On Music and Passion

I loves me some TEDTalks, and this one is no exception.  I dare you not to be moved and inspired by this talk by conductor and musician Benjamin Zander.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Simple Back and Neck Pain Relief

A newer student to my classroom, the beautiful Sukie Baxter, is a Rolfer and bloggess extraordinaire.  She wrote a blog post about back and neck pain and simple ways to relieve the aches and pains, and improve our daily posture.  As a lover of all things posture-related, I really enjoyed her take on this topic, and wanted to share it with you.

I have found that being a tribal bellydancer, my increased awareness of my posture, and knowledge of the anatomy which supports good posture, has been a boon to me.  But it hasn't saved me from falling to the same bad habits at times in my everyday life.  Sukie makes an excellent point about our everyday awareness of the back of our bodies and why we lack it in this day and age:

"Look around you and you’ll notice a lot of people who sit with their heads forward, rounded shoulders and a collapsed chest. Computers, television, driving, and almost everything else that we do during our daily lives, make us focus forward and forget about the back half of our bodies. We lose awareness of this space entirely and fall into our front halves.

We don’t live in a world where we must constantly be aware of what’s going on behind us. There’s no tiger stalking us in the bushes, no neighboring tribesman hiding out and waiting to kill us. We’re really pretty safe.

Student Spotlight - Brandy Foltz

Name:  Brandy Foltz
Age: 33
Profession: Bank Teller, mom, wife & rockstar
Hobbies: singing/songwriting, spending time with friends, dancing, and crafting
How long have you been studying bellydance? 3 months

When did you first see bellydance? What were your first impressions?

I don't remember the first time I saw bellydance but I remember that I loved watching it from that first moment and so badly wanted to dance with them.

What motivated you to finally take your first bellydance class?

I've wanted to learn for years but I don't like trying new things by myself. A friend of mine mentioned that she was taking a bellydance class and out of curiosity I asked about it and she told me that I should come dance with her. She's been to one class and I'm still dancing...

Skillz & Drillz! - Taking Your Dance for a Walk

We tribal bellydancers work with a foundation format which is built largely on dancing in tight spaces--Carolena talks about working in the narrow aisles between tables in restaurants, and needing the flexibility of improvisation to be able to make it work.  Barring transitions in and out of chorus, and leader transitions and fades, our vocabulary tends to stick to the spot.  So it can be challenging sometimes for ATS-based dancers to take their vocabulary on the move.

This month, we're taking our dance for a walk.  Take the moves you know, and see what they feel like when they travel.  Try them in a straight line, then move in an arc, take it around in a spiral--get creative!  Have you only ever moved forward with a given move?  Try taking it backward.  Maybe it feels awkward or strange to take it in a new direction, but even if it isn't an ideal artistic choice in the end, challenging your body to try and make it work can bring some new skills to the fore.  The process will allow you to develop different muscles, and the trial-and-error of attempting something new will help you think outside the box when creating choreographies (improvisational or otherwise) in the future!

Student Spotlight - Arya Pretlow

Name:  Arya Pretlow
Age: 35
Profession: Yoga Instructor, Doula, and midwifery student
Hobbies: knitting, sewing, cooking, reading, dancing, blogging
How long have you been studying bellydance? since Fall of 2009

When did you first see bellydance? What were your first impressions?

I first saw American Tribal Style bellydance when a friend invited me to a local hafla, maybe five years ago. I was enamored with the costuming, the camaraderie (both on-stage and in the audience), the pageantry and the talent that I saw. As a feminist I was particularly interested in the art form as an apparently “uniquely female” demonstration of strength, grace, and embodiment.

What motivated you to finally take your first bellydance class?

A couple of years ago I realized that I really missed dancing. I'd danced in one form or another my whole life until my late twenties. I filled my time with other activities, but I felt a sense of loss that I connected to the lack of dancing in my life. In spired by the hafla I remembered, and wanting to connect with other women, I started researching local classes. I feel it was serendipity that I chose classes with Shay to get me reconnected with dance.