Little Italy Days!
Little Italy Days August 22-25 2013
Join PDC as it proudly supports Little Italy Days. What a great festival to be part of as our studio sits in the heart of the block party! We can’t wait to see you there! You can join me on Saturday at 10 am for our regularly scheduled bellydance class or try out a tester or one of the other many classes for free below!
- Thursday 8/22 7pm FREE Ballroom Dance Lesson
- Friday 8/23 6:30p ish FREE Swing Dance Lesson at Dr.Zoot stage
- Saturday 8/24 11am FREE KIDS Dance Class
- Saturday 8/24 Noon FREE Adult Hip Hop/Jazz Class
- Saturday 8/24 12:30pm FREE Bellydance lesson
Saturday afternoon PDC’s aerial team members will be on liberty hanging in the silks!
We will be adding a few more free classes to the line up. Check the website in a day or so for the full schedule of FREEBIE dance classes!!!!
Nebtedi Menien El Hikaya
It’s a song you all probably know…it’s catchy, dance-able, and always feels uplifting, and after finding the lyrics, I now know why! Enjoy something catchy to end your work day 🙂
Verse 1
If we were to tell the story,
Where would we begin the tale?
The story of our love, our love
Has much more than a beginning.If we were to tell the story,
Where would we begin the tale?
The story of our love, our love
Has much more than a beginning.If we were to tell the story,
Where would we begin the tale?
The story of our love, our love
Has much more than a beginning.We’ve lived within it,
My how we’ve lived.
My how we’ve lived.We’ve seen much in it.
My what we’ve seen,
My what we’ve seen.We’ve lived within it,
My how we’ve lived.
My how we’ve lived.We’ve seen much in it.
My what we’ve seen,
My what we’ve seen.But we walked,
And completed the journey of love,
And we’ve arrived.But we walked,
And completed the journey of love,
And we’ve arrived.And the world couldn’t make us argue.
Or separate us or drive us apart.And the world couldn’t make us argue.
Or separate us or drive us apart.C’mon, let’s go,
To tell everyone, you and I,
How we were able.C’mon, let’s go,
To tell everyone, you and I,
How we were able.To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.
To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.
To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.And embrace our joy,
Our joy, our joy,
Together, and let our love,
Our love stay young.Verse 2
And we met, you an I,
In our journey, many things
That wounded others.Jealousy, and it’s worries,
And what happens as a result.And we met, you an I,
In our journey, many things
That wounded others.Jealousy, and it’s worries,
And what happens as a result.The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.
The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.And we met the evil eyed,
And they saw us.
And never once did they think
To leave us alone.And we met the evil eyed,
And they saw us.
And never once did they think
To leave us alone.And the talked about us,
My how they talked about us.
But our love,
Never changed at all.And they talked about us,
My how they talked about us.
But our love,
Never changed at all.And we met, you an I,
In our journey, many things
That wounded others.Jealousy, and it’s worries,
And what happens as a result.And we met, you an I,
In our journey, many things
That wounded others.Jealousy, and it’s worries,
And what happens as a result.The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.
The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.
The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.And we met the evil eyed,
And they saw us.
And never once did they think
To leave us alone.And we met the evil eyed,
And they saw us.
And never once did they think
To leave us alone.And they talked about us,
My how they talked about us.
But our love,
Never changed at all.And they talked about us,
My how they talked about us.
But our love,
Never changed at all.And you’d travel, and I’d travel.
Many times, we would travel.
And our hearts would meet,
With every rising of the moon.
With every rising of the moon.And you’d travel, and I’d travel.
Many times, we would travel.
And our hearts would meet,
With every rising of the moon.
With every rising of the moon.And if our paths
Drove us apart,
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.And if our paths
Drove us apart,
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.And you’d travel, and I’d travel.
Many times, we would travel.
And our hearts would meet,
With every rising of the moon.
With every rising of the moon.And you’d travel, and I’d travel.
Many times, we would travel.
And our hearts would meet,
With every rising of the moon.
With every rising of the moon.And if our paths
Drove us apart,
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.And if our paths
Drove us apart,
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.And who can make us argue?
Who can break us apart?
And who can make us argue?
Who can break us apart?Between our hearts, our hearts.
There’s a meeting every moment.
There’s a meeting every moment.C’mon, let’s go,
To tell everyone, you and I,
How we were able.C’mon, let’s go,
To tell everyone, you and I,
How we were able.To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.
To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.
