Dancing with the Legendary Alexandra King

Yesterday I took a phenomenal workshop with the stunning Alexandra King, who specializes in American Cabaret and has taught some of the best dancers performing throughout the world today.

We focused on the AmCab vocabulary, and how to improvise through a standard American Cabaret set: opening number, veil, taksim, drum solo, karsilama.

And that night, as a single 10-minute dance, Alexandra performed an entire mini-set from in the showcase dedicated to her.

Also performing were the lovely Cara West, Paola Blanton (who specializes in Isadora Duncan technique, and is teaching a 4-week course in this through Bellyqueen), and Irina Akulenko, who expertly organized the evening.

I did a choreographed drum solo which I've put together last year:



Enjoy!

When Tandavas Meet!

Last week at Je'Bon, I joined an eclectic group of dancers assembled by the incomparable Anasma, including The Piel Canela Dancers, who dazzled the audience with hot-hot Latin dances, and the ultra-hot-hot hip-hop artist Megatron who similarly mesmerized the crowd.

Here is footage of my candle-balancing performance:



Our featured dancer, however, was an enchanting Spanish bellydancer named Zoe Anwar.

She asked me how I came by the name "Tandava," and I explained that Middle Eastern dance had become my path to healing from traumatic injury to my abdomen and lower back, and had doubly enhanced my life by engendering a creative rebirth.

When I was reading up on Hindu deities, I learned about the God Shiva's dance of creation, maintenance, destruction, and re-creation as the cycle of rebirth begins again: the Tandava (pronounced tAN-Dah-vah, accent on the first syllable, soft "t", hard "D" -- I pronounce it "tan-DAH-vah").

Immediately the name resonated with me in meaning and sound (it is, after all, a way cool name). I rolled it through my mind for several weeks and finally settled on it.

Last year, I came upon the myspace page of another bellydancer named Tandava...a woman in Madrid, it seemed. Grrrr!

But it wasn't -- the Spanish Tandava was none other than Zoe Anwar's dance company!

She asked me if I had learned to do the Tandava as a meditative dance; I said I had not, but would love to learn, and she has promised to connect me with a teacher in the New York area.

For a look at some other Tandavas, check out my "What's a Tandava" side module.....

January/February 2009 Events Archive

Thursday, January 15th, 8pm
Performing Stand-Up Comedy at Sheba Mason's Comedy Show
Joe Franklin's Comedy Club @ Charley O's
713 Eighth Avenue & 45th Street, NYC
Tickets: 212-352-3101
866-811-4111(toll free)
Info: 646-351-2904
$10 Cover/$10 Minimum

Thursday, February 5th, 10pm
Performing Stand-Up Comedy at Sheba Mason's Comedy Show
Joe Franklin's Comedy Club @ Charley O's
713 Eighth Avenue & 45th Street, NYC
Tickets: 212-352-3101
866-811-4111(toll free)
Info: 646-351-2904
$10 Cover/$10 Minimum

Wednesday, February 11th, 7:30pm
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

Sunday, February 15th, 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

Tuesday, February 17th, 8pm-12am
(my set will be around 9pm)
Dancing at the Cupping Room Cafe
359 West Broadway at Broome, NYC
New York, NY, 10013
212-925-2898
no cover/no minimum

Saturday, February 21st, 10pm
Performing Stand-Up Comedy at Sheba Mason's Comedy Show
Joe Franklin's Comedy Club @ Charley O's
713 Eighth Avenue & 45th Street, NYC
Tickets: 212-352-3101
866-811-4111(toll free)
Info: 646-351-2904
$10 Cover/$10 Minimum

Wednesday, February 25th, 8:30pm
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

The New Year -- Looking Back, Looking Forward

January has been a reflective month for me.

I've done very little performing so far this year, but have devoted the past four weeks to thinking about what 2008 brought me and what I'd like for 2009.

All the "life coach" people say you should commit your desires to writing, but the most wonderful events of 2008 came as such a surprise -- so much so that I would not have dared to even ask for them, beyond a vague hope of "someday I'd like these things to happen" -- that part of me doesn't want to box myself into a list.

Travels were the first of 2008's surprises.

Early in the year, Raquy invited me to Egypt, where I:

• Learned enough Arabic to get around and haggle the best prices
• Rode a camel
• Visited the Pyramids and Sphinx
• Found the perfect cabaret costume (not an easy thing, given my size)
• Shot pool with the locals (yes, they play pool in Egypt)
• Visited the Egyptian Museum
• Studied with the great Randa Kamel
• Danced with a live band (unofficially, but they kept pulling me onstage, which was another great surprise)
• Walked alone by the Nile at 2am

I went on various retreats -- drumming with Raquy and whirling with Dunya -- and managed to lose 20 pounds in the process.

I also visited San Francisco for the first time since I was 3 years old, and spent time with family I hadn't seen in over 20 years.

Having done theater and stand-up comedy in the past, it had been in the back of my mind to unite the two with bellydance, though I had no clue how this might happen.

To my surprise, I was asked to join the cast of the Off-Broadway show 700 Wives as a dancer and choreographer.

And to my greater surprise, Bellyqueen asked me to host the finale of their 10th Anniversary Tour -- which included assembling a 15-minute stand-up routine, which I subsequently began to perform in NY-area clubs.

On a personal level, I joined Kings County Divers and finally got my scuba certification, and have continued to teach sailing with The American Small Craft Association.

I also managed to refinance my co-op only a few weeks before the mortgage crisis hit (whew!!).

So... what's next for 2009?

At the moment, I'm concentrating equally on bellydance and comedy: continuing to develop a strong and flexible technique suited to working with live musicians, and building a consistently funny 20-minute routine and promoting myself as a comic in the New York area.

