My Blog

I have.....

Viv — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:27:10 GMT

five teens in my living room playing Rock Band. Send asprin....and earplugs.....*grin*

Long time......

Viv — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:42:05 GMT

I really am awuful at keeping this blog updated. Between classes, local drama lamas moving in, and a dozen other things going on it just really hadn't occured to me. Since I don't want to bore anyone with all the crap that has gone on recently I'mjust going to brag about some of the good things. First off hubby finally bit the bullet and got a new truck. The old one was still in fantasic shape, should be it was only 4 years old, howere it was killing us in gas costs. We really don't need a truck that can all but pull my house off the foundation, just one with a nice enough sized bed to haul around the pavilon and help the occasional friend move. So now he has a 1500 Silverado that he's absolutely delighted with. I've been playing "how long until the men with butterfly nets and jackets that tie in the back" game with several different projects.First is getting the videos of Banat not only on disks for all the girls without the soudntrack getting compressed so everythign looks like we're off, but getting some of the clips from the videos up on you-tube. I've managed to get two clips up so far that are here for those interested http://www.youtube.com/user/BanatTabla I also finally got around to getting my own website up http://www.yumabellydance.com Its till has some tweaking to be done and a gallery to be added but its a start. Now off to go get ready for class tonight.

Doesn't take much to make me happy

Viv — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:51:41 GMT

Today was the offical start of crunch time for my troupe for the local ren faire. We had a fantastic rehearsal. Everyone worked really hard. I came home and flipped the TV on while I was changing clothes to go to dinner (4 hours of rehearsal? I was sooo not cooking). Well I turned it on just in time to catch a commercial break. The first ad was the the faire. Very cool becaue last year there was no tv advertising. They listed off some of the other returning entertainers then "Yuma's own Banat Tabla belly dancers" They used a photo of myself and another gal from a duet we did last year, well her front and as usual my arse....LOL! They didn't quite pronounce Banat right but close enough. What had me squeeing, jumping around and hitting the record button on the dvr was calling us "Yuma's own". As silly as it may sound those two words just were the icing on a fantastic day!

HI HO HI HO Its off to High School we go....

Viv — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:58:49 GMT

Or at least the kiddo did. My baby just left for her first day of high school. Needless to say it's the only reason I'd be up at this hour of the morning of my own free will. The morning was also accompnaied by plenty of "MOM! Do you have to?!?!" as I clicked off a couple of photos. And the answer to that would be yes....I had to.....LOL!

Workshops...addicted much?

Viv — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 05:28:46 GMT

Ok so I think I hit my limit on workshops I can go to this year. Three Jim Boz, Tribal Cafe, Bahaia Dance camp, yep I need to stop for the year before I bankrupt us...LOL! All my hotels are reserved, flights booked, rental cars reserved for the year. Unless of course that one last "must go" workshop turns up before the end of the year. I swear I need to hit the lotto to afford my addiction.

News to warm a mom's heart

Viv — Sat, 26 May 2007 06:59:15 GMT

So last night at dinner kiddo tells me she misses dancing. I had caught sight of her dancing the choreographies during the choreo class but hadn't said anything about seeing her since she has been so off and on about dancing for the past few years. She tells me she thinks she wants to be part of my ren fair group and maybe get into the tribal fusion style of dance. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high. We used to dance together when she was little and I miss that. However between a few comments from a teacher that we were unaware of until after the fact and "it's not cool to do what mom does" phase she quit. I would love to see her get back into dance and share my passion with me. I told her I would hold her to the same standards that I am holding everyone else to, including the performance contract and rehersal comittments. We talked about costuming, props, practices and a lot of the things I'd already talked with the gals about. We also talked about how I'd want her to practice with me at home since she'd been out of the dance for the past few years and that she'd need to take the next session of intermeadiate classes most likely. She seemed excited by the idea. Tonight she asked if I wanted to play Dance Dance Revolution with her. We played for close to an hour and she kicked my arse but good. However it was fun, a good cardio workout, and we spent a lot of time giggling. Tomorrow the plan is to spend an hour or so working with a tribal tecnique video, at her suggestion. I hope she follows through on dancing with my ren troupe. It would be so much fun to see her working at the fair, take her to workshops and perform with her, see her perform on her own and just enjoy dancing again. In other news, when I walked kiddo to her friend's house we took JarJar with us. She did really good, not at all spooked by the cars, horns, fireworks, or masses of people. The high school had graduation tonight, thus walking and not driving over, and it was chaos the entire route. If nothing else I can say I got my workout today. Cleaned carpets, DDR, and a 30 minute walk. Me thinks I'll sleep well tonight.

