"Return to the Goddess" by Suzanna del Vecchio - The "Challenge Dance" for Autumn 2012

Return to the Goddess (a Chifti Telli) by Suzanna del Vecchio - The "Challenge Dance" for Alay'nya Studio Members; Autumn, 2012

Challenge Dance for Alay'nya Studio Members: Autumn, 2012

Every quarter we select a different challenge dance: one that is sure to push us to our limits, both technically and artistically. Each challenge dance is one done by a world-class dancer, and available for all to watch via a YouTube clip or other (free) web-based source.

For the Autumn, 2012 quarter, we're selecting Suzanna del Vecchio's beautifully-rendered
Return to the Goddess from her DVD, Dances From the Heart. This is set to a beautiful chifti telli by Alan Bachman (Desert Wind).

The music for this dance is the Isis Chiftitelli, on Alan Bachman's Kali Ma, and is one of the most-loved songs in the Oriental dance community.

Members of the Alay'nya Studio should begin by studying the portion of Suzanna's dance that they can watch online, and practicing the first minute with her. (This would be up to the point where she starts circling the floor while doing a rib circle.

Be very careful about easing into your backbend. In our class, we'll modify that aspect of choreography and defer it (for each student) until she can safely and confidently and comfortably do a backbend facing away from the audience (so that when she moves into the backbend itself, she's looking "back" to see the audience and they can see her face.)

Alay'nya doing a backbend during Red Phoenix. Photo by Crystal Barnes. Used with permission.

How to Prepare for Your First Class in Belly Dance

Advance Preparation Makes All the Difference in Learning Oriental Dance (Belly Dance)

Darlings - I have a confession to make.

If you're tracking this blog at all, you'll know that we're having our first Open House in over two years. For all practical purposes, I had closed the Alay'nya Studio while doing the final rewrites, edits, proofs, and publication of my most recent book, Unveiling: The Inner Journey. And then, a first year of guiding it through public introduction. Think of it has having a baby, where the last three months of "gestation time" that we need for a human child transferred into 2-3 years to bring Unveiling from raw draft to finished product.

Now, of course, it is not only available (in both trade paper and Kindle download form), Unveiling is actually the first required reading for people who want to study with me.

Obviously, though, this is a dance class. And I'm having to get my "dance groove" back on, just as you will when you join me. (Mark your calendar NOW for our Open House on Sunday, Sept. 9th, and contact me for directions and details.)

So I'm practicing. And in addition to the yoga, core, and conditioning basics, I'm back to practicing dance (and developing lesson plans, reworking choreographies and practice pieces, and all sorts of things necessary to launch a great season).

One of my favorite training DVDs is Kathryn Ferguson's Mid-Eastern Dance: An Introduction to the Art of Belly Dance.

Years ago, this was my most significant instructional tape; then available only in VHS form. During a summer when my dance teachers took a break, I had just refinished my living room. This empty room beckoned as a new "dance studio." The big challenge was: could I get myself to practice all on my own, without the structure and security of a dance class to guide me?

My next big question was: could I ever look like Kathryn?

I was entranced and inspired by her tape. What was most mesmerizing about her presentation was that after each (well-explained and well-demonstrated) technique section, she'd have a little vignette in which she used those techniques in an improvisational dance.

I wanted desperately to look like her, to dance like her. Even after finding my "master teachers" (Anahid Sofian and Elena Lentini; read about them in Unveiling), Kathryn remained an icon. And her VHS tape was always my reference standard for introductory teaching.

Now, I'm using her material again. This time, she's (so thankfully!) released it as a two-volume DVD. You'll have to contact her to get a copy; it's not available through Amazon, and not even as a "store item" from her website. But contact her directly. (I may place a bulk order for the class, once everyone has registered for the first quarter.) The extra effort is worth it. This still remains, by far, one of the most fascinating, beautiful, and useful introductory DVDs to this beautiful and gracious art.

