Sabaya Bellydance Collective

Inspiration = Inhalation

2010-09-18T18:52:00.000-05:00

Re-posted from Yasmin's blog:
Conversations on Dance: Inspiration, the Creative Habit, and the Artistic Journey

I just realized that inspiration is a synonym for inhalation. Never quite thought about it that way.

1. (noun) inspiration
arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or creativity
Synonyms: divine guidance, breathing in, intake, aspiration, inhalation, brainchild, stirring

Note to self: Next time I'm feeling uninspired on my creative journey, take a deep breath.

Miwa Matreyek's Glorious Visions

2010-09-12T18:49:00.000-05:00

Re-posted from Yasmin's blog:
Conversations on Dance: Inspiration, the Creative Habit, and the Artistic Journey

Miwa Matreyek, I salute you. I salute your imagination. I also salute your uncanny ability to share the world within your heart to anyone who is fortunate to see your magic.

To those who have not seen the creative mystery of Miwa Matreyek, take eleven minutes to watch this video of illusion and reality, of movement and shapes within the medium of experimental animation, video projection, music, and performance art. Even after multiple viewings, Matreyek continues to strike me with her imagination, presentation and storytelling. The goddess spirit in her glorious vision reminds me how it was, how it is, and how it can be.

The video projection technique Matreyek uses and the process of inserting herself in the animation and story is fascinating and fantastical. Imagine how utterly amazing this technique would be to tell the stories within One Thousand and One Nights. I also am inspired to incorporate this projection technique into a performance of belly dance to enhance the dance movement with luscious colors, organic shapes, stories, silhouettes, and far away memories.

Yes, this is another TED talk. I've said it before and I will say it again: TED, how I love thee!

Amy Tan on Creativity

2010-09-06T18:44:00.001-05:00

Re-posted from Yasmin's blog: Conversations on Dance: Inspiration, the Creative Habit, and the Artistic Journey

Oh, TED, how I love thee. Technology, Entertainment and Design. Three of my favorite topics merged into, among other outlets, annual conferences and a free online video website of short talks by domain experts that make you go 'hmmmmm." I could peruse TED for hours on end and get my mind and heart poked, prodded and inspired. The TED video in this post is Amy Tan's humorous exploration and explanation of her creative process.

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer who penned several best-selling novels, including The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God's Wife. Mother/Daughter relationships are a central theme in The Joy Luck Club and also a central theme in her TED talk about developing her creativity.

Other constants on her creative path include synchronicity, uncertainty, moral ambiguity, chance and experience. She poses open-ended questions about where creativity might come from. Could it perhaps stem from a muse chromosome, some cosmic enlightenment, experience from past lives, childhood trauma, identity crisis, and/or neurological quirks such as psychosis or depression?

Once again, creativity's shadowy companion seems to be some shade of fear. If you visit Amy Tan's website, you'll find a section called Anxiety Tip of the Day with the caption "Don't worry, Be Anxious." In the following two quotes from Amy Tan, her fears include The Internal Censor and Anxiety. Who hasn't felt these particular shadowy companions?

1. "When I say we, I don't mean you necessarily... I mean me and my right brain, my left brain and the one that's in between that is the censor and tells me what I'm saying is wrong."

2. "There are at least eleven levels of anxiety and they all operate at the same time."

She ends her talk with conviction in hints from the universe and the lack of an absolute truth. Uncertainty is a good thing, she says. This is supported by the title of Tan's website blog "Blur of the Moment: Lack of Clarity is a Writer's Truth." The more Tan is aware of serendipitous events, the more of them occur and the greater focus she receives as she searches for particles of truth. Not an absolute truth, mind you, but particles of truth.

Sabaya to Perform at Rachel Brice and Mardi Love Workshop

2010-08-29T18:39:00.000-05:00

It’s been a big summer for Sabaya Bellydance Collective. Our recent first place competition win was followed in quick succession by our 5 year anniversary at Sahara Nights and then the honor to have been asked (again) to dance at the Rachel Brice and Mardi Love workshop the last weekend of September in Austin, Texas.

Here is a clip of Sabaya’s performance as the opening act for The Indigo (the touring and teaching dance group of Rachel Brice, Mardi Love and Zoe Jakes) when they last came through Austin in 2007.

2010-08-05T18:29:00.000-05:00

We are thrilled to announce that Sabaya won first place in the medium troupe category at the Choreography Project for Middle Eastern Dance 2010 hosted by Z-Helene and Rick Fink. All the late late nights in the dance studio paid off!

We performed three pieces for the choreography project competition. The first was a pop song called Abou Ali, then came a drum piece, and the finale was an energetic remix of Toba. We utilized the following three approaches to creating these choreographies.

1. For Abou Ali, we divided the song into distinct sections and assigned one section to one dancer. Each Sabaya dancer was responsible for creating the choreography for an assigned section on our own time. At rehearsal, we would present our choreographed sections and teach it to the other Sabaya dancers. This took just over a month. After we learned the various sections, we strung them back to back and performed the whole piece. As we glued it together, it was important to remain open and communicative about which parts really worked, were difficult, didn’t mesh or needed adapting. We needed to be particularly flexible when we began adding complex stage formations and transitions.