A Wonderful Christmas

Viv — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 23:22:55 GMT

I had been kind of bummed over Mom and Rod not being within travel distance for Christmas this year. The couple of other years when we haven't been able to travel or have family out here have always been depressing. It just never seemed like Christmas if we weren't in Tucson making the rounds of family or having a load of family here. This year, was amazing even without the loads of family. We had kiddo's buddy Carmen over. Her family hasn't really celebrated a Christmas in many years. Usually her parents just give her some money to spend on herself. Well we went out and found a few things to tuck under the tree and in a stocking for her. It was so much fun to see the look on her face when she realised that we had taken the time to find gifts that matched her intrests. Hubby was delighted with his World of Warcraft t-shirts. Mom bought him a gorgouse mounted knight statue to go with the knight lamp she had gotten him last year. My brother really scored this year for him too. Apparently a buddy of his asked him to help a friend move some stuff. Turns out the friend is the head physical therapist for the Miami Dolphins, Wayne's all time favorite football team. When the friend found that out, he gave Joe an offical Dolphins jacket for Wayne. Needless to say the man is tickled pink. Kiddo also scored well on the spoil factor. A new Ipod, world of warcraft t-shirt, some cool jewelery, manga books, a dance pad and new game for the PS2 and her absolute fav, the drawing pad and manga program for the computer. She's still in the "figure out all the things she can do with it stage", but she's having a ball with it. The squeals of delight were probably heard for miles. Wayne and the kiddo did well by me too. I have 6 new calanders (I know I have an addiction and yet I still usually have no clue what day it is :P), some fun new costume jewelery, the snuggliest robe ever made, and two new "fluffy" skirts from Fat Chance. Mom completly floored me. She had one of the photos that were taken at Ya Halla Ya All made into a 16 by 20 canvas print. It's amazing! To top it off she found out from the photographer he is using the same photo in one of his advertising slideshow/videos. The link to the ad is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrE8NbF7Vpg My photo is at minute 1:31. I am flattered, floored, stunned, and totally amazed. We spent the rest of the day after presents calling family, hanging out, playing with our new "toys", eating and generally having a relaxing, no stress type of day. The critters even had a few gifts under the tree from Santa Paws. Some new squeaky toys for the dogs and a new water and food bowl combo for the kitty. No more having to share the doggies water dish and their "cooties" for Miss Yo-yo. I hope everyone had as wonderful and magical of a Christmas as we did!!

Superstars in Tucson

Viv — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 07:58:48 GMT

So last night Guin and I went to the Belly Dance Superstars in Tucson. I drove down early Friday although not as early as I wanted to. Apparently in my brillance Thursday night I washed a load of clothes and tossed them in the dryer. However I neglected to oh say...turn the dryer on? So I had to wait for the dryer to do it's thing so I had my jeans before I left. I had planned on going to Tucson Mall and wander around, do a little birthday/Christmas shopping while waiting for Guin to get off work. Since I left later than I planned, I ended up at Borders instead. I was doing really well until I hit the watercolor books. Three new books later I made it out the door to go meet up with Guin. We met up, changed, and headed out for dinner. The tickets were general seating so we ended up at the theater about an hour before the doors opened. Needless to say we had really good seats, front row...LOL! Of all the people to run into at the show, one of my newer students had also driven out to see the show! She and her cousin ended up sitting with us. She was so fun. During the intermission she was excited not only by what she was seeing but that she could recognise moves from what she's been learning in class. The show, what to say? Amazing, fun, energetic, elegant.....the list goes on. I couldn't keep from smiling, or drumming on my leg and wiggling in my seat...oh surprise there. I've seen plenty of videos of Jillina and they don't come close to capturing the energy she has when you see her perform live. I would kill for ten minutes in her costume closet, and a body that would fit into her costumes...LOL! She wore a green and later a burgandy/purply costume that I am still drooling over. I'm still trying to figure out how Colleen and Sonia managed to dance for that long and never have a hair look out of place or loose a curl. The two of the tribal solos, Sharon and Kami, had me torn between watching them and watching their shadows on the staging behind them. It was a faboo visual effect. I would have loved to have photos of that for painting references later. Issam was his usual charming self and I still am amazed at how his hands blur as he drums. I took a workshop with him at Ya Halla this year, and absolutely could not help but to try and follow the rhythms along on my leg, quietly of course. At one point he was right in front of us, and did a double take in my direction then smiled. I think he saw what my hands were doing and was amused by it. Then again it could have been my overactive imagination...LOL. I doubt he recognised me from the workshp but again it seemed like everyone who talked to me that weekend identified me as the gal with the red and black hair so who knows. I know the show takes a lot of flack at times for the non-traditional belly dance bits, like the hula, belly-ballet, stilts and such. I thought those bits were well done, and a nice change of pace. Out of all those bits the stilts didn't thrill me too much. While the wings were faboo looking with as large as they were, I felt bad for the gal because the movement required to stay on the stilts really hindered her dancing and made her look awkward in comparision to how she danced for the rest of the show. The only thing I didn't like about the show, it was over wayyyyyy too soon...LOL!! I was bad at the "goodies" booth. I absolutely can not pass up a t-shirt that has anything to do with belly dance. We didn't stick around for the "meet and greet" with the dancers in the loby afterward. The crowd while not really all that big was getting a little overwhelming for us so we took off and headed out for some totally bad for us munchies. (Deep fried green beans and potato skinny dippers...yummmmy!!) Because bad for you munchies is just the thing we needed while oohing and ahhing over the show. LOL!

