We are so often too obvious. We run around in simple clothes that show all of who we are, all at once.
So often, when we watch dancers, we see them entering the stage with their veil behind them. They do a quick series of veil flourishes, then drop their veils and move on to the “main portion” of their dance.
Where is the mystery in this?
Today, we begin learning the Art of Mystery.
We don’t give it all away anymore.
Instead, we are worth waiting for.
Everything good comes in time, including the privilege of someone seeing us in our full glory.
The Music
Most of us use Spotify, so I’m going to do my best to assemble Spotify playlists for you.
There are two kinds of music with which we’ll experiment for the Art of Mystery; music where we want to be in a more reserved space.
- Chifti Tellis are a specific Turkish rhythm. They are very lush and sensual; perfect for veil dances – particularly for in-place veil moves. (Sometimes they are also good for movement across the floor.) See the previous blogpost for a good chifti telli link. Introduction to Veils: Framing Yourself Beautifully.
- Taxims – Taxim (sometimes taksim) literally means “solo improvisation,” and in Oriental dance circles, generally means a solo improv by a single dancer to improvisational music by a single musician; generally on an oud or wind instrument.
Chifti Telli Music
In a recent class, we experimented with framing different parts of our body (hips, rib cage, hips from a back angle, and diagonal-back view) using this music:
- Journey of Light, a chifti telli by Desert Wind on their Gaia, Earth Goddess: Ritual Dances CD: Journey of Light on Spotify.
Soulful Music – Good for Interpretive Veil Dancing
Our featured study piece for this workshop will be Sira’s dance; details below. She uses a song that is performed on the Armenian duduk. This music is actually a composed song, it’s not a taxim – but it is very soulful and heartfelt. Very good for veil dancing.
- Wishful Thinking by Raul Ferrando featuring Ararat Petrossian and Faisal Zedan on duduk (this is the music used by Sira in a beautiful dance in the YouTube Resources (below), and here’s the link to Wishful Thinking on Spotify.
- They Have Taken the One I Love – another exceptionally beautiful piece, Lévon Minassian (Duduk), and here’s a link to They Have Taken the One I Love on Spotify
Here’s another beautiful piece on the Armenian duduk (the name was not given, so I don’t have a Spotify link for it): Armenian duduk music; very emotional and haunting – good for an introspective taxim (solo improvisation) with veil.
Music Interpretation
When we work with a chifti telli, we can do fairly structured movements, because the chifti telli has a specific 8-count rhythm (slow, slow, fast, fast, fast, space – which is too much of a simplification, for the actual chifti telli count, listen at chifti telli rhythm explained and demonstrated). The movements are usually rounded instead of percussive, although we could throw in something with a little definitive crispness to it at the end of a motif. In working with a chifti telli, you might use your veil to frame different parts of your body (and costume). For example, with the Journey of Light piece mentioned above, I used a simple choreography that separately framed the hips, rib cage, hips from a back angle, and diagonal-back view. This particular piece also led easily into a touch-step walk.
In contrast, when we dance in a (solo improvisational) taxim, the last thing that we want to do is make it seem as though it’s pre-choreographed. Instead, we want to be flowing and interpretive, and (very often) in a more inner state – as opposed to being outgoing and audience-interactive.
Featured Study Piece
Sira, who has studied with Anahid Sofian as well as other New York City masters, performing a moving dance with a classic veil entrance – notice that she keeps herself covered for the first couple of minutes: Sira – Veil Belly dance to “Wishful Thinking”. The beautiful and haunting music is performed on the duduk, an Armenian wind instrument. Here’s a link to the music for Sira’s dance, which she says is by “Sol Shalapanova … it’s “Wishful Thinking” by Raul Ferrando featuring Ararat Petrossian and Faisal Zedan on duduk,” and here’s the link to Wishful Thinking on Spotify.
Pre-Workshop Study
The best way to get the greatest value from your workshop is to pre-prepare.
Anahid Sofian is one of the great proponents of dancing with a long silk chiffon veil. (Typically, 3 1/2 -4 yards, trimmed as needed – inch-by-inch – to the dancer’s ability to work with the veil. For dancers such as myself, at 5′ 4″, the 3 1/2 yards of silk chiffon is probably good. For dancers who are 5′ 6” or taller, Anahid recommends 4 yards.)
