Life til now

When sleeping women wake, mountains move. Women heal, women help, women sing, women dance, women create, women love and women protect. Happy International Women’s Day every day.

This entry is dedicated to all you badass women and the men who know it.

The past couple of months have been pretty busy dance-wise. Serpentina North Ensemble performed at Reveal Me, a monthly event by Red Herring Burlesque that sometimes allows performers to keep their clothes on. We were one such act in Febuary’s edition of this sultry show. And damn what a show it was! After our number we made our way to the audience –sexy, classy, trashy, crass and hilarious. All bases covered on a Wednesday night…

  

 

March also brought with it an opportunity for Sugar Shakers to dance to Tia Brazda live at the Valentini Blue Cabaret. Held at the swanky Capitol Theatre, this event raised funds for cystic fibrosis. Tia Brazda and her band put on an awesome show and dancing to her song “Too Crazy” live was a serious treat –really looking forward to any future collaborations with this lady. She’s hit the electroswing scene here in Toronto as well, bringing down the house at the ElectroSwing Club a few months back.

In early March I completed the Darkside Studio Basic Black intensive. It was an interesting four days of not only drilling movement but also included anatomy, music theory, zylls and history of tribal fusion dance. Although I’d been to many Darkside events over the years and participated in shows and workshops, this was the first time I’d actually had an opportunity to learn from Audra. I got a lot out of it, it was comprehensive and helped me think about some foundational stuff in new ways. Here’s something I wrote after the four days…technique nerds, for your eyes only:

“There was a definite theme running through most I’d the traveling drills in the basic dark side intensive.That theme was weight transfer…that when my feet aren’t sure if where they are in relation to the movement, the movement most often looks sloppy even if the isolations themselves are precise muscularly. The unsure step creates a weak foundation visually as well as structurally…” (Sandy Watters)

Oh there’s more writing on that but the nerd alert is over, sorry. One of the things I love about dancing is the magic of learning (and re-learning) these lessons on a visceral level. You can read it a million times and it may translate into your body, but when you move and your body learns something, its a beautiful physical infusion. I know you know what I mean…

Here we all are at the end of the weekend. Belly-blissed out.

At the end of the intensive was testing and I can now say I’m certified in the Darkside Dance Program Basic Black. I’m hoping to be able to add in some classes there this summer and possibly to the Lavendar intensive come fall. Big thanks to Audra for being a gracious, patient, dedicated and skilled teacher.

Shortly after I found myself back at the Darkside Studio for a Fireside Chat on jewelry and adornment. There was amazing collections of various pieces from across time and space, and we were schooled in some tribal adornment from various regions across Asia and Africa.

         

I was particularly interested in the ear weights and there are some ear pieces hanging on the studio wall that I always look at when I go in –Audra was gracious to let me try them on. We are not sure where these are from, other than a hill tribe (somewhere) in Asia….if anyone knows, please tell me.

  It was delightful to sit and ogle beautifully crafted jewelry and learn a bit about where it came from. I have always loved jewelry, and adornment has been one of my chosen forms of self expression for as long as I can remember. I had been planning to do an entry featuring some of my favourite and most unique pieces from my own collection. Keep your eyes peeled.

Loving this photo of Jaene, myself and Victoria listening intently.

And then. Oh finally. There was the Erykah Badu concert. I’ve waited so many years and finally, with my sisterfriend Shaila went to see Ms. Badu live. With that kind of buildup there’s a risk of disappointment. But no, she did not let us down. She was touring for the 16 year anniversary of Baduism and was alternating shows between that and Mama’s Gun. The Toronto show featured the latter with of course the kind of variation on the originals you would expect from such a dynamic singer. Rather than recount the show I’ll share with you the reflections made by me and my pen at home after the show:

When you watch a performance or enjoy a piece of music, a little bit of it is yours, you claim a piece of the experience that has now been a shared one. She looks out into the crowd and we all think ‘she’s looking t me’. …’she sees me’.  An artist that can do that is truly an expansive performer. She gives and gives and she knows that a piece of her has been transferred into the group, the crowd, the person…she may not know who you are but she sees you. I strive to be the kind of performer who makes people know they are seen, that they  –we — are having a shared experience. They should have no doubt that they are a crucial part of this moment. That’s how I felt at the Erykah Badu show last night. (Sandy Watters)

The second annual Fedora Upside Down Masquerade happened a few weeks ago and it was even bigger and better than last year. With its new venue, the Great Hall, it was a truly festive vibe. Amazing live music from across the globe as usual…a vast array of talented music makers. Victoria, Jaash and I performed a drum solo and people went wild for it. Love this pic of the three of us that Jaash’s friend shot. Had a great time being a part of this event and I have to say one of the most enjoyable group of performers to share a green room with. Amazing music everywhere.

