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  • Expanding our Audience: A Conversation with Zoe Jakes, Dalia Carella & Kaeshi Chai

    Expanding our Audience: A Conversation with Zoe Jakes, Dalia Carella & Kaeshi Chai
    2025/02/25
    It has been a while friends! I started producing this podcast back in 2018, and by 2023 I had recorded 75 incredible episodes that are all still very available for your listening pleasure. The last podcast interview I recorded was with Rachel Brice, and I also recorded amazing conversations with Suhalia Salimpour, Carloeen Nereccio, Jill Parker, Jillina of Belly Dance Evolution, Ebony, Kamrah, and many more brilliant dancers. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/rachel-brice-podcast-interview/ I always dreamed of interviewing Zoe Jakes. When Kaeshi Chai brought Zoe Jakes and Dalia Carella together for an incredible Bellyqueen belly dance event in New York City titled Zoe Jakes in NYC in October 2024, Kaeshi invited me to moderate a panel discussion titled Moving the Needle Forward – Sharing Our Dance with Wider Audiences. “Join a dynamic conversation with trailblazing artists Zoe Jakes, Dalia Carella, and Kaeshi Chai, moderated by Ailcia Free. These renowned performers will explore innovative ways to bring belly dance to diverse audiences, from mainstream stages to out-of-the box collaborations. Discover how each artist bridges cultural, artistic, and personal expression in their performances, and learn strategies to connect belly dance with new communities. Perfect for dancers, teachers, and enthusiasts eager to expand the reach of this vibrant art form!” I hopped on a bus bound for NYC. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/kaeshi-chai/ Zoe, Kaeshi and Dalia showed great photos while they spoke during the panel. Scroll down to see the photos mentioned in the podcast recording. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/dalia-carella/ Sorry if you need to turn up some parts of the recording to hear the panelists and questions from the audience well. I recorded this old school style with one mic in a dance studio of dancers overlooking Manhattan. The recording turned out pretty good considering I just had a small backpack with me for equipment and everything else needed for the weekend of classes with Zoe, Kaeshi and Dalia. Here we go! Alicia Introduces the Panel Welcome to this dynamic conversation with trailblazing artists Zoe Jakes, Dalia Carella, and Kaeshi Chai. I am Alicia Free, host of the Belly Dance Podcast A Little Lighter. I am honored to be here with these renowned performers who will help us explore innovative ways to bring belly dance to diverse audiences, from mainstream stages to out-of-the box collaborations. We’ll discover how each artist bridges cultural, artistic, and personal expression in their performances, and learn strategies to connect belly dance with new communities. Art forms continuously dance in and out of mainstream culture, and these artists have have brought the dance we love -belly dance- to diverse audiences for decades. We know the value and beauty of our dance, but so many people still do not. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/belly-dance-history-up-to-the-1900s/ And there were peaks of belly dance popularity like the Golden Age of Egyptian film, the 1960s Reda Folk Dance Troupe, Am Cab in NYC and Ren Faires in California. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/history-of-belly-dance-from-1900-1969/ Sha’abi in the 70s, and our panelist Dalia Carella saw belly dance history first hand starting here. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/the-history-of-belly-dance-1970s/ Then the 1980s dance exercise craze. And then in the 1990s, big bands start to disappear. Then starting in 2000 Belly Dance Superstars which 2 of our panelists Zoe Jakes and Kaeshi Chai were part of, brought belly dance into giant theaters all over the US. In 2005 there was Shakira’s Hips don’t lie, and then in 2007 the same producer who created Belly Dance Superstars produces Zoe Jakes and Beats Antique. This will be an exciting conversation about the more recent history of belly dance and the inspiring places these amazing dancers think bellydance can and will go. We will start with the oh-so-loveable Kaeshi Chai… Kaeshi Chai on Collaborating with Partners who Already Have an Audience Thank you so much, Alicia. I’m so glad you were able to make it. I’ll share with you a little bit about my background just to give you some context, so that you’ll understand how that informs my perspective. And then after that, we’ll go to some takeaways. Maybe you can think about how certain tools and techniques and ideas that I’ve applied to my own journey can be applicable to you. In 2002, Bellyqueen, a trio that formed in 1998, performed in Las Vegas for a six month contract. We had five shows a day. So we had 500 shows and we performed with contortionists and incredible Arabic musicians that recorded with Muhammad Abdel Wahab. We were so spoiled and every day each show had 100 people watching, half of whom were children, in fact. And then we had the opportunity to perform with the Bellydance Superstars and that toured all over the United States and Canada and Europe. And I started a ...