Sira has studied extensively with Anahid, so you’ll see elements of Anahid’s style in Sira’s dance.
A silk chiffon veil becomes an extension of the dancer – Anahid Sofian.
At the same time, another exceptional dancer is Eva Cernik, who is internationally recognized as a great and innovative artist. She has also studied extensively with Mdm. Sofian, as well as with other great – and worldwide – master teachers. Although Eva’s style is distinctly her own, we can trace the influence of Mdm. Sofian’s teachings. Eva typically uses a silk habotai (China silk) veil. Eva has described her veil as “dancing with a partner.”
This is a really interesting compare-and-contrast study, because both master dancers (Sira and Eva) trace their lineage to Mdm. Sofian. In the YouTube link above for Sira, and in the YouTube links for Anahid and Eva in Dancing with Your Veil: YouTube Resources, you can see three magnificent dancers, with two different kinds of veils – coming from the same tradition.
Study Questions
- What are your thoughts and feelings as you study the performances by these three masters? More specifically, if you can imagine yourself being Sira, or Anahid, or Eva, how would you feel as you danced?
- Does one kind of veil (silk chiffon or China silk) appeal to you more than another?
- What sorts of techniques and timing seem to work better with one kind of veil than another?
- How would draping yourself with the two different kinds of veils work for you?
- What kinds of movements could you do with the two different kinds of veil – both static (in-place) movements and movements across the floor?
Bring your notes (and questions / comments) to the workshop, and we’ll discuss during the lunch break.
Extra-special advanced study questions:
- How is Sira using dynamic tempo (fast slow, including pauses) to create more interest in her music? How do Anahid and Eva use variations in tempo?
- What are some of the different drapes that the dancers are using? How do these different drapes make you feel as an audience member? How would you feel differently as a dancer?
- When does Sira start removing her veil? (Actually, she’s less removing it, and more dancing with it.) Same questions, with regard to Anahid and Eva.
Suggested Reading
What was it that Anahid had, and that I had totally forgotten?
Simply, it was the power of holding something back.
Quote from: Unveiling: The Inner Journey, by Alay’nya; Chapter 26: Unveiling: Selective Revelation, p. 359
The whole notion of unveiling ourselves – slowly – is behind the book, Unveiling: The Inner Journey, which was published in 2011.
Very best wishes as you use Oriental dance (belly dance) for personal growth and healing!
Yours in dance –
Alay’nya
Author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey
You are the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Become the Jewel!
Founder and Artistic Director, The Alay’nya Studio
Bellydance a courtesan would envy!
Check out Alay’nya’s YouTube Channel
Connect with Alay’nya on Facebook
Follow Unveiling: The Inner Journey on Facebook
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Related Posts: Veil Dancing
Copyright, 2018 (c). All rights reserved.
]]>Yesterday’s kick-off class for our veil study was both an introduction and overview to dancing with our veils. We did mostly static (in-place) movements.
The Music
Most of us use Spotify, so I’m going to do my best to assemble Spotify playlists for you.
While chifti tellis are a beautiful choice for veil work, they are also very structured. See Introduction to Veils: Framing Yourself Beautifully for a good chifti telli link.
In this workshop, we’ll work with the chifti telli rhythm and also with a more “rhythm-less” kind of music – a slow, sensitive taxim.
- Taksim – Literally, a taxim (or taksim) is a “solo improvisation” – in dance circles, this usually refers to a very introspective section, where the dancer does a solo improvisation to the musician’s solo improvisation, typically on the oud or a wind instrument.
- Chifti Tellis are a specific Turkish rhythm. They are very lush and sensual; perfect for veil dances – particularly for in-place veil moves. (Sometimes they are also good for movement across the floor.) Here’s a very good YouTube link illustrating the basic chifti telli rhythm.
In this Introduction to Veil Dancing class, we experimented with framing different parts of our body (hips, rib cage, hips from a back angle, and diagonal-back view) using this music:
- Journey of Light, a chifti telli by Desert Wind on their Gaia, Earth Goddess: Ritual Dances CD: Journey of Light on Spotify.
