Flyers and belly blather
Dec. 19th, 2008 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
parasitegirlIt's one of those all city hall days where I look purposeful and get non-work stuff done. Prepare yourself for massive belly-blather.
I did finish the English and Japanese lesson plans for the Ninja game, but the rest of this morning has been about the paperwork of belly dance.
Last night I received 500 flyers for the January Afet Collective show from Eshe.
What's The Afet Collective?
For new readers, The Afet Collective are eight international belly dancers who have come together to do charity events. We're soloists representing a range of styles, but we often collaborate and do duets and trios on these nights in addition to our solo work. In the past two years we've donated our proceeds to HELP, a shelter in Tokyo for Asian women and children. This year Eshe, who now lives in South Korea, suggested a new charity. The proceeds from January's event go to a group helping surviving Korean "Comfort Women."
I need to consistently remember the Japanese word for Comfort Women. Currently I am saying "You know, in the war. In Korea...the women who suffered from troops...." and raise my eyebrow until they say the word I am looking for. In previous years talk of the charity involved saying "yes, domestic violence happens in Japan." and "Well, because sometimes Japanese laws don't treat the needs of women from other Asian countries as well as they should." I wonder if the people I have had these awkward conversations with wouldn't prefer it if I were dancing for causes less close to home, like starving kids very very very far away, or, say, saving kitties and puppies..but part of The Afet Collective is about raising awareness, not just money.
So, you have flyers?
Yes, I have 500 flyers. Now I must make sure other people have these flyers. I checked Mixi and placed calls to get/confirm mailing addresses for the other members. This event we have two dancers MIA: Henna who is still in America with her newborn and Farasha who has family obligations. Filling in for them will be Joe (who you may remember from the Tribal gig I filed in for) and Nourah ("No! I love YOUR dancing" "No, I love YOUR dancing!"). Ken Matsuo and Yasuo will be providing live music... so I sent emails to our special guests asking for mailing addresses.
Our show is January 24th, but the rush is to make sure we do our best to get flyers out at the holiday shows going on right now...before everything shuts down for New Years.
This morning, I addressed and stuffed envelopes and recorded names of people getting flyers. I will scurry to the post office at lunch.
Tonight, I drop off flyers at the venue before I dance nearby.
Tomorrow, I meet our DJ and give him flyers to distribute at his Saturday gig. I'll also drop off at various Shibuya locations: Devidasi studios, costume stores, Tower Records, vegan cafes...
Don't get the wrong idea about me. I've always insisted that I am not so much an organized person as I am a person inclined towards disorganization who gets her shit together when others are involved and might be affected by my innate sloth. I get this done an I can slooooooth.
What else are you doing at work?
My other desk work masquerading as city hall work involves subbing Anaan's class tomorrow. I got Anaan on the phone a few days ago when I was waffling about my health and ability to sub for her...and lack of info. She was sweet. She laid it on pretty thick, explaining how her 3 or 4 beginner tribal fusion students are looking forward to me teaching. She's told them I will be introducing them to the 9/8 and that this is a rare treat for them, due to the fact I don't teach regularly and am not planning to anytime soon. I have been built up as the all great and powerful Ozma...I've been planning so they get the full Ozma experience and pay no attention to the tiny woman behind the curtain.
Anaan also said: "Remember how confused we were about 9/8 when (our first/insane teacher) taught us?" Which I think was the hook that made me say I'd continue to drink my tea, cough, and get well enough to teach. First teacher serves as an inspiration of shit not to do if I start teaching, although when I think about her she also gives me wonderful knowledge of what sort of brief positive re-enforcements will keep people slogging through shitty instruction.
Oh! Crazy teacher story!
Our first teacher couldn't count. " And it's Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnne 2 3 4 5 6." Not being able to count really cuts down on your ability to play zills, which is why she didn't use or teach them. I used to think I couldn't understand rhythms because what I heard didn't match up to her numbering...
There was a time when Ms. Crazy Pants got the idea to splice together every troupe member's favorite 1 minute music clip and make a full song/choreography where we would do something while each dancer soloed to her part. One dancer brought a 9/8 for us to enter on while freestyling. Learning how to freestyle dance to 9/8 becomes impossible when your teacher is yelling " And" One Two 12345"
Anaan scored a Dahlia Corella VHS and I remember both of us watching in her apartment and saying "My god! It's easy! That makes SENSE . Those numbers make sense! I can hear them!"...of course that was back when Anaan enjoyed a bit of skirt dancing and I was strictly American Cabaret with visions of gothic.
Back to city hall!
Fearing my undertoad, the inner sloth, I started putting together my music a few days ago.Today I typed an outline of what I will cover....and a handout. This is worlds away from my minimal prep for the workshop I taught to hula hoopers...but that gig was all about accepting your inner-self and going with it...sloth or not...pasties or not.