Jaash has been doing a series of percussion for bellydancers which I have been playing zylls in. I miss really rocking out on the zylls so it was great and fun to watch other dancers move to our music. Check his site for more of this.

Last weekend I went to watch, yes you guessed it, more bellydance at the Dragonfly Studio event, Majlis. It was an ode to some dancers of bygone eras where each dancer performed in the style of Jamila Salimpour, Fifi Abdo, Aida Nour, Mona El Said, Soheir Zaki and Nagwa Fouad. There was also a slide show featuring some bellydance costuming history.

The countdown to Cues & Tattoos –One week exactly til Seattle! All is booked, have a place to stay in both Seattle –then Portland for our post-C&T adventure. Here’s my dance itinerary:

Fri  9:30-12:30 “Dynamics in Time” with Mira Betz                           1:00-3:00 “Thick and Juicy” with Rachel Brice

Sat  9:30-12:30 “Layering of Consciousness in Improv” (Mira)    3-6pm “Datura Vocabulary in Group and Solo Improv” (Rachel)

Sun – 9:30-12:30 Smoke and Mirrors: Spellbinding Slow Phrases and Fluid Footwork (Rachel)    3-5pm  FCBD: ATS Floorwork

And then there’s Portland, the plan is to hit up a few classes at Datura as well as with Gypsy Caravan. And of course I can’t wait to experience the Saturday Market I keep hearing about. Every vegan bellydancer needs to visit Portland once in her life, right?!

Two thousand and (lucky) 13

Hello 2013, nice to be here.

With the holiday season and all, I had a bit of a break from rehearsals. I welcomed the rest from choreography and technique, to move into the quiet reflective space that winter brings. Lots of stretching, yoga, meditation –and yes sleeping in. The pleasure of discipline taking a backseat to the discipline of pleasure.

But there’s always time for a show. A few of us Sugar Shakers and guests entertained a crowd of over 600 for New Years Eve at the Seneca Casino events centre in Salamanca New York. It was a Roaring 20′s theme, with an extravagant set-up, including a photo set with an old Ford model-t. The dancers did some swing and Charleston, with everyone in fine form and threads. At the stroke of midnight hundreds of balloons and streamers were released from the ceiling while we danced. It was a late night after the show filled with much silliness and laughter –which I intend to extend into 2013.

My top three dance ‘a-ha’ moments ‘s of 2012:

Sometimes you need rest over rehearsal: you know when you’re busting your ass for a show or to get that one combo straight and its after work and rehearsal on a Wednesday night –and you’re just exhausted. While mind over matter is often called for in a dance discipline, sometimes the matter — that is to say your mortal coil — just needs some goddamn sleep. The body will tell you when you’re not letting it rest and if you don’t listen it will talk louder –I don’t wait til it screams its protest against my go go go inclinations, with twists and spasms.

The importance of posture and alignment:

This year I have learned a lot about my posture, alignment and re-patterning my movement in ways that will enhance my dance as well as prevent injuries. For the first time I have worked with a physiotherapist, who has given my insight into deeply rooted patterns of holding and locomotion and has done myofascial release as well as re-patterning body and breath. On some days the body resists but overall I see more clearly where strengths, weaknesses and compensations lay and my body is relieved of stressful holding patterns. If anyone has an opportunity to go to a physiotherapist, go straight to Nam Do, she is a lovely person and a highly knowledgeable practitioner –guaranteed you will leave each session understanding your body a little better. This focus on fundamental movement patterns has already helped me in my dance goals around increased strength and flexibility and it will be an underlying awareness in all of my movement this year.

