Fabulous Friday - Starlight in Her Hair

Ze Frank - Thoughts on the Creative Career

Ze Frank is some kinda genius, and you know I have linked up several of his videos on this blog in the past (um, even just this past Monday folks!). This video blog is about pursuing a creative career, and touches on some amazing points Ze says he wishes someone had said to him when he was starting out.

I love every little thing about this, but here were some particularly poignant parts I think students of the dance will appreciate and relate to, and hopefully Ze passes on to you (all of us!) that wisdom he so wished he had when he was at the start of his creative journey:

"(it helps) to realize that when I am in the beginning of learning something (and the beginning can last a couple years, by the way, not just a couple weeks or months), in that time you don't really have to worry about finding your own voice. In fact, that kind of gets in the way. You can copy people--sometimes that comes naturally when you just read someone, for example, you just start using their voice. Try reading Voorhees, for example, and not writing like him for the next two days.

Mm Mm Monday - Ze Frank

If you have not yet met Ze Frank, then let me introduce you and say "You are most welcome." He is equally skilled at delivering sidesplitting comedy as heart-wrenching truths. He is amazing.

If you have met him, I am sure you will enjoy this clip of him sharing wisdom that will bring a tear to your eye.

And if you have met him, and see this particular video already, I am sure the reminder is timely or needed or valuable someday...

The Language of Bellydance - Another Take

We often liken our dance to a language. In class, we explore the idea that we are learning individual letters when we drill, individual words when we learn moves, and then as we learn to dance we are stringing those words together into sentences, and finally as a group we learn to tell a story or sing a song together.

The gorgeous Shems (pic right) wrote a wonderfully detailed article exploring this common dance metaphor, digging deeply into the evolution of a dancer throughout their studies. Over on Gilded Serpent you can read the full article. Some meaty tasters:

"Executing each movement properly is like pronouncing a word properly. Like some words are more difficult to pronounce than others, some movements in dance are more difficult to execute.

Often dancers who master some difficult movements begin to think of themselves as very advanced dancers, but like a child who has learned some complex adult words; these dancers may not yet understand how to use them properly in a dance sentence. Moreover, they are even further from creating a truly meaningful dialogue."

Mm Mm Monday - Asharah

Asharah is not only a dancer I have long admired, but a dance scholar I have long shared a kinship with. She loves to float over the labels, but not in an irreverent "I do what I want" kind way. Instead it is with great thoughtfulness, intelligence, and care that she makes her artistic choices, and it surely shines through when she dances.

She had the opportunity to perform with Bal Anat at Rakassah this year (jealous!!), and after the show they staged a nightclub evening in a studio where the dancers could perform to live music. As you will see, this is an improvised routine, with music chosen by the musicians. Asharah shares a beautifully lyrical interpretation in the video that I think deserves an Mm Mm!