tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71191945245452705912024-03-12T17:01:12.065-07:00ORIENTALiSHNotes on Orientalism (and notes for students) by an uneasy lover and long time practitioner of the "Oriental"dance and yogic arts....Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-65335813417818680702014-06-30T13:07:00.003-07:002017-03-24T17:04:55.946-07:00Yoga Class Registration at NYU!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's registration for Summer II Monday/Wednesday Yoga classes at the Palladium Gym. This class will begin on Monday, July 7 and will run through Wednesday, August 6. (Thursday classes meet once a week through August 7). <br />
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The specific course information:<br />
PLD 350.1 Hatha Yoga M/W 5:30-6:25 pm<br />
<b style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #231f20;">In-Person Registration at Coles Gym: </span></b><span style="color: #231f20; text-align: center;">Wednesday, July </span><span style="color: #231f20; text-align: center;">2</span><sup style="color: #231f20; text-align: center;">nd</sup><span style="color: #231f20; text-align: center;"> 12:00 noon-8:00 pm</span><br />
<b style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #231f20;">On-Line Registration: </span></b><span style="color: #231f20; text-align: center;">Wednesday, July 2</span><sup style="color: #231f20; text-align: center;">nd</sup><span style="color: #231f20; text-align: center;"> 12:00 noon-8:00 pm</span><br />
<span style="color: #231f20; text-align: center;">Online Registration link: </span><span style="color: #231f20;"><a href="https://recreationregistration.nyu.edu/Start/Start.asp">https://recreationregistration.nyu.edu/Start/Start.asp</a></span><br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-22926833905123735552014-03-13T19:59:00.000-07:002014-03-13T19:59:07.883-07:00Julian Barnes at Le Poisson Rouge (with pianist Angela Hewitt)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A beautiful show at LPR. I only wanted to hear more of Barnes' own work. He read from his beautiful story based on Sibelius' life, "The Silence." Musicians in the audience (there seemed to be many) got the music jokes. I guess, "Only God composes in C major." (Who knew?) Hewitt followed his story with Sibelius' Romance in D-flat Minor (Op. 24, No. 9). Another great piece was from Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons" with Hewitt playing Mozart's Sonata in C minor. <br />
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Best way to endure another winter chill in NYC.</div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-33794421175357460452014-03-12T13:07:00.001-07:002014-03-12T13:07:28.369-07:00New story in "Sequestrum" Magazine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork from <a href="http://sequestrum.org/">Sequestrum.org</a></td></tr>
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I'm honored to have a short-short story <a href="http://www.sequestrum.org/if-love-is-an-idea">"If Love is an Idea"</a> published in the very new, curated online journal Sequestrum(.<a href="http://www.sequestrum.org/">http://www.sequestrum.org</a>)<i> </i>The artwork throughout the site is striking and reflective. "Sequestrum" means "a necrotic bone fragment, separate from standard skeletal structures." I look forward to seeing where this journal goes!</div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-86509579616321628752014-03-12T05:02:00.000-07:002014-03-12T05:02:06.211-07:00Reading Freud's "Dora" as Fiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/culture/ellen-gallagher-freud-meets-his-interlocutor-on-a-black-planet/2003782.article" target="_blank">Ellen Gallagher's "Odalisque" 2005 considers the "male gaze" in psychotherapy. </a></td></tr>
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Last night, I attended a first class on <a href="http://centerforfiction.org/for-readers/join-reading-groups/#freud">"Freud as Fiction"</a> led by novelist Sheila Kohler at the <a href="http://www.centerforfiction.org/">Center for Fiction. </a>We're exploring five of Sigmund Freud's famous case studies through the lens of "fiction." I'm new to reading Freud, aside from the comic references and parodies of my readings of Freud in Nabokov, who famously refers to Freud as the Viennese witchdoctor.<br />
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Last night's text was <i>Dora: A Case of Hysteria. </i>During my reading before class, I noticed a (truly minor) glimpse of the fascination with the "East" that dominated literary and cultural circles of the era (1905). On page 7 of my Touchstone edition, Freud lists (with self-conscious literary flair) reasons why his case study of "Dora" is incomplete, concluding: <i>"In the face of the incompleteness of my analytic results, I had no choice but to follow the example of those discoverers whose good fortune it is to bring to light of day after their long burial the priceless through mutilated relics of antiquity. I have restored what is missing, taking the best models known to me from other analyses; but like a conscientious archaeologist, I have not omitted to mention in each case where the authentic parts end and my constructions begin. </i><br />
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His main point in using this metaphor is "incompleteness." While this minor aside could have been referencing any number of archaeological locations (my gut says East), what strikes me as relevant is the power of who gets to "preserve" and shape the standing narrative. Unlike the earlier archeologists Freud compares himself to (and/or because he is "unburying" a person within his own culture), Freud more ably recognizes the vulnerability of his subject enough to at least state he wants to be sensitive and "conscientious," to not let his conjectures overshadow the "authentic" realities of the case. (Authenticity is such a pet term for Orientalists). Yet, part of Kohler's lively discussion at the CFF considered how Freud's narrative framing and his presumed integration of "fact" and "conjecture," reveal a great deal more of Freud's own anxieties and habits are revealed his presumed "case study" of Dora. (I kept thinking, also, of Boswell and Johnson.) <br />
