Speak from the Hip

I’ve added a Wordle widget to this blog. I’ll go in and update the cloud now and again and see what happens…

Just for fun. 🙂

I love dressing preparing for a performance – its the girl child in me who loves pretty things…

There is the decision on which underskirt to wear with the basic costume… and indeed if the underskirt should be worn as an overskirt for this gig…. oh and maybe I’ll wear Melodias instead of pantaloons…

Then comes the coin bra, necklaces, bracelets, armlets and cuffs, the rings and hand ornaments; a decision on which type of belt – coin or shell…with tassel or fringe, and maybe a scarf underneath? Then flowers, sticks and other various ornaments for hair, the dramatic make up, the tribal dots and the all important bindi…. and not forgetting the sari, veil or one of Kathleens gorgeous Ghawazee Coats for a cover up between sets….

Call it elaborate dress up, call it armour, call it a fulfilment of fantasies, call it vanity – whatever. Its the love of creating a look for the stage, as well as presenting an art form that I am passionate about that makes every gig – no matter how small – an occasion for me.

My latest gig was a little different however. Last weekend at The Zoryanna Autumn Hafla, I took the floor wearing my trademark black and red with no decoration or pagentry aside from a few hair flowers…. and of course the all important bindi. There was no need for more – it wouldn’t have felt right.

I was nervous, as I normally am, a little more so this time as I felt more than ever that I was baring my soul… and my belly, 7 months pregnant.

It was what I wanted it to be, a return to me. Touching centre as I near the end of this part of my life and prepare for the next. I felt amazing afterwards – connected again with an energetic force that has been so much a part of my life over the past 7 years. With the changes and turns my life has taken in the last 12 months, this performance was what I needed to reconcile the new with the old.

The best part of it was communicating with the little one – who was in constant movement from the first note of the night. As I danced I was aware of little feet and hands exploring and creating a dance of their own…

*Excited*

Yesterday,  I arranged to dance at The Zoryanna Autumn Hafla next month!

I have the dance worked out already – all I need a the right piece of music to go with it!

Which gives me the long awaited excuse to sort out my somewhat scattered music collection. 🙂

Being a pregnant La, this little offering will be short,  slow and gentle. Inspired as always by the gorgeous ladies of FatChanceBellyDance® and this video featuring Megha Gavin and Devyani Dance Company.

eeep!

ATS® General Skills and Teacher Training, Glastonbury 2008

So – with the previous post in mind – the last 2 and a bit months have been taken up with house-hunting.

We needs us a bigger place.

So we registered on DAFT.ie, organised viewings, spent a fortune on taxis running around south Dublin to see what turned out to be:

A: COSY 2 bed period cottage, excellent location, close to all amenities

(= small, dark, damp ridden little hovel, 1o minutes walk from the nearest bus stop and 20 minutes from the nearest tesco)

B: BEAUTIFUL, spacious garden apartment situated in Georgian town house

(which hasn’t seen a fresh lick of paint since the 1960’s and doesn’t have a HEATING SYSTEM installed!!!!)

C: STUNNING open plan 2 bed duplex apartment with sunny bright courtyard, patio, security gate located in the heart of Dublin 4.  Walking distance to City centre, wooden floors throughout and brand new kitchen and bathroom.

(….!)

We fell in love with ‘C’. And it was under-budget. And we had all the references the LL was asking for. I was SO excited. Unfortunately so was every other 30 something couple who saw it and it was up to the LL to make the choice…..

They chose someone else.

Meh.

Yes, there have been tears and stress (mental and financial) and we got to know alot of taxi drivers and I’m sure I could do a better job of writing up those DAFT listing scripts… and take much better location shots!

But finally, last week….

WE FOUND IT!

D: 2 bed, 3 bathroom town house built above street level, large balcony to front, patio to rear, private parking, security gates …AND… its still in Ranelagh! Yayyyyy!!

<applause, cheers, standing ovation etc etc>

I’m relieved. The Bear is relieved. Our estate agent is relieved. We need this. Things, other getting-on-with-your-life kind of things have been on hold for to long and now we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Next week is the start of a new chapter in our lives.

But (yes… there is a but) I have a little ache in my heart**

I am finding myself a little reluctant to move out of our little 4th floor 1 bedroom apartment…..

Despite the constant renovations going on around us…

Despite the psycho gardener who insisted on using the leaf blower early in the morning to blow away the three solitary leaves that had fallen that week…

Despite the moths that I fought a war against over the winter so that our clothes would be hole free…

Despite the tiny kitchen and the oven-that-can’t-be-cleaned filling the apartment with smoke whenever we cooked a chicken…

Despite the fact that we had nothing to put stuff into, and nowhere to put the thing with all the stuff in it even if we had one….

Despite all of this….

I love this little apartment.

It has kept us warm without having to turn the heating on.

It has provided beautiful views of the rooftops and treetops of Dublin and shown us alot of sun and moon rises.

It has been our resting place and sanctuary from the world over the past year.

It has been our space, our little niche… but now its time to say goodbye.

:'(

So this week is about packing and changing address and arranging for the landline and broadband to be moved and forwarding our post and organising transport and cleaning the old place and making sure the new place is ready moving.

~:/

And THAT folks is why I’m posting on my otherwise much neglected blog.

Procrastination is a wonderful waste of time!

Other news, other news…

Well…. there really isn’t much. I’m slowly achieving planet-status day by day. The hormone-riddled traumatic pregnancy episodes have not followed me into the second trimester, thanks be to the Good Holy Mother of Blessed Jaysus says me… and pretty much everyone I know.