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    52 分
  • Fusion Dance Icon Rachel Brice – 075

    Fusion Dance Icon Rachel Brice – 075
    2023/06/30
    This interview with Rachel Brice dives deep into recent American belly dance fusion history and fashion. Rachel reminisces about her influencers Suhaila Salimpour, Carolena Nericcio of FatChanceBellyDance® (formerly ATS), and Jill Parker, and opens up about inclusiveness and past mistakes fusing dance forms. It is such an honor and a pleasure to welcome Rachel Brice to A Little Lighter! There is a beautifully written bio of Rachel on https://www.rachelbrice.com/about, so I’m going to share it with you piece by piece as we take a little journey through the career and life of Belly Dance Fusion icon Rachel Brice “Rachel Brice first fell in love with Belly Dance at 16 years old, when she saw a group (who later became Hahbi Ru) at a Renaissance Faire, and started classes immediately. Soon after, she discovered a video of Suhaila Salimpour which she obsessively studied. She began making her living by performing American Cabaret Belly Dance at restaurants and teaching yoga while putting herself through school.” Just BEING Young is Sexy. What Does your Dance Say About you at This Point in Your Life? #1. Let’s pause your bio here. I remember hearing you say something like, “I used to think belly dance wasn’t about being sexy. But come on. Just being young is sexy.” And that really struck me. You and I are just a few years apart in age, and after I heard you say that, I saw dancers in their 20s in a new light. What do you want your dance to say about you at this point in your life and career? So, I’m challenging a lot of my own BS right now. it’s really easy to have ideas about what something’s gonna be like, when you arrive there. But destinations are rarely like you anticipate they’re gonna be, and that’s how aging has been. When I was younger I thought, women should embrace aging. I feel differently about my appearance. I’m not always proud of the way I feel about it. it’s different than I thought. There is something to be said for having lived through decades. We just need to find a place in our culture that celebrates experience. And I feel like a lot of times there’s this huge rift between older generations and younger generations because both of them are defending themselves instead of the older generations being fascinated and excited about the changes that are happening and the younger generations being excited about what people learned in the past. I think Gen Z’s amazing and I’m super excited by the changes that they’re making. And they seem to be really appreciating elders too. So I think something is on the horizon. For the relationship between younger and older generations. So I’m looking forward to that. Should belly dancers wear bindis? I think that it’s really Gen Z that’s making us realize so much because I’m of the previous generation where when I was dancing in nightclubs and restaurants and meeting people from the Middle East, they were like, wow, how did you get interested in my culture? That’s so cool. And, then their kids come along and are like, wait a minute, you’re gonna make fun of my parents, and then you’re gonna wear a bindi? I don’t think so. So this next generation is speaking up in a way that their parents hadn’t. And I wasn’t there when that shift happened. I was happily on a plane somewhere thinking that opinions are fixed in time and space. And when I started reading, the bindi is a really great example of how many different feelings there are about a cultural object and what that object represents. I mean, there’s no way that you could say that a person from India feels A, B, or C. The bindi is a great example of how many different feelings there are about a cultural object. There are so many different feelings about it. And yeah, so the more I’m learning the more I’m realizing that whatever I do, I need to investigate it and learn enough to where I feel comfortable with doing it, but also still be open to the fact that I could learn more and need to let it go. Here’s the big challenge. Whatever I do, I need to learn enough to either feel comfortable doing it, or let it go. You know, as long as I’m more interested or as interested in how my actions affect other people as I am in how they feel about me I think that there’s the opportunity to learn. If I am genuinely interested in how my actions affect others, there’s an opportunity to learn. If I am defensive, I lose that opportunity. But if I’m defending myself like we’re gonna do, then I lose that opportunity. So, yeah, I sure hope that I find something that I feel is a respectful homage that brings people together that I’m as in love with as I was with some of the previous incarnations of the dance that I was doing. Cuz man, I had so much fun. It’s so much fun. I loved it so much and I still love it, but I just haven’t found the pants that fit, I guess. Most Belly Dance Venues Have Disappeared, and Now we Dance for Each Other. #2. I ...
