A quote about yoga practice, but really about any classroom...

"When you're burdened with a million errands and anxieties, what your well-being requires is an exercise regime that, first and foremost, leaves no room for mental wandering."

This is exactly why you students must challenge yourselves in class. When it's easy, your mind wanders right out the door into the past, into the future. When you are working your limit, if your mind wanders, you fall, you lose the pose. Keep your practice interesting enough to stay in your body and on your mat. When your mind has the luxury of drifting in Yoga class, you are not working hard enough. Take the next advanced variation. There is a deeper place waiting for you.

How do you know you're working too hard and need to back off? If you're straining, if you can't quite catch your breath, time to take it down a notch. Find the place in yourself where you are embodied, grounded, connected to deep, slow, rhythmic breath."


--Michelle Myhre

Dance Shay or Personal Shay? Or Both?



Hello lovelies!

Okay, I could use a little feedback here!

Starting this journal, my intent was to keep it strictly dance and art related, with a few sillies thrown in here and there for fun. I have a separate personal journal that hasn't seen much action as of late, except to put up some of my knitting and crocheting patterns and projects, and recipes I have been using or creating. Occasionally I will talk about personal life stuff there as well--family, vacations, home improvement, etc. Now I am having some people asking why I don't post those things more here, and on Facebook by RSS.

So what do you want? Would you prefer this stick to a dance/art only format, or would you like other creative or personal endeavors blogged about here as well? I don't want to clog up anyone's dancey reading, for those of you who subscribe to my journal presently. But certainly all of those things fall under the Adventures of THIS Tribal Dancer, so I can see them melding somewhat as well. I could perhaps even make a few tags to separate them out: "personal", "recipes", "knit/crochet", that kind of thing to help sort them.

So which would you prefer? I would like to hear from y'all to make a decision.

Thanks for reading, everyone! I love hearing from you, as well, so please post feedback and comments anytime!

Q. Slow Songs? Fast Songs? Folkloric Songs? Techno? Can we dance to anything with tribal bellydance?

A. While yes, you can step to the beat of any song and dance tribal style movement, some music is better suited to a more powerful overall look and feel of tribal bellydance. Having some funky modern music in your practice, jamming with friends, and even in some appropriate performances, is a lot of fun to play with. But some of the more traditional tunes out there really drive the dance to another level, lending it that air of "exoticism" and accentuating that multi-cultural pulse that draws us to tribal in the first place.

Carolena Nericcio, who created and codified American Tribal Style Bellydance, has some wonderful information for us on the topic of music, which you can find here. It's a great read! And then you can shop their music store to read more about the music and make some great purchases, or go to iTunes and find individual downloads if you prefer!

From Sharon's FAQ at http://www.mandalatribal.com

Hello lovely dancers!

I am so excited to be back teaching this week! Being sick sucks, and I have missed you all so very much. Looking forward to seeing everyone and jamming together!

Here are some announcements:
THIS WEEKEND - JOIN THE CIRCUS! INFUSION TRIBAL FOR BOOBIES!!!
PHINNEY WINTERFEST, DEC 5th
NEXT SESSION, THEN GOOD BYE 2009!
LEVEL 2B NEXT SESSION


THIS WEEKEND - JOIN THE CIRCUS!
INFUSION TRIBAL FOR BOOBIES!!!
inFusion Tribal is donating two performances at this event for a worthy cause at Derby Salon in the Roosevelt area. Come zaghareet for BOOBIES!

"On Sunday October 25th Derby Slon will be hosting the third annual Beautify for Breast Cancer charity event. Most services and retail proceeds will be donated to the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research foundation and Peyton Piper's benevolent fund. There will be a cake walk, live music and raffle to follow in the tradition of the previous two events. This year we also have the exciting new additions of a silent auction and circus themed performances.

We will be unleashing our wildest creative talents under our “big top” to bring you a dazzling hair and make-up show. If you can't make the show please purchase a raffle ticket for $5 you don't have to be present to win! Join us to raise awareness of Inflammatory Breast Cancer and honor the memory of our dear friend and co worker Stacey Piper.