The beauty of dance friendships: Recently I’ve been reflecting on my dance friends and appreciating the nature of dance friendships. Usually, you come together through a teacher, studio or workshop and  the way paths cross and creative bonds form is really beautiful. The way we move together, hone our skills together, sweat, stumble and strive for our own personal best together. Sometimes we are so focused on ourselves in our journey and meeting our goals that we don’t always think of how lucky we are to dance with others. I can say in the past couple of years I feel tied into a dance community of very talented creative people and I can also say I’ve made some truly good friends through dance. Incredibly genuine, unique and fearless people dedicated to exploration of life through movement. Dancing ATS/ITS with Serpentina North Ensemble has been a particular growing experience as the group improv structure of the dance requires so many levels of communication. A strong bond is the wonderful result and with that synergy comes a particularly magic layer to movement.

Memorable dance moments of 2012:

• Sugar Shakers competition at Followlogie in Montreal
• Cues & Tattoos in Seattle (going back for more this March!)
• Rachel Brice intensive in Toronto and the honour of performing in the gala show with Serpentina North Ensemble
• Sugar Shakers road trips/out of town gigs
• dancing at Funkabelly uptown, at the gorgeous Capitol Theatre as part of a trio to live music by Nomadica

Favourite radio shows of 2012 (actually of several years in a row):

Yes folks radio is alive and well and has nothing to do with the mindless top 40 drivel. I’m talking community radio like 88.1 FM and 89.5 FM, truly grassroots forms of art and media. Personally my radio at home is always tuned into 89.5 and their programming is amazing, the variety of music, the genre and topic specific shows are a music nerds wet dream. My absolute favourites (music-wise) are:

The Minx sessions

Resistance on the Sound Dial

Higher Grounds

No Man’s Land

Global Rhythms

Funky Fridays

Amalgamation in Sound

For more vintage photos of women and their records check this out. Or this.

Now that I have reflected on the year, I am ready to move onto the next. New years resolutions are fine, but cultivating resolve year round can be a more sustainable path to reaching your goals. Here’s a full year of reaching beyond our comfort zones!

We’ve all managed to survive a stressful time of year (ironically still referred to as “the holidays”), bombarded by capitalist pressures (aka. the accumulation of stuff and things). I hope you have kept this in mind throughout: Never let the things you WANT make you forget about the things you HAVE.

Love and light.

Sandy

Fringes and Shiny things for a dark time of year…

Helloooo out there, hope some of you are still with me even though its been so long since my last post. The fall was a dance whirlwind, with shows and rehearsals and late nights at the sewing machine in my mad scientess creative lair. I’ll keep this short, the photos speak for themselves. As usual, gratitude overflows for all of the enchantment (and disclipline) of my dance adventures.

For this years Nuit Blanche, the place to be for dancers was the second annual Moonlight tribe, hosted by Orkideh of Serpentina. It was a full line-up of bellydance (of course!), flapper (Sugar Shakers), kathak, drumming, and live music.  It was great to have an event where all the dancers come together across styles and schools to dance til all hours…we took lots of photos:

     

Serpentina performed at the Bellydance Bazaar for the annual Halloween themed show in Kitchener. Check the snouts, completely ridiclous and loads of fun   

 

 

 

 

The Funkabelly 5 year anniversary happened in the fall and returned to Lula Lounge for the celebration. I did a duet with the lovely Saba to a live number by Nomadica. For those of you who love the vibe of Funkabelly and the sounds of world mashup bands like Nomadica, be sure to check out Handmade Entertainment, a new venture that creates customized events based on world music/dance/performance. Both Sugar Shakers and Funkabelly Allstars are connected to Handmade and we are all looking forward to collaborations with all of the other artists on the roster for some really eclectic events.

   

 

Serpentina danced at the Darkside Studio’s six year anniversary party, and welcomed a new troupe member Kelly for her tribal debut! Always a good time at Darkside events, here’s Elana and Sarah enjoying tea in the salon…

Toronto Lindy Hop Cabaret happened again this year and I’m happy to have been asked back for another bellydance number. The cabaret is a venue for lindy hoppers to showcase their other talents. Now I dont know that my partner dance is refined enough to call myself a lindy hopper but I’m connected to the community through dancing Charleston and other solo vintage jazz styles with the Sugar Shakers. I had a wonderful time at  the event and had the rare pleasure of being an audience member for a Sugar Shakers performance…and shake their sugar they did. I must also mention Susie Vavoom with  her fan dance…whoa mama! After the show, some live music by Combo Royale hit the spot.

