Friends With Benefits -- Part Two

Cynthia has been on a photograpic roll, sending me Pandemonium pics faster than I can go through them.

But stay tuned... They will soon be added to my Flickr page, and then blogged about here.

In the meantime, I wanted to respond to the many comments and praise that has come in about the spectacular Pandemonium line-up -- in particular, many of you have asked about these artists' upcoming work and online material.

First up:

The inimitable Brian Carter...



... whose deliciously funny song Your Hair was the surprise hit of the evening (tho I told him it would be!!).

And you can dowload this fabulous tune from CD Baby for only 99 cents!

Next up: Mr. Mike "G-licious" Gianelli himself!



This Sunday, November 21st, he'll be performing his one-man show at The Pit:

Mike Giannelli: Bad Advice from Both Sides of the Border
A one-man show with three people.
Make a mistake every once in while.

With Ana Bellinghausen and Lucia Brizzi.

4:30 pm, Saturday, November 21
The People’s Improv Theater (“The PIT”)
154 West 29th Street, between 6th & 7th Avenues
$5

The lovely comedienne Sheba Mason will be performing this

Friday, November 20 @ 10pm at
The New York Comedy Club
241 E 24th Street, NYC
212-696-5233
$10 Cover
2-drink minimum

Next up, the legendary stand-up mime, Richmond Shepard joins the stunning Leslie E. Hughes in the quirky, witty and all-around delightful comedy Lord Buckley and Marilyn (yes that Marilyn).

Remaining performances are:

Thursday through Saturday: 17, 18, 19, 20 & 21 @ 8pm
and Friday & Saturday 27 & 28 @ 8:00 p.m.
Richmond Shepard Theatre
309 E. 26 Street @ 2 Avenue
212/684-2690, $18, Stud/Sen $10
(tell them you are Tandava's student for the discount... :-D )

And lastly, the phenomenal Akim Funk Buddha will be doing a double-header for BAMcafé Live during Thanksgiving weekend.

Friday, November 27th @ 10pm
Hip Hop Holiday I: Back to the Essence
The Art of Scratching on Turntables to Urban Mythology & Fables

Saturday, November 28th
Hip Hop Holiday II: Cultural Collisions the Funk Buddha Chamber Orchestra
The Boom Box Journey Continues

Brooklyn Academy of Music

See you there!!

Friends With Benefits -- Part One

Has it really been two weeks since PURE Pandemonium??

In some ways it feels like it was just last night... in others, it seems ages ago. But either way, it was an evening I will never forget!

I was so touched and impressed by the performances of my talented friends, and by the huge turnout of friends.

For the first two hours, we had standing room only (or people sat on the floor and along the side of the stage!), even as a few tables cleared out at intermission, more guests arrived to take their place.

In all, the event was a huge success, raising over $800 for PURE in cash donations, and over $100 more in online and other donations!

It looks like we will reprise the show at Columbia University in April 2009, so if you would still like to make a donation, please make a donation on the PURE NYC website.

So.... after the premiere of PURE Reflections, I began to think about how, since I'd gotten back into comedy, theater and improvisation, I had an extraordinary assortment of insanely talented friends whose paths might never cross otherwise.

Inspired by my Improvisation Theater group, Artistic New Directions, which bridges diverse groups in the theater community, I wanted to create a multi-discipline event and hopefully inspire these amazing performers to connect with other fields.

Knowing many dancers would come out to support PURE, and knowing that my non-dancer friends would come out for my Big Birthday, it seemed the perfect opportunity to create a little pandemonic fusion.

And I got pretty pandemonic myself, dancing, emceeing, singing and doing comedy at points throughout the evening.

Starting the evening, in full costume...



... I described my solo as "inspired by the elegant dances of Fred and Ginger" to a "classic song from the 30s..."



Cocktails for Two... by Spike Jones!!



