parasitegirl | Yael Zarca Show (Reply)

My British co-worker is wearing a pinstripe suit. I, however, am dressed like I’m ready to film an 80’s themed video podcast for working out at your desk: Pony tail, hoop earrings, light blue nails, a Flashdance shaped silver sweater over a hot-pink top, black skirt, white tights, black legwarmers. Eight year-old-me would love hanging out with 36 year-old-me right now.

I’m looking forward to a curry lunch…and tomorrow is a holiday. Don’t expect me to know which one. I have no clue.

I was thinking about splurging on a massage after work, but being sick so often last month has hurt my recent paycheck…thus my big plans are to cook and clean tonight and sleep a whole bunch tomorrow. If my apartment is clean I’ll be more able to sleep and be slothful. A clean apartment makes me feel like I’ve done my work and there is no reason to get out of bed.

It was a busy weekend. Crap weather to boot. Saturday involved some food fail. I packed a light lunch for in-between my 3 dance lessons. Then I got my hungry ass on a train into Tokyo for a 4 hour intermediate workshop with Yael Zarca. My plans for stopping to eat a big vegan lunch at Loving Hut were dashed by the fact Loving Hut is not open on Saturday…and which point I didn’t have much time for a real late lunch/early dinner and grabbed some stuff from a convini and a coffee and cookie from Tully’s.

Three hours into the workshop (modern Egyptian…challenging) my bloodsugar dove. I was suddenly claustrophobic from the crowded workshop/dizzy/ and unable to focus. I decided I needed to get dressed, get food, and get home. The organizer’s mother tried to get me to eat something with salmon because when she saw my face she realized I needed food but I had to beg off…as I am veg.

I do regret that my schedule prevented me from doing any of her other workshops.

I made it home and slept for a good 10 hours.

Then I woke up and prepped for the Yael Zarca show. Two costumes, my music, make-up, ….I met Hiromi at Matsudo around noon and we headed to the venue for run through and such.

It was a rather amazing show. We all had enough time to throw on cover-ups and see most of each other’s performances. It’s been a long time since I watched an amazing show where I didn’t know what to expect. What I mean by that is that most of the shows I am seeing here in Tokyo are great, but I am already fairly familiar with the performers and I know what’s coming and the general style/level I’ll be seeing. Last night was full of wildcards and no jokers to be seen, baby!

The headliner, Yael Zarca, from France, performed three times and…well..was stunning. She did an upbeat routine/ a very emotional song/ and a crazy-pants-in-the-good-way Shaabi. Nice range. Find videos on-line. Enjoy. Bewarned that her site plays music.

Fatema Redowan from Singapore. I’d never met her or seen her dance. Absolutely powerful, fun, and sex on wheels…or on feet, emotive, playful, high energy…my cup of tea. She’d traveled with her husband, friends, and her daughter. Her daughter is almost six and has a similar taste in tights and colors as I do, so we hit it off just fine in the dressing room. It was neither the first time nor the last that I have seen a young child wearing tights nearly identical to what I own. I’ve also attended enough bluegrass band practices and shows as a kid that I had no issue with keeping a precocious child entertained. Fatema also brought Zulfa Ibn Ashedeeq, a drummer/musician with awesome dreads (something I rarely think) who was great fun in the backstage area (Fatema now has footage of me and Hiromi performing a backstage drum-solo with him) and delightful onstage..

Durring Fatema's drumsolo at one point my jaw dropped and I said "oh my god." My student, sitting next to me, giggled and agreed "Yes, Jesus."

Susanna Ha (and friend whose name I forget, Nenna?) from Busan, South Korea. I won their love early on by picking them up some coffee and waving off attempts to be paid. If I ever make it to Busan, which they tell me I should… I will be given coffee. They were both bilingual and entertaining backstage and on. Susanna performed a classy oriental number and Nenna (Nenne?...Neeennna?) busted out a sassy meleya leif.

Anna Kozmina, Tokyo-based dancer originally from Russia. GLAMAZON! She’s built like a classic American Cabaret album-cover model and may be a head taller than me. She looks that hot 24-7 as far as I can tell. I first met her at a meeting for the show. I looked like a school teacher and she looked like she was about to do some sexy Russian spy-work. She performed a dizzying double veil and then a powerful drumsolo. Like local dancer Elina…she is such a powerhouse she made me feel like I’m a low-key laid-back performer in contrast.

Kazumi Hosokawa: Tokyo dancer whom I have known since she subbed for my very first teacher here. Kazumi and I have done a good number of shows together. She’s always very sweet, low-key, and joyous backstage…and emotive and lovely onstage. This was no different.

Mona, our organizer. Mona is Japanese but studied and lived abroad in Europe, where she started learning bellydance. She’s curvy, strong, and emotional and performs modern Egyptian style. She always has costumes I love that border on elegant and absurd in the right way. (I think many are from Asi Haskal). Her mother is always on hand at events, trying to feed me and everyone else. I snacked constantly backstage and at the end of the show she ambushed us with a bag full of individual cake slices from a local patisserie and gave us a sob story about how they would go to waste if we didn’t eat them RIGHT NOW. We couldn’t have that.

And, Hiromi, my buddy and the owner of Eva Belly. Hiromi was the only dancer I didn’t get to see perform, as she was generally right before me in the set line-up. I was always in the backstage waiting area unable to see her. I am confident about her performance though. We’d had to cancel performing a duet at the show due to time constraints in our own lives, but had been texting back and forth and talking the week before the show to make sure each of us was taking time to practice for ourselves, getting enough rest, taking care of ourselves as dancers. It seems to have paid off, she was more relaxed and confident about her performance than I’ve seen in a while and we had some good “don’t make me cry” hugs afterwards.

I feel ok about my performance, despite the fact that in my last number I performed with one watery eye due to allergies and having something trapped under one of my hard contacts…and had to pretend that I was just THAT emotionally invested in the song.

I regret that I wasn’t able to go out for dinner and drinks afterwards…despite Yael trying to bully me into it and how much fun I would have had. I just felt, in my bones, that going out would mean getting home around 1AM and that my eating schedule and sleep schedule hasn’t been strong enough that I wouldn’t be in a world of hell the next morning as I woke up for work. As it was I got home around 10PM and am hungry, 80’s garbed, and pretty bleary. I will neither confirm nor deny the fact that I packed a pillow instead of my bento this morning.

I will also neither confirm nor deny that, midway through a costume change when I had my hair in braids across my head and my cabaret garb still on, I thought “My god…I probably could pull off a Slave Leah costume.”

Well played, everyone involved.

Back row, left to right: Susanna Ha and...Nenne?
Middle row; Mona, Fatema, Kazumi, Yael, Anna
Front: Me and Eva

Anna, Hiromi, Susanna, Kazumi, Me, Mona, Fatema (looking HAWT!).

Me in my cover-up with Hiromi. I do NOT wear colored contacts but there's something about the color balance on her camera and how blue my eyes look in contrast to the whites of my eyes going allergy-pink.