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    1 時間 18 分
  • Kierra on Ecstatic Dance, Liberation and the 5Rhythms® – 074

    Kierra on Ecstatic Dance, Liberation and the 5Rhythms® – 074
    2023/05/18
    Most dance in our era is performative, but dance can do so much more. Harlem High School Assistant Principle and dance teacher Kierra talks about dances for healing, transformation, connection, and acceptance. Alicia Free: Kierra Foster-Ba is a Body Wisdom Coach and New York City dancer who has done some deep work, and her presence is a gift. I am so excited to share Kierra’s voice with you! Kierra dances with Kaeshi Chai and PURE (Public Urban Ritual Experiment) an international organization of artists devoted to using belly dance to promote peace and end suffering. I met Kierra when I was running around wildly putting on a show with Kaeshi. I was hosting 10 performers, managing our band Taksim Ithaca, dancing with the band Beatbox Guitar, coordinating volunteers, buying and hauling concessions up the elevator, and trying to take care of my 3 and 5 year old kiddos at the same time. It was a little intense the way I did it. When Kierra smiled at me, calm washed over my body. I needed that! After the show, we took a workshop together with other dancers, writing our intentions in the water in the creek near my home. Letting the water heal us. It was so magical. After that experience opened me up, Kierra mentioned a dance-based meditation practice that she teaches. I relaxed into the most incredible hug with Kierra, and I wanted to know more about how she has cultivated this energy that shines through her. I wanted to share it with you. Kierra dances for human liberation. She helps us tap into the wisdom of our bodies with dance. To practice deep permission and acceptance. Giving us permission to be both graceful and graceless. https://youtu.be/30a85_R_XGE https://youtu.be/uyhs2mNLgyA?t=92 https://youtu.be/qm0cM2fa1ik Let’s start with the 5Rhythms classes that you’ve been offering in New York City since 2008. Tell us about that Kierra 5Rhythms classes in New York City since 2008 Okay. So I just want to back up a little bit if that’s okay. Cause there are some people who might not be familiar with the 5Rhythms. So I want to give a little bit of a history of the 5Rhythms. Gabrielle Roth is the founder of this body of work, and she really was one of the pioneers. Some people say she was the originator. There’s some conflict about that. As it always is, there’s more than one person who’s pursuing something at the same time as someone else. But she definitely was one of the pioneers of what we now call conscious dance. Sometimes people call it ecstatic dance. In fact, many people who’ve gone on to create their own bodies of work came through her lineage. And so what I know of her story is that she is someone who was a classically trained dancer, and so that informed how she looked at the world and how she observed people. She definitely observed movement, and I like to think of her as a really powerful detective of the heart because she was able to see what was being communicated in the movement. And as I said, she was a classically trained dancer. Something happened so that she wasn’t going to pursue that as a profession. And so she began to be offered dance related work and all kinds of venues, you know, everything from asylums where people were working through breaks in their psyche to work at Esalen when Esalen was just being founded as this community center for exploration and healing. 5 Qualities of Movement: Flowing, Staccato, Chaotic, Lyrical, Stillness And so what she discovered is that all movement can be broken down to five specific qualities. Movement is either flowing, meaning it’s continuous. One part of the movement is flowing into the next part. It’s flowing. Or it’s staccato, meaning that it’s segmented. It’s very clear. Often there’s a repeated pattern, so you can see, like boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom. That would be staccato, right? It’s percussive, it’s clear, it’s directional. Or movement can be chaotic, you know, just flailing. It could be continuous and staccato at the same time, or there can be this light, effortless quality to the movement. And that would be the fourth rhythm, the rhythm of lyrical. And the fifth and final rhythm is the rhythm of stillness. And it’s the idea that the dance movement is equally as internal as it is external an expression. So something is happening. And that’s why it’s a meditative practice because when you do the practice. By the time you get to stillness, you really do feel emptied out. We call it a wave. You started out flowing. Grounding. It started to get percussive. Maybe a little bit more energetic. The high point would be chaos. When you’re just letting it all go, whatever is in you that’s ready to be released, you are letting it go. And then after that cathartic movement you do just naturally, and there are physiological reasons for why you feel that -which I’ll talk about a little in a minute- you do feel this sense of ease and lightness, lyrical. And then when you...
