Why I was away–in one word
::more than somewhat::
Belly dance, fitness, and a bit of whatever.
Panorama of Pics
I’ve always loved fooling around with Firefox add-ons. It’s a huge amount of fun – if you have the time for it. Well, with the upgrade to Firefox 3.1, I lost a whole lot of my favorite add-ons. I suppose they have to be updated before they come back. Meanwhile, I also discovered some new ones and have been having no end of fun with one of them. An add-on called Piclens (sister to Cooliris) makes your computer screen look like this:
Is that cool, or what? This 3D wall of pictures happens when you go to a Piclens-enabled website. Most aren’t yet, of course, but a few biggies are. Google, Youtube, Amazon, Discover, Flikr and a few more. If you’ve installed the add-on, the PiclLens icon on the top right of your toolbar goes blue. Click on it and you get a beautiful, flowing panoramic wall of pictures. You can move the wall along or take it back or stop it to take a look wt what you have. Click on a picture and it enlarges. You get the title and URL as well. What use is it? Well, I don’t know: it just looks great and is a nice way to browse pictures fast. Somehow the pictures look better too, though that defies logic. If you use PicLens with Youtube, a clicked video will also enlarge and play.
Currently it has given me one or two Firefox crashes and even one abrupt shut down, but hey, I can handle a few of those. It must have to do with the graphics card or some such.
More chiftitelli
Here’s a list of videos that have chiftitelli choreographies or moves. I’m also including ones that don’t necessarily take up chiftitelli but are helping me dance better to the rhythm and improvise to it. These are just videos in my own collection and there probably one or two out in the wild that I haven’t bought. Yet. This little list also doesn’t include any Greek and Turkish instruction that may be out there. Tsiftetelli or Çiftetelli, since it’s a Greek-Turkish rhythm and dance.
Neon’s Dance Today Bellydance has a chiftitelli choreography. Although she makes it sound easy, it isn’t. Rather than being slow and extremely sensual, it’s actually a little angelic. All the same, every move in that choreography will be useful if you’re trying to build up a mental bank of chifti moves and combinations to draw upon. And while they’re very Neon-styled or Neonized, you can tweak them easily. In any case, only Neon looks like Neon.
Hadia’s Volume 2 video has a chiftitelli instruction. She goes straight into teaching you a collection of moves, most of which focus on accenting the 5-6-7 of the rhythm. Again, good stuff to draw upon and make your own.
Blanca’s Sensual Bellydance isn’t specifically a chiftitelli instructional, but it has a wealth of moves, poses and stylization that would fit chiftitelli wonderfully, if you were just to work on accenting the rhythm.
Suzana del Vechio’s Dynamic Combinations DVD has a standing taqsim sequence and some chiftitelli moves. Suzanna is clinically precise and moves fast with her instruction with moves that are not particularly easy though they are very nice.
Alexandra King has a DVD (Volume 2) that has some moves meant for chiftitelli. But the video is a poor quality one overall and I’m never very sure what to say about it.
Amira Mor is not one of my favorite video instructors. She dances well but I don’t find the teaching on her many videos well-thought-through. Her Dance Your Way to Your Soul has slow sensual moves that are very nice
In Shamira’s Sensuous Workout 2, one of the three dance sessions is to the chiftitelli rhythm which then gives way to the saiidi. But this is a beginner video and the chiftitelli is incidental to the bigger purpose learning the basics. All the same, it’s rather nice that you are introduced to four rhythms early on.
Suhaila Salimpour, the absolute queen of belly dancing, has a DVD on taqsim moves in her Jamila archive series. This is an old video and nowhere near the quality of today’s slick DVDs in production. But in it, Suhaila, then only 16 I’m told, teaches the basic slow moves in wonderful detail. Each weight change and undulation is explained. By now many others will have taken this instruction into their own videos, but this one is still wonderful to eatch and learn from. It’s a short DVD compared with todays and there are no real combinations etc. Just the basics — the eights, big hip circle, some undulations etc.
Slow and Sultry Moves with Sadie
This couldn’t have been an easy instructional video to conceptualize. The number of videos that take up slow moves or taqsim or moves to the chiftitelli rhythm, can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Quite obviously none of them does a thorough job because everyone still keeps talking of wanting a taqsim instructional.
Another reason this will have been a difficult one to do is because everyone has very different expectations. Some just want the basic moves set to pretty, slow combinations or choreographies. Some want lots of sensual moves and tricks for use with slow chiftitelli. And some want pointers on how to improvise to taqsim, which loosely means improvised music segment here.
