"Journey to the Underworld" - workshop with Tempest - moved to 11/21!

A special 3 hour workshop experience with Tempest

When was the last time you broke down your own facades and explored the truth of what lays bare underneath? Are you brave enough to look and become stronger as a dancer for it? Being a part of the bellydance community for any length of time affects us in so many ways, many below the surface that can influence how we look and feel about ourselves and others. In this dynamic and unusual workshop, we will explore through exercises and movement combinations the mythic concept of the Descent and Encounter in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Indian cultures. This is a safe and supportive opportunity to challenge yourself mentally and physically, while discovering who you are or wish to be as a dancer. Warning: This is not a "woo-woo" or "new-agey" class, but it will ask you to push your boundaries.

FAQ:
For many traditions and cultures around the world, at this time of the year, they believe the veils between this world and the next are thin or lifted. Hence why we see many references to the dead, spirits, and the macabre, ancestor recognition and revelry, etc. It is also considered to be the end of the Wheel of the Year, so a good time to finish things up and start anew.

Where: OwlKeyMe Arts Studio, Edgewood, RI (border of Cranston/Providence, easy access from 95/195, addy to be mailed to registrants)

How Much: $45 for the 3 hour workshop by 11/8, $55 afterwards plus there will be an optional outdoor ritual working afterwards. The workshop is limited to 8 students ONLY.

What To Wear/Bring: Comfy dance attire, water, snack. Allergy meds if you're allergic to cats.

About Tempest:
Tempest pulls from her visual arts background (BFA from RISD), literary tendencies, and global inspirations to create dance that crosses the boundaries of time and culture. Tempest began her journey into dance in 2000, and has traveled the country to study traditional, folkloric, and fusion forms of bellydance. She is the premiere instructor of Gothic Bellydance in North America, and her extensive work in the genre has helped to define and develop the movement across the world. Her compelling performances exemplify her distinctively theatrical and expressionate style, and are rooted in oriental dance technique with a transcendent approach. Her costume designs have revolutionized the look of modern bellydance, and continue to inspire new and old generations of dancers alike.

In addition to her dance background, Tempest is an ordained minister in the Modern Tradition of Witchcraft, and has been a community leader, teacher, and guide in the New England and Bay Area Pagan communities for well over a dozen years. She is passionate about creating positive community by addressing the needs and concerns (physical, mental, emotional, metaphysical) of the individual.

To Register Now: darklydramatic.com/1031.html

Rhode Island Hafla!

Calling ALL RI-based dancers, teachers, and students! All bellydance styles! This is an event to showcase YOU! Come celebrate the diversity and beauty of our dance community and show your stuff! Performances by YOU, an artisan's marketplace (shopping!), a raffle to benefit the RI Food Bank, and a great opportunity to network, share, and build community spirit!

Details:
When: Sunday, November 8th from 12-5pm
Where: World Dance & Music Center, 925 Central Ave, 2nd floor, Pawtucket, RI, www.loladance.com
Admission: $10

To sign-up for your dance slot, please email Tempest at rihafla@meddevi.com. For all other questions, contact Lola at info@loladance.com or call 617.733.4141

Lee Ali in Rhode Island! September 18th-19th - Show & Workshops!

Don't miss out, the special pricing for the workshops - "Gutsy Greek Bellydance" and "Trance Dancing" with the amazing Lee Ali, in from California, will end on September 5th! Don't miss your opportunity to study with a living legend, whether you're cabaret, tribal, or fusion - these are amazing workshops with content that will embellish and enhance your dance experience! If you attended "Motif" and enjoyed it, you definitely have to sign up for "Trance Dancing!" And the workshops are timed so that's plenty of room for making evening shows in other towns later that evening - we've made it easy for you!
Register at www.darklydramatic.com/lee.html

AND!!! a show has been added for September 18th, featuring Lee Ali and a LIVE BAND - Mitchell Kaltsunas and Ensemble - plus other amazing dancers and appetizers too! At World Dance & Music Center - only $20 in advance!
Visit www.loladance.com for details.

Corset Vests & Belt Sets

I have a few complete sets currently available - check out my profile on fb, or the gallery in the Med'Devi Ink tribe for what's available - I also be accepting custom orders again in August! So much new stuff to come!

meddevi.tribe.net

No really, I'm living in Rhode Island now.

