Tribal Happenings at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival: Looking back at 2014

Special thanks to Shella La Bella

Once again, our troupe Tribal Happenings graced the LARF stage of the Painted Badgers Pub with our favorite numbers during the Thanksgiving Holiday.

It's always a treat to be a performing at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival.  I know that once I leave the fairground, I will leave more inspired to improve my dancing.

This year, however, is a little different. For a while, Tribal Happenings was mostly active during LARF, but with the help of the founder, Lady Morrighan, Tribal Happenings will be running as a full time troupe with me as co-troupe leader. This. is. EXCITING!

With that being said, I hope to stay active on The Ferris Wheels also as we go on this journey. I'm lucky to work with a great team of women and hope to share that experience in 2015.

So, did you miss the show? Don't be alarmed. We have video!

Special thanks to Craig for video

If you want to check out more, like us on Facebook! 

Merry Christmas!

We're back! Meet us at the Pub!

From left to right: Lady Sherry, Lady April, Lady Morrighan, and Lady Paige
Special thanks to Shella La Bella for her amazing photography.

We ladies of Tribal Happenings are back again to dance Thanksgiving weekend (Nov.28-30) at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival . This will be my fifth year on the fairground (Yay!) and it's starting to hit me that in two and a half weeks, we'll be shimmying across the stage at the Painted Badgers Pub.

What we have planned? Well...I can't say too much, but I can give you hints...

What to expect from a Tribal Happenings show

1. Expect to be welcomed by this woman, Shella La Bella. If you see her and she is making an announcement, listen!

2. Expect our show times to be the following: 11:00 am, 1:30 pm, and 3:00 pm. You'll know we're getting ready when the below happens. 

So many pillows!

  

3. Expect to be greeted with a big smile and a zaghareet from the stage. We're always happy to see new faces, so get comfortable.

Founder and troupe leader of Tribal Happenings, Lady Morrighan,

4. Expect to see new faces and the return of familiar ones. This year, we're welcoming Lady Kaela and Lady Katie, and welcoming back Lady Tara! 

From Left to Right: (Front) Lady Sherry, Lady Morrighan, and Lady Dawn; (Back) Lady Jennifer and Lady April

5. Expect colorful skirts in action

From left to right: Lady Lindory (Me), Lady Morrighan, Lady Sherry, Lady April, and Lady Paige (seated) 

And I mean LOTS of it...

And lastly...

6. Expect to see a group of dancers having the time of their lives as they leave a part of themselves on the stage.

Number 6 really hits home. *cue warm/uplifting music*

We're getting closer, and I'm excited to see who we run into this year. Let the Tribal Happenings adventures commence!

My List of Favorites: YouTube Belly Dance Videos

"Show Alquimia Kahina Bellydance" Image by Andre Santos.
Source:https://www.flickr.com/photos/alas20000/5688618165/in/photostream
License

I have something to admit: I love YouTube belly dance videos!

Sometimes, there is nothing better than just sitting back and surfing for amazing dancers perform various styles .

So now I'm thinking, why not share my favorites with you?

In no order, I will share a short selection of dances separated by categories. Every one of these performances have something I hope to take back with me for my own studies.

Kahina 

How amazing is it when a dancer looks like she's having fun? The first time I saw this video, all I could do was smile. Kahina's energy and appearance of true enjoyment really makes this performance. Source

Sharon Cohen

Another dancer who performs like the life of the party. Sharon Cohen doesn't just appear as if she's enjoying herself, she demands the dance floor. Source

Esmerelda 

Talk about personality! Esmerelda dances with confidence and poise. The power in her arms, isolations, and facial expressions are eye-catching moments from beginning to end. Source

Enjoyed these performances? There are more to come!

Easy Tortilla Wraps

This was a quick recipe I discovered through my best friend's mother right before our summer river trip. The simple tortilla rolls wrapped in cream cheese, green onions, and pepper jelly were addictive from the first time I tried them, so I had to attempt to recreate the appetizer.

