crunch time!!!

Yes I had another big belly dance weekend! I danced on Friday night at Froggy's not once but twice first with Nataraja, my fledgling troupe. And then just Ayse & I as She'enedra. You can see pictures by my friend Richard at this link.... http://www.renaissancefaire.net/froggys.htm



And then I danced by my lonesome self at Super Saturdays at the Oasis Dance Studio in Highland Saturday night. I don't know if there are any pics of that yet.

I am so behind I really have NOOOOO time whatsoever...

I still have to make 1 pair of bloomers, 4 peasant blouses & 5 or 6 red split skirts by the 20th and I have to go to Washington for 5 days! I'm feeling a bit stressed out by all this! And the drama that I spoke of before in my tribe blog, it's emotionally xhausting. I know it doesn't have to be but it doesn't help to feel like someone holds so much resentment towards me. arrrgh, especially since I've done so much for him...but I must remember flowers, flowers, flowers...no matter what.

I'm ready to teach my workshop, I know that material inside & out. But I have to make sure my music is prepared for it & I have to make sets for 2 shows in Olympia.

One is a fund raiser here are the details on that.....
BELLY DANCE HAFLA (PARTY)
SAT SEP 13
7:00-9:00pm (or 10:00)
To benefit the eagles “Save Our Building” fund
At the Eagles (top floor) 805 4th Ave E, Oly, 98506
Contact Kashani for a dance slot or more info
via www.mas-uda.com

the other will be at Great Cuisine of India on 4th street in Olympia on Sunday the 14th at 6:30 & 7:30.

I have to go to bed now!

Videos

Ok I posted some of my troupe's video cause I think it's really good. But that's only my opinion...

She'enedra at Tribal Cafe '07

She'enedra at Forbidden City

On a more serious note

While in Scotland I had an interesting conversation with a friend. He found it odd that Americans always say, "I'm Scottish" or "I'm Dutch" when they are Americans. I've heard this comment before from European friends, and from my perspective the answer is that unless our ancestory is native to the Americas we don't really feel right saying we are American. Many of us suffer from many generations' feeling of loss of a homeland, so we identify very strongly with our ethnic heritage. Many of our ancestors didn't necessarily move to America willingly but because it was the only place we had a chance to make a life. I'm sure I could go on for days on this subject and never really get to what I really want to say in this blog.

I feel that way a lot -disconnected from my heritage. Not only because I don't live in my ancestoral homeland but because I sort of don't have one. My great grandfathers left the Netherlands to find their fortunes in the then Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia. They intermarried and after a few generations of dominating in those islands were forced to return to the Netherlands...where they didn't really fit in any more. No longer looking like the Dutch, although much of their identity was Dutch. So there you have it. My parents returned to NL and had me there. In the land of tall blondes! haha!

Meandering still....ahh is why I blog?

Fast forward to myself years later as a young adult the first time I saw looms and spinning wheels! They were the most fascinating things I had ever seen! Making yarn, & fabric, then knitting & sewing were such satisfying activities to me and felt so natural they must be stem from some kind of genetic memory. And this belief must be a fairly common one because many people have asked me, " Is this something from your culture?" Looking at me scrutinizing what my heritage might be...I could almost see them thinking "she looks Native American, maybe that's why she weaves." And the questions would follow; "Are you an Indian?" I have to admit that since most of the other women I would meet who were interested in fibers were women of white European heritage, I wondered the same of them. Is it some connection to their ancestors? And then I would think how do I fit in this puzzle? Even though the Dutch and really all humans throughout history have also practiced the skills of making cloth. I am learning more about the rich heritage of fiber arts in Indonesia. The fabric in this photo is one of my prized possessions, a sarong that belonged to my grandmother that my mother was about to discard! It is pre-WWII and very delicate. The batik process is still practiced today in Indonesia, as are many other amazing fiber arts of spinning & weaving. I found this interesting website www.thelanguageofcloth.com/ with very interesting photos. I'm also reading a beautiful book Indonesian Textiles by Michael Hitchcock.

So fiber art truly is my heritage and my connection to my homelands.

Just the usual weekend for us!!!

THAT Photo is by Lee Corkett of Weathervane!!! He is awesome & I hope it's ok that I posted this picture because it doesn't have his watermark on it yet!!! But I can hardly contain my excitement about life in general and this photo has something to do with that!
people pictured from left to right are
Khani, me, Gigi (Lee's wife), Michaella, Heidi, & Nancy, in front of the Acacia Mansion in Ojai, technically behind the mansion actually!

This weekend was busy as usual, it started with Saturday morning a 2 hour practice with Heidi because Ayse was unable to do the show at the Acacia Mansion with us as planned. This practice was for She'enedra (I'm in 2 troupes the 2nd being Nataraja which I am director of, but I don't always dance with time being limited like it is). So even though our dance was basically going to be improv, there was a little fidgeting to be done to keep the dance interesting with only 2 bodies, one very tiny (me) one very tall (Heidi).

Then the usual day stuff and off to the show in beautiful Ojai at the even more beautiful Acacia Mansion.

BOTH Nataraja & She'enedra were slated to perform, I had quickly made Nataraja new costume parts in order to distinguish them as separate from our sister troupes of She' & Wild Routes (ayse's new group which used to be the Sisterhood). Lacy beige tie tops with stand up ruffle collars, & for the skirts side tied tribal minis short in front & longer in back tacked up at the sides to create a ruffly bum drape. Nataraja had done quite a bit of extra practice in preparation and this was the first time since Tribal Caravan that we had ALL of our new members dancing together. So this was something of a momentous event for Nataraja!

As we drove down the residential Ojai street looking at numbers, we came upon this gorgeous Spanish style 1904 mansion, it was obvious where we were supposed to be! No looking for numbers any more...just a parking place.

The inside of the manse was gorgeous! We dressed in a large parlor complete with antique furniture, mirrored vanities & large cockatoo.

Nataraja was scheduled fairly early in the set...I have video which I would love to post on You tube asap! They were great, even though at one point I knocked a dumbek over...it was so fun dancing with these girls!
I ran back inside the house after a very shorty solo and ripped of my clothes to change for She'enedra and to my surprise a man was in the room! Arrrgh! I hate it when dancers bring their husbands/boyfriends in the room without consideration for other dancers! I mean how unprofessional! What is a dressing room for anyway if not to change clothes? Anyway, I ducked behind a chair and finished changing my bra. And really, I'm hardly a prude, but I don't provide that kind of entertainment!

Heidi & I entered through the audience and danced our set. It felt kind of funny because most of the time I had one foot or the other in a hole. The dance surface was covered with Persian rugs and I think they did the best they could but it was very uneven. So I didn't dance as well as I felt I could but it was good. And we had fun!

Afterwards we had a photo session with Lee, drinks in the saloon (a made over garage with beautiful bar & pool table). We laughed and explored the mansion, watched the other lovely dancers and had a blast!

Oh yeah then there was Sunday...that is another post!

New Ink 4 ME!!!

I was planning on getting a knitting tattoo and I went down to have my consultation etc and planned it out etc and then my husband got laid off of his job! Arrrgh! He'll get a much better new job soon ya know (I'm being positive!) but obviously paying for a tattoo wasn't an essential expense so I was going to postpone it AND one of my dance students Khani who owns Zulu Tattoo actually organized for my students to give me the rest of the tattoo as a birthday gift! This was so sweet and thoughtful, I'm really touched by how kind all the students are. WoW!!
So I got my new "ink" on Tuesday...and the artist who did it, Misha said in a sheep voice... I'm "Baaaaad ass" hehe : )
Riley has named my tattoo Rosie the sheep!