First and Last

You should come to this show!!!!

Reasons why you should come to this show:

It's Amy Sigil's first time performing in Tucson. She's pretty freakin' awesome and it's rare for Tucson to have a big name dancer like her come to town.

It's my first performance of 2012!

It's Anaya Tribe's first Tucson performance.

It's my last performance with Anaya Tribe.

Yes, I am sad to announce that I will be leaving Anaya Tribe at the end of January. It's an amicable parting, caused entirely by the fact that between rising fuel costs and my increasing dance commitments in Tucson, I cannot continue to make 6-8 trips to Tempe a month. I will still be taking classes with Cari and Tiffany of Anaya Tribal every other week, and I look forward to continuing to be friends with my classmates and former troupemates.

This was a really hard decision to make, and has been behind a lot of my angst and brief blog posts lately. Dancing with Anaya was my main goal for much of the time I've been taking dance classes and it was hard to admit to myself that I simply could not continue doing it anymore.

But anyway, you really should come to the show on the 28th because the lineup is phenomenal! I hope to see you there! Visit the Facebook Event Page for more information!

Getting there!

Days 316 and 317 of practice.

Starting to get back to normal! Still coughing but my energy levels are closer to what they should be and I really feel like dancing. Had a good weekend of opportunities for dance... Boogying down at a friend's wedding with some fellow belly dancers, and then troupe practice this morning. Felt good to bust out some Anaya moves again and actually dance, even if Cari threw out more confusing zill stuff for us to work on. Guess I know what I'll be practicing all this week...

I'm also super excited because next weekend Anaya Tribe is performing at Fireland Faerie Festival. Not only do I get to dance, but I can run around in faerie wings before our performance. Squee! We're performing at 5pm on Saturday, so if you're in the Phoenix area and you're not too curmudgeonly to attend a Faerie Festival, you should come out and see us.

On the road

Day 280 of practice.

Today's practice will happen behind the wheel because I have spent the entire day getting ready for the Desert Shakedown and now I'm about to take off to pick up my friend Cynthia and head up to Phoenix. Hooray! I hope I'll see you at the Shakedown tomorrow. I'll be at my Erthe Fae Designs booth for most of the day, and I will be performing with Anaya Tribe at 2:50pm.

Performance Recap and Today's Practice

 Day 269 of practice.

Above, a photo that Jen (aka Sata) took at our post-performance Pei Wei meal. She, Amanda and I grabbed a bite because we'd had a long, hungry day. We were far too hungry to bother with such silly things as removing our hair flowers and makeup before eating.

And here's a lovely photo of almost the entire troupe! A couple of members couldn't perform on Sunday, so it's not quite everyone, but it's still a large and colorful group of tribal dancers.

My first troupe gig was not just a performance, but also a talk and class on belly dance, for a group of teenage girls. I have to admit it was a bit intimidating to be working up close and personal with our audience, and an audience of non-dancers at that! I'm really used to performing for my fellow dancers. But it was also very fun to be part of these girls' first introduction to tribal belly dance!

The afternoon started with Cari and Tiffany giving a talk about belly dance, tribal style, and Anaya, then we did a big performance, then the girls got to learn shimmies and our five basic fast moves... Then we were split into groups, with one or two troupe members and three students, to come up with a short routine and dance on stage for each other. I think most of the girls were a little nervous about dancing but they were also very supportive of each other, cheering and clapping and having a lot of fun.

I think this was a great introduction for me on what it's like to be part of a troupe -- it's not just having a set group to dance with, but also becoming a part of the dance community AND the local general community. Many of our gigs will be at community events, fairs and festivals and parades and pride events, where we'll be introducing the public to belly dance. I'm very excited to be part of it!

Compared to all that, today's practice was nothing to carry on about -- I drilled some mayas, did some stretches (legs, hips, why are you always so tight?), and of course played my zills while practicing my gahwazee.

Tune in tomorrow...

Day 268 of practice.

Today I had troupe practice AND a two-hour gig with the troupe AND a MECDA meeting... I was gone for 13 hours, I'm totally exhausted, and I've still got makeup on my face and a garden in my hair... so tune in tomorrow for my thoughts on my first troupe performance :)

I'm a water faerie!

Days 260 and 261 of practice.

Here's a picture of my costume from yesterday's performance! I danced to "Ocean" by Collide, and my character for the piece was an amoral water faerie... Shy, seductive, alien, and graceful. Also she wears tiny winged bird skulls over her ears, because I've been waiting for the perfect excuse to wear them. I got a lot of compliments on the costume and the dancing, so I'm floating on Cloud 9.

Over all, the Healing Through Dance benefit was a success! All of the performances were great, we had an enthusiastic crowd, and we raised a nice amount of money for the Sessoms family! Speaking of raising money, we ended up with a lot more rummage sale donations than we expected, and Plaza de Anaya has kindly allowed us to leave a rack of items in the store, so if you were unable to make it to the benefit but would still like to shop, head over to the studio this week! There are some really nice items! I personally came home with a new tie top, gahwazee coat and panel skirt all in beautiful Autumn-appropriate colors. There are things for tribal, fusion, and cabaret dancers, and some clothes that can be worn for day-to-day stuff, too!

Today was troupe practice, where I got my brain broken by more zill patterns! I really need to work harder, and also get myself a private zill lesson with Mahin, because she is awesome and I need help. We also talked about upcoming gigs, costumes, and our dance levels. I am pleased to announce that I am now a Level 2 Anaya Tribe Dancer and I only need 1,000 more EXP before I level up (a little joke for my gamers there).

We have a troupe gig next weekend but it's for a charity event and I don't think it's open to the public, so if you want to see me get my group tribal improv on, you need to come to the Desert Shakedown on October 8th!

Anaya Tribe!!!

Days 239 and 240 of practice.

Saturday was a lazy practice day -- I hurt my foot and wanted to take it easy so I could be ready today. Did my sword drills and a few other things but no major dancing.

But today, today was an awesome day! I got up at 7am so I could get up to Tempe for my first-ever troupe practice! I'm now an official member of the Anaya Tribe and I am SO EXCITED! This is a big step forward for my dance goals, and practice was so much fun -- no breaking moves down for new students, just dancing and perfecting and getting ready for upcoming performances.

After practice, I grabbed lunch with a couple troupemates (I have troupemates!), then went out shopping, hung out talking about tattoos and hair, and then went to the MECDA Sunday Shakedown, where I got to enjoy being an audience member.

All in all, a very fun day... but that getting up at 7am is a killer... I'm so tired and I still have to go put a sword on my head for five minutes!