The ARGGG heard round the world

Viv — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 08:35:23 GMT

Otherwise known as how much of a complete idiot I am. I just got a nifty new program for editing the videos. It works like a dream. However it's user works not so well. With the old program I used to have to play beat the program and race to save between each and every single thing I did before it could shut down. Now, not so much. In fact it works so well I spent 3 hours editing, titleing, and sound boosting a practice tape for our routines only to close the program without EVER saving the project. I am such a twit!!!! I have however managed to make progress on the costumes for myself and two others for the workshop show in November this weekend. We've also had our "other kiddo" for the past couple of nights. She the kiddo's best friend and her mom is in the hospital again. Her mom has a lot of medical problems, and is in and out every time you turn around. She hates to leave her daughter alone and the dad is not in the picture all that much. If he's not at work he's out drinking with his buddies or in Mexico visiting friends and family. We offered to bring her here to stay while her mom is in the hospital. We are lucky enough to have a ton of family and friends to jump in if something were to happen to us. They pretty much only have each other. She and my kiddo are close as sisters of the heart can be. Just makes sense to bring her here, we consider her our "other kiddo".

Some days......

Viv — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 03:16:47 GMT

I love my video software. Honestly. I'd really love it if it would work! I have spent five hours today trying to edit show videos together into some sort of master disk sets that I can copy off for the rest of the troupe. I finally broke down and did the edit a small part, save, close the program, restart the computer, re-open the program and file, edit....over and over again. At least tht kept the bloody program from crashing every ten minutes. I have all the system requirements and then some, there is no reason this shouldn't work. Argggggggg!!! Ok rant over and now back to bashing my head against the keyboard....LOL!

