DtkT - DtkT - Dtk, Dtk, DtkT!

Finger cymbal sound drill.

After much cursing and frowning, I still struggle a bit with my non-dominate hand, which throws off my timing a bit, but it is definitely coming along.

~N

Wooden Zills!

Find them at magus-obeiro.com.

Ruby Beh Weekend

Ruby getting a feel for her surroundings.

(This post is long overdue from August.)

I think I spent Ruby Beh workshop weekend with a tight lipped smile on. Take two new costumes, new fire prop, new venue, and opening your home to a person you have never met. Add the fact you will be pushing your brain and body to learn and process new concepts into your dance and you get an uncomfortable looking tight lipped smile.

I spent five days teetering on the edge of trying to be flexible and accomidating without letting the stress of all of the "newness" overtake me. I think it just resulted in super Cra-Cra Face instead of the actual enjoyment I was feeling. One of the first conversations I had with Ruby in the car on the way to the meet and great was I told her I sometimes have trouble articulating (using my big-girl words,) and that I tend to over explain things. Her answer was to just be who you are.

Disclaimer given. Acknowledgement received.

Ruby, Naia, and I spent Friday afternoon touring the Pythian Castle and Bass Pro followed by non-stop workshops from Friday evening through Saturday afternoon. I had all of my costuming stuff prepared well in advance since Ruby was staying in the Guest/sewing/dance room. I was able to get ready for 3 dance sets in minimal time before the workshop show began. I had my usually moment of butterflies while putting on my make-up and then my "I'm a professional" business hat went on and Ruby and I headed out the door for the show.

Ruby seducing the locals.

Nice cheekbones. Photo: S Bowers

Did I mention Saturday was also Greek Night? Not only was it Greek Night but the first Greek Night at Galloway Station's new venue and I had yet to even stepped foot into the building. Because of this I got to open the workshop show with a Shamadan procession provided by the lovely Malaika Dancers so I could leave early.

The end result of my Shamadan Respec was successful. No wax in the hair. No costumes on fire. I even rocked finger cymbals with some Zeffa rhythm. On one hand I think my Shamadan still needs more bling. On the other hand I am content that I can keep it on my head without burning down the Northview Senior Center. The paper would read, "So called 'Bellydancer' stupidly balances lit candelabra on head. Seniors outraged."

I wanted to see both of Ruby's sets so I ended up staying the entire show instead of leaving for Galloway when I should. As soon as Ruby's music ended in applause I headed straight out the door but I ended up getting stuck in road construction on my way to Galloway and was over 20 minutes late to our first set (I've never been late in all of these years.) When I finally made it, Sa'dia met me at the door to show me how to get to the office. We ran up 2 flights of stairs. I dropped my bag, dropped my cover-up, grabbed my zills, and immediately ran back down the stairs to the sound of our opening song.

The first set went by in a blur of adrenalin from being so late and having to learn my new dance environment literally on the spot. My dancing felt a bit frantic but I think I covered it well. I did have some family support from my mom, sister, sister-in-law, grandmother, and another family friend. Friendly faces in the crowd always help.

Sa'dia and I hung out in the office between sets standing in front of the electric fan. During this time people from the workshop where arriving to catch the late show. I had hit the giddy slap-happy point of the evening. I felt like a total spaz by the time Sa'dia and I went down for our second set.  New costume number 2 cooperated during the set although the skirt needs some serious attention. I don't have any pictures of it yet.

After a mostly successful second set, (forgot the same section of the same drum solo again,) I changed into street clothes and headed out to the patio to hang with my friends. That is the point I completely deflated. I was  s o   t i r e d  I could barely articulate. I did manage to procure a glass of bourbon that we lit on fire in lieu of a birthday candle and sang happy birthday for R.W. Lucky for me Ruby was tired too and we left before close time.

 Sa'dia rocking it in pink.

From the tip bag. Napkins, rose petals, and money. (Nowadays, many Greeks throw flowers, napkins, money, and the like instead of breaking plates.) I've been told that the shower of rose petals and napkins looks really awesome while we dance. It's usually always a surprise when the crowd cheers as a cloud of color floats from somewhere above you.

