggling!

Fabulous Friday - Jamila Salimpour Tribute Show

You want fabulous? I'll give you FABULOUS! Normally it is only one photo, no words. But this is a slideshow of photos and I wanted to give you context.

So for those who don't know, this past September Amy Sigil, Suhaila, and a bevvy of talented dancers and producers put together a tribute show to Jamila. Best of all? It was COMPLETELY SECRET. She had no idea it was happening until she walked through the doors of the theater and saw all assembled there. The show sold out and was an incredible three-part show, showcasing Jamila's early years in the circus, her nightclub days in San Francisco, and Bal Anat at the Ren Faire.

We are told no video will be made available. I just can't fathom that. But in the meantime at least, we have this photo slideshow taken by the talented Pixie Vision. I can't embed it, so click through, and enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/78312377

Fabulous Friday - John Compton

 

Hauntingly beautiful boy. Rest in Peace, John.

YIP Podcast - John Compton!

YIP Podcast did a great interview with John Compton of Hahbi 'Ru recently, which I thought y'all might enjoy if you weren't already aware of it.

When asked how he became interested in Bal Anat and studying with Jamila Salimpour:

"I moved to California in 1971...I think. In 1972 was the first time I saw Jamila's group. I didn't know if they were from the moon or what the heck they were. The drum beat just got to me, and I just wanted to be a part of it so bad.


I approached some of her dancers and they said 'Oh no, I can't teach you. Jamila... that lady...she would kill me is he knew I taught you.'"


...


"Finally somebody...a friend of mine... told me where Jamila's secret studio was. And there was a little room you went in before you actually went into the studio and there was a black curtain which separated the two. She said wait until after the class starts, and sneak into that room and you can see


And I pulled the curtains apart just enough to peek into the room with one eyeball, and then try to do the step in this little waiting room, and I did maybe basic Egyptian, Arabic 1, 2, and 3 or something. And all of a sudden the curtain ripped open. Jamila was a step above where I was standing...she looked huge...and she just went 'YOU!' pointed at me, 'IN HERE! SIT!'"

Wanna know what happened then? You have to give it a listen! More about John Compton's first performance with Bal Anat, why he quit and moving out on his own, influences on Hahbi 'Ru's stylizations, and so much more.

http://www.yippodcast.com/2012/01/episode-53-john-compton_29.html

Mm Mm Mondy - Urban Gypsy

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Mm Mm Monday video post to bring you this late-breaking video footage of my beloved friends and sisters in dance, Urban Gypsy.  Just this week they posted video from their performance from 3rd Coast Tribal (incidentally, this is the festival they put on every January in Texas), and it is pure, unadulterated Old School Tribal. You know, that stuff I LOOOOOOOVE.  They incorporated many pieces of inspiration from Hahi 'Ru including a pot dance, and Jamilo, the lively coffee-making harvest dance which increases in speed to an insane fervor by the end. Not to mention a capella finger cymbals, and features sections with live singing, drumming, and even Sahira hopping over to play flute.  Basically, I passed out from pure adoration, and then played it back a few more times. I am pretty sure a lot of you, my dear readers, will do much the same. Enjoy!

A Tale of Life and Bellydancing - Rebaba of Hahbi 'Ru

Gilded Serpent is always full of such amazing gems.  I have recommended it many times before, and continue to advocate frequent visits to see what treasures you find about bellydance past and present.  Yes, I know it continues to be difficult on the eyes design-wise, but..the articles! The interviews! The photos! Lynette has really turned her labor of love into a go-to resource for so much fantastic firsthand accounts of bellydance history and evolution.

My most recent find?  An article written by Rita Alderucci, a.k.a. Rebaba of Hahbi 'Ru.  A gorgeous woman and dancer, with a difficult past of addiction, which she shares very candidly in this piece.

"It was at this low point in my life that my nearest and dearest, both my immediate family and my Hahbi’Ru family, came to my rescue in the unwanted form of an intervention to save my life.  With nothing but love and fear for my life they put their foots down, and took away the last connection I was desperately trying to hold on to which was dancing.  I had convinced no one but myself that I could keep dancing in that horrible condition. Thank God, they were brave enough and scared enough to say “NO MORE”, and do the one thing that would force me to get the help I needed, take the dance away.

...

In my story that follows I will take you on my life journey, the good and the bad, dancing and then not dancing.  I hope this will entertain you as well as help you understand a little about the illness of addiction."

I actually never knew that she had been a member of Bal Anat (there are some photos of her at 13 years old when she began to perform with them within the article!)

"Her classes gave us so much more than just a Belly dance.  Jamila, with her wonderful story telling and strong hand as a teacher gave me, and many like me, a new and fantastic feminist life-path that was strong and woman-dominated. It gave me a sense of pride and self-esteem for the very first time in my life.  It was the first time in my short life that far that I felt truly special, beautiful, and talented!  I was mature enough to realize that I wasn’t alone in my new found sense of self-worth.   Many young American women who began taking Jamila’s Belly dance classes at this time had similar experiences."