To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.And embrace our joy,
Our joy, our joy,
Together, and let our love,
Our love stay young.Verse 3
And we met, you an I,
In our journey, many things
That wounded others.Jealousy, and it’s worries,
And what happens as a result.And we met, you an I,
In our journey, many things
That wounded others.Jealousy, and it’s worries,
And what happens as a result.The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.
The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.And we met the evil eyed,
And they saw us.
And never once did they think
To leave us alone.And we met the evil eyed,
And they saw us.
And never once did they think
To leave us alone.And the talked about us,
My how they talked about us.
But our love,
Never changed at all.And they talked about us,
My how they talked about us.
But our love,
Never changed at all.And we met, you an I,
In our journey, many things
That wounded others.Jealousy, and it’s worries,
And what happens as a result.And we met, you an I,
In our journey, many things
That wounded others.Jealousy, and it’s worries,
And what happens as a result.The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.
The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.
The day it came close to us,
It was driven away by our love.And we met the evil eyed,
And they saw us.
And never once did they think
To leave us alone.And we met the evil eyed,
And they saw us.
And never once did they think
To leave us alone.And they talked about us,
My how they talked about us.
But our love,
Never changed at all.And they talked about us,
My how they talked about us.
But our love,
Never changed at all.And you’d travel, and I’d travel.
Many times, we would travel.
And our hearts would meet,
With every rising of the moon.
With every rising of the moon.And you’d travel, and I’d travel.
Many times, we would travel.
And our hearts would meet,
With every rising of the moon.
With every rising of the moon.And if our paths
Drove us apart,
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.And if our paths
Drove us apart,
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.And you’d travel, and I’d travel.
Many times, we would travel.
And our hearts would meet,
With every rising of the moon.
With every rising of the moon.And you’d travel, and I’d travel.
Many times, we would travel.
And our hearts would meet,
With every rising of the moon.
With every rising of the moon.And if our paths
Drove us apart,
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.And if our paths
Drove us apart,
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.
The beauty of love,
Would bring us together.And who can make us argue?
Who can break us apart?
And who can make us argue?
Who can break us apart?Between our hearts, our hearts.
There’s a meeting every moment.
There’s a meeting every moment.C’mon, let’s go,
To tell everyone, you and I,
How we were able.C’mon, let’s go,
To tell everyone, you and I,
How we were able.To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.
To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.
To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.And embrace our joy,
Our joy, our joy,
Together, and let our love,
Our love stay young.Verse 4
And suddenly we stopped.
And our fear began.
And we found around us,
The world dark as night,
And wounded hearts.Like the leaves of trees,
In the season of fall,
Thrown by the wind,
Thrown by the wind,
Thrown by the wind.And suddenly we stopped.
And our fear began.
And we found around us,
The world dark as night,
And wounded hearts.Like the leaves of trees,
In the season of fall,
Thrown by the wind,
Thrown by the wind,
Thrown by the wind.And suddenly we stopped.
And our fear began.
And we found around us,
The world dark as night,
And wounded hearts.Like the leaves of trees,
In the season of fall,
Thrown by the wind,
Thrown by the wind,
Thrown by the wind.We asked our souls why.
What is greater than our love?
We asked our souls why.
What is greater than our love?But our fear couldn’t reach us.
And we knew it,
And we saw it,
And we felt it.But our fear couldn’t reach us.
And we knew it,
And we saw it,
And we felt it.We asked our souls why.
What is greater than our love?
We asked our souls why.
What is greater than our love?But our fear couldn’t reach us.
And we knew it,
And we saw it,
And we felt it.But our fear couldn’t reach us.
And we knew it,
And we saw it,
And we felt it.Verse 5
You see that love is just,
Glances, and touches,
But I see that,
The most beautiful words,
Of lovers, my darling,
Is the words comprised of lips.You see that love is just,
Glances, and touches,
But I see that,
The most beautiful words,
Of lovers, my darling,
Is the words comprised of lips.You, you, you, you.
You who are next to me
Every second,
But tries to flee,
Regardless of my words.And I see,
That our love is
Two people together,
Two people together,
Weakened by a touch of the hand.You see that love is just,
Glances, and touches,
But I see that,
The most beautiful words,
Of lovers, my darling,
Is the words comprised of lips.
You see that love is just,
Glances, and touches,
But I see that,
The most beautiful words,
Of lovers, my darling,
Is the words comprised of lips.You, you, you, you.
You who are next to me
Every second,
But tries to flee,
Regardless of my words.And I see,
That our love is
Two people together,
Two people together,
Weakened by a touch of the hand.You say you’re scared,
Let’s leave and be apart,
Be apart, be apart.