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In the text, Freud states that part of his goal in writing <i>Dora</i> is to build credibility for his previously published dream theory. Freud, like the archeologists he mentions, is unable to see the whole partly because his own ambition is too visible. While much is gained by his trying, how much should the subject pay? <br />
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What I took from reading this text and the discussion is a new glimpse of Freud (the man and the habits of newly invented practice) and a glimpse into power structures of men and women and children in turn-of-the-century Vienna. Like the classic Orientalists and despite Freud's supposedly earnest intent, the bias and limitations of time and place shaped what Freud could see; and we as readers (who provide one more layer of this gaze at poor Dora) are equally bound by the limitations of 2014.<br />
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But....the focus of the class is <i>Dora</i> as fiction, and in this way the book is such a great read with the plot twists, doubles, and reversals that also mark Nabokov's fiction. I kept seeing connections with <i>Lolita:</i> numerous references to one's "train of thought," the very self-conscious phrases in French and Latin, the numerous lake scenes, the accident of Herr K after Dora makes her charges of transgression to him and Frau K, much like Charlotte Haze (Lolita's mother) is killed by a slow-moving car after she learns of Humbert Humbert's true desires and for her daughter. And, "Lolita's" given name, Dolores Haze appears in a list of her classmates surrounded by a "bodyguard of roses" (Mary Rose Hamilton and and Rosaline Honeck). Kohler told us last night that the name Dora came to Freud when remembering a maid named Rosa that had to change her name to Dora because she and someone else in the household (Freud's sister perhaps) was also named Rosa.<br />
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<a href="http://centerforfiction.org/for-readers/join-reading-groups/#freud">Next we read Freud's "Little Hans."</a><br />
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(I found the Ellen Gallagher artwork "Odalisque" online in <u><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_422552826"></span>an article from Times Higher Education. <span id="goog_422552827"></span></a>) This article is worth reading.</u></div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-33242595509240572522014-03-11T19:06:00.003-07:002014-03-12T03:47:18.462-07:00On Randa Jarrar's "Why I Can't Stand White Belly Dancers"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There were a lot of hackles raised within the dance community last week when Randa Jarrar, a Palestinian-American writer whose work I'm familiar with, posted her article <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/" target="_blank">"Why I Can't Stand White Belly Dancers." </a> <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/" target="_blank">http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/</a> While the sensationalist title (even if true) might have put some off, there were important points raised in the article. <br />
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Belly dance is appropriation. To deny that is a little scary. The art form (and I do consider it that) is taking music, making up names and labels, and claiming space, specialized knowledge, and profit. All of these are obvious forms of "Orientalism." Additionally, the Western media has historically portrayed Arab men and Arab women in ways that have been demeaning and continues to do so. Non-Arab belly dance contributes to this image even when claiming to "educate" and "create community." <br />
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How people (dancers, musicians, dance students) choose to absorb this reality is an individual choice, but to become only outraged misses an important chance for "white belly dancers" and others to listen to one person's viewpoint from a culture from which we have all gained so much. (And, we should also all watch Jarrar's included clip of the fabulous <a href="http://youtu.be/mmnqEeeWh60" target="_blank">Egyptian dancer Fifi Abdo</a>):<br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-205103594872003332014-02-26T20:18:00.001-08:002014-02-26T20:30:23.802-08:00Shimmies: A Sourcebook: "Turkish Twists" (Part 4)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="text-align: left;">The "Turkish" hip twist is a horizontal movement, with the hips swiveling front and back. The navel moves with the hips. There is no up and down movement in the hips. In my dance experience, there are two very different moods that accompany this particular movement in the hips. In a more "Turkish" style or gypsy style dance (as always be aware that these labels are always a bit arbitrary) the movement is smaller and faster. In a more folkloric or Egyptian style version. the feet may be wider with the movement resting more on one side. </span></div>
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The video above shows a twisting movement broken down by <a href="http://youtu.be/xTwjuQGlVJw" target="_blank">"Coco Berlin" on YouTube</a>. At 1:58 minutes, she demonstrates the version that moves the weight from one leg to the other, creating the illusion of moving the shimmy or twist from one side to the other side.<br />
