In Black and White

No serious, thought-provoking topics or updates on the status of my dance career today, I just wanted to share this nice picture that Ashley Grove posted of me yesterday, from Open Stage a few months back. I really like how I look in black and white for some reason. It's an especially good look for Open Stage photos, because sometimes the lighting there gets a little wacky (I don't even bother trying to take photos there anymore, you need a real camera with proper light settings, not an iPhone).

Open Stage was a success!

Photo by Daniel Stolte

Look at all of those dancers! And that's not even everyone, Ashley was still behind the microphone and a couple of other dancers didn't make it into the photo. We had a great crowd of performers and audience members for Open Stage. I mean, the place was PACKED!

Jolie wasn't able to make it at the last minute, so Ashley and I had to run things by ourselves, but once we figured the soundboard out things went great. Ashley did a wonderful job as the emcee, so we agreed that going forward, I will handle the playlist and she'll handle the microphone. It seems like a good division of labor that gives us both a job we're well-suited for.

I'm pretty sure this event also marked one year of Open Stage being held at Sky Bar and hosted by SFOF. It's been a great year of dancing and I am glad that we're going to be able to continue to host it. I'm already looking forward to January! 

Open Stage is Around the Corner!

Open Stage is this week and it's a very special one for a couple of reasons! It's going to be Rachel of Skirt Full of Fire's last Open Stage for sure, and probably Jolie's (there's a chance she might be able to make some in the future, but no guarantees). And it's my first time helping to run the show! I'm compiling the set list, which means I get to listen to everyone's music and try to arrange it nicely. It also meant that I got to stress out for a bit when no one had sent their music yet, but things are rolling in and I am pretty excited!

I think this will be good practice for me, as someday within the foreseeable future I would love to host a variety show. Helping with Open Stage will let me cut my teeth on a show with an established format, time, and audience so that I can learn the nitty-gritty of set lists and coordinating performers and running the sound and emceeing and such. Then when I decide to run something of my own, I can focus on learning how to promote something new and secure a venue and all that fun stuff.

I hope that if you're in Tucson and free on Thursday night that you will come to Open Stage, to help us say "good bye" to Rachel and Jolie, and to support the remaining members of the troupe as we learn the ropes!

Why Open Stage?

I spent MINUTES working on this graphic, you bet I'm going to use it more than once!

Tomorrow is our monthly Open Stage at Sky Bar here in Tucson. Yep, we're having Open Stage even on 4th of July, because we like routine.

It's my opinion that every decent-sized dance community should have a regularly occurring open stage or hafla, whether it's monthly, every other month or quarterly. And let me tell you why: a dancer who has been bitten by the performance bug and has no appropriate performance outlets will start to make questionable decisions. We all know the logic: "I really need more practice performing so I'll go see if the manager at Chateau de Kebab will let me perform for free just for the experience" or "Sure I'll dance at your event, but since I'm just a student you only have to pay me $10."

The truth is, once a dancer has decided that she loves to perform, those once or twice a year student recitals don't cut it, especially for the dancer who wants to be a soloist but isn't given the opportunity to at recitals (because if everyone got to solo the recital would be 5 hours long!). If she hasn't been told about proper behavior and undercutting, she'll naturally start to have these thoughts (I know, because I did), and even if she has been told she might try to rationalize it by saying "Oh, it's OK because they don't normally have dancers so I'm not taking work from anyone..." etc etc etc.

Even if a dancer isn't directly taking work from someone, if she goes out performing on her own before she's ready, she can make a lot of mistake, get taken advantage of, and make the dance look bad. If the audience at Chateau de Kebab doesn't know that they're watching a student, they're going to think that they're watching a pro and they're not going to be impressed. They're not going to want to hire a bellydancer for their next big party.

Open stage and all-level haflas give those eager students an appropriate place to get their dance fix. And when the emcee says "Jill is a student who has been dancing for six months" and "Jane is a professional dancer with ten years of training" the audience can see the difference. They can see that Jill loves what she does but needs more work, and that Jane is a polished performer who would be ideal to dance at their company's New Year's Eve Soiree. Jill gets to dance, Jane gets to advertise, the audience gets to see what the city has to offer by way of dance (because in my perfect world, Open Stage spans the entire community, and tribal, Egyptian, and AmCab dancers perform, maybe with the occasional guest who does hula or tango or hip hop). Everybody wins at Open Stage!

Open Stage!

I've been really bad and I haven't blogged the new flier for Open Stage. Isn't it pretty?

Anyway, I LOVE the Open Stages at Sky Bar. We get such a great crowd... Dancers and their friends and families, bachelor/ette parties, trivia teams, sports fans, and so much more. To me, the best thing is when someone is there and they realize that they know one of the dancers from a different area of life! Ha ha! It's always such a surprise.

I am especially excited for this Open Stage because I will be doing something really fun -- Doing improv to a song I have (probably) never heard before. I had Chris pick a song for me and send it to Jolie, so I won't even know what I'm dancing to until it starts!

That's another thing I love about Open Stage... it's a chance to really experiment, to play with something that I wouldn't normally do at a regular gig. A lot of dancers also use it to test new material out, to get their fellow dancers' opinions, or just to step out of their box a bit. It's a really great community event and I hope to see a lot of you there. Here's the event page!

Open Stage Tonight!

Tonight is our monthly Open Stage at Sky Bar! It's going to be a good night. I'll be performing a couple of numbers with my troupe and a fan veil solo. Plus there will be a number of other local Tucson bellydancers performing in a variety of styles. All this and you can have a pizza and a beer, soda, coffee, tea, cocktail, wine, juice, whatever floats your boat. Please remember that because it is held in a bar this is a 21+ event. However, there is no cover charge! Really, where else are you going to get that much free entertainment on a Thursday night?