For those who recall -- this is a reprise of my CringeFest dance earlier this year, demonstrating that bellydance could be a perfect fit for even the whackadoo soundeffects of Mr. Jones and his City Slickers -- Comedy-Bellydance Fusion. A ComFusion, if you will.....

Then my lovely friend Kisha took the stage...



... for a stunning veil dance in white-and-black.

Artistic New Directions' Scotty Watson followed ....



... with his infamous Ballet Routine.

Then the incomparable Moroccan musian/singer Rachid Halihal performed the first of three songs with drummers Brian Carter and Brad Mack.

Last year, Rachid was a guest teacher at one of Raquy's dumbek retreats, where he taught our stumbling tongues the words to a famous Arabic song, Ya Rayah.

To our surprise, I managed to learn the chorus by heart, and sung it with him... (!!!)



Then the sublime Thalia entranced the audience to Batawannes Beek...



... and that took us to about 8:40pm, with still so much show to go!

I'll post more photos as they become available (the lovely professional model-turned-photgrapher Cynthia Boucher has been sending in photos as they are ready).

Check my flickr set for updates: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tandavadance/4098282291

Ah, but th-th-that's not all folks!

In return for performing at my benefit, I agreed to perform at the benefit Scotty Watson was organizing the following week for Artistic New Directions -- making us truly Friends with Benefits (nyuck, nyuck).

The theme this year? Burlesque!

Now, I know for some bellydancers a few hackles are raised when these dance forms are combined -- but remember, quite a few bellydancers... um... go both ways :-D -- most notably, the divine Princess Farhana, but there are many others, including New York's Chicava and Masae -- both of whom agreed to do the benefit!

And what did I do?

Why, a sword dance, of course!



For more photos, go to my Flickr Set.

Or check out Janice Goldberg's full set on Facebook.

Lots more going on... stay tuned!

September-October Events Archive

Wednesday, September 9th @ 9pm
Performing Stand-Up Comedy at the Broadway Comedy Club
318 West 53rd Street (btw 8th & 9th Aves), NYC
212-757-2323
$10 cover/2-drink minimum

Friday, September 18th @ 7pm & 9pm
Dancing in PURE's Groundbreaking Dance-Theater Work
PURE Reflections: Beauty Reimagined
University Settlement
184 Eldridge Street, 2nd Floor, NYC
$20 at the door
$15 advance

Saturday, September 19th @ 4pm
Dancing in PURE NYC's Annual Procession
Starting at Columbus Circle, winding through the lower paths of Central Park, through Grand Army Plaza, down 59th Street to the Tram
Join us anywhere along the way!

Thursday, September 24th @ 7pm
Performing Stand-Up Comedy at the Broadway Comedy Club
318 West 53rd Street (btw 8th & 9th Aves), NYC
212-757-2323
$10 cover/2-drink minimum

Saturday, October 3rd @ 11pm
Dancing at Epocas
6124 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
718-748-3650
No Cover

Sunday, October 18th, 2:30-4pm
Teaching Beginning Bellydance at Greenhouse Holistic
88 Roebling St (near the Bedford Ave stop on the L)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
718-599-3113
$15 drop-in

Sunday, October 18th, 7-8:15pm
Teaching Beginning Bellydance at Shambhala Yoga & Dance Center
348 Saint Marks Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238-3661
(718) 622-9956
$15 drop-in

Thursday, October 29th, 7pm-11pm
Dancing, Emceeing and Being Silly in my
PURE Pandemonium Halloween Birthday Benefit supportig
PURE Reflections: Beauty Reimagined
Je'Bon Restaurant
15 St. Mark's Place, NYC
(N/R/W to 8th St, 6 to Astor Pl.)
$10-$20 Donation
One-Item Minimum

Saturday, October 31, 7pm
Dancing with PURE NYC and Queen Mama Donna's Blessing Band
at the Front of the NYC Halloween Parade
Starting at Sixth Avenue & Spring Street, heading north up Sixth Avenue to 21st Street