Tales of a Tribal Belly Dance Tragic...

Long Time, No Tribe.net...

Angela — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:42:25 GMT

Well LOTS has happened since my last post.... Kat and I have had all sorts of adventures, including performing in Brisbane at the Feast of the Senses in July, at a private function in Melbourne in October, doing various shows in Hobart for a bunch of burlesque-variety shows (apparently the Hobart burlesqe crowd is quite fond of us), and lastly but of course in no way 'leastly', we had the pleasure of spending time with Carolena again in Katoomba and managed to gain our ATS Teacher Certification while we were at it! Meanwhile, our student troupe has grown, we now have 9 regular students, making us a lovely sized troupe of 11, and we are starting to perform semi regularly at small local events which has been wonderful :-) So, dance wise, life has continued to be pretty awesome :-) In 2010, we're REALLY looking forward to Ms Parker's visit to Sydney in May, we're also hosting a lovely new friend, Acushla, in Tassie in March for a weekend of workshops, which will be wonderful, she is a beautiful dancer, great teacher and lovely person, and we have plans underway to start a new ATS beginners class early in the year. Oh, also a possible visit to Melbourne in November - our calendar for 2010 really is filling up, lol! Oh, and lastly, we are now a sister studio with FCBD!! Phew! I think that just about covers it! I hope everybody has a great end of 2009 and a fantastic 201!

Pirates?

Angela — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:32:41 GMT

When we were asked to dance at a Carribean themed night at a local restaurant, we were stumped as to what we could do. Luckily a mate suggested Pirates of the Carribean and we thought 'we can do that!'. Anyway, it was a great night, a really lovely atmosphere, nice crowd and excellent food :-) It's funny, we're being asked to do all sorts of different kinds of performances these days, don't get to do much 'straight tribal'. Coming up we're doing another burlesque performance, a Spanish night as well as the St Patrick's Day Festival and we've recently performed in a Medieval style tent in Turkish costumes at a big SCA event. Random! But fun, and keeps us on our toes. Although, had to say no to a sixties theme night and an October Fest gig (I am not wearing Lader-hosen!! or however you spell it...). Some things I guess we just don't stretch to, lol. :-)

Another one bites the dust....

Angela — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 05:12:46 GMT

I can't believe it's December!!! And just to confirm it, we had the CC xmas hafla last night... was a fun night, great to catch up with some belly dancers I haven't seen for ages. Looking back over the year, Kat and I have had a busy and eventful time dance-wise, it's been great. I think the highlights would have been TTF in September and Devi in Tas in July. Both great, challenging and exhausting events. Another highlight for me has been the ATS stuff we've been doing with Ekstasis. They're such a great bunch of gals :-) And they are heaps of fun to dance with, I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to continue with them next year, it's been a lovely extra element to my dance life, having such a wonderful group of dancers to play with :-) For 2009, I'm looking forward to: More flamenco with Emma :-) Dancing to a live celtic-gypsy band (Crooked Fiddle) from Sydney at St Pats Day Feast of the Senses And heaps more luvly dance stuff!!!! Including I hope, much more dancing with the gals from Hobart, we didn't do much with you guys in 2008, I missed you!!!! Maybe we'll catch up more this year - starting with Paulette in Feb? Also catching up with (and doing dance stuff with) Ann-Maree and her gals now that she's back on the scene as a new mum!!! Happy silly season every one!! :-) Ange