Show begins at 7:00 pm
Services are available from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm for haircuts and waxing as late as 5:45 pm."
At Derby Salon
6315 Roosevelt Way Seattle, WA 98115


PHINNEY WINTERFEST, DEC 5th
Level 2 and 3 dancers are invited to join Nomaditude in a performance at this year's Phinney Winterfest, the afternoon of December 5th! Sharon's students have upheld a tradition of performing at this wonderful community event for many years, and we would love to have you share in the joy. More details coming soon. Mark your calendars if you are interested in participating, or of course if you simply wish to attend and cheer them on!
More info on the festival at http://www.phinneycenter.org/events/wf.shtml


NEXT SESSION, THEN GOOD BYE 2009!
The next session is the last session of 2009. Can you believe it?

The session begins the week of November 2nd. We will have no class Thanksgiving week, and then we finish out the session before the holiday break. Registration is open NOW!

In 2010, we will have some drills classes coming the beginning of January to ring in the new year, then the next session of classes will begin after MLK Day, the week of January 25th.


LEVEL 2B NEXT SESSION
Yours truly will be back in the saddle teaching drills drills drills next session of Level 2b on Thursdays. We'll be dancin', we'll be zillin', we'll the thrillin'! Join me to get your groove on, and push your dance to new levels.

Then in 2010, get ready to get your hula on! My hula teacher, whom I only got to study with for a short time before her schedule had to change and I couldn't attend any longer, is coming to teach a 6 week session on hula and Polynesian dance, hopefully beginning in January. I am very excited at this possibility and will keep you posted!

Much love,
Sharon

I have often been asked by dancers in small towns or remote areas about the dilemma of not having a teacher in their area, and what they can do to learn and dance with others as they would like. Particularly for us ATS/Tribal dancers, you can't really dance without a group to dance WITH, so it can be frustrating to be stuck without a community to draw from. Many times they think their only option is to start teaching themselves. And in some cases, that may be true...IF the student has prepared themselves to teach either through extensive experience studying under another professional teacher, and/or done a teacher training program with a trusted mentor.

There is often this impression in the bellydance world that a teacher is just the person with the most experience, or essentially: "in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King." I don't agree with this sentiment, and feel strongly that one should only teach when they have trained appropriately, not just because no one else has studied much either!

So what is there to do when one finds themselves in a town or region without a qualified teacher, and they themselves are not yet prepared to become a teacher themselves? Form a dance collective! Read on...

For dancers who find themselves in an area where there are no qualified teachers, or no teachers in a particular style you wish to study, I recommend creating a Dance Collective or Club. Find other dancers interested in the dance, and meet once a week, or once every other week, or once a month--whatever works best for everyone. Meet at someone's house or rotate meeting at different dancers' houses, or if the group is too large or no appropriate free space is available, chip in $ to rent a space together. Then everyone take turns bringing a lesson, a video, a costuming project, something to share with the group. Then everyone explores that concept together for the duration, playing with it and turning it over and around to learn more about it, and end with some jam time. Keep rotating the responsibility of bringing the lesson. Don't let people just be hangers-on--everyone needs to contribute, so no one becomes a de-facto teacher or leader. Keep it equal and democratic as much as possible. Having one or two people to facilitate is good, to manage communications on where you are meeting, collecting money for rent, etc; but they should not be expected to teach or lead more than anyone else in the group. This keeps the group on even ground, and makes it so no one burns out on trying to keep things afloat while others are just taking advantage.

You can make it even more fun by rotating a snack-master! Or a wine master! Everyone takes a turn bringing a nibble or a drink to share with the group. You may choose different themes to work on each month or each quarter, such as different dance styles, geographical regions, music styles, troupes or dancers you admire and want to study, or what have you. This will keep things fresh and give you all a way to focus your energies and try new things.

As it grows, you can pool your energies and finances to host instructors in your town, sharing the financial burden with everyone benefiting from the chance to study with a professional teacher. You could put on community haflas or parties, and other networking opportunities to expand your group. The possibilities are endless. So no one is a teacher, it isn't a troupe...it's a collective, if you will. Everyone contributes, everyone benefits!