Morocco Workshop - Presented by Za-Beth

So much is happening in the world of belly dance!  It's great when I'm able to fit things into my schedule and expand my repertoire.

The day after my birthday, after about 4.5 hours of sleep after a night of karaoke, I drove up to Woburn to attend a workshop by Morocco, a raqs sharqi legend.  Dancing for more than 50 years, Morocco is not only a master of the dance, but also a historian and researcher of the dance.  Though she's based in New York (and you can hear it in her accent), she's internationally known and sought after for her knowledge and work.

On April 24th, Za-Beth hosted another weekends worth of workshops and shows.  Though I wasn't able to attend the entire weekend, I was more than delighted to partake in my first workshop with Morocco.

Right off the bat, I thought she was hilarious!!!  Definitely strongly opinionated, but really had me chuckling in the back with her double entendres and .  She also offered quite a big of insight, including not calling figure 8's "figure 8's" in Arabic countries, since their number 8 is like an upside down V.  Also, she's very against calling the dance "belly dance," especially since it uses so many more body parts.  She prefers the term "Oriental Dance" since that is the direct translation of "raqs sharqi."

She taught us 2 dances that day.  The first dance was to "A la Kefek," a song about a guy seeing a girl and saying, "Have it any way you like it."  This dance was very high energy, but also very fun.

I liked that it was relatively simple, meaning that it didn't need to have so many innovative moves to be entertaining and interesting.  She also had a lot of symmetry, and spoke of using the arms to frame and direct the audiences eyes to what they "should be looking at."

Morocco in red, teaching us some moves.

The second half of the day's dance was to Georges Lammam's "Ahlam," which usually has a taxim introduction, but Morocco cut it to use only the part when the drums come on.  Some of us in the class recognized the song since Amira Jamal will use it during her class.  The song is beautiful!  I could feel the music and knew that it showed in my expression.

She spoke during this instruction about being careful not to use our chests in the camel movement.  Camels are basically lower body undulations, and being that Oriental dance is characterized by the body isolations, it is important not to ruin the integrity of the camel by involving the upper half.

The Master and her Students

I must say that it was an honor to be taught by such an important figure in American belly dance history.  It was even more of an honor to know that she, turning 70 that weekend, also had a dirty sense of humor!

Morocco and me!

Overall, it was a great birthday weekend!  Truly a treat for me to have this opportunity to learn some more skills from such a wonderful woman.

Rambling Thoughts about Sexual Health and an MSW

I've posted a little bit about this before.  But, now I feel like I've done quite a bit more research about what I can do.

Earlier this month, I attended a panel hosted by Harvard University on Sexual Health Careers.  I admit that I felt like a college student, especially once I realized that the target audience was students who were looking into careers.

Well, shoot, I've got a career.  In fact, I've got two careers.  Now, I'm trying to figure out how to expand and blend my careers!

It was great to hear from the different panelists, who ranged from HIV Researchers, to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, to Sexologist Megan Andelloux.  While it was great to hear about all the exciting things that were happening in the world of sexual health, I hadn't gotten what I wanted necessarily.

After the panel, I spoke with Megan, asking her about the possibilities of getting a sex ed certificate and she pointed me in the direction of the Executive Director of Partners in Sex Education.  Partners in Sex Education is another small non profit that works specifically with adolescents about sexual health and healthy relationships.  I was super excited to meet the ED of this organization!  I'm definitely planning on nurturing this contact.

Otherwise, I think I might try to attend a certification program through Planned Parenthood just to further my education.

Then, there are times when I think about sexual health in the Philippines and Filipino American communities.  I know that there's lack of education in all arenas, but perhaps especially in such a Christian-based country like the Philippines.

I've dreamed of providing educational opportunities at the sari-sari stores that dot the neighborhoods in the Philippines.  I've even done a bit of research to find organizations that might already be doing the work.  Not an easy thing to find, necessarily.

Considering that the Philippine government has taken an anti-contraception stance AND anti-abortion stance, and they've removed sex ed from schools, what if parents were being taught how to speak with their kids about sexual health?  But not just that, also about healthy relationships and healthy bodies?

It's fun to dream of doing that kind of work in the Philippines.  It's something I would definitely consider.  If I could just spread some of that knowledge to others, it would feel really quite satisfying.

"Advanced Technology" from xkcd.com

 

Athena's Cup Collection at All One Yoga Studio!

I've been wanting to do more for the Athena's Cup fundraiser for a while.  After a lot of planning, I've managed to figure out a great start to my efforts.

Recently, I started going to a local yoga studio in the Allston-Brighton area.  All One Yoga offers tons of different yoga and pilates classes, and it's small enough that the staff know the regulars by name.

I realized that the location of the yoga studio was perfect!  It's right behind a major super market, next to Boston University, and shares the space with a gym for children and families.

As I work with children and families during the day, I'm aware that my night job might not necessarily be well-received.  But who can say they're against breast cancer research?

After checking with one of the managers, I got the thumbs up!  I then posted on Happy Buzzing to see how other Goddesses might have put together a collection box.

Then I got to work!

Materials collected, Yoni get's curious...

After hitting up the Dollar Store, I was excited to put together my collection box.  I'm glad that I thought to ask one of the Dollar Store staff for any empty boxes that they would just discard and recycle!  As you can see from the picture above, Yoni approved of my box choice.