The napkins that didn't make it into the tip bag. You know, cause it's totally sexy and non-distracting to see while dancing.

OPA! Photo: C Mallahan

Cra-Cra Face

Photo: C Mallahan

Sunday was a quiet day for me. Naia took Ruby to the studio to teach 7 hours of privates. I spent the whole day in boxer shorts and playing XBOX with the Husband Person. I even caught up on some National Geographics, anything that was non-bellydance related. My mental health meter slowly began to refill. Cra-Cra Face dissipating.

On Monday I drove Ruby to the Branson airport. We probably had our best conversation during the ride because the stress of the weekend was over and Ruby was no longer a brand new acquaintance. I also think Ruby had taken off her business hat since the professional part of the weekend was over. I wish the whole weekend would have been as relaxed and jovial as that car ride. I saw Ruby on her way with a hug and wave.

By week's end it finally dawned on me that I was completely stressed out from the excitement of having Ruby, a dancer I very much admire, in my home and trying my best to be professional without completely geeking out all over the place. Instead of letting myself geek out I just felt uncomfortable and stressed. And it probably showed. Ruby did say to be who you are. I tried way too hard to wear my Professional Hat instead of my Me Hat. Lesson learned. It also dawned on me the following week as people were posting their Ruby pics to Facebook that I never got a picture taken with her. This is how my photo with Ruby would have looked.

Homies. 

~N

All of the Props are Belong to Us

Camelia of Egypt dancing with Shamadan, Finger Cymbals, and Stick.

Backtracking

Zill maintenance

 

Time has been moving forward, although I feel as I've accomplished nothing of late. No progress. Just backtracking. It has been abundantly clear in my dance. At least it feels that way. I noticed this past month that my shimmies seem to be regressing in endurance and strength. I get flashes from my beginner days when shimmies where a challenge and I had to practice them often. I haven't spent much time on them in a while. And I'm noticing. They feel, well a little sad really. Which means they've probably been petering out for a while before the thought crossed my mind.

I started drilling shimmies on top of my zill drills in order to maximize my dance time. I find this terribly boring, stripping my dance down to nothing but exercise, killing the fun. I know it's part of being a dancer and maintaining your technique, etc. I'm just put out by the fact I'm having to backtrack and the cause is my own doing.

Which leads to the unpleasant matter of a recent injury to my neck/shoulder area. Doing head slides of all things. I was doing one of my zill + shimmy drills, incorporating a head-to-hip combo on top of it all. Trying to really challenge myself. Get my brain firing. I've never had an issue with head slides as a quick accent here and there or as part of a warm-up. But apparently, my zealous overconfidence of layering a combo and shimmies and zills was too much. Head slides, over and over, through 2-3 songs of the same drill broke the camel's back. Pun intended. Not sure which is more bruised. My ego or my neck.

The first 2 weeks after straining my neck/shoulder upper body drills where out of the question. I also slept like crap using my horseshoe shaped neck pillow flat on my back at night. After almost 4 weeks it is still stiff but I can at least do warm-ups and stretching in that area to some benefit.

The beginnings of another belt.

Now we come to costuming.

Ah, costuming. The reason why my shimmies are suffering and why MAKING costumes are the reason why no costumes are getting MADE.

To state the obvious, making dance costumes take a long time. It's no wonder why halfway though (aka 6 months into) a project I get side tracked with new ideas. I had 3 costumes in the works when I decided to make a new silver and gold bedlah just because I want another one. I have 3 of Sa'dia's costumes for alterations.  I also made it my business to help a new dancer expand his costume options and began experimenting with a fusion style silver fringe belt. And not 2 days ago I decided I wanted to make a Saidi dress. I don't even need a Saidi dress. Meanwhile, I have been working on a costuming class idea as requested by some my local dance friends.

I finally decided NO MORE NEW PROJECTS! I went back to work on "Tar Berries" and tried to grind my way over the hump and get it done. It could have been done, soonish. Then I decided to add a long row of bead work along the skirt. That decision has probably set me back another 2 months.

Belt detail.

Silver fringe belt experiment.