So, where does Sadie’s Slow and Sultry fit in? It mostly fits in to give dancers a deeper understanding of what to do with the chiftitelli rhythm. And in that process, it gives you a whole technique as well as a small but rich repertoire of moves.
Sadie begins with an explanation and demonstration of the rhythm – both fast and slow, along with the accents to listen for. Then it’s straight on to technique. There’s no formal warm up on this video, but the moves in the first technique section could act as one.
There are 5 technique sections here and each of them has an accompanying combination to put the technique into action. In each of these technique sections, Sadie takes up some different aspect of dancing to chifti. That’s really one of the most unique things about this video. It’s these explorations that will also help push you in the direction of improvising to slow music.
We begin with snake arms. Here they’re done with the rib cage moving freely with the arms, making it look smoother. Sadie also takes up a torso wave and torso sweep to loosen you up. Absolute beginners must watch out with this move though. If you haven’t warmed up otherwise and unaccustomed to using these muscles, you could end up hurting something. We go on to some moves like undulations and other rib cage moves that experienced beginners up will know well, but this is still a good way to align with the way Sadie will do them here. Each collection of moves is speeded up and done to the music. There are also some breathing exercises and stomach basics. You also go through the basic all-directions moves of the hips and also circles, eights and mayas. This really big technique section opens it up to beginners.
Technique gives way to the first combination and it’s the one that beginners can attempt most easily as it’s the simplest one on this video. Made up of snake arms, undulations, hip circles and omis, mayas and eights, the combo is a nice one to begin a chifti piece with. The pace of instruction is really comfortable and very natural with everything that needs some breaking down being addressed and shown from different angles. It’s finally practiced to music several times. This particular combo has become instantly ingrained for me and I use it or parts of it quite happily.
The second technique section takes up varying movement speed and accenting the rhythm. The movements used here are the more difficult ones though – pelvic rolls and controlled small undulations, interior hip circles, one-hip circles, and stomach pops. There are also some optional level changes and you also see how to use the demi point. Chest figure eights are brought in. Sadie shows you how to both dance the melody and dance the rhythm. This combination isn’t that easy because it features moves in a controlled and slightly layered manner.
Angles, poses, eyes and where to look – that’s the focus of the next technique section which takes up more demi point poses, body line and extension tips, and we also take up arabesques and the chiftitelli walk. The combination that goes with this section is very graceful and again, one that I really love doing – and it is doable, not Sadie-difficult. This combo is also possible with a veil. She also shows you easy ways to drop to the floor, though there’s no floorwork taken up here, only graceful but to-the-floor level changes.
Technique 4 is all about accents. This is a very useful section because you can take away this learning and use it with many different movements. The moves here have more subtlety because they draw on small precise accents to add richness and texture. The difficulty level for this one is a bit higher. You could be combining a pelvic drop with a stomach pop, for instance, or tiny accents to the maya.
Technique 5 goes on to work with the faster 4×4 chiftitelli. Sadie show you here how to translate some of the moves learnt so far to faster rhythm. But then she goes on to take up moves that were inspired by the faster rhythm to begin with. This includes a fast chifti walk layered with eights. Alternating back chasse, and some hip work on top of that. This combination too is doable and nowhere near the difficulty level of her drum solo, even though it’s a fast rhythm.
I’ve grown to love this video as I work with it – unhurriedly. I normally have a huge quarrel with IAMED for pricing their videos so high, but this one is every bit worth it. It’s one of those videos that makes a difference fast and permanently.
Twisted cat
Some little kitties will go to a lot of trouble to look back and up at a person’s face. A few notches more and Biki (sister to Kini) would have toppled right over on her side. Actually, this kitten hasn’t yet got over her puzzlement at people’s faces being eventually connected to their feet. She’ll chase after your toes until you bend down and bring your face into focus. Then she somersaults backwards and bolts off. Finally, she’s beginning to come to terms with the face-feet connection though. That doesn’t mean she likes it!
She finally gave up with the twisted neck and decided to stare full front.
It’s only words, but…
…there’s a whole collection that make my toes curl and my teeth grind. There’s no logical or even sane reason why I hate certain words, but I just know that I do. Unfortunately, a colleague who’s always eagerly scanning the horizons for something to bother me about knows what these words are and now he and his accomplices ambush me with them as I go about my innocent day. Why would he want to do that? Well, just look at that face. Kindly observe the mad glint in the eye. That should be answer enough.
Right at the top of this list is the inexplicable hunky dory. Or ticketty-boo if you’re from a certain part of the world. There are many theories about the origin of hunky dory. One school of thought says that it sprouted up in America in 1865 thanks to a Japanese performer. Another says it may be sailors’ slang for a particular street where everything is okay. In general, it seems to indicate that all is safe and well. But you wouldn’t be awfully safe using it around me.
