I attended the General Skills Intensive last weekend up in Arlington, hosted by Saffron Dance, accompanied by my dear friend Nadira and a former student and still friend of ours, Amira. We were lucky enough to have a free place to crash – the notorious and internet-famous MeliaLore. It was such a fantastic time. The studio space was lovely, and Saphira was so sweet.

Possibly one of the cutest pictures of Nadira ever taken

We acquired a few new friends this weekend. Karen, aka Karmah, who is made entirely out of Fabulous dipped in Awesomesauce, and has purple hair and a lovely southern accent. Michele, who is incredibly sweet and enthusiastic, and whose daughter makes awesome hair flowers with eyeballs. Yes, eyeballs. We really hit it off with our NC girls. Apryl-Grace, who came all the way up from Florida with her husband and two lovely daughters. Annie, who teaches MeliaLore’s ATS class and asked great questions (and has enviably beautiful hair!). The entire GS class was a really good one, though. We got to have a drink or two with a couple of the Saffron girls on Monday and had a great chat with them.

Michele and Karen, whom we tried to take home in our pockets

We spent our lunch breaks with Karen and sometimes Michele, trying to eat at the mythical restaurant that claimed to be Taste of Morocco, but was never open, and was rechristened (by us) Taste of Brigadoon and Taste of Bitterness. I think you had to turn five times widdershins and say a Hail Mary backward in Latin to get into that place. Instead we wound up at O’Sullivans, where a lovely boy named Donagh with a delicious Irish accent served up good hot pub food and good cold beer. We ended up there three times, I believe. Sadly, Donagh was not always there.

Taste of Brigadoon and O'Sullivans

I wore some of my more esoteric cholis, including the one with dinosaurs all over it, and a few people got cards to order cholis from me. Yay! Carolena wants me to make her a choli. I managed not to get fangirl all over her when she said this, but it was a near thing. I’m on a hunt for the perfect fabric.

The lovely Annie

The workshop was excellent, as I knew it would be, having taken from Carolena and Megha before. They teach very well together, and are such beautiful dancers. We cracked jokes, they cracked jokes, it was just a really fun workshop.

Megha and Carolena laughing at one of Nadira's jokes

If you ever get the chance to go to a General Skills Intensive, do it! I think an intermediate dancer would get the most out of this workshop, but there truly is something in it for all levels and all dancers. Well worth the price of admission!

The all-important piece of paper, much like college - a bachelor of arts in ATS?

I have pages and pages of notes to transcribe, but I feel completely rejuvenated in ATS – just in time to start teaching our new class! After almost two months on hiatus, I will be co-teaching a Level 1 ATS class with Nadira, Tuesdays at 6:30pm at Hipnotic World Dance Center in Chesapeake. See my website Classes page for details.

One last call!

Temporary hiatus while I attend the GSI this weekend. Will be back next week with new content, no doubt inspire by the incomparable Carolena!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Feliz is a troupe of very talented ladies in Taiwan, and it’s a very lovely performance.  Especially love the double Chico passes and the Sunanda facing each other!

This is something I occasionally do for students and want to start a feature on my blog.

Today we’re going to take a look at the slow moves from Level 1: Taxeem, Arm Undulation, Bodywave, Belly Roll, Ribcage Rotation, Torso Rotation. Pay particular attention to a few things: who is leading, the shape their formation makes, their posture, transitions, and of course the moves. This entry will be geared toward the beginning ATS dancer.

The first video is from Fat Chance’s volume 1. Our dancers here are Rina Rall (green sleeves), Karen Gehrman (red sleeves), and Carolena Nerrichio. Beginning at 0:24, with Karen in the lead after a fade, there’s a very nice Ribcage Rotation, followed by Arm Undulation layered over a Taxeem. Note that the Taxeem is NOT a large move. At 1:10 begins Bodywave, which they deepen at 1:17 (Deep Bodywave counts as a second move). At 1:53, after fading back again, Carolena is now leading and initiates a Torso Rotation, also known as “Left Boob/Right Boob” in some circles. You can see Karen does this move quite a bit more deeply to the back than either Carolena or Rina. This is partly biology and partly practice, and a little personal preference. The more you practice and condition your body, the easier you’ll find it is to do moves like the Deep Bodywave and deeper Torso Rotations. At 2:17, after moving into a circle facing each other, they do Belly Rolls. You can see Carolena’s is quite a bit larger and more defined than Rina’s or Karen’s. This completes the catalog of Level One/Volume One slow moves. They break into fast moves at 3:20, feel free to continue watching, where you’ll see the Level One/Vol.1 fast moves: Shimmy, Egyptian Basic, Arabic Basic, Pivot Bump, Choo Choo. There are several Volume 4 moves in both the fast and slow as well. This is old-school, classic ATS.

