All Souls Procession

Tucson may be a small city, and it may lack the excitement of places like NYC and San Francisco, but there are some things we do right and one of them is the All Souls Procession. This local event takes the traditions of Dia de Los Muertos and gives them a distinctly Tucsonan flavor. Where else will you see bagpipers in skull-face makeup, bicycle-powered parade floats, and of course, a horde of well-costumed belly dancers with their own contingent of drummers?

(Above, me before the show. I did not whiten my face. I don't get a lot of sun, OK?)

I missed the Procession last year, which made me sad because I didn't get to wear my light-up bustle. Here I am shaking it and playing my zills.

One of the great things about this event is that it really brings people together. Whatever your walk of life, it's hard to not be moved by the idea of a parade that honors our dead and celebrates our living, vibrant, multi-cultural city. I think I saw dancers from almost every troupe in Tucson, we had drummers from the SCA, and I saw people of all ages and walks of life in the crowd along the streets.

I'm not sure how long the parade was this year, but it was definitely a long time to be dancing and playing zills! I am pretty sore and tired today! There's nothing like a parade to help you build stamina as a dancer.

Weekend-y weekend

Got some dancing in this weekend! Zill practice on Saturday because I couldn't remember the last time I'd played them. My lack of practice really showed, ouch. The pets definitely did not appreciate the cacophony.

Today was the first official meeting of the newly-resurrected Tucson Tribal Belly Dance Collective. WOO! I have a troupe in Tucson! We had some visitors from Bisbee, which was fun. We danced for them and they danced for us and then we danced together, and then Fonda taught them some of our moves based on what we wanted to be refreshed on. Plus we discussed Collective business. I am excited to finally see things picking up here in my own town, since I am getting a little worn out on having to travel to Phoenix to get a dance fix.

See me dance this weekend!

I have two performances this coming weekend, so I hope I'll see at least some of you there!

On Saturday I will be performing at the Plaza de Anaya student recital in Tempe. From 5:30 to 6:30 there will be an open drum and dance, then at 7pm the students will take the stage! This event is free, and you can bring a dish if you want to participate in the potluck meal. I will be performing with the Anaya Tribal students. Click here for the Facebook event page, which has more details.

Then on Sunday I will be performing at the Belly Dance Holiday Show at Fluxx Productions here in Tucson! This hafla will feature visiting dancer Raven Ebner as well as many talented local Tucson dancers. I will be performing with my Wednesday night classmates and debuting my Lovely Creature solo. The event costs $5 and we will also be collecting non-perishables for the food bank. Doors open at 6pm. Click here for the Facebook event page.

Supporting the community

Day 43 of practice.

Tonight I went to an event to raise money to pay off the bills from All Souls 2010, the big awesome parade/show in downtown Tucson that honors our ancestors and lost loved ones in a very showy and creative way. I went out because I enjoyed All Souls, and also because Fonda and Brandye were dancing. It was a good time, and I was able to hang out with Kelli from class, meet a few other dancers, and boogie a bit.

Practice has so far consisted of breakfast-time dancing, dancing through the house off and on all day, and doing belly rolls on the way to the show. I might do some more actual dancing later, but probably not as I am exhausted again. I went to an outdoor gem show (my last show of the season), and being in the sun always wears me out.

Tribal Veil Class

Tonight, I branched out a bit. One of my Tucson friends, who teaches drop-in-friendly tribal classes in town, announced that the first four weeks of the year were going to be a veil intensive. Well, that got my attention fast! I have two veils just lying around my house, loved but unused, and finally I would have a chance to do something with them!

So off I went to The Dance Loft, which is, I might add, very hard to find at night. It's in a very dark warehouse district and has one little unlit black sign pointing to it! But I made my way there and found myself in the company of a mix of regular students, people who were familiar with belly dance but new to The Dance Loft, and one lady who was new to belly dance altogether. A very fun mix.

That means that tonight's half hour of practice was actually an hour and twenty minutes plus of class, reviewing slow tribal moves and layering veils on top of them, plus going over wrapping yourself with the veil, doing a veil entrance, how to properly hold a veil, etc. It was all very much fun and it got me out of the house, which was a big plus! I can't wait to go back next week.