Simple Tortilla Wraps

Photos by Mo Prevost

Ingredients:

1 package flour tortillas
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 jar of pepper jelly (I used Tabasco)
Green onions , chopped

Directions:

1. Spread cream cheese on tortilla.
2. Coat the cream cheese with a spoonful of pepper jelly.
3. Sprinkle chopped green onions evenly.
4. Fold the tortilla into a wrap and use a knife to divide it into three to four sections.
5. Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Photos by Mo Prevost

Troupe Blocking with Nail Polish- Success!

Hammond Horror Festival 2013
Photo by: Lady April

It's been awhile since I gave an update on the choreography I was working on using nail polish. Now, after we were able to practice and perform it, I want to give a analysis on the advantages and disadvantages of this unique method.

 Advantages:
- Visually beneficial- It was difficult to picture all 8 dancers (including myself) in the choreography together. By using a small, mobile visual to take the place of the dancers, I was able to capture a better idea of who was going to be where during a specific place in the music.

Hammond Horror Festival Performance 2013

Music by: Solace "Naga" Choreography by Lindory

Music by: Inkkubus Succubus Choreography by Lady April  

- Three dimensional- Before using nail polish, I attempted to form the choreography first through drawings and moving PowerPoint images. Neither methods captured the transitions of each dancer clearly while the choreography was in its developmental stage.
- Easy to Distinguish- As said in the earlier post, I used a different color for each element the dancers portrayed. When a transition did not work for me, it was easy to remember where each bottle was before the last decision.

Disadvantages:
- Only does so much- The nail polish could only work as placeholders. So if a dance move did not work, I usually found out in person with the dancers themselves.

This was the first fully choreographed group dance I ever taught (big thanks to La La Tribal teacher, Lady April!) so with this idea, I saved myself plenty of confusion and headaches. Take the time to watch our video from the Hammond Horror Festival and see the "nail polish method" at work.

Happy Holidays!

End of the College Road (What I have learned from being a college student)

        It's almost that time. I have bought my cap and gown, I have spoken to officers of organizations on what they should prepare for next semester, and I have sent some goodbye emails. Maybe it's too early to reflect, but I want to, just for the fun of it all. If anything, I know I am not the same freshman that walked into Southeastern years ago. With that being said, I thought it would be interesting to write an open letter to the 18-year-old me advising her of what I wish someone could have told me in order to survive college.

Dear 18 year-old Lindory,

Congratulations! You've survived high school! Although you're not going to believe me when I say this, I’ll tell you anyway. Forget last year, it gets better! You may experience a few issues adjusting to this new view the first year, but everything you go through is necessary. Here is a list that will help ease your mind before you start college:

1. Math will not be a strength for a while. Accept it so you can improve.

There’s nothing worse than denial. Once you know you can’t understand something, find out why. You will be your only cheerleader. After your hard work, you will leave algebra and statistic invincible.

2. Schedule everything.

You will no longer be reminded of homework assignments like in high school. If something sounds important, write it down. If there is a due date, write it in red, circle it, make it stand out.

3. Do not procrastinate!

This point will be difficult. If you need to do it, do it now. Once you get over this heap, you’ll feel accomplished.

4. An envelope will come in the mail soon with an invitation to a leadership organization. Accept it!

You’ll love the experience and you’ll gain experience. A big plus!

5. Write as a much as you can. 

This is detrimental. Journalists is only as good as their writing, so get to work. 

5. Lastly, your senior year will be amazing!

I’m not going to give too much away, but you’re going to love every bit of it.

If you had a chance to give your younger self advice, what would it be?

Covington Celebration of African American Heritage (Video Included)

        I mentioned earlier I would publish more posts involving the community. This is one of those posts.

        I attended a presentation by Dr. Eva Baham on June 23 about the African American heritage in Covington at the Greater Covington Center.The event caught my eye early June and I knew I wanted share this on my blog if I had the chance. I found the information helped me better understand the details of American slavery and the occupations of black citizens. I had a chance to speak to Dr. Baham about researching the past and felt encouraged to look into my own heritage. She gave me great advice on how to find information on the past (which is included in the video below). If you are interested in the black heritage in St. Tammany parish, here is a look into the presentation and interview by Dr. Baham.