For me, the formations and transitions were the most fun. In my section, I knew that I wanted to have a Rockette line that moved 360 degrees while maintaining the straight line. It was playful, fun, and it worked. A definite crowd surprise.

I also wanted to see if I could have a long phrase that was all about creating figure 8 curves in a continuous line that traveled up and down the body and out different diagonals without stopping. Kind of like when liquid dancers dance with an invisible ball that “rolls” around their body. This was my attempt at the bellydance version.

What was revealing about this method of choreographing was that these natural movements for me were difficult for some of my fellow Sabaya dancers to integrate into their body. I experienced this in the reverse too. For example, some movements that Stacey presented in her choreographed section felt very awkward in my body. Her section included counter clockwise pelvic squares downbeat front with counter clockwise torso squares downbeat front (and down). I felt this one to look really clumsy on me, but in troupe dancing it doesn’t matter how a movement looks on one dancer. What matters most is how the same movement looks spread across the group of dancers. We strive to make it harmonious.

The full blog post describing the two remaining choreography techniques and more photos are available on Yasmin's blog: Conversations on Dance.

Day 3, 4 & 5: International Bellydance Conference of Canada, 2010

2010-04-29T23:16:00.002-05:00

Day 3: Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday at the 2010 International Bellydance Conference started strong with a Sabaya final rehearsal and then Pop-n-Lock Artistry workshop with Sera Solstice. I enjoyed the visual effects of her combinations and would gladly study with her again. Another differentiator with Sera is her focus on meditation and energy visualization during the warm up. I took her East Coast Tribal Fusion drum workshop on Sunday afternoon (Day 5) but I hadn't eaten a proper lunch or breakfast so my body wasn't responding to the choreography. So frustrating. Also, the level was challenging enough that we didn't get through the choreography. Can't wait to get my hands on her new drum choreography DVD and work it out.

Here is Sera at Tribal Fest 2009. Look how she commits every bit of her body to every movement in every moment. Incredible. Powerful.

Body Image in Bellydance Discussion Panel
After Sera's Pop-n-Lock Artistry workshop, I headed upstairs to listen to the Body Image in Bellydance discussion panel with Delilah, Mayada, Jaene Castrillon, Andrea Deagon, Galiah and Candace Bordelon. Panelists were a good mix of very experienced dancers, an abuse survivor, fitness competitor, academics, younger and older dancers, and dancers of all shapes. Biographies available on the IBCC featured speakers page. Here is a short summary of the major themes.

Connecting to the Core
Beginning students don't always initially understand the concept of dancing from within their core or their physicality. Teaching dance classes in front of mirrors encourages students to look at themselves as they learn how to feel. This can defy the intention of deep connection with music, the body and emotion through movement. Disconnecting the self from one's image may help students feel emotion in the body. One exercise is to turn the lights low or encourage students to close their eyes to reconnect with their self.

Transformations
Transformations occur both internally and externally. Delilah advises her students to start a journal to note their personal growth through bellydance. As dancers start having physical power and control over their bodies through dance, they gain greater confidence and soon have more power and control over their entire lives. As a catalyst, bellydance can rejuvenate or even break up relationships due to sudden personal growth and awareness.

The Bellydance Image
It's a constant struggle between social perception, perception of ourselves, and the projection on us. Mayada made a great point about the mass media pressures to be thin and yet in the bellydance form there is a stereotype where one can't be a real bellydancer unless you have something to jiggle. In her classes, thin dancers often feel insecure and ask "am i doing this correctly?"

Candace sees the tribal dancers take much more ownership in their image and feminine power than oriental dancers. Mayada pointed out that Rachel Brice and her bellyrolls brought the 6 pack onto the scene but before that (especially in performance venues) there was a certain body type that was accepted: curvy, not too fat and not too skinny. As soon as Mayada lost weight and became more muscular, people asked her why she looked sick. Delilah said that in the Seattle area, being too skinny isn't a common issue but being too heavy may still be an issue.

Health vs Weight
Lots of discussion around the importance of focusing on health and not weight. For example, both skinny and heavy people can be unhealthy and you just can't tell from their weight.

Aging
Delilah made a very honest observation about aging. During her 35 years of dance, she said, there's a sadness in watching the body change and letting go of movements that she once could do and can't do anymore. She is learning a lot through this frustrating process of acceptance but for her the idea of retiring seems impossible. She says she will be dancing even with an aluminum walker. Her point was that although there are things one gives up as the body ages, there are other richer things that come in that an 18 year old won't have experienced. And there is power in acceptance.

Andrea Deagon, who started dancing at around 16 years old, made a touching statement about how one can give so much to the dance community through teaching and performing and yet at a certain time in one's dance career, people stop coming to watch. "The journey from youth to age and from thinness to weight is not at all pleasant," Andrea says. "For me, to have gone from being a thin dancer to one who is no longer thin and from a young dancer to one who is no longer young, I have seen people who would have formally embraced me and wanted to see my art, turn away from me and be uninterested in seeing my art. Am I a better dancer now? I can't do Turkish Drops anymore but yes, I AM a better dancer now. But there is not the same desire to see me, even within our bellydance community. So that's the flip side of the beauty and sharing and delight in our bodies that we create in our classrooms for the beginners among us."