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    1 時間 19 分
  • Why Salit Stopped Saying “Oriental Dance” – 073

    Why Salit Stopped Saying “Oriental Dance” – 073
    2023/03/31
    Salit of NYC on the sisterhood of belly dancers, the politics that divide our community of Arabic music lovers, and how focusing on our belly dance technique rather than our appearance brings us more happiness. Salit (Sal-eet) started belly dancing in Israel when she was 21, and she did not expect it to become her profession and the foundation for her own bellydance school! I met Salit at Art of the Belly when I took a super fun cane dancing class from her. I love her sass when she dances, as well as her commitment to authenticity and the sisterhood she has created with other dancers. https://youtu.be/3Dhhn_SKAVE Salit on Youtube Alicia: Let’s start with sisterhood. Please tell us about Sheba. Sheba stands for the Sisterhood of Eclectic Belly Dance Arts. Sheba is all about community as well as technique, history, culture, musicality, improvisation, and giving confidence to our sisters. We have classes together and take class trips. We perform for each other at our own events and perform at other events. It’s all about the fun. Sheba on Facebook Sheba on Instagram Sheba on Youtube Alicia: You describe belly dance as the epitome of femininity with movements that emphasize every curve in the body in a soft, yet powerful way. You have also said that you were more of a tom boy when you were younger. Identity is powerful! It can be hard for us to do something that we believe goes against our identity. Do you remember what attracted you to belly dance? I remember Arabic film Friday in Israel. What stood out to me the most was the power of a dancer to just stand still and do nothing, and be so amazing. To express so much with so little movement. To stand still but be so energetic. I have never seen that freedom in another art form. Alicia: Are there any Israeli dancers that are famous in Egypt or through history that have been famous in Egypt? Not Israeli, there are Jewish dancers, but Egyptian Jewish. It’s problematic as you can imagine to be accepted as an Israeli and Arab countries. So, no. Alicia: On your website Shebadance.com in your bio, you wrote that when you were younger you took ballet, and wrote that you hated putting your hair up in a bun and wrapping it in a hair net. I feel the same way! I want my hair to do its own dance too. You also wrote that you felt like your movements were too heavy for ballet. But heavy sounds perfect for stomping a dabke! You love to lead dabke, and you do it beautifully and with passion. It was so much fun to be pulled into your dabke to a live band at Art of the Belly and snake through the room in a line of dancers, holding hands. What are some ways we can learn how to do dabke with energy similar to how they do it at gatherings in the Middle East? So definitely it’s great for that for dabke, actually. Yes, there’s a lot of stomping, but there’s a lot of very quick footwork and jumping, which you actually need to be very light on your feet for. So I was very bad at footwork before. So I had to work on that a lot and condition my body. It was hard, but definitely worth it because now I really feel like I’m flying. So I have that heaviness, but when I step back I need some of the lightness. Where is Dabke Originally From? Dabke is originally from the military showing their pride in their victories. Mostly for men. So the main characteristic of dabke is pride. Hold the upper body really tall and open and strong, and keep that energy up very strong and held and proud. That’s the key. Alicia: So it’s really big in Eastern Europe, right? In the Balkans they do line dance. Is there crossover? Did it come from one spot? Did all line dances come from the military? There are a lot of line dances in many different cultures. It is really interesting that dabke and Irish dancing are very similar, I’m not sure how that came about. It could be a coincidence, could be not. Specifically Levantine style line dance. So Egyptians don’t do this kind of line dance. They have saidi, which they’re proud of but it’s a different feel. The Levant is Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, technically Israel is not included in that. But that area. What do you usually hold when you do a Dabke? You hold the whole hand of the person next to you. When you lead a dabke you hold a masbha. And it’s originally prayer beads. That’s what people hold. This one that I’m holding up I made this with the troupe leader that I’m in. It’s made of his old t-shirts , which he assured me were clean before we did this. So, I guess this is common to improvise. This masbha has red, green and white colors, which are Lebanon colors. Alicia: Oh, it actually has a handle on it. And then it has a little weight on the end so that it spins well, is that what’s going on? Yes, it’s just a lot of tape. It’s very improvised. Alicia: Is that something people would put in their purse before they go to a party? Or do people carry those to a place where they’re going to line dance?...