Emergency comfort snack!

It's my favorite! This is perfect for a healthy/comfort snack. All it takes is chocolate chips (The amount of chocolate is your choice. I went a little overboard with my mix this time.), a bag of sliced almonds, and a bag of dried cranberries (or dried fruit of your preference). Pour them in a container and mix together to enjoy. 

My Summer To-Do List:Blogging, Dancing, and French Speaking

        When taking the summer off from college, I wanted to go back to drawing board and re-evaluate how I wanted to spend my last summer break and fall semester. My plan was to strengthen everything: My writing, my french, my dancing, and my networking in general.

1. My blog has been keeping my fingers on the keyboard, but I have yet to work true hard news since spring semester. This is a forewarning that you may be seeing some local news somewhere on this blog. I love food and I love dancing, but I also love my area!

2. So far I have been started 12 sets of choreography and only completed five (It would have been 11, but I had spark inspiration after listening to "Harem Aleyk" by Natacha Atlas. I love all the songs I have chosen, so since my summer is getting closer to an end, my goal from here on is to finish the remaining dances for future uses. It'll be a fun challenge!

3. About a year ago, I finished my French minor and haven't been in a French classroom since then. I miss practicing my French so I use countless applications, movies, radio, and songs to keep the language fresh in my mind. In the future, I plan to post ideas, programs, and techniques I use that I believe are effective.

Let the games begin!

Fruit Pizza

This recipe is one of my favorites for comfort food. I have made it countless ways and found out two things: use fresh fruit when possible and never take the easy way out by softening the cream cheese. Melting and softening are two completely different things that will give you two completely different results.

Ingredients:

1 roll or package of cookie dough ( I prefer chocolate chip)

1- 8 oz. package of cream cheese

2- 8 oz. containers of whipped topping 

1 pint of strawberries (diced, fresh preferred)

3 kiwis (diced, fresh preferred)

Directions:

1. Spread cookie dough onto a round cookie sheet. If cookie is in a roll, slice the dough to mold a pizza.
2. Follow cookie dough baking directions on package and bake. Remove the cookie crust from the heat and  place in the refrigerator to cool for later.
3. Dice the strawberries and kiwis and set aside.
4. Soften the cream cheese and combine the whipped cream with a whisk.
5. Spread the cream cheese/ whipped cream topping on the cookie crust and scatter the strawberries and kiwis on the crust to finish.

Troupe Blocking with Nail Polish (Update below)

       With many thanks to the La La tribal troupe leader, April, I have been given an opportunity to prepare a full piece for a show in the future. One of the toughest issues I am having so far is working on the dance without the dancers. This is where the fingernail polish comes into play. So far, it is the funniest yet most helpful ways I have learned to block dancers in choreography. After watching a recent episode of Game of Thrones (the heart-wrenching "Red Wedding"), I had thought using nail polish to block the dance would help make the performance clearer in my head as I made choices to move dancers around.

        The bottles were treated as bodies, meaning if I was not able to move the bottle in a new position efficiently, I could correct it. If I wanted one red color bottle (a dancer playing a specific role) in a particular position, I could practice blocking with the polish as much as I want, with the help of photographs from previous blocking. I used different color nail polish to represent a different person, took a picture of each change, and uploaded the picture to add text to the pictures. I will eventually need to put this to the test, so I will have an update on how it works.

Update: I have ran through all but one part of the group choreography. When it came to better understand the dancer's places, the nail polish technique was very effective. I haven't had a chance to tried the dance with the dancers themselves yet, but I feel the choreography will be better understood now that I see the transitions.

Tuna Sandwiches

A quick and easy recipe for time when you just want a sandwich. This is a personal favorite from my mom's collection.