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The video available below from <a href="http://visionarydance.com/store/belly-dance-dvds/delilahs-bellydance-workshop-volume-ii/" target="_blank">Delilah of Seattle's Visionary Dance Productions</a> is one of the first videos I used when I was learning to dance. Her videos are classics for learning! This particular series is one of the first of its kind from <a href="http://visionarydance.com/store/belly-dance-dvds/delilahs-bellydance-workshop-volume-ii/" target="_blank">Delilah's Belly Dance Workshop Series</a>.<br />
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Next in this series, I'll break down what is often called the "Egyptian Walk."<br />
The series: Shimmies: A Source Book.<br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-8309676790440148552014-02-24T19:44:00.005-08:002014-02-24T19:44:57.681-08:00Shimmies: A Sourcebook (Part 3): Three Quarter Shimmy <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In class, we did this as a version of the walking shimmy. The important part of this movement, whether walking or doing the movement in place, is shifting the weight smoothly from one leg to the other. Reach out with the hip (envision your hip flexors as hands reaching). Keep "mula-bandha" lifted and the breath relaxed.<br />
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Finally, as with all of the hip shimmies, the lengthening through the torso is generated by a continuous drawing up and down. "Mula-bandha" lifts as the tail bone extends (rather than clenches) toward the ground. The solar plexus lifts as the shoulder blades extend down. The heels ground down (if the foot is flat) as the arches of the feet lift up. <br />
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The above video from G<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTc9DR5i9MY" target="_blank">eobeats Women's Fitness series is clear and a good visual aid. There are many videos available on the subject. </a><br />
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Next . . .the "walking shimmy."<br />
See the series under the label: "Shimmies: A Sourcebook"</div>
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-50154907486614273502014-02-24T10:40:00.000-08:002014-02-24T19:41:12.330-08:00Shimmies: A Sourcebook (Part 2): Egyptian Shimmy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The above video of Randa Kamal is from Youtube: <a href="http://youtu.be/lMkIIuNcAts">http://youtu.be/lMkIIuNcAts</a><br />
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I love this Bhuz feed: <a href="http://www.bhuz.com/belly-dance-traditions-styles/24960-egyptian-shimmy-define-please.html">"Can someone define Egyptian Shimmy, please?"</a> The answers on this thread define "Egyptian" shimmies as "leg driven," the knee pushing back, relatively recent in Egyptian style dance, and one taught by the belly dance guru/teacher from Egypt, Raqia Hassan.<br />
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In class, we discussed the importance of staying as relaxed as possible through the quads while doing this shimmy. The weight is one the whole foot; there is a tendency to sink back into the heels, which, as in yoga, makes mobility in the hamstrings less fluid. The legs are alternating, the lower belly/pelvis is lifted (mulabandha helps if you do yoga), and the rib cage also lifts, which helps in fluidly isolating the upper and lower body. The shoulders and neck are relaxed. This shimmy is often done almost as a "resting shimmy,"and the dancer's upper body and arms are steady and free to express the music, balance a shamadan, play cymbals, etc. The video of Randa Kamal (above) is helpful because her body is very visible. This woman is so graceful and relaxed, the viewer almost misses how strong she is.<br />
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Here is a Youtube clip of two legends of Egyptian dance: Raqia Hassan and Mahmoud Reda:<br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-13723468319773227092014-02-23T10:42:00.001-08:002014-02-23T10:42:10.031-08:00Shimmy Sourcebook: Introduction <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In recent classes, we've gone over a variety of shimmies. The names for these shimmies are always changing, but for purpose of explanation, we've looked at "Egyptian shimmies," "Three-Quarter Shimmies," the "Egyptian Walk," the "Turkish Twist," and vibrations (or Friezes). (Remember, there are always more.) There are so many examples to choose from, but I have tried to find examples of these. (As you can see from the photo, everybody shimmies now....so will you.)<br />
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(Photo: F<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/EvrybodyShimmiesNowMaeWestCover.jpg">rom Wikipedia Commons.</a>)</div>
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-40121011162556882242014-01-26T12:25:00.000-08:002014-01-26T12:25:11.085-08:00Belly Dance Class at NYU begins this Week!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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SPRING BELLY DANCE CLASSES<br />COLES GYM</div>
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Improve body awareness, flexibility, and muscle tone with this powerful, feminine art form inspired by the music and rhythms of the Middle East. All classes cover hip isolations, shimmies, snaky undulations, and veil dance technique. Intermediate classes include choreographies and folkloric styles.</span></b><br />
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Level 1: (230.1) Fridays, 3:30-4:25 p.m.</div>
