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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

How I was introduced to Bellydance

One name...Shakira. It's funny, me being raised heavily in religious and RnB music, somehow Shakira's newfound fame in the US attracted me to belly dance. I'm sure most have saw the video, "Whenever, Wherever", but what really made me want to know what belly dancing was about was a video of a performance she did at her album release party. Here it is:


I began watching other videos of what I thought were professional belly dancers and, too be honest, desired the ability to perform like them. It wasn't until years later that I was able to take an actual class in belly dance (Shoutout to the BellyRoom and Lady M! ) It has been six months since I took my first class (I believe I made the half- year mark) and now I'm looking even more into the styles and costumes of the dance. I saw many videos of Lebanese belly dance with the cane (I believe it's the Saidi dance) and the performance by Lotus Niraja was quite impressive. Here is a link to the dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlL-qRb0mgU