And last but none the less, I danced my ass off at the last Electro Swing Club event of the year. It was at the Gladstone so closed up at 2am (what kind of speak closes at 2 i ask ya?!)…by then I was tired and sweaty anyhow. Live music by Terra Hazelton and as always great electroswing by Medicine Man and Foxtrot Holmes.

Of course you likely already know this but next Saturday is the holiday edition of Bazaar of the Bizarre: FROSTBITE.

If you’re a holiday season shopper, remember to buy local as much as possible. There will be so many awesome local hand made products there, come support your creative community. Strange Dames will be there and we hope YOU will be too!

Summerlove

Stretching out these summer days as long as I can, living for the weekends and yearning for a time when summers seemed to last an eternity. Luckily these heat waves seem to be melting the clock and I’m savoring that. Dance wise the last month has been a slower but still steady pace.  After the madness (sweet madness, loved every minute of it!) that culminated in the Infusion gala and Rachel Brice intensive, training eased up a bit. I was ready to chill, with no shows coming up in the immediate future –but the usual practice schedule in full effect.

Although bellydance slowed down, the Sugar Shakers have been busy. We celebrated our 3 year anniversary, marked by some complimentary flapper and lindy hop classes and a dance at Dovercourt House. My almost-two-years of dancing with this flapper crew has been a blast, and always looking ahead to more vintage dance adventures.  Be sure to come join usat the Sugar Shakers open house at the end of August, see upcoming shows section for details. A few of us had a show at a wedding reception, and we got to bust out the fancy gold dresses.

                                                

                                                               

Also I am proud to announce I won a hula hoop contest at the Swing Toronto Beach Party that Sugar Shakers  performed at this summer. It was nothing fancy, there were no tricks involved, more endurance with one then two hoops. It was a triumphant moment nonetheless. Look how excited I was to win that glass with a little pinup on it! Combo Royale (with a guest appearance on washboard!)  was the band for the night…amazed every time I see them. Love how they do what they do…

This summer’s Pride celebration was extra amazing. I missed last year because I was in a Rachel Brice intensive all weekend so this year I was going for sure. Saturday, the Bellydancers with Pride performed a great show that featured various local troupes and soloists. The Raging Asian Women were at the same stage and they brought the house down with their rhythmic power.

A couple weeks before I found out Lady Kier was performing –and a Deee-Lite tribute at that. To say that’s my cup of tea would be an understatement. I know some of you out there think she was a one hit wonder back in the 90′s but non mon amie, she is so much more! She writes, produces and DJ’s. She is a long standing icon/ally in the LGBTQ community, she is political and outspoken and glamorous and I have admired her since I was 12 –as she made her mark on the mainstream soundwaves, before ducking back underground. So little did I know a couple years later I would find myself in the subterranean world of warehouse parties and my very own assortment of handmade costumes…But I digress into teenage reverie. To sum it up I got to meet Lady Kier for the second time, which only slightly makes up for the fact that I missed her most epic Toronto performance at Pleasure Force event she played back in 1994.

      

Funkabelly moved uptown this summer –to the swanky Capitol Theatre –and I was preparing for the marketplace as usual, organizing local vendors to peddle their lovely wares at the event.  I was recently invited by Roula Said to be a Funkabelly Allstar (and in part of the main show!), so was in rehearsals for that as well. Its been almost five years since Roula conceived of Funkabelly and I had been involved in a few different ways over the years, from setup to performances to later coordinating the marketplace of local artists. I did one of my first solo performances with original choreography (of course majorly supported by Roula) and was so excited to a few years later be a featured soloist at Vintage Funkabelly when it moved into Lula Lounge. I was always on the floor for the closing zaar in which those of us bellyheads brave enough would take over the dancefloor to rid our demons through our hair. Needless to say Funkabelly has a special place in my heart, and I was excited to start dancing in the rotating lineup of dancing talent known as the Funkabelly Allstars. I danced with Saba and Samara, two lovely dancers who I enjoyed sharing the stage with so much and was thankful for their warmth, focus and sense of humour. I love love love to dance with people who have more experience than me, that positive pressure always makes me push myself into new terrain. It can also be intimidating but as I’m finding out more and more over the years, I’ve never been one to let a little fear stand in the way of something I want. So the three of us did a cheeky Roula Said choreography to ‘Taala Wadaani’ (Khaled Aggag)–played live by Nomadica! Our shimmery cheetah print outfits were stunning with a slinky sarong style skirt. Costumes by Victoria Buston. Makeup by Dorota at Alchemy Center.