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<b>IN-PERSON REGISTRATION AT COLES GYM: <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Tues., January 28<sup>th</sup> 8:00am-1:00pm and 4:00-8:00pm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>ONLINE REGISTRATION Through Wednesday, January 29, 8 a.m.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.gonyuathletics.com/recreation"><b>http://www.gonyuathletics.com/recreation</b></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Classes Begin: Friday, January 31, 2014<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-85439722847215245602013-09-10T04:59:00.001-07:002013-09-10T04:59:23.610-07:00Fall Belly Dance Classes at NYU<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Fall Belly Dance Class Registration has begun at </div>
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NYU Coles Gym.</div>
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Level 1: (230.1) Fridays, 3:30-4:25 p.m.</div>
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Level 2: (231.1) Fridays, 4:30-5:25 p.m.</div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Tues., Sept. 10<sup>th</sup> 8:00am-1:00pm
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Wed., Sept. 11, 12 noon-8:00pm</span><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>ONLINE REGISTRATION Through Wednesday, Sept. 11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>11 p.m.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.gonyuathletics.com/recreation"><b>http://www.gonyuathletics.com/recreation</b></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Classes Begin:
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Improve body awareness, flexibility, and muscle tone with this powerful, feminine art form inspired by the music and rhythms of the Middle East. All classes cover hip isolations, shimmies, snaky undulations, and veil dance technique. Intermediate classes include choreographies and folkloric styles.</span></b></div>
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-9129649327601015642013-07-09T21:26:00.003-07:002013-07-09T21:26:20.314-07:00Thinking of Egypt.....1874<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">British novelist Amelia B. Edwards' memoir<br />(from the digital archives of the<br /><a href="http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/edwards/nile/nile.html" target="_blank">University of Pennsylvania</a>.)</td></tr>
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For the past two months, I've been immersed in a project set in Egypt, specifically the Nile between Thebes and the First Cataract, circa 1874, and have not stayed on top of 2013 events as I should be. For the most part, I've been checking headlines at trusted sources. However, as I read accounts by Americans and Europeans traveling up and down the Nile in that different era, I keep running into the deep misconceptions and fears these wealthier or mission-driven outsiders had about both place and people, misconceptions that seem so egregious and obvious to readers now. What will seem obvious in the next 100 years about this painful transition as we watch and unfortunately judge so much (and so loudly) from the outside?<br />
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Notes from my comfortable confines: a few of the works I've been looking at in particular, are the travelogue Murray's <i>Handbook for Travelers in Egypt </i>(1860s) and Amelia Edwards' <i><a href="http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/edwards/nile/nile.html" target="_blank">1000 Miles Up the Nile</a></i>. Despite its dated attitudes and perspective, the information and detail of the British novelist's voice bring the river alive and with well-intended affection. Earlier this spring, in my class on Biography at the CUNY-Grad Center, I had the good fortune to be assigned, Lytton Strachey's "<a href="http://orientalish.blogspot.com/2013/03/writers-on-dance-lytton-strachey-on.html" target="_blank">The End of General Gordon,"</a>which takes place in Upper Egypt in close to the same year. This short work takes a direct hit at late Victorian colonialism in Strachey's signature, darkly humorous style, and reveals the short-sightedness and narcissism that ignites misuse of power. My project is not political in nature, but views offered from this very particular window sadden further what I see happening now.</div>
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Transitions.....</div>
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-5862789737959225682013-05-09T10:55:00.004-07:002013-05-09T10:56:08.079-07:00Translating Najwan Darwish: PEN World Voices Fest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Najwan Darwish photo from:<br />
<a href="http://ArabLit.wordpress.com/">ArabLit.wordpress.com</a></td></tr>
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Last Friday, I went to an event at PEN World Voices at the Public Theatre that featured Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish and two of his translators. Issues that came up, how do you translate such culturally bound terms as "tea boy," lover vs. mistress, bathroom clogs, and eviction? M. Lynx Qualey posted <a href="http://arablit.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/tea-boys-or-interns-translators-tackle-the-language-of-najwan-darwish/#respond" target="_blank">my write up </a>on <a href="http://www.arablit.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Arabic Literature (in English) a</a>s well as a great write up of a more comprehensive event, "<a href="http://arablit.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/all-thats-left-to-you-three-palestinian-writers-in-conversation/" target="_blank">All That is Left to You,"</a> which featured a panel of Palestinian writers moderated by Elias Khoury.<br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-38177601183685320752013-05-07T05:17:00.000-07:002013-05-07T05:17:23.418-07:00Spring Dance Classes End: Practice! Recommendations for Studying<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Paul B. Good "Practice Wherever You Are"</td></tr>
