Since summer 2010, I’ve been sporadically dancing in ballet slippers. Although barefoot is my favorite, I like them sometimes, for when I don’t want my feet to get dirty or when it’s cold or just when we’re doing a bunch of turns. Once broken in, they are remarkably comfortable and I love how my particular [...]

Part of my new dance cross-training is to do some ballet. Rather than wait for 2011 to roll in, I’ve decided to start changing or adding patterns, behaviors, whatever whenever I see fit and can afford to do so. Monday I attend beginner ballet at an adult-only studio. I hadn’t been there in about year, [...]

But it looks like going over to my .com will be a post-New Year’s project. Installing WordPres onto my server and being able to update it has been riddled with issues. Two days of very hard work, and I’m throwing in the towel for the time being. I hope everyone has had an excellent break [...]

I’ve been tossing this question around in my mind since it was brought up maybe 2 weeks ago. By big names, I’m not talking just famous dancers but dancers who have huge cult followings. The kind of dancers people gush over incessantly in forums and will make the extra effort to learn from. The heroes [...]

Disclaimer: I received this DVD as part of a give-away on Bhuz from Michelle Joyce, the producer. I was excited to receive Icing on the Drum Solo for free and early, because I am a huge fan of Lotus Niraja (and we’re both from the same area). This DVD offers much more than drum solo [...]

I went to see Black Swan yesterday. Although it is a ballet movie, I thought a lot of it was applicable to art in general and life; I recommend that you see it, unless you cannot stomach some very vivid depiction of blood and violence (I had to turn my head a few times). The [...]

Yesterday, I finished my last paper that was due for 2010; my independent study paper is due 15 January 2011. Yay! I wanted to post yesterday, but my hands were quite tired from typing and I wanted to enjoy the world again. I went to the ICA in Boston and had dinner in Chinatown with [...]

Classes have been finished for me for a little bit, but I haven’t had much time to blog about it. I had a final last Wednesday that was technically in class, but we had received the question earlier and could write outside of class. Because my handwriting isn’t so nice and I didn’t want to [...]

Last year, I made a list of what I thought would be good gifts for the adjunct, Middle Eastern dancer, or grad student in your life. Although last year’s list is still full of good ideas in my biased opinion, this year’s list reflects where I am and what I’m looking for. What can I [...]

This past weekend was filled with one things: Raks Nativity (well, that and a paper due Wednesday). Raks Nativity is Nepenthe’s interesting idea to tell the story of Jesus’ birth through Middle Eastern dance. The experience was interesting, because most of the people acting and dancing are not religious people, and I don’t think any [...]