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    42 分
  • Nefertiti on Soul Ties and Ecstasy – 072

    Nefertiti on Soul Ties and Ecstasy – 072
    2022/12/13
    Dr. Valerie Poppel, aka Nefertiti of Delaware, is a Clinical Sexologist and belly dancer who lived in Cairo. Find out what Nef warned about Soul Ties when she was featured in Cosmo yet again and how shimmying can improve our sexual health. Imagine a gorgeous brown-skinned dancer flecked in gold taking the stage with yellow isis wings unfurled. When she opens her arms and looks up, it’s like the sun is pouring into her soul. On her face, ecstasy. She dances and shines. At one point, she looks into the back of the audience and beckons. A fully-costumed dancer emerges and joins her on stage. And then another, and another. Each uniquely beautiful and proudly honoring the one who invited them there, Nefertiti. That was my experience at the Art of the Belly Dance Festival on the ocean in Maryland when I saw our guest Nefertiti perform. This is going to be an incredible interview. Not only are we talking to an amazing passionate dancer who lived in Cairo for years and has danced all over the world, Nefertiti is also a clinical sexoligist who has been featured in Cosmo not one, but 2 times. And she hosts a radio show about sexual health and relationships called Brown Sugar Confessions. So we are all in for a treat! Thank you so much for being here with us Nefertiti, aka Dr. Valerie Poppel. I was so excited to hear that you were recently featured in Cosmo, and when I asked you about the article, you said it’s about tarab. Can you tell us more about that? Creating Ecstacy, Tarab and Soul Ties in Belly Dance In a moment of ecstacy, as dancers we draw our audiences into us. So that’s what the article mentioned. Soul ties. When you’re performing be very mindful of soul tie connections with people. As a dancer, I’m always trying to get that energy connection with the audience. I have caught the eye of a young man in the audience, and he stalked me. Some people receive your gift of dance in a way that is not intended. When you are dancing and giving your energy, being mindful of looking at someone to the point that you are looking into their soul and creating that tie. How can you create ecstacy? And what does that look like on stage? How do we take away the mystery of tarab and how we can see ourselves? Hooray for the first Black Belly Dance Bundle! I am so excited to start scheduling my pre-recorded classes with Chudney, Lady Liquid, Ebony Qualls, Danielle Hutton and more fabulous dancers who are part of that. And you are going to teach about the pelvic floor in a lecture called “To tuck or not to tuck”. Can you give us a little preview of that lecture? Should we Tuck or Not Tuck our Pelvis? What do Dancers Need to Know About our Pelvic Floor? https://youtu.be/B89Wwt7ajEU?t=130 It is important to understand what the pelvic floor supports, how it changes as we age, and posture. Is the tuck good for dancers? Where did it originate? Is it beneficial as we are dancing? What does a strong pelvic floor look like on a dance body? How do we strengthen the pelvic floor with belly dance? Sit down on the floor and do an Egyptian shimmy while doing Kegels. You can stand and shimmy and do kegels too. Having a strong pelvic floor is important to have longevity in the dance. Your interview on the Ask me Anything series with Sara Shrapnell was amazing. You talked a little about teaching belly dance to people with sexual concerns. One highlight is where you spoke about the kinds of orgasms and how to structure your shimmy to orgasm while you shimmy. You’ve gotta tell us more about that. You can Orgasm While you Shimmy My husband loves when I dance for him. No need to do your hair or makeup. If you choose to dance for your partner and release energy, why not? You can use belly dance as therapy, and get in touch with your body and get grounded. Moving your pelvis has been known to help women have a higher drive for sex if they are suffering from low desire. We are often skittish about talking about the sensual part of belly dance. But it is quite beautiful. And you teach about Tantra, which I heard you say can teach you how to breathe through an orgasm. I never realized before that we generally stop breathing when we orgasm! You said that breathing through it can elongate and deepen orgasms, and can lead to mutiple orgasims. 15 orgasms in one session sometimes. Yes this is a belly dance podcast, but this shit is important! What should we know about this? Breathe all the Way Down to your Pelvic Floor Tantra became very big in what late eighties, when Sting spoke about six hours of orgasms. I was like, that’s a lot of orgasms Sting. And many people got on the tantra bandwagon wanting to learn, wanting to prolong release of orgasmic energy. I’m a tantra specialist. I teach tantra all over the world. And one of the benefits of tantra, and not to mention the. connecting of your partner, is the ability to breathe through your orgasmic energy release. Oftentimes we choose to hold our breath. If you think...