My dancing life has been quiet – energies have gone into house-hunting (see above) and have taken alot longer than I thought so organising a class has been postponed till next year BUT I am working on a short piece that I will hopefully be able to perform in the next couple of months (bump permitting) and I will be attending Hilde Cannodte’s workshops hosted by The Zoryanna in November – although I’ll be taking notes more than dancing….

Thats it for now… see you on the flip side ~

(**heart-breaking-ballad-by-Elvis mode)

Today, July 7th 2009, I am in my 14th week of pregnancy with my first child.

We’re very excited. The Bear braved the hormone surges and mood swings and survived the first trimester relatively unscathed,  I pretty much cried the whole way through got though it despite the nausea and complete loss of appetite and a scare at 10 weeks when I was certain I had miscarried.

Everything is ok. I’m getting bigger by the day. I’ve lost my appetite and found a junk food addicts.

I’m blaming the hormones, but there has also been a huge amount of mental processing. Many many thoughts and questions….

(do cheese and onion crisps, sweet and sour chicken and sushi count as brain food?)

The big question for me, aside from all the pregnancy and baby stuff was

What does this mean for my dancing??

And yes, there is all the pregnancy and baby stuff, which is all lovely… and daunting…. and exciting but I’ve realised that if I need to take some time for ‘me’ – especially now as the ‘me’ times are numbered!

I went through a period of about 5-6 weeks where I was really low.  It was just after I found out and I was… in shock. I had started reading about pregnancy and going through websites and very quickly managed to scare myself silly.  So I stopped reading. Plenty of time for that later.

I was convinced for a while that this was it – no more dancing for La. Not a good thought. Until I came across this beautiful piece by Morocco (Carolina Varga Dinicu) on Oriental Dancer dot net.  Its a bit text heavy but stick with it – its a beautiful story and it helped me through alot of ick and what if.

So much so that I’m gonna set up another Tribal Belly Dance workshop in Dublin soon. With a twist.

If there ever was a good time to dance then this is it.

Yayy!! Finally my videos of the Winter Hafla came through. I danced two sets, the first to ‘Intertwine’ and the second to ‘Nau Asta’ – both beautiful tracks from Beats Antique.

These clips are not straight up ATS® technique as some of you already know. These are my attempts at Tribal Fusion, of which my technique is still very much a work in progress. But I can say I had alot of fun dancing to these tracks and I hope you enjoy the results!

I’m teaching a workshop in the lovely Phoenix Yoga Studio in Mullingar on 30th May from 2pm – 4pm.

In the first half of the workshop participants will learn a little of the history of this beautiful art form and will be trained on basic technique incorporating gentle stretching, posture and a series of slow and fast moves with drills and combinations.

In the second half, participants will learn about the concept of Improvisational Choreography and the art of dancing within a group using cues and formations to create a unique and beautiful dance!

The workshop costs €40, payable on the day.  If you need any more information please contact me!

‘Imagine being able to walk into a room of dancers, people you have never met before, some who don’t speak your language and to be able to stand up and dance as one… communication through movement.’

On Saturday 2nd May 2009, Cultivate are hosting ‘Being Human’ – A Day of Dance and Movement at their Temple Bar headquarters. An all day festival where teachers will hold workshops on many different styles of dance.

I will be holding two workshops on basic technique for American Tribal Style® Belly Dance where I will teach a series of slow and fast moves in the FatChanceBellyDance® format along with the basics of Improvisational Choreography. Participants will come away with an understanding of ATS® in an exciting format which is recognised by thousands of dancers world wide.

My workshop times are 3:00pm – 4:30pm in Classroom 6 and 5:45pm – 7:15pm in Classroom 1/2. I will incorporate some light warm-up stretches, nothing to strenuous so please don’t be nervous! Please bring lots of water and wear comfortable, loose fitting clothing and bring a scarf for your hips.

Other dance workshops include (deep breath) TANGO, CAPOEIRA, SALSA, FLAMENCO, CÉILÍ, 5RYTHEMS, EMBODIMENT, SYNERGY, INDIAN CLASSICAL,SHAMANIC,TAI CHI, YOGA and more…

I have some tickets still available at €20 for a day pass to the event. Please contact me at laura@bellydance.ie if you would like to purchase one. You can pre-register for workshops you would like to attend after you purchase by visiting www.cultivate.ie.

Thanks to my dear gentleman Bear I can now present videos of my two recent gigs for your viewing pleasure:

Echo Echo is short and sweet… and after a little bit of technical wizardry it now plays the right way up so you won’t get a crick in your neck watching.

I’m very happy to be taking part in Silver Cloud Lounge @ Sin É on Dublin’s Ormond Quay.

On Tuesday nights Sin É becomes a playground for dancers, performers and musicians hosted by DJ Billy – an oasis of craic and talent in an otherwise gloomy school night.

DJ Billy mixes up a magical combination of  Jazz/Soul/Funk/Reggae/Brazilian/Balkan and this week – I served up a low-bling-shaking-ma-thing set of tribal moves…. and there will be more where that came from…

Next week sees myself and the Bear off to Amsterdam for a well earned break. After which I’m on the final hunt (I hope) for space to start my ATS® Tribal Basics course in Dublin and I’ll be looking into more gigs and workshops around Ireland and the UK. Watch this space… x

Some stills from my recent performance at the Echo Echo Dance Sunday Session in Derry. I have a video too – which will be posted as soon as we figure out how to flip it the right way up…