We also did a bit of skills and drills using a simple 4/4 count music:
- The Magic in Your Eyes, a 4/4 tempo by Hossam Ramzy on his Source of Fire – on Apple Music Preview; here’s the single song on Spotify The Magic in Your Eyes on Spotify, and here’s a link to the Source of Fire album on Spotify.
Technique Pointers
This initiation class focused on:
- Veil sizes – length (the long side) and width (the short side) ; typically, our veils are about 45″ wide (this is the standard width of material off a fabric bolt) and about 3 yards long; my teacher Anahid Sofian has recommended that (when I dance with a silk chiffon veil), I start with 3 1/2 yards and trim it back, inch-by-inch, to a length that is workable for me; she is tiny (only about 5′) and dances with a full 3 1/2 yards of silk chiffon. and the length is different (shorter) if you’re working with silk habotai (China silk); I’d recommend at least 3 yards of that, though.
- Three-point control of your veil, as taught by master dancer and teacher Anahid Sofian; this means having a hold of your veil in each of your hands and then snugging it against the back of your neck (for that third point); this gives you awareness of where your veil is and control over how you move it, and
- How to frame yourself with your veil, various stances and framing different portions of your body & costume.
Very best wishes as you use Oriental dance (belly dance) for personal growth and healing!
Yours in dance –
Alay’nya
Author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey
You are the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Become the Jewel!
Founder and Artistic Director, The Alay’nya Studio
Bellydance a courtesan would envy!
Check out Alay’nya’s YouTube Channel
Connect with Alay’nya on Facebook
Follow Unveiling: The Inner Journey on Facebook
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]]>Step-Touch (Linear Walk), Step-Ball-Ball, and Rocking Rhumba
First step is opening up and getting our connection flowing again.
Music
- Desert Wind’s Diaspora from Spain. Listen to Diaspora from Spain by Desert Wind on YouTube.
Warm-Ups (In-Place)
- Simple drop-down-and-reach-up, with veil (use music Diaspora from Spain, see link above),
- Simple in-place gyrations – emphasize whole-body movement – with veil (same music as above).
Techniques
- Step-touch (ref. techniques taught by Anahid Sofian),
- Step-ball-ball (ref. techniques taught by Anahid Sofian),
- Rocking rhumba (ref. techniques taught by Anahid Sofian and Elena Lentini).
- Dalia Carella’s students showing some beautiful movements Carella choreography segment
YouTube Vids for Reference
- Alay’nya in performance; Veil Improvisation,
- Alay’nya illustrating step-touch during opening of a Candle Dance; Step-Touch as a form of movement across the floor,
- Belly dance walk; this is close – not exactly what I’m teaching, I use a more definitive “touch” before coming down with the actual “step,” and we use our oblique abdominal muscles more to generate the movement (insight courtesy of Anahid Sofian), but for something not too bad, look at Belly Dancing – How to do belly dance walking gracefully,
- Good illustration of touch-step in moving forward, in the first few opening seconds: Vintage danse orientale by Alia,
- Very beautiful footwork throughout (and lots of other things to admire): Yakovyuk Yuliya (Julia Yakovyuk)- Vinnica- Estradnaya ; look for a good instance of step-ball-ball moving forward, right at about 1:30, just after she comes out of a spinning turn. See more of her work at:
A more complex walk, the “Turkish Walk,” to do later: Learn to belly dance: the Turkish walk .
Related Blog Posts
- Does Your Walk Give Away Your Age?,
- Releasing Neck Tension and Minimizing the Dreaded Dowager’s Hump – neck tension release is very much tied with releasing tension in our lower backs and sacral areas, and
- Contraction is as Important as Expansion – one of the very earliest – in fact the second – blogpost ever written in this series, and more a life-study than actual dance technique – except that contraction is important in creating the undulations that lead to a beautiful dance walk! (I describe this more fully in Unveiling: The Inner Journey
Master Class Study
- Music: Alf Leila Wa Leila, by Oum Kalthoum. Listen to a good version on YouTube (first 6:30 minutes): Alf Leila Wa Leila by Oum Kalthoum,
- YouTube Vid: Elena Lentini Elena Lentini dancing to Alf Leila Wa Leila by Oum Kalthoum, New York, 1991. Notice that her footwork is a backwards-moving step-ball-ball, which really in this case is a rocking rhumba, something that both she and Anahid Sofian have taught in their New York classes and included in their choreographies.
