Goodbye Oakland! 09/30/2011
Well, it has been almost twelve years but I am finally moving to San Francisco. Goodbye Oakland. It has been real!  Add Comment SHADOWDANCE 2010 and other news 11/05/2010
Greetings! November is quite a crazy busy month for me! Let's see...well, first off we have SHADOWDANCE. I am really excited about this show! The venue is the Oakland Metro, which is rad because I have already danced on that stage twice and feel quite comfortable there. I will say this: the piece I am performing is the most personal dance I have ever choreographed. It comes straight from the center of my heart. November 22nd I have another show at the fabulous Hubba Hubba Revue at The Uptown. I love this gig. Jim and pals are the coolest, most laid back people to work with, ever. November 28th I am privileged to dance with Ariellah and Nayun of Deshret Dance Company in Berkeley. I will perform a solo along with many other uniquely amazing dancers. Also, for the month of November, the lovely Frederique is on tour in Europe and she asked me to sub for her. YAY! I am subbing her on-going beginning and advanced ATS belly dance classes at Temescal Arts Center on Thursday nights. The advanced class is currently closed to the public, but the beginning class is open to everybody so come on down! Details here. I recently had a private lesson with Fred, and it was definitely worth it, as always. I am so happy and grateful to be subbing her class. Last but not least, my new flyers are here! They are super fantastic. In case you are wondering, the woman posing goth-like on the front of the flyer is Ruth St. Denis, a dancing hero of mine. For more gorgeous, awe-inspiring pictures of her, go here. The season is fall and my days are filled with downloading electronic music from obscure British djs, teaching private lessons in the morning, and working at the library in the afternoon. Such is my life. It is good. p.s. Dancers: if you would like beautiful flyers at a very reasonable price, talk to my friend Mikey. He will hook you up. Check out his website.   Club 6 06/20/2010
 Here I am with my bellydance teacher and dear friend, Freyja. We both danced great sets. It was a good night. Inspiration from Muses 02/10/2010
It seems everywhere I look there is inspiration. I am constantly hunting for muses and they are constantly appearing before my eyes. Here are two RB videos that I really enjoy watching for many different reasons. I especially like the De Young video because it is very recent and it is such a pleasure to watch a hero grow and change and evolve and become even better than they were before. And I love the other video because it has a certain joie de vivre that is infectious and makes me smile. I am so grateful for the inspiration I receive from my bellydancing sisters. This month has been strange and challenging. My car was broken into and a lot of dancing-related stuff was stolen from my trunk.Yes, those things are gone from my life, but perhaps that is just the universe clearing the way for even better things to come. In fact, the moment I resolved to become non-attached to those things, my heart felt lighter and my anger melted away. In other news, I have added more beautiful pictures to the gallery page from performances at Hubba Hubba Revue and the Haiti benefit at The Independent. Go take a look! This Saturday night I am excited to be dancing in Frederique’s student showcase, and at the end o’ the month I will be dancing at the Underground SF at the premiere of Haight Street Monster Girls—an independent horror movie starring my boyfriend!! I am so proud of him! That is all for now. End o' the year reflection 12/10/2009
This is my mantra for 2010  It pretty much sums up how I feel. Short and sweet. This is the year for doing, not talking about doing. This is the year to pull away from the stupid box and various social media time suckers. This is the year to truly get passionate about your art. This is the year to light your own lamp and be your own illumination. Winter is a time for refection; look inward to discover what turns you on. Then go out there and set the world on fire. 2009 is quickly coming to a close, and I have so much to be grateful for. But first, down to business. I feel I must plug an incredible music artist in the tribal fusion scene today: Maduro. His new side project, Darkened, is an album I have been obsessing over ever since I first heard it. I even performed to one of the songs at Damask Boudoir (recent gig). People were approaching me after the show to ask me about the music and I gladly told them all about it. If you like darkly delicious dub beats, please check out this album here.  I am currently teaching private bellydance classes 4x a week and also creating a serious dance practice with a friend 2x a week. The results have been fantastic!! Through the sacred art of dance, I am really making a difference in women’s lives. This difference is very tangible, very REAL. I can see the positive results blossoming before my eyes. These days I am so busy bellydancing, I do not have time to dwell on past depression or financial worry. Those things are still there, but they do not occupy as much space in my life as they used to. I am learning more about balance and actively changing negative thought patterns and behaviors. Dance is incredibly therapeutic for me. And I am blessed to have such beautiful students and friends to share in the experience. This month I will be hard at work practicing new choreography for my upcoming gig. I will be bellydancing at Hubba Hubba Revue on January 25th!!!!! Yippeee!! This show will be off the hook. Stay tuned for more details! Finally, I would like to leave you with a little video from a yogini that I respect and admire. After taking her workshop at a yoga convention, I found her online and follow her blog which has valuable insights on yoga as a way of life. You can check out her website here. ~Namaste and Happy Solstice~ Shadow Dance!! 11/24/2009
The wait is finally over. The Shadowdance video is HERE!!! I am so happy to be able to share it with you all! I am particularly proud of this piece for a few reasons. First, I got to share the stage with my Roshi, my teacher, my amazing mentor and friend, Freyja. Some students never get the opportunity to dance with their teachers so I feel incredibly grateful for this experience. Second, the concept of this piece was entirely my idea and she trusted me enough to do my own thing (even though she’s not a zombie fanatic like I am). I created the choreo (with help from Michael Jackson, of course!) and the costumes and I mixed the music. I really think of this performance as my baby, actually. In other news, I am working hard with my students and they are loving tribal fusion bellydance. I really do enjoy creating lesson plans for each of them. I am working on some new choreo for a solo piece with music by Cat Powers. It should be interesting. I am thinking soft and subtle on this one (taking weekly classes with Frederique has really influenced/improved my dancing). Also, DJ Amar has asked me to dance at the afterparty for Tribal Fest 10 next year. I said hell yeah! That one is really going to be super crazy fun. Also, for your enjoyment, I have posted a documentary in five parts on Ruth St. Denis. You can view it here (scroll down to the bottom). It is wonderful! She is such an inspiration to me. Enjoy my new video! Ebb. Flow. Epic Hood. 11/04/2009
 This picture is a peek into my life. Just like the ocean, there is a constant ebb and flow in life. When I was younger, I would shake my fists to the heavens and wail in despair in the tough times. And then like magic, those times would fade away and amazing things happened. In hindsight, it seemed I concentrated more energy on the bad times, which in turn probably perpetuated the badness. Now that I am (slightly) older, I have learned to accept them both: the ebb AND the flow. I accept the bad times more now because I know that the universe will balance herself out and make the good times flow again. Last month had some bumps in the road, and also some amazing new paths. Certain events and relationships did not turn out as I expected, but then there were also sparkling little surprises that I consider to be precious gifts. I started out the month with 4 dancing gigs, and by the end of the month I had performed 8 times! And as a result of two of these performances, I have gained two new bellydance students! Amazing! I could not be more thrilled. First and foremost, I am dying financially, and I know I’m not the only one. These students are literally helping me keep food in my refrigerator and for that I am so grateful. But on a more meaningful note, this is my chance to give back to the bellydance community; it is a community I have gained so much from! And they are both such lovely, wonderful women who are so excited about tribal fusion, which of course gets me excited as well! I am really enjoying creating their lesson plans and diving into my dance journals to get all the gems that I have collected from the superstars like Zoe Jakes and Rachel Brice. I have lots of wisdom to share and it feels really good to give back to this life-changing community. Also, check out this hood. I WANT IT. Wouldn’t it be perfect for blackhoodygrrl?  |  Blackhoody
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