After this panel, I went back to the hotel for dinner at Fresh and to get ready for our Sabaya show. It was nerve wracking, this performance. We were honored to close the first act. Whether it was due to nerves or peaking in rehearsal that morning, Sabaya didn't give the performance we had hoped to share. The next day, we did receive very positive feedback about our showcase and even an "it was perfect!" from Yasmina Ramzy, so perhaps it went better than we thought.

Day 4: Saturday, April 24, 2010
Jillina picked our spirits up with a fantastic Fellahi (farmer's dance) on Saturday morning. In this choreography, our character was a young peasant girl with a jug of water, flirting shyly and looking for a husband. On Day 5, Jillina taught a great Raks Sharki piece. Let me say that Jillina has fine tuned the art of teaching at large scale workshops. She is able to teach and complete a choreography in the allotted time with a strong dose of humor and enough repetition to "get it." As a testimony to her skill, most participants are still up and dancing by the end of the workshop. Don't always see that in either small or large workshops.

Here is Mahmoud Reda, the featured 2010 IBCC instructor who was unable to make it to Canada because of the volcanic ash cloud grounding air travel over Europe, dancing a Fellahi with Farida Fahmy and the Reda Troupe in the film Mid Year Vacation. I was unable to find the year this was filmed.

For more photos and reviews of Day 3,4 & 5, visit my blog Conversations on Dance.

Enjoy, Yasmin

Day 2: International Bellydance Conference of Canada, 2010

2010-04-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of the 2010 International Bellydance Conference of Canada started out at 9am with Anatomy of Bellydance by Dr. Aurora Ongaro, professional chiropractor as well as Artistic Director of edVenture Arts Academy in Edmonton, Canada. Her presentation focused primarily on explaining the interaction of muscle groupings around the shoulder, back, abdominals and feet. For each area, she explained common problem areas encountered by new students and discussed methods of safe execution or training. For example, instead of crunches for improving belly rolls, she recommends core strengthening exercises that involve an unstable surface. Or for students complaining that backbends pinch, remind them to stabilize the back muscles by engaging front abs. To free up more muscles in the abdominal and back muscles, she recommends using hamstrings instead of lower abs to tuck the pelvis. As long as the student doesn't lock their knees or squeeze their glutes while engaging the hamstrings, they will safely be able to tuck their pelvis. She encourages students to cultivate body awareness by having them poke and prod their muscles to determine when muscles are properly engaged. Strong dancers must have solid body awareness and some of this responsibility includes understanding how muscles work together.

Anatomy of Bellydance lecture was followed by Rhythmic Notation for Bellydancers by Dr. George Sawa. This musician is a master. He began the lecture by covering the history of notation over the centuries starting with the system of Ishaq al-Mawsili (died in 850) to the Prosodic System of Al-Kindi (died 870) to the Precise System of al-Farabi (d. 950) to the Pre-Modern Arabic Era to the system of Safiyy al-Din (d. 1924). After the historical significance of each system, Dr. Sawa described the system he developed that notates each drum pattern by a visual circle that moves through each dumm, takk and rest in a continuous circle.

He played examples of several rhythmic patterns from his CD's Egyptian Music Appreciation and Practice for Bellydancers. The 2 CD set released two weeks ago includes an extensive booklet explaining all 21 rhythms used in Egyptian music (rather than the subset included in most rhythm CDs for dancers), Melodic Modes, Musical Forms and full color photos of 35 instruments. Side note: The tambourine percussionist creating embellishments over the drum rhythm in the CDs is in his 80s and has performed with Samia Gamal, Taheyya Carioca, Mohammad Abdel-Wahab, Farid el-Atrash and toured worldwide with Feyrouz. That's reason enough to get this learning tool.

For more photos and reviews of Day 2, visit my blog Conversations on Dance.
Enjoy,
Yasmin

Day 1: International Bellydance Conference of Canada, 2010

2010-04-22T01:34:00.000-05:00

Long travel day today. Up at 4:30am, at the Austin airport by 5:30 and then off to Toronto. Lily and I were travel buddies and we made it to our hotel at 4pm that afternoon. Stacey and Rania took later flights and will be arriving close to midnight. By 8am tomorrow, we'll be out the door to a full day of lectures, workshops and performances at the 2010 International Bellydance Conference of Canada.

At tonight's opening gala performance, Yasmina Ramzy of Arabesque Dance Academy and host of the International Bellydance Conference announced that Mahmoud Reda and Khairiyya Mazin,the featured Egyptian instructors, were unable to make it to the conference because of the volcanic ash grounding airtravel over Europe. Here are short bio write ups taken from the IBCC website.

Mahmoud Reda is the pioneer of theatre dance in Egypt. In 1959 he founded the world renowned Reda Troupe. By the mid 60s the troupe had over 150 members including, dancers and musicians. As soloist, choreographer, and artistic director, he was instrumental in creating a legitimate theatrical dance genre that embraced many styles. He has choreographed more than 300 dances including for many Egyptian feature films, and has starred in three musicals directed by his late brother Ali Reda, two of which are major productions and are regarded as mile stones in the history of Egyptian cinema. With the troupe he has performed in prestigious theatres in more than 60 countries such as the Royal Albert Hall in London, The Olympia in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York and Stanislavski in Moscow.