- Dalia Carella in Solo Performance (gypsy/flamenco with fan).
Preps for Turns and Spins
Very best wishes as you use Oriental dance (belly dance) for personal growth and healing!
Yours in dance –
Alay’nya
Author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey
You are the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Become the Jewel!
Founder and Artistic Director, The Alay’nya Studio
Bellydance a courtesan would envy!
Check out Alay’nya’s YouTube Channel
Connect with Alay’nya on Facebook
Follow Unveiling: The Inner Journey on Facebook
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]]>Here are some links to help you start your at-home practice, as an adjunct to what we will be doing this Winter Quarter:
- When It’s Too Cold to Get Out of Bed
- Preparing for Winter Dance Classes: Percussives, Zills, and Drum Solos
Winter is the Season of Pentacles; it deals with the element of Earth. So, during Winter, we do grounding and anchoring types of things. We work with solid, percussive rhythms that help us connect with our Earth-Mother. We work with zills and complex rhythms. We do drum solos.
Here are some posts-from-the-past on these topics:
And since this site is getting a total overhaul and update, why not begin at the beginning? The very first blog post – from 2003:
]]>Gnostic Sexual Alchemy
I’ll fill in more about this soon.
In the meantime, a couple of good YouTube vids:
- A good video: smooth movements, good locks, internal energy: The Mecca of Mecca ~ Belly Dance Extreme (Beats Antique-EGYPTIC)
- Good grounding and technique: Slow Belly Dance and Drum Solo at JamBallah 16 by Elisheva
It Takes Courage to Claim Our Space
A woman who retired as full colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps recalled counseling a woman junior officer. The younger woman was presenting herself too timidly in the presence of her male peers.
The result of the young officer’s nice girl posture was that her ideas and work was not being taken as seriously.
My friend’s advice?
Take up more space.
She suggested that the young officer sprawl more when she sat in a chair – stretch out her arms and legs, rather than sitting in a tight, closed, demure little posture.
Chicken Wings – How NOT to Look Graceful on Stage
Can we just cut to the chase here?
There are wonderful imageries that help us create beautiful flowing technique and lines in our dance.
Chicken wings is not one of those images.
How do we get them?
More important – if we have them, how do we get over them?
Practice counts, surely.
But what if there was a way to make near-instantaneous change – in our dance and in our life.
Interested?
How Not to Have Chicken Wings in the Middle of Our Dance
I recently observed a dance performance, and a highly respected dance teacher was sitting next to me.
The choreographies were good, and the dancers had their moves down right. But something was off.
Instead of having a long, beautiful line, various dancers were pulling in their arms.
The respected dance teacher summed it up in one pithy comment:
Chicken wings.
Chicken wings are not just a matter of poor posture, poor training, or inattention to detail.
What is really going on is that the dancer is constricted in her energy field. She’s afraid to open up and really claim her space.
But that’s not what we want, is it?
When we dance, we’re not just doing entertainment.
When we dance, we are a priestess, taking our people into a transcendent space.
We can’t do that if we’re fearful and constricted.
Tight Shoulders – The Other Extreme
Sometimes, we express our tension differently – we get our shoulders up to our ears.
This isn’t pretty or graceful either. (Nor is it inspiring or transcendent.)
These are two sides of the same coin.
In both cases, it’s like having a kink in our energy hose. Our energy isn’t flowing freely, and so of course we don’t look as good as we might.
Reaching Through Our Energy Field – Inspiring, Enthralling, and Transcendent
When we’re not afraid to extend our reach, we create transcendent moments – in dance, in life.
Recently, I talked with my dear friend Patty Haley – a beautiful dancer (and who has also served as an officer in the U.S.M.C.). Patty teaches women to take up more space when they dance. (See a great video clip of Patty explaining her Peaceful Warrior Girl approach.)
But sometimes, we need to make this change from the inside out.
When We Claim Our Space, We Claim Our Lives
Earlier this week, I asked my friend Julie Marie Rahm, the Resultant, to help me with a challenge.
