flissy's blog

Electric Maid ATS Mixer! March 14th!

flissy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:02:08 +0000

Kallisti Tribal Presents:

The Electric Maid ATS Mixer
March 14th 3pm - 6pm
268 Carrol Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20012
(in Takoma Park)
suggested donation: $8

The Mixer is a low-key event for dancers to flex their improv muscles outside of
class or performance, in an intimate, sharing community arts venue. No pressure,
no recital, no judgement, no costumes. Dancers should come prepared to freely
improv with others based on their comfort level in American Tribal Style (ATS)
as established by Fat Chance Bellydance (FCBD).

Note about the dance space - bring dance shoes, the floor is a little rough.

More details at www.kallistitribal.com

RSVP at the facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=463737400606&ref=mf

Acroyoga!

flissy — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:51:51 +0000

Friday night, I went to another AcroYoga workshop with Jean-Jacques at the Baltimore Yoga Village. I am officially hooked on this practice. At my first AcroYoga workshop, I was made aware of some weaknesses in my practice that I have revisited over the last few months, and I felt much more comfortable in the workshop this time.

It was made even more magical by getting to fly with my troupemate, Nora! We dance together every week, and it was really exciting and fun to fly together! I completely trusted her to hold me up in the air, and it felt so nice to be able to give back that yummy flying feeling when I flew her next.

I can't wait to see where this practice will take me!

The Biz of Yoga, again.

flissy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:31:53 +0000

With two weeks of crazy dance time behind me, we're now back to regularly scheduled yoga blogging. Now I direct your attention to Yoga Dork where you will find a fantastic interview with Sadie Nardini.

Straight up I'll tell you I have always been a fan of Sadie Nardini. I love her You Tube Videos, and her unique, no-nonsense voice over at the Huffington Post.

Recently she signed on at YAMA, which is essentially a talent agency that handles yoga teachers. I definitely noticed a shift in Sadie's already impressive web presence, and it's kind of exciting to see that her yoga is taking her to a whole new level. A lot of fundamentalist yogis are all a-tizzy about the creation of such a thing being an un-yogic, money-grubbing venture. I say, why not?! I'll let you read Sadie's far more eloquent take on the matter, but I'll add that I spent the first year post Yoga Teacher Training floundering around trying to get classes started. I would still say that I am not 100% successful in managing my own teaching business. It is really difficult building classes and getting a following, and teaching classes is a total time suck. Sure I am making a really decent hourly rate, but that does not include my time marketing, creating lesson plans, talking to students, and the twenty minutes I spend rolling up mats and cleaning up after every class. Would I like someone to help me to manage my life? YES. Totally. In fact, I hope to have the problem when I am too busy to handle all of the teaching and performance gigs I would like to do, so that I can hand over the logistics to a professional, and I can dedicate my time to developing my skills as a teacher and serving my students. Isn't that what we all want? To live our passion, and for it to be sustainable?

Charm City Tribal Video

flissy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:10:30 +0000

Here's a video from Saturday's performance at Charm City Tribal:

Verve Tribal at Charm City Tribal 2/27/2010 from Anne Barkett on Vimeo.

Such a fun event! We had a blast jamming after the show dancing with the drummers, and it's always a good time hanging out with other dancers.

Come See Me Dance!

flissy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:59:34 +0000

It's a performance double header!

Verve Tribal performs at Charm City Tribal
Saturday, February 27th, 9pm Doors, 9:30 Show, FREE!
We're doing a sword choreography you won't want to miss! Stick around for open dancing and drum circle!

Kallisti Tribal performs at DC Tribal Cafe
Sunday, February 28th, 6pm Doors, 7pm Show, $10
I love this event! A great community of dancers and dance enthusiasts. Always fun. We've got something special planned, too!

I'm I crazy for doing two choreographies in a row?! I'm an improv girl!