Khairiyya Yusuf Mazin is the youngest of the famous Banat Mazin, one of the last exponents of Ghawazi dance, which is perhaps the primary origin of Egyptian "belly dance." She is the sole remaining practitioner of the authentic dances of the Nawari Ghawazi of Upper Egypt. When Khairiyya Mazin retires, one of the most distinctive traditions of Ghawazi dance may come to an end. The Ghawazi are the famed female dancers described so often in Western travelers' accounts since the 18th century, and probably the major wellspring of Egyptian danse orientale.

What a true disappointment not to have the opportunity to learn from these legends. I had been truly looking forward to studying with the now 80 year old dance legend and choreographer Mahmoud Reda. But the show must go on and there will be plenty of amazing experiences ahead in the next few days of dance.

Photos and more reviews from the conference posted on my blog, Conversations on Dance. Enjoy!

Yasmin

One Hour with Suhaila

2009-11-04T17:57:00.000-06:00

I’m still mentally and emotionally processing one of the most memorable events of my dance training life: my first private lesson with Suhaila to work on my personal choreography for the Advanced Performer Recital in December. Before the hour arrived, I was nervous. However, my goal was to remain open and receptive during the lesson; to do what Suhaila asked of me to the best of my ability without holding back one ounce of effort. My choreography, I knew, was not even close to brilliant, although I had put many hours of work into visualization, emotional perspective, isolation choices, foot work and stage patterns. It came as no surprise that Suhaila was able to look at what I had done and quickly inject a new level of life and power into my piece. I’m still sore several days later from the amount of energy and movement I tried to create in response to her suggestions!

This hour reinforced yet again why I have dedicated the past eight years to studying Suhaila’s format: there is always more. More depth, more range, more options, more freedom, more expression… What was also particularly exciting was the fact that this was my choreography (with my emotional perspective and interpretation), and Suhaila was helping me with adjustments to help ensure that the audience could feel what it is I’d like to express. In my opinion, I am a lucky dancer indeed to have had this kind of feedback. Watching video of myself and trying to make adjustments on my own would never have gotten me as far as we did in just one hour. I thought I was breathing... but I need to breathe deeper. I thought my movement had come from an emotional perspective and interpretation of the music… but I have to go even further and understand “the why” of every single moment / movement. There were a lot of other improvements as well in the areas of body positioning, technique, movement initiation, dynamics and sentiment.

What Suhaila really changed in that hour was not just my choreography, but my perspective, yet again, on me/dance/bellydance. For years, I have chased the intangible "how" to take a performance from OK to good; or from good to great. There is still a lot of work ahead of me to incorporate my newfound, yet heightened awareness of the principles Suhaila asked me to apply to my choreography. Not only am I more excited about this particular piece, but look forward to applying (or attempting to apply) these same concepts to future projects (including improvisation). Maybe one day I'll be able to live up to my own, new, higher expectations of myself. One thing is for sure - I'm going to keep trying.

--Stacey

Suhaila's blog about the L4 show: http://www.suhailainternational.com/blog/?p=408

Sabaya Invited to the 2010 International Bellydance Convention of Canada

2009-09-26T00:20:00.000-05:00

We are pleased that Sabaya has been invited to perform on the main stage at the 2010 International Bellydance Convention of Canada. The convention is held in Toronto on April 21 -25 and features bellydance legend Mahmoud Reda from Egypt as well as Jillina, Sera Solstice, Delilah, Yasmina Ramzy and other well-known instructors.

What is Tribal Style Bellydance?

2009-09-16T00:14:00.000-05:00

This short documentary film asks leaders in the tribal bellydance field to answer the following questions:

"How do you think your style differs from other styles of bellydance.
What is it like?
How would you describe it to a general audience?"

I found this video to be less valuable for answering the question "What is Tribal Style Bellydance" and a more insightful commentary about the interviewed dancers' personas off stage compared to their onstage personas as well as how they interpret their individual dance styles.

Enjoy!
Yasmin

Suhaila says it like it is at the L3 prep.

2009-08-27T00:29:00.000-05:00

Reported by Yasmin

On doing your thang:
"You'll never be able to please the bellydance audience, so why even try?"
"Will they really get you? Who cares what they think. Do what you need to do."
"Don't you dare ever bellydance to please me---- ever!"
"When Mozart was criticized in his day, they complained that he played too many notes."
"Be innovative."
"I never present work knowing that people will get it. It will take 15-20 years before people get it. It took 20 years for people to get Dances of the Sultan. "
"You can get away with almost anything if you dance it with honest, integrity, intelligence.... and you don't suck."
"I say: let them hate me!"
"The only way we are going to raise the level of the dance is to raise the expectations visually and physically."
"Represent the music, don't just make patterns to please the audience."
"I want you out of the box and not safe."

Personal choreography techniques to help a dancer push through barriers:
Take out all bellydance movement from the choreography.
Take 2 choreographies, change them, and mash 'em up.
Find 2 pieces of music and dance the same way for each song.
Dance the entire song in one spot. You can turn in one spot around yourself, but no traveling.
Hum the song.
Dance without the music and count it outloud.
Exhaust all angles of possibility, even if you go back to your first version of the piece.
Physicalize a taste. How would you dance the emotion of food, for example.
Tell the story.
Listen to the music and physicalize what you hear.
Watch a piece as if you were looking down from the ceiling. Notice your floor patterns.