Bliss

Angela — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:36:58 GMT

Well we're back and I've just about recovered from the workshops and performances at TTF! It was a GREAT weekend - really, I'd suggest any tribalists out there who haven't been to a TTF yet to get themselves into gear and get along to the next one!! Apparently there's talk of another one next year - hope so!! Anyway, it's really worth the trip, all of those amazing dancers and instructors in the one place, as well as all the lovely people (I'm getting to know so many dancers from so many places in and out of Aus!), not to mention the market days - you really need to save your pennies, I spent waaay too much - but got some really cool stuff!!!!! But it was a wonderful, exhausting weekend - after finishing work on Friday, we flew up, arrived in Sydney at some ungodly hour, got about 6 hours sleep, did 4 hours of workshops (Gypsy Noir and Devi did fantastic workshops by the way), waited around for a couple of hours (since we didn't have time to go back to where we were staying), then went to the venue and started getting ready for the Chakra night performance. We were sooooooooo nervous, tired, strung out, excited, nervous...... when we got through our performance we were sooooo relieved! Then it was 6 hours sleep, back again the next morning for a two hour workshop, market day performance, another two hour workshop and the Tribal Jam at the end of the day. We were soooooooo tired and emotional by Sunday afternoon! Kat and I actually had 15 minutes of not even being able to speak to each other because we were afraid we'd either yell or burst out crying....! The drive back across Sydney to where we were staying that night was probably the longest drive we've ever had, lol. But huge amounts of veg curry, some red wine and good friends and we were feeling heaps better. Still tired tho! After a nice day in Sydney on Monday (including stocking up on bindis from this amazing sari shop in Newtown), we went home on Tuesday - I was still so tired!!! I slept after breakfast before we left for the airport, then again on the plane (which is unusual for me!). So now back at home, on holidays (blisssssss), and finally able to relax, catch up on some things I need to do at home and do general fun holiday stuff for a bit. Have to say though, I am still looking forward to going back up to Sydney again on the 18th ;-) Anyway, better go and do something constructive with the rest of my day...... :-)

Tribal Goodness

Angela — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:23:53 GMT

Been doing lots of dancing lately, including working on two new choreographies with Kat, that we have now, thankfully finished and got to the stage where we're just about comfortable with them! We're getting to practice one of them in front of an audience tonight which is good, as we'll be doing it at Hellfire Club in Sydney (in slightly racier costumes than the ones we're wearing in L'ton tonight, heehee) in September. It's a belly dance-burlesque number, and features Kat doing the splits! (in a most cheeky way ;-) Anyway, it's a fun choreo, I'm looking forward to performing it, especially when we get to do it at HF, will be a great night. The other one is a bit more serious and has been making us stress a bit cos we've got to perform it in front of a bunch of dancers - this can either e very good (eg most performances in front of the bellydance crowd down here are great and the audience is really lovely and supportive), or it can be nerve wracking - i guess that's going to depend on the vibe on the night! No point worrying too much about it I guess... The other really fun thing we've been doing is out tribal get togethers on Wednesday nights in L'ton. Kat, Amy, Karen and I have been using the Tasdance studio in L'ton for ages, and we've invited a few people to start coming along and help us pay the studio hire! It's been fun so far, there's been about 8 of us, some beginners and some that have been triballing for ages, we've been practicing, doing a bit of instruction and ending each week with a chorus line (zills and all!). It's been great, I hope people keep coming back so we can continue! Other than that, I've just finished the Club Cairo newsletter and Kat and I have been doing the odd performance here and there around work, horsey stuff and the usual rehearsals. Busy but happy :-) Ange

Winter Rest! :-)

Angela — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:52:49 GMT

Well our insanely busy June/July period is over, and Kat and I are resting up for Sydney in September!!!!!! We're coming up with a new choreography for the Chakra show, we were intending to see if we could do our fav fire performance, but apparently there's no fire at the venue, so now we have to be creative and come up with something new! Actually not such a bad thing really, as we tend to get stuck in a rut at times, flog our fav pieces to death for a couple of months, especially when we're busy, so it's nice to be coming up with something new, good timing really :-) So stay tuned for a Gothic lurve choreo, heehee We're also performing at Hellfire Sydney later in September, which will be interesting!! I'm a bit of a Hellfire virgin, been to the club a few times but never performed there before - all part of life's great adventure I suppose! We're adapting a 'zombi' fusion (!) piece we've used before, as well as our version of a lusty piece by one of our fav U.S. troupes - will be an interesting experience! Anyway, I'd better go and find something else to do... I'm procrastinating, I have a pile of work sitting behind me from my 'real' job, that I really should get done by the end of the weekend.... sigh... maybe I"ll go make myself another cup of coffee!!!!!!

Been a while....