Ya Halla Ya All

Viv — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 04:25:31 GMT

OMG!!!! Where to even start? I guess the beginning would be the best. Did you know that it's bloody dark outside at 5AM? I also learned that while everyone and everything that deals with flying these days says to arrive two hours or more before your flight, at Yuma International Airport the employees don't get there until an hour and a half before the flight leaves. While I was waiting for the flight from Phoenix to Dallas they asked for people to volunteer to step off and take the next flight because they had overbooked the flight. They would give you a round trip ticket good for a year to anywhere in the US they fly. I would have volunteered since I was arriving with time to spare, but I had planned my trip so I had time to find my hotel, get checked in, eat, change, and find the workshop site without having to rush. However, good old Murphy of Murphy's law had other ideas. I arrived in Dallas on time no less, to find that my luggage hadn't arrived with me. Yep. That's right, my luggage came in on that later flight. So I sat around the Dallas airport waiting for my luggage for close to four hours. If I had known, I'd have volunteered to get off the plane and come in on the later one so I would have at least had the round trip ticket for my troubles. I also learned there that most of the places to grab something to eat at the Dallas airport are on the other side of security. Figures, the drum that I had been so worried about getting on the plane as a carry on was no problem what so ever, my luggage, a whole other story. My luggage finally arrived, comeplete with love note from homeland security saying they had opened the smaller bag which had my gooshy pillow in it. So I jetted off to the rental car pickup, got my car and instructions on how to get to the Collyville center and booked out of there. To promptly get lost. A good hour later of circling the same area with lousy road signage and several sets of directions given by mapquest, a car rental agent and a parking valet at a steak house I finally found where I was going. I had had all of a muffin and a sandwich (think convinece store premades) to eat, a pounding headache and muscles so knotted up I could barely move my shoulders. Got checked in, changed and into the Rachel Brice workshop about 45 minutes late. I pretty much missed the warmups entirely. Rachel was amazing!! A wonderful teacher and very open about sharing everything she knows. Including how to get that snaky "boneless" look she has when she moves. I ended up taking more notes than dancing because my headache would not go away even after the application of several painkillers and I just wasn't moving well. It was still fun to watch and learn from Rachel Brice, even if I wasn't able to do as much as I normally would. I managed to find a Denny's near the highway to eat at after the workshop. I had my maps spread out all over the table trying to figure out where I needed to go to get to the hotel. Would have been easier if I had a clue where I was. The waitress asked where I was looking for and as it turns out she has a couple that are regulars that knew right where the hotel was. They drive past it on their way home. So I ended up following them to the hotel. Much blessings on that couple!! The hotel was nice and quiet. Pretty good trick since they were hosting both the bellydancers and a Baptist convention at the same time....LOL. They had a nice continental breakfast buffet which was overrun by the dancers each morning. If it wasn't for the danishes I would never have made it through the morning workshops. Friday was the Aziza and Virgina workshops. The convention center where all the weekend things were happening was less than a three minute drive down the road. I could see it from my window. I could also see a McDonalds which was good because I didn't want to have to eat at Denny's which was the only other place I knew how to get to all weekend. The convention center floor is concrete and COLD!! Definately hard on the feet. However they were prepared. There was a tub of ankle socks at the front of the room. Anyone who wanted could grab a pair and before they left dump them next to the tub so they could be washed for the next day's workshops. Aziza was Aziza, there is no other description for her! I learned a new drum solo from her, very different from the last one. A lot more pops and lock type of movements. As usual her personality and energy were fantastic and she kept making us laugh. Her microphone headset kept cutting out on her, but would come back if she shook her head. She joked that after the class she'd be shaking her head every few minutes when she was talking for the rest of the weekend. We warmed up to Jive Talking, yes a 70's disco hit and warmup moves included the good old disco fever arm. It was a blast. I was pretty shaky and not dancing to my usual standard so I bailed out on the Virgina workshop to get something to eat and go back to the hotel to nap. After I saw her dance that night I'm glad I did. I would have been in really bad shape if I had tried to do that workshop instead of relaxing and napping. Friday night was the scary one. I was moved back to fourth place in the lineup for the second half of the show instead of third. So a couple of dancers before the intermission I got up and went back to the dressing room to put on my belt and warm up. At the intermission we were taken back stage. There were also some dressing rooms back there as well as a tv so we could see the dancer who was performing. That was very cool. I missed all of about five performances while I changed and that was it. There were several tribal gals a quite a few caberet dancers back stage. It took me a minute to realise that Rachel Brice was one of the tribal dancers wandering around and chatting with people. It was her tattoo that made it click for me why this gal looked so familar. She is the sweetest lady!! She had a compliment for everyone when they came off stage. The ones she really liked she just raved about while they were dancing and to them once they came back stage. While we were waiting I told her I had a gal who was a student and troupe mate who wanted to "grow up and be Rachel Brice". She seemed to get a kick out of that. I really don't remember what I did for my performance. I just know it felt good, there were a bunch of flashes from cameras going off, and five minutes went by REALLY fast. I came off stage, and Rachel says "Little Miss Catherine Zeta Jones here...." She loved how "gooey" my moves were on things like myas and genies. She had said something the night before about how much she enjoyed dancers who do the basics and do them well with that "gooeyness". So I pretty much was pinging off the the walls from then on. Not only did another dancer compliment me but it was Rachel Brice!!!!!!!! I had a lot of people compliment me all weekend long. It was surreal. To go from not having my