__
Eight of Us?
Troupe Travels: Ya Halla Y’all!
Michelle Morrison
The running joke when Farfesha travels is “Eight of Us?” We take bi-annual troupe trips to events around the western half of the United States but the first time we had traveled with all eight of us was last year to the Mahmoud Reda workshop in Dallas. We arranged to stay in the hotel where the workshop was being held as they advertised a free airport shuttle. We dutifully called when we arrived at the airport and our call was answered by a desk clerk for whom English was a second language (disclaimer: this is not a slight—it’s key to the story!). I gave him our room reservation information and when he confirmed it, he asked his standard question, “And how many are in your party?” When I responded “There are eight of us,” he was clearly distraught. “EIGHT OF US?” The clerk and his young son ended up having to bring their car in addition to the hotel van just to accommodate us and our luggage, but the amazement in his voice tickled us all weekend and has become part of the Fesh vocabulary.
It was with great delight that Eight of Us traveled to Dallas in mid-August to attend Ya Halla, Y’all. This was our third year attending and we have so much fun every year—partly because it’s four days of just girls and partly because it is a remarkably well organized event with a dozen top-level instructors, at least as many vendors, and the most welcoming hosts. Isis and her Star Dancers live up to the legend of Texas hospitality (in New Mexico, we usually suspect Texan hospitality as just being a way to get ahold of our precious water!).
This year we had four full days of workshops as four of us elected to attend the extra Thursday workshop with Rachel Brice. I’ve had the good fortune of studying with her before, and each time I get a yoga workout, physiology lesson, and one good combo. Rachel doesn’t try to squeeze an entire choreography into a three-hour workshop. Rather she really focuses on her distinct technique and then works that technique over and over with a few choice moves. You leave not trying to remember steps, but rather how those steps felt on your body.
Now here’s a funny thing—we never pre-plan who is going to sleep in which room or which bed when we travel. We somehow throw our bags and wherever they land is where we sleep. This trip, the Rachel Brice foursome ended up in the same room and the lazy dancers who chose to lounge at the pool instead ended up in the other room!
Saturday workshops brought us Aziza and Virginia. Aziza announced that she would be teaching a drum solo (no big surprise, she is a drum solo goddess). Jennifer began looking very smug—not easy to take when one has giggled like a school girl until after midnight the night before—because she not only learned, but mastered the drum solo Aziza taught a few months before when she was in Albuquerque. Well, drum solo goddess that she is, Aziza pulled a new, longer, more complex drum solo out of her sleeve (she had three hours, after all, not just two!). Though I rarely use a choreography I’ve learned at a workshop, I enjoy seeing how other dancer’s minds work, why they put certain moves to certain parts of the music. With this drum solo, we started out not hearing a lot of the beats that Aziza was dancing to, but by the end, the song was so much richer because we finally heard all the nuances that she had choreographed.
Is it really truth in advertising to call it a lunch break when really all you do is shop? Sadly, my costume closet is so jam-packed that I had to completely avoid the costume vendors. Oh, all right, who am I fooling? I can’t avoid them anymore than I can avoid peanut M&Ms, but I didn’t seriously shop! I did get to live vicariously through Jennifer, who bought a beautiful rose set, and Ashley and Kat who bought treasures from Dallal.
Virginia is an amazing dancer—I have watched her on EAOD videos for years and have stolen (er, LEARNED) many moves. She taught a group choreography (which of course made our ears perk up) to the pop version of Alf Leyla Wa Leyla. The choreography was HOT! My only personal bias was that I am so tired of that song, it didn’t really call to me. Personal bias aside, her combinations are really crisp and tight and that inspired me to turn it up in my next group choreography.
Friday night was the first of three nights of shows. Each night features the teaching stars and many of the workshop participants. This year, Evon was able to perform a solo. Needless to say, she brought the house down. She imbues her performances with so much joy and emotion. Though there were MANY dancers that weekend, it was slightly dismaying to see so many faceless dancers. What I mean is that there was little or no expression on many otherwise fabulous dancers. While the audience was warm and appreciative of all the performers, they really responded to those dancers, like Evon, who not only danced, but shared her dance with expression—smiles, flirtations, pensive looks, delight in her music.
One of the Friday show’s highlights was seeing Issam perform on stage and then call out first Rachel Brice and then Aziza to perform with him. What contrast! And yet, they both owned the stage in their own unique styles.