Because the passion is great,
It may trick us both.
What are you afraid of?
What is there more beautiful
Than the embrace of our love
To keep us warm.You say you’re scared,
Let’s leave and be apart,
Be apart, be apart.
Because the passion is great,
It may trick us both.What are you afraid of?
What is there more beautiful
Than the embrace of our love
To keep us warm.And then you say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.
And then you say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.You say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.That every lover
Forgets the nights,
The nights, the nights within it.Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.The moon is beautiful, But,
What’s more beautiful than the moon?
If we allow our lives
To one day taste the beauty love.You say you’re scared,
Let’s leave and be apart,
Be apart, be apart.
Because the passion is great,
It may trick us both.What are you afraid of?
What is there more beautiful
Than the embrace of our love
To keep us warm.You say you’re scared,
Let’s leave and be apart,
Be apart, be apart.
Because the passion is great,
It may trick us both.What are you afraid of?
What is there more beautiful
Than the embrace of our love
To keep us warm.And then you say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.
And then you say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.You say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.
You say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.That every lover
Forgets the nights,
The nights, the nights within it.Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.The moon is beautiful, But,
What’s more beautiful than the moon?
If we allow our lives
To one day taste the beauty love.You see that love is just,
Glances, and touches,
But I see that,
The most beautiful words,
Of lovers, my darling,
Is the words comprised of lips.
You see that love is just,
Glances, and touches,
But I see that,
The most beautiful words,
Of lovers, my darling,
Is the words comprised of lips.You, you, you, you.
You who are next to me
Every second,
But tries to flee,
Regardless of my words.And I see,
That our love is
Two people together,
Two people together,
Weakened by a touch of the hand.You say you’re scared,
Let’s leave and be apart,
Be apart, be apart.
Because the passion is great,
It may trick us both.What are you afraid of?
What is there more beautiful
Than the embrace of our love
To keep us warm.You say you’re scared,
Let’s leave and be apart,
Be apart, be apart.
Because the passion is great,
It may trick us both.What are you afraid of?
What is there more beautiful
Than the embrace of our love
To keep us warm.And then you say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.
You say, look at the moon.
And so I look at the moon.That every lover
Forgets the nights,
The nights, the nights within it.Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.
Beautiful, the moon is beautiful.The moon is beautiful, But,
What’s more beautiful than the moon?
If we allow our lives
To one day taste the beauty love.And our fear was defeated,
After we paused.
And our fear was defeated,
After we paused.And with our heartbeats,
We knew together.
And we lived a life of love.
In fantasy, fantasy,
Fantasy and reality,
And reality together.C’mon, let’s go,
To tell everyone, you and I,
How we were able.C’mon, let’s go,
To tell everyone, you and I,
How we were able.To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.
To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.
To escape from all grief.
And live forever in love.And embrace our joy,
Our joy, our joy,
Together, and let our love,
Our love stay young.
Minding the Daily Details
Today I am reblogging Ballet Beautiful‘s post entitled “Minding the Daily Details” as it is a topic near and dear to me. In this post, Eliza talks about Mindfulness which is often a recurring topic for my posts. Enjoy a little story by reading it here…
Motivation or the lack…
The last few months have been rather tough on my bellydance work ethic. Let me clarify this comment: my personal bellydance practice has been suffering…I still love teaching my classes and always work out lesson plans, sometimes months in advance (we are working on cane now incidentally…you should join me!), but when it came to personal practice…no motivation, no inspiration, no desire…
I thought perhaps, this is it, time to retire and move on to something new. I know some of that gut reaction was a back injury talking. I know much of it was also my side design work which demanded much of my creativity and attention, and which is also much more rewarding to me at the moment.
As a result, I have been gradually scaling back my involvement in bellydance and instead focusing on:
- eliminating back pain through regular physical therapy
- starting private pilates lessons to strengthen and tone and improve my carriage and posture
- restarting samba class which is simply a joy and drama free at the moment
- and trying to spend more time at home with the hubby and the cats.
I think in the end, burn out is burn out. It is your mind and body asking you for some relief, a change of pace. Although at times, I fear this really is it for bellydance for me, I know that it may be what I need. However, if this needed time to step back, reinvigorates me, then so be it! The main point is, you must take time to feed your soul!
Inspiration
Today, while searching for a little non-traditional inspiration, I came across this video by artist, Daniel Wurtzel.
