- Mood:
pleased
I've officially completed my first professional engagement as a tribal belly dance teacher. And people had fun, and I think people felt good about themselves, and no one seemed to think I was a total idiot, and I didn't fall on my ass, and neither did any of my students.
In about an hour and a half we did a little slow work (taxeem and floreo mostly) and some fast work (egyptian, choo choo, hip bump, and shimmy), and by the end of the class we actually did a whole exchange of leadership thing and everyone tried it. (I didn't make them--I said that if you get the leadership spot and you don't want to do anything, you can always just keep going on around, but they all took it on!) And they looked pleased with themselves afterwards. And I had brought in a bunch of coin scarves, so most of the folks got to wear one and add a little jingle to things...
It was really fun. I want to do it again.
Wheeee!
--J
- Mood:
content
And if the gig weren't enough...
My undyed fluffy skirt arrived from the ebay seller today! It's lovely and replete with wildly unnecessary amounts of fabric and isn't too heavy and is just YUMMY. I may not even dye it for a while; it's natural cotton, but it's a very warm almost yellowish natural, not that sort of flat colorless natural you see sometimes. It's just really pretty.
Of course, if I were to dye it, that would give me an excuse to dive into a new and exciting form of messy naturalmama craftiness...we'll see. dharmatrading.com/ has all kinds of supplies and online tutorials, and I don't know how long I'll be able to resist...
It's so pretty. And so fluffy.
--J
- Mood:
ecstatic
I have my first official belly dance teaching gig!!!
Thanks to new friend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
csecooney , who got me hooked up with a lovely woman at the Huntley library way the heck up north, I'm doing a one-day belly dance class as part of their summer arts series thing. Hurray!
I'm also in talks with one of the local park districts since, even after a really good interview the thing at the Y doesn't seem to be working out, so hopefully I'll get something local and permanent going and the $$ I'm spending on this teacher training will not all be down the drain...not that any education is ever wasted; it always pays off eventually.
Except maybe for trig. I suspect still that the hours I spent in that classroom may have been a complete waste of time, except as really good lesson in what kind of teacher I'd never want to be and how to make fairly bright students feel like stupid lumps who can't do anything right.
I got a gig!! Thanks, Claire!
peace,
J
- Mood: excited
Bernard Huijbers wrote a fairly fabulous book entitled "The Performing Audience," about worshipping assemblies and how the goal of musicmaking in those settings is not for the "musicians" to perform "for" the watching audience, but for all of those present to be "performing" together, for and with one another--audience as performer, performer as audience. (Gross oversimplification of a very wise book with way more content than that.)
( Click if you're curious how I will tie this to belly dance... )
- Mood: hopeful
Now I just need students, I guess. :-) I need to chase down this lady at the Y and get for sure onto their schedule for the summer, or find other places. And keep practicing and working in the basement. Thing is, even if I can't get something going before then, once I do this I WILL have teaching credentials I can show anyone who wants to see them. But I think I'd get more out of it if I can teach a class before taking the intensive.
Hmm. This happened when I was 30 too. I went on this sudden mission to figure out what I loved about my life, what I didn't, jettison what I didn't, and feed what I loved. Also got my heart broken by an incredibly gorgeous immature asshole; that at least doesn't need repeating. :-) But the taking inventory of my life and deciding what I want to bring into the next decade and what is just not worth the energy, that's a good thing.
I want to dance. And I want to write.
Interesting, too, how synchronicity works: after my entry last night about wanting to get serious about writing, today I got an email from my edtor, and one of my books is ready for a second edition (new church document on music published last year that we didn't have when I wrote the first edition) and they want me to revise it so they can publish it again. This gives me hope. I sent the wish, the desire, the yearning out into the Universe--and the next day I get offered a paying writing gig. This is good.
But now my sleepy tea ("fidnemed nighttime" from mountainroseherbs.com) is probably very much ready, and I'm tired.
peace,
J
- Mood: hopeful
Started on Facebook. (It's evil, I knew it was!)--not sure how it happened, but somehow I got the "gogoogle" virus, which is the one that gets into your computer and redirects all your search engines to ad sites, and blocks download of every single potential program that could find and eradicate it. Thanks to a second computer and a smart husband, we found a forum listing on some computer geek site telling us which file to disable to at least enable the downloads and run of antivirus programs. So I ran about three different ones, and each one found Something Trojanny and eradicated it, and by the time it finished its necessary reboot and I ran them again (or at least SuperAntiSpyware; Avast and Malwarebyte didn't keep finding anything) they were back. I tried disconnecting from the internet, I tried all kinds of things, but these five little registry items keep coming back (down from the original 90, so I'm only complaining a little, but if they're there, they're THERE--it's like fleas on your dog, once there's one and it lays eggs you're set up for a full scale infestation.)
I've run it about 6 times, to the same result. Not sure where to go from here. After I finish my paper and final (for my LAST COURSE OF THE MASTERS, YEEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!), I may take my hubby up on his offer to take it to work and see what the Guys can do with it.
In other news: I had my belly dance teacher interview--it went REALLY WELL and they are very interested! So I might be a genuine teacher by January. Whoopee!! (This means I ought to start practicing, working out, etc. so I have stamina and flexibility when it happens, I guess...right? er....yeah, I guess so. When Christmas is over. Okay, maybe not that long.)
Hubby and I are buying an elliptical for each other for Christmas. Not terribly romantic, but we both really really want one.
It's good to be back on da blog...I'll try to post some crafty entries too...
peace,
J
- Mood:
disappointed
I don't need more things on my plate. But I need to get my body moving again, get some of this flabby uselessness off my body, get my strength back, and remember what it felt like to be healthy. I need to do something that will give me energy, not suck it away.
