Old and new, old and new. At the last hafla we had several newbies, including: Chimay, Blue Moon Haven, Christina Rizkallah and Farhana Masri. Some of my oldies but goodies danced again – Kashmir, IrinaXara, Olu, and the Mollies. I am so stoked to have such a solid, extended family of dancers surrounding me.
The next few months are going to be wild-busy but fun. I went from full-fledged theater productions (80 Days) and on to Sebastopol for Tribal Fest and back to Long Beach for Cairo Caravan in June… I was asked to perform on the World of Wonders stage which is by invite-only… and I can’t even begin to express how flattered I am to be asked. It took a good long time however, to decide what to do in the way of a circus or sideshow themed act… force myself to eat fire? Walk on glass? Grow a beard, an extra limb, maybe a Siamese twin?
Luckily I asked one of my oldest friends who happens to also dance, sing, act, do gymnastics, hip-hop, etc, etc. Tari’s suggestion was aerial yoga. As I looked into it, I considered how cool it was yet also kind of impossible because I would have to rig up fabric to the ceiling and it’s just not do-able for an 8 minute performance. Looking deeper still, I found AcroYoga… like Chinese acrobatics with two or more people who essentially use their own bodies to lift their partner in the air in an apparently seamless and easy way. The more videos I saw on AcroYoga, the more I became enamoured and desparate to make it a part of my WOW stage performance. Yet I couldn’t find where to learn how to do it- the closest place appeared to be San Diego.
But the universe has its’ ways.
Little did I know that a new friend had just weeks ago sent me an email about the AcroYoga community and how we should start doing events with them. In her email she obviously included a link… lo and behold, when I clicked on it, the first thing I saw was info for an AcroYoga workshop being offered that very weekend in Los Angeles! Definitely not a coincidence. What’s more, Tari was free and could go to the workshop with me. And to add to the perfection of these particular events lining up, at the last minute Lee was able to go to!
AcroYoga is already a close runner-up to bellydance in my long list of favorite extracurricular activities. How am I supposed to go back for a Masters’ degree with so many recreational and fun activities? Ugh!
We’ll be practicing our AcroYoga skills tonight and this weekend are taking another workshop in Long Beach. Come out and see the results on Friday, June 4 at 7 pm at the Queen Mary where Cairo Caravan will be for the entire weekend. Look for me on the World of Wonders stage!
And check out this killer flyer they made for my act!
Download yours at http://weathervanedance.com/download/WOWflyer.jpg.
Two weeks later, we’re having an extra special event with music by Lisima and performances by Kashmir, Ayse and Tonanatzin, and best of all, LEE ALI! Yasemin and Paul will also lead us into some fantastic, group line dances. Download the flyer for this event at http://weathervanedance.com/download/Lisima_Flyer.pdf
In July, Elizabeth and I are planning to host a weekend of fun workshops (like poi, hoop, etc). Date TBD.
And August I will be having Alexandra King do a workshop on either Saturday the 7th or Sunday the 8th; and the on Saturday 8/14, we’ll have a hafla at EPICA which Tsingani is scheduled to perform at!
That’s just a glimpse into our Weathervane summer…