peers say anything about my dancing for all these years when I danced in shows outside of Yuma, to having people stop me when I was in jeans, t-shirt and glasses to ask if I was the gal who wore the black and silver in the show Friday night, then compliment me, is something amazing. It was around 11 when the show ended. Rachel, Aziza, Issam, Amir Thaleb and Virgina all performed that night as well as a bunch of very talented ladies who were attending the workshops. Saturday I just had the drum workshop with Issam in the morning. Apparently he was not only staying in the same hotel but on the same floor. When I got to the elevator he had just stepped in and pushed the button for the lobby so he grabbed the door so I could get on. I felt so goofy standing there not knowing what to say, especially since I was holding my drum case and it's pretty obvious what it was. Around 30 drums all playing the same rythym is something you have to experience. It's like a huge heartbeat. It was hard to not play well with all those drums around you pulsing. Issam was a great teacher. I sooo hope I can take another workshop with him sometime when I'm ready for more advanced classes. One of the guys I was sitting next to had the very first drum that was designed by Issam. He's started selling his own line of drums that are beautiful and sound fantastic. He did sign my drum head for me too! I spentSaturday afternoon roaming around the area a bit. I had lunch at the Macarioni Grill with a former troupe mate who had moved to Dallas a few months ago. WOW was the food good! Of course we spent a lot of time gabbing. We joked about how Rachel Brice was going to think Jen was a stalker before the weekend was out. She had already stopped to get her to autograph two cds, one for her and one for Angie. Then she had picked up some pictures of Rachel she wanted to have her sign as well as to get her picture taken with her. I had her autograph my dance bag. She "tribalised" my dancer on it too *grin*. The show that night was even more amazing than Friday's. Jim Boz, Bahia, and a lot more names in the dance commuinity were there to dance. All the instructors for the workshops performed, and jaws were hitting the ground all over the place. Four hours raced by. At one of the show breaks I got Aziza, Jim Boz and Amaya to sign my dance bag. I'll ask Bahia when I take the workshop in November. Jim said he'd be doing another workshop in Phoenix in January. I am going to do everything I can to make that one. He is so much fun and I doubt the man has ever met a stranger in his life. Sunday, Morocco and Tarik kicked my arse and had me laughing the enitre time they were doing it! Morocco is a true New Yorker and has a WICKED sense of humor! She made us giggle every time we turned around with the sound effects she made while doing moves. And her stories about when she started dancing in the clubs were hysterical. I learned another drum solo from her. I can see why years later Shirley and Patsy rave about the workshop they took from her. There was a two hour lunch break while they had a debate on how choreography and costuming choices effect the public opinon of belly dance. Miles Copeland was on the pannel as well as Morocco and Amaya and a few others. I missed that in favor of food and shopping but I suspect it was both informitive and fun to watch Morocco and Miles go at it. Afterwards there was a quick one hour zill workshop with Morocco that I "air zilled" since I hadn't found a pair of zills at that point to replace my worn out ones. Tarik had bit down on a pit in a meal and hurt one of his teeth. He was in a lot of pain and there had been a chance that he wouldn't be able to teach that day. Luckily he found some pain killers that would help since there wasn't a dentist to be found on a Sunday to yank the tooth. You would have no clue he was in pain the way he taught and performed. Another teacher that just blew me away while he was kicking my, to quote Morocco, "tailfeathers". He taught a fun little routine that you couldn't help but smile while you were doing it. I was surprised I managed to last out the entire class. I really hope I have a chance to take another workshop with him sometime. I did get both he and Morocco to sign my dance bag as well. I am finally getting around to customizing my Jewels of the Desert bag, with signatures of dancers I have taken workshops from. I plan to be burried with that bag...LOL! I raced back to the hotel to shower while Jen came to the convention center to get us seats for the show. It started about 45 minutes after the workshop ended. It was hard to stick it out for the entire show but we managed. It was worth it. Morocco and Tarik performed the drum solo she taught as a duet which was adorable. He danced the routine he taught us and Aziza danced the drum solo from Friday's workshop. I was glad she did it that night since it helped to cement in my mind what we had done so I could write my notes. She was the last performer of the night and had a special piece for those of us who stuck it out. On Friday I had seen her playing with practice poi balls shortly after the workshop ended. Sunday night she had attached her veil to one and used the ball to spin the veil. It was SPECTACULAR!!!!!! It made Isis wings look dowdy. The sweep and range that had was phenominal. I so want to learn to do that. I got to the airport in Dallas at 6AM their time, 4AM home time. I figured better way early in case I got lost or had any problems with the rental car or check in, plus I knew security would be a zoo just due to the sheer volume of people that they process. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It did turn out to be a good thing I was that early though. My flight itinerary had the wrong time on it by around half an hour later than the flight actually was. If I had arrived the two hours before hand they reccomend I'd have been pushing it to make my flight. In Phoenix they were having issues at the prop plane gate. One flight got hung up and that put everyone's flight into a mess. My flight was about an hour late getting home. But the luggage actually made it on the same plane I did! I bought some new music, couple of hip scarves, couple of dvds, an Aziza t-shirt, some jewelery bits, and new zills. I learned a LOT about my dance and got some fabulous new ideas for combos and choreographies. I met a lot of very lovely and friendly dancers, drummers, and dance fans. I had professional photos taken of me in costume and got the compliment of a lifetime about my dancing. I got to visit with someone who started out as a student and turned into a friend. I saw amazing dancing, costumes and choreographies, heard druming that will echo in my soul for years........and I want to go back and do it all over again next year!!!!!!!!!

Just a post

Viv — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 22:44:35 GMT

OK so it's summer and my schedual has finally slowed own some. At least enough to post something to this...LOL