Awesome texture.

Soaping out the design along the bottom of the Tar Berries skirt.

Lime (or lemon) juice + salt = chemical free zill bath.

I decided this evening I could at least clean my zills. Maintain them before they turn into a mess like my shimmies. That is at least some progress against the constant feel of backtracking. I figured I could also post a real post. Not just re-post some dance video or a generic, "Hey I'm still here! Look at my blog!" post.

On a side note, my zill playing is improving, in tiny tiny baby steps. And I'm ok with that. I finally resigned myself to the fact it wasn't easy. It never was going to be easy. And while I'd hate doing the work I would have to put into learning, the end result will be quite gratifying.

This is my 661st post and the 12th year, 5th month of bellydance in my life. Guess that's a little bit of progress after all.

~N

DanceTastic: Sibel Istanbul

I'm finally getting around to posting this bellydance parody video of Sibel Istanbul. I've watched it way too many times. This video includes skill in dancing in some serious platform heels, zills, gum chewing, tongue shimmies, and comedy. That's some talent. Love! ~N

This Week's Bellydance Crush: Mandanah

A Bellydance Quickie video repost way too cool to ignore. Shabnam and Mandanah Rock the zills.


Followed by more Mandanah dancing to live drums. The dancing starts to gets intense around 1:41. I can't stop watching her. She's got a +5 to charisma and some serious dance skills to boot.

~N

BD Vlog 19: GreekNightZills

I finally broke my zill-playing cherry at this month's Greek Night. I played and danced improv. It was slow and a little sloppy in some places. There was nothing impressive nor exciting about it but I did it! I made it over the hurdle of my first ever performance playing zills live. *whew*

~N

Thanks to Hessa for the video clip from her phone.

Dear Zills,

I really hate you right now.

I don't mean that in a, “we'll never see each other again,” kind of way. But in a self torturing, “you make me so mad the only way to get back at you is to spend even more time with you and make you suffer with me,” kind of way. It isn't so much about the way you turn my finger tips purple from lack of blood flow under your elastic straps, or no matter how hard I try polishing you after practice you still end up tarnished and gross with oxidized finger prints and smudges on you. No, I can handle that. I can almost write that off as something to show off for all of my hard work. Like a scar or an “I was so drunk” story. No, it is far more complex than that. It is the mental abuse you inflict on me. It is your slow, off-beat, ringing laughter every time I play you with any intention. It is the way you give me encouragement when I am playing a rhythm and as soon as my feet begin to move you choke up and loose the beat. Sometimes you even let me walk around, maybe with a bump of the hip or a 3-step turn, and then you fall silent without a strike or a clang of sound making me have to stop completely and start over. You are like a childhood bully who points at my shirt and when I look down to see what is there you bop me in the nose. And you do it over and over and over again.

You keep me stifled and frustrated. You won't let me alternate between simple rhythms. You won't let me speed up enough to play along to songs I like. You just keep demoralizing me. You keep leading me on only to let me down. When I talk to my friends about you they seem to think you are just great. “Zills? Oh yeah, zills are pretty awesome.” You must really be pulling the wool over their eyes to make them give you such compliments.

I don't understand why you deal this kind of abuse to me. Is it because I ignored you for the first 10 or so years we were acquainted? Is it because I gave too much of my time to others and now that I want to be friends you are punishing me? Was I too into learning stupid-human Bellydance tricks spending all my time balancing swords and fire on my head? Was I too involved with editing music for a show you would never be invited to? I could see how you might be bitter about this but come on, I was young and stupid. I didn't have the sense to work out our differences in the beginning. I only wanted to do what was fun and easy. Don't hold the ignorance of youth against me.

If you would just tell me what you want I will do it. Do you want me to memorize rhythms like 3-1-3-1-3 and 3-3-7? Do you prefer me to alternate hands or play only on the dominate side? Do you want me to practice with combos overlaid with zills or just improv until my hands and body sync up? Really, what do you want? God knows I've tried to satisfy you but you just keep playing hard to get.

