Tales from the Caravan...
Show: Dance of the Fates Hafla, March 19, 2005
Click here for (gallery)
Spirit of the Tribes is the largest Tribal Fusion
event on the east coast. It's held in April in Ft.
Lauderdale, FL. Last year's show, 2004, was my first.
I was wowed, overwhelmed, and inspired. This year,
though I wouldn't have thought it possible, I was
actually more so!
This year I didn't have to go it solo as Ame was
able to make it with me. It was a better experience to
go with a troupe mate rather than doing it solo like I
did last year. We did sorely miss Jeannie though, but
ended up buying her lots of goodies to give to her
when we got back into town.
There were even more classes offered this year than
last year. I took Kassar's floorwork class,
Atash Maya's Thai fusion class, Unmata's Hula fusion class,
Leila Haddad's Tunision, Algerian and Moroccan
classes, Necholae's concepts of group choreography,
Maja's Spanish Arabic fan class, and Joe Zeytooni's
drum class. Yes there was information overload, but it
was awesome! I learned so much and couldn't wait to
get back and share it with the dancers here in town.
Ame and I decided to divide and conquer and she took a
gypsy class I didn't take as well as a fire dance
class.
The bazaar was awesome as expected and I spent tons
of money. I was a little dissapointed nobody was
selling Melodia pants, but there were tons of other
cool things to buy. Rockabelly did have some very
interestig airbrushed looking yoga pants. Neat idea! I
bought some videos, veils, and jewelry. As for props,
Alchemy picked up balancing baskets and Thai fingers
for your viewing pleasure. We can't wait to work those
into choreographies. Ame also picked up a wicked pair
of fire fans that I'm sure she'll enjoy wowing the
audience with come First Friday events.
The performances were also quite good. This year
the students evening, Friday night, actually stood out
to me as the more noticeable show. There was an
awesome Puerto Rican male bellydancer named Victor who
blew everyone's socks away! I wish I remembered his
dance name. He wasn't even listed on the program. He
started off with a very covered spinning number with
what turned out to be two veils. Then, he went into a
fan number. Lastly, he took his coverup off, had pants
and a hipscarf underneath, and did one of the tightest
cabaret-esque solos I had ever seen. He was the only
one to get a standing ovation. The Boricua rocked the
house! The one running theme I saw in both shows was
many slow nontraditional bellydance songs. This left
some people in the audience literally saying "Wheres
the bellydancing?" The fact of the matter is, although
walking across the stage gracefully with a slow taxim
is belly danicng, most people want to see that mixed
up with sharp hip movements, shimmies, etc...
Lastly, but definitely not least I met the coolest
dancer chickie, Joy. She was a sweetheart whose trying
to convince me to start going to TribalFest too. :D I
so wish she lived closer. We're all planning on
sharing a room for next year's Spirit. Can't wait!
-Mari-
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Alchemy: Transforming the ordinary into the sublime
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