Are you allowed to review something you were involved in? Probably not. As such, please call this a retrospective, as opposed to an actual review.

What am I talking about? “Gaslight Faeries”, Sarasvati Tribal’s 2010 show.

Full disclosure: I was behind-the-scenes help… or you could say behind the screen, as that was what I hid behind as I hit “play” on the tapedeck and toyed with the lights, my music dictatorship signified by the Tophat of Power. From that position I got to watch everything… from behind.

If you want a proper review, might I suggest Elspeth’s? Her observations are clear, she’s refreshingly honest about any biases (or lack thereof), and overall she gives a good sense of what went on.

To continue—do you remember how I said that the future of bellydance is in vaudeville? I WAS RIGHT. “Gaslight Faeries” was a venue-specific show set at the Glasgow Panopticon, the oldest surviving dance hall in the world, and drew inspiration from the Panopticon’s heyday of 1857-1938. The show was filled with tribal fusion, Egyptian bellydance, vaudeville and burlesque. The latter sent the show into the adults-only territory, yet people were being turned away at the door. As Elspeth notes, it seemed that much of the audience was drawn from outside the bellydance community. Bringing the art to a wider audience? Oh yes!

Now that I’ve had my moment of smugness, let’s consider the show itself. Its carefully-considered mixture of acts was what made it. The interspersing of group acts, solos and theatrical pieces (overlapping with the previous two) kept the show lively, and the inclusion of several props and Egyptian pieces (including a Golden Age-inspired piece by Susanna of Habiba Dance) demonstrated the breadth of bellydance.

To get a wee bit personal (whenever is this blog not about me?), my two favourite performances were given by Laura and Ali, both of Sarasvati Tribal. Laura briefly forsook tribal to return to her Egyptian roots, performing as Mata Hari aiding her lover in stealing an officer’s documents by entrancing the officer. I loved the conceit, but the enjoyment was in the execution—Laura was entrancing, and the gentleman playing the officer played his response perfectly. It was enticing, it was humorous, and it was dramatic.

Ali danced with fan veils in a piece entitled “An Homage to Loie Fuller”. These are the dryest terms possible to describe her solo. When she entered, she faced away from the audience, towards me—I was the first to see her full-on—and I couldn’t start the music. Not because of any technical difficulty, but because I was stunned, in awe. Her hair was loose, her dress long and white, and her white silk fan veils were draped over her arms, and I remember thinking that she looked like a Greek goddess—Athena, maybe. And then I remembered oh yes, she’s supposed to dance, too, jarred myself, and hit play. And then the magic happened. That dance, that experience, is indescribable, and I was privileged to see it.

In closing—because little can follow that—I’ve been listening to the music from the show since it finished (as musical dictator, I got to keep the music!). The music from the piece entitled “Arsenical Bun” has been stuck in my head.

As only one thing could have followed Ali’s performance, only one thing can finish this blogpost. Therefore, I present to you the fabulous Nagwa! If you look carefully, you can see me running the music and the lights in the back (look for the Tophat of Power!).

Tags: bellydance,performance,Scotland,tribal fusion
Categories: dance
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So I commanded myself recently that I was not allowed to buy any new yarn until I’d used up at least half of the stash I already have. Seeing as I have roughly 50 different types of yarn in my stash, that’s a bit of a feat. That’s 50 different types, mind you, not skeins—quite a few of those I have multiple skeins of. However, with these mismatched myriad skeins and a need to use them, I now have the opportunity to make something I’ve been wanting to for a while.

Crocheted coral reefs.

I first saw my first of these a few years back—not really sure how many at this point, but it was while browsing online for patterns. I eventually was led to the Institute for Figuring, who run the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, a fascinating project combining crafting, mathematics, feminism, and… well, read it in their own words, as they phrase it far more intelligently than I can at the end of a long day.

Being a literature person, I could say that mathematics aren’t my strong point, and thus it’s odd that I’m attracted to this project. But that would be a lie—I enjoyed maths in school (to a certain point), and when I really started to get into knitting I wanted to revise my geometry (which I have yet to have time for). I just didn’t like it as much as reading. I have the feeling that, had I discovered knitting and crochet far earlier, I would have been far more interested in maths. (Small note: My mother loves maths, but to my surprise has only been casually interested in knitting and crochet so far, though she did once make me a fabulous scarf).

Anyway, the IFF had links to other reefs, both “satellites” of their projects and independent, which I browsed and browsed and browsed. Here and there, when I had a spare bit of yarn, I crocheted a small coral form; on one occasion of brief madness, I made an anemone out of plastic bags.