Here’s a really cool thing about the group of women that is Farfesha: throughout a four day weekend, we form smaller groups of twos and threes, but never for more than an hour or two. We tend to flow together, then meld into different smaller groups for chatting, laughing, and brainstorming. No one is ever left out and we all get to bond. We even managed to talk about topics other than dance! What a blessing these women are in my life!
Saturday brought us Veena of the Bellytwins (Neena was home with food poisoning). Call me a cynic or ignorant, but I had somewhat dismissed the twins as a bit of clever marketing. I hereby eat my words! Veena was so knowledgeable and such a good teacher and in such amazing shape, I immediately bought a DVD and their new book. Thinking we’d like a break from belly dance, she instead spent her workshop teaching us Bollywood style dance and Bhangra dance (Bhangra is from the Punjab in northern India and grew out of the martial arts style there. As a result it is very energetic!).
Saturday afternoon’s workshop was taught by Amir Thaleb, a powerful male dancer from Argentina. In his Friday night performance, he emerged in a very full skirted white coat and began spinning—and spinning and spinning and spinning with skirts flying in a modern take on the traditional Tanoura style. Once the coat was gone, he didn’t focus a lot on his hips to hit percussive beats, but rather his shoulders, and especially his shoulder blades which he could pop back and forth.
Poor Kat, every time we travel, she has to spend half of her time back at the hotel on her computer. She is nearly done with her degree, but her classes are such that she has homework she has to turn in DURING the weekend! What a trooper! She did stop when we returned Saturday afternoon so that we could move chairs and tables out of the way and practice our group number—an interesting prospect! Some last minute costume sewing and we were ready to go. We performed our tribal fusion set complete with outrageous make up and Egyptian bobbed wigs. While we had been well received when we performed it in Albuquerque earlier in the year, you just can’t beat a Ya Halla Y’all audience. They applauded, they yelled, they laughed when they were supposed to, they cheered and screamed when it was over—whew! What a rush! It’s no wonder all dancers performed their best that night with such a crowd.
I also performed a solo that night and have to say, that for the first time in my fifteen years of dancing, I felt completely relaxed in my performance. Don’t get me wrong, I feel I’m a competent performer and I’ve felt powerful, in control, joyful, etc, etc. when performing. In small venues, I’ve experienced this feeling of relaxation and grace many times, but something about a big stage with a crowd of 500 tends to make me tense up. I’ve often felt like I’ve had to force grace into my moves, rather than letting in flow through me. My performance that night marked a turning point—here’s hoping I can regain that feeling again!
The Saturday show ran a whopping five hours—but it was worth it to see Issam and Susu jam onstage. What energy! You did not even miss a dancer—in fact, a dancer would have detracted from this synchronization of two completely different styles of drumming! It totally revved us up!
Sunday found half the group sleeping in and swimming at the pool instead of attending Morocco’s workshop, but I had heard and read too much of her over the years to miss this chance to meet her and study under her. Let me just summarize: What a hoot! She is knowledgeable, yes; she has performed everywhere, yes; she is inarguably one of the founding mothers of American belly dance, yes. But she also lippy and sassy and outrageous! We had so much fun in her class! She claims she’s old enough now that she can say whatever she wants (although she slipped and let us know she’s always said whatever she wants). She also taught a drum solo, but in such a different style. The younger belly dance stars today throw every pop, lock, and drop that they can in perfect synchronization with the drum. Morocco’s style also hit drum accents, but only when she decided it was time for a little wow factor. In between would be smooth moves, slower moves. Not that her style wasn’t as fiesty as her (After ten minutes of her class, we all turned to Debi and said, “There’s you in thirty years!”) but it was different!
With so many teachers and so many troupe members, there was a favorite teacher for everyone: Aziza is always one of my and Jennifer’s favorites because she FEELS her dance and makes you feel it too; Evon loved Morocco and Debi will be her in a few decades; Kirsten and Kat fell in love with Veena and the Indian style of dance; Wendy is a Rachel Brice groupie; technique hound Ashley ate up Virginia’s challenges.
Sunday afternoon saw us dragging back to the airport. Our luggage barely made it under the weight limit (ok, I didn’t buy costumes, but you always need new music!) and the coin bras and belts ensured that all of our bags were inspected. We were all greeted by loved ones in Albuquerque and while we had missed kids and significant others, we were also sad to give up “Eight of Us!”
Based in gorgeous Albuquerque, NM, Michelle has 15 years of belly dance experience. She is director of Farfesha Belly Dance Company, owner of Farfesha Studios, producer of her own instructional videos, and a popular workshop instructor. Please visit her at www.farfesha.com
Troupe Travels: Ya Halla Y’all!