In case you missed the updates, the layout of the Durga Tour, or my incessant rambling, we've moved to Rhode Island. No, really, we live in RI, and technically, we moved BACK to RI, cause we lived here from 1996-2001.

For those of you who might be confused, here's a quick timeline:

1996-2001: Providence, RI
2001-2007: Bay Area of California
2007-2009: Cape May, NJ
2009 - onward: Providence, RI

It's like a circle dude!

And it's GREAT! I'm teaching dance at RISD on Tuesday evenings, and two classes at World Dance & Music Center in Pawtucket on Thursday evenings, and more classes to come in the Fall. Plus I have a home studio for both art and dance. So visit www.darklydramatic.com for all of the details!

Sam says you need a Shruggery

Doing a special moving sale on Shruggeries from now until July 1st - $40 for one, $35 for two or more. Will ship anywhere in the world :)

Visit: www.facebook.com/album.php

Durga Tour Shirts - just a few!

All along the tour, folks have been asking me if there would be any shirts left and if I was printing more?

The good news is that I do have a small handful of shirts left - bad news is the edition is sold out and I'm not printing any more - so this is it!

There are NO spaghetti tanks left!

But I do have ladies fitted tee's in S, M, L, and XL (only one of each of L and XL, 2-3 each of the S and M)

and I have men's shirts in M and L. And that's it!

Front of shirts look like: www.meddevi.com/durga/merch.html - and on the back is the complete listing of stops :)

Shirts are $20 + $5 s/h (shipped priority mail) in the US :)

Msg me with your size, style, and paypal addy, and I will send you an invoice!

Birthdays and things that begin with B

Both are things that are on the horizon ;) We've been on the road now since May 1st, and the end of the Durga Tour draws near! It's been a fantastic journey, and I am so thrilled about the great experiences we've had, meeting folks, connecting with friends, and sharing the art! And we have 3 stops left!

June 13th - Saturday is Buffalo, NY - which is our ONLY NY stop - and features 3 workshops with myself, Asharah, and Tim Rayborn, and a salon show in the evening! Planning some special surprises in the evening, including a taste of Motif to foster community and good vibes, and it's somebody's birthday too. Come celebrate with us!

June 15th - Monday is Boston, NY - with workshops with myself and Asharah, hosted by Badriya! (more B's!) The first time Boston gets to meet Asharah - and my 3rd workshop in B-town!

Then Tuesday is our last stop, with Motif in Pawtucket, RI - Motif has really made an impact across the country, with rave reviews, and we're so thrilled to make our last stop a Motif-only stop. And the B-word for this stop is Beginnings, as Rhode Island is our new home!

All event details can be found at www.meddevi.com/durga/stops.html

See you there!

An Open Letter to the Buffalo Bellydance Community

An open letter to the Buffalo Bellydance Community

It has come to my attention that misinformation has been spread regarding the Durga Tour stop in Buffalo on June 13th , unjustly impacting the event and I feel the best way to deal with it at this time is to take the matter to the larger community and clear the air. I ask you to take a few moments to read the following to help clear any misunderstandings.

The Buffalo Durga Tour stop will take place on June 13th at The Bellydance Academy, and features workshops in the day with myself (Tempest), Asharah, and musician Tim Rayborn, followed by a show in the evening. This will be the second time the Durga Tour will visit Buffalo – the last being in 2006, which was a great stop for us, so we’re looking forward to coming to you again.

The Durga Tour was created in 2006 to bring Gothic and Experimental/Fusion bellydance workshops and performances to cities all across the US. We did 25 states in 40 days. The 2009 tour expands on our base concept even further, focusing on fusion bellydance with integrity, community balance and growth, and musical interaction, and spans over 30 stops from May 1st – June 16th. It is designed to be accessible to ALL styles and levels of dancers, and for communities to work together, putting drama aside in favor of benefiting our beautiful art. From the beginning planning stages, sponsors for the tour are specifically asked to work together with other leaders, teachers, and troupes in their community and beyond – to put aside personal and stylistic differences to make an event possible that benefits all.