Cue moving! The instigation for the dalek has been the instigation for another item. One of our windows has a small but significant draft (as it doesn’t close properly), and I’m not one for stuffing tissues into cracks. Thus, I am knitting a draught dodger. Then, once it is finished and stuffed, it will become the base for…

…the Draught Reef.

If it goes well, I plan to make a jewel-toned reef that will conglomerate onto a ring… and be hung on my wall. Most of my walls have some sort of decoration on it (rather a lot, in some cases), but the one above my bed is surprisingly bare. As the rest of the room has batik prints, hanging jellyfish, postcards of sea otters and Hawaiian cards, a reef-garden wall sculpture would be fitting. Also, this will officially be part of the Hibernation Offensive, as it’s stash-busting AND gathering together knitted forms that have been useless until now.

So. Fibre art and wall sculptures. I think I’ve officially gone mad.

In short, once the Draft Reef is finished I’ll make the wall sculpture… After I knit a tea-cozy, because there’s nothing that makes crocheting slower than cold tea.

Coming soon: More bellydance articles, and a round-up of Festival!

Tags: art,crochet,knit,reef,the hibernation offensive
Categories: Arts, projects
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A couple weekends ago I went to two workshops in Glasgow with Sherri Wheatley. I’ve been meaning to blog on it since then, but it’s been surprisingly difficult to write on—there’s just something about the weekend that I still can’t quite wrap my head around. Let me note that this is a positive thing!

What I attended were two workshops on two days, with a hafla in-between (there was a previous workshop and hafla that week that I was unable to afford).  Both workshops included a very gentle non-yoga warm-up, which was a nice change from normal yoga-heavy tribal. The first workshop had several really interesting combinations that I will definitely be using, while the second workshop was attended mostly by teachers and pro performers, with a few intermediate students (ok, me) along for the ride. Both classes used a lot of slow moves and material, which inspired me to challenge myself–I haven’t yet been brave enough to perform something slow, feeling awkward and ungainly when I practice such. Sherri also has the most amazing arabic shimmies and level changes I’ve ever seen, a further inspiration! Also, I’m far more shouldery now than before that weekend!

Overall, I felt both challenged and comfortable with Sherri’s workshops and style. Though certainly tribal, her style feels rather intimate and soft to me, which I really liked, as though I like to watch very technical pop-lock-layer bellydance, both in tribal and regional styles (such as American or Russian strains), it feels more natural to me to dance softlywith the pop-lock for accent.

The second-to-last gem that I’m holding on to was a brief moment where Sherri informed that she’s not a natural performer; she didn’t seek the spotlight in her childhood. I am a natural performer (read: mug for attention), but oftentimes I really have to psyche myself up to properly perform–there’s still that niggling in the back of the mind saying “people don’t really want to watch/listen” (first manifesting itself when I took voice lessons). That thought needs to be CRUSHED WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE.

In short, the greatest thing I got out of Sherri’s workshops was feeling comfortable in my own dance.

Now that I’ve gotten far too personal, the HAFLA!! It was fabulous, though I wasn’t able to watch as much as I liked (being far too paranoid about balancing my sword… and that my solos-in-public are still in the single-digits…and picking over Sherri’s costume in my over-obsessive manner, which she was very kind to allow!). We had a wonderful variety of performers on both the Egyptian and tribal sides of things; it was particularly tribal-heavy for a Scottish hafla, which was a nice change from the norm! We even had a bit of the gothic creep in, thanks to the fabulous Bex! Like most haflas, though, it was a “you-had-to-be-there” to really understand the awesomocity of it.

For that purpose, I present to you my last gem: Sherri’s final performance from the Glasgow hafla! Many thanks to her for the permission to post it. Also, a wee anecdote: the last of Sherri’s songs was actually something I had discovered only two weeks before the workshops, and my first response was “Someone needs to dance to that!” Imagine how thrilled I was when she did!

P.S. I also got a mention in the August issue of Nafoura, in “A Tribal Update from Scotland” (p.98, article starts p.96)! Thank you, Doris! (Also, gorgeous pictures of my dear friend Tamsin inside!)

Coming soon: knitting! As soon as I finish the current project. It’s a SURPRISE.