Which lead to my finding this set to the music of one of my favorite groups:
(I won’t lie, I giggled outright reading one of the comments on the video that said, ” Sheet just got real”) but on a more serious note I will quote a small portion of his Artist Statement here:
In my most recent work, I am interested in finding or imposing order in chaotic airflow systems. The Air series of sculptures and room-sized installations involves lightweight materials such as bird feathers, flower petals, Styrofoam peanuts, fabric, balloons, soap bubbles, fog, fire or ordinary litter from the street that are trapped, and continuously fly in columns or vortices of open air. Work from the Air series is spare and poetic, largely due of its use of humble materials. Propelled into motion by something that is invisible, the aerodynamic properties of these materials, and the underlying order within these inherently chaotic airflow systems are revealed in a way that can be continuously observed.
I have been on a hunt these days for new inspiration, but I am feeling a calling to my roots, where I first found my love in the dance…working with fabric, silk, veils…the minimalist nature of the dance and the effortless beauty of shapes produced. These videos are really speaking to me right now. And I feel inspired to do a little recrafting of my veil technique into something new and changing, fluid and poetic…Stay tuned, folks! I promise to introduce something new for veils to you in 2014!
Release your inner child!
Release your inner child, even if that child is the L’enfante terrible!
We are so terribly serious in our lives and in our dance. We are on time, in charge, ever-present and prepared. We multi-task even when we are multi-tasking… We feel we must never fail, we must always be “on”, and there is no time for unexpected silly fun. You see, we even plan out our fun time.
As dancers, we carry our adult seriousness and responsibility into our dance and our dance practice. There is of course nothing wrong with this…we need to be serious and responsible with our performances and practice, however, we also desperately need to PLAY! Our inner child is crying out for us to have some fun, to lighten up, to maybe even throw an occasional temper tantrum!
I have been thinking about my inner child a lot lately, and especially after my return from the Asheville Bellydance Festival. (The Festival was amazing BTW! I met so many talented dancers and instructors. I met so many good people. I even performed in the Saturday Night Show.) Almost the entire time though, I had on my planner hat. I took notes about how it was run. I also had my very serious performer hat on. (Don’t worry, it is a sparkly hat.) I was standing back stage, extremely nervous, going through my routine in my head, and simultaneously making myself sick to my stomach. Thank goodness my good friend shook me up a bit, told me to relax, and go and have some fun…just dance like you don’t care! So I did and since then I have been thinking that my inner child needs to break free more often than she does…
So…here is a list of some ideas (for dancers in particular) for you and your inner child to try:
1. Dance to something you would never dance to professionally, close your eyes, and then go for it! Shake everything…and don’t care! Just do it! Be in the NOW!
2. Clap your hands!!! Before or for your warm-up, start clapping your hands over your head, enjoy it, make a lot of noise! Enjoy the smallest of simple pleasures! I taught a drum solo in my class that involved a lot of clapping and we always felt incredible when practicing or performing it!
3. Why walk when you can gallop? Pull a Holy Grail and start galloping down the street. I promise you, it is exhilarating and will bring a big smile to your face! And perhaps, a smile or look of horror from passers-by!
4. COLOR! Break out the crayons or markers, buy yourself a crazy coloring book if you need a wee bit of structure, pour yourself a glass of wine, and go to town. Coloring is completely underrated!
5. LAUGH! Laugh out loud till you have to hold your middle to keep it all in. Laugh during a meeting. (Come on, you know you want to…) Laughing triggers the release of those feel good chemicals in your body and it also reminds us of times past, when we laughed when we wanted to rather than trying to stifle it behind a cough.
What do you do to release that inner child?
Road trip reflections
I am driving right now with my good friend to join in on the Asheville bellydance festival. Long drives are cut in half when with a friend. Roads and rolling landscapes offer a smooth canvas for reflection.
This is short today and more of a shout out to you all. Today I am reflecting on how happy I am to know so many amazing people in dance, design, and music fields. What is your reflection for the day?
Mindfulness and the Now
What time is it? Now, NOW, always NOW!
Fifteen years of my early childhood training is in Chinese Kenpo, a martial arts form that focuses on joining the mind and body with each other so that movements can be executed correctly. More than anything, Kenpo was the way I learned to be in the moment, the now, from a very young age. When practicing defensive movements with a partner, if you are not paying attention to where you are or where your opponent is, you will most certainly be entertaining a few bumps, bruises, or worse!