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    40 分
  • Davina: DIY Belly Dance Costume Queen Dawn Devine – 071

    Davina: DIY Belly Dance Costume Queen Dawn Devine – 071
    2022/11/09
    WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW Author of 22+ belly dance costuming books, Dawn Devine talks about current belly dance fashion trends in Egypt and Turkey, how to make assuit fabric feel good on your skin, and how to get more out of your belly dance costumes. Alicia Free: I just don’t know where to begin with Dawn Devine aka Davina! She has created so many costume-creating resources for our dance community and influenced many of our costumes. I remember borrowing the book “From Turban to Toe Ring” from my first belly dance teacher, June Seaney of Ithaca. It came out in 2000, which was the year I started dancing and started making my own belly dance costumes. That book is still precious to me. Dawn started belly dancing in the 80s as a teen. 22+ books later, it is an honor to have Dawn on A Little Lighter! On your website Davina.us, you wrote “My mission in life is to help people make beautiful, well designed, perfectly fitting costumes.” You are a Do-it-yourself queen! You have taught so many of us how to make our own costumes with your books, articles, videos, and Instagram posts. We love hearing about Danceable Rituals in this podcast. I heard you say in the interview on Belly Dance Geek Clubhouse that you go from Dawn to Devina when you put your false eyelashes on. Tell us more about your whole process of putting a costume on. How Makeup Helps us Transform into Glamorous Belly Dancers For me, the ritual starts with the makeup way before the hair, the costume, the jewelry, and all of the other layers in that five layer system. I always think of layer #2, the makeup, as being the real important transformative moment. Putting makeup on is the real transformative moment. https://www.davina.us/blog/2018/11/belly-dance-makeup-info/ Once my makeup is on then I’m not slouching as much, and I’m getting into the mindset. I’m listening to my set for the night or if it’s live music, something similar in vibe, or maybe a recording by the band that I’m dancing to, even if it’s not the specific piece. So there’s that make-up moment. That is where I enter as Dawn and I exit as Davina. https://youtube.com/watch?v=_r-EqMl0tsE&feature=share&utm_source=EKLEiJECCKjOmKnC5IiRIQ It’s that, moment of music and paint and looking at myself in the mirror and, you know, making love to my eyes as I brush on the different layers of warpaint. I’m such a drag queen. And of course I don’t wear my costume to events. Usually I usually get there and change in the back of my car, you know, out of my trunk, digging around like a fiend. Not glamorous at all, but totally keeping it real! Find Your Dance Mom So I started off in fashion school and this was an associates degree in a, fashion program in San Diego, California. And I wanted to make every outfit in my classes belly dance costumes. And they were like, no. Dawn, this is a fashion program. You can’t just make belly dance costumes. Well, it came to the attention of my faculty advisor that I was a problem child. And she sent me to a new faculty advisor whose name was Margie. When I walked into Margie’s office, she had a wall devoted to belly dance. And she’s like, you’re here because you’re a belly dancer. And I’m a belly dance instructor when I’m not here being an academic advisor. Let’s get you out of here and to, UCSB, which is where I got my BA. And of course I started taking belly dance classes with her. So she became my dance mom. I was able to channel my love of belly dance costumes into a new facet, a new age of my belly dance career. And I was able to focus on the curriculum. So I think that, that was my most memorable moment when I was still 17. I met my dance mom, and I started dancing professionally in San Diego. Again, not the best dancing on the planet, but everyone’s got to start somewhere. So that was it, finding my dance mom in fashion school. Go Out Clubbing and Find Your Belly Dance Students In San Diego, during the heyday of my professional belly dance career, going out dancing and nightclubs earned me a lot of dance students. I started teaching after I got to UCSD and I founded a belly dance club on campus. And we would go to a nightclub, we were 21, and we would dance and then I would get students. My number one way of acquiring students was dancing informally in nightclubs, not at restaurants. At restaurants, I was the low girl on the totem pole, but at the nightclub, I was the hottest thing. The Ouzo Dance https://youtu.be/66g_ySXCHxA?t=347 Because I primarily danced at Greek restaurants, I got to do the ouzo dance on a regular basis. I’ve never seen it anywhere else other than in five restaurants in San Diego in the nineties. So the ouzo dance involved, dancing around the restaurant with a waiter behind me selling glasses of ouzo. I had a glass of ouzo on my head, so then we’d get to the middle of this tiny dance floor. We’d put our ouzo glasses on the ground and we would literally lay on the ground like a ...