Tags: bellydance,hafla,tribal fusion,workshop
Categories: Arts, dance
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So Lorna of Cairo recently blogged about how she’s really enjoying dancing saidi right now (and forgot to mention that her costume looks amazing; I want to see bigger pictures of it!), which sent me off Gleaning The Tubes for a plethora of saidi videos. Because I have an almost unhealthy obsession with saidi.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, saidi was/is originally a folk dance from Upper Egypt, but has been lumped into/hijacked by bellydance. It’s also known as “raqs assaya” or stick dance, when performed with a cane/stick (dur), and there’s a men’s duet version called tahtib that simulates a fight. The women’s form is, of course, more refined and less warlike; I’ve also heard that the saidi step (the lifted legs and kicks) is mimicking a ‘dancing’ horse.

So, we’ve combined pole-arms, horses, and dance. If you know me whatsoever, I think you can see where my obsession with saidi comes from. So, on that note, I present to you: SAIDI SPAM!

As Lorna’s post was the instigator, her video is first! The first half of her dance at a wedding is a saidi number with two male back-up dancers. I particularly like how she “borrows” a cane from the audience. Cheeky and awesome, as always!

I just discovered this video today of a Lebanese dancer named Rindala (though this might be proof that I’m rubbish at telling styles: I would have pegged her as Turkish style if it weren’t for the cane!). Her energy, speed, and skill is inspirational!

For a complete contrast, Yasmina of Cairo (with four male dancers) produces a far sweeter and sedate dance. Also, this video alone makes me want to jump onto a plane to Egypt RIGHT NOW.

I have to include Elspeth Swishandhips in this spam! I was lucky enough to see this performance live, and it was amazing; the video doesn’t do it half justice. Every clap and cheer was more than deserved!

Penultimately is the great Fifi Abdo, who really needs no elaboration. However, I noticed with a bit of glee that she seems to be playing to the women in the audience.

Finally, sans stick, is Aziza. On YouTube this had a bit of criticism for not being earthy enough, but I really like the softness of it. If this is a ‘horse dance’, well, I’ve known horses that move like each of these women (that’s a compliment, fyi!). Anyway, when a horse is really dancing, they’re not earthy: they practically float!

Here, to drive that point home, have a video of a dancing horse:

That’s some of the most beautiful dancing I’ll ever see.

Tags: bellydance,folk dance,saidi
Categories: dance
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Long time no post! The middle of my June has, indeed, been crazy (a friend’s FABULOUS wedding, and running around North America with another friend!), but the last few weeks have been quiet. I’ve done some research, but mostly I’ve been rediscovering time for myself. One thing that I’ve lost in the past few years, in my desperation to keep up with both my arts and academics, is that I don’t really give myself much ME time. Yes, I spend (far too much) time on the internet, reading webcomics etc., but that’s not ME time. However, for two weeks in the middle of this month my computer was getting repaired (oops), and so I had to find other ways to entertain myself than the endless streaming of digitized information. So, gleefully, I’ve been reading children and young adult fantasy novels, a guilty pleasure that I feel absolutely NO guilt about. I discovered Rick Riordan, first via his new book “The Red Pyramid” and then via his “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series (OMG I just finished book 4 and haven’t bought the last book yet NEED NOW), which despite what I’ve heard about its related rubbishy movie has been really quite entertaining. I also went to see Knight and Day with a friend, and to my surprise it was quite awesome. Not fourteen flavours of awesome, but at least five. And I’ve gone SWIMMING. If it weren’t for my dislike of public pools, I’d go swimming all the time. I find it calming and restorative, and I do some of my best thinking underwater.

Representative of this whole rediscovery, however, is a craft project I began years ago. The yarn, pattern, crochet hook and beads were a store-created kit given to me by my parents, but as I rarely worked on gifts for myself, it was often put off until I went on holidays (or at least plane flights), because crochet hooks are OK on planes (knitting needles aren’t). But on this trip home, I’ve finally finished it.

It’s lovely, soft, and light. And its structure reminds me that I shouldn’t over-structure my life — leave time for the ME-time, and the arts and academia will follow.

Tags: art vs. academia,crochet,life
Categories: Academia, Arts, crochet
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Looking back through this month, it’s apparently been one long thought process on academic influences, with a bit of knitting thrown in (and one entry on bellydance, goodness!). I guess that’s only to be expected, as I’ve been working on a new thesis chapter (which I will hopefully edit and submit tomorrow!).