I realize that a handout is more than I need to be doing. But without it I feel I am more at risk of overwhelming them with info. I just thought that visual representation of the 9/8 and some variations would help. I can count! I am a 33 year old woman and I can count!
Shown:
Basic Turkish 9/8 with accents on 1,3,5,7,8.
Basic Turkish 9/8 with accents on 1,3,5,7,8, but showing how sometimes it's easier to just count in your head as 1,2,3,4-5
Romani variation (agir?) where the 1 and 3 have a very heavy drum accent.
Occasional syncopation where a 1,2,3 heavy drum accent is dropped in for variety.
American Cabaret "Karsilama" with accents on 1,3,5,7,8,9. (which we don't deal with but they might want to know about)
Class checklist:
Warm-up (Anaan tends toward Yoga/Brice sun salutations so I'll go with it).
Introduction of the Basic Turkish 9/8 with accents on 1,3,5,7,8 with how sometimes it's easier to just count in your head as 1,2,3,4-5. I will probably briefly explain why I say Romani and not "Gypsy"
Clap it out for a bit to very slow, easy to hear, Turkish Romani music (song is something I only have listed as Agir Roman 2 but don't know the origins of)
Step it out for a while, nothing tricky: step-step-step-hipaccent. Front-middle-back-hip accent.
Using the same music and with the slightly faster Tulum by Selim Sesler, drill accents with a variety of body parts: Shoulder, chest, shoulder and chest, hips drops and lifts, pelvic lifts and drops.
Address the issue of gestures, body hits and cuts, and the joys of using them in moderation.
Introduce the idea of occasional syncopation so we can bring the music back to the world Anaan dances in: Nau-Ashta by Beats Antique. Anaan requested this song. It's also a good song for showing how you don't have to hit ALL the accents all the time.
With Nau-Ashta, drill the idea of repeated accent patterns three times and adding a variation on the fourth (the syncopated measure). Give students the option of following me (doing slightly more complicated combinations using upper body, lower body, and hits) or free-styling. Students might be too shy to freestyle the first day of 9/8
I'd love to teach them some Turkish Romani footwork patterns I learned, but I think that's too much for day one...and not as relevant to them as Tribal Fusion dancers as just learning how to hear a 9/8 and accent it with a variety of body parts.
Cool down.
See? I understand that teaching would organize my ideas and understanding of the dance and would create balance with the fact that I am improv-oriented dancer who coasts on intuition and energy. Regular teaching still feels like it would be a time and energy drain for me...but I am softening on the idea of planning two or three hour workshops.
I did finish the English and Japanese lesson plans for the Ninja game, but the rest of this morning has been about the paperwork of belly dance.
Last night I received 500 flyers for the January Afet Collective show from Eshe.
What's The Afet Collective?
For new readers, The Afet Collective are eight international belly dancers who have come together to do charity events. We're soloists representing a range of styles, but we often collaborate and do duets and trios on these nights in addition to our solo work. In the past two years we've donated our proceeds to HELP, a shelter in Tokyo for Asian women and children. This year Eshe, who now lives in South Korea, suggested a new charity. The proceeds from January's event go to a group helping surviving Korean "Comfort Women."
I need to consistently remember the Japanese word for Comfort Women. Currently I am saying "You know, in the war. In Korea...the women who suffered from troops...." and raise my eyebrow until they say the word I am looking for. In previous years talk of the charity involved saying "yes, domestic violence happens in Japan." and "Well, because sometimes Japanese laws don't treat the needs of women from other Asian countries as well as they should." I wonder if the people I have had these awkward conversations with wouldn't prefer it if I were dancing for causes less close to home, like starving kids very very very far away, or, say, saving kitties and puppies..but part of The Afet Collective is about raising awareness, not just money.
So, you have flyers?
Yes, I have 500 flyers. Now I must make sure other people have these flyers. I checked Mixi and placed calls to get/confirm mailing addresses for the other members. This event we have two dancers MIA: Henna who is still in America with her newborn and Farasha who has family obligations. Filling in for them will be Joe (who you may remember from the Tribal gig I filed in for) and Nourah ("No! I love YOUR dancing" "No, I love YOUR dancing!"). Ken Matsuo and Yasuo will be providing live music... so I sent emails to our special guests asking for mailing addresses.
Our show is January 24th, but the rush is to make sure we do our best to get flyers out at the holiday shows going on right now...before everything shuts down for New Years.
This morning, I addressed and stuffed envelopes and recorded names of people getting flyers. I will scurry to the post office at lunch.
Tonight, I drop off flyers at the venue before I dance nearby.
Tomorrow, I meet our DJ and give him flyers to distribute at his Saturday gig. I'll also drop off at various Shibuya locations: Devidasi studios, costume stores, Tower Records, vegan cafes...
Don't get the wrong idea about me. I've always insisted that I am not so much an organized person as I am a person inclined towards disorganization who gets her shit together when others are involved and might be affected by my innate sloth. I get this done an I can slooooooth.