Angela — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:52:07 GMT

Hi :-) it's been AGES since my last blog entry! I've been BUSY! I think Kat's been keeping things up to date... adventures with pythons, technical melt downs, continuing classes, occasional performances, busy planning for Devi's visit and the workshops/hafla that weekend (yay!)etc,etc. So I'll sum up: Belly dance highlights since my last entry: 1. Performing at a 60th birthday party near Deloraine - we knew half the audience and they cheered and whooped all the way through our performance - it was so cute!! One of the most fun performances I've had in ages! 2. Halloween hafla - did this really cool performance with Karen & Kat to a Rob Zombie track, wearing black pvc and heeeaaapppsss of makeup - fun! Haven't got any pics of that performance at this stage, so if anybody has any, please send them my way! I forgot my camera that night! Belly dance Lowlights: 1. Our weekend of technical difficulties starting with and including our performance at a fundraiser - the event wasn't particularly well promoted and we ended up 'donating' our performance rather than asking them for money as we felt so sorry for them (we weren't the only entertainment and there was no way they were going to cover costs!) 2. What I would desccribe as a 'real belly dancer' experience: we performed at a Turkish family's birthday party at a local restaurant, the manager had organised us as a 'surprise' for the birthday boy - the manager had never met us, had booked us through his events manager who does know us, and left it until the DAY of the party to make the booking. So, as a favour for the friend that booked us, we rocked up, our usual glamourous selves, and the guy bartered us down $50 from our agreed price as soon as we got there (we'd driven 20 minutes to get there and were all cossied up so we weren't keen to leave without performing/getting $$), seemed snipey that our performance time was only 10-15 minutes, and pretty well pushed us out into the restaurant/bar to perform as soon as we got there, fucked up our music twice (pressed stop when HE thought the music was finished), and was generally arrogant and abrupt. I was a tad annoyed and on the way home realised that I'm REALLY glad I don't actually do this for a living, as I would hate to be in the position that I had to accept bookings from arrogant men like that. Think I'll stick to the career and continue to pick and choose my gigs!!! So, rant over now. Think I'll go have another coffee....

Devi Mamak in Tasmania!

Angela — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:17:16 GMT

Yessss!!!!!!! It's official! :-) Keep your calendars clear in June! Club Cairo are very excited to announce that Devi Mamak will be visiting Tasmania in June 2008! Devi will be in Tasmania for a weekend of workshops on the 28th and 29th of June 2008. Dates: 28th June 2008, 10am – 3pm 29th June 2008, 10am – 3pm Both days will be four hour workshops, with one hour for lunch Cost: $110 per day ($100 for CC members), $200 for the weekend ($180 for CC members). Venue: Adult Education Hall, Launceston (to be confirmed) Contact: clubcairo@hotmail.com, or Angela on 0437751933. Deposits to be paid by 1st June 2008 BOOK EARLY TO AVOID MISSING OUT! Devi will also be performing at a hafla on the 28th hosted by Club Cairo, more details about this out soon! Woohoo! see you all there! :-)

Sword Workshop

Angela — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:36:25 GMT

Hi all :-) Kat and I have been talking about running a workshop (probably in Lton, so we can use the nice Tasdance studio), in which we teach a sword choreography. Just wanting to put the feelers out to see if there's any interest now that you've all done Mel's sword workshop at MED fest :-) The choreography will be one many of you have seen us perform at least once, to I Cash Radii by Pentaphobe (from the same album Mel taught her goth fusion choreography to, so lots of you will also have the CD!). Thought we'd make it a 3 or so hour workshop, teach the basic moves in the choreography then teach the actual choreography with the swords after that. Let me know if there's any interest, and I'll put something together, we're looking at Feb '08. cheers Ange

Flying Solo :-)

Angela — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 03:22:29 GMT

Kat was away in Melbourne this weekend, and we had a workshop and performance booking yesterday! I was a bit worried about being without my patner in crime, but ended up having a really nice day! First I went to Di's place in Scotsdale to run a Tribal workshop, and after driving all that way to get there, it was a really pleasant surprise to find her place was such a lovely venue to hold a workshop! She has a gorgeous place, with a really nice garden (we had lunch outside as it was such a beautiful day), but the best bit was her studio! SO JEALOUS! Di is lucky enough to have a studio fitted out with great floors, mirrors, fans on the ceiling, big, beautiful windows looking out to a supurb view and really nice decor - the place had a really nice feel, and the workshop ended up being a fun and relaxed day - hopefully Kat and I will be invited out there again!!! Then after travelling home, a quick runthough, costume change (I got to wear my new jaipur skirt ;-> ) and something to eat, I ventured out to Westwood to one of the BEST 50th brithday parties I've ever been to. Again a gorgeous garden setting, a REALLY lovely crowd and a charming host! My solo performance went surprisingly well and the audience really seemed to get into it - I even got a tip! So basically an awesome day all up - pity Kat wasn't here to share it with me, but I'm kinda proud of myself for managing to fly solo for once :-)

Feast or Famine.....

