parasitegirl | Henna's Show! (Reply)

Blarg…goood morning.

It is Monday and I’m at city hall. It is yucky outside. I’m chugging the roobios. Not sure if I have a cold or hay fever or the onset of asthma fun, I just know that if I’m like this when I hit my school tomorrow, my voice won’t last the week. The good news is that the thyphoon has lost power and should blow over soon.

Show weekend!

Henna was in town! HENNA! LUV HER! We miss her…but I will admit we were both not in the condition to plan a duet over the last few weeks…so that didn’t happen.

Henna got into Tokyo on Thursday afternoon, about the same time Jo returned back from Tribal Fest. They were both jetlagged when we all went out food and drinks Friday night with Anaan, Dom, Daishu, and Neil.

On Saturday Henna ran workshops at Deseos.

I woke up on Saturday with a sore, swollen, throat. It was a day of staying indoors out of the rain and taking it relatively easy, minus a workout and a trip for produce. I finished the skirts for a vintage-styled coin costume I’d recently made, watched SYTYCD and ate homemade food. After finishing the skirts I decided that I would be wearing the whole shebang on Sunday, at Henna’s show.

This lead to me waffling between performing to songs I know very well, because I had barely the energy to practice, and wanting to use something new because there is a freedom in dancer shows that doesn’t exist in restaurants.

Sunday:

I fed myself and went out for accessories in the morning. Big, bulky, and prairie/peasant/ethno/hippy is on-trend, so “old school” friendly bellydance items at regular stores are easy to come by. I returned home, ate healthful food, changed my set and ran through it until I was sweaty.

I also checked the weather. Rain. Rain. Rain…but the worst of the typhoon wouldn’t be hitting until Monday.

The show was at a Pan-Asian restaurant we’d also had the studio opening party at. It’s in a mostly dead mall, but it has a stage, a friendly staff, good food, and a large room for us to get changed in. It isn’t the easiest to find, so while we put on make-up Joe had me talking to Anaan and Daishu on the phone to navigate them to us.

I’ll skip ahead to myself for those who are still reading but might not care about the local scene.

For my set I eventually decided in favor of some old-school American Cabaret music with some Turkish Roma 9/8 in the set ending with a drum-solo I’ve been teaching plus a zill layer. It all went with the costume and showcased exactly what it is I teach.

Turkish Roma: Check

Using your zills as an instrument that supports you in many ways: Check.

A variation on a drumsolo I have been teaching: Check.

Improvisation: Check

My two main students came together and had a blast. They’d also gone to see BDSS the day before and found the current cast uneven…but it gave them a certain level of respect for our local scene and I can’t argue with that.

I am not sure how well I performed. I didn’t feel technically on the top of my game, but I felt enough in my element that I know I brought most of the “it” I have. I was also the only dancer rocking the zills, which surprised me as I expected Henna or Farasha to also be playing.

There are technical things I wish I’d done better, but feel that had I spent a bit more time over the last few weeks working on those things instead of focusing on physical non-dance work-outs, I wouldn’t have those issues with my performance.

Those who saw it complemented me to an extent that it was difficult not to talk about some of the issues I had with my performance and just say thank you. My students think I was the best of the night…which I don’t agree with but was very touched by. They said it made them excited about practicing and about coming to class and what more can you ask for. That’s what you want to hear. You want to hear “Your zills make me want to go home and practice!” and they were particularly tickled by seeing a drumsolo they’ve been working on made more me-ish with zills.

Other dancers I love in attendance (Sali and Kazumi came together) were kind in expressing their surprise at my growth as a dancer since they last saw me. It was helpful to know that I’ve been doing something right with the restaurant gigs, getting more focused in my practice structure, and teaching.

Huleya and Farasha were similarly supportive of my performance. They both say I should start teaching workshops. Huleya offered to host me at her studio for a workshop, we both agreed to clear it with Joe to avoid stepping on toes…I talked to Joe, we good! I’ll follow up later today with an email, including a request for some guidance on structuring my first workshops. Both Farasha and Huleya seem to agree that my potential WS draws are Turkish Romani (9/8 focus) and zills.