That said, I’ve still been doing things to keep myself sane—as noted, mostly knitting. I’ve the missing skin and new callus to prove it. But I’ve also, since I’ve been well, started into getting a dance routine habit. I haven’t necessarily been able to dance every day, but I’ve been doing the most pertinent leg stretches as well as some strengthening exercises, with an intensive set last Sunday. I can still feel a bit of twinge when I sit down, and walking up and down stairs this week has been interesting. Surprisingly, I’ve found it easier to move my sore legs if I make myself jog, or at least walk faster than normal. I’m sure there’s a proper physiological explanation for this, but all that matters to me is that it’s made me more active!

And that’s April, folks. A lovely holiday, a bit of illness, a lot of knitting, and a return to research. Now comes May, with my first ever conference (yipes!), research in copyright libraries, visiting family, and (oh yeah) my birthday. Hopefully I’ll have a new site layout to reveal by mid-May, too.

But first, I need to survive this weekend. Beltane + film + ceilidh + who knows what else. It’s going to be MADNESS! In a good way.

So, Lysse-bird out… until May!

Tags: life
Categories: Academia, Arts
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So I should be going and having dinner as a reward for actually writing part of a chapter (2700 words!!), but instead I’m rewarding myself by writing a blog post. Yes, I’m rewarding writing with…writing. My ability to reward myself with the same thing that was my task never ceases to astonish me (seriously, I do this a lot).

That said, I thought I’d write a few notes on teaching. I received a couple e-mails from last semester’s students over the weekend (mostly panics about “will I violate exam rules if I do XYZ?” to which I tend to reply “better safe than sorry, so try not to do XYZ”), and I was surprised at how much this made me miss my students.

I really like teaching.

And I’ve started to have a few worries about whether I’m actually good at teaching. I haven’t looked at last semester’s student comments yet (I’m waiting until I rework my syllabus over the summer—I’d like some distance on the semester before I destroy my soul), but student comment sheets can only go so far. Mostly because people don’t know what makes a good teacher until either a) they’re teaching themselves, or b) they’ve been taught explicitly to do or learn something new. Unfortunately, most of the teaching I do is ephemeral critical thinking skills (that don’t involve a workbook like mine did in elementary school), which is a bit harder to measure. I remember the teachers that TOLD me that I needed to start using my brain (yes, this happened…twice), but I don’t remember how they TAUGHT me to. It just happened as we went along.

Which was why this weekend was really nice, because I got to teach something where both student and teacher could see results. A bunch of my country dance friends organized a knitting afternoon, and one friend asked me to teach her how to knit at said afternoon. By the end of the afternoon she was casting on exceptionally well (I wish my tension had been that good when I’d started!) and have several rows of knit-stitch finished. I kept having flashbacks when I taught a friend from home how to knit, and that she’d been successful in learning, too (I should ask her if she’s still knitting). And tonight, I’m going over to a third friend’s to watch Glee (DON’T JUDGE ME), and as she’s just recently gotten into knitting, I’ve been asked to show her how to increase and decrease stitches. And I’m really looking forward to it.

Goodness, knitting, teaching and friends—since when did I have a social life? You’re not supposed to have one of those when you’re writing chapters!

Ah well. Off to have that reward-dinner now. Lysse out!

Tags: academic,art vs. academia,knit,life
Categories: Academia, Arts, knit
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So for the past few weeks I’ve really been glutting myself on videos of tribal fusion bellydance on YouTube—usually as a break from actual work (or, other times, because the weather was as awful as I felt). Some of my favourite new discoveries are clips from the Indigo’s show Le Serpent Rouge. Not only is the bellydance amazing, but it looks like a good show overall, the sort of thing a general audience might enjoy.

Most bellydancing is “consumed” (for lack of better terminology) by the bellydancing community. The one exception to this is restaurant work, which although invaluable as both a tradition and as a venue for properly learning to improvise, doesn’t provide a setting for duets, troupes, or choreographed show pieces. Restaurant work and haflas can only support the art so far, and—if we want the dance to not only survive but thrive in the west—then our community needs to figure out how to present itself to the general public in a desirable manner.

Which brings us to Le Serpent Rouge’s vaudeville style. It’s an appropriate adoption for a tribal fusion show, as like tribal fusion vaudeville is essentially American in origin and attitude. It also means the dancing can be broken up with musical interludes, comedy acts, and basically anything else you can think of—vaudeville is, after all, closely related to variety shows.

And it is THE WAY OF THE FUTURE!!!

Ahem. Sorry. Got a little excited there.

