Well, I had a very eventful Christmas and
New Year! My wonderful husband Dan got me the most perfect Christmas gift – a
multi-stop trip to the US to see Beats Antique for New Year and to 3rd
Coast Tribal Festival to study with Zoe Jakes! Before you say it, yes, I do realise how lucky I am! You don’t
need to tell me!
Portland
So on Boxing Day we headed off to Heathrow
to board our plane to Portland. The trip wasn’t entirely focused around dance –
we got to be tourists for a lot of the time which was awesome. I’ve heard great
things about Portland from the British dancers that have been over to study
with Rachel Brice at Datura for the 8 Elements program. We arrived around 8pm
on our first day, and we intended to go out and get some food before bed, but
after saying we’d have 5 minutes to rest we both woke up hours later and
resolved we were simply too exhausted from a day of travel to eat and went back
to sleep! We did, however, wake up feeling refreshed and ready for a day of
sightseeing. During our time in Portland we took a walk through the forest to
the Japanese Gardens, which is a sprawling oasis of peace and tranquillity. It
was a great place to unwind after a really long flight (14 hours of plane time
all together). We visited Powell’s bookstore where I bumped into Rachel Brice
(well... ok, she was on the cover of a bellydance book in there ;) ), and I
bought several dance books that were cheaper to buy in America than home. It’s
a massive bookstore, and we spent about 2 hours perusing the shelves. It’s
something like four or five storeys of books. We also visited Portland staple
Voodoo Doughnut for the most entertaining doughnuts I’ve ever seen, the Chinese
Garden where we had a black tea flight – three different teas served in one of
the traditional methods of Chinese tea ceremony, which I loved every minute of.
And a trip to the Pittock Mansion where we got some great views of Mount Hood.
Of course, I visited Datura! I was
intending to take Sedona’s cabaret class but unfortunately she was out of town.
Luckily Rachel and her partner Sol were still working at the studio when we got
there, so we spent a while chatting with them, getting the tour and picking up
some merchandise. I was really happy we got to see Rachel, and it was a
surprise for her that we were there as she didn’t know we were coming to
Portland.
On 27th we went to the Beats
Antique show at the Crystal Ballroom. It was a really superb gig. I highly
recommend to try and catch a show if you’re ever in the US when they’re
touring. The beautiful costumes and dance pieces proved that a hell of a lot of
thought, hard work and creativity go into these shows. And it’s so much better
than watching it on YouTube! I took a few photos of the show, as we were at the
very front. The Crystal Ballroom is a really beautiful venue too. Lynx was
supporting, which I was delighted about because I love her music. She was
joined on stage by Kyrstyn Pixton for a rendition of Young Blood and performed
a beatboxing solo at the end of her set which was amazing, as well as joining
Beats Antique for a couple of their tracks. My favourite dance piece was a zill
choreography performed by Zoe, Ashley Lopez and Asharah. But to be honest, the
whole show was incredible.
On our last day in Portland I arranged to take a
private lesson with Ashley. She is an incredibly knowledgeable dancer, enriched
by her expert knowledge of anatomy, yoga and pilates, she was able to identify
any imbalances in my body just by observing me. She gave me exercises for the
parts of the body she felt needed greater strength and flexibility, and for the
first time ever I managed to get something that resembled a backbend. I have
never been able to do them, partially because of fear that I will hurt my back,
but Ashley somehow clicked just the right place that I needed to execute the
move from in order to get a backbend. Apparently I have a really good spine
shape! After the private lesson we got some brunch
and then it was onwards to the next flight to Seattle where we were spending
New Years Eve.
Seattle
Dan was obsessed with the fact that Seattle looks like the
future. With the Space Needle, the Monorail and the dramatic skyscrapers, I
could totally see where he was coming from! We spent our first full day there
with a trip up the Space Needle followed by a visit to EMP museum where we got
to play musical instruments, pretend to be a band, see some great Nirvana
memorabilia, discover Jimmi Hendrix played Wolverhampton in 1967, and see some
of the greatest horror movie props and monsters of all time. We had a
reservation that evening at restaurant the Pink Door, where they have great
Italian food and an aerialist on ribbons as the evening entertainment. She was
smack bang in the middle of the restaurant, weaving through the ribbons and the
tables beneath her. It was an incredible sight!