I loved the moving meditations that we learned (katas). I loved that the longer I practiced and studied, the more I could understand where my body was, what my exact reach was, what every part of my body was capable of doing. When I practiced my katas, there was nothing else. Only me, the movement, and the ground that I touched or pushed off of throughout. I now realized katas allowed me to turn off my brain and to control my wandering thoughts. There were no regrets about the past or pondering about the future. There was only the NOW.
“Life is available only in the present moment.” -Thich Nhat Hanh
Lately, I have been considering these old lessons in relationship to my dance practice. As a dancer, how can we truly be present in the moment? How can “the now” enhance our dance? Here are a few of my own thoughts on attaining mindfulness in my own dance and in my classes with my students.
1. When we practice our traveling steps, where our feet go, we go. It seems like an obvious statement, but it is too easily overlooked. Additionally, if we pay attention to where our weight is distributed, we know which foot is free to move forward or back. When you are feeling a disconnect and not sure where to go or what to do, return to your feet! Check how your feet are touching the ground right now..is it a full connection? Are you off-balance? A small adjustment in your grounding may be all you need to bring the wowza back to your performance.
2. Breathe in and breathe out. Focus only on the in and out of your breath. Now connect an inhalation and an exhalation to a movement. I teach this in class with extra-large horizontal hip circles. Breathe in deeply while raising arms up over your head and starting your hip circle to the front. Your hips are moving at the same rate that you are breathing in. Exhale and complete the second half of your circle. Did you puff out the air quickly and swing your hips around quickly? Did you slowly exhale and drag out the movement to match? Try varying your inhale and exhale speeds to see what dynamic textures that you can create!
3. Turn off the inner voices. When I used to take tai chi, our first exercise was to sink the mind down into the mind-body, which resided somewhere in your gut. This is useful when practicing dance because there is nothing worse than trying to learn a new combination while thinking of the 20,000 things you need to do this afternoon! Or performing at an event, and suddenly wondering, do you think the audience is bored? The mind-body is not thinking of the past or the future. The mind-body is fully engaged in the present and itself. It senses where you are and what each part of you is doing.
To put this into dance practice, when your mind starts to wander or you hear the critical voices, sink that mind down into your gut through a downward movement…perhaps a long series of slow and purposeful hip drops, down, down, down. Turn inward with your focus. Internal, stationary movements and isolations linked with our breathing can help to bring the focus back into the moment. Close your eyes. Let your movements build from one another, growing and traveling to other parts of your body. Flow like water from one movement to the next.
And with those helpful hints, I will leave you with the words of the late Bruce Lee.
Empty your mind, be formless. shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.–Bruce Lee
And if you enjoyed this post or have any questions, please feel free to contact me!
ARM-ed and Dangerous!
Arm-ed and Dangerous!
Arms. Yes, this post is about ARMS! And not just anyone’s arms, but dancer’s arms; and not just any dancer’s arms, but a dancer with elegant arms and carriage.
Bellydance, at its core (there is a pun there, do you see it?) tends to focus on the abdominal and hips. The upper body plays an important part as well, but mainly in the torso region with its accents. Arms are usually the leftovers…the forgotten, last-minute addition to the dinner table…let’s just squeeze them in at the corner of the table between Batty Aunt Mathilda and Crazy Cousin James.
When I find myself captivated by a dancer, I often try to analyze what it is exactly that has me mesmerised by him or her. Sometimes it is the wowee zowee killer moves, but more often than not, it is the arm patterns, extensions, and positions. The arms move naturally and gracefully accent the body line and position. The arms seem to enhance and draw your eye right at the exact moment to right where you should be looking!
ARMS! ARMS! ARMS!
And yes, I am often amazed to meet some of my idols in person to find that they are shorter than me but seem to be 10′ tall on stage! Why? Because these dancers extend through their arms all the way out their fingertips thus giving them the illusion of height!
Needless to say, arms are something I have been practicing of late. I videotape my practices these days. I also rewatch videos of past performances. I can always tell when I was most nervous or tired or unenthusiastic by the position of my arms. They slowly creep in towards my body into the dreaded chicken wing formation. I am now more aware of my tendency and with training and patience and attention to detail, arm mastery is my next task! I work on this in my classes right now. Want to join me this Saturday from 10-11am? We can all be ARM-ed and dangerous!
Here are a few of my favorite dancers who possess that al-ARM-ingly elegant dancing:
I always love watching Sandra’s elegant dancing. Her carriage is lovely and her arms are fantastic!
The stunning Bozenka and her graceful, yet powerful flamenco inspired arms!
So whose ARMS are you hanging on? 😉
JANIM 