           

       

Serpentina is going full force, learning new ATS combos from Orkideh’s travels. We are working on our numbers for the second annual Moonlight Tribe (on for Nuit Blanche). This will be THE place to be for bellydance and fusion during Nuit Blanche and there are so many acts –dance and beyond! Currently there are five lovely, talented and fun dancers in Serpentina and guess what? We’re looking for more dancers! Auditions will be held at the end of this month. Check the website for details. I’m counting the days til registration opens for next years Cues and Tattoos in Seattle. Its not until next March but with this lineup of highly sought after teachers, it’ll book up in no time.

Be sure to check back for upcoming shows, I will likely be adding shows before I write a full post again. I hope you taking in all that is summertime in TO: outdoor movies, food festivals, street parties, and of course, dancing. Savour it all.

All dance, all the time. These days.

Yes its been non-stop. All dance, all the time. At least that’s what it felt like in May and June, so much that by the time I got home from rehearsals each night with intentions of updating this blog, I was too toasted to write anything mildly coherent. All of this work is paying off, and at the end of working on some shows there was more work. The discipline of the daily grind, with sprinklings of performance highs.

The madness started in April. Sugar Shakers performed at the Georgian Sound Festival in Thornbury. Our road trip was a lot of fun because there was also a lindy hop act of five couples, choreographed by Joanna of Sugar Shakers. So with a crew of 13 dancers we had a great time both on and off stage.

     

Then there were the birthday celebrations. Well mine was early April, but for the first time in a few years, nothing really dance related happened for that. Celebrations nonetheless. Drummer and friend Jaash Singh celebrated his birthday at the Cameron House with a show that featured his various musical projects past and present. Victoria and I danced a drum solo, some old school Om Laila styles choreographed by Meaghan Shields. Another April baby, fellow dancer and friend Laura Atma celebrated her birthday with a Champagne Cabaret at the Painted Lady –featuring a wide variety of bellydance talent. I did an ATS duet with Orkideh of Serpentina as well as a solo flapper number for that.

Shortly after that was the Frankie Manning Tribute weekend, where the Sugar Shakers performed at the opening dance. It was a full weekend of workshops and celebrations of one of the innovators of Lindy Hop.

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Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to check out the rest of the weekend but for good reason –great reason in fact, I ventured to Detroit for Soul Skate 2012. Now Detroit has its edge for sure, but overall  I feel pretty comfortable there from spending some time there at warehouse parties  back in the day and I’ve always found Detroit music people to be pretty welcoming. Soul Skate was one of the many after parties for the Movement/Detroit Electronic Music Festival –a weekend long celebration of the contribution Detroit has made to electronic music, with its specific genre of techno. While I didn’t actually get out to any of the festival, the lineup was great and after ten years of this festival and decades of local innovation in techno, the mayor  declared May 20-26th, ‘Detroit Techno Week.’   Sweet. One after party during the first couple years of the festival is where I first heard a Kenny Dixon Jr. (aka. Moodymann) DJ set live. Now, 12 years later that name still catches my eye (and ear!) which is how I ended up at SoulSkate 2012. With a couple other four wheel enthusiasts we drove Northland Arena, laced up our skates and started to move. We didn’t stop til the early hours of the morning and I saw some of the most insane rollerskating ever. So many amazing crews, dancers, acrobats and overall fierceness on four wheels.