But my confession? Right now, I'm looking nowhere near the way that Kathryn does in her teaching DVD. Full circle. I'm back to being a student before I can be a teacher again.

Why We Suck at Dancing, and What We Can Do About It

A Very Rare Vent from Alay'nya - "Why We Suck" - and (Most Importantly) "What We Can Do About It"

OK, darlings. Let me come clean. I've been dancing for almost thirty years. Teaching for over twenty. And during that time, I've seen a whole lot of belly dance. And very most likely, you have as well.

And now that I'm moving out from the "writing Sabbatical" (the three years that it took to move from a raw draft to a published book, and the first year "soft launch" of marketing), I'm back to dancing again. And to watching you dance. And watching our friends, our teachers, and whomever else we can find.

And I'm back with one of my original opinions of the quality of our performances. Overall, we kind of suck.

The best that we can say - the kindest word - is that most of us are "enthusiastic hobbyists."

Claudette Dessorgher says this much better than I could - or would - until inspired by reading her article in Gilded Serpent, Beyond the Restaurant: How Can We Bring Bellydance to a Wider Audience?:

However if we stand back and watch most hafla and showcase performances objectively, we have to be honest and say that, in comparison to other dance genres, the standard is very low.

Of course this is largely down to the fact that most bellydancers come to the dance fairly late in life, unlike other dance forms where children start training in their early years. By far the majority are hobbyists with full time jobs, so are unable to take the daily class that mainstream dancers expect, and even if they could, there are precious few advanced classes available in most towns and cities.

Ms. Desorgher goes on to make a number of useful points, and she offers suggestions on what we can - and should - do as a community. (This really is a good article. Go read it.

But to elaborate on her point: Most of the time, our shows are simply boring.

There's a reason for that.

Dance is not just a "visual" performing art. When we go watch a dance performance, unless it is really very technically good - and visually engaging - we're not going to be greatly enthralled. If we want a simple "visual" performance, we should watch the American Ballet Company performing one of George Balanchine's classic works.

But you know what? Balanchine is cold. His work is abstractly beautiful, but it doesn't engage me emotionally - even when the music is lively, and when the dancers are smiling and sparkly. And even watching interesting patterns as they move and fancy choreographies - that doesn't do much for me either.

That's because there is a real difference between Oriental dance (belly dance) and classic ballet. Oriental dance is meant to be an emotional expression - an emotional communication between dancer and audience (or dancer and musician and audience). And it is also a kinesthetic - a visceral - experience.

Ms. Desorgher suggests that one reason that our overall "community-level" performances are not as exciting as they could be is that many of us start late in life. Also, many of us don't have access to advanced classes.

All true.

But that still misses the point.

We don't look as good as we might because, by and large, we're not present in our bodies as we dance. We're way too often in our heads. (I've seen dancers count their way through choreographies; haven't you?) Dance is meant to be in our bodies, not our heads.

All too often - actually, most of the time - we're not "connected" in our bodies, either. That means, we are separately moving around our body parts. We may move an arm at the same time as we do a hip drop or a turn, but for most of us, the two movements are not "connected" inside our bodies. And it shows. It really shows. We look a whole lot more as though we're following the leader in an aerobics class than we are doing a dance.

Finally, we are - as a community - seriously deficient in three major areas. First, we don't have a "principles-based" approach. If we take a look at our sister art (actually, our "brother art"), T'ai Chi Ch'uan, we'll see that it comes out of Principles. At least, if you're studying with a really great teacher, it does. (For an example, check out Peter Ralston.)

Second, we're deficient in understanding and consciously using our "emotional vocabulary." Instead, we have a set of stylized gestures. By and large, we don't know or understand how various movements - whether a gesture or a movement in space - communicate very specific emotional messages.

Third, we're by and large still locked up in our bodies. Most of us have not yet done the emotional release work that allows us to effectively convey dance to our audience, and to experience a dance movement throughout our entire being. So if we're locked up, if we're not released, then our audience gains nothing by watching us.