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I can't believe how quickly the semester went this year! As promised on the last day of classes, here are suggested resources for studying on you own this summer. Keep in mind that finding the local belly dance community, wherever you may be, can be a great way to meet others and to stay active and disciplined in your practice.<br />
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Technique videos I recommend:<br />
My friend <a href="http://www.ranya.net/" target="_blank">Ranya</a> offers several <a href="http://ranya.net/shop/" target="_blank">DVDs focusing on Egyptian style technique </a>with an emphasis on musical sensitivity. I highly recommend the Baladi DVD though the also offers studies in Taqasim and Oriental.<br />
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<a href="http://www.visionarydance.com/" target="_blank">Deliliah of Seattle (VisionaryDance.com)</a> offers many videos, some of which I followed regularly in the 90s. I have memories of many hours spent in my Florence Street apartment in Somerville, MA, watching and following her <a href="http://visionarydance.com/store/belly-dance-dvds/" target="_blank">Workshop videos</a> (coin tricks and belly rolls!) into the early hours of the morning. Both her technique and performance videos are instructive and inspirational for all levels.<br />
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Finally, <a href="http://www.dancemeditation.org/" target="_blank">Dunya</a> offers her brand of <a href="http://www.dancemeditation.org/" target="_blank">Sufi Dancemeditation v</a>ideos, which were a fundamental part of my learning and integrating dance into my practice of life.<br />
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Local teachers in NYC abound! If you're in the city, check out: Kaeshi Chai and Bellyqueen, Jehan Kamal, Neon, Nourhan Sharif, Dalia Carella, Anahid Sofian, all of whom have had a direct influence on my own dance.<br />
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In the meantime, you can trawl through the many offerings on Youtube or see my page of performances I've found throughout my years of running this blog. I've found many clips by searching for Randa Kamal, Fifi Abdo, Rachel Brice, and any of the dancers I've posted previously on my resource page. There is no shortage of available material!<br />
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I've had a great semester and hope you have too.</div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-78419553035092516292013-05-05T21:31:00.002-07:002013-05-05T21:31:52.426-07:00On Arab Female Superheroes: Wonderwoman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo and graphic from the site:<a href="http://www.barrelhousemag.com/"> Barrelhouse Magazine</a>.</td></tr>
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Editor Susan Muaddi Darraj's thoughtful essay o<a href="http://www.barrelhousemag.com/from-the-editor-by-susan-muaddi-darraj/">n "Superheroes and Superpowers"</a> an introduction to Barrelhouse Magazine's online issue reminisces about Wonder Woman and her mistaking Wonder Woman for being Arab when she was a young girl watching the television series. Darraj states in her comments: s<i>he could pass for an Arab woman, with that black hair and that attitude. And those eyebrows! Or maybe it was just because there were no Arab heroes on television when I was growing up (there still aren’t.) and I really longed for one. </i><br />
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<i>I</i> suppose there are many reasons why children, who often feel powerless and often have a more certain belief in the moral rights and wrongs, end up being so drawn to superheroes. Reading<i> Darraj's essay </i>brought to mind a show I grew up watching: Isis. She didn't have Wonder Woman's bullet proof wrist cuffs, but she did have hair down to her waist and a snake crown, and I remember distinctly her l call: "Oh Zephyr winds which blow on high....lift me now that I may fly!" I remember being drawn into the story, which was wildly "orientalish" if there ever was an example. Oddly, this Youtube clip for the "Shazam/Isis! Hour of Power!" (sudden and intense flashbacks of sitting in the TV room with the red shag carpet even as I write this) begins with a 70s-style love call to respect all people and all languages. Sad that her presentation sounds so naive and sincere to the modern ear. <br />
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(And thank you again, Barrelhouse Mag for printing my story in the first online issue: <a href="http://orientalish.blogspot.com/2013/05/heroes-for-parties-in-barrelhouse.html">Heroes for Parties: 59 Bucks</a>.)<br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-75996540546586971752013-05-05T20:56:00.000-07:002013-05-05T20:58:51.158-07:00"Heroes for Parties" in Barrelhouse Magazine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am honored to have my work featured in <a href="http://www.barrelhousemag.com/"><i>Barrelhouse Magazine</i>'s</a> first online issue dedicated to Superheroes edited by Susan Muaddi Duaj. I've been reading and watching this magazine grow for years. The editors are tasteful (even when claiming not to be) and humorous and literary at once. <br />
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The story included, <a href="http://www.barrelhousemag.com/heroes-for-parties-59-bucks-by-jennifer-sears/">"Heroes for Parties: 59 Bucks" </a>is fiction, of course, though it's drawn from a friend's experience in Boston, a musician doing stunt work for his uncle's entertainment business, spiced up for effect. Please read and comment on the site if you can!</div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-81876998614867887722013-03-20T08:24:00.001-07:002013-03-20T08:24:03.469-07:00Writers on Dance: Lytton Strachey on General Gordon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">General Gordon's Last Stand from Wikipedia</td></tr>