Then there are a few Indian favorites I just cannot abide. Take galore. In fact take it away altogether, please. I hate also the very sound of the phrase “boon or bane?” It’s a favorite headline accompaniment. Early Monsoon: Boon or Bane? Distance Learning: Boon or Bane? Web 2.0: Boon or Bane? I had absolutely forbidden my editorial team to ever use a boon-or-bane headline but it’s generally quite popular specially when the writer has no particular clue what to say. There are a few other b-words around: There’s behemoth, a very old word meaning monstrous beast. Hate it. There’s also bête noire, which either means black beast or flourless chocolate cake and is ridiculous in both cases. There’s also the colorful but objectionable hullaballoo and brouhaha, both of which make me double up in pain. But worst of all is the nauseating little word “kudos”. Kickos, is what I say.
There are even a few Hindi words I intensely dislike. There’s “tashan” which makes me want to smack someone. And there’s “falana-dhimkana”, and “bindas”.
On the other hand, I entirely love all sorts of neologisms which I generously welcome into my world and my heart. I discovered today that the kids at work use “dinglu” to refer to single quotes. Also “ting-ting” to mean the same thing. Charming.
None of these words, of course, in the least bother my colleague Nitin. He remains in a permanent state of smug hunky doriness.
Memories of Marsah Matruh
Thanks to Discovery Channel and National Geographic, I’m never swimming in no sea and never ever flying in anything — man made or otherwise. As a matter of fact, I’m reconsidering walking as well.
But my friend Jean is braver. Every now and then she takes off from her hair styling job (or play, as she calls it) to go diving somewhere in the south of Egypt, past Hurgada. She doesn’t seem to mind one bit rubbing noses with dolphins and hammerhead sharks. Now the dolphins I can understand, but sharks? Is she entirely OK with being potential fish fodder? But she tells me Hammerheads don’t particularly like the taste of humans. Neither, I believe, do piranhas. Actually, come to think of it, neither do I.
Jean’s impossibly blue photographs bring back memories of Marsa Matruh. This is (or was) a beautiful beach town 240 kilometers from Alexandria where I first discovered how blue the sea can be and how bad a sunburn can hurt.
When I was growing up in Egypt, we would often drive out from Maadi (a town off Cairo) for seaside holidays to Alexandria and Marsa Matruh.
My first memory of Marsah Matruh is when we stopped over at a café. There, while we sipped lemonade, my brother and two other boys (we traveled with a few other families) whispered and plotted and then came up and gave me a folded piece of paper. Very straight-faced and promising-like. You know. I coyly opened, expecting god knows what. What I got for my troubles was a chutney of squished flies. What are boys about anyway?
Luckily, there are nicer memories to dwarf that one. Marsah Matruh has a clear aquamarine sea. You could see fish around you if you swam out a bit. The water is fairly shallow and safe. But most of all it’s clear. It’s so clear that a woman who dropped her diamond ring, sending it to the bottom of the sea (she couldn’t have been too fond of her husband, I’m thinking) actually got the ring back! My father just dived in, saw it shining somewhere deep, and picked it right up.
A little further west from Marsah Matruh is a rocky ruined place called Cleopatra’s Bath. I remember thinking Cleopatra must have been straight out of her mind if she chose to leave her pink bathtub and come here for a good scrub.
Here are two galleries of photos of this interesting town, which also has some World War II history. http://www.pbase.com/poppieboy/image/21235022 and http://www.picsearch.com/pictures/travel/cities/africa/northern%20africa/egypt/marsa%20matruh.html
And the beautiful photograph of Marsah Matruh is printed with the permission of and thanks to Popko van Meekeren.
In video shock
My dance room is a place of beauty and a joy forever. Or so I thought until I made the deadly mistake of videoing myself. Wha…? This was nothing short of disastrous. My snake arms looked like they wanted to crash to the floor in a tired heap. My lotus hands looked like I was doing the dishes. My vertical hip slides looked like I was a forgotten kernel of popcorn afloat in a bathtub. And my figure eights… well, they just didn’t look at all. What happened to the past four years of muscle isolation pain, strength and flexibility exercises, and long intense tribal workouts? And that includes the 3-hour Asharah workout that I do very often.
I want my money back! Not that it’ll help me very much after I’ve finished jumping off the tenth floor.
Thankfully, my favorite online group came to my rescue. Apparently others had also felt the same way and there was lots of very sensible advice. Explore different camera angles and lighting, for example. I have six lights in the dance room and each one can make a difference.
