Retro: July 2003

I have been weeding my old journal, tagging old posts for future reference (didn't really use tags regularly until this past year), and generally reading up on old memories. I came across this one, when I had been teaching about 2 years, and it made me smile. If you teach, you know what moments like this feel like:

"Last night I think I got the biggest compliment I have ever received as a teacher.
My Thursday night classes have been picking up again, and while the class itself still feels warm and friendly, I have had to wonder if everyone is having fun. There are a lot of concentrated looks, and my students are more quiet in that class than any class I have ever taught--not much feedback. I ask questions and they just look at me. So I have been a little off-balance all session trying to figure out if I am giving them what they need, since they aren't telling me. If it weren't for a few outwardly enthusiastic students, I would wonder if anyone was having fun.

Artist's Way snippet...07 vintage...

I have been going back and reading old Artist Way journal entries lately (timely, what with the Breitenbush Retreat being themed with journaling this year). Here is one from fall of 2007.

"Artist's Way, October 11, 2007

I always have high hopes for the day. I look at my beautiful guitar, Marilyn, sitting in the corner, languishing under a thin film of dusty neglect. I do brush her off, lovingly and longingly, every few weeks. But mostly that is to keep people from seeing how dusty my guitar has gotten, and rightfully assume that I am not the acoustic rock star it implies with its very presence in so prominent a location. Surely people walk into my home and as they scan the living room, so vibrantly and creatively decorated ("like the owner" they music admiringly), their eyes drift briefly over my guitar proudly propped up on its stand, and they think "This is the home of a rock star.: They briefly (almost as a subliminal flash) imagine me in my living room, guitar propped up on my knee, perhaps leaning over a over a sheet of music and strumming away at some indiscernible piece of musical prose. Perhaps their image of me goes so far as to place me at a gathering--not unlike one they have likely come to attend this very evening--and everyone is circled around listening to me jam a little. "Let me show you this cool new riff I learned!" (my very casual use of the term 'riff' being a badge of my rock stardom). Or maybe I have learned (or composed!) an irreverent or bawdy little tune about the latest political woes or Brittany Spears' latest breakdown '07. And they laugh and think how clever I am, and how does she find the time?
Yes, I am sure that is what people are likely to think to themselves as they notice my guitar. "This woman is a rock star."

At least, that's what I think when I look at it.

Quickly followed by some guilty realization that I should, you know, play it now and again to earn such an outrageous reputation."

Have you done the Artist's Way? Tell me about what you got out of it!

TEDTalk - the life of a Creative

I posted this a few places not long ago, but it is worth another look. Really incredible talk by the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" (good book, by the way!) about what it is like to be a Creative, and the importance of accessing a "divine inspiration" to keep your work alive and relieve the pressures of being simply human.
I totally cried when I watched this, and again now as I re-watched it. Enjoy!

And Asharah does it again...

So part of why I dug up my older kudos-post to Asharah is because she continually asks the tough questions, and gives some thought-provoking and worthy answers. Her most recent post about "Vintage Fusion Bellydance" is again right on the money with regard to the Victorian/Burly fusion fad. Here is a snippet to whet your whistle, then pop over and read the entire thing!

"What if someone from the general public came to see one of these performances? What if this person knew nothing about bellydance? Do we want to give the general public the impression that we’re only comic relief and slapstick acts that have no qualms about showing our frilly panties to strangers, particularly as we lose (or pretend to lose) our inhibitions through the imbibing of alcohol on stage? Is that bellydance, and, more importantly to me, is that tribal? And, I know that many of us bellydancers are trying very hard to elevate this dance into the realms of both popular and high art… and in order for that to happen, we must earn the respect of not only our peers but also the general public. How do we expect to be respected as an art form when we’re stumbling around on stage in our underwear?"

Honesty in dancing...a RLJ

Can someone Re-LiveJounral, like we ReTweet? And can we RLJ ourselves?

I am building up some content over here on Blogger, and thought I would grab some recent posts from my LiveJournal that might be of interest here, where I plan to talk mostly about dance (that is the PLAN anyway). So here it is:

Asharah posted in her journal last year about "honesty" in dancing. And it just got me postin', so I thought I would post a bit over here.

I see a lot of contrived performances--in aesthetic and execution. I see a lot of inauthentic dancers. Dancers who are not being their authentic selves on stage. They are clawing and grasping at trying to be or do the next big thing. I remember one gal at a workshop I taught not too long ago saying she was going to take a hula class because she was excited about the possibilities of fusing it with her bellydance, but then she found out Unmata was already pretty famous for that, so she was going to try and find something else to study to fuse. I was stunned into silence.