I’ve done a lot of healing lately, and a lot of integration – but I still had some big areas of “stuckness.”
Recently, I’d felt very unsupported during a challenge that affected my entire Household. It’s not so important what the details were; it’s that I had some old tape playing in my mind.
Because the outer always reflects the inner, I created outcomes that had me feeling unsupported. These outcomes reflected a belief that I had – actually an energy pattern that I’d created.
This energy pattern impacted everything. Finances. Relationships. Stability of business ventures; whether on my own or with partners. Ability to get support and implementation of my creative areas.
More and more, I was seeing this as a pattern – not as a series of isolated events.
And more than anything, I wanted a deep pattern shift.
Julie worked with me for about 25 minutes, using YUEN Mastery, the New Science of Achieving Immediate Results. She did this at a distance; we were on the phone with each other, but once she knew what the problem was, she didn’t even need to have me on the line with her.
She advised me, when we were done, to take it easy for the rest of the day.
She was right – I felt just fine during the session itself, but later in the day, was a bit loopy and spacey – definitely not a day for operating power tools or making corporate budget decisions.
Felt fabulous the next day, and wrote my planned blogpost introducing Julie and the Yuen Method; see Has Your High Priestess Been Shortchanged This Year (How to Fix).
The day after that (yesterday), I really needed to take some time off for pure integration – lots of stuff going on both physically and emotionally.
Today is the fourth day since my Yuen session with Julie.
In next week’s blog, I’ll report how this method seems to be impacting my life overall.
I could feel the shift, as we worked. But it will take time for the real pattern-shifts to manifest on the physical plane.
One thing I can tell you, right now. Some of the blurts that I’d been wrestling with – for the past several years – have eased up substantially. (See Using Belly Dance to Heal Deepest Emotional Wounds, from February 2, 2013. And if you had joined me on the Twelve Lessons of Solstice (which will re-open again at Winter Solstice of this next year), you heard a lot about blurts, and how they reflect our core wounds and impact our lives.)
Can the YUEN Method Resolve Issues with Our Core Power Archetypes?
I’m looking for shifts in all areas of my life – personal, professional, and dance.
In dance, I’d like more strength, structure, firmness of expression. These are Emperor characteristics.
We may also want our Emperor to show up in our lives by having better boundaries in our relations with others (as well as keeping more of our vital energy for ourselves), having clearer communications with others (as well as greater internal connection), and increased financial well-being (along with personal energy).
Our Emperor achetype works to our advantage, both in creating a positive experience in the external world, and in shaping our internal energy selves. These really become the same.
Our Emperor is one of our core power archetypes. Our Emperor serves to define and protect our boundaries, increase communications and energy flow throughout our whole being, and bring in good energy and resources. In short, his job is to protect and provide.
Sometimes, we have some damage in our Emperor connection. Then, our Emperor has a hard time expressing in a useful and sustained way.
As I wrote recently in The Unveiling Journey (the blog series associated with Unveiling: The Inner Journey), our Emperor is on our side. Check out Healing Our Inner Emperor – What a Breakthrough Feels Like.
If you’ve experienced the Yuen Method, please share your experiences in the comments section.
If this is new to you, check back next week, when I report in. Also, look into Julie’s webpage, Problems-Resolved. Read some of her blogs to get a sense of how this method works in practice.
I’m working on healing (or as Julie would say, resolving) issues with my Emperor. You may want to focus on a different archetype or life-area. Either way, I’m interested in your results.
Please share. I’ll read and respond to your comments, and ask Julie to chime in also.
And oh yes. Let me know if strengthening your inner Emperor – or any other resolving done with the Yuen method – helps you claim more space. Personally, professionally, or in dance. Or in all areas at once.
Very best wishes as you use Oriental dance (belly dance) for personal growth and healing!
Yours in dance –
Alay’nya
Author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey
You are the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Become the Jewel!
Founder and Artistic Director, The Alay’nya Studio
Bellydance a courtesan would envy!
Check out Alay’nya’s YouTube Channel
Connect with Alay’nya on Facebook
Follow Unveiling: The Inner Journey on Facebook
Oriental Dancer Ronnette Ramirez on Unveiling: The Inner Journey
What does Oriental dancer Ronnette Ramirez have to say about Unveiling: The Inner Journey?