It took a little bit for me to decide how I wanted my sign to look.  As I've made many fliers for my day job, I knew the importance of font and presentation.  Also, I know that the Goddesses are so lucky to have a whole Home Office who help us with pre-made materials to advertise the fundraiser.

Signage!

I must say, I'm very proud of my sign.

So, today, Saturday, I go to pilates.  I put together the box in the morning, wrapping it with pink table cloth material.  Interestingly, I had a really hard time wrapping the box!  I'm usually so good at wrapping presents, but that's with a closed box!  Since I wanted an opening, I had different dimensions and obstacles than I usually do with regular packed up presents.

But I was very excited to hop on the T with my box and present it to the staff at the studio!

Small, but mighty!

The box now sits in a corner of the waiting area, perched between two benches, in full sight of the main walkway.  Also, any monetary donations will be given to the desk staff, as I've pre-made a donations envelope for them.

The staff are so awesome!  Kristen, whose Vinyasa Yoga class I attend, told me that bra's will sometimes be left and never claimed!  Perhaps those who change out of them into workout clothes just forget, and then get embarrassed about asking for them back?

Either way, a forgotten bra was added to the box (as I put one of mine in there to start it off)!

So, I'm super excited about this effort!  I even added a little pocket for postcards people can take home with them and share with friends.  I'm hoping to collect bras and donations every week, adding to the already 16,000 bras already collected!

Athena's Cup!

Thank you to All One Yoga and their fabulous staff!

Nadira Jamal Improvisation Workshops

The really awesome thing about the belly dance community is how connected it is.  I have the pleasure of meeting so many wonderful dancers and teachers, and learning tons from them!

As I've been taking classes with Amira Jamal since I moved to Boston, I've been able to learn from many dancers who I consider masters.  Recently, one of Amira's students who's moved on to teaching her own classes and producing instructional DVD's, came back to class to share some of her knowledge.

Nadira Jamal gave two workshops during our scheduled classes on Monday, one on March 22nd and the second on April 5th.  She, with her wicked smaht engineering brain, has taken the frightening idea of improvisation and breaks it down into workable bits.

Her video series, Improvisation Tooklit, is a great guide for anyone who feels nervous about getting on the dance floor without a set and choreographed routine.  Though there currently two DVD's, she's working on completing the set of 5 to make master improvisers in all of us dancers.

The workshops she brought to us were a shortened version of the two DVD's.  I must admit that I was a bit nervous!  Though we've done quite a bit of improvisation in Amira Jama's classes (just putting on music and moving on the dance floor), I was worried that I might not be able to hold on to what she taught us.

But she started right away with building up our confidence and dance self-esteem.  She reminded us that we should not only have fun and enjoy the dance, but that we also have the ability to remember specific moves if we are having fun.  And, even if we can only remember 3 or 4 moves, there are so many bits one can add to the dance (like level changes, moving around the floor, angles, arm movements, timing, etc.), that even the same movements can have a different effect.

I was excited to be part of these workshops.  Though I'm not a professional like many of my classmates or like Nadira, I can at least fake it til I make it.

I now feel much more comfortable with improvisation, though I'm sure I'll always be a little bit nervous about performing.  Also, I feel like this comfortability with improvisation would greatly aid in choreographing, as one can take the moves from improvising and reuse them.

Diana Tarkhan Workshop - Hosted by Najmat

On Saturday, April 3rd, Najmat hosted Diana Tarkhan at the Green Street Studios in Central Square, Cambridge, Mass.

Diana Tarkhan is one of the premiere Egyptian-style dancers, teachers, and choreographers.  She came all the way from Cairo, Egypt, to teach a class of 27 eager and excited New England dancers.

Truth be told, I had minimal exposure to her.  I had seen a video here and there on You Tube, but I didn't know much else.  After seeing that Najmat was offering a workshop from her, I knew that I needed to sign up.  The way I see it, you want to get as much exposure and experiences from different teachers if you want to continue evolving your technique as a dancer.  And if you can learn from Masters, even better!

Saturday was a gorgeous day!  It was the warmest it had been in a long time here in Boston.  So, all the dancers present were pretty much predisposed to enjoy themselves.  But being taught by the delightful Diana Tarkhan just heightened the feeling.

Room full o'bellies

Diana led us through some techniques that were characteristic of Egyptian-style "Oriental" dance.  She focused on the "in's" and "out's" of the hip, which came more from knee movements than from the hip.  We moved around a lot, practicing the "in's" and "out's" with different variations.

In's and outs!

She also led us through some variations on entrance movements, and taught us a combination of moves.  Overall, it was pretty exhausting (not to mention that I went to pilates in the morning!)!  It was nice and warm in the room, and all us ladies were sweating quite a bit.  But Diana's energy and smiley disposition kept us all excited and motivated.

Personally, I felt super energized to be around so many wonderful dancers and teachers.  Though I've been taking classes for so many years, I know I have so much more to learn from the professionals around me.  I always feel very encouraged and new after I'm around the raqs sharqi community.

Diana Tarkhan and me!
Photo courtesy of Najmat

Beautiful (and tired) dancers!
Photo courtesy of Najmat