Putting together a tour of this scale is not an easy task. It takes an enormous amount of coordination, mapping, planning, and negotiating – not only between myself and the sponsors of the stops, but also with the guest artists who come on the tour with us, and local dancers/performers and musicians – spanning nearly a year of preparation, with the months leading up to the tour being a constant rain of communication with literally hundreds of individuals. But I believe it is all worth it, for the experience and opportunity of being able to bring our ideas and art on a smaller, more affordable scale to towns and cities all across the US – especially to dancers who can’t make it to the bigger festivals. Their appreciation and gratitude is simply astounding and a constant reminder that we’re on track, especially when one is used to a community that has a lot of resources on hand.

But there’s also a lot at stake, and again, being on tour is no easy task. There’s a lot of money involved in keeping the van running and full of gas, honoring contracts and time commitments, functioning on a lot of fast food, long hours on the road, and minimal sleep. It takes a huge amount of effort not only on our part to make every stop successful, but also requires the community as well to take part and take responsibility, in order to make it successful for all involved.

So getting the reason why I’m writing this letter to you. I have read firsthand accounts of libelous statements being made against myself, the event sponsors, and the tour, and heard direct accounts of similar slander from numerous community members, which are impacting the success of the stop, essentially satisfying the intent of the misinformation and ill-will being spread. Now, personal opinions in private blogs are one thing, but when I have other professional dancers and friends around the nation coming up to me going “What the heck is going on in Buffalo!?” that is not only something for me to be concerned about, but YOU as well. Issues between local dancers are sadly the norm everywhere, but your national reputation is being impacted.

In a nutshell, I refused to get involved in an un-related business conflict between a studio owner and troupe, who were working together to make the Buffalo stop happen. I asked both parties to please do their best to work it out, and not to bring myself or the Durga Tour into the disagreement. Previous to their disagreement, the contract for the stop had been signed with the studio owner, and deposit secured for it, securing the stop in the Durga Tour schedule. The issue was escalated emotionally, and I was urged by the troupe to cancel the stop, which at that time in late April, was not feasible, reasonable, or frankly, professional on my part. I don’t cancel stops due to drama, regardless of who is involved, especially when a stop concerns several other individuals besides myself (Asharah and Tim Rayborn). That is simply not good business. Both the studio owner and I separately encouraged the troupe to still participate and be involved in whatever way they wished, putting other issues aside for the spirit of the Durga Tour and community. And as I departed for the tour, that is where things were left from my perspective, and I sent another request for cooperation and working things out. Being on tour now since May 1st, I have had little time for anything else, besides a few moments online here and there when I can snag it, but yet still I have received rumblings of sabotage because I refused to get involved in drama. This is mind-boggling to me – I simply don’t understand this sort of behavior, and while I can withstand a great deal of pummeling when it comes to me personally, this affecting more people than just myself. It is affecting other members of the tour, your local community, and again, your reputation in the larger bellydance community. If this stop is ultimately cancelled (something I am working hard against preventing, taking extra energy out of the touring schedule to put towards this), the repercussions will be far greater than just one event that didn’t happen. It will be a lot harder to get artists outside of your community to come back – and this is not hearsay or a threat, but what I heard directly from other dance professionals at festivals and events taking place in the last month. And that would truly be a great detriment to any bellydance community.

So I ask of you, members of the Buffalo Bellydance community, to be above the drama. Please don’t let misinformation make YOU miss out on a special opportunity. And I want to make it very known that EVERYONE is invited to participate in the events on June 13th, but only if you’re willing to leave the drama at the door and get down to some serious celebration of our dance.

Thank you for your time and consideration

Blessings,
Tempest

Transitions!

Well, we successfully exited NJ with most of our stuff aboard and made it up to RI. Minus a few issues and frustrations, I think I would have to chalk this up as our easiest/least stressful move yet. Much thanks to the friends who helped us load in NJ and unload in RI!

Heading back down to NJ to spend the week at my parents working on stock before Spring Caravan, and the official start of the Durga Tour.

Speaking of which, today is the last day to pre-order your Durga Tour merch! www.meddevi.com/durga/merch.html

I'm also taking orders on the Nouveau Noir tanks (same color/design as www.darklydramatic.com/tempes....html), and these aren't going up on the website until after the tour, IF there are any left - so if you want one, LMK if you want a spaghetti strap or wide strap, and in what size. Also your paypal addy and whether you're picking it up from me on tour or want it shipped. I also got a few more of the men's shirts in sizes L-XL-XXL as I had sold out of those...$20 for any of them.