Understand where you are within your dance
Isolate what you are doing and identify the level at which you dance.
Identify the level of other dancers that you watch.
Dance above your level for your mentors. Dance below your level for your paying audience.

Meisner Acting technique:
"Observing somebody is not the same as experiencing them."
"Taking classes with Meisner changed my life."

Question to Suhaila: What is your favorite choreography from your repertoire?
Suhaila: I don't like any of them. But that is not the point. I love them because they represent a moment in time. A moment in my life.

Suhaila Level 3 Prep Weeklong

2009-08-23T00:24:00.000-05:00

Reported by Yasmin

But I'm not ready!
I dreaded going quite frankly. I had completed my assignments and was training regularly with the online Suhaila classes but I still didn't feel prepared. Perhaps one never feels prepared enough. With the money down on the workshop fee, my flight booked and a commitment to share the rental car and hotel with Stacey, there wasn't much choice but to go. And when I left the workshop a week later, my eyes were opened.

The first morning, Suhaila gathered us to one corner of the Berkeley area studio to introduce the workshop philosophies. The studio doors were locked and late comers were forced to wait outside for a good 15 minutes. This was our first lesson: Respect the teacher, respect your time, respect each other's time. Commitment means being on time, which from Suhaila's perspective means being 15 minutes early.

There were about 25 dancers in the workshop and perhaps a third of them had taken a Level 3 class before. A third might have been Bay area regulars. The rest came from as far away as Hong Kong, Canada and Italy.

Mornings
Mornings were filled with extensive warm-ups followed by hours of Level 3 drills. We also practiced dance movement and folkloric fusion. To me, drilling is like executing math equations in my body. Lots of mental energy at the onset and if I get it easily, my body relaxes into a smooth motoring machine. If the equation doesn't fit my body immediately, the internal mental energy picks up and my phsycial body careens on the edge, slightly out of control. Often times I just need to get out of my own way and all the pieces click into place. There seem to be different "states" of drilling based on a number of variables such as level of drill difficulty, level of fatigue, protein and water in my body, my mind's attempt to control my body, physical limitations, level of focus, and more.

Afternoons
Afternoons were dedicated to presenting personal choreography to Suhaila in front of the class. This was my favorite and most terrifying part. Actually, I take that back. The Sanford Meisner acting exercises were the most terrifying and opening experience for me that week. It was the last exercise on Thursday evening and emotions in the room were already simmering strongly from the hours of drilling, personal choreography, and Suhaila choreographies. Tears, shouts, disdain, anger, silliness, love and raw emotion came tumbling from our bodies. It was authentic. It was vulnerability like I'd never seen before. For the next few days after that experience, my senses were heightened to this almost vibrational level. I could clearly see people and most of them seemed to be emotionally half-dead.

After personal choreography feedback, the second part of each afternoon was dedicated to learning the L3 Suhaila choreographies: L3 Finger Cymbal Drum Solo, Maddah, and L2 Finger Cymbal Drum Solo with L3 increases. Soon there will be choreography kits that students can purchase to prepare themselves ahead of time. This will allow students to be able to focus exclusively on the emotional preparation, acting techniques, and personal choreography topics of Level 3.

Evenings
Evenings were spent working late into the night on our individual homework assignments. Stacey spent the evenings teaching the dance studio classes as part of her Level 5 preparation, which is focused on becoming a certified teacher within the Suhaila format. This gave me private time in the hotel room to evolve my personal choreographies, prepare my training plans and practice the L3 choreographies. I would pick Stacey up each evening around 10pm and we would go find dinner, recap the day, wind down and then head back to the hotel for more study.

Personal Feedback
As for my personal feedback from Suhaila, she thought I had made some break throughs. For one thing, I was opening up and getting out of my head. Her advice for me until I arrive in L3 next year is to take singing lessons to learn breath control patterns, projection, and pacing. This was the last thing I expected as a take-away from a dance workshop but upon further reflection it makes aboslute sense. When one sees a dancer working in unison with her breath, one sees integrated complete dance movement.

By Dancers For Dancers Vol 6~includes Stacey Lizette!

2009-08-19T11:53:00.000-05:00

Sabaya sista's could not be happier for Stacey. Her performance will be in the By Dancers For Dancers Vol.6 to be released in November!

Live music review: supreme sitar

2009-08-10T15:27:00.001-05:00

Live music review: supreme sitar & belly dancing with Atash at the Copa in Austin

Posted using ShareThis

Sahara Nights 4 Year Anniversary

2009-07-14T22:19:00.000-05:00

After all the adrenaline of a show is over and you are ready to hit the sheets, you can't help but be thankful! You think of all the people that make your event happen and, of course, the people that appreciate your efforts.

Sahara Nights started in July 2005 with Lily, Maribel, Rania, Stacey, and Yasmin. Our aspirations were simple: to have a venue to dance both as a group and as soloists, to have control over the arrangement of our music, and to present a monthly staged show of quality belly dance that Austin can appreciate.

Achieving this "simple" aspiration meant committing to weekly rehearsals for the next four years to present group choreographies, nearly daily correspondence to plan a succinct show that we enjoy and that appeals to the general audience, monthly flyer design and distribution, online marketing charges, newsletters, organization of lights, decor and stage props, coordination of complimentary food, managing logistics of special musical guests, and regular check-ins with management to make sure all expectations are met, i.e. profits for the club and market our show to all of Austin!

