Belly Dance Geek Blog
Congrats to Joy Cavender!
My apologies for the delay posting this, but congratulations to Joy Cavender, the winner of the CD drawing.Thank you everyone for sending me your input on my upcoming improvisation skills DVD. Your feedback was incredibly helpful!I’ve got the script for Volume 1 mostly finalized, and am getting ready to shoot in early/mid-August. If all goes well, I should be able to release it on September 8th. Once I have my studio time booked, I’ll post information on pre-orders.In the meantime, if you’d like to be notified when the video...
read moreUpcoming Improvisation DVD! I want your input!
BIG NEWS: You may have noticed that it has been a while since the last episode of my Taktaba podcast. Well, it’s going to be a little while longer before Episode 4 is released, but luckily, it’s for a really exciting reason. I’ve been reviewing the (incredibly encouraging and constructive) feedback from Taktaba viewers, and have decided that it’s time to split the project into two different and complementary efforts: Taktaba Foundations and Taktaba Details. Taktaba Details will continue the podcast’s mission to...
read moreDrawing Winner
Congrats to Johannah B., the winner of the World Belly Dance Day drawing! I’ll be sending her a set of Taktaba DVDs. To those of you who didn’t win, thanks for entering! You can still view the podcast online.
read moreWinner Selected!
Thank you everyone for entering my World Belly Dance Day podcast DVD giveaway. I was blown away by the response!A winner has been selected, and notified by email. I’ll post the winner’s name once I hear back from him or her.Thanks again!
read moreDVD Giveaway in Honor of World Belly Dance Day!
A big thanks to The Belly Dance Business Academy for cluing me in:Tomorrow (Saturday, May 10th, 2008) is World Belly Dance Day! According to the founders’ web site:Our mission is to unite the initiative of many dancers around the world to celebrate the wonderful art of belly dance as a holiday on the second Saturday in May every year. We got inspired by the idea of holding an event that would serve as a reminder that belly dance is an ART form, a cultural event, a sport, and a social and family entertainment. Belly dancing is...
read moreShimmies for a Cure a Huge Success
Shimmies for a Cure Part Deux was a BLAST! First, I owe a HUGE thank you to Baseema and *Samantha*, the organizers. You two consistently put on the best-run and most fun events in the area! I know how much work that took, but from the other end (both as a workshop instructor and as an audience member), the whole thing went smooooooooooothly.The other workshop instructors (Phoenix Avathar, Najmat, and Aepril Schaile) also deserve some applause. You’re all excellent teachers, but it was your warmth and enthusiasm that made me wish I could...
read moreTaktaba on TV! (eventually), Episode 4 in the works
My apologies for my silence lately, but big things are in the works! Episode 4 is in the scripting stage, and will hopefully be produced and ready to download sometime in April. This episode will cover working with speed in your dance.I’ve also joined my community TV station, SCAT. So not only will Taktaba be shown on the air (Channel 3 in Somerville, MA), but I will be able to film it in a professional studio with real lighting, real cameras, and plenty of space! (Jumping up and down.) I’ve spent the last month in production...
read moreTaktaba Episode 3: Timing Patterns
December 31st 2007 Well, I said I wanted to get Episode 3 out before the end of the year, and I just made it! In this episode, we’ll explore timing patterns, which are the rhythms we create with our bodies as we dance. We’ll take a look at five different patterns, how they may make your audience feel, and which musical rhythms they complement. This episode includes: Simple exercises to get the patterns into your body Theme & variation exercises to explore different ways to use timing patterns Do-it-yourself exercises to spark...
read moreEpisode 3 Coming Soon
Hi everybody, First, thanks for all your feedback on Episode 2. Since most people contacted me via email this time (rather than in the blog comments or iTunes reviews), I thought I’d share a few quotes:”These podcasts provide an element that I’ve never had before, even when I had regular instruction.””I had so many ‘ah-ha moments’ watching it.””And interestingly, I suddenly understood why I strongly dislike the bag of tricks style bellydance. I knew clearly before that I didn’t like...
read moreEpisode 2 will return shortly
UPDATE (11:30am, 11/23/07): The corrected version is now available in all formats. Enjoy!For convenience, those links are hereThe audio is out of synch for a portion of Episode 2, so I’ve removed it while I fix the error. It takes about 4 hours to render and 20 minutes or more to upload, so the corrected version won’t be available until later tonight.Sorry for the snafu, everybody!UPDATE (2pm EST, 11/22/07): The corrected version is now available through the Our Media link below, and should also appear on iTunes subscriptions....
read more