The first weekend of June was filled with excitement. The long awaited, much anticipated Rachel Brice intensive finally arrived. Friday was a short workshop separate from the intensive, ‘Chop chop’ featuring  learning fast tribal fusion combos. Right after that workshop I had a show with the Sugar Shakers at the Carlu for the Mortgage Brokers Awards for their speakeasy-themed event. We greeted, danced, took photos and performed two sets over the course of the evening.

Rushing home after the show to get some sleep while mentally preparing myself for the days ahead. So much to learn from Rachel Brice and Saturday she worked us hard with drills, yoga, musicality…my mind has yet to process everything that my body took in that weekend. After the day of dance it was time to get ready for the Infusion gala show, where Serpentina North Ensemble would also be performing alongside a variety of tribal fusion dancers. I think this whole experience with the intensive and the show together in one weekend really warrants more digesting so suffice it to say, that it was incredible.

Toronto is bursting at the seams with interesting events right no –too many to mention right here, right now. But some things you need to know about right here, right now:

Painty McGee’s grand opening

Alternative Garage Sale at Radar

Sugar Shakers 3 Year Anniversary Party

Funkabelly at the Capitol Theatre

Love&Sweat to you my friends…

Music to my eyes.

I love Toronto, this city is live when the sun comes out and people start to shake off the cold. No shortage of creative things to take in, and I’ve been taking full advantage.

Early March brought the Combo Royale CD release party, the local vintage jazz party makers. Their new album “Slaugheterhouse Stomp” has been on heavy rotation around my house.  The same night was the first of Darkside Studio’s Fireside Chats, this one on costuming ideas for tribal fusion dancers.

In mid-March Junko Mizuno came to Toronto to show her new series, Venus Cake. I have been a fan of her work for years, having fallen in love with her early characters Fumi and Shiori action figures around the time she put out Hell Babies, a book with a quilted cover featuring awesome images of female characters that reminded me of a sexy, psychedelic and earthy version of the 70′s Dolly-Pops that I spent so many hours with as a kid. I got her to autograph and old journal of her artwork from 2006, which I will now frame alongside a print from one of her old series that a friend surprized me with.

Last month I had an oppotunity to attend a workshop “Unusual Movements to Unusual Music” by local dancer Laura Atma, as a part of the Alternative Bellydance Series at Dragonfly Studio. The time passed quickly as we learned some of Laura’s signature moves and learned a piece of her recent choreography –a piece created in collaboration with friend and dancer Maddie Bolek, for a Cirqlar event.

The end of March brought the long-awaited Cues and Tattoos in Seattle –my first ATS-focused bellydance conference. This is its 5th year running and apparently now bigger than ever. I went with two other members of Serpentina North Ensemble and we had our first workshop Friday morning with Kami Liddle –ATS remixed, variations on ATS combos that can be used for solo or group numbers. Later that afternoon was a workshop by Kajira Djoumanha of Blacksheep Bellydance , where we learned some of their signature combos. The next day was another Kami workshop where we learned faster combos of pops and hits. Then in the afternoon was a workshop on isolations with Steven Eggers, where we did some really interesting drills by mixing up the combos to work in opposites and unfamiliar patterns. Finally on Sunday (the days flew by!) was a Guedra blessing dance taught by Kajira. Its a really beautiful ritual dance of the “blue people” (they use an oil based indigo dye to colour most of their clothes, which rubs off on their skin, giving them a blue tinge) of the Tuareg Berbers, performed by women to offer blessings to groups and individuals. Accompanied by chanting and drumming, like many ritual dances, the whole environment along with internal focus induces a trance-state in the dancer.  Dancing for meditation, cleansing/exorcism or blessings, is an area of interest for me and Kajira is so knowledgeable about Guedra, it was a pleasure to learn from her. My last workshop was with members of Troupe Hypnotica, the creators of Cues & Tattoos, where we worked on polishing details for performing ATS improv. I had a lot of fun in that one, especially since being newer to ATS I haven’t done improv much outside of my own troupe. Although there wasn’t much extra time, I managed to get to Mighty-o Vegan Donuts to bring some goodies I promised to bring back for friends. Laura, Sarah and I (3 out of 5 of us in Serpentina) had really nice dinners and silly times travelling around together. The marketplace was super –I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of incredible jewelry, and we managed to get bustles for an upcoming show. I\m looking forward to next year and hoping our whole troupe can go together.

