Belly Basics from a Baby Belly

On Friday, October 15th, I was invited to do an Athena's Party at Girl Power Fitness in Hyde Park, MA.  The Hostess and owner of Girl Power Fitness is a friend of one of my close friends who teaches Zumba, and soon got word that I am also a belly dancer.  Since the night was also going to feature a strip tease lesson, she asked if I would be able to teach a short belly dance lesson.

Truth be told, I don't think I'm necessarily qualified for the job.  Though I've been studying for about 8 years, I've only taken my commitment further in the past 3 years.  I don't necessarily plan on becoming as professional as some of my friends who are dancing at restaurants, but I absolutely love this dance.

Luckily, I had seen a fellow dancer, Ma'isah, the night before and told her about my upcoming lesson.  At that point, I had no idea what my lesson plan was, and I was too nervous to really think about it.  I am extremely lucky that she had a clearer head than I did, and she helped me break it down and feel more prepared.

I knew I had to start with the basic history and background of belly dance, starting with the term raqs sharqi.  I explained to the room full of women that the dance was more about dancing for other women and less about dancing for a man.  I stressed the importance of why it should be more about enjoying the dance, rather than just performing.

I knew I had to go quickly through various moves, but that I wanted to touch on a lot of the basics.  After my brief history lesson, I talked about the importance of posture and demonstrated the "right" and "wrong" ways to stand.

In My Goddess and Belly Dance wear

I started with hip and rib circles, moving slowly then a bit quicker.  I made sure to give the room ample time to practice, while also being aware of the time.  I touched on horizontal figure 8's and vertical figure 8's.

Then I moved on to undulations, starting with the hip then the ribcage.  In the theme of undulations, I moved on to snake arms and noted how difficult it was for many in the room to grasp.  I tried various ways of explaining it, though I knew that the time allotted would not be enough for everyone to really hone it in.

Then we moved onto the faster movements, namely shoulder and hip accents and shimmies.  The shoulder accents gave way to shoulder shimmies, and the ladies really seemed to enjoy that.  I then moved to hip hits going up and hip hits going down, focusing on one side at a time.  I also introduced them to the Egyptian Hip Hit and the Drop Release movements.

I had index cards with notes, just like when I had my very first party as a Goddess :)

Finally, we moved on to the shimmies.  I started with the basic knee shimmy, then the hip shimmy, and finally the 3/4 shimmy.  After going through the basic moves, I put on Betwanes Beek and I led them through the various movements I taught them throughout the song.

Afterward, I thought of all the various things I didn't get to tell them.  I touched on layering, but I didn't really show them an example of it.  I talked a bit about placing your arms in a way that frames your body, but I forgot to end the final song with a pose.  I got so nervous, that I didn't even suggest that I could dance a bit for them while we were waiting for the next portion of the evening.  I didn't get to talk about level changes, smiling and facial expressions, or using the movements to move across the room.  I know it's silly, considering that I really only had enough time to go through the basics.  But I just like being thorough.

Nonetheless, the women seemed thoroughly excited and happy with my quickie lesson.  They said that they were surprised at how hard some of the movements were and how much they were sweating during the lesson.

I had created a list of teachers in the area to hand out to the girls, encouraging them to seek out lessons with some of the top performers and teachers in the area.  It felt encouraging to hear that some of them enjoyed my lesson and would have also enjoyed continuing lessons with me.

Again, while I don't think I'm necessarily qualified to teach beyond a beginner level, experiencing being a teacher was incredibly insightful.  If anything, it helps me to be a better student.

Air Sex World Championships - Boston

When my friend first posted a link to the Air Sex World Championships, I knew that this was a great opportunity to promote Athena's.  I immediately got in contact with the organizer, and asked if I could be a small sponsor for the Boston event.

The event took place on Friday, October 8th, at the Middle East Restaurant in Cambridge.

Planning and Lowered Expectations
From the first email, I had a couple of expectations and assumptions.  This event was going to be extremely casual, not as organized as it could be, and possibly a great opportunity for others in Athena's.

After setting up a couple of other Goddesses for the show in New Haven, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, I was hopeful that it was going to be successful for everyone involved.  I was nervous that the other dates were before the Boston one, especially since there could have been a possible number of issues that could arise, and I would prefer that I would be the first to face them.

Unfortunately, the other Goddesses encountered several issues at their events.

The websites listed the events at a specific time.  We all assumed that that would be the start time for the event; however, we should have looked at it as a rock show where the doors open at that time, and the show starts later.  But really, how were we to assume that the organizers were going to treat this like a rock show?

The Goddesses from the other events had to leave early, considering that the event ended up starting much later than they anticipated.  The Goddess who attended the Providence evening, unfortunately, had the most difficulty.  Though, it could have also been in part the lack of planning on the venue's part.