ATS GS, again!

flissy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:27:46 +0000

I'm just sitting down after four days of bellydance training! I went through another round of American Tribal Style General Skills with Carolena of Fat Chance Belly Dance & Megha of Devyani. After my first GS last summer, I was on fire to fully commit myself to the study of ATS and soak up as much as possible. I took it this time with a special intention to prepare for Teacher Training certification in San Francisco this November.

I feel so fortunate to have shared this experience with my dance partner, Chris, as well as with the super dedicated and fun-loving DC dance community. It was, again, a magical experience and I loved every minute of it! One one hand, this GS really solidified my confidence in my dancing and my ability to present ATS to my students. On the other hand, I am surprised by nuances that I overlooked, challenged by movements I don't use often enough, and enlightened by new perspectives on concepts. I'm freshly motivated and as always, I'm humbled and inspired by Carolena.

I think the only reason I was able to hold back tears this time around is that I know I will be seeing Megha again in July and Carolena in November! I am so, so excited for Teacher Training. I can't wait. I so fully believe in ATS, and I am so eager to bring up new dancers who may learn to love it as much as I do!

ATS Level 1 Review Cancelled

flissy — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:19:41 +0000

The ATS Level 1 Review Class, scheduled to occur on Wednesday, February 24th at 7:30 PM has been cancelled. Due to the snow, I had to extend my regular class session to this time slot. Since I will still be running a regular class at this time, you are welcome to drop in! We will be drilling Circle Step and Walking Shimmies. If you are a new student, I will still offer this class to you at a discounted rate of $10.

Product Shout-Out: Mac Fluidline

flissy — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:56:41 +0000

I must interrupt the usual thought-provoking blog content with an important product review.

MAC Fluidline! How did I live so long without this product? I have been rocking the cat eye liner look since I was a teenager! Originally I was a devotee of some Maybelline liquid liner, but the formula changed probably 8 years ago and I tried a handful of products until I eventually landed on Fluidline, the Holy Grail of Eyeliner. I can get an absolutely perfect swoosh with an angled liner brush. It does not budge all day, and Blacktrack is BLACKBLACKBLACK, which makes it ideal for everyday as well as performance. It is every bit as good as it is reputed to be, so if you use liner get yourself some!

OK back to your regularly scheduled asana sequences and anatomy freak-outs!

Still Geeking Out on Anatomy: Fascia

flissy — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:51:17 +0000

Another local bellydancer, Latifa, linked to a fascinating article from Men's Health Magazine, Everything You Know About Your Muscles is Wrong. It's all about fascia! Fascia is the network of connective tissue that runs throughout the body. The myofascial net, in particular, embraces all of the muscle tissue. It was my understanding in my yoga training that fascia contains neurotransmitters that send signals back and forth to the brain (proprioception) and inform the brain of sensation and pain. This article is focused on new research that shows that fascia also displays a spring-like quality that can help your muscles act stronger, and accessing the fascia can benefit overall fitness training.

We all have specific habits and imbalances that affect our posture and how we move. Those habits become engrained in the fascia. Fascia is difficult to change, so this article is suggesting starting your workout by opening up secondary areas of the connective tissue. Even that is effective in bringing the body into balance. Oh hey look at that! Bring your body into balance and you won't hurt yourself! Isn't that yoga?!

The article led me to Thomas Myer's website, where I found an excerpt of a lecture about yoga and fascia. Muscles relax after the neurological signal from your brain that basically says, "OK we're just in triangle pose, no one is going to get hurt!" Depending on training, this can be as short as 30 seconds for your hamstrings (for example) to start to let go and lengthen. After, one to three minutes, you can access the myofascial stretch. Fascia stretches plasticly,and does not snap back like muscle does. So keep holding those poses and you'll break those habits and imbalances that are causing you pain!

NO ATS CLASS 2/10

flissy — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:50:34 +0000

Hey there bellydancers!

There will be no class on February 10th due to the snow. The session will be extended to February 24th so we can make up the class.

Stay safe and warm, everyone!