Tuna Sandwiches

Ingredients:

5 eggs, boiled
5 cans of tuna, drained
6 tbsp of juice from sweet gherkin pickles
5 tbsp of mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

Directions:

1. Dice boiled eggs with yoke into a medium size bowl.
2. Add the drained cans of tuna, sweet pickles juice, and mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip)
3. Mix together in the bowl and serve with crackers or on a sandwich.

Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats

This recipe brings me back to when I was a kid so I wanted to rekindle the memories of the days where my mom and I would make this quick treat on summer days.

Ingredients:

7 cups rice cereal

1/2 cup sugar

4 tbsp peanut butter

1/4 tbsp butter

1 bag (10.5 oz) marshmallows 

Directions:

1. Melt butter into a large size pan.

2. Add sugar, marshmallows, and peanut butter into the pan and stir until smooth.

3. Add rice cereal and stir with a spoon or spatula. Make sure the cereal is thoroughly mixed.

4. Pour the mixture onto a non-stick cookie sheet and spread it until the treat covers it fully. 

5. Cut into squares to serve.

It's great with milk! Enjoy!

New choreography in process

    Very recently I have performed my own choreographed drum solo to the song "Desert Princess" by Hossam Ramzy. It felt amazing to complete a dance and present the finishing product. Now, I am ready to work on another choreography. It's different compared to the previous Triberet performances since this is more of a Tribal Fusion dance and I want the vocabulary to be smoother with more isolations. 

    Right now, I am in what I feel is stage two of choreography development. It is drafted, but nowhere near clean. I have  separated the movements into combinations to make corrections and practices easier. Since I prefer to save choreographing the opening of this dance for when I have a clear idea of my "story", there is no introduction yet.

    This experience should be fun since I am trying something different and challenging. I tend to gravitate towards using shimmies (hence my drum solo) but I want to focus on my underused movement vocabulary. I'll do my best to update on my progress.

Summer time! Time to focus...

I have finally finish my spring semester leaving one more semester before I graduate. I see friends preparing themselves for a new adventure in life and all it creates is a stir of anxiousness in me. Leaving the school that gave me the opportunity to explore my major in all aspects will be bittersweet, but I can't wait to jump into the workforce. So, for one last time, I am searching for volunteer or internship work over the summer.

This is my last rodeo being that the time I donate to the fall semester will strictly be to graduate. I want to make sure I am prepared for whatever is thrown at me. The volunteer experiences I've had in the past (from the food pantry to nursing homes) were amazing and the internships in broadcast and print media  gave me much needed lessons. However, I want to be able to say I have "dabbled" in as much communication-oriented work as possible. This isn't a break for me, it's another opportunity to learn.

My Favorite Moments in Belly Dancing

    It's been a while since I written something on The Ferris Wheels, but it doesn't mean I haven't been moving. The year of 2012 has been memorable in many ways when it comes to family, friends, school, and experiences. I am going into the last year if my life as a Mass Communication student with hopes of finding a job in Journalism in the near future. The highlight of my 2013 year so far is the my second place win in Communication Law and our Press Club's first place win in onsite competition at the Southeast Journalism Conference.

    Belly dancing is also still  a passion for me. As I am entering my fourth year as a Tribal Fusion dancer, I have finished three choreographies. What makes this even better is I have an amazing boyfriend supporting me throughout it all.

    I have been feeling nostalgic lately and decided to look back at some of my most memorable performances with the girls I love. I'm choosing these dances specifically because of how it changed the way I danced. I believe some people call this the journey.

Easy Orange Chicken

One of my favorite Asian cuisines have always been orange chicken. I learned this easy recipe two years ago and never forgot it. Most of the time comes from preparing the chicken. I recommend using boneless chicken for ease.

Orange Chicken

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast

1 jar Orange Marmalade

1 packet of Onion Soup (like Lipton)

Flour

Salt

Pepper

Oil for Frying

1.) Cut the boneless chicken in pieces and dust it in a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper.

2.) Warm vegetable oil on medium heat and dip chicken in oil to fry.

3.) When the chicken reaches a golden brown, remove the pieces from oil and set aside.