New Years Day was my ideal day. We got up
pretty late of course! After some breakfast we wandered down to Pioneer Square
to take some pictures, then used our City Pass to take a river cruise, and it
was the perfect day for it – the sun was out, the sky was blue, it was clear
and we got a great view of the mountains. The guide said this was a very rare
occurrence for this time of year to get such a great view, to see Californian
sea lions and the native bald eagles on the tour. The view of the Seattle
skyline and the fresh air was a perfect combination for a fresh start to 2013.
We chilled out in the afternoon with some Mexican food and in the evening I was
incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to take a private lesson with Zoe,
which was the best money I ever spent to be honest! I got given homework that I
can’t wait to work on over the next few months. She is such an inspirational
person, and whenever I have studied with her over the past three years I’ve
been going over to the US to train with her, I’ve seen an immediate dramatic
change in the way I dance. I’m excited to see how I will change this time
around.
We finished the day with another trip up the Space Needle, this time in
the darkness of night. Overlooking the glittering city lights and feeling the
crispness of the air in my lungs, I felt really positive about how 2013 is
going to pan out. I felt like it was going to be a really good year for us all.
And I felt grateful for being here on this planet and for all the experiences
I’ve had and will have in the future.
Texas - 3rd Coast Tribal
The following day we began our journey to
Texas for Third Coast Tribal Festival in Fort Worth. Arriving in Texas, we
became painfully aware exactly how difficult it would be to get around without
a car. Certainly we did not have this problem further north! Contemplating the
exasperation of the 2 hour public transport option, we instead chose a shuttle
service to our hotel in Fort Worth. As we set out on the highway, the sun was
beginning to set, and the sky was awash with the most beautiful colours – I’ve
never seen a sunset quite like it. Fiery reds, pinks and oranges burnt the sky
on one side, while the greyness of night began to set in on the other. While
this beautiful display covered the sky, I observed the surroundings – it was
pretty much exactly as I imagined Texas to be. As we passed the likes of
Wendy’s and Dairy Queen, the grass was a dry yellow, the land was flat and
almost everyone was driving pick up trucks.
After a while of driving on the
highway, we came over a bump in the road. At this point the sun was really
setting and the vivid hues of earlier were turning to russet and umber. In the
distance the skyline of Fort Worth – six small skyscrapers lit up the hazy
horizon. It was kind of beautiful from this distance, especially as our day up
to that point had consisted of the inside of airports and planes. I was glad to
see we were approaching the city – until now it had felt like we were in the
middle of nowhere. I became dismayed as we turned away from the skyscrapers...
I did start to wonder if our driver really had the intent of murdering us
rather than taking us to our hotel as we drove down darker and darker streets –
too many foreign road trip movies! But we made it, checked in and then
contemplated where we would eat without a car. There is a Mexican restaurant
right next door to the hotel, but having eaten Mexican in Seattle the previous
day and having another two nights here, we figured we would rather not eat at
the Mexican place every night!
The hotel
helpfully provided a shuttle service to the Stockyards area of the city. Again,
I wondered if the purpose of this was to kill us. Some of the roads leading to
the Stockyards were not lit at all... Like I said, too many movies like Wolf
Creek have scared the crap out of me! Again, we were safe. Our driver was not a
serial killer, but a really helpful local recommending places to eat there. We
opted for a barbeque place (we were limited to BBQ, Steak (which we don’t eat),
or... you guessed it... Mexican! Chicken Fried Chicken is hardly the healthiest
meal but I refused to complain about this. We were eating – we hadn’t eaten all
day so at this point anything would
have tasted good! We took a little wander around the Stockyards while waiting
for our ride back – it seemed a nice place, even in the dark, so we resolved to
come back during the day. During the day it was even more beautiful – this is
what I really wanted Texas to look
like – old wooden constructions, longhorns, cowboys, saloons... the works!
After this we took two buses to a pizza place Dan had read about online – yes,
we were so desperate to eat something other than BBQ and Mexican that we took
two buses to get there! It was a good choice as there was a huge Target store
there that we were able to pick up some nice healthy juices, smoothies and
fruit from.
Due to a mistake
made when booking the hotel, we ended up having to book another room for a
couple of nights (we were booked into the wrong hotel on the online booking,
and had to rebook the only room left). Which meant we ended up in the room with
a hot tub! After a long trip to Fort Worth, this was gratefully received! We
got an early night so I was refreshed for my first workshop of 3rd
Coast with Zoe Jakes the next morning.