Ideally, though, we take our audiences into a different state of being. We take them on an internal, magical story-ride, and they find a certain sense of release - an emotional experience - in watching us dance.

How to get there?

Well, I've just committed to Lynette Harris, Founder and Editor of the Gilded Serpent, to do a series of articles on just this topic. And because dance is visual/kinesthetic, I'm going to have to follow up with video. So this is a commitment, from me to you.

But one tiny little first step that each of us can take?

Do yoga. Get those hips, pelvis, and lower back released. Then do your hip shimmies and figure eights.

Also, the next time you're going to perform - warm up before you go on stage. You'll look a whole lot better if you do. Really. Seriously. Take my word for it. It will help you look better, feel better, present better, and minimize the likelihood of injuries.

Releasing Neck Tension (and Minimizing the Dreaded "Dowager's Hump")

Looking Younger - by Releasing Neck Tension

One of my dear friends exercises regularly. I see her often getting up in the morning, putting together a blender-full of a healthy protein and fruit smoothie, and heading out to the gym before she goes to work each day. She's resumed her "healthy lifestyle," and she's getting fitter and trimmer. Nevertheless, I keep seeing a persistent hunch-over in her shoulders and neck. It's the dreaded "dowager's hump" - and it has nothing to do with exercise!

Most of us have desk jobs. Between sitting at our desks, sitting in the car (with our shoulders brought forward as we grasp the wheel), and then sitting at home in the evenings, we are all too often in a posture that tightens our neck and hunches our shoulders forward. Even in our "leisure moments," we're reinforcing this posture. (Feel the posture that you're in while watching TV, doing texts and emails, and other digitally-based activities.)

One of the most notable signs of aging is our posture. Actually, it's a combination of posture and muscular/joint stiffness. "Limberness" is a sign of youth. Being hunched over, with a tight, drawn in neck, with rounded shoulders is a sign of both stress and aging. And when we get "fixated" in this kind of posture, we start looking like a turtle - one that is very reluctantly sticking its head out of its shell! That's the "dowager's hump" stage.

Surprisingly, not many fitness coaches and anti-aging gurus focus on this. But a tight neck, and tight shoulders, are not only absolute give-aways about aging, they also feel awful! It's hard to feel vigorous, lighthearted, and happy when our posture says that we're hunching over to avoide the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"!

Perhaps even more surprisingly, the key to unlocking neck and shoulder tension (and releasing a "dowager's hump") starts not at our neck, but in our hips, pelvis, and lower back. As we release these areas, we begin to "mobilize" our spine. Once we do that, we can start releasing tension up and down our spines - reaching up into our neck. This is how we create a youthful, vibrant body!

I've just come back from a week at a client site. There were task-filled days, often be-bopping from one place to another, with the "to-do list" always on my mind. While I could do some stretch-outs, some yoga, and some walking while at my client's, it just wasn't ideal for my early-morning "sun salutation" yoga workout. And now, returning to home base, in the midst of unpacking and taking care of everyone's physical (and emotional) needs, I'm noticing a tight neck. And also, a tight back, and a very tight lower back and hip area. The secret? A combination of yoga and "belly dance basics" - a series of stretching and releasing exercises that are actually best done in bed, or on a soft and yielding surface. I've been combining that with deliberate breathing, opening up my diaphragms. And without even getting to my neck area, I'm already getting some release.

Our yoga practice doesn't have to be fancy, and we don't need to do lots of advanced poses. But just getting some "downward dog" and "sun salutations" in helps tremendously to release tension in our hips, lower back, and sacral area. And all of this is necessary before any form of dance can begin.

Breathing, Breakthroughs, and Belly Dance

Emotional Breakthroughs Show in Our Breathing, Body Movement, and Dance

Just yesterday, I had a breakthrough.

