Tales from the Caravan...
Show: Christy Frick's Z'iah tribal and sword workshop in Athens, GA, July 23rd, 2005
We got off to a bit of a late start leaving from Augusta this morning, but
luckily were able to make it in time for the class. It always startles me to
see Christy in non dance clothes. Its like she's a superhero with dual
identities. :D We got into the workshop area which was a nice hardwood floor
area with a HUGE wall of mirrors. My only real complaint about the space was
that there was a resident cat. I love kitties, but unfortunately am pretty
allergic. Luckily, I learned from my TribalCon experience to always bring my
allergy med when I travel. I was able to pop an Alavert and still take the
class. The first class was a Tribal combos class. We started off learning a
zill drill, which I loved! It worked you up to doing a full speed gallop
while dancing. The gallop has always been my weakest zill rhythm, so I was
very thankful for this tidbit. Time flew very fast. Before we knew it, the
two hours were up and we had barely started on actually practicing group
improv. Up until the end of this class, I was still debating whether or not
to take the sword class. Because of the cat allergy thing, my back acting
up, and the fact that I had yet to actually buy my sword, I opted out of the
second workshop and chose instead to have lunch and shop. Krishna was the
vendor at the workshop. Jeannie and I drooled over some butterfly shaped
beaded tops before finally deciding we wouldn't wear them enough to warrant
the cost. I did get some gorgeous green trim to make a belt and bra set like
my blue one. My mom (a.k.a Alche-mámi) bought a gorgeous black chiffon hip
scarf with iridescent pailletes on it. I looked at the swords available but
after sitting out in the exposed sun for two hours they were too hot to
touch much less balance on the head.
Afterwards, we had lunch at the Grit, a little vegetarian place not far from
the studio where the workshop was held at. I was a little disappointed by
the food selection and ended up having what basically amounted to juevos
rancheros and potatoes. Dessert did not disappoint though. Brooke,
Alche-mámi, Chris, Akantha, and myself shared some vegan death by chocolate
cake that was divine!
Then, onto shopping at Junkman's Daughter's Brother. I always have a hard
time restraining myself in this store and today was no exception. I was able
to limit myself to a very cute plush backpack in the shape of a NASA rocket
for Kelly's niece and some very cute curly beaded Turkish slipper looking
mules for me.
At the performer's meeting Michelle of Athenian Nights offered us her house
to change in for the show. Very sweet! This was a new costume silhouette for
us and our most easiest to get into yet. I finally got to wear my Melodia
pants. Yay! We wore those, coin scarves, our tassel belts, black tie front
shrugs, coin bras, and hair scarves with cowries that Jeannie made for us. I
wore a bindi for performance for the first time ever and I am hooked! I've
always admired the way Jeannie always looks so exotically gorgeous when she
dons her bindis. But, I always shied away from wearing bindis for myself as
I choose to wear my glasses for performance and always thought they would be
too busy. The look was gorgeous though. I ended up buying two more packs of
bindis this weekend and can't wait to wear them again. Think they'd be
appropriate for the office? :D
The show was great. We were wowed by Joshua of Atlanta and his fire
balancing act. Dance of the Fates were lusciously beautiful as usual. We
finally got to see the infamous multi veil dance! Very impressive. Z'iah and
Jacqueline and a student of Awahlim performed their group improv and sword
choreography. There were so many great dancers, I wish I could remember them
all. There was a dancer whose name I can't remember, but it was her first
time dancing after having had her baby. She wore a blue and green outfit.
Her technique and dancing were great but the thing that stuck with me most
about her performance was her expressiveness. She exuded such an air of pure
joy at just dancing. Very contagious. Michelle did a gorgeous snake dance
that we were only able to catch glimpses of as we were backstage. Can't wait
to see her and Christy on the video the Sultan graciously took for us.
We performed Group Improv to the Saidi/Masmoudi/Saidi song off of the Moon
Over Cairo: Amayagueña CD and then did a lively Alchemy choreography to Run
Faye Run off of the Kill Bill soundtrack. This was Candy's first out of town
performance with us. She did an awesome job with practicing, contributing to
the choreography, and performing. We fee lucky to have such an enthusiastic
apprentice. We received several compliments after the show, though some
people did think that the song we danced to was the Hawaii 5-0 soundtrack.
:D
Afterwards we performed our usual tradition after dancing in Athens of
eating at the Varsity and taking pictures in full costume and Varsity hats.
Next time we'll get more bull dog shots...
~Mari
|
Wow, we've had alot of firsts lately. This workshop
was no exception. Our first workshop with Zi'ah of
Awalim and only the second I've ever taken. Very
cool!! I loved learning about a different style of
Tribal and Awalim has a totally different system than
ours. We learned some of Awalim's combinations, but my
favorite part was learning the zill drill used in
warm-ups. This really helped me make the connection
between zilling and dancing. Yay!!!
We got to see the Athens dancers again, and that's
always awesome for us! It's nice to see an actual
dance community in action. We have so little of that
here in Augusta, with different schools pretty much
keeping to themselves, no matter how hard we try to
bring everyone together. So seeing the dancers and
musicians in Athens getting along, supporting and
encouraging each other, and just generally giving
bellydance a great name is inspiring and gives us hope
for the CSRA. As an example of their boundless
hospitality, Michelle even open her home to us for
pre-show preparations. Thank you, Michelle!! Keeping
on rockin' it like ya do.
It was another scorcher of a Southern day in Athens,
so we didn't get alot of shopping done in the outdoor
goodies fest, but we did have lunch at a great place
called The Grit. Thanks and kudos to Brooke for her
fantastic and extensive knowledge of Athens. She
should give tours, I swear! We also spent some time
shopping in the wonderful and quirky shops on the
downtown area. I got a gorgeous white tiered skirt and
a non-bellydance top. Perfect!
The show was great! It ran like a well-oiled machine,
and it was great to see so many dancers I had never
seen before. I loved Joshua, the fire-performer. Dance
of the Fates gave their usual, breath-taking
performance, adding alot of attitude and spice to the
mix. Sassy sexy! Lovely, wonderful, happy dancers made
a night of movement and beauty that Christy should be
very proud of. I hope she and Michelle do the Hafla
again this year!
Afterwards, The Varsity called our names, and after
onion rings, burgers, ice cream, and lots and lots of
water, we made our way back home, feeling like we had
accomplished alot. Thanks, Athens!
~Jeannie
|
|
Alchemy: Transforming the ordinary into the sublime
|
|