    

Back from Seattle, I had only a few days until my birthday, which happened to fall on the long weekend. Lots of birthday love, lots of catching up with people I hadn’t seen in a while, over awesome food. Then, of course, back to the grind but also back to all my regular classes: Om Laila, Serpentina and Sugar Shakers. With the inspiration of the last few weeks, motivation and creativity are running high.

Lastnight I went to Uno, presented by La Carnita, to see work by illustrator and fellow Sugar Shaker, Jacqui Oakley, alongside such international street art talent as Mike Giant, Sam Flores and locals Skam and Rcade. Set in a building on industrial grounds that have been re-purposed for urban agriculture (really amazing projects there), now called Evergreen Brickworks, it was a perfect setting to showcase an international line-up of cutting-edge artists.

        

  

Late April is filled with shows so be sure to take a look at the Upcoming Shows section. One of the most exciting events will be in early June, where Serpentina will be performing alongside other local bellydancers in the InFusion Gala show  featuring Rachel Brice. It is during the weekend of her intensive (which I’m taking) so it will be a full –and no doubt fullfilling –few days. Rachel doesn’t perform in Toronto often, so you don’t want to miss this one!

Stay tuned for more transmissions from the sistership…

Speakeasies and Springtime.

Happy almost March everyone! I blinked and February is leaving as quickly as it came. A lot of dance got packed into this short month already. Lets start with this past weekend: the long-awaited, much anticipated Surreal Speakeasy –brought to us by Salon Noir. With the speakeasy theme in full effect everyone was looking fine. And that wasn’t just the absinthe talking, people really went all out! I had a lovely time performing with Sugar Shakers, a new ‘flapper doll’ themed number, alongside the likes of a barbershop quartet, sultry burlesque and the headliner David J of Bahaus.

Sugar Shakers also opened for Tia Brazda this month at the Cadillac Lounge for her EP release party. It was a full house for her and after hearing this red-headed bombshell with a vintage jazz sounding voice, I can see why. The week before that, Sugar Shakers also danced alongside local talent Alex Pangman at one of  the Saturday Night Swing events. Another great night of music and dance…

On a bellydance note, last week was Funkabelly –a fire theme, this month– and again more fabulous music. Nomadica, as always, filled the space with its eclectic grooves and featured the Funkabelly Allstars doing shamadan (dancing with candlebras on their heads). Gorgeousness. The headliner was Xing Bang Fu, a dancer of such experience and refinement that he truly left us breathless. For years Om Laila has lived in the same studio as Xing teaches ballet and modern dance, yet I had never seen him perform.  I’m not entirely sure how to describe his style but as I understand it, he is one of a kind:  moving between  joyful and sinister, non-uniform, yet perfectly contained in his movement. I spent most of my time in the vendors section, at my Strange Dames booth…I’ve run out of cowls almost but expect some more in the coming months. Oh yes and fascinators too. Thanks to all my dancing (and singing!) ladies helping me promote the things I make. If you make things and want to sell them at Funkabelly, let me know. We are always looking for new designers and creators to add to our vendor section.

And last for now but certainly not least,  was  Inversion: Rewind, at Darkside Studio. Serpentina North Ensemble performed alongside other local acts including Coco Framboise and my new favourite mime (an altar ego of bellydancer Lluvia). The new location is amazing and it was nice to have an intimate studio show with so many other dancers, again making me grateful for the sense of community that arises from dancing together. I’m excited to check out some dance-related but not dance events that Audra will be hosting, including fireside chats, movie screenings and ‘A Real Hafla’ haflas.

I had plans of posting some new costume pieces I got in the past little while…particularly two headpieces made by two of my talented friends. But I have no clear pictures yet (but sneak peek in the photo above, I wore one to Salon Noir) , so that’s for next time.

If, like me, you get upset that you can’t dress up like a larger than life character everyday and are looking for something wildly creative to do this weekend, see you at the Fedora Upside Down‘s Mardi Gras Masquerade party. Featuring a bunch of local bands including Combo Royale, who I only saw once and was left wanting more.

Remember to check the events section, there are lots of new shows coming this spring!