(Photo by Liora K Photography. Learn more about our troupes at Skirt Full Of Fire)

Open Stage Again!

Last night's Open Stage was pretty awesome. We had even more dancers than last time, and another great audience. Aside from having to start late due to the UofA basketball game running into overtime, it went pretty flawlessly. And since UofA won, the crowd was in a good mood (college sports are a big deal here, if you are into sports. I am not).

Sky Bar is proving to be a pretty ideal venue. There's a lot of room to dance, which makes it nice for big troupes like ours, or for using props like veil. Since it's not a restaurant, the dancers don't have to vie with dinner for peoples' attention. And after the show, we can all relax with an adult beverage and chat it up. I had a really nice time last night catching up with dancers that I hadn't seen in a long time, and meeting new dancers.

I feel really happy with how my solo performance went last night. I wish I had gotten video of it, as I was emoting like crazy and I really just left it all out there on the dance floor. If I can get my technical skill to match my passion, I think I will be pretty awesome. As it is, I'm still really proud of my progress, I've grown a lot from my previous "SMILE FOR THE AUDIENCE, OMG, DON'T STOP SMILING!" dance persona.

Last night I also hit a new milestone: I wore full-size false eyelashes all night! I was actually pretty disappointed with how small they were. I'm ready to try some great big over the top dramatic lashes. Good thing I am going to Sephora on Sunday!

So much dancing!

I have been so busy that I forgot to tell you to come out and see Skirt Full of Fire and Fire & Gold perform today! We were part of the BreakOut holiday show, which always coincides with the street fair. Although this will be the last one in this location, I suppose, because BreakOut is moving! I'm very excited because the new studio is not only bigger, it has central heating and cooling! But the Fourth Ave location was not without its charm, and I will miss it (and not only because it gave me a convenient place to park on Fourth).

The show itself was great, I feel like we danced really well. Sadly, this is Kamrah's last performance with us, as she is moving away to Chicago! I will miss her greatly because she is such an incredible dancer and a very nice person to work with, and her husband is one of the most supportive guys in the community (you can see his elbow in this pic as he is filming us). They're a great couple and Chicago is lucky to get them!

Thursday's Open Stage was also AWESOME! What a great crowd! People really got into it, even though a lot of them were originally just there to watch football on the big TVs at Sky Bar. It turns out that when given the choice between sports, and beautiful women dancing, a lot of people will choose the dancers. Sky Bar gave us a nice big space to dance in, which was great, and the drink prices were awesome! I look forward to performing again next month.

I have two more gigs next week and then I think I am done for December, unless any last-minute holiday parties crop up. Whew!

Come to the Open Stage!

Here is the official FB event page for the first ever Sky Bar open stage! I know it's kind of short notice, but I am hoping to see a lot of people there, both to dance and to watch. We want Sky Bar to be happy to have us, after all! Plus I have really missed the social aspects of the open stage scene -- hanging out before and after, sharing tables with friends, seeing dancers from across town, etc etc. Please come out if you can!

Feeling Pretty

Well, the bra may still need work, and I may still have complicated feelings about the whole issue of bras as costuming, but over all I am pretty happy with how I looked last night! Thank you to my friend Cynthia for snapping this picture. And also for coming to the Open Stage and cheering the dancers.

I have to admit that a big part of me did not want to go out and dance last night. It was a hot, humid day and it seemed like way too much effort to put on a costume and makeup and do my hair. As it is, I took some short-cuts -- I kept my makeup a little more simple than I had planned, and I went for a headband from The Gypsy Kiss as a really quick and easy way to do my hair. What a lifesaver! That reminds me, I'm really overdue to do a post gushing about my collection of Amy's work.

And speaking of awesome things that I am wearing, my necklace is really amazing! It was custom made as a holiday present from one of my Etsy friends, Gypsy Moon Art Studio. The team that we're both part of does an annual secret swap for the holidays and Shannon made me this amazing necklace which is the perfect match for the bra!

Where was I before I started waxing poetic about wonderful, creative people? Oh yes! Open Stage! It was a great time and I'm glad I went. We had a really small crowd, but everyone had a very good time. It was a very intimate vibe, with a couple of dancers spontaneously deciding to perform in their street clothes to fill out the roster, borrowing coin scarves and veils from fellow dancers.

Dancin' with my fans

Tonight I debuted my glow fan solo to "Sydney" by Caravan Palace (a new favorite band). I was a bit nervous because I haven't practiced nearly enough, but I think it went pretty well! At the very least, the crowd at the Luxor Cafe enjoyed it, and I only dropped a fan once near the end, so it could have gone a lot worse. I'll have to watch the video and see how my angles and planes were.

I really enjoyed Open Stage tonight in general. There was a nice mix of dancers. Several of my fellow Fire & Gold troupe members performed the pieces they're working on for our big show next month. It was really exciting to see what they're all working on! I also got to hang out with my friend and occasional carpool buddy Cynthia, who I don't see often enough. All in all, a good night.

Fun times at Open Stage

Tonight was the Open Stage at the Luxor Cafe, hosted by Safar Dance Company. I attended as an audience member this time and had a really wonderful evening watching all of the dancers and talking with people between sets. After the show I had a nice long chat with Jolie about what she would like to see me work on (among other things), and I am feeling pretty good about it.

Afterwards I came home and practiced our troupe choreo (less mistakes than ever!), and my Wandering Star solo. I'm taking it a little easy on the practice during the first few days of tattoo-healing, as the area is a little tender and the skin feels tight, which makes some positions uncomfortable. But over all I am feeling great and still so excited about my pretty beetle.

I am also incredibly TIRED, so it's off to bed with me!