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I'm taking a class on Biography as Genre right now at the Grad Center and came across a belly dance scene in Lytton Strachey's beautifully written <i>Eminent Victorians. </i>The last section, "The End of General Gordon," dissects the career of Charles George Gordon whose military career ended in southern Egypt. In this short scene, Strachey mocks the self-righteous morality of the Victorian era (calling him a "Christian hero") and the cold eye cast by this lonely, fame-driven, "eminently unromantic" colonialist who hated more than anything "the flesh." This scene takes place in 1874 when Gordon returns to the Sudan:<br />
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"On his way up the Nile, he was received in state at Khartoum by the Egyptian Governor-General of the Sudan, his immediate official superior. The function ended in a prolonged banquet, followed by a mixed ballet of soldiers and completely naked young women, who danced in a circle, beat time with their feet, and accompanied their gestures with a curious sound of clucking. At last the Austrian Consul, overcome by the exhilaration of the scene, flung himself in a frenzy among the dancers; the Governor General, shouting with delight, seemed about to follow suit, when Gordon abruptly left the room, and the party broke up in confusion." <br />
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Gordon, unable to see beyond the lens of his own judgments, ends up miscalculating both the forces against him and his own mortality. He died in a standoff in the Sudan (romanticized in the painting above, the cover of "Emminent Victorians").<br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-89997168329174351562013-03-20T07:38:00.001-07:002013-03-20T08:02:50.880-07:00Happy Spring Break: Classes Resume April 5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Spring Break! We had our makeup session for the snow storm on March 15. D Quarter classes resume Friday, April 5 and run through May 4. Because our last class focused on Shimmies, I'm attaching a video of Randa Kamal who is known for her amazing shimmies. If you Google "Randa Kamal" and shimmy, you will have no problem finding more information on her shimmies and even a Randa Kamal shimmy discussion at the belly dance social website <a href="http://tribes.tribe.net/randakamel/thread/6393a66e-c493-4b2d-9a8e-c2c7bd47b39b">www.tribes.net</a>. This website, along with www.bhuz.com, are good resources to be aware of you are interested in furthering your dance on your own!<br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-66803069227092295192013-03-20T07:23:00.001-07:002013-03-20T07:23:06.557-07:00Two (Free!) Orientalish-Related Events at NYU<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">P<a href="http://nyuadi.force.com/NYEvents/EventRegistration?event=n6xhim3bvyT2EEuSM_2F8c0w_3D_3D" target="_blank">hoto: Khcheich by Bassem Fayed <br />from the NYU AbuDhabi event site. <br />Information: click here</a></td></tr>
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Two (free!) events happening this week at NYU Abu Dhabi for those interested in Middle Eastern music and literature. First, this Friday at 8 p.m., <a href="http://nyuadi.force.com/NYEvents/EventRegistration?event=n6xhim3bvyT2EEuSM_2F8c0w_3D_3D" target="_blank">a classical music concert "Music of Lebanon and Rahbani Brothers" with Lebanese vocalist Rima Khcheich</a>. In class throughout the years at NYU, I've used Fairouz's music and the Rahbani Brothers. Come here this beautiful repertoire live with Khcheich and the Al-Bustan takht ensemble. <br />
March 22: 8 p.m.<br />
NYU Kimmel Center<br />
Eisner and Lubin Auditorium<br />
Free.<br />
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Second, on Monday, March 25, a talk with Egyptian writer, director, and performance artist Dalia Basiouny. According to the press release, Basiouny's <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Solitaire”: ". . . documents, dramatically and visually, some of the experiences of Arab Americans post 9/11, and the impact of these events on the Arab World. It also records the early phase of January 25th Revolution in Tahrir Square through the eyes of an Egyptian woman who changes and creates change in her journey to shape her identity and find peace." Basiouny will speak with playwright Catherine Filloux at this free event curated by Tisch School of the Arts.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">March 25, 6-7:30 p.m.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">NYU Abu Dhabi</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">19 Washington Square, </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">New York, NY</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Both events are free, but registration is recommended at the N<a href="http://nyuad.nyu.edu/news-events/new-york-city-events.html" target="_blank">YU Abu Dhabi website</a>.</span></span><br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-75800030678237069332013-03-07T19:16:00.000-08:002013-03-07T19:17:51.849-08:00"Regenerative Body Architecture" with Maureen Fleming <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.maureenfleming.com/" target="_blank">Maureen Fleming</a></td></tr>
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I am doing a three-week training with Maureen Fleming again! I've studied with Maureen for many years now. Because her work and form is so internally driven--reaching and drawing form the inner body and the inner muscles and working from between and below the muscles, I always go to a new place. <br />
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In yoga or any movement form, there is always the experience of finding a holding pattern in the body, feeling a surge of freedom and expansion for an hour, a day, on a good riff, a week. But then, invariably our new opening leads us to the next closing, or more positively, the next inner chamber waiting to be released. <br />