The second video we’re going to look at is another FatChance performance, but quite a bit more recent (Vol.1 was filmed in the early 90s, and this is just from a year or so ago). I’ll point out a few slow moves beyond Level One this time as well. The dancers in this one are Marsha (red skirt under the Banjara overskirt), Kristine is the blonde, and Anita. At 0:16, with Marsha in the lead, there’s a Reverse Taxeem (which is a volume 4 move but of note because they aren’t as commonly seen as a standard Taxeem), then at 0:25 a Torso Rotation. You’ll see next that they like finishing a Camelwalk with a deep Torso Rotation. At 0:48 they begin some Ribcage Rotations, then at 0:53 some Bodywaves turning, which handily gives you a nice view of Marsha’s back as she does this move, and you can see it’s not a large move. At 1:28, with Kristine now in the lead, more Ribcage Rotations. Watch closely at about 2:00 in, when they flip around in formation with their backs to the audience, and you’ll see that Marsha is in fact now leading again. There’s a slow circle after this where they switch leads again, I want you to take note of how to change leads by forming up a circle during slow pieces -- your moves will still be slow, but you can still move at a steady, almost fast pace, around the circle (in some slow moves, you can also eat up space on the floor by taking very large steps). This can be tricky for beginners to get the hang of. Anita takes the lead and does a very nice Floreo sweep -- these are good filler moves, and give you a chance to be still for a moment too -- and then turns in a Bodywave, and again you can see that it’s a subtle movement. Very nice Camelwalk with a Torso Rotation afterward, and then Anita cues a very deep Torso Rotation. At 2:32-2:42 she cues a Propeller Turn, and then at about 3:02 she does a Bodywave with a level change.

As I mentioned before, I love zils. Nadira, my dance partner in ATS, also loves her some zils (she’s currently got brass Afghanis, Arabesques, and Nefertitis), but frequently loses them. She’s pretty notorious for leaving zils behind like breadcrumbs at Pennsic. So in the interests of keeping our zils both protected and safe from wandering off, I decided we need new zil bags. I bought some silvercloth, intended to keep silverware from tarnishing, at Joann’s, in hopes it will also keep zils from tarnishing. I’m going to line the bags with it, and thought to use some sort of pretty tribal-y fabric, maybe a batik.

But then Shira tweeted about this fabric. And I had to do it. So I ordered a yard, and eagerly awaited its arrival from Australia. It arrived in very short order – I was highly impressed by their shipping speed. And it’s so cute!

I’m totally in love with this fabric.

The zil bags are now completed, and the silvercloth seems to be working well:

My tips for storing zils, then:

• Always wipe them down before storing them.
• Store them in as dry a place as possible. NEVER put them away damp.
• Have a dedicated place to store them so you’re less likely to misplace a zil.
• Small zippered or drawstring bags are the most popular to keep your zils in, and there’s good reason for that: it keeps them together, the soft fabric is less likely to let them get dinged or scratched, and it keeps the air off them a little bit more.
• Storing them loose in a basket is generally not a good idea.

My recommendation is a zippered pouch, preferably with pockets. You can create one – or purchase one – to hold everything you need for emergency zil repairs and the zils themselves. Small makeup bags work great – they tend to be quite inexpensive, are easily purchased anywhere, and are generally the right shape and size to hold two or three pairs of zils.

What else needs to go in your zil bag? If you have room to tuck it in (side pockets are very handy), you can keep a mini-sewing kit with some elastic, a bit of thread and a needle, in case one of your zils breaks and you have to repair it on the fly. I also keep a small pouch to reduce the humidity in the storage bag, with baking soda and rice inside it and sewn shut. If you have those little silicate packets that come in many electronics and other purchased items kicking around, throwing one or two of them in the bag will also help to slow oxidation.

The biggest thing in storing your zils is keeping them together. As long as you’ve got that, you’re less likely to misplace them. And count them before you leave a gig, if you took them off and set them down somewhere before putting them away. Zils have walked off on me more than once because I set them on a table and then only grabbed three when I left.