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    54 分
  • How to Dance Through Pain: More Lessons from Pema Chödrön – 070

    How to Dance Through Pain: More Lessons from Pema Chödrön – 070
    2022/06/23
    Many of us dancers cycle through sad spells of pain where we don’t dance, and then we heal and get back into and achieve more victories, and then another injury surfaces. This is a pretty familiar cycle for humans, especially those who love to move and continue to challenge ourselves and grow as dancers. The intention of this episode is to shorten the sad spells of pain, and elongate our experience of comfort and joy. Sounds good right? Before I dive into Pema Chödrön’s teachings on pain how it can actually connect us to our fellow humans, I have an invitation for you as well as something to celebrate. And even Oprah will tell you, Pema is one of the most wise, compassionate, and connected humans on our planet. In this episode, you will feel her. https://youtu.be/_kDwINzk1GU Kaeshi Chai is coming. That’s right. Kaeshi of Belly Dance Superstars, Bellyqueen belly dance school, and Djam NYC, which is a live music and dance show running for more than 10 years now which features belly dancers and the music we love. It was once a weekly show, and now it is monthly. So if you are planning a trip to NYC, look up Djam so you can also catch a fun belly dance show! https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/kaeshi-chai/ Kaeshi Chai is an artist who makes things happen, and she is coming to Ithaca New York to put on an amazing show. If you are driving distance from New York and it is before July 8 2022, come! In Ithaca there will be workshops with Jill Parker and Kaeshi and a performer we’re calling “Nature Dancer” who is an award winning street dancer and martial artist and teaches people how to dance in nature. I’m going to set him up in a magical space in the gorge in Ithaca, and I believe we are going to dance right into the water in the workshop Nature Dancer teaches. Sounds pretty life changing to me! So come to Ithaca Thursday July 7, take a workshop, go hiking and rejuvenate, and on Friday July 8 enjoy the show with Beatbox Guitar. This band is also ridiculously talented, and they often perform with belly dancers. You might remember beatboxer in the band Djinn, that is the same beatboxer in Beatbox Guitar. You can find music from both of these bands online, and they are both tons of fun to dance to. https://open.spotify.com/artist/7fvnancAuiBMR45Y1u6nAH?si=EB6-veOKSeCd08oCJTur0g https://open.spotify.com/artist/1emtRxR8BOfrZC6MkcSjFD?si=Lv72yvh3TX6ehUJySErjmA I think there will be workshops on Saturday July 9 as well. Our band Taksim Ithaca is opening at the July 8th show! And then in New York City Kaeshi will host another Djam event on Sunday July 10. All of these events will be fantastic, because that is what Kaeshi does. She brings talented musicians and fabulous dancers and appreciative audiences together and gives the gift of art wherever she goes. Very exciting! And I just performed at a festival with Jill Parker and Anya of Pittsburgh’s Hamer sisters as well as a very gifted dancer in Ithaca named Ellen George. It was really special. https://youtu.be/yv4F2ZR2hzQ This is something I would like to celebrate: I honored my own mind’s design and nailed Jill Parker’s choreography so it looked and felt good to perform a group piece. Yes!!! I do mostly solo improv to live music, so this was a victory for me. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/jill-parker-alchemy/ Develop Your Own Method of Learning Choreography Do you have a system for remembering choreography? Some dancers seem to just naturally remember what to do next. Not me! I have to write it all down with words that help me remember the movements, print it out, and carry it in my pocket so I can run through it whenever I can. When I’m walking, and each morning before the kids wake up. When I got stuck, I looked at the notes and fixed the hole. That’s how I learn. It’s so valuable to clearly see how we learn, right? 1 option: Write chore in your own words and carry it with you I watched videos of Jill doing the choreo for like 4 hours, pausing, restarting, slowing it down and writing down each part in my own words. Jill also taught it to me and I physically danced, and that was super helpful. I know that I also need additional time sitting and writing to concretize it. Like sketching it out. Another option: Watch video of the choreo on repeat for hours It also helps immensely that Jill is such a clear teacher and brilliant choreographer. That’s for sure. I also put in the time and honored my own learning process, and it was really fun not to struggle to remember the choreo while performing. I haven’t performed choreo with other dancers in years. It felt so good! And I sang with our band, and really poured my heart into our live music performance as well. It really feels like Covid is loosening it’s grip that has restricted our movement for years now, and I am so grateful. Dancing Through Pain Ok. So this is an episode about dancing through our pain. I am writing this on the eve of the day that I sprained my ankle. Again. It’...