What else are you doing at work?
My other desk work masquerading as city hall work involves subbing Anaan's class tomorrow. I got Anaan on the phone a few days ago when I was waffling about my health and ability to sub for her...and lack of info. She was sweet. She laid it on pretty thick, explaining how her 3 or 4 beginner tribal fusion students are looking forward to me teaching. She's told them I will be introducing them to the 9/8 and that this is a rare treat for them, due to the fact I don't teach regularly and am not planning to anytime soon. I have been built up as the all great and powerful Ozma...I've been planning so they get the full Ozma experience and pay no attention to the tiny woman behind the curtain.
Anaan also said: "Remember how confused we were about 9/8 when (our first/insane teacher) taught us?" Which I think was the hook that made me say I'd continue to drink my tea, cough, and get well enough to teach. First teacher serves as an inspiration of shit not to do if I start teaching, although when I think about her she also gives me wonderful knowledge of what sort of brief positive re-enforcements will keep people slogging through shitty instruction.
Oh! Crazy teacher story!
Our first teacher couldn't count. " And it's Onnnnnnnnnnnnnnne 2 3 4 5 6." Not being able to count really cuts down on your ability to play zills, which is why she didn't use or teach them. I used to think I couldn't understand rhythms because what I heard didn't match up to her numbering...
There was a time when Ms. Crazy Pants got the idea to splice together every troupe member's favorite 1 minute music clip and make a full song/choreography where we would do something while each dancer soloed to her part. One dancer brought a 9/8 for us to enter on while freestyling. Learning how to freestyle dance to 9/8 becomes impossible when your teacher is yelling " And" One Two 12345"
Anaan scored a Dahlia Corella VHS and I remember both of us watching in her apartment and saying "My god! It's easy! That makes SENSE . Those numbers make sense! I can hear them!"...of course that was back when Anaan enjoyed a bit of skirt dancing and I was strictly American Cabaret with visions of gothic.
Back to city hall!
Fearing my undertoad, the inner sloth, I started putting together my music a few days ago.Today I typed an outline of what I will cover....and a handout. This is worlds away from my minimal prep for the workshop I taught to hula hoopers...but that gig was all about accepting your inner-self and going with it...sloth or not...pasties or not.
I realize that a handout is more than I need to be doing. But without it I feel I am more at risk of overwhelming them with info. I just thought that visual representation of the 9/8 and some variations would help. I can count! I am a 33 year old woman and I can count!
Shown:
Basic Turkish 9/8 with accents on 1,3,5,7,8.
Basic Turkish 9/8 with accents on 1,3,5,7,8, but showing how sometimes it's easier to just count in your head as 1,2,3,4-5
Romani variation (agir?) where the 1 and 3 have a very heavy drum accent.
Occasional syncopation where a 1,2,3 heavy drum accent is dropped in for variety.
American Cabaret "Karsilama" with accents on 1,3,5,7,8,9. (which we don't deal with but they might want to know about)
Class checklist:
Warm-up (Anaan tends toward Yoga/Brice sun salutations so I'll go with it).
Introduction of the Basic Turkish 9/8 with accents on 1,3,5,7,8 with how sometimes it's easier to just count in your head as 1,2,3,4-5. I will probably briefly explain why I say Romani and not "Gypsy"
Clap it out for a bit to very slow, easy to hear, Turkish Romani music (song is something I only have listed as Agir Roman 2 but don't know the origins of)
Step it out for a while, nothing tricky: step-step-step-hipaccent. Front-middle-back-hip accent.
Using the same music and with the slightly faster Tulum by Selim Sesler, drill accents with a variety of body parts: Shoulder, chest, shoulder and chest, hips drops and lifts, pelvic lifts and drops.
Address the issue of gestures, body hits and cuts, and the joys of using them in moderation.
Introduce the idea of occasional syncopation so we can bring the music back to the world Anaan dances in: Nau-Ashta by Beats Antique. Anaan requested this song. It's also a good song for showing how you don't have to hit ALL the accents all the time.
With Nau-Ashta, drill the idea of repeated accent patterns three times and adding a variation on the fourth (the syncopated measure). Give students the option of following me (doing slightly more complicated combinations using upper body, lower body, and hits) or free-styling. Students might be too shy to freestyle the first day of 9/8
I'd love to teach them some Turkish Romani footwork patterns I learned, but I think that's too much for day one...and not as relevant to them as Tribal Fusion dancers as just learning how to hear a 9/8 and accent it with a variety of body parts.
Cool down.
See? I understand that teaching would organize my ideas and understanding of the dance and would create balance with the fact that I am improv-oriented dancer who coasts on intuition and energy. Regular teaching still feels like it would be a time and energy drain for me...but I am softening on the idea of planning two or three hour workshops.