Take any two things that seem to need fixing and work on them for a while. Take something that looks good and soak in the fact that it looks good. That of course is a bit of a challenge considering I wasn’t even sure that was me in the video. I’ve experienced the same feeling when I’m on a bad phone line and my voice is echoing back to me and I yell at the idiot with that ridiculous voice to get off the phone.
Well, eventually I did have to come to terms with the fact that it was indeed me in that video and that I didn’t dance as well as the mirror’s been telling me I did. From then on, though, I was able to get on with actually using videos for feedback. For the benefit of anyone else who goes through video shock, if you’ve worked hard with the isolations, the repair and correction you’ll do yields quick results. The snake arms need a lot more lift using the upper arms and can’t just be left to the momentum you’ll get from rotating your shoulders. The lotus hands will look better depending on the distance your hands are held from your body, the height or level you lotus at and the shape of your framing arms if you’re doing this pretty movement above the head. So basically, there’s a lot to consider apart from learning the movement itself and that’s what becomes clear when you see yourself on video. You can also see clumsy transitions and experiment with smoothening them out. As a matter of fact, my theory is that self-videoing would help the most with improving arm work.
Of course, it’s also possible that it just wasn’t me in that video…
Sharda
You don’t have to know her to see the gentleness and strength in her face. For almost fifteen years Sharda has had the unenviable job of keeping my apartment clean and everything organized exactly to my fussy specifications. Sometime over all the time I’ve known her, she decided, quite on her own, that my house and my general welfare was entirely her responsibility. Don’t get me wrong, she has enough troubles of her own. A battered wife who had her head smashed repeatedly into the wall by her husband, she still has extreme headaches and hemorrhaging. Now a widow, she looks after a family of seven. With all her worries, she will still insist on coming to work when she’s ill, when it’s raining hard, and when it’s a public holiday.
All the more unsettling then to hear what I did today. A friend of mine was having a regular routine sort of day when her domestic help suddenly began kicking and screaming, accusing her of never having fed her or paid her any money for all her work. The woman, from one of those agencies, threated to call every relative she had on the planet, along with the police and the prime minister. She did indeed manage to gather a huge crowd who began to try and break down the front door of my friend’s apartment. My friend beat her to it and quickly called the Haryana police herself. I can’t even begin to imagine how harrowing an experience she went through for the next few hours. With her terrified three-year-old daughter. It’s even more chilling to think of what could have happened had the maid lost it, so to speak, when my friend was at work. There was apparently some desperation for money at work here because the maid had first said she wanted to sell her kidney. When my friend threatened to call the girl’s family – chaos followed.
For now, things have quietened down. The police had the sense to see that the maid’s story and accustations didn’t seem to add up. The agency also confirmed that she had received her money every month. All the same, this is beyond frightening.
An evening in Noida
Did you know Noida had a skyline? I discovered that two nights ago at our office party on the terrace of our office building. The breeze was caressing and balmy, the people even balmier. I distinctly remember a few looking outright embalmed post a few drinks, but that’s another story.
Gazing at that skyline, you wouldn’t think that, not too far away, there’s a family that’s gone through non-stop hell for about a month now. If losing their daughter in the most brutal manner possible wasn’t hell enough, the police and the media certainly made sure it was. At this point, we don’t know if Rajesh Talwar killed his daughter, but if he didn’t, who’s going to give him back what little was left of his life? Last night I saw a news clip of his brother, Dinesh, being hounded half to death by the media. “Are you the judges? Are you the investigators? How many times do I tell you that the investigation is still on?” he said. He was so obviously stressed, so close to breaking point, it was difficult to watch. About 20 reporters had closed in on Dinesh Talwar leaving barely any room to breathe, let alone move. Not a trace of sympathy, not even a sign of humanity, really. I can’t even begin to imagine how ripped apart and traumatized this whole family must be. Not that one can expect any compassion. If television reporters could badger a three-year-old girl about how exactly her father had killed her mother, as I’ve seen them do on one of our esteemed channels, they can do anything.
Both the cops and the media have, in my opinion, elevated insensitivity to a fine art form. And that has been nakedly evident throughout the investigation and coverage of the murder of this pretty little girl Arushi and the family’s domestic help. Squeezed in between ecstatic, gluttonous coverage of cricket and celeb non-news, sickeningly dramatized blood-soaked reports of the murder and after. Frankly, I hope they choke on it.
Still, Noida does have a skyline and it looked and felt like candlelight that evening. I discovered to my joy that a colleague shared my ex-passion for Hindustani classical music. We sang a few notes of Jayjayvanti and marveled at its unique dhaiyvat.