The line-up:

Henna, Ozma, and Joe of Deseos

Special guests: Farasha, Huleya,

Delyce, G. Loungta, Naito, Kumi,

Yoko, Hiroko, Natsuko, Izumi, Nin

Tanishq could not make it. She’s in Egypt and may have a bum ankle. Boo.

Delyce (pronounced like “Delish”)is a male belly dancer who isn’t about to deny some cross dressing. He crossdresses.. : http://ameblo.jp/delyce2/

He was well attired in a manner of male bellydance costuming that doesn’t make me feel oooky…and I like the fact there is no “I wear bra-like-tops-and girlie stuff-but-am- TOTALLY A DUDE GRRR ARGH” here. He costumes well as a male dancer and as a cross-dressing dancer and the two are different looks for him that don’t seem to oerlap, save the bling. He was fun and Egyptian. I can also assure you that girls screaming at male dancers…it’s here as well. He knows his craft though and the only negative thing I thought about his dancing is that he could pay a bit more attention to his upper body strength….so could I.

Izumi: http://izumiorientaldance.com/pages/page01_about.html Solid. She’s a local teacher who sponsors some dancers coming over.

Assorted student-level dancers: Adorable.

Farasha: As seen on my costuming page…she didn’t wear the white costume because she’s waiting for the fluffy arabesque Pharonix skirts she ordered. Farasha is just getting stronger and stronger. She’s got a cd out that a local musician did for her, more instructionals with Kiki. Doing powerfully well: http://www.farasha.jp/ She did an upbeat oriental number and then some fan veils that were awesome, and I am not a huge lover of a lot of the fan veil deployment I’ve seen….but Farasha is like the force-of-nature-silk-master.

Per usual, as we had someone backstage who hadn’t heard us do it, she and I had our costume/make-up go at each other…the one about how I use to be utter crap at make-up (True! I was rubbish! ) at the same time she had major costuming issues (True! Self-destructing Necklemans) this time it was Huleya being entertained.

Huleya and Farasha also took the time to grill me on my personal life. Thanks guys!

Huleya: http://www.huleya.com/

Huleya has become strongly influenced by Lulu Sabongi since branching out to her own studio and has the Brazilian costumes to show for it. Her costuming has become very individually defining. I could probably identify a Huleya costume in a bodiless line-up the same way people could pick out some of mine…or we’d all pair a sexy Eman with Tanishq. She’s become a very strong dancer over the years I’ve known her, Egyptian with a bit of extra something something.

Joe, you know from my work with her at Deseos: http://joetribalfusion.com/ She was bad-ass.

Henna, the reason for the party: http://hennadances.com/Henna_Homepage.html .Suffice to say that I was very happy seeing Henna dance again. It’s been too long. Her first teacher was Aziza…because some girls have all the luck goddamnit and we shouldn’t hate them for that. Henna has studied widely and is also a solid Tribal/Tribal Fushion dancer. Her Oriental has a very Bozenza vibe to her dancing. When I first saw Henna dance I remember seeing a bit of the Aziza…but when I first saw Bozenka dance it fell into place who else Henna has been powerfully influenced by. There is also one Bozenka publicity shot I always do a doubletake at, thinking it is Henna.

With Henna dancing I also got to see new designs Kim Sakkara of Portland is working on. Kim and I occasionally exchange emails about costuming. Henna also has a lovely story about doing a shoot with Kim in a professional dungeon. They were using a blank wall but it was in full sight of all the equiptment for “scenes”.

We all had a grand time dancing…and then…knowing that we were with dancers and friends, we did all drink and eat together instead of scurrying away to pretend we are professional and don’t do those things. It was that sort of venue. My off-duty look garndered praise…”Very airhostess in the 60’s” and I explained how I’ve also cultivated a collection of one-piece groovey dresses for gig nights…in part because they take little time to get into or out of, wash well (sweat), don’t leave you with waistband/tummy marks if you’ve ridden the train, don’t wrinkle in your gigbag and…for me…are a way of branding my look when I attend dancer shows but am not very made-up.

And around 11ish I headed home, through the rain, with my big bouquet of peonies.

A very nice night.