Essentially, I was prepared for the worst in Boston.  Perhaps because of this I was pleasantly surprised the the night.

Getting It On
Well, the doors opened at 9, and the show started maybe at 10:40pm.  This ensured that there was a room full of people and slightly tipsy enough people who would compete.  I'm sure there was a lot of peer pressure to be had that night.

Voyeurs

When I initially spoke with the organizer, he seemed genuinely clueless that the Goddess from the previous night was not happy with how the event went.  He thought it was awesome that they were there, and hoped that they would be back next year.

When the doors opened, a couple of people had come in and strolled right over to my table.

My Table Set Up
with info, catalogs, and a variety of toys.

I chatted with them for a bit, telling them what I knew of the Air Sex Championships and all about my parties and the toys.  I had prepared about 50-75 different items for people to take home with them, including business cards with a 52 Sex Position card attached to it, business cards with penis candies, catalogs, and informational postcards with an Athena's cup postcard attached.

All in all, I had given away almost all my prepared business cards, several postcards, and at least 15 catalogs.  I also managed to get at least 6 new additions to my mailing list, with 2 women interested in becoming a Goddess, 1 woman looking to have a bachelorette party in April 2011, and 1 woman who booked a party for December!  Quite a success, I'd say!

At some point, I was interviewed by a couple of folks for one of the local university newspapers and for an NBC Boston affiliate website.  I thought that was pretty awesome!

While all this was happening, the event was in full swing.  There were around 10 people who competed, doing some amazing things to songs of their choosing.  Now, I've got a couple of pictures, but videos really do this event justice.

One contestant pretended to be a transvestite.

This was one of the organizers, showing people how it's done.

After the first round of contestants showed people what they got, the judges chose 3 contestants to compete in the finals.  Interestingly, they had a tie for 3rd place, and 2 people had to engage in a "Fuck Off" to a random song.

Somehow, this just turned into a weird Human Centipede...
I had to turn away.

The 3 finalist, all women for the first time at the Air Sex Championships, were then going to perform a routine to a 1 minute long mystery song.  The audience would then choose who wins the Championships and get to compete in the regionals in New York City.

Hilariously, the 1 minute long mystery song for each of the contestants was a theme song to popular tv shows.  The first contestant got the Full House theme song.  The second contestant got the Seinfeld theme song.  The third contestant got lucky with the Cheers theme song, which basically guaranteed her win.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the winner of the Boston Air Sex Championships.

Overall, I think the evening was an amazing success, especially considering that I wasn't expecting too much.  It was a really fun show, people were generally quite interested in talking with me, and my business got some great promotions.

I would love to see Athena's continue to be promoted throughout this event, but I would definitely want to prep future Goddesses about what to expect.  I'm actually even considering flying to Los Angeles to promote my business there, but maybe next year when my funds are more secure.

Congratulations to the Air Sex World Championships team (Chris and Patrick) for pulling off an amazing first-time in Boston!  We look forward to being voyeurs again next year!

Review: "In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)"

Do you know the history of the vibrator?

The vibrator started off as a way to cure women of hysteria.  The hysterical paroxysm, also known as an orgasm, would help relieve women of their hysteria.  Often times, women needed several sessions in order to be cured.  But really, if I were in that situation, I'd keep faking hysteria occasionally just to continue treatments.

This story is celebrated in the play "In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)," which was showing at the Boston Center for the Arts.  Click on the link to take you to the Wikipedia article, which has a plot summary.

"In the Next Room" Playbill

On Thursday, October 7th, I joined friends for a Girl's Night Out for some delicious pizza and ice cream at PICCO (Pizza and Ice Cream Company) in the South End, followed by a showing of "In the Next Room."

To be honest, I didn't read anything about the play, so I knew very little about it.  I knew it was about the history of the vibrator, so I imagined that it would be quite funny at times.

The first half had me almost falling out of my seat!  Not only from laughing so hard, but also from trying to crane my neck to watch the women "receive treatment."

I have to say, Kudos to the actresses and actors who were acting out their hysterical paroxysms!  Though it was clearly acting, it was also quite accurate.  Absolutely lovely to watch.

The second half was much more serious, and spoke more of the struggles of the married women with their marriages.  The main couple and main patient were spectacular.  I could really feel the emotions.

The set of the play was mainly the living room of the Givings' home and the operating theater, "in the next room."  It was beautifully constructed, and looked like such a large space on a small stage.

I thoroughly enjoyed the play, and it was a fabulous time with my girlfriends.  At some point, I even managed to give out my business card to someone in the audience.

If you ever get a chance to see this play, I highly recommend it.  If anything, you will learn a bit about what it really takes to make relationships work.

With that, I'd like to show you some information about the history of the vibrator from the playbill.  Click on the images for the larger version.