You know, I'm really ready for this relationship to just move on. I know I should just accept my karma, man up, buckle down, and take my licks. I just wish we didn't have to fight like this. I don't understand why our relationship has to be so difficult. Why is it always so hard with you?

Well, I really didn't mean to ramble on like this. I hope you are doing well, all things considered between us. I look forward to hearing from you again. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe when I get off work we can try talking again. I hope things start to go better between us.

Sincerely,

Naima

I'm not really mad at my zills. I started zill practice off ok. Tried a few combos and it started going downhill. Tried improv to a fun song. Things got worse. I finally gave up and was sitting, arms crossed, lip out, pouting. So I decided to write my zills a letter. And you know, I actually feel pretty content now. Read Natalia's much funnier letter to her zills.

Notes to Self

 A reminder to start drills on the left (because I never start left,) and to stop transitioning out of one move into the other before it is completed.

R, R, Holy Cow, R, Holy Cow, R, L from Belly Dancing Basics.

Zills with muffs

Note to self: You may be sweaty, tired, and mentally drained (after drilling)...but you're still a pretty pretty princess.

The sew along poll has closed with 10 want-to participants, 2 sewingly-challenged, and 5 voyeurs. Thank you all for voting allowing me a chance to gauge the interest for this project. I am working on it right now and intend on having a supplies list and schedule up very soon.

~N

Zills of Suck

Been working on my zills of suck again this week. With a record breaking temperature of 108F I don't really have the energy to move anything other than my fingers. I've literally been laying in bed in front of a fan on my back with my arms in the air zilling. And they still suck. But you know, I've decided to say that with a bit of pride. The way people use the words 'bad' and 'sick'. I picture the following conversation in my head.

"Yo, whaz up?!"
"Yo, I got zills of suck!"
"Fo'realz!" Followed by high-fives and posturing.

Really, my zill playing isn't that bad. It is still just very challenging and frustrating. That is one of the reasons I still don't know how to play and dance with them. I have found an excuse out of learning for too many years. I got to suck it up if I want zills of suck.

Word,
~N

Killer Ziller Progress Thus Far

This is what Bellydance math looks like.

*UPDATED - The DVD in this post is Killer Ziller by Cheeky Girls Productions. These BD videos are very well produced (by dancers) and are reasonably priced. I have 4 of them and like them all.*

Well, I'm not a "Killer Ziller" yet but I am making progress. I started by only using the Killer Ziller video's drill section. This is 15+ minutes of straight zill drills of 13 different rhythm patterns. To other beginners I recommend moving your arms in and out of your standard BD arm poses, circles, etc. while drilling patterns. I was temped to hold my hands close to my body facing each other just like the video. Once I started moving my arms I began missing beats and getting sloppy sounds. Changing the position of your arms changes the position of your hands. Which in turn changes the way you strike the zills together. Think of it like when you first learned to shimmy standing in place. Hooray! Then you tried to walk and shimmy and it all went to hell in a hand basket. Yeah, something like that.

Once the drills got boring I started drilling the patterns in the combination section without dancing. Just zills. This gave me continually changing zill patterns to practice instead of the same one over and over. I've now moved onto learning the dance combos and zilling at the same time. My brain is slowly starting to multitask the two together.

I was told once it is best to learn dance/zill combos at the same time. I was also told to stay away from dance/zill combos and just zill what feels natural and not be robotic. I see the wisdom of both. This first way forces you to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time until your brain adapts. The second way lets you do what is well, natural. I've also been told to play using the dominate hand more, such as R-L-R  R-L-R. While others have told me to alternate between hands, R-L-R  L-R-L, because it is faster and makes for nimble hands.

For me, I need the combos and to play with a dominate hand. I noticed after learning the first Killer Ziller combo I can kind of zone out and not think about zilling or dancing but actually listen to the music. I'm not having to count 3-1-3-1-3 or 3-3-7 in my head. I've started with the combo and now it is turning into the more natural thing. I perfer playing with a dominate hand because when I would alternate, and miss a beat, I would get confused as to which hand I hand left off on and have to start all over.