Alay’nya’s Unveiling: The Inner Journey
This is a must read for all women. Most of what is written, relates to oriental dance and the lives of dancers, instructors, and those who dream of becoming a dancer. A woman’s journey is of importance and Unveiling: The Inner Journey, is a terrific guide.
Alay’nya has a HERstory that is familiar to us. However, what she created is a wonderful text of rich knowledge and research for women to use in their pathway. In Unveiling, Alay’nya takes you on a journey to discover what is a woman’s pathway.
… On a personal note, there is a section in the book called “Receiving”. This is my challenge, for I do feel less in control if I receive from others. I will go back to that section and work this issue. Alay’nya’s words hit close to home.
Read Ronnette’s whole review here at Ronnette Ramirez on Unveiling in the Belly Dance Editorial at BellaOnline.
Check Out Ronnette Ramirez’s Belly Dance Editorials at BellaOnline
BellaOnline is a website for women, covering many areas of women’s lives.
BellaOnline includes a Bellydancing Site, edited by dancer Ronnette Ramirez.
Recent posts by Ronnette include:
And just as a side note – Ronnette is fascinated by the character Scheherezade (such drama! such psychological richness! such courage!), and has several posts on her – interesting coincidence that I write about Scheherezade also in Unveiling‘s Chapter 8: The Essence of Stillness.
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Related Posts: Emotional Release for Beautiful Arm Movements
- The Healing Power of Belly Dance in Water – The Evolution of Belly Dance – May 29, 2013
- Belly Dancing in Water – Creating More Natural, Graceful, and Sensual Snake Arms – May 18, 2013
- The Most Luscious, Nurturing, Feel-Good Thing You Can Do in Bed, On Your Own (and it’s not even sex!) – Jan 9, 2013
- Breathing, Breakthroughs, and Belly Dance – Dec. 6, 2011
Sometimes, it’s just too damn cold.
A self-respecting cat will just stay under the covers.
But with the cold – and for many of us, the snow-shoveling – our lower backs get tight.
More than not fun, this actually gets a little dangerous.
Risk of pulled muscles, all that.
So what’s a cat to do?
Stay under the covers and stretch!
Yes, Sometimes We’re Amazon Warriors
Years ago, I studied Shotokan karate with world-renowned Robert Fusaro Sensei. (He’s now Eighth-Dan; that is – 8th-degree black belt – first and only Caucasian to reach that rank, I believe.) He still teaches in Minneapolis, MN, where it is even colder than it is here in the Mid-Atlantic this week.
Fusaro Sensei has brought many of his students to a high level, including several women who have reached 4th and 5th-Dan (4th and 5th-degree black belts).
Fusaro Sensei has always shown great respect for the dance art, and has particularly complimented Cassandra, who teaches Oriental dance in Minneapolis. (At one point, Fusaro Sensei and Cassandra shared studio space. Not the same classes, mind you!)
Here’s an Unveiling excerpt about studying with Fusaro Sensei:
One winter morning, with the temperature about 15 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), I showed up with other students for the 6:30 AM class. The furnace had gone out over night, and they were awaiting repairs. The top floor dojo was icy cold. Harsh, northwest winds buffeted the exterior walls, stripping away the meager warmth provided by kerosene heaters. Our feet cringed against the frigid floor as we donned our karate gi’s. Leading us slowly and carefully through warm-up stretches, Fusaro Sensei gazed at us firmly. “This is Bushido [“way of the warrior”] training,” he said. Fusaro Sensei taught us to take all of our life experiences as part of our training and overall development – including an early-morning cold dojo!
From Unveiling: The Inner Journey, Chapter 23: “In Praise of a Few Good Men,” p. 324.
Bushido training appeals to us when we’re in our Amazon Warrior mode.
But sometimes, we want to be in Hathor mode; accessing our inner goddess of sensuality and pleasure.
So what do we do when our backs are tight, and when there’s still more snow to shovel?
We do The Most Luscious, Nurturing, Feel-Good Thing You Can Do. Yes, this is my post from this time, last year. And if you’re going to read just one post from me – read this one. (Hint – it’s about figure-eights – and their connection with our vital energy> – and you can practice in bed!)