I took three
workshops with Zoe during the weekend, which I was lucky to get at the last minute from people selling their spots – Training Like a Pro (a sweaty 2 hours
of drilling. We did this program as our warm up each day with Zoe in Vegas,
so it was great to revisit the material and pick up new things she has added),
Shimmy Layers (a semi-private class with 4 hours of shimmy drills – again,
super sweaty!) and Inside Out & Outside In (a choreography class with a
twist). I loved every minute I was in her classes. She always makes me feel
like I’m a beginner again, which is awesome. I have brought back so much
material to work with.
I also took a workshop that weekend with Amel Tafsout –
Sound Healing and Whirling. This was an incredibly emotional class – it’s
amazing how much release you can get from making sound. Many people were in
tears, and I shed a few myself. It was very powerful – I will certainly be
utilising it in my practice. I have some things I need to let go of right now,
all relating back to the time I felt like quitting dance, and so I feel like
this is going to help me so much. The whirling part of class was great too.
Learning the intricacies of the Sufi spinning was fascinating. Amel is such an
amazing person, and I definitely want to do more with her. I’m not a religious
person, and I’m not especially spiritual, but something in that class I really
identified with. It’s incredible what you can achieve when you just open
yourself up to other possibilities.
On Friday was
the show. There were an array of beautiful performances – particular favourites
were Cera Byer, Karim Nagi’s trio of musicians playing some Arab-ised classics,
and beautiful vintage bellydance from Daniela. But for me, the most powerful performance
was Rachel Brice. Seeing her perform that night was like seeing her dance for
the first time. I remember watching the BDSS DVD and just being amazed. And
then I saw her live – she was barely moving, it was breathtaking. This time it
was completely different – she was covering the stage with beautiful travelling
steps, and of course stunning isolations, and the most perfect Turkish drop
I’ve ever seen. From the very first step on to the stage I was floored. The
hair on my arms stood on end, I got tingles in my spine, and I’m pretty sure I
forgot to breathe until the end. It was hardly surprising that the audience
were calling out for an encore! Rachel happily obliged by getting us all to
sing Happy Birthday to birthday girl Zoe, and ultimately dancing to hilarious
beatboxing from Zoe and Sharon Kihara (whose husband Wick was also celebrating
his birthday that day). The show was
wonderful, and made us all the more sad that we were unable to stick around for
the show on Saturday night. I have to say I was especially disappointed to not
be seeing Zoe and Sharon perform.
After the show
we hitched a ride back to our hotel. We had checked out of our hot tub room by
now (kinda sad, as this was my day of 8 hours of dancing so feeling
particularly sore after the shimmy workshop I would’ve loved a soak!) and moved
into the room we were sharing with April Rose and her husband Reed. I have to
say, they were an absolute scream! We loved sharing with them – I wish we had
been staying longer. We stayed up really late playing this hilarious card game
with them, Rachel, Sharon, Zoe, Wick and the girls from Chicago’s Blue Lotus
Tribe. We have never laughed so much in our lives. Tears were streaming down my
face, it was the most fun I’ve had for the whole trip!
Third Coast is a
great festival, the people there were very welcoming and the classes were
great. The teachers available are well worth travelling for, and the
organisation is great – I’d definitely recommend it if you’re thinking of
journeying to the US for training. On Saturday, we awoke early to pack our
things to leave for home. We said farewell to our friends, making plans for the
next time we will see them. Currently I’m writing this on the coach to
Wolverhampton, looking forward to a shower and real English tea and walking
around. My legs are hurting so much from sitting for the past 16 hours (so
far!).
And Monday was
the start of a new year for me. I’ve made new dance goals, I’m designing a new
training regimen for myself and am determined to work even harder in 2013 to be
the best dancer I can be. I’m really looking forward to working with my
homework and incorporating new ideas and challenges into my practice and to my
classes and workshops. It’s been a very inspirational trip and I’m saving my
pennies for the next time I get out to the US. You never know – maybe I’ll
actually get to Tribal Fest this year if I save hard enough!
I hope you all
had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and have been inspired to make your own
new goals for 2013 during the festive season. I’m looking forward to getting
back into teaching my class on Tuesday and the first workshop of the year on
Sunday 20th January in Wolverhampton. I look forward to seeing you
all throughout 2013!
