Kriya (Free) Workshop with me this Saturday

Saturday, Feb 28th 2009

Topic of this Kriya (offering) Workshop:

Practice Drills w/ Foundation Moves

1-3PM
FREE!
Breathe Yoga Studio
Southside, Pgh, PA

Topic: Drilling Foundation Moves

This free class is a "Thank You" to everyone in the music, dance and art communities that helped me during my recovery from surgery. Yinz Rock!!

This first workshop in the 2009 Shimmy Series is geared for all levels of dance experience. This workshop is a great introduction to to the art form. We will work on isolated body movements that express the melody or rhythm of the music and layering movements. Experienced dancers will be challenged by slight variations on the drills that will help them refine their technique. Do you want to sharpen your hip and chest work to improve articulation? Or, do you just want to have a good time and try belly dancing on for size? Either way, you will enjoy this class.

Here's the link if you need more info n'at:
www.zafiradance.com/oliviash...ries.html

Shoes Thrown @ President Bush

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middl...7782422.stm

So, I'm torn with this one.
It is disheartening to see this level of worldwide desperation and frustration w/ Bush--- I would never WANT things to get this bad. Its barbaric. But, I am also bummed that the reporter missed.

How about Bush's reaction? "So what, if someone through a shoe at me..."
Really!?!?!

Thank You

Thank you so much to everyone who has contacted me to wish me well w/ my surgery. Everything went extremely well at the hospital and I am doing my best to rest & heal.

The low-down:
I had a fibroid tumor about the size of a softball on my uterus. Fortunately, it was on the outside of my uterus so the doctors were able to remove it w/out doing a hysterectomy. I want to give a special thanks to Teri and Amanda who made me promise to get the bump checked out when they saw that I was using it as a party trick. I was showing friends the crazy bump that stuck out of my belly when I ovulated (Hey, touch my uterus!). Teri pulled me aside at Amanda's request and made me promise to go to the doctor right away. I was in denial & had been dealing with pain, discomfort and fear for about a year. I think I was afraid it was something worse and I couldn't really handle the thought of embarking on a huge medical fiasco as a single mom w/ no insurance. It was too much. But, when I saw Amanda's face and when Teri pulled me aside, it kind of broke the spell of denial and fear and I knew I had to do something. Thank You!

Healing
Now it is the quiet time where I sleep most of the day while my body knits together muscle and tissue. I am trying to stay down, but its not easy. Yesterday, I woke from a horrible dream where all my organs fused together at the base of my spine as a result of laying on my back for too long. I woke in horror and had to hobble a couple laps around my apartment before I calmed down.

Basic bodily functions are cause for celebration (I pooped today, yay!) or crisis (I nearly died from a fit of laughter yesterday--no more watching the Colbert Report until I am healed!).

Thank goodness I have loved ones to help me through these triamphs & trials. I don't know what I would do without Fawn & August and the Zafira girls: Christine & Maria. You all have shown me such love & cared for me in a way that I have never have cared for before. I feel like I can actually rest and focus on healing because I know you are looking out for me and taking care of me. From fixing meals, to read-a-louds, to helping me take care of the house and bills, you have helped me get through this crisis. You are a dream team. I am so lucky to have in my life.

I love dancing w/ thes ladies. Period.

Pot Dance: Me & Tee @ Hiddeous! Kinky! Deux

uk.youtube.com/watch

Thanks for the footage Paula!

Vaudeville Carnivale Promo Video

Thanks for putting this together Paula- so whimsical and fun!

uk.youtube.com/watch

Tek-NEEK & Training

I recently wrote about the power of performance when the body is used as a conduit for the psyche in a performance. I truly believe that emoting, honesty and spontaneity are so important in performance (that part is easier for me). BUT, I also believe that training and technique are ESSENTIAL. This quote from Eva Cernik is one of my favorites. It expresses the importance of spontaneity and emotion in dance, while it also alludes to the importance of technical training:

"There is one unique element possessed by all true dancers, and that is an urgent feeling to align with the pure logic of movement~~ something akin to physics, but with soul. When this alignment begins to happen, then the music, the memory, the audience, the emotions, and the body channel her into something visible. All these channels are things that can be learned with hard work and experience, but the alignment somehow happens as a gift.

Dance exists just as mathematics or physics exist. The dancer spends her life training to embody those laws, to make them visible. The music chosen is one of the windows through which we peer." home.earthlink.net/~evacernik/eva.htm


“The dancer spends her life training to embody those laws, to make them visible…”

For years (probably 10 or more), I have thought of this quote when I am working on a new piece or trying to motivate my self to work on pelvic locks for just one... more... song. As a dancer, I HAVE to devote myself to physical training. The stronger and more practiced I am, the more I can articulate the music through my body. Without the training, the moves look like mush, they feel mushy. The physical training gives me the ability to express myself in a complex way. The more I train, the more I develop my voice.

