Monday:
-went to work, hauled it and finished payroll as well as ALL of my other tasks in ONE DAY.
-went and taught classes with Molly, had chai nom!
-finished at 9PM then headed back to her house to grab suitcases and eat dinner that Harley made for us!
-Ryan graciously drove us to Fort Collins and dropped us off at Julia's. Packed the car and headed out.
-Drove...
Tuesday:
-Drove...
-Drove...
-Drove...
-Made it to the hotel around 6PMish... made the drive from FOCO in 18.5ish hours. We rock!
-Went to applebee's and got ourselves some food and quite large alcoholic beverages. Twas fantastic.
-Meandered over to Trader Joe's and stocked up on protein bars, yogurt and fruit.
-went back to the hotel and crashed
Wednesday:
We all had three workshops.
-First for me and Molly was Asharah: Progressive Raqs. Overall it was a very informative workshop. I loved the lecture portion. It gave me a lot of new material to work with and affirmed that I have a lot of work to do regarding glute squeezes.
-Second workshop was Suhaila's, whom I had never taken a class from before. She taught a choreography that I did enjoy. I must say she's a very efficient teacher.
-Third was Mardi Love! Who also taught a choreography that was uber happy making. My body however was drained from the heat and previous workhops so I had to sit out about half way through. I think I'm going to make a rule for myself. Max 2 workshops a day. My brain can not hold 6 hours worth of information and my body does not like to deal with that much new material.
-Got some din din at Thai Pot for miss Emilie's birthday, went back to the hotel and crashed.
Thursday:
I took the morning off and meandered about the vendors while the other girls took Unmata's workshop.
-Went to Carolena Nericcio's "Crafting an ATS Set" at 12:45PM. It was the hi-light of the trip for me. Improv is what I love and live for. It was such a huge joy for me to be able to finally take a class from her and no less with Molly who I learned from. We were in group one with Raven and Kajira. I don't think I can really put into words how much those two hours meaned to me.
http://fcbdblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/crafting-ats-set-at-tribal-fest.html
-Went to San Fran later on to see the indigo's show. Which was completely amazing per usual. *HEART*
Friday:
-Had Urban Tribal/Heather Stants - Fluid workshop at 10AM. As always I love the concepts she presents in her workshops. Yay for different ways to move!
-Next was Princess Farhana's abs workshop, gained a lot of good information and new ways to explain belly rolls and flutters.
-Went to the performances that night. On my *heart list* Zafira w/Onca, Red Lotus Belly Dance, Colleena, RB, Urban Tribal, Princess Farhana, Romka, Ahsarah and of course Suhaila. Red Lotus was so beautiful and was quite possibly my favourite performance of the entire weekend.
-Decided not to go to the after party and we were exhausted.
Saturday:
-The only workshop we had was at 5:15PM with Heather Stants - Dance Composition. I honestly debated not to go as FCBD was scheduled to perform during the workshop. I ended up going however and was so glad that I did. The workshop was simply amazing. I would retake this workshop a million times. So inspiring. If you ever have the chance to take it, do!
-Performances of note for the day: Gypsy Fire and Sister Fire, Boom Boom Bollywood, Satya, Clandestine, the beautiful ladies who filled superkate's spot and danced to ekova-I don't know their names :(, Danse du Ventre, Hipnotic, and Unmata.
-Again... skipped the after party... far too tired :(
Sunday:
The day we performed... it was an experience to remember. So surreal.
-I woke up WAY before anyone else in the room and started getting ready for our performance. Taking my time, and consciously trying to slow down everything I was doing, making the getting ready part practically a moving meditation. The other girls slowly woke up and started getting ready/packing up belongings themselves. We finished with 30 minutes to spare, checked out of the hotel and headed to the festival.
-Our performance time was 1:30PM. And I had a blast getting ready in the performers room, there was a nervous energy in the room but it belonged there. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, I believe that to be a good performer you need that nervousness there. The 30 minutes before we went on seemed to fly, yet every moment is vivid in my memory. What I was mostly nervous about was the stage. I had not had a chance to step foot on it during the open dance, the day before since I was in a workshop during that time. I had no idea if it was slippery, made of concrete or what. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find it had good grip, maybe a smidge too slippery for my taste but was made to absorb shock. YAY. Seeing as we had two turkish drops in our routine it was VERY happy making for my knees. They're still rather bruised though I must say. I believe our performance went well overall.
-back in the dressing room after wards was fabulous, lots of hugs. Meandered around in costume for a bit and got a ton of compliments, everyone was mesmerized by the costumes. Was in a ton of pictures. Thank You to everyone who gave a hug or a compliment, you all rock!
-Ripping all 4 eyelashes off was gratifying as usual. Got all of our make-up off. Accidentally sat on RB's suitcase, lol. Sat for a bit.... took in the atmosphere. Open danced a bit with some Unmata style improv ladies which was challenging but the adrenaline rush I was on made it manageable, lol! Molly and I decided to not do the last workshop and go get burgers instead at Hopmunk. OMG twas fabulous!
-Came back to the fest and watched the indigo perform. The beaded dresses... *le sigh* Mardi's solo *le sigh* The brothers were pretty awesome to see again.
-Got in the car made a pit stop at target/starbucks and headed out!
-Drive... Drive... Drive...
-I was a chatter box the entire way fyi... weird.
Monday:
-Drive... Drive... Drive...
-Arrived in FOCO around 2ish... I think? Ryan came and picked Molly and I up. Headed to Denver and home. Got to see all my animals, unpacked and crashed.
Overall it was an amazing trip, I love the girls in my troupe and can't wait to do this again next year!
Molly and I sporting our Gypsy Fire Swag post performance!
