The Sound of Music: Fast Class Music

You have asked for it, and I am happy to be sharing with you more music suggestions for dancing and listening. This month we're looking at the common music we use in classes each week. The more familiar you are with these songs, the better you will be able to respond to it in the moment, and the better dancer you will be. Especially in the lead, timing your transitions thoughtfully around changes in the music is a key to gently bringing your followers along with you, making everyone look synchronous and confident.

And the more you listen to Middle Eastern music in general, the more you will begin to recognize common themes and patterns. Eventually, you develop an ear that can anticipate changes, even in music you may have never heard before, and be able to respond to them spontaneously. That's when the real magic strikes...and opens doors to dancing joyfully to live musicians!

So here is a list of fast songs we use in class, which has links to the album on either Amazon or iTunes where you can purchase the individual songs, or the entire album!


Baladi Unplugged (our zilling tune!) / Helm / Itneen

Abu Leila Dance Song / Hasan Abu Layla / Music of the Fellahin

Saidi Festival / Upper Egypt Ensemble / Egypt-A Musical Voyage

Bred Atay / Kasbah Rockers / Kasbah Rockers

Mazamir / BodyShock / The Bellydance Project

Saidi / Atef Mitkal Kenawy / Passion for Percussion*

Sout With Spice / FatChance Belly Dance / Itneen

Baladi We Hetta / Hossam Ramzy / Hafla Bellydance Party

Wuh Ya Booy (Oh Father) / Hossam Ramzy / Sabla Tolo III

Salam Salam / The Third Planet / The Third Planet

Entah / Helm /Itneen

Badass Baladi / Raquy and the Cavemen / Greatest Belly-Dance Hits Vol 2

*This is a legal, free download of this entire album. Just click "Slow Download" to start the transfer.

Roast Butterflied Chicken w/ Potatoes

We accidentally double-ordered whole chickens this week, and we planned to try out two new recipes. Instead, we cooked this twice this week it was so yummy, with minor variations the second time for fun. With the two of us, there is enough for dinner and some leftovers (some I had for lunch, some we cooked into a quick chicken fettucine later in the week)

• 1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs ideal, but anything over 2.5 lbs will be fine)
• 2-3 yukon gold potatoes (or 1-2 baking potatoes of your choice--you will want lots of these, so don't skimp!) 
• 1.5 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbs butter
• Salt & Pepper
• Any dry herbs of your choice. We used classic Italian spices, since we prefer it - oregano, basil, garlic salt, onion powder, and rosemary. A tsp of each is probably enough, or whatever you eyeball to get decent coverage on your chicken

A classic interview with Paulette Rees-Denis

I wanted to share this interview/article from several years ago in which Paulette was interviewed by a local NW dancer, Oberon, on iShimmy.com


There was always a fateful connection for me with Paulette...a reason why I was drawn to her, that was not simply geographical proximity. And those who know me will see how much we speak with the same voice on so many issues. I have always been inspired by how she has found such articulate, positive ways to channel her passion for bellydance, and all the nuances of artistic ethics and community building. She has always been, and continues to be, a mentor to me on so many levels, and I loved re-visiting this article and be reminded again why I am so proud to call her my original tribal bellydance "Momma". I hope you enjoy it, too!

On "the Bellydance Police"

On Shira's tribe over on tribe.net (no, tribe isn't dead!), she referenced an article on Gilded Serpent in which another dancer wrote with a fair amount of disdain about those who rally behind the idea of retaining historical and cultural elements of bellydance (what is often termed "The Bellydance Police"). You can see the discussion, and link to the article, HERE. Shira follows it up with a great analogy, which I thought would be nice to share over here. So without further ado, I give you Shira's take:

"Let's say I write a 17-line poem with each line containing somewhere between 8 and 34 syllables and call it haiku. Now, the "poetry police" killjoys would tell you that such a poem does not conform to the properties of haiku (3 lines in length, with 5 syllables in line 1, 7 syllables in line 2, 5 syllables in line 3) and therefore is not haiku. Now, this poem may well convey my vision, my passion, my joy, and a completeness in my quest for beauty. These things would certainly qualify it as "poetry", but they don't qualify it as haiku.

But if I enter that poem in a haiku writing contest, should I expect to win? Should I expect journals that specialize in haiku to publish it, simply because I have chosen to declare that it is haiku, even though it does not contain the properties that people well-versed in the form would recognize as haiku?

If I start teaching classes in how to write haiku, should it be okay that I encourage my students to write any poem of any structure they please, all in the name of their vision, their passion, their joy, and a completeness in their quest for beauty while still calling the end result haiku?

I would argue that no, it may all still be POETRY, and it all may all be worthy of being read, but there is a certain basic set of properties that must be met before you identify it as a specific genre of poetry. It still deserves to be written, and shared if the poet wishes to share it, but ultimately there should be truth in labeling."

Busy Busy Season!

Sorry things have been so slow around here lately. I am sure you all have been experiencing the same thing--that holiday hectic...ness? -icity? Whatever, it's just been really busy. So I haven't had a lot of time to share my thoughts here.

The biggest change has been that shortly before Thanksgiving, I took a contract job with The Purple Store.  What is it, you ask? Why, a store that sells purple things of course.  Yep, that is the business model.  If you or someone you know loves purple, they need to check out this shop. The site isn't fancy, but it's chock full of purpley goodness.

As you might imagine, being any kind of retailer around the holidays meant that my training was trial-by-fire, as we leapt from a manageable chunk or orders each day to OMGWTFXMAS in just over a week after I started. Luckily, the people I work with are smart, funny, motivated people, and we worked hard as a team to kick out the orders, answer customer service queries, and even put up a small retail space for last minute Christmas shoppers to get their gift on. To say it was a crazy busy time would be an understatement, but it was a joy to get to flex some different mental and physical muscles.

Classes have been small since I returned from hiatus, but it is made up of a dedicated bunch of women.

It's been a lot of fun to be able to give more personal attention to each individual student. It reminds me of the first year I taught, and how it felt to be able to really see each student fully and personally.