Training also helps me to remove limitations that prevent the music from moving through my body more clearly. Training "opens up the channels" as Eva might say. One of the things I love about belly dance is the intricate expression that it offers. I love the way a slight movement of the chin and brow can accentuate a flirty pop on the drum, or a quiver in the belly can so clearly express the lilting flutter of a clarinet. And as a dancer, it is so pleasurable when I am in the moment and I FEEL the music move through me, unobstructed. It is like time stands still, my body is a vessel; hollowed out like an upright base. The music resonates inside and comes out through my belly, hips and hands. Moments like this, whether it is in performance or at home, are what I strive for as a dancer. Moments like this are WHY I am a dancer.

What I want to be when I grow up

I have been spending a lot of time working on new pieces for myself & Zafira in the past couple of months. In this process, I keep asking myself "What is my intention as a performer?" "Why am I not satisfied to dance at home in my living room, or at the club?"

From the very beginning of my bellydance experience I have performed. I love it, it is a rush. But, it's truly not a "look-at-me", "look-what-I-can-do" feeling. I It is more of an EXCHANGE between the audience and myself. I love the feeling when I am completely in the moment in the music WITH the audience. In this state, I am able to be both a conduit for the music AND the energy of the crowd. But, there is more to it than that. There is something transformative about performance - something that taps into our psyche both as a performer and as a spectator.

I found this passage the other morning in Rob Brezny's "Televisionary Oracle". It is actually quoted from Jerzy Grotowsky's "Towards a Poor Theater" and it defined my intention as a performer far better than I ever have:

"The holy actor, by setting himself a challenge, publicly challenges others; through excess, profanation and outrageous sacrilege he reveals himself by casting off his everyday mask, and this makes it possible for the spectator to undertake a similar process of self-penetration. If the holy actor does not exhibit his body but annihilates it, burns it, frees it from every resistance to any psychic impulse, then he does not sell his body but sacrifices it. He reveals the innermost part of himself-the most painful, that which is not intended for the eyes of the world. He becomes able to express, through sound and movement those impulses which waiver on the borderline between dream and reality."

-and therefore gives permission and guides the spectator to do the same.


I consider a good/ rewarding performance one in which I completely surrender my ego and become that vessel; a conduit for the song or emotion that drives the piece, and exchange or share that submission with the spectator. THAT, to me, is satisfying. I guess because I love when I come out of a performance effected, a slightly different person than I was when I came to the theater. I want to give that to people when they come to our shows. Whether it is a connection through humor or longing, I want people to come away from our shows slightly more open to the people or experiences around them.

Reflect and Resolve

Happy New Year!

I started writing this as an updated calandar of performances and events for 2008, but I guess this was what is really on my mind.....

I can't believe another year has flown buy. What a good year, 2007 was!
My company Zafira was voted Zaghareet Magazine's "Troupe of the Year". Maria and I traveled all over the country teaching, performing and studying with other dance troupes. I just loved seeing how the dance world has evolved. There has been soo much innovation and talent develop this year! I've seen so many dancers reach a level of professionalism and artistry that is unique and truly inspiring. Its funny, I thought I would be winding down my dance career at this point in my life, and maybe I will soon, but right now I am more inspired than ever. I think this is because I'm blessed to be surrounded by talented artists and visionaries that bring such meaning to my life. I can't imagine my life with out you.

My new project: the "Vaudeville Carnivale" variety show & carnival sold out the Kelly-Strayhorn theater, and I got my first grant with this project. It was one of the most challenging and ambitious projects I have attempted, and I was terrified! In staying true to my vision, I pissed-off some folks, and didn't sleep for days at a time. But when the show started, all of the worry and stress melted away. The artists were phenomenal, and the audience was blown away by the environment, the world, that we created. It was like a full immersion into this opulent, boheme fantasy. We had a hard time getting people to leave at the end of the night!

I hope that this year I continue to have opportunities to perform solo & with Zafira, choreograph with my fellow Zafiristas, and produce events that bring together my favorite artists from different genres in opulent, sensual, spectacles of epic proportions. Most of all, I hope that this year I find that sweet spot where I am able to be in the moment with my art and take it even farther for myself and my company.

I'll work on the calendar tomorrow...

3 Words After Sex

I stole this, but it was so fun, I had to!!!! Okay here we go, 3 words...

Your girlfriend's better.
Are you there?
Who are you?

okay, your turn....

Zafira Schedule

Wow, we have an exciting year ahead!

Tribalcon Atlanta, GA Feb. 9-11

Kami Liddle
Wkshop Dance Alloy Feb.18

Elevation2 Co. Springs CO. April 13-15

Tribal Fest Sabastapol, CA May 16-20

Darbukastan
Indep. Day Stuart, VA June 1-3

Northern
Migration Buffalo, NY July 13-15

Pennsic Slippery Rock, PA July 27- Aug. 12

TribOriginal Ashville, NC Sept. 14-16

************
Give me a shout out if we're comin' to your town, and tell me what hot spots we should check out.
We have several more tentative TBA, visit www.zafirdance.com for updates!