On a side note, I've tried doing basic triplets to my Greek music and done nothing but Big Fat Greek FAIL all over that. My hands don't have the endurance to go at the fast paced speeds of the livelier party music. All of the practice music in Killer Ziller is slow to medium paced. It would have been nice to have a set of drills for endurance. I guess I can work that out on my own.

~N

Now watching: Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam
Today's quote: ""Very very good. A complimentary victory lift has been activated in the main chamber." - GLaDOS

BD Vlog 12: First Impressions

Workshop and DVD purchases. My first impressions of Totally Turkish, Flawless Floorwork, Killer Ziller, and Belly by Sandra vol 3. (recorded 08/28/10) It's taken me all week to get this video uploaded. I think I've finally worked out all the issues from a recent computer virus on my laptop.

DVD at http://cheekygirlsproductions.com/catalog.html
RetroKali at http://naagadance.blogspot.com/

~N

Now listening: Kelis - Tasty
mood: Ethan Peck

Zill Muffs

I am working up some crocheted zill muffs to sell at the Workshop and Bazaar in 2 weeks. They are super thin, super light, and stretch to fit your standard 2 inch Nefertiti's but are snug enough they don't slide around or need elastic to hold them on. They look like cute little flowers and I enjoy them much more than the thick ones I was using. Thick muffs completely muff the ring of the zill but dramatically change the way the zills feel and the amount of power you use to strike them together vs no muffs. As a novice, I need the zills to feel as much like they would on stage when I practice.


Here is a sound test so you can hear the difference it makes when you are practicing with and without zill muffs.

~N

Now watching: LoTR TT
mood: stuffed mushrooms

Kawakib

A great video of Kawakib playing zills. I dare you to have a zill battle with her.

Now playing: Disintegration - the Cure
mood: Starbucks doubleshot Energy+coffee, guarana, ginseng, b vitamins was awesome, but has wiped my palate. It gave me lots of energy and zero attention span. Is like crack. For-serious.

Sa'dia's Zill Muffs

I made Sa'dia a pair of crochet 3"zill muffs. They seem huge in my hands and turned out way cuter than my pair of muffs did. They look like flowers.

Sa'dia has also started blogging here. You should check it out and encourage her to post more.

I'm still getting used to my labret piercing. In the morning when I look in the mirror, I briefly wonder at what point in the night I rolled over into a tool box and got stuff stuck to my face. Then I remember I paid good money for it and proceed to the kitchen for coffee.

~N

Now playing: Farscape season 2
mood: Bart Simpson (it is a spicy chicken noodle dish...don't ask)

Crochet Zill Muff Pattern

Now playing: LotR
mood: bacon and eggs

This pattern will fit Medium size zills, such as Saroyan, Nefertiti MC-100, approx. 2-1/16". You may change this pattern to fit your needs. I experimented until it worked for me. This is also my first written pattern. I am a novice at crochet. I will do my best to answer questions but for help I suggest you check out www.crochet.org and www.crochetme.com. You may copy this for personal use but please do not use it for profit.

Medium weight, worsted yarn (I used left overs). Size H (5.00m) hook.
Gauge- muffs will be stretchy, gauge is not really important

Ch=chain stitch
St= stitch
Sc=single crochet
Dc=double crochet
Tc=triple crochet
Yo=yarn over
Tog= working together 2st into one. Put hook through 1st st, yo and pull through. Put hook through next st, yo and pull through. You now have 3 loops on your hook. Now yo and pull through the first 2 loops, leaving 2 loops on hook. Yo again and pull through remaining 2 loops, leaving 1 loop on hook.

Pattern (make 4):
Make an adjustable loop with 6 ch. (Here is how to make the loop I used- http://crochetme.com/amigurumi-double-ring).

Round 1 – 2sc in each ch, (you will then have 12st).

Round 2 - ch 3 (counts as 1st tc), starting in 1st st from the 3ch you just made [tc in 1st st, 2tc in next st]. Repeat steps between [ ] all the way around. (you will end with 19st including the 1st ch).

Round 3 – ch 1, {tog into the next 2st, then dc into each of the next 2st}. Repeat steps between {} all the way around, stopping before the last dc. (you will end with 14st).
Finishing – slip stitch into the next st, tie off and trim.