AHHHHH! Been so busy!

Sorry I've been so out of touch. I promise to be better. I swear!

GREEK NIGHT!!!!
March 7th @ Galloway Station

Greek food, drinks and music starting around dinner time.
Bellydance shows @ 9:30 and 11:30

Come out and dance with us!

On a more random note: I had a dream last night that I went to an audition for a show at MSU. We were supposed to do all kinds of dance including tap (and uh, I SUCK at tap). So I put on my tap shoes and decided I'd try my best till we got to the other parts of the audition... did I mention that we were dancing outside in the snow???? Weird. Anyway, I was so terrible that they kicked me out in about 2 minutes. HAHAHAHA! Sigh.

Lost Them

Yep, the very day after I picked up my awesome muffs I lost 2 of them.... Not just the muff though. I lost 2 cymbals that had muffs on them. I LOST 2 OF THE 4 CYMBALS THAT COST ME $62!!!!!! I am so pissed.

What up in my world

So, it's been a while since my last post... I've been having a few computer problems and time managment problems... but all is back to normal now!

I finally picked up my finger cymbal muffs from Naima. I LOVE THEM! They fit perfectly and look so pretty. Now no one will discover my super secret hideout when I play them! MMMUUUAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Speaking of the hideout, I had to drill in the raquet ball court today because the hideout was locked :'( That sucked. No barre and no mirrors. So I had to hold on to the wall while I drilled then I had to rely on a tiny refection in the glass doors for stand in mirrors. Not to mention that everyone could see me as they walked through the sports complex. One Asian guy did a double take... awkward.

Did I mention that Interior Hip Squares 1/2 time with a pos de burre totally sucks? Well, take my word for it, they are friggin A hard. I kinda looked like I was having lower body convusions. haha!

So now that I have my muffs I'll start working on the Salimpour choreography. It's the one that I learned 2 years ago at my first level II workshop and the same one that she added cymbals to at the last level II I did back in October of 08. I've posted a video of it... I'm the one farthest away in the pink. Imagine that.

Maintenance Guys Make Bad Spectators

While I was drilling in my super secret lair this morning 3 maintenance men walked in. They were surprised to see anyone in the studio and asked if they minded if they changed some light bulbs while I practiced. Obviously I couldn't say no, since I technically wasn't supposed to be in there anyway... so, yeah they worked at the back of the studio while I tried to drill at the front.

I tried to ignore them and they tried to ignore me... but it was still awkward. At least I had my ipod to drown out their noise. I bet they thought it was super creepy since it was silent in the room with the exception of my foot work, breathing and the occasional small cuss here and there from me. I'm sure I was counting out loud from time to time too, or saying 'front, right, back , left' or something similar when I was trying to keep my focus.

They really did their best not to pay me any attention, as I did my best too... but GOD, IT WAS SO DISTRACTING. I couldn't keep my head in the game, I tried and tried but I finally gave up and took off about 6 minutes short of my usual hour.

I can only wonder what they were thinking. I was dressed like a dancer, in leotard, tights and leg warmers but I wasn't dancing, just doing stuff with my butt and hips... I bet they were really confused! HAHA! ;)

Make-shift Studio ;)

I couldn't find my ipod today (imagine that, me loosing something) so I since I can't drill without it at my secret hideout on campus I had to make due at home today. I'm rather proud of myself, that could have been an easy excuse not to drill today but I did it anyway.

So here is the spare bedroom in the house we are renovating. It's currently taking on the role of master bedroom until the other rooms are finished, and for today it was my studio ;)

I sat in front of the foot board on the floor and drilled glutes layered with upper body movements then I used the foot board as a ballet barre and drilled Interior His Circles (IHC
for short) , Pelvic V's and Interior hip Squares (IHS for short)... you know, with the usuall releve-flat combo, in low jazz passe and with a plie. Then I drilled Across the Floor (ATF) from one side of the bed to the other. Remeber the CONES anyone???? HAHAHA! It was really Funny!

So, let that be a lesson in creativity to us all. Make do with what 'cha got!

Dinner of the Belly Dance Elite

Beef flavored Ramen noodles, frozen crinkle cut carrots and dark kidney beans. Although I make an incredible amount of money doing dancing gigs, I still like to eat like the common folks. Ha, yeah right. It's just a good way to church up the cheapest meal on the planet ;)

Finger cymbals and practice time!

I can't wait to pick these finger cymbal muffs up from Naima! I've been practicing dance at the studio at MSU in the mornings before my classes, but I can't work on my cymbals because... well if you think regular sized cymbals are loud you can only imagine what a pair of Suhaila's 3 inch big gals sound like. LOUD.

I think I'm going to take a video of me practicing someday. It ought to be really amusing! I'm really using the space illegally so I can't use any of the sound equipment or turn on all the light for fear of being caught... so I drill in a half lit studio with my ipod. It's pretty funny from an outsiders point of view I'm sure. There I am, walking with my hands above my head in releve doing all kinds of odd muscular movements, and uttering the occasional four letter word when things don't go quite right. Funny.

A little about me.

After being an avid reader of my friend Naima's blog on belly dance. I've often thought about writing a blog of my own. Her blog is so very interesting and entertaining; she is by far the most sarcastic and dryly humored belly dancer I know. I love it. I love reading about it. I love the little tid-bits of information she puts out there for all of us to feed on. So I decided to do the same; I'll share my experience, knowledge (although it is little haha) emotions and my story.



First, I'll start with Naima herself. I suppose you can say that we work together. Not in the 9-5 office sense, but in the performance sense. We've been dancing professionally together for, well... about 3 years now? Yeah, I think that's about right. I can't find any pictures of my first performance in March 2006 so here we are performing together at my second GREEK NIGHT in May 2006. And yes, we do ham it up like that at most events we do together :)

But Naima and I have known each other much longer than that... Since around the summer of 2003. I have some video on VHS of the first time I ever saw her dance... she lost her shoe and her recovery from it was HILARIOUS!

More to come later... did I mention that I'm a Suhaila Salimpour gal? Yep, I chat a lot about my experiences with her ass kicking format here too. Oh, and I have a very un-lady like habit of using 4 letter words... they are just about the best descriptives I know so that's just a heads up :)