Raising Our Internal Energy (When We Don’t Feel Like Moving)
Sometimes, before we even change into dance clothes, or do warm-ups, we need to get our energy going first. Then we can get the physical body into action.
Check out this lovely Energy-Raising YouTube with energy healer Carol Tuttle. The clip itself is only about six minutes, and once you’ve learned the energy-raising techniques, you can do them in about a minute. You can do this while waiting for coffee to brew, while microwaving a quick breakfast, or even to take a break at your desk. (Not that obtrusive, and you don’t need special clothes.) Check it out – I just did, this is fun!
Very best wishes as you use Oriental dance (belly dance) for expressing those aspects of yourself that come out only when you dance!
Yours in dance –
Alay’nya
Author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey
You are the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Become the Jewel!
Founder and Artistic Director, The Alay’nya Studio
Bellydance a courtesan would envy!
Check out Alay’nya’s YouTube Channel
Connect with Alay’nya on Facebook
Follow Unveiling: The Inner Journey on Facebook
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Related Posts: Winter Dancing
- The Most Luscious, Nurturing, Feel-Good Thing You Can Do – from January, 2013
- Preparing for Winter Dance Classes – Percussives, Zills, and Drum Solos – November, 2013
- Home for the holidays — with belly dance fitness DVDs
Related Posts: Winter – Esoteric Energy Dance for the Season of Pentacles (Metaphysical Element of Earth)
- Curriculum Overview for the Coming Year – from January, 2013
- Candlemas Countdown – The “Real New Year” Starts Now! – from January, 2009
- Energy Shifting in the New Year – from February, 2007
- Moving Inward – from January, 2007
- Transitioning – from December, 2006
- Contraction is as Important as Expansion – from December, 2003
Section on “Your ‘Cellular Bank Account’,” which continues from the previous post:
After Basic Emotional Healing: What Next?
“Each of us has hundreds of circuits of energy connecting to us, energy that different cultures have named in different ways as the Divine breath of life that animates each of us. What the Indians call prana and the Chinese call ch’i, Christians refer to as grace or the Holy S;pirit, and secularists might call vitality or simply life-force. ” (p. 16)
“Althought the life-force is equally available to all of us and flows into us whether or not we are aware of it … it’s possible to maximize our intake and use of it. In fact, consciousness means awareness of the flow of life-force inot us and the ability to direct it into certain areas of the body, without unknowingly releasing it from other areas of the body.”
“Imagine this flow of energy as a financial allowance … positive investments will earn you positive returns… Negative investments, on the other hand, will create debt.” (p. 16)
“The other source of additional energetic cash is the energetic resources held in your own cell tissue. … Keeping your physical body energized consequently feeds your creativity, your relationships, and your vital need for optimism. But when too much energetic cash is drawn out of your cell bank account, you become debt-ridden. The greater the debt becomes, the weaker your cell tissue grows. If you do not reverse this pattern by paying off our debt with your daily allowance, then you will become vulnerable to the development of disease.” (p. 17, earlier)
“Holding on to the negative events of our histories is expensive – prohibitively so. It is like trying to keep the dead alive, and it takes an enormous amount of energy. When we experience a trauma, Nature supplies us with extra financing, so to speak, to protect us during the draining period of crisis, but that loan’ has a time limit on it. … the signal that thet loan is coming due is that we begin to sense that time has come to a standstill and our lives are not moving forward.” (p. 17)
“The only way to release the pattern into which we have locked ourselves is to release the weight of the past – to get out of the enegy debt we can no longer afford to carry. Forgiveness is one sure way out of deb. Forgiving does not mean saying that what happened to you doesn’t matter, or that it is all right for someone to have violated you. It simply means releasing the negative feeligns you have about that event and the person or persons involved.” (p. 18)
“The process of retrieving this energy from the past begins by making a shift in awareness and vocabulary; simply put, you have to outrun your past. Learn to become conscious, as often as possible, of what you are thinking about and where your energy is.” (p. 26)
“Refusing to let go of past event, whether postibe or negative, means throwing away some part of your daily energy budget. If you start losing energy and don’t do anything aout it, you will invetiably develop a weakness in your physical body. … If you continue to lose energy without taking action, those minor upsets can develop into major illnesses. … An ‘accident-prone’ person is actually energetically in debt.” (p. 19)
Audio Collection:
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Very best wishes as you use Oriental dance (belly dance) to bring youthful vitality, movement, and expressiveness into your life!
