Sunday Sunday Sunday!

You know all of those troupe choreographies I've been working so hard at learning? And the glow fan solo I've been talking so much about? You can come see all of that and more this Sunday! Skirt Full of Fire and Fire & Gold will both be performing at Mijana's in Tempe this weekend, starting at 7pm. Visit the Event Page on Facebook for more details!

I got a preview of what everyone else is working on for their solos and duets on Monday, and it was some pretty fabulous stuff! Our troupe members come from a wide variety of dance backgrounds and you can see that reflected in their individual dance styles. It's going to be a varied show with a great assortment of music and dance. Also, we're going to be dressed quite beautifully and colorfully!

There are more performances coming up as well... I think I need to add an "Upcoming Performances" sidebar to this blog so you all can keep track of me!

National Belly Dance Day!

Today was National Belly Dance Day! I had some free time this afternoon, so I decided to make a treasury of some beautiful dancey-dance Etsy items.

Because it's a Saturday, I also went to the Community Class! It was just three of us from Fire & Gold, so Jolie turned it into an extra troupe practice. We finished our third choreo (and good thing too, since we have to perform it a week from tomorrow), so when the normal practice rolls around on Monday, it will be all figured out and the rest of the troupe can learn it and we can drill the heck out of it and be awesome. I actually feel more comfortable with this piece than with the second one, even though it's been done for longer. This last piece uses a lot of ITS-style moves, so the vocabulary is really familiar to me. There's not as many small accents to keep track of. Plus it's a fun song and a saucy choreo.

I'm really excited for our show next weekend, but also a little nervous. I have to admit I am not really loving my glow fan solo. I am kind of tired of my fans. I actually have a small scar on my inner elbow from where I hit myself with one while demoing for the rest of the troupe. I think I might have to wear sleeves when I perform.

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.

Arms fall off

My arms have fallen off and I am typing this with my nose. Just kidding. But we did way too many push-ups in Jolie's class and my arms already felt noodly due to a lack of sleep. Even typing feels like a chore. Quick run-down:

-Fire & Gold is doing awesomely. We have our first performance on Saturday.
-I will be performing a solo at the Open Stage at the Luxor on Thursday.
-My glow fan skills need more work.

That is all.

Suffering for my art

I beat my arms up with my glow fans today! There's these plastic bolts that hold the glow part in and they always scratch my arms up! Today I gave myself a really nasty scratch on my inner elbow, which is annoying because now I have a bandage in my elbow. Oh, how we suffer for our art. I need to decide on the best solution for covering the bolts so I don't destroy myself.

Fonda's classes started back up tonight after a couple of weeks off. We had some review to prepare us for next week, when we'll start learning NEW MOVES! I can't wait. It's been forever since I learned a new ATS/ITS move.

In other news, Blogger changed my blogging interface and I hate it. I do not like change.

Indecision

The hardest part about practicing at home is deciding what to practice. Some things are a given -- right now I have to practice the F&G choreography, and I have to work with my glow fans. But what else should I work on? Layering over shimmies? Improving the range of motion in my taxim? Freshen up my ITS, which has been a bit neglected lately? More emotionality?  Hands? Sword? Veil?

I should probably sit down and come up with some sort of plan and schedule, to make sure that everything gets practiced. Otherwise I tend to neglect things. And let's face it, if I want to work my way up to being a professional belly dancer (and I do!), I need to develop good practice habits.

As for tonight, I decided it was a great idea to do snake arms with glow fans. I should probably do that every day to build up a little muscle! And I did some shimmies with a bit of layering on top.

Ow

Class tonight was canceled, due to a family emergency, so I was left to my own devices. Apparently when left to my own devices, I eat a steak dinner and sit around doing beadwork and watching silly movies. But of course I also practiced, including trying to learn how to spin my glow fans... which resulted in me scratching up my arms. Just inside my elbows. OW! What an obnoxious place to get scratches. Maybe I should wrap that part of my arm in bandages until I learn to stop hitting myself. As it is, I have to practice over the couch so that when I inevitably drop a fan, it doesn't get banged up on the tile floor.

Commitment!

Tonight was all about committing to things. No, I'm not talking about dedication like I did yesterday, but about to committing to what you're doing at that moment. Combos and Choreography was a freakin' crazy sad lyrical piece with pretty much no belly dance in it. It was great practice for committing to unfamiliar moves, to not being "pretty" and to getting sad as all heck.

Then we FINISHED OUR CHOREOGRAPHY in troupe practice! Hooray! It's done! So of course we had to commit to that while we were doing it, dance like we meant it. I am pretty happy and excited. Practicing all week really helped, I felt comfortable with even the difficult parts, even if I messed them up, I knew what I was supposed to be doing. Now it's all about fine-tuning.

Lastly, I am now committed to doing a glow fan solo at our big troupe show on May 20th! This means I have to practice obsessively, which is pretty much what Jolie always expects of me anyway. It's nice to have a reputation of being a person who throws herself into things, even if it means that people then expect you to throw yourself into things and you can't be lazy.

And that's the secret truth about me. I am, at heart, a lazy person. If left to my own devices, I will happily spend all day goofing off on Facebook or reading a book. But having dance goals, and having a blog where I have to write about what I'm doing, keeps me motivated to actually do stuff. Being in a troupe really helps, because if I don't practice I'm not just failing myself, but I'm letting down my director and my fellow dancers. Between that and my intense hatred of being bad at things, I get motivated to actually practice instead of thinking about practice while I read another chapter.

New stuff

Day 319 of practice.

Well, I didn't make it to class tonight. It was a pretty crazy messed-up day, with my husband doing homework ALL DAY (he's still doing it now, at 12:10am), and my brother and I taking a trip to Marana in his big ol' truck to get my mirror from my friend Helen. I have a mirror! For practicing! In my house! I feel like a real dancer now.

My brother also brought me a pair of glow fans. There are definite perks to being related to one of the fabricators at Fire Mecca! I am super excited about my bright green LED fans and the possibility of doing fire fan tricks at indoor venues. Now I just need to learn how to use fire fans.

Practice was a lot of stretching and some isolations. I feel like now that my energy is coming back, I have some serious fun practice ahead of me. I want to start working on new solos! And drill the heck out of my zills and my Anaya moves, and play with the things Jolie has been teaching me.