Yay! I'm Raquy's Messenger of the Month for February 2008!

So, here is the bio I submitted to Raquy today (which I then revised like four times, probably driving her batty with emails saying, "Oops...I forgot to add such-and-such...!").

I figure it will be posted on her site at the end of January. I'll include a link when it's up.

Raquy Raqs!!!
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Four years ago, Tandava (Carol Henning) would have considered the possibility of becoming a professional bellydancer and avid dumbek student about as likely as becoming a trapeze artist.

Although she had performed for many years as an actor and stand-up comic, she found the stage unfulfilling and all but abandoned it to the workaday joys of computer programming.

In mid-2004, however, her struggles to recover from a severe back injury led her to bellydance -- first with Oreet, then with Kaeshi and Ranya, and onward to many, many student showcases, where she began to feel at home and alive on stage again. But still something was missing…

In late 2005, she first experienced Raquy's dazzling prestidigitation at Oreet's annual showcase, immediately bought all her CDs, Dumbek Fever, a dumbek, and signed up for Raquy's Catskills Retreat, where she continues to return whenever possible.

Now she performs frequently in New York as a dancer and, returning to her stand-up roots, as an emcee at many bellydance shows. She's honored to perform with Raquy's Messengers and promises to get her double-decker snap in shape by the next Retreat.

And she is signing up for the next class at the Trapeze School of New York.

For schedule, contact and commentary, please go to http://tandavadance.blogspot.com/

Back from Dumbekistan

Five days gone and I'm finally recovered from Raquy's Fabulous Winter Retreat.

I mean, she doesn't beat us or anything (at least not in any way that we don't want), but wow what a workout!

We had a very small group this time... maybe about fifteen people. But all of us were intermediate to advanced, so she gave us Jehan to learn -- one of the finger-bending solos on her recent CD, Naked.

The other students didn't seem to have a hard time with it, but I struggled... and struggled. It didn't help that the very first day I came down with The Worst Cold Ever and spent most of the weekend honking my schnoz (much to the amusement of fellow retreater Amanda, who was recording everything. "Yeah," she said on Sunday afternoon, "it's like every five minutes --- hoooonk!!" )

I had initially tried to do the piece using turkish doubles, but I finally gave up on that and considered myself lucky if I could beat out the rapid teka-TEKs in an even rhythm by pounding my hands really, really fast.

My cold finally broke on Sunday afternoon, when Raquy asked me to teach the bellydance class -- something I'd never done at a retreat before.

I was barely coherent enough to think of a lesson plan, but the non-dancers beat out a sweet groove that put us in a happy, hip-swaying mood, so everyone enjoyed the class. AND my nose calmed down for the whole hour.

The final performance on Sunday night went pretty well... I danced to Leylet Hob, which, like the class, went better than I'd expected. And we got through Jehan without embarrassing ourselves too much. But notice how focused we all are...

.... probably because we didn't know it well enough to kick back and enjoy it. (That's me in the blue costume, by the way... my spankin' new Eman Zaki.)

But Raquy tells me that the reprise this past Wednesday night at Galapagos was stellar since everyone had had the chance to really practice it. Unfortunately, I had a prior commitment at Je'Bon, but there's a chance we'll get to do the piece again.

Until then I must practice, practice, practice!