The responsibilities that we took on to achieve a successful monthly club night revealed each of the hats we wear to make the business of Sabaya "work." Our most celebrated result of this common project is the friendship and respect we continue to grow for each other and for the group. A sampling of some of the mutli-tasking responsibilities we each perform include:

Creative graphic design by Rania

A professionally designed website by Yasmin and Lily

A monthly newsletter written by Yasmin and edited by all

Effective marketing by Maribel

Rehearsals led by Stacey, who keeps us all on point

With Austin being the live music capital of the world, one would think we could easily find Middle Eastern bands, DJs, and drummers. Not really... After realizing that our show would have to be a fusion of Middle Eastern music, we explored the various musical styles available to us. We formed a partnership with Austin's favorite world music band, Atash. We were able to explore Jason McKenzie's Sunray Project with Indragit, the sitar player. We were able to work with el John Selector, the percussionist from Thievery Corporation and, most recently, the musical talents of Jef Stott for our 4 year anniversary celebration. Special thanks also to Sean Mecredy who contributed his time and talent to the show.

We are very thankful for the opportunity to bring beautiful music for everyone to dance to at Sahara Nights. Sabaya thanks all our friends who make Sahara Nights special:
Silvio Ramos (Copa Operator), Vance Strickland (photography), Kelly (Ararat Middle Eastern Cuisine), DJ Avatar, Atash, el John Selector, Sunray Project, Jef Stott, and all our friends who consistantly come to share this special night with us.

Looking forward to sharing another exciting year with you!

Love,
Sabaya Bellydance Collective: Lily, Maribel, Rania, Stacey, Yasmin

It is never too late for a fresh start

2009-07-12T04:06:00.000-05:00

From desk job to professional dancer...... at 50!

http://fittoboom.msnbc.msn.com/?source=msnspotlight>1=25054#/home/video/8/0

Sahara Nights::4yr Anniversary July 11th

2009-07-06T14:59:00.000-05:00

Sahara Nights
Saturday, July 11, 2009

Sabaya/Copa 4 Year Anniversary
We hope that you will join us for our four year anniversary party as we fly in our musical guest, Jef Stott (http://www.jefstott.com), from San Francisco. As some of you in the bellydance community may know, Jef Stott is an accomplished oud player and electronic composer, fusing the powerful traditions of the Middle East with breaks, dub and electro.

Bellydance Class 101
In honor of our 4 years at Copa, we will also be opening up the club in the early afternoon to teach a crash course in Bellydancing 101. For those of you who have always wanted to try this dance form, we invite you to this very informal, fun, and lively 2 hour class. Sabaya dancers will teach belly dance basics with inside tips to achieve the best isolations by Stacey, classic Egyptian stylization by Rania, tribal basics by Lily, and strong long lasting shimmies by Maribel. You may even learn a short set of combinations to perform as a group in the Sabaya show later that evening.

So! Whether you want to grab a group of girlfriends for some fun together, whether you are curious if bellydancing is for you but haven't wanted to commit to a course of instruction, or whether you know someone who has secretly wanted to try bellydancing, spread the word about this crash course and then send a registration email to info@sabayabellydance.com. We will send specific information about the class to you via email.

Here are a few clips of Jef Stott in action! www.jefstott.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP2wjB5qVpI

Bellydance Workshop w/Sabaya July 11th

2009-07-01T16:12:00.000-05:00

Join Sabaya members as we teach you:
Isolations by Stacey, Tribal basics by Lily, Egyptian stylization by Rania, and shimmies by Maribel. This workshop is geared to all the dance enthusiasts that are curious about taking a lesson but never find the time to commit to a class series. Invite your girlfriends and make it a day of it, with the workshop during the day and show off your new moves at night at Sahara Nights at Copa Bar & Grill.
$20 for 2hrs. plus free admission to Sahara Nights in the evening.
Register via email info@sabayabellydance.com

Sabaya and Atash at Dougherty Arts Center, June 27, 2009

2009-06-29T05:16:00.000-05:00

Here are photos of Lily, Maribel and Stacey dancing to Leilet Hob with Atash. I took these photos from the wings with my iphone. Unfortunately, Rania was unable to perform with us due to a sprained ankle.

Yasmin

2009-06-25T11:32:00.001-05:00

A Dancer's Perspective
by Maribel

June is hot, hot, hot! Despite the heat I'm still revved up about continuing my exercise regime by accomplishing it in the morning. June is a reflective month for me as it marks the middle of the year, which means if I don't reflect now on my fitness goals I won't think about it again until the end of the year when it's too late to make it count for 2009. Fitness has always been important to me since the early years of my youth when I was an aerobics instructor in the early nineties or should I say "group exercise instructor" as they say now. No I didn't wear dental floss, it wasn't my style. Instead of teaching cardio class, I now teach belly dance classes. I often get comments from audience members in awe of Sabaya's strength and stamina to dance a full hour show. Indeed, there is a mix of dance training, cardio work, and strength just like any dance form to make a 5-15minute dance performance look effortless. However, having access to specialized classes like belly dance, Pilates, and yoga for example can add up. Not to mention your gym membership. Luckily, Austin has a variety of FREE classes to help you reach your fitness goals. What do I do? Here's my breakdown. You are all welcome to join me as follows.