Michelle Morrison
The running joke when Farfesha travels is “Eight of Us?” We take bi-annual troupe trips to events around the western half of the United States but the first time we had traveled with all eight of us was last year to the Mahmoud Reda workshop in Dallas. We arranged to stay in the hotel where the workshop was being held as they advertised a free airport shuttle. We dutifully called when we arrived at the airport and our call was answered by a desk clerk for whom English was a second language (disclaimer: this is not a slight—it’s key to the story!). I gave him our room reservation information and when he confirmed it, he asked his standard question, “And how many are in your party?” When I responded “There are eight of us,” he was clearly distraught. “EIGHT OF US?” The clerk and his young son ended up having to bring their car in addition to the hotel van just to accommodate us and our luggage, but the amazement in his voice tickled us all weekend and has become part of the Fesh vocabulary.
It was with great delight that Eight of Us traveled to Dallas in mid-August to attend Ya Halla, Y’all. This was our third year attending and we have so much fun every year—partly because it’s four days of just girls and partly because it is a remarkably well organized event with a dozen top-level instructors, at least as many vendors, and the most welcoming hosts. Isis and her Star Dancers live up to the legend of Texas hospitality (in New Mexico, we usually suspect Texan hospitality as just being a way to get ahold of our precious water!).
This year we had four full days of workshops as four of us elected to attend the extra Thursday workshop with Rachel Brice. I’ve had the good fortune of studying with her before, and each time I get a yoga workout, physiology lesson, and one good combo. Rachel doesn’t try to squeeze an entire choreography into a three-hour workshop. Rather she really focuses on her distinct technique and then works that technique over and over with a few choice moves. You leave not trying to remember steps, but rather how those steps felt on your body.
Now here’s a funny thing—we never pre-plan who is going to sleep in which room or which bed when we travel. We somehow throw our bags and wherever they land is where we sleep. This trip, the Rachel Brice foursome ended up in the same room and the lazy dancers who chose to lounge at the pool instead ended up in the other room!
Saturday workshops brought us Aziza and Virginia. Aziza announced that she would be teaching a drum solo (no big surprise, she is a drum solo goddess). Jennifer began looking very smug—not easy to take when one has giggled like a school girl until after midnight the night before—because she not only learned, but mastered the drum solo Aziza taught a few months before when she was in Albuquerque. Well, drum solo goddess that she is, Aziza pulled a new, longer, more complex drum solo out of her sleeve (she had three hours, after all, not just two!). Though I rarely use a choreography I’ve learned at a workshop, I enjoy seeing how other dancer’s minds work, why they put certain moves to certain parts of the music. With this drum solo, we started out not hearing a lot of the beats that Aziza was dancing to, but by the end, the song was so much richer because we finally heard all the nuances that she had choreographed.
Is it really truth in advertising to call it a lunch break when really all you do is shop? Sadly, my costume closet is so jam-packed that I had to completely avoid the costume vendors. Oh, all right, who am I fooling? I can’t avoid them anymore than I can avoid peanut M&Ms, but I didn’t seriously shop! I did get to live vicariously through Jennifer, who bought a beautiful rose set, and Ashley and Kat who bought treasures from Dallal.
Virginia is an amazing dancer—I have watched her on EAOD videos for years and have stolen (er, LEARNED) many moves. She taught a group choreography (which of course made our ears perk up) to the pop version of Alf Leyla Wa Leyla. The choreography was HOT! My only personal bias was that I am so tired of that song, it didn’t really call to me. Personal bias aside, her combinations are really crisp and tight and that inspired me to turn it up in my next group choreography.
Friday night was the first of three nights of shows. Each night features the teaching stars and many of the workshop participants. This year, Evon was able to perform a solo. Needless to say, she brought the house down. She imbues her performances with so much joy and emotion. Though there were MANY dancers that weekend, it was slightly dismaying to see so many faceless dancers. What I mean is that there was little or no expression on many otherwise fabulous dancers. While the audience was warm and appreciative of all the performers, they really responded to those dancers, like Evon, who not only danced, but shared her dance with expression—smiles, flirtations, pensive looks, delight in her music.
One of the Friday show’s highlights was seeing Issam perform on stage and then call out first Rachel Brice and then Aziza to perform with him. What contrast! And yet, they both owned the stage in their own unique styles.