Angela — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 05:36:51 GMT

Feel like we're on a bit of a 'world tour' at the moment! Slight exaggeration I know, but we're sooooooo busy! Not only with bellydance stuff, but to give you an idea, over the last month we've attended the ATS thing interstate, moved house, conducted full day workshops in Latrobe and Launceston on two consecutive weekends, taught classes once a week, rehearsals in L'ton with our friends Amy & Karen once a week, all whilst holding down our usual full time jobs by the way, and trying to fit our own rehearsals in for about 1/2 dozen up coming performances in the NEXT month (including a fire performance we're doing this coming Saturday, and have only managed to rehearse twice so far....). We're also organising the Bling fundraising night that's on this Friday, and I'm flying solo and doing a workshop inScottsdale followed by a performance on the same day in a couple of weeks on a day that Kat's in Melbourne. What is up with all that?????????? Guess I shouldn't complain, but when it rains, it surely does pour! I've almost forgotten what my horses look like..... Well, better not spend too much more time doing this.... did I mention I'm also writing a job application? Sigh

ATS weekend

Angela — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:32:17 GMT

Well we're back, and we have a certificate to prove it! Had a great weekend, Carolena and Megha were wonderful, we learnt so much, and had a great time. Totally worth the effort getting up there for such a brilliant 15 hours! The bits in between were great too, some highlights being meeting a couple of lovelies from NZ, heaps of chats with Kellie from Syd (otherwise known as Kurvy ;->), dinner at Sandy's place (LOVE her pets!), dancing with heaps of different and wonderful girlies (including Jackie from Tribal Jewels who was wonderful to dance with and a lovely person!), girly chats and getting to know lots of tribalists from all over, and heaps of other fun stuff which I'm too tired to write about now..... Thanks Devi for inviting us along - hope we can get up there again soon!

Tribal in Deloraine - again!!

Angela — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:02:55 GMT

Well we've just had it confirmed - our beginners' Tribal classes are going ahead for a second term in both Deloraine ad Launceston :-) We've also been asked to do a workshop in Scottsdale and have plans underway for workshops in Launceston and Latrobe - so busy girls! Would be great to be doing more performance though! At the moment we've got our October BLING night in Deloraine, Halloween performance in Hobart then the Tas MED Fest Bazaar night in November. I suppose on reflection that should keep us busy for now ;-) Only 4 more sleeps to Carolena!!! Really looking forward to that, and also just looking forward to getting away and catching up with a few peeps in Sydney while we're up! Unfortunate that our visit doesn't coincide with any Tribal get togethers this time - we are definitely factoring a Tribal Jam/Student Soiree into our next visit! Oh well, I think I can hear Kat's car in the driveway, better get off the computer and into the studio!!!!! :-)

Moving House makes you.....

Angela — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:28:09 GMT

So we're moving house :-( Will definitely miss the view.... and the spa.... and the studio space..... guess they're a few of the reasons the landlords decided it was time to return! Ah well, as my lovely but often sarcastic friend Cazza says (continually) "You girls have had it too good too long!!!" (usually followed by a delighted cackle......) Trina is rather STRESSED about this whole moving thing, and I've tried a few ideas to decrease her stress levels (including the magnet message on our fridge... subliminal!). Anybody got any anti-moving-stress ideas or stories??? Ange

Performance Videos

Angela — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:59:55 GMT

Finally got a couple of clips up on UTube! The quality is average, (not saying anything about your camera skills Cassandra!), just a bit dark & wobbly, but still, you get the idea! Check it out and see what you think!

What's Up???? :-)

Angela — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:49:53 GMT

Lots of stuff going on at the moment dance-wise! I've just posted two flyers for upcoming workshops Kat and I are running in October - check them out in my photo album if you're interested. Also, go to the Club Cairo profile if you're interested in the 'Girls Night In' we're organising in September - another awesome line up at Toro's for your entertainment! And we'll be raising money for a v important cause - Cancer Council and in particular research and education into Women's cancers - so bring your girly pals and some bling and come along! :-) Kat and I also started teaching our 4 week beginners course in Deloraine last week - a lovely bunch of women! Looking forward to this week's class. We also have some other exciting dancey stuff in the pipeline.... hopefully that will all go well and we'll have a suprise maybe at the next xmas hafla!!! ;-) cheerio :-)

Carolena in September :-)

Angela — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:19:44 GMT

Got a very pleasant suprise today - an email from Devi saying Kat and I could have places in Carolena's 'Certificate in ATS skills' training course in NSW in September!!! How cool is that! I of course am TOTALLY stoked! Now just have to sort out some practicalities.... flights... scrounging $$ to pay for everything... leave from work.... somewhere to stay... oh well...I'm sure it'll all turn out just fine! *excited squeaks* Ange

Poor Kitty!

