May 2024
May Greetings!
Hello all, from sunny but crisp San Francisco. I’m writing this month with a couple of announcements, including a teaching sabbatical for my Lines class starting in June, some upcoming performances (including opportunities for YOU to join me in dancing in July), a video of the month, a new blog post, a call for some feedback and testimonials, and a couple of interesting and inspirational reads.
Egyptian Dance Classes
Classes at Lines continue through Monday, May 20th. We’re off on Memorial Day, and then I will be on a sabbatical from my class through the late fall. I will let you know my return date when I decide exactly what my return date will be : ) It will be very strange not to teach each week, as I have taught at Lines at least once a week since 2004, and I will greatly miss dancing with those of you who attend regularly. I appreciate you more than I can put in to words.
Those of you reading this who take private classes with me, not to worry as they will continue. If that is of interest, please reach out.
Italian Dance Skill Share / Dance-along
Tuesday night pizzica dance-alongs continue each week. Pizzica is a southern Italian folk dance in the tarantella family that I am slowly but surely learning. Jump in la ronda (our virtual circle)! These are weekly low key dance alongs for flks of all levels to practice our dancing skills together to a great song. Free, with mutual aid donations suggested if you are able.
Events
Salon Hala
Friday, May 31
I am the featured artist at this fabulous event, and will be performing some good old raqs beledi. A rare chance to see me dance!
Queer Arts Featured
575 Castro, San Francisco
Sunday Streets: Excelsior (featuring…YOU?!)
Sunday, July 21
I’ll be dancing in the streets of San Francisco — and you are invited to join me in the performance! Have you taken class with me, or have we danced or made music together? Wanna dance in the streets this summer in SF? Please email me ASAP if so. We’ll meet once in June to prep (remotely if need be), and then we’ll have a blast on the 21st. Exact time and location will be determined by the organizers a few weeks prior to the event.
Videos of the Month
Video 1: Current Cairo
Enjoy this short clip of Zara Abderahman, an Egyptian British dancer who works in Cairo and is very open about her life as a performer there, back at one of her shows post-Ramadan. Along with her performing, she also hosts online events that feature working Egyptian dancers and musicians and has an online magazine.
Video 2 (& 3 & 4!): Puglia in San Francisco one night in 2019
That time Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino taught a workshop in San Francisco!
One of my favorite bands was in San Francisco (where luckily they tour semi-regularly), and the day after their 2019 concert, offered a lecture and dance workshop. A class with dancer Silvia Perrone teaching to the band singing and playing? Um, yes please! I have three videos from the evening — short clips only, as I was mostly dancing.
Help me out with a survey?
If you have taken class with me (or seen me dance), would you be willing to answer some questions? Think of it as my sabbatical planning and research : ) Thank you!
Read Me, Seymour
“It was not until I got sick in October 2021 that I felt like I started to notice my body.”
What I’m reading, watching, listening to, on about
My Grandmother’s Doilies Are Not a Joke
“How many gray hairs am I allotted before my work begins to be perceived as the natural extension of my age and gender, rather than as a meaningful creative pursuit?”
I come from two lineages of lace makers, and have pieces from both my grandmothers and several great-grandmothers. This femme art crosses so many cultures. Respect to the domestic arts and crafts!
Ursula K. LeGuin on Art (over profit)
“We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art.”
I love Ursula LeGuin’s writing very much. When I was younger, I once declared myself a LeGuinian as an identity. You can read the transcript of the video above here. Thanks also to writer Robin Sloan for his recent piece.
Dance Convention Classes and That ‘Special Something’
“I am still shocked by what happens when these technically secure, “advanced” dancers are asked to SLOW DOWN; really slow down…because when you strip away the busyness, when you slow down the speed, when you remove all of the tricks, they can’t really “dance”.”
This slice of dance life from a jazz teacher resonates with this folk dancer. In the 90s I had to retrain myself from overusing props (some of which were required to get work) and learn how to just…dance.
In Memory of Tahia, by Edward Said
“Tahia’s dancing…communicated an elusiveness and a kind of grace that cannot be pinned down on a flat surface.”
Muir Woods Park Staff Annotate Own Signs with Historical Corrections for Racism, Misogyny
“‘Alert: History Under Construction’, the paper reads. ‘Everything on this sign is true but incomplete.’”
I’ve had this ready to go for a week now, but this morning before hitting send, I learned that Gary Floyd passed. A friend and amazing artist. I will miss you Gary.
The link goes of his bands, Black Kali Ma, doing a favorite song. Gary, I think you’re wonderful.
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