These snippets are from the first installment of her story, but get this...the story is told in SEVEN PARTS (with more to come I hope--the most recent installment was posted as recently as 1/4/12)!  There are seven articles written about her journey in the dance and life, travels around the world, even her lovers and misadventures, and it is all fantastic.  You can find all seven articles at her bio page here
http://www.gildedserpent.com/aboutuspages/RitaRebaba.htm#axzz1jI52w3W1

History of FatChanceBellyDance & American Tribal Style Bellydance

I am loving that Habibi has been digitizing their articles and putting them in an online archive. THANK YOU!  Here is snippets from a gem from 1999, a history of American Tribal Style written by Kajira Djoumahna of BlackSheep Bellydance:

"I believe what people remember most from these influential beginnings is more a certain feeling derived from watching Bal Anat, as the ancient roots of past and present cultures seemed to be evoked. The colorful costumes and facial tattoos worn by many of the dancers seemed to recall a tribal culture, whether or not they were truly authentic. We must try to keep in context the fact that during this time the world, and especially San Francisco, was on the cutting edge of experimentation, undergoing a modern renaissance if you will. It was a time different from any other in our history as far as creative energy and limitless horizons. Add to that the fact that Jamila is an excellent show person, knows how to set an entertaining stage, and how to keep an audience enthralled, and it is no wonder her ideas were so successful ­— and still legendary even thirty years later."

"Carolena took ideas from Masha’s classes, Jamila’s approach and her own sense of style and began working on what would become the primary interpretation of American Tribal Style Bellydance we know today. I asked Carolena whether Masha’s style, or Carolena’s American Tribal Style, had anything to do with Jamila Salimpour’s format.

'I’ve never met Jamila, and I’ve never studied with her, but from everything that I can see from people who have studied in the Jamila school, it’s definitely the same base. I didn’t see exactly what happened, but I feel Masha was an artist who studied with Jamila, saw what Jamila was doing, and put her own signature on top of it. I saw what Masha was doing and I put my signature on top of that. I can still see the clear connections. I’ve read interviews with Jamila, and I’ve listened to how she put things together, and it all makes sense. She (Jamila) came from a circus background, and was really into presenting a show. Masha was an artist who was really into presenting a design, so I can see where I got my theory of presentation. I would definitely credit it to Jamila. Maybe someday I’ll get to meet her. I’d like to thank her in person!'"

(Shay's note: Incidentally, Carolena has still never met or had a chance to thank Jamila personally--something Jamila made a point to mention to me when I met and talked with her at her week-long intensive in 2009... I truly hope they get a chance to connect someday!)

A lot more great stuff to read at the full article here:
http://thebestofhabibi.com/vol-17-no-3-spring-1999/fatchancebellydance/

And this was built off of an article that Kajira conducted in 1996, the full interview which can be found at http://www.blacksheepbellydance.com/writings/files/carolena.html

Want to learn even more fabulous ATS history? 
Join us for I *heart* ATS Month: A Tribal Intensive, which begins next weekend!  The first workshop will include a presentation on the history of tribal bellydance (complete with a projector and everything!), followed by a comprehensive Level 1 Foundations technique workshop.

I *heart ATS is comprised of two hour workshops every Sunday evening during the month of February, focusing on ATS®-based group improvisational bellydance and its fusion offshoots. We will spend time on strength and flexibility work, individual movement technique, partner concepts, history, costuming, and more.


Full details and registration at http://www.deeprootsdance.com/p/workshops.html

Mm Mm Monday - A new video spotlight!

Hello lovely dancers!

Mondays are far too dreary, don't you agree? We could all use a little inspiration, a little pick me up, a little kick in the tushies to get our week started right.  So I am instituting "Mm Mm Mondays", a new weekly installment which will be a video for us to watch and get our creative juices flowing.  A chance to say "Hell yeah!" or "Woah!" or "ZOMG!", and be moved to go a little further, make a little extra effort in our week ahead. Sometimes it will be bellydance, sometimes other dance styles, and maybe sometimes not even dance at all but still containing images, sounds, and ideas I find inspirational and think you might, too. You with me? Let's do this!

What better place to start than at the beginning? I actually had another video lined up to kick off Mm Mm Monday, but then yesterday Suhaila Salimpour posted the latest in a line of archive footage and it seemed a perfect fit for the first installment.

Here is Jamila Salimpour's Bal Anat filmed in a studio in the early 1970s! It is a full 30 minutes long, so you may want to get it loaded and queued up, and set aside some time in your day to watch it all the way through. I share this not as necessarily an example of amazing dancing or staging, but as a snippet of history that is important to see and know. And I love looking at all the costuming and thinking of what it was like before the days of the internet to acquire jewelry and textiles such as those. In short: HARD!