Angela — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:54:23 GMT

Zelda is usually a lot more glamorous than this! Poor baby, she went missing for about two weeks (long story) and came back 3/4 starved with two very advanced abscesses on her neck! She now looks like she's had her head cut off and sewn back on again! Needless to say a very lucky/happy to be home cat!

Pentaphobe rocks!

Angela — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 04:23:49 GMT

...THEY REALLY DO YOU KNOW! finally got my copy of the second album, Sawdust, in the mail today (gotta love amazon), it's a really interesting sound, simlar but different to the first album, it's got a really 'carnivale' feel to it. I quite like it! Will have to give it a couple more listens before I decide whether there are many tracks I can actually dance to (not like the first album that just made me want to dance right from the first listen!!!!), but it sems a great album so far anyway (I'm on my first listen now, up to about track15), I know it'll be on high rotation on my stereo for some time! Anyway, if you're looking for some different sounding, interesting, quirky music to dance to or just listen to, I highly recommend this band - and the guy who's responsible for it all is from Aus!! Go Keili! :-) ;-)

Rainy Monday

Angela — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:32:31 GMT

Well, it's Monday morning(ish), and I'm on my second cup of coffee, checking emails, etc and trying to keep my cat Fluffy from walking over the keyboard as I type. Kat and I took our first belly dance class last Thursday, and I think all went well. By that I mean I don't think we scared anybody away, and I think everybody 'got' at least one or two of the movements we were trying to teach them. So not bad for a first go. Looking forward to this Thursday's class. Also looking forward to the hafla in Launceston at the end of the month, will be good to catch up with a bunch of the Tas belly dancing girls. Also looking forward to performing of course! Anyway, I suppose I'd better try and decide whether to battle the rain and go outside, or stay inside with my cats and maybe have a dance practice.... hmm choices. :-)

Tribal Jam Sydney 29/6/07

Angela — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:54:53 GMT

Some pics our friend Tony took :-) http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyno/sets/72157600619505854/

We're Baaaack!

Angela — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:52:33 GMT

Phew! Kat and I had a great time in Sydney! I think my two personal highlights were our 4 hours with Devi in the Blue Mountains and the Tribal Jam in Sydney. Devi was fantastic! I only wish we had the opportunity to be taught by her more regularly, she is SUCH an amazing dancer, and a great teacher. We went over lots of moves and focused on basic technique, which was great for us, and we were also lucky enough to learn some new moves! We also attended another workshop with Devi once we were back in Sydney which was really fun and again took heaps of notes and came home with lots to work on! The Tribal Jam was EXCELLENT!! If only we could do stuff like that in Tassie - 1/2 dozen or so drummers, double bass, violin, flute, sax all these wonderful musicians playing together and about 20 dancers! It really was a great night, had a wonderful feel, you could get up and dance whenever you felt like it, with whoever happened to be dancing at the time, really dynamic, engergetic and fun. We had a friend with us who took heaps of photos, so hopefully we'll have some to post soon, and Nyree has promised to email me some more as soon as she gets back from Melbourne. Anyway, if anybody gets the opportunity to be in Sydney at the same time as a Tribal Jam (they happen every 3 months), I highly recommend that you GO ALONG!!!! FUN!!!!!!!! :-) Ange

Classes & workshops

Angela — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 05:28:37 GMT

As well as holding classes through Adult Ed in Launceston & Deloraine over July/August, Miasma are hosting a Tribal Belly Dance workshop in Launceston on Saturday August 11 2007. Details: Beyond the basics workshop This workshop is for students of Tribal Style Belly Dance who wish to refine and add to their basic tribal vocabulary and performance technique. The workshop also reviews the basics of cuing and improvisation. Venue TBA. Enrol through Adult Education, or visit our site: ww.miasmabellydance.com

last week of june

Angela — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:18:16 GMT

Kat and I are heading up to Sydney next week!! Lots of dancey stuff planned! We've been lucky enough to score some time with Devi and Hilary, as well as being able to attend the Tribal Jam on the 29th - looking forward to all that dancing and to catching up with everybody in the big smoke....