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Maureen's work includes a series of expansion exercises with elastics on the hands and feet. Dancers use their own body for resistance, the body opens itself, part of the intimacy of her work, in my experience. In addition to the elastics, we dance through images associated with an area of the body and then, at the end, move the body with dynamic symbols for movement, pressing what ever part of the body touches the black marley floor into the ground as our limbs spiral into highways or contract and expand and compress mercury from the perineum through the spine and to the finger tips. <br />
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After doing a three hour session at her East Village loft, I leave feeling lighter on the inside as I stand on the subway platform. Sounds seem louder as if I've quieted something internally that is too often chattering. When I went to yoga afterward, I lifted into poses by reaching from that deeper center.<br />
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I'm so glad there are two weeks left (18 hours!).....</div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-43269202611535656502013-03-06T21:04:00.001-08:002013-03-06T21:04:42.276-08:00The "Fifi Abdo" Hip Circle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In class last week I referred (again!) to the "Fifi Abdo" hip circle. This is my label, but Fifi Abdo, a top dancer in Egypt starting in the 70s, does it very well and very often in videos I've seen of her dancing. On this site, I have a page with <a href="http://orientalish.blogspot.com/p/belly-dance-study-guide.html" target="_blank">information for new dancers</a>. One of the videos is the one I'm reposting here. She's wearing a classic white robe and dancing with live musicians and finger cymbals. This one of my favorite videos of her dancing. The hip circle is at 1:17 minutes.<br />
<br />Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. I never tire of watching this clip!</div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-61410332995064232522013-03-06T20:56:00.000-08:002013-03-06T20:56:09.130-08:00NYU Choreography: "Talakik: Looking for Excuses"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We just started a new choreography at NYU to Hakim's pop classic: "Talakik." Here is a link to the song on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/album/talakek/id204737527?i=204738085&ign-mpt=uo%3D5" target="_blank">ITunes</a>. Additionally, Shira's great website, <a href="http://www.shira.net/" target="_blank">http://www.shira.net </a>has one version of translated lyrics to the song: "<a href="http://www.shira.net/music/lyrics/talakik.htm" target="_blank">Talakik: Looking for Excuses</a>." It's about love, of course, and longing, and the girl who might get away. Finally, I came across a video on Youtube of the fabulous Amar Gamal dancing to the song. Amar is an excellent dancer who used to live in NYC before she became one of the Bellydance Superstars. She also co-founded <a href="http://www.bellyqueen.com/" target="_blank">Bellyqueen </a>with local belly dance favorite Kaeshi Chai (go to Je'Bon on Wednesdays if you haven't already). <br />
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Enjoy! We'll go farther in our routine on Friday!<br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-4884098710466575062013-03-03T10:12:00.000-08:002013-03-03T10:12:32.579-08:00Winter Storm Make Up Date: March 15<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We're thawing out now, but our makeup date for the class cancelled at Coles Gym during the snow storm is Friday, March 15, 3: 30 p.m. <br />
Stay warm. Dance!</div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-67056680547958623842013-01-27T18:59:00.001-08:002013-01-27T18:59:07.522-08:00Spring Belly Dance Classes at Coles Gym!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Belly Dance Classes at Coles Gym begin Feb. 1</div>
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3:30-4:25 p.m.</div>
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<span style="color: rgb(13.700000%, 12.200000%, 12.500000%); font-family: 'Calibri'; font-size: 9.000000pt;">CLS 230- Sec. 1: Fridays, 3:30-4:25 pm </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Lina Jang</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9XyqM-mgGeNZZUz69xqXBnkqG0zH-FsqfSPZQe5tg939WgFwN1W4ONFSkw12FZpN-fF13cJlfuKIQDks_A3B-j5sUkUJaOsh1FZFbsOn-o28vZllATpaZDRTDPuN9mmKKNSztw0SIlA/s1600/lina+jang+photos+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"><br /></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9XyqM-mgGeNZZUz69xqXBnkqG0zH-FsqfSPZQe5tg939WgFwN1W4ONFSkw12FZpN-fF13cJlfuKIQDks_A3B-j5sUkUJaOsh1FZFbsOn-o28vZllATpaZDRTDPuN9mmKKNSztw0SIlA/s1600/lina+jang+photos+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"> </span></a></div>
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Online and in-person registration at Coles Gym starts now.</div>
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Classes begin on Friday, Feb. 1<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial; font-size: 20px; line-height: 18px;"><strong>On-Line Registration</strong></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial; line-height: 18px;"><em style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Available now - Wednesday, January 30<sup>th</sup> 11:59pm*</span></em><br /><a href="http://www.gonyuathletics.com/sports/2009/9/8/Recreation%20Classes.aspx">http://www.gonyuathletics.com/sports/2009/9/8/Recreation%20Classes.aspx</a><br /><span style="font-size: 20px;"><strong>In-Person Registration</strong></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">@Coles Sports Center</span><br /><em style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Tuesday, January 29<sup>th</sup> 8:00am-1:00pm and 4:00-8:00pm<br />Wednesday, January 30<sup>th</sup> 12 noon-8:00pm</span></em></span><br />