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    29 分
  • Goddess Enabler Melodia of Melodia Designs – 069

    Goddess Enabler Melodia of Melodia Designs – 069
    2022/05/31
    Melodia of Melodia Designs has been designing amazing dance wear and comfortable-AND-sexy street clothes for over 20 years. But do you know about her intriguing dance past with the Belly Dance Superstars and Urban Tribal Dance Company? Listen and find out! Melodia has been adorning and accenting the beauty in fusion belly dancers and more beautiful movers with her oh so lovely Melodia Designs clothing for almost 20 years. Melodia has been adorning and accenting the beauty in fusion belly dancers and more beautiful movers with her oh so lovely Melodia Designs clothing for almost 20 years. You probably either own or are coveting your own “Melo’s”, as we like to call Melodia’s textile creations, but not too many of us also know the belly dance life of Melodia Medley. In this podcast, we’ll hear about Melodia’s start as a dancer in a Urban Tribal Dance Co with Heather Stants and Mardi Love, her first memory of Jill Parker, and her year touring the USA with the Belly Dance Superstars. And Melodia loves to talk about festivals and food and music in addition to wearable art, so this is going to be a very fun interview. Melodia Designs website Melodia Designs on Instagram Melodia Designs on Facebook Touring with the Belly Dance Superstars I think that was maybe 2004 or 2005. It’s hard to find video or photo documentation of that era, but we traveled 60 cities in 64 days across the U S and Canada. Riding on a shuttle bus with 16 dancers and a crew with an ex race car driver as the chauffeur. We would show up at a venue in the evening, roll out of the tour bus, do a quick tech rehearsal, get dressed, do our show, pack up, get back in the bus and drive halfway to our next location. So many of us refer to that as the hell tour. Our saving grace though, was the talent. I had the blessing of dancing with Rachel Brice and Sharon Kihara. We kind of were the “tribal girls”. And Jalina she’s so amazing. It was quite the adventure. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/jillina/ And I even played hooky one night from tour. So I could take a flight into Miami and dance with rabbit on the moon at the ultra music Fest. https://youtu.be/_cClIlpazdY We had shower shelves suction cupped to the windows of the bus when we were on tour. https://bellydancebodyandsoul.com/kaeshi-chai/ “When I put on a pair of Melodia Designs pants, I see I am wearing art.” – Melodia’s mom Alicia: When did you realize that you wanted to make amazing clothes for dancers and fire performers and other beautiful movers and dance vicariously through your clientele? Ever since I was a kid I loved playing dress up, and I would often put on little circus performances in my living room. And my grandmother had very elegant taste and she would give me her hand me down night gowns and robes to play in. I often would up cycle them with like a stapler and safety pins and turn it into some sort of princess gown and fly around the living room. So I guess I was destined to make clothes with performance in mind. And then after high school, I ended up working retail and I met this really beautiful clothing designer when I was working at the shop. And when she came in to show her collection, I whispered in her ear, “If you ever want someone to work with you, I would love to help.” And sure enough, she did end up hiring me. And I ended up doing everything from sales to running errands for production, to trade shows, packing orders and folding inventory. So that was a great first step towards getting into fashion. And eventually they closed down shop, and I was left with a turning point in life where I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next. And it just felt like the perfect time to start my own line. And then in 2000 I discovered belly dance and I turned my focus towards making dance wear. So it was kind of like combining both of my passions for clothing and dance into one. And here I am still doing it 20 years later. Alicia: That was like the heyday for belly dance in the US in the early 2000s. Yeah. I think I showed up on the scene at the perfect time. Alicia: Definitely. And you were dancing with Marti Love and Heather Stants? Dancing with Urban Tribal Dance Company It’s amazing how many leaps forward we’ve made with like cinematography and posting video. I look back at those old videos and they’re so blotchy. I’m pretty sure most of the old videos that are uploaded to YouTube were all done on the little handheld camcorder and then converted from videotape into some sort of digital format. There’s very little video footage of the early days, which makes it kind of magical. You had to be there to see it. Melodia’s first performance with Urban Tribal Dance Company: https://youtu.be/yWCrfHgTlLg Heather Stants talking about he UTDC: https://youtu.be/rjZ07RGMXTE Melodia Designs Fabrics Alicia: I love the Elsa pocket leggings Oracle print so much that I bought two pairs of the same pants so I could just wear them almost every ...
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    35 分