Belly Dance Artist

Belly Dance Artist

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Tribal Fest 10: Teaser Video

Tribal Fest 10: Picture Dump

Yucky blizzard conditions driving out to Cali, through Wyoming and Utah.

The Cottage Ryan and I shared in Occidental, CA.

Occidental's awesome town map, that was drawn on the side of the building!

Breakfast at Howard's Cafe

Amy Sigil of Unmata kicking our butts during a workshop at Tribal Fest.

Our deer friends that came to graze by the cottage/house every evening.

Hip drop glue gun Molly! Our costumes were quite needy things this year...

Twilight over the vineyards.

A picture in one of the books at the house... it just mesmerized me.

Breakfast near the bay with Ryan...

and Molly!

Molly's friend Herbert.

Korbel lunch!

Pretty Korbel picture.

Showing our true nature...

Ryan and I at Hopmonk post-performance.

Molly modeling at the fashion show post-performance.

Molly rocking it.

Molly rocking it 2.0.

Molly rocking it 3.0.

An old tapestry Ryan and I found hanging at a costume shop in Santa Rose... still pining for it; alas it was not for sale.

Miss Jennifer called me while I was at Tribal Fest to let me know that the picture I had her work on for Molly was done. She restored and framed an old flyer of Molly's from when she was doing solo work in NOLA. It turned out fantastic and is now hanging at REW.

Tribal Fest 10 Overview

This Tribal Fest was a fun amazing time as always. It was my 4th year attending; 2nd year performing with TribalTique.

I drove the 1300 mile drive out to California with my boyfriend Ryan. The TribalTique girls and I rented a house with a little cottage above the driveway this year. It was awesome! Ryan and I got to stay in the cottage and we ate at Howards cafe down the street just about every single morning... we had the sweetest waitress.

All of the workshops I took were great... I had to end up skipping a couple just because my brain and body couldn't take it. This year I ran myself pretty ragged between Cues & Tattoos, Elevation, Tribal Fest 10 and helping to open the new studio (Red Elephant Workshop). I'm not sure what to change for next year... but I'll try to play it a bit smarter.

Our performance went swimmingly well (still in the process of trying to get C&T and TF10 vids on youtube, they'll be posted here once that is accomplished). We all remembered the choreography/ me and Molly hit all of our improvisational bits we wanted to. I don't believe I tripped this time which was fantastic! LOL!

Overall, we definitely ate a ton of good food, bought some pretties (in particular my awesome nose rings from Silk Road Tribal! I love the girls who run that business, sweetest ladies ever. Got to go to Korbel again with Molly and Ryan.

That's all that's coming to mind currently. I'll leave you with a picture from our performance at TF10. (There'll be a post to follow solely of pictures from the trip)

I love my troupe mates... we did good this year. =)

Monday, May 24, 2010

TribalFest Teaser

I'm working on getting a TF braindump posted... until then have a picture!
Photo Courtesy of Steven B.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Vacation!

Sort of...
We're leaving for Tribal Fest tonight! So excited to get out of Colorado.
let me out let me out!

Keep an eye on my facebook for pictures... my phone doesn't like to sync with le blog unfortunately.
Peace out!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Elevation Breakdown

Finally getting to my Elevation post!

Thursday:
Took the day off from work and headed out to Golden for Rachel Brice's 3 hour 8:30AM class. With this class I definitely came away with the want and a pretty good idea of how to reignite and switch up my personal practice. I also pinpointed why I have such a hard time with a few specific types of levels, it has nothing to do with my thighs and everything to do with my ankles. I definitely have the typical girly weak ankles... but I know what I need to work on now!

Went to lunch at Ali Baba Grill with Miss Lisa, had a lovely meal and talk with her. I don't get to see her near enough these days.

Went back to the workshop area and got ready for Unmata's class. I definitely got what I came for... a fast paced dance class where you never stop moving or smiling. I love Amy's way of breaking down movements and then turning it into a combo.

Friday:
Day two of Rachel's classes. She taught a frankly invaluable method for creating your own movement creation. It was the most real life applicable workshop I've ever taken; I'm definitely never going to look at a choreography the same again. My partner for the class was a lovely lady from Australia, whom I will also be seeing at Tribal Fest! They'll be performing on Sunday, May 16th under their name Divine Elements Belly Dance Company.

Saturday:
Day three of Rachel's classes. Before class I ended up meeting a lovely girl Jenny that takes classes near Connifer. We kept with the same theme as Friday with a different twist for creating fusion choreography. It was a fun workshop again but the other three ladies I met with and myself were desperately trying to keep our brains from leaking out our ears by the end. Slightly overwhelming but it was a ton of fun. Had to bust out of class right afterward to get up to FoCo with Molly for Tribal Fest rehearsal.

Later that night we went to the Gala Show, did a decent job of staying away from the vending, got to sit with Miss Lisa and Ryan about 6 rows back which was just perfect. It was by far my favorite Elevation Gala Show to date. The performers were all excellent and the show kept moving with a 20 minute intermission. My only critique was that it was a little long... I'm by no means sad that I got to see Unmata's full RaceCar set in addition to their full new Runway set, but I was definitely having a hard time staying awake by the end and it wasn't because the performers were bad. Rachel of course finished the show and she owned it like a rock star; I say rock star because at one point with the lighting set at a lovely blue-purple hue and the pose she struck to the perfect beat in the music she looked like a rock star. Whoever the lighting director was for the show they did a fantastic job for all of the performances.

Sunday:
I got to sleep in! Sort of... the dogs woke us up at about 7:30am, but considering that was the time I had been leaving for class that past three days it felt like I slept in. Gary had got back from Iowa the night before and was asleep on the couch until all three of the dogs bounded down the stairs. Had a nice chat with him, got breakfast with Ryan at Le Peep then headed out to Golden for my last two workshops.

Awalim's was first and both of the ladies teaching it were pretty hilarious. For the most part I they taught things I already knew but it was a fun one. Rachel's Yoga class ended the entire weekend and was completely blissful. A divine combination of asana, pranayama, chanting and meditation if you chose. It was seriously the best yoga glow I've ever had... I was totally blissed out.

Rachel talked a bit about her new DVD that's coming out at the end of May called Serpentine. I can't wait to get it a Tribal Fest.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

I have 10 followers!

Gee! Thanks guys!
I promise to write an Elevation Brain Dump in here asap!
xo.