Reflections on Being an Older Dancer

As I've gotten older I think I have  a different outlook on belly dancing. I'm beginning to think any dancing is better than no dancing. So what if no one wants to watch. So what if no one will pay me anymore. The point is I need to do it for my soul. And I can't live in the past. I have no choice but to be the dancer I am right now. There is no resting on laurels in belly dancing. Things get rusty if you don't review them, practice them, and adapt them. The body I once had could do a lot of things this one can't. So I need to figure out what this body can do and hope for some improvement.

I'd also like it if some of my former dance students would stay in touch. If you recognize me or you are on my FB, please leave me a note and remind me where you took my classes.

Day 2 of My Dance Recovery

Move over birds. It's time to dance.

Since I no longer have the luxury of a dance studio, I keep trying to come up with alternatives. As I was sitting here watching the birds on the porch, it suddenly occurred to me that my giant, long, flat front porch could be my outdoor dance studio! Why didn't I think of this before? It even has a railing I can use for a barre. I can either cover it with thick carpets (since it is concrete) or buy more of those big foam mats with the jigsaw puzzle edges. I have 4 in the kitchen that I can use right now. Harbor Freight has good prices on those when they go on sale. They come in packs of 4. So if I buy more each time we go there, I'll soon have enough to cover the  porch. I'm so thrilled! The porch is also shaded sometimes to keep me out of the desert heat, and right by my bedroom window so I can play music through the screen. Not that I mind dancing on the sand, rocks and gravel, but I'm afraid of tripping in a gopher hole. Also, I don't want to lay down on the ant covered sand. So the porch will work much better.

As I expected, my neck and shoulders were stiff this morning from the veil work yesterday for the first time in many moons. So I spent time in the kitchen doing all the basic ballet hand positions. I use modified ballet arm positions for belly dance. I find students do much better when you teach them specific ways to hold their arms. Then if you wear your finger cymbals, it's an even better arm workout (weight plus momentum). So I did those to work the kinks out of my muscles while I was cooking breakfast. Then I did some tendus for my ankle issues. Just slow steady stretches to build up my strength and flexibility. Remember, I'm 55, with injuries, so I'm taking it easy. Work without your own fitness range.

The quail will have to share the porch railing with me.

Quail on my fence.

Rainy Day Dance Practice

I confess I haven't danced much since moving here in Oct. There is no indoor place to dance, and who wants to dance outside when it's 100 degrees for 7 days in a row. Plus I've had injuries, including a pulled Achilles tendon, a pinched nerve in my left shoulder, and a pinched nerve in my lower back.  But today, between raindrops, I went out there and practiced. My arms felt like they weighed a ton. I practiced veil mostly, to keep the weight off my bad foot. Hey, at least I practiced. I'm so rusty, I feel like it will be a year before I can teach again. I miss the body I used to have. Sigh. It is super humid out, so I kept it short.

What Happened to Tribal Dancing?

Have you ever noticed how when tribal belly dance came along, it allowed for great experimentation and freeing ourselves from the cages of traditional dancing. And now, everywhere I look people are selling conventions and books and videos on 'how to do it right.' And the higher the ticket and the bigger the name, the more clout we are supposed to have as dancers and dance teachers. At some point you have to own the dance and make it your own. Otherwise you will perpetually be a clone of someone else.

Belly Dance Drawings

I found some belly dancing sketches in an old sketchbook from the '90's. Maybe you will enjoy them.

Zoe Jakes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxZenpwtuko When I am having a bad day I like to watch Zoe dance.  She is the dancer I always wanted to be but never had the talent.

Be A Better Dancer

Years ago, when I was in my mid forties and teaching belly dancing, a 22 year old dance student challenged me in class to a flexibility test she had in some college class.  I lost of course. When she's 45 maybe she'll figure out that it's not so easy once your not all that flexible.  But today I was thinking that while flexibility is important to a dancer there are so many other factors that are important.  Most of us love to keep practicing the ones we are great at because that's our comfort zone.  But if you want to grow as a dancer, it might help to pick the five you are the worst at and work on those too.

Here are some I came up with off the top of my head.

1. Timing
2. Motivation
3. Musicality
4. Confidence
5. Poise
6. Strength
7. Stamina
8. Overall good health
9. Passion
10. 'the it factor'
11. Balance
12. Persistence
13. Consistency
14. Ethics
15. Spacial awareness
16. Peripheral Vision
17. Symmetry
18. Teamwork
19. Theatricality
20. Synchronicity
21. Punctuality 
22. Business savvy 
23. Originality
24. Innovative 
25. Trust 
26. Self-acceptance 
27. Sense of humor 
28. Posture

Reasons to Dance

I wrote a longer article about my new dance project here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/100-Reasons-to-Dance Don't let dance slip out of your life. Find ways to keep yourself motivated. I'm looking forward to dancing today.

Dance wherever you can.

Too hot for a daily walk, but if I turn on the air conditioner, I may bellydance in my living room for a bit. Stretching too. Stretching first and after. Having a good time watching Unmata videos on youtube. Fascinating troupe. Would love to see them live some day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9LeOz_3Z4Y&NR=1

Pirate Belly Dance

As soon as I get the hang of these hair falls, I'm going to make some to go with my pirate garb. Seashells belong on pirate costumes. And so do some of these neat carved bone items I've been accumulating. I have a pirate belly dance tribe over on tribe net. It will be nice to have something new to add to it.

http://piratebellydance.tribe.net

Cowrie hair falls for tribal belly dancing

Today I sat myself down and decided to teach myself to make cowry hair falls for belly dancing. First I took inventory of things I already had in my bead box and in my jewelry box. At first I was going to make a matching pair but I scrapped that idea because I don't have enough cowry shells. With any luck I'll be able to make 2 solos instead of one pair.

I started with a 9 yard strand of black yarn and a 9 yard strand of fuzzy variegated white and blue yarn. I laid them together, evened up the ends, folded them in half and tied a 2" loop in the center. That gave me four working strands. I looped it over a nail so I could keep tension on it while doing the knotwork. Now I'm in the process of stringing and knotting various items. I'm hoping to make a fall 3 feet long. Right now I'm about 1 foot into it. But hope springs eternal. Some of the cowry shells have holes that are too small so I'll have to make the holes bigger...either with my needlenose pliers or the dremel or something. I'll keep you posted.

Update: I ended up using cowry shells, brass bells, pre-made tassels, bone beads, and a bone charm, and a cross section of seashell.
A bead reamer came in very handy for making the pre-drilled cowrie shell holes bigger. I made a needle threader out of wire and used it to pull the yarn through the holes. If you need to know anything else just ask. See the photos in the later post. Basically I used macrame' knots between everything. I didn't use any braiding because I'm working with four strands, not three and I didn't want to relearn four strand braiding when macrame' works perfectly well.

Belly Dance Videos at your fingertips

Yesterday I set up a pageflake to host a number of belly dancing videos. It self-refreshes as new videos from Youtube or Metacafe are added. Check it out here: http://www.pageflakes.com/iffymail
That way every day I can see some dancing to inspire me.