Monday:: Run 3mi. Townlake/ 7am usually with Stacey Lizette
Tuesday:: Teach BD intro 6:30-7:30pm, take Stacey's Drill Class 8:15-9:30pm
Wednesday:: Run 3mi. Townlake or Rosedale/ 7am w/Stacey or Carolyn
Thursday:: Practice my own dance routines for upcoming shows 1-2 hrs.
Friday:: Pilates at Eastside Balance, only $35 a session vs. $65 a session.
Saturday:: Run 4 or more miles with Stacey, Townlake. 8ish am of course.
Sunday:: Swim or Yoga or both/ Practice Dance routines.

FREE OR SUGGESTED DONATION FOR YOGA & CORE CLASSES.
Outdoor Yoga: By donation yoga classes for all levels held daily in Butler District Park. Butler District Park is located at 1000 Barton Springs Rd. (78704). The suggested donation is $5.00. Visit www.OutdoorYoga.org for more information and class times.

Full Moon Yoga: FREE yoga class held outside at different locations each full moon. This class is lead by Charles MacInerney. Visit www.yogateacher.com for more info.

Ruta Maya Yoga: With a purchase from the cafe enjoy a complementary yoga class. Ruta Maya is located at 3601 S. Congress Ave (78704). Visit www.RutaMaya.net or www.PamelaBrewer.com for more info.

Yoga in Shipe park: By donation yoga classes for all levels held on Wed. at 6:30pm in Shipe Park (off of 45th str. & Ave.F). Visit www.YogainthePark.net for more information.

Kundalini Yoga: By donation classes lead by Tom Woller every Tuesday from 7:00 - 8:30 pm at the Tara House. The Tara House is located at 610 Highland Drive (78703). Email Tom at thomas.woller@amd.com to let him know you are coming and to confirm the class times.

Lululemon Athletica on 6th Street: FREE yoga held in their store every Saturday morning at 8:30am. Sign up for their newsletter to be informed of other specialty classes such as a free belly dance class from yours truly~ Maribelly.

Yoga Vida on W.7th Street next to the Khabele Studio. FREE Yoga Happy Hour - Fri at 6:30pm

http://www.yogatoday.com : FREE online yoga classes posted daily. All classes are held outside! View classes at www.YogaToday.com. I personally have used these classes and love them.

http://www.yogadownload.com This is great yoga on the go. Download on to your MP3 player. You can print diagrams of the classes to have by your side in case you don't know what an eagle pose looks like for example. Classes are as minimal.

Core Class & More- FREE If you are in the market for an intense hour-long core class, look no further than the parking lot at Jack and Adams. Held on Monday and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. (give or take a 10 minute lag time), you'll do a mix of planks, push-ups and crunches that will leave you crying. Bring a mat, some water and a prayer book-this workout is tough. They have other classes such as running and cycling.

Cross Fit Nation- http://www.crossfitcentral.com/ FREE cross training this weekend there are several free workouts for you to choose from! These workouts are open to everyone so bring your friends and family. Just print this Waiver and bring it to the workout of your choice. I think I might have to try this instead of running this Saturday.

National Geographic Video on Cairo Bellydancers

2009-06-12T11:08:00.000-05:00

It seemed like so long ago since Sabaya went to Cairo. We had a blast... taking private classes with world famous instructors, shopping at the Khan El Khalili, getting custom couture bellydance costumes made by Egypt's top designers, dinner with our Egyptian family friends... We're planning to go back soon. You can find our Egypt trip photos in our Gallery page.

Here is a video clip from National Geographic on Cairo Bellydancers. We saw Soraya live!

With lots of hips,
Sabaya

ABDC 2009 Thanks

2009-06-08T16:53:00.000-05:00

I'm still processing everything the phenomenal weekend we just had at ABDC with Yasmina Ramzy and Suleiman Warwar. What a whirlwind! Until you've been in the shoes of an event producer, it is difficult to comprehend all the little details which need attention. So, I'm sending gratitude and love to everyone on staff, in the audience, in attendance, working the controls, providing services or just plain sending us good vibes.

Special props to Bahaia, founder of ABDC; Rox, Mar, Phillip for thier continued dedication to customer service and "getting it done"; and of course Sabaya for being true dance sisters and supporting me every step of the way. ~Stacey

Nurturing Creativity

2009-05-22T14:16:00.000-05:00

As artists, we sometimes go through spells of fear and disappointment. We fear that what we've put our energy and heart into may be rejected. We may be disappointed with the result of what we've created. There is also the pressure of continuing to create something new and inspiring.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love", gives a 20-minute, funny, and heart-warming talk about creativity. We hope you find her talk as inspiring as we did.

Keep showing up,
Lily

A Dancer's Perspective by Rania

2009-05-02T23:50:00.000-05:00

It's May and I turn 39 next week. I bet you didn't know I was 39. I firmly believe that bellydance has kept me looking and feeling young.

I attended my first bellydance class when I was 30. Yes, 30! Most women would never dream of taking up a dance form at that age because they think it's too late. It's never too late with bellydance and I'm so happy I attended that class. It was one of the best decisions I ever made and changed my life forever.