Here’s a really cool thing about the group of women that is Farfesha: throughout a four day weekend, we form smaller groups of twos and threes, but never for more than an hour or two. We tend to flow together, then meld into different smaller groups for chatting, laughing, and brainstorming. No one is ever left out and we all get to bond. We even managed to talk about topics other than dance! What a blessing these women are in my life!
Saturday brought us Veena of the Bellytwins (Neena was home with food poisoning). Call me a cynic or ignorant, but I had somewhat dismissed the twins as a bit of clever marketing. I hereby eat my words! Veena was so knowledgeable and such a good teacher and in such amazing shape, I immediately bought a DVD and their new book. Thinking we’d like a break from belly dance, she instead spent her workshop teaching us Bollywood style dance and Bhangra dance (Bhangra is from the Punjab in northern India and grew out of the martial arts style there. As a result it is very energetic!).
Saturday afternoon’s workshop was taught by Amir Thaleb, a powerful male dancer from Argentina. In his Friday night performance, he emerged in a very full skirted white coat and began spinning—and spinning and spinning and spinning with skirts flying in a modern take on the traditional Tanoura style. Once the coat was gone, he didn’t focus a lot on his hips to hit percussive beats, but rather his shoulders, and especially his shoulder blades which he could pop back and forth.
Poor Kat, every time we travel, she has to spend half of her time back at the hotel on her computer. She is nearly done with her degree, but her classes are such that she has homework she has to turn in DURING the weekend! What a trooper! She did stop when we returned Saturday afternoon so that we could move chairs and tables out of the way and practice our group number—an interesting prospect! Some last minute costume sewing and we were ready to go. We performed our tribal fusion set complete with outrageous make up and Egyptian bobbed wigs. While we had been well received when we performed it in Albuquerque earlier in the year, you just can’t beat a Ya Halla Y’all audience. They applauded, they yelled, they laughed when they were supposed to, they cheered and screamed when it was over—whew! What a rush! It’s no wonder all dancers performed their best that night with such a crowd.
I also performed a solo that night and have to say, that for the first time in my fifteen years of dancing, I felt completely relaxed in my performance. Don’t get me wrong, I feel I’m a competent performer and I’ve felt powerful, in control, joyful, etc, etc. when performing. In small venues, I’ve experienced this feeling of relaxation and grace many times, but something about a big stage with a crowd of 500 tends to make me tense up. I’ve often felt like I’ve had to force grace into my moves, rather than letting in flow through me. My performance that night marked a turning point—here’s hoping I can regain that feeling again!
The Saturday show ran a whopping five hours—but it was worth it to see Issam and Susu jam onstage. What energy! You did not even miss a dancer—in fact, a dancer would have detracted from this synchronization of two completely different styles of drumming! It totally revved us up!
Sunday found half the group sleeping in and swimming at the pool instead of attending Morocco’s workshop, but I had heard and read too much of her over the years to miss this chance to meet her and study under her. Let me just summarize: What a hoot! She is knowledgeable, yes; she has performed everywhere, yes; she is inarguably one of the founding mothers of American belly dance, yes. But she also lippy and sassy and outrageous! We had so much fun in her class! She claims she’s old enough now that she can say whatever she wants (although she slipped and let us know she’s always said whatever she wants). She also taught a drum solo, but in such a different style. The younger belly dance stars today throw every pop, lock, and drop that they can in perfect synchronization with the drum. Morocco’s style also hit drum accents, but only when she decided it was time for a little wow factor. In between would be smooth moves, slower moves. Not that her style wasn’t as fiesty as her (After ten minutes of her class, we all turned to Debi and said, “There’s you in thirty years!”) but it was different!
With so many teachers and so many troupe members, there was a favorite teacher for everyone: Aziza is always one of my and Jennifer’s favorites because she FEELS her dance and makes you feel it too; Evon loved Morocco and Debi will be her in a few decades; Kirsten and Kat fell in love with Veena and the Indian style of dance; Wendy is a Rachel Brice groupie; technique hound Ashley ate up Virginia’s challenges.
Sunday afternoon saw us dragging back to the airport. Our luggage barely made it under the weight limit (ok, I didn’t buy costumes, but you always need new music!) and the coin bras and belts ensured that all of our bags were inspected. We were all greeted by loved ones in Albuquerque and while we had missed kids and significant others, we were also sad to give up “Eight of Us!”
Based in gorgeous Albuquerque, NM, Michelle has 15 years of belly dance experience. She is director of Farfesha Belly Dance Company, owner of Farfesha Studios, producer of her own instructional videos, and a popular workshop instructor. Please visit her at www.farfesha.com