This is the end of the Care and Feeding of Zils series. I hope you enjoyed!

From the Land Down Under, a really lovely ATS duet by Lilly and Tricia:

Florida Tribal Dance advanced ATS students, hafla performance:

They did a lovely job. And it’s always wonderful to see a male dancer in ATS!

Since your zils are now clean and shiny, they need some new elastic. Didn’t clean your zils but need to replace the elastic? That’s fine too! Keeping the elastic fresh is important. Loose zils can go flying across the room in the middle of a performance, and that’s not fun for anyone.

First, gather your supplies:

• Scissors
• Half-inch elastic in the color of your choice
• Sharp hand-sewing needle
• Button thread
• Optional: Buttons

The buttons can be used to mark which zils will go on which finger. Just sew them on the back of the elastic once it’s installed. I prefer using two colors of thread, one for thumbs and one for middle fingers. How you mark your zils (if you want to – I find it helpful but it isn’t mandatory) is entirely up to you. Chances are, no one’s going to notice except you and your troupe, so try not to worry too much about it. Half-inch elastic comes in white or black (if you find it in other colors, that’s great too). You only really need about a foot, but a package of a yard and a half is only $1.29, so I buy those and have enough to string at least four sets of zils. I prefer black elastic, since white tends to show dirt very quickly.

I’m using green and white thread today. Green for thumbs, white for middle fingers. I always use button thread when I sew zil elastic. It’s much stronger than regular thread, and it holds up really well in zils. I’ve been using it for about ten years and never had a stitch fail.

Thread your needle and tie the ends together so you’re sewing with a double thickness of thread. Poke the ends of the elastic through the slots on top of your zils and pull it through. Now put it on the finger you want to fit it to and pull it tight. It should be snug enough that you can wiggle your hand without the zil wiggling, but not so tight it becomes painful. Pinch the elastic at the bottom with your fingers, and pull it through so you can sew it. Don’t lose your spot! I use my fingernails as a guide of where to start sewing.

Sew across using the stitch of your choice – stab stitch, backstitch, etc. Just make it sturdy. Snip the excess elastic off and then pull the elastic back through so the loop is on the top again. Slip it on and check the fit.

Repeat with the other three zils, fitting to each finger. I used the green thread to sew the two zils meant for my thumbs.

And there you have it! Fresh elastic. Happy zilling!

I love zils. Saroyan zils are my favorite. Currently I have only three pairs (Tutankhamuns, Persians, and Ghawazees. I recently gave away my 13-year old – and still good! – Nefertitis to a friend who’s recently started learning to belly dance), so I feel I need more. I’m actually itching for a pair of silver Afghanis right now. And as an ATS dancer, I naturally use my zils very heavily. I try to take good care of them, too. Maintaining zils is as essential a process as maintaining any other musical instrument. In the interest of helping other dancers keep their zils in shape and prolong their lifespan, I thought I’d do a series of articles on taking care of your zils.

We’ll begin with cleaning. The natural oils and salt from your skin will damage your zils after a period of time. You can help prevent this by giving them a wipe-down after use, making sure they are dry before putting them away, and storing them properly (next installment of the zils series: storage). Metals react to air, and acquire a coating of protection that’s called nondestructive oxidation. Oxidation is a natural process of the metal and cannot be completely prevented. You can clean it off to some degree, of course, and try to keep the process at bay, at least until your zils die their natural death as a musical instrument.

The first thing toward cleaning your zils is to know what they’re made of. If you have Saroyans, he quite nicely has the metals listed on his website, so just look up your style and check. If they’re not Saroyan zils, you may have to have a guess. You really have three choices: brass, bronze, or silver-plated. Silver is pretty obvious. Brass tends to be a lighter, more yellow color than bronze. Zils are generally not lacquered, as some brass vases and fixtures often are. The amount of decoration on your zils will affect your ability to clean them: heavily carved pieces are more difficult to clean, thanks to all those small loops and whorls.

Read the rest of this entry »

Manhattan Tribal. Love them, and particularly love this sword piece:

The music isn’t noted if you follow the link (and subscribe to them!), but it’s “Two Gypsies” by Solace. Classic tribal song. I think dancing to that is officially a rite of passage in any flavor of tribal.