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Good Grief but time is flying! This spring has been filled with preparations for the Student Recitals in June (yes we start this far in advance!), with my first solo performance in years, and two amazing workshops! I'm tired just thinking about it all!
I started the year behind on recital prep. I usually walk into the new year with the music chosen, the costuming decided, and the choreography mostly finished. Unfortunately or fortunately that didn't happen this year due to starting a new job at the end of the old year (love the new job, but it wrecked havoc with my dance schedule!). So I started the year behind. In addition I added the solo performance - well it didn't start out as just a solo, but once we had some unavoidable personnel issues (one of a trio got ill) it was just a solo. The trio piece rocks and will appear again in the future - somewhere! Then there were the workshops. (sigh) I love being busy, but sometimes my enthusiasm overtakes my brain and I end up over scheduled!
So at the end of February I attended TribalCon .... so I could rest! Ziah, of Awalim, laughed at me when I told her that, but believe it or not I did rest that weekend and still managed to learn lots and attend class - plus spent a ridiculous amount of money! A great weekend that happens every year at the end of February in Decatur, GA. If you live on the east coast and don't attend - you are missing out! Amazing teachers, wonderful hafla with live music, great musicians to teach the music track and play for us, awesome show, teacher discussion groups, vendors galore and Niccola's Food! Heaven for a those of the tribal vein! This year one of my favorite classes was Ashara's History Class. A wonderful breakdown of how the tribal vocabulary developed and which teachers contributed which moves! Turns out I'm more Salimpour than ATS - who knew? Actually, I knew I did not do classic ATS, but over the years of taking dance from many wonderful teachers the lines of where I got certain things had blurred and ATS had solidified. Absolutely essential information for me to have! Thanks to Ashara! Of course Donna Mejia was wonderful - she always is and her lecture this year could have spanned the entire weekend! I was bummed to have missed Ariellah's emoting class - I heard raves about it the rest of the weekend! I always enjoy Megha's ATS classes as they allow me to refresh on my general skills in that style. I spent waaaaay too much money at the vendors - ate wonderful food - visited with belly dance friends and was absolutely thrilled that so many of my students attended this year! I was so proud of them! Ahhhh, TribalCon (http://www.tribalcon.com/)
After that came the Zafira Workshop and my performance at the show. A great workshop by the Zafira ladies - I loved the workshop and the perspective they gave on moving through space. Their moving drills were amazing, though not for the faint of heart! I can see why they are in such amazing shape after that class! That evening was the show at Red Light and it was an honor to take the stage with the other performers there. I enjoyed the ones I was able to watch and got wonderful reviews from my friends and students in the audience who attended on the ones I had to miss due to being backstage. I was thrilled with all the students who turned out to support me! Thanks! Most especially to Heather who got some great photos of me dancing! Another awesome weekend although I did not rest this time!
Now it's back to student recitals, finishing choreography, getting the last costume pieces ordered and delivered, etc, etc. The students are working hard and I think the performances will be beautiful! Unfortunately, the two schools set their recitals on the same day - so I get to play musical performances running back and forth between two sets of students! Luckily, I have folks to help out when I can't be somewhere and I do get to be there for both sets of students to assist them in getting ready and see their first show of the day! It's going to be awesome!
Some days I'm tired (actually exhausted - but let's not quibble), I'm cranky, I've got time crunches and my body hurts. This is still the best job ever! I love my students - I love the people I work with at each studio - and I love the work I do!
Happy Dancing!
Halleyah :)
