Back to my much less odiferous but kitty-less apartment. NYC was lovely, the first vacation I've had in ages and hey, no funerals or hospital visits so perhaps my curse is lifted!
I learned much about belly dance in all my workshops with Ariellah and Sarah Johanssen Locke (her dancing reminded me a lot of Renata's), and the saw a fabulous performance with many astounding alternative belly dance groups (like Shakra) called Night of 1000 Goddesses. The production of Hamlet that Pickle was in was one of the best I'd seen (thank god I didn't have to lie my ass off about how good it was) and, in all honesty, Pickle was the best Polonius I've ever seen (typecast as he was :). I was taken to see Circus Contraption and it was just exactly what I needed after the lack of busking in my life left such a hole. I'm starting accordion lessons (with the accordion left to me by my nonno) and I believe it will be the circus life for me someday soon.
And now a warning:
The workshop I had with Ariellah was so amazing, she's not just a great dancer, but a great instructor. However, I decided to also buy the Gothic Belly Dance DVD as it's only available on ebay right now and she had it with her. Ariellah's performances and those of two other dancers are superb on this DVD, but the rest are so laughably bad that it's beyond description. Now I knew there might be some badness when they called the movement Raqs Gothique on the back of the case. It was like Gothic for pre-teens, the filming was terrible: there's a dancer, now there's a gargoyle, now there's the dancer again, now there's a wolf. Near the end of the DVD there is, and I shit you not, an actual soft porn video with women dripping wax on eachother and using chains and NOT DANCING WHATSOEVER!
Anyway, I am reluctant to put this warning up as if any of the less-good dancers see it, they will not want to be friends with me but I feel the need to speak my mind about this. The idea of Gothic Belly Dance appeals to me, and I'm grateful to those experimenting with it so that the rest of us can find out what works and what really doesn't.
I learned much about belly dance in all my workshops with Ariellah and Sarah Johanssen Locke (her dancing reminded me a lot of Renata's), and the saw a fabulous performance with many astounding alternative belly dance groups (like Shakra) called Night of 1000 Goddesses. The production of Hamlet that Pickle was in was one of the best I'd seen (thank god I didn't have to lie my ass off about how good it was) and, in all honesty, Pickle was the best Polonius I've ever seen (typecast as he was :). I was taken to see Circus Contraption and it was just exactly what I needed after the lack of busking in my life left such a hole. I'm starting accordion lessons (with the accordion left to me by my nonno) and I believe it will be the circus life for me someday soon.
And now a warning:
The workshop I had with Ariellah was so amazing, she's not just a great dancer, but a great instructor. However, I decided to also buy the Gothic Belly Dance DVD as it's only available on ebay right now and she had it with her. Ariellah's performances and those of two other dancers are superb on this DVD, but the rest are so laughably bad that it's beyond description. Now I knew there might be some badness when they called the movement Raqs Gothique on the back of the case. It was like Gothic for pre-teens, the filming was terrible: there's a dancer, now there's a gargoyle, now there's the dancer again, now there's a wolf. Near the end of the DVD there is, and I shit you not, an actual soft porn video with women dripping wax on eachother and using chains and NOT DANCING WHATSOEVER!
Anyway, I am reluctant to put this warning up as if any of the less-good dancers see it, they will not want to be friends with me but I feel the need to speak my mind about this. The idea of Gothic Belly Dance appeals to me, and I'm grateful to those experimenting with it so that the rest of us can find out what works and what really doesn't.
3 Comments:
Welcome Back
Sounds like you had a great time.
Sorry about your Kitty.
Love Julie
I think you need to hold a viewing of that video.
ooh...i could rent the Princess or something :)
But a viewing isn't a bad idea.
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