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Questions? Please contact me:</div>
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<a href="mailto:jennifer@HolisticBellyDanceProject.com">jennifer@HolisticBellyDanceProject.com</a></div>
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347-782-1357</div>
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119194524545270591.post-24525742122339061272012-12-04T20:51:00.001-08:002012-12-04T20:51:40.628-08:00Reading at the KGB Bar on Thursday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from the <a href="http://www.kgbbar.com/" target="_blank">KGB Bar</a> website.</td></tr>
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I'm excited to be reading at the KGB Bar as part of Columbia's "Faculty Selects" programming at the <a href="http://www.kgbbar.com/" target="_blank">KGB Bar i</a>n the East Village. Here is their blurb:<br />
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<b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Join us for our Columbia Selects December line-up, at the KGB Bar, this Thursday, December 6, at 7 pm! Selected by the Columbia Writing Program, our readers are sure to dazzle and delight.</b></div>
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Our line-up this month:</div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Jennifer Sears</b>’s work has appeared in <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Fence</i>, <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">The Boston Globe</i>, <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Ninth Letter</i>, <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Gilded Serpent Journal of Middle Eastern Music and Dance</i>, and <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Arabic Literature</i>, among other publication. She's received a citation in <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Best American Non-Required Reading</i>, and fellowships from the Millay Colony for the Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, SLS, and The Money for Women Fund. She is finishing a novel about an American belly dancer who tries to help a Palestinian student flee the United States for Canada during the Special Registration, a controversial anti-terrorism measure implemented by the US Department of Justice in 2003.</div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Richard Dragan</b> teaches creative writing and journalism in the CUNY system in New York. He has worked extensively as a magazine journalist writing about science and technology, and his recent fiction has appeared in <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Eclectica Magazine</i>. He is polishing up his collection of short stories and is at work on a novel that mixes love, revenge and the possibilities of artificial intelligence.</div>
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<b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Peter Vilbig</b> is a writer and teacher in Brooklyn, New York. His short fiction has appeared in the <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Baltimore Review</i>, <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Drunken Boat</i>, <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Fleeting, Horizon Review, The Ledge Poetry and Fiction Magazine, Saranac Review, The Linnet’s Wings, </i>and <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Tin House, </i>among other publications. His new fiction is forthcoming in <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">3:AM Magazine</i>. His story, “Frida,” published in <i style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Fleeting</i>, was nominated for the 2012 Best of the Net Anthology. He is currently completing a collection of novellas.</div>
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This month’s reading will be hosted by Emily Austin.<br />
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<b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">What is Columbia Selects? </b> The first Thursday of each month the Columbia MFA program hosts a reading series featuring Writing Program alumni. These fresh talents are finished with or near to finished with their first books, but do not yet have a book contract and/or an agent. In recent years, many of our featured writers have achieved critical and commercial success. This is your chance to glimpse who you'll be reading in 2014!<br />
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Columbia Selects is curated by Bryan VanDyke and Emily Austin.<br />
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<b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Columbia Selects: MFA Readings @ The KGB Bar<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />Thursday, December 6 @ 7 p.m.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />KGB Bar 85 E. 4th St<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />F Train to 2nd Ave</b><span style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><a href="http://www.kgbbar.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #003399; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://www.kgbbar.com/</a></b></span><b style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></b><br />
Come for the talent. Stay for the camaraderie and cocktails.<br />
For more info send an email to <span style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><a href="http://us.mc1117.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kgbcolumbia@gmail.com" rel="nofollow" style="color: #003399; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">kgbcolumbia@gmail.com</a></span>.</div>
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085199393923235987noreply@blogger.com0