4.) In another large pan, mix orange marmalade with a dry packet of onion soup mix. Stir under heat until the orange marmalade/onion mix becomes a liquid form.

5.) Stir the chicken in the orange marmalade/onion mix slowly for even distribution.

Enjoy!

Feel the Music!

Lately I have been trying to practice musicality during belly dance practices. It seems so beautiful when dancers are involved in the music. This has become a goal of mine. It's like they are playing the instruments themselves. In the Dance Spirit article, "Musicality Matters: How To Become a Musical Dancer" , Wade Robson described the meaning of musicality. "Musicality is understanding music on a technical level, and then dropping all of that knowledge so you can sit deep inside the music.” In practices, I tried to think less of what moves I should do next. When I didn't focus on how I performed and how I should execute moves, I was able to enjoy the music.

There’s one technique mentioned in the article by Robson that really helps me:

Find a song you like and listen to it as you normally would. “Just take it in,” Robson says. Then play it again, but listen only to the drum. Block out every other sound and follow the drum through the entire piece. Does it change? Does it stay the same? Play the song a third time, focusing on another instrument, like the piano. Repeat this exercise until you’ve followed every instrument in the song. “You might have to listen 20 times, depending on the complexity of the song,” Robson says. “The last time you listen, take in the whole song again. You’ll be able to hear both the instruments individually and the tune as a whole. And you’ll be able to freestyle and dance to rhythms you never heard before. It will change your life as a dancer.”

By listening to a song repeatedly, the memory of the melody becomes familiar. Sometimes a song I've known for years would suddenly sound different as if I listened to it for the first time. It made dancing feel easier and more enjoyable. I highly recommend this article. It has plenty of valuable tips for dancers of all styles. By learning musicality, it could help me become a better dancer. In order to help me understand music better, I created a playlist for each mood of music.

1.) Smooth Moves ( Slow music, instrumentals, nonrhythmic taqsims and other music)

2.) Veil (The same as above but with more drums)

3.) Hip Pops (Drum solos, Upbeat Tribal Fusion music)

4.) Belly Hops (Turkish, La Caravane Passe, Energetic music, zills)

The last two titles were funny at the time...

Reconstructed Crop Top (Tutorial)

I am in dire need of more costume pieces, so I looked in the closet for reconstruction projects. Making costumes from scratch have always been overwhelming for me so recreating clothes is the next best option. The blouse I chose was very familiar with belly dancing because it was the shirt I wore on the opening night of Lady Morrighan's BellyRoom in Hammond. What a coincidence!

This is the shirt I chose for my project:

All is needed is a blouse, a pair of scissors, a sewing machine (or needle and thread), straight pins, safety pins, and elastic.

1.) Try on the blouse and measure how high you want to cut. Keep in mind to leave room for threading in the elastic.

2.) Fold the edge of the blouse wide enough for the elastic and straight pin the seams. Do not place the elastic in yet. Use the sewing machine or hand sew.

3.) After you finish sewing the edges, make a small, delicate, slit inside the middle back seam like this:

4.) Stick a safety pin inside the elastic and thread it through the slit. In order to make sure the amount of elastic used is comfortable, connect the safety pin to the other side of the elastic and try on the blouse. After you find the appropriate amount of elastic to use, cut and sew it together.

VOILA!

Stir-fry #1

For my first attempt at stir-fry, I used these ingredients:

Above: Zucchini, onion, frozen vegetables, mince garlic (not included: soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and vegetable oil)

After slicing the zucchini and dicing the onion, I placed the onions (and garlic) into a wok with vegetable oil to saute on medium heat.

QUICK AUDIBLE! At the last minute, I decided to try a new bottle of dried diced garlic I bought from Big Lots. You can use bottled (as seen in the first picture), fresh, or dried garlic if you wish, but it does effect the order you place the ingredients in the wok.

As the diced onions and garlic begin to turn light brown, place the zucchini and frozen vegetables in the wok and cover.

Add soy or Worcestershire sauce if you wish. Let it cook down for 10-15 minutes and you will have this:

Enjoy!