Yours in dance –
Alay’nya
Author of Unveiling: The Inner Journey
You are the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Become the Jewel!
Founder and Artistic Director, The Alay’nya Studio
Bellydance a courtesan would envy!
Check out Alay’nya’s YouTube Channel
Connect with Alay’nya on Facebook
Follow Unveiling: The Inner Journey on Facebook
P.S. Learning the sexiest walk in the world involves lengthening our lower back, strengthening and using our abdominal core, and generating your movement from within.
As a side benefit from doing this, you will automatically begin to strengthen your pelvic floor.
There are additional health benefits from doing this. Dr. Christiane Northrup, New York Times best-selling author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause, tells us that developing a strong pelvic floor is necessary for our overall health – including mitigating urinary incontinence.
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Dr. Christiane Northrup on Unveiling: The Inner Journey
What Does Dr. Christiane Northrup, New York Times best-selling author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause, have to say about Unveiling: The Inner Journey?
Dr. Northrup notes:
“Alay’nya brings divine sensuality to women in the ancient forum of dance. This book is delightful.” Read this and more reviews of Unveiling: The Inner Journey.
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Copyright (c) 2013, Alay’nya. All rights reserved.
Related Posts: Creating a Youthful Presence Through Belly Dance
]]>Morocco in Bahlam Beek & Drum Solo – the drum solo starts at minute 7; a solid 3 1/2 minutes.
One of the most fascinating things about watching the really great dancers is their sense of humor – something missing from some of the younger ones.
Morocco accompanies the drummer throughout on this piece with expertly-played zills (at a tempo and with patterns that few dancers today can match). Generally, playing zills during the drum solo is a “no-no.” The idea is that the only musician playing during a musical “solo” is – indeed – the solo musician. Zills are a musical instrument, hence, the dancer should not compete (musically) with the drummer.
However, great dancers can break all the rules.
This one is worth watching.
Dalie Carella opens an improvisation with a drum solo.
Mid-East Darbouka Drum Rhythms
Five drum rhythms: baladi, ayube, masmoudi, malfouf, & karsilama
Top ten drum rhythms: Maqsoum, Baladi, Ayub, Malfuf, Saidi, Masmoudi, Chiftetelli, Fellahi, Khaleegy, Wahda
Four Ways to Play the Maqsoum, posted Dec. 10, 2016, 7PM.
]]>Even though it’s mid-autumn now, this is a great time to start preparing for winter drum solo choreographies.
Each season, we select a different featured instructional DVD to be part of our class curriculum.
This winter, we’re using Tribal Drum Solo Choreography by Zoe Jakes> and Issam Houshan.
Three Good Reasons (Start Conditioning and Doing Technique Practice Now for Your Winter Drum Solo)
There are three good reasons to work with this DVD – even in preparation for winter! These hold whether or not you do tribal-style belly dance.
- Excellent and sufficiently-long warm-up sequence – the warm-ups and basic technique practice here is a bit over 20 minutes. That’s just right for getting the body stretched out before heading out for work on a winter’s morning.
- Really good focus on hand and wrist release and stretching – we all tend to be a bit stiffer in the joints come winter, and our fingers and wrists may be a bit more susceptible to stress. We also need to stretch our shoulders, neck, and back a bit more, since we’re often more sedentary during winter months. I particularly love the time that Zoe puts on these areas during her warm-ups and technique section. .
- Different and fun technique combinations – since I’m not a tribal dancer, Zoe’s combinations are new and different for me – a little mental and physical stimulation to keep both mind and body energized for winter!
Recommended DVD for Winter Dance Classes – Tribal Drum Solo Choreography
Tribal Drum Solo Choreography by Zoe Jakes and Issam Houshan.
You can get a peek at Zoe’s technique style by watching Zoe Jakes’ Belly Dance Flow Drills on Datura Online.
For a nice, long (nearly 8-minute) drum solo with Issam, listen to Bellydance Music: Issam Houshan-Drum Solo.
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