Now my life consists of "breakthroughs." I have them intellectually. (This is what gives me ideas for everything from blogposts to patents. There are several "breakthroughs" in Unveiling alone.) And I'm used to having physical breakthroughs as well; these have made me an effective dancer.

But yesterday something happened that was a bit unexpected, and I want to share it with you while the memory is fresh.

For the previous few months - post-Unveiling-publication - I'd been having a lot of fatigue. Through being kind and gentle with myself, through rest and (not-too-strenuous) exercise, through better diet and supplements, I was slowly getting better. But this improvement was wobbly, and after almost three months, I still wasn't back to full strength and power. In fact, just the day-before-yesterday, I'd had one of those days in which all the supplements in the world - all the vitamin B-12 and ginseng - were getting me off the launch pad but not quite into stable orbit.

And then, yesterday, several little things happened. I can't quite put my finger on any single one. But somehow, in the midst of all these "little things" - a real breakthrough occured.

The "little things"? Working my daily exercise with the Course in Miracles, which I started about two months ago. (If there is anything that is life-changing, this is it. And I was in huge resistance about one of those exercises, but somehow, wound up adopting the premise that it offered - that may have been a "pivot point.")



The "pivot point" may have been when Nimeera, another dancer with whom I met the day before, looked at me and said, "Breathe." (I didn't even know that I was holding my breath.)

It may have been waking up, realizing that I was holding tension in one of my favorite tension-holding places in my back, and then starting to use undulations to release that tension, and also releasing the "emotional issue" that I felt was linked to the tension spot.

It could have been any of these; all of them, or none. What I do know is that somehow, sometime, yesterday I began to move again.

Now don't get me wrong. I'd been "moving" all these past few months. A fair bit of the daily yoga and core, stretch and resistance training. Renewed long walks. And lots and lots of housecleaning and other chores.

But I hadn't been doing much dance.

I'd attributed this to having put all my energy into the Unveiling-publication.

But there was something else, a sadness that had been a part of my life over the last three years. And somehow, it released, and my body began to naturally do the "belly dance movements" once again.

That's right, I started naturally and spontaneously moving - the undulations, the figure-eights (of all sorts). The stretches, the neck movements, everything.

And I realized, once again, that the beauty of Oriental dance as a body art (in comparision with other, equally good and very valid body arts such as yoga and T'ai Chi), is that the range of movements that it gives us are fabulously superb for releasing emotional tension. They are the best movements for real body/mind/psyche integration.

That's because an Oriental dance technique, such as an undulation, corresponds to releasing tension up and down our spine. When we release emotional tension, we can release the physical. And vice versa.

So if we have even a glimmering of how the two are connected - some attention and awareness of how our bodies and our "emotional selves" work together - then when we get the slightest little release in one area, we can use the dance techniques to help us release just a little more. We use our body/mind/psyche integration pathway to leverage this release.

So, for example, a little emotional release - leads to an undulation. An undulation leads to a figure-eight. A figure-eight leads to paying attention to what we have "stuck" in our lower backs and pelvic area. And then we bring our attention to the emotional aspect, process it, and get a bit more release again physically.

And this is why I love this dance form so much!

P.S. I write about this in Chapters 14-16 of Unveiling: The Inner Journey. And in those chapters, I credit Diane Richardson, who is a Co-Founder of Relational Energetics (see http://www.relationalenergetics.com). I also suggest chiropractic and massage, and other healing modalities - Reiki is good, as are others.

Lineage - in Martial Arts, Yoga, Zen - and Belly Dance!

Our "Master Teachers" in Oriental Dance

Recently, I took a workshop with Anahid Sofian, where the day's classes were taught by her protege, the internationally-renowned Eva Cernik. Among the attendees was Nourhan Sharif, and others who were remarkable for their intelligence (one had her Ph.D. in biochemistry), devotion to the art (most were long-standing students), and overall high level of knowledge about dance, art, and life.