Originally, vaudeville was family-friendly entertainment: (mostly) clean, alcohol free, and for a middle class (educated, but not affluent) audience. Bellydancing, too, is supposed to be family-friendly (just like its folkloric social dancing origins). A vaudeville format means that, although a show could be organized by a troupe, the burden of performance isn’t necessarily on the troupe. Organizers could pull from a wide range of local performers—it’s not a difficult feat. For example, just from amongst my own social circles I have access to a folk rock band (and straight-up folk musicians), comedy acts, jugglers, stage combat artists, singers, dancers of multiple styles (belly and otherwise!), and a plethora of other artists that I currently can’t think of that would break up a show and keep an audience engaged. Mix all this together with a talented MC, and you’d have an awesome, evolving show that would introduce the general public to bellydance without overwhelming them, and would draw return visitors from both inside and outside the bellydance community.

You’d just have to make sure to keep a high quality of entertainment throughout the show—but not as sterilized as the Bellydance Superstars. It’s about comedy, quality, and variety.

Keep ‘em engaged and they’ll keep coming.

Tags: bellydance,tribal fusion
Categories: Arts, dance
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Apologies again for the radio silence; I was ill last week and not up to writing. Seems like I’ve been ill most of the academic year—which is pretty accurate; the only months that saw me completely well were February and March. But now with antibiotics and a lot of sleep, I’m feeling much better. I’ve also gotten much further along on my chess set, which I will write about later this week.

As I spend more time studying the use of clothing/costume in literature and art, I’m developing an increasingly greater urge—even need—to not simply study and record in text but to also create and recreate. This may simply be a throwback to my costuming/reenactment background, but after spending every day thinking about how medieval clothing went together, was made to hang and fit, were cut, recut and lined, I have the desire to work that out myself physically. Textiles are inherently tactile, made to be worn, touched, felt, experienced—not just examined from a distance. The sheer amount of labour and attention that went into the medieval items, the fine embroidery and ornamentation, only confirms this. Art involving textiles should be touched.

This is one reason I get annoyed by modern art. How dare they make such beautifully textured things that aren’t meant to be touched! Art that deprives me of a sense necessary to appreciate it is denying itself and the experience of it.

So what does this rather academic rant have to do with my art? Well, I’m considering investing in a sewing machine—I have one, but it lives in the States with my parents, and it’s become obnoxious over the years to go on holiday and spend my time sewing instead of being social. Otherwise, I’ll keep knitting and thinking on textiles. And I might (re)take up needlework—I used to needlepoint, and have thought of cross-stitching. But really, as I put together my doctorate, I just want to piece fabric together.

Tags: art vs. academia,costuming
Categories: Academia, Arts
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Here’s a hint: if you think about a blog post so long that you’re sure you’ve written it and posted it by the time you go to bed, double-check. You may very well be wrong.

Anyway, to continue from Friday! When I applied to colleges I found one that had a medieval reenactment group. Due to one thing and another, it’s also the college I attended. I almost didn’t join the group, though—I had second thoughts before signing up, and only attended my first meeting because I heard some of my friends were going. I was quickly sucked into both costuming and combat. Fast-forward four years, and I’d served in four of the ten positions on the committee (in order: tech, historian, chessboard, publicity).

That group was That Medieval Thing.

A banner I made in my last year, during a chessboard rehearsal, after our nice one was stolen.

Combined with my fabulous classes in medieval literature and culture, and I’d been hit—I needed to continue in my medieval studies. If it weren’t for TMT, I wouldn’t be in Scotland. It’s amazing that it took me until starting my PhD to realise what I wanted to write on. The late Middle Ages in England and France had been my focus the whole time I was in TMT—I’d convinced the committee more than once to set our festival or feasts there. The day-in-day-out of TMT revolved around costume and combat—if you went to one of those, you’d be sure to know everyone. Now my whole PhD is on costume, and one of my chapters is specifically on arms, armour and heraldry. How did it take me this long?

I’d thought I’d write more than this, but I find it difficult to write on something that held such meaning for me. I honestly don’t think I gave the group the best I could have, but I certainly got the best out of it (my career).

Yesterday was their twenty-fourth Medieval Festival, and it’s the second I’ve missed. I hope they did fabulously. Since I wasn’t able to visit, I wandered my Scottish home, into museums and other important places, reminding myself through artefacts what it was all about.

I ended up here.

A tourist spot now, but once it was alive, active, used for the purpose it was built for. Because it’s not about the objects. It’s about the people.

TMT 2007

Tags: art vs. academia,festival,life,reenactment
Categories: Academia, Arts
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