I hope they let me do this, I really do...
peace,
Jem
- Mood: hopeful
We'll never be ready.
I pack box after box of stemware and bowls and plates and books and pots and pans and the house still looks like nothing has been packed at all. And I haven't even gotten to the "weird shit" category of packing yet.
Walk-throughs are scheduled. No one's financing has fallen through. One out of two closings are scheduled. Tonight our attorney is coming over to sign forms with us so we don't have to go to closings. And going to the city to pay them the money they have decided anyone owes them who has the temerity to move out of town. (Grrr.)
I can't quite believe this.
Another topic all together...I think I am on some level at least emotionally (and somewhat financially) committing to my desire to start an ATS class somewhere near where I move to, if I can find a place (park district, Y, whatever) that will let me teach it. I know I'm not the best or most experienced dancer, but I'm a good teacher, and I think I can do it. I know the language of teaching, and I know the language of learning (whch both contribute to my annoyance with poor teaching, even well-meaning poor teaching). And I want to keep dancing, or rather, start dancing again after a summer's very flabby hiatus. I just bought a couple of lots of coin scarves on ebay and am about to buy a bunch of zill sets as well, hopefully to do what Sam did with us and sell them at very low markup to students so they don't have to hunt down their own. I know the costume does not the dancer make, nor the paraphernalia, but as soon as this move is done I want to get my body back in shape again and find a way to stretch my own voice out and find other women who might glom onto ATS the way I have and not immediately feel like it's too dull, too limiting, too whatever to bother to learn it thoroughly and well. I don't need this urban tribal stuff, I don't need the Goth thing, I definitely wouldn't touch Burlesque with a ten foot pole (and with none of the above do I judge or denigrate those who do like those styles, they are just not me), but I love ATS, its simplicity and cleanness. It's like the Ikea of dance styles, maybe.:-) If you want the Ikea look, you can't mix it with other stuff--it might be nice, but it's not Ikea any more.:-)
Can't wait to measure the walls in our new tiny bedroom to see how much Ikea modular closet we need to buy...:-)
peace,
J
I want a tribe. I want a group. I want to dance and have fun with women who just want to dance and don't bring all this ego crap to it.
- Mood:
stressed
And my hubby deeply resents the fact that my work gives me a certain amount of money each year which I am to spend on "professional development," and since I have risen to the level (after 20+ years of working my ass off, I might add) where people more often pay me to go to events and workshops where I can help others get professionally developed and maybe develop a little professionally on my own (usually in the hotel bar--no, really, it's all networking! And we're geeky enough that we're usually debating liturgical principals and psalm translations over drinks anyhow!) and all, the only thing left to spend the $$$ is....TOYS!!!!
- Mood: depressed
I can't believe it. The party worked, it happened, it was a surprise. (and I forgot the camera, so photos will have to wait until some kind person gives us pictures.)
I couldn't even blog about it, because A reads my blog entries.
Anyway, hubby turned 40 on Friday, and so his oldest friend and I threw him a surprise birthday party at the local park district community center. I managed to get him there, managed to keep Bear from spoiling the surprise in the 24 hours he knew about it, we had the "surprise" moment, the food was lovely (God bless Sharon!), and it was cool.
At first I thought it was going to be deadly dull--as usual, his whole family crowded around one table in the farthest corner and just Sat There. About 10 of them at one table. They just sit, they barely talk, they don't move at all. Just sit. And the young hip people hadn't come yet. Correction: Kelly came, and was there for the surprise part, and my heart bled for her--I can't imagine sitting with that group, knowing NO ONE--for the half hour it took us to get there. But eventually the other folks did arrive, and everyone had someone to talk to.
And then the dancers came...THAT was cool--Sam, Arcelia, and Lori came, and I put on a couple of hip scarves and belts and tied on a turban and danced with them. It was VERY cool, and lots of fun, and then the ladies stayed and ate and had cake and hung out for the rest of the party. So that was the "good" part, and the part that was the biggest surprise, I think. And my Aunties-in-law didn't even seem all that scandalized by the whole thing.
Anyway...pictures to come soon, I hope!
peace,
J
- Mood: relieved
- Mood: pleased
Another Buzz gig last night...nice that it's finally becoming something just sort of easy and fun, rather than a cause for stress and nerves. And in a space that weird, there's no question of adhering to any sort of plan, which sort of frees us up for seriously winging it. Kind of takes the pressure off when you know no one has any particular expectations.
I'm also sort of having fun embracing the "if you have enough articles of clothing on that don't match at all, eventually it all starts to match" vibe of costuming--last night, I did the sage green skirt, the purple and brown and lurex tie die pantaloons, the maroon and purple sari hip shawl over the royal blue fringed one, the giant Kuchi medallion, and head wraps made of about 6 different scrap fabrics of God knows how many colors, and lots of rattly jewelry. It was fun.:-) And I'm enjoying not wearing black all the time for a change.
And tonight I have the real test: home by 6:30, due to dance by 7:00 an 8 minute drive from my home...can I costume from top to bottom in only 20 minutes? We'll see how it goes...:-)
peace,
J
- Mood: pleased
Here’s the VERY basic version of my own directions, possibly even easier than hers, because I was too lazy to hem and needed the length anyway:
- Mood:
productive
I actually "outted" myself as a belly dancer to my church choir the other night, though I could barely believe it...the whole thing about improvisation, and leading and following, and staying constantly aware of everyone else and making adjustments and following cues and stuff in the Orthodox chant we were doing just made it seem very natural, so I explained about it. A couple of the tenors looked a little freaked out, but most people seemed to take it in stride (or pretend to, anyway.)
More later, maybe, if there's time...kids need to go to bed.
--J
- Mood:
artistic