From my first dance class, I fell in love with this art form and I don't plan on retiring any time soon. Most of the belllydance legends that I love to watch are nearing 60 and still dance and teach to this day. One of these dancers is Aida Nour from Egypt. In 2006, I and my other bellydance sisters from Sabaya visited Egypt and had the great honor to take classes from her. I watched this 60 year old woman dance and wished I could move like her. What an inspiration!!

Bellydance is one of those art forms that easily spans generations and can be shared from grandmother to mother to daughter. This is most obviously seen with the Salimpour legacy of dance in which Jamila Salimpour taught her daughter Suhaila and both of them are teaching Isabella, Suhaila's daughter. Isabella is eleven years old and has performed to a live audience with her mother countless times.

With practice and dedication, bellydancing can be the ultimate expression of a woman's internal and external beauty, regardless of shape, size or age.

A Dancer's Perspective by Yasmin

2009-04-01T23:36:00.000-05:00

I gladly take any opportunity I can to brag about the Sabaya dancers. I could go on about each of the dancer's unique styles, personalities and dance achievements but because of a timely event happening this month for Stacey Lizette, I offer up an exclusive snapshot of her dedication to the art form.

On Wednesday, April 8, Stacey Lizette will be honored by the Women's Chamber of Commerce of Texas as a finalist for the 2008 Texas Blazing Star Award. She achieved this recognition through her double life as a certified IT Project Manager in the day and a bellydance leader in the evening and weekends. She has been an active member of the non-profit Austin Bellydance Association for the past 14 years, a member of Sabaya Bellydance Collective for the past 5 years, a dedicated student of Suhaila Salimpour for the past 9 years, a teacher for the past 4 years and has recently taken over the reigns as sponsor for the Austin Bellydance Convention, an annual event that brings dancers from across the US to Austin. These accumulated achievements have given her the opportunity to support various local communities by performing in support of charities and cultural events and through teaching women of all ages the power and fitness of Middle Eastern Dance.In all of her work, as an IT Project Manager, dancer, sponsor, and dance instructor, Stacey exercises the professional values of communication, prioritization, and positivity. She communicates to alleviate misperceptions and heighten awareness about the art form. She facilitates a positive attitude in herself and in others, which is especially important due to the demanding physical coordination and self-image challenges addressed in belly dance. By exemplifying these core philosophies, Stacey has become a role model and mentor for many dancers in the Austin community. I can attest to the fact that nearly every evening after work and most weekends, one can find Stacey either teaching, organizing dance events, working on costumes or rehearsing. In essence, her life is a delicate balance of two full time pursuits and I congratulate Stacey on her well-deserved recognition by the Women's Chamber of Commerce as a Texas Blazing Star finalist.

A Dancer's Perspective by Lily

2009-03-01T23:34:00.000-06:00

In April, I am heading off to New Zealand again. This time, it's specifically for dance and for one week only. It feels like a dream... to be invited as the guest Interntional teacher for a national belly dance festival. I am still pinching myself to make sure this is really happening!

Currently, I am preparing to teach six tribal fusion style workshops and one advanced bellydance workshop to be taught in the span of three days. The topics of these workshops range from floorwork to technique to choreography. During the MEDANZ Festival (Middle Eastern Dance Association New Zealand), there will be other workshops presented by local teachers and a guest drum teacher from Australia. The Kiwis really know how to have fun because not only do they have a stage show but they also have a hafla as part of the 3-day festival.
Also, in April, I will be graduating from the 200-hour hatha yoga teacher training I started in September of 2008. The past 7 months have been an inspirational learning process. It's a very exciting time in my life right now... full of growth, change, and the art of movement. Thank you for being a part of it!

A Dancer's Perspective by Stacey Lizette

2009-02-02T23:42:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I think I overdo things just a bit. My schedule is so full that my only "downtime" is when I sit to write my next to-do list! I can't help it. There are so many amazing aspects to belly dance: performances, rehearsals, creating new movement and choreography, the music, collaboration, teaching classes, workshops, traveling... What underlies it all is sharing experiences, laughs, inspiration and creativity. My motivation for sponsoring Suhaila Salimpour and bringing her to Austin is so that other dancers can share in the experience of the inspirational impact that Suhaila wields. I've traveled to California too many times to count to have that experience myself, and love to share the passion that I have for Suhaila's format with other dancers that are open to the experience. So, Suhaila will be here at the end of March, and I'm sure that we will all walk away at the end of the weekend with strengthened friendships and a renewed sense of motivation on some aspect of the dance personal to each of us.

I'm looking forward to contributing to the belly dance community in ways this year that I hadn't expected. Some of you may already know that I am "accepting the torch" from Bahaia as sponsor of the annual Austin Belly Dance Convention in June. Am I over doing it? This is the year that I am scheduled to test for Level 4 in Suhaila's format, which means about 10 months of projects, performances and rehearsals. Working a full time day job to boot, this really is enough to keep the schedule mega-full. I can't help it! The Austin Belly Dance Convention (ABDC) is a chance to facilitate a professional endeavor that brings dancers together for inspiration.

Regardless of how crazy I let my schedule get, I am constantly reminded of reasons that I love this dance form, and that keeps me going and going.