It's been over a week already and only now, am I able to gather my thoughts together and tell of my adventure in San Francisco to do the Teacher Training at the FatChanceBellyDance studio! And what an adventure it was! I'll go day by day, k? Here we go:

Friday: Got up at 4 a.m. to leave Orange County by 5 a.m. to make it up to SF by at least noon! I did! Couldn't believe it! AND was able to take a 1/2 hour nap in between all that driving! And I was tired! Well, parking in the city is for sh*t! And I was just soo excited to be there and get to the FCBD studio that I grabbed a parking space, loaded up my suitcase & my laptop to take in with me (I learned to take belongings in after my car was broken into in San Diego of all places! Took all my clothes that I had just packed for a 3 month tour! But I digress....) Got into the studio and was just blissed out because I couldn't believe I was actually there!!! It was the last day of the General Skills week and I was dropping in on the last day. It was soo great to see all the girls getting their certificates at the end of the day, the giddy excitement of achievement in this dance!
By this time it was 5:30 p so I decided to go out to my car to have the sandwich I packed..... wait...... where's my car?!?!? Uh.....you guessed it....IT GOT TOWED!!!! Long story short...... $10 cab ride to impound yard, $240 to get my car/towing expense, $60 violation ticket, I was a wreck! But most of all I wanted to take class there and thought I had missed it! Isn't that funny!??! Priorities.
Decided to stay to take class with Anita teaching and I was very surprised for a Friday nite, those classes were filled! WOW! Had a great time, learned alot and Anita is a great teacher! Afterwards, Quinn (from Gypsy Fire, Bend, OR) & Sharon "Shay" (from Infusion Tribal, Seattle, WA) and I went in search of eats! Found a cool place by their hotel and ate yummy food, drank wine & cosmos and laffed our asses off! Then, it was finally time for me to check in to my place that I would be staying for the duration and I was very lucky to be invited to stay at Frederiques house in Oakland! How cool was that!?!? Her and her man just moved in and it is the most adorable 4-plex with so much charm inside! I had my own bedroom & bathroom and they made an extra key for me because they knew that I was basically there to hang my hat. But hopefully would be able to visit with them at some point, which we did! I literally melted into bed that nite!

Saturday: Started off with a great breakfast with Fred & Jason outside in the sun! Then I was off to Rakkasah to help out at the Geisha Moth booth and also at the Tribal Bazaar booth. GM had over 14 assistants I think over the weekend and Tribal Bazaar was basically Paul & Yasemin! OY VEY! It was the first year in the new venue with my personal favorite change: the stages are equal in size so no more conference room or Titanic stage difference! I was there from 3 p.m. to close at 11 p.m. I was exhausted but had so much fun running between buildings, watching great performances like FatChance, who rocked the house!!!! Their set was just beautiful as always with lots of great formations & new combos!

Sunday: this was a LONG day at Rakkasah for me. I got there right at the opening, 11 a.m. to work the GM booth and then worked at the Tribal Bazaar booth basically being crown control! it was a madhouse in there! Saw more stunning performances, a personal fave being Domba (or the group formally know as Domba) and Ava Fleming teaming up for an amazing show!!! WOW!!! It was like watching the Moulin Rouge!!! And of course, sister troupes of FCBD, Red Lotus & Nefertem! Both stunning! Closing time and I helped out GM for a bit and then headed over to the Tribal Bazaar booth and oh my goodness!!! You never know how much stuff a vendor has until you help them pack up!!! WOW!!! Had no idea! The event ended at 8 p.m. I was outta there at 11 p.m. Can't wait for my teacher training to start and for the mystery to be revealed.....

Monday: Headed over to the FCBD studio to begin Teacher Training. (you'll be happy to know I found a parking lot that was safe & legal!) Carolena has this training down to a science, both the GS & the TT! She is so organized & Zen about it all! I just love it & marvel at the same time. We got our TT manuals and went thru it with a fine tooth comb, being able to ask her anything & everything about teaching the moves, running a class, etc. And then the thing I was dreading but also looking forward to: having to teach a move in front of her and the other Teacher trainees who were instructed to listen as students & not one who knows the moves already. That was fun! It was sooo great to see the other dancers teaching styles and to listen to Carolena's critiques and suggestions. We're sooo lucky to have this and to have the creator of this amazing dance doing this for us! It was a mixture of emotions for all of us: tense, excited, happy, scared, nervous, intimidated, but the bottom line being we wanted to do good soooo bad and wanted Carolena's approval ultimately! She told us to study our manuals for the next day and to be prepared for a pop quiz and to choose 2 moves that we wanted to teach. I chose mine and floated out to my car, once again inspired all over by her and this dance called ATS.
I was fortunate to be able to visit with Fred & Jason and their friend, Tom, over mexican food and a pitcher of margaritas! A great way to decompress after an amazing but mentally exhausting day!

Tuesday: We arrived, us Teacher Trainees, knowing what to do but not knowing what to expect...if that makes any sense? We dove right into teaching our moves to eachother, getting feedback from Carolena and the class, different ways to approach teaching a move, etc. So illuminating! We were 11 strong in there so by the time we got done, we didn't have time to teach our 2nd move so we opened it up to discussion, Q & A with eachother, good stuff!!! And then came our graduation! Again, so humbled yet sooo proud! group photo with certificates in hand. And at Suzanne Elliot's request, being able to dance with eachothAnhyer! I didn't want to leave just yet....none of us did but some of us had to go to the airport to catch flights home or stay and attend class that nite. As much as I wanted to attend class that nite, I had to celebrate! So Quinn, Sharon, Karla & Kari & I went out to dinner in the Castro district at this cool restaurant called Tangerine. I highly recommend t his place! great food, great service & all beautifully presented! Lots of wine & lots of laffs! talk about decompressing!
Then we went to Nickie's to listen to DJ Cheb I Sabbah spin and danced, drank, laffed, and just had an amazing time being with eachother one last time. Intense shared experiences like this are so special & unique that it's sooo hard to leave eachother and this was over 2 days! But all of these women were so wonderful and were just like me: cared enough about ATS to want to learn it right, teach it right and to keep it pure!

Wednesday: I was expecting just to get up and leave for da OC but had some unexpected surprises happen! Quinn & Sharon invited me to breakfast at Boogaloo's and then shopping in the Haight and at 5 & Diamond! That was alot of fun! We went to 2 cool stores and bought some really neat items! And I had planned the day before to meet with Carolena at a new tea bar that had opened up nearby. So I was able to meet, one on one with Carolena, over pots of tea, to discuss something that I was really keen on happpening: becoming a Sister Studio. We had such a great talk and 2 1/2 hours later, I was on my way home, with Carolena's blessing of being a Sister Studio in Orange County, CA and to preserve and uphold the integrity, work ethic, language, that is, ATS. I'm soooo honored!

I remember telling some of the other girls that I feel like the prodigal daughter. I started in ATS back in 2003 and then soon after started performing and started doing more & more choreographies, and doing tribal fusion, and everything but ATS. But after taking the GS in 2007, I realized that's where my bliss is. I like dancing with a group and I like tribal improv! I love jamming, never knowing what we're going to create but trusting that it will be fun and amazing as it always is!!! Thank you Carolena for giving us this dance! Words cannot express what this dance has meant to me. Long live ATS!!!!