I overheard Nourhan and another dancer, where the question that one of them posed was: Which other leading dancers do you like - and respect - the most? (The context was with historical figures - the luminaries of films, etc.)

Somehow, the conversation swung around to how we - as students, practitioners, and often teachers - show how we respect our own teachers. And someone (here I'm airbrushing just a bit) commented on one dancer who left a well-known teacher to form her own studio. She had been a teacher in the master dance teacher's studio, and took the students - who were in class with her - when she left to set up her own "establishment."

This wasn't just a burst of ego. It was a show of disrespect, and - in simple business terms - an undercutting.

I had the same thing happen to me, and write about it in Unveiling: The Inner Journey. (see the opening for Chapter 15, "Softening: Beginning to Break Through," beginning page 199.

I recall a conversation with another leading dancer, one with whom I've studied and whom I respect a great deal. I asked her how I could honor her in my work. She said, "Simply recognize me in your bio. Say that you've studied with me."

That seems easy enough. Surprisingly, though, there are dancers - those who want to "establish" themselves - who think that the best way to do this is to disregard (and even disrespect) their connections with their teachers and - when they find them - their "master teachers."

We in the Oriental dance world seek to claim legitimacy for our art form. We want respect. We demand, and the rigor and beauty of our art form demands, a high level of respect.

But to get respect, we have to give it.

Look at the great traditions in the world; the ones where personal teaching is necessary. Martial artists, the world over, acknowledge their teachers. Lineage is exceptionally important.

Lineage is important in ballet, modern dance, and other dance forms. It is important in all branches of yoga.

In Zen meditation, one of the practices is that the disciples recite the names of their master teachers, going up through their entire lineage, and thanking and acknowledging them.

We have a profoundly beautiful, moving, and exquisite art form. We also have lineage. It's time for us to respect our "master teachers."

In Unveiling: The Inner Journey, I identify my "master teachers" - in dance, in martial arts, and in body/mind/psyche/energy integration. If I've studied with them, and if there is enough of a relationship so that they can pick me out of a lineup, they're mentioned. I tell stories about them - the kind of "student/teacher" stories that highlight their role as teachers.

Right now, more and more of us are writing. (Morocco's book is coming out soon, Nourhan Sharif has one underway.) We put together websites. We have videos. In addition to teaching classes and performing, we have numerous venues available to us - through the web, digital media, and print - in which we can honor our "master teachers."

We want respect? Let's start by giving it.

Candlemas Countdown - The "Real New Year" Starts Now!

Dear Ones --

Early in the morning, with the light just turning tree branches into lacy silhouettes. We've resumed classes, just in time to have class schedules interrupted by the sleet/snow/ice that comes to Northern Virginia during late January and throughout February each year.

Officially, our "New Year" began January 1st -- following "twelve days of Solstice." (Count it -- Dec. 21st to the end of December is 12 days, then we start the new year!)

Energetically, our "New Year" begins right about now.

How do we know that it's new?

We start feeling it in our bodies.

If we were very internal over the Christmas holidays and early part of the new year, we find ourselves less internal now -- more energy, more extroversion, more desire to get out, no matter what the weather is doing.

Those of us that just wanted to cocoon during the "darkest days" of winter are now saying, "When does class start again? I've just GOT to get back to class!"

And my inbox starts filling up with new inquiries.

Even the nature of our workouts change.

During the Christmas holidays, I worked out -- but mostly mat work -- floor work of various sorts. Everything from pushups to Pilates, from oblique crunches to yoga. But now, my body is also aching for much more active and expressive movement. In fact, I'm heading into the studio in the next few minutes.

But that leaves us with the occasional quandary: We want to move, we're ready to move, and classes are fully started -- but weather gets in the way. The kind of weather where we are really and truly "snowed in," or sleeted in, or whatever have you.

So -- over the next few days, I'll share with you some extracts from what we're doing to build up a "study at home" core curriculum for dancers, both at Beginner and Early Intermediate levels.

Until then, happy dancing!