And I promise I'll make more updates to this blog (really I will!!), as well as put a full-fledged website online.

Beyond that... we'll I'm just staying open to new ideas and will see what comes my way.

Have a wonderful 2009!

December 2008 Events Archive

Sunday, December 7th, 7pm-10pm
Dancing in Ranya's Holiday Gala
Lafayette Grill & Bar.
54 Franklin Street (3 block south of Canal), NYC
212-732-5600 call for table reservations!

TICKETS: www.BrownPaperTickets.com/event/49829
or 1-800-838-3006 (24-hour ticket hotline)
or buy advance tix in person from me!
$15 advance / $20 at the door
No ticketing fee for first 50 people to buy online!

Thursday, December 11th, 10pm
Performing Stand-Up Comedy at Sheba Mason's Comedy Show
Joe Franklin's Comedy Club @ Charley O's
713 Eighth Avenue & 45th Street, NYC
Tickets: 212-352-3101
866-811-4111(toll free)
Info: 646-351-2904
$10 Cover/$10 Minimum

Friday, December 12th, 7pm-9pm
Meditative Dancing at the Middle Eastern Dance & Drum Concert with Sufi Master Adnan Sarhan
The Feldenkrais Institute of New York
The Chelsea Arts Building
134 West 26th Street, 2nd Floor, NYC
212-228-2459
$10 Admission

Saturday, December 13th, 2pm
Dancing in Shoshana's Bellydance Showcase
Queens Public Library, Arverne Branch
312 Beach 54 Street Arverne, NY (Take the A train to Beach 60th St in Far Rockaway... Oh, it's not that far, stop whining!)
(718) 634-4784
Free!

Tuesday, December 16th, 7pm-10pm
Dancing in Rayhana's Annual Rock Show
Lafayette Grill & Bar.
54 Franklin Street (3 block south of Canal), NYC
212-732-5600 call for table reservations!

Thursday, December 18th, 10pm
Performing Stand-Up Comedy at Sheba Mason's Comedy Show
Joe Franklin's Comedy Club @ Charley O's
713 Eighth Avenue & 45th Street, NYC
Tickets: 212-352-3101
866-811-4111(toll free)
Info: 646-351-2904
$10 Cover/$10 Minimum

September/October Events Archive

Thursday, September 11th, 7pm
Dancing at Karma for the September Concert Series.
51 1st Ave ( bet. 3rd and 4th sts,) NYC
212-677-3160
No Cover/No Minumum

Sunday, September 21st, 2:30pm-4pm
Teaching Bellydance at Greenhouse Holistic
88 Roebling Street (Williamsburg, near Bedford Ave Stop)
Brooklyn, NY
718-599-3113
$15 drop-in

Sunday, October 5th, 8pm
Dancing at with Efendi at The Grisly Pear
107 Macdougal St, NYC (between W 3rd and Bleecker - right next to Panchito's)
(212) 529-3808
No Cover
$20 Food/Drink minimum

Friday, October 10th, 8pm
Emceeing for Bellyqueen's 10th Anniversary Extravaganza!
BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers Street, NYC (btw Greenwich & West Sts)
(212) 220-1460
$20/$25/$30

Friday, October 24th, 8pm
Dancing and Emceeing for Obama Raqs! Bellydancers for Obama Benefit
Je'Bon Noodle House
15 St. Mark's Place, NYC (btw Greenwich & West Sts)
(212) 388-1313
$10 Donation/$10 Minimum


Wednesday, October 29, 8pm
Dancing for Bellyqueen's Halloween/Scorpio Birthday Party
Je'Bon Noodle House
15 St. Mark's Place, NYC (btw Greenwich & West Sts)
(212) 388-1313
$10 Cover/$5 Minimum

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

My Halloween Birthday -- from Blessing Band to Cupping Room to Spiegelworld (to a diner at 6am)

Truly a birthday to remember...

I'm usually too lazy to organize my own birthday events; fortunately Halloween is kind enough to provide me with a read-made party day, letting me hop from ball to bash, dancing, drinking and partying my butt off.

Which I did this year... BUT...

I wanted to do something special since a lot has happened for me this year, creatively, emotionally and spiritually.

Queen Mama Donna, who was kind enough to lead PURE's Tree Dedication in Prospect Park this past summer, invited me to join her Blessing Band which, for the second year, led the NYC Village Halloween Parade, blessing the route, the crowd and the city.

Clad in silver and white, sparkles and bells, she gathered us at Spring Street and Sixth Avenue.


(She is on the right in this photo.)

Some of us had wands... and some had red umbrellas??



I was the only one with a hipscarf and a veil.

She guided us to our starting point and we formed a circle around her.



And then led us north...



And I danced and zilled and trailed behind...



Here is a fun video of the procession:



Afterwards, I met with my family and friends and we headed down to The Cupping Room where Rayhana and her students performed a special tribute to the immortal Serena Wilson.

Around 1am, my hardiest (and heartiest) friends, Kisha and Bill K, joined me to see Sarah Locke and Alchemy dance at Spiegelworld at the Seaport.

We thought we were way too late for their show, which was supposed to be before 1am -- but it turned out we arrived just in time for their first number.

By chance, we walked in the right direction and were ordering a drink when we heard a familiar Djinn song coming from the tent behind the bar. We dashed through the crowd and found the beautiful Sarah gliding forward with serpentine mayas.

And then we drank.

And danced.

And danced more.

And ended up in a diner at dawn somewhere near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, raining glitter and good vibes in our french toast and coffee. Mmmmmmm.