I finally fixed up my blog header a bit. I’m liking this logo better. 🙂

I’ve been practicing like crazy for the MBDSA and decided that I’m definitely going to stick with freestyling the majority of the drum solo. Not only is it near impossible to memorize a good drum solo (there should be hundreds of very small movements and patterns) but I think it dumbs it down to lose all of the excitement and interest that it should have. A real drum solo is exciting because you dance to a beat played by a drummer, you know the rythyms but changes and speed is left down to the moment, you have to stop guessing what comes next and listen with your body and react to the beat WHEN he plays it. Ansuya said even stumbling or missing a beat then catching up is part of it so the audience knows it’s in the moment. It keeps them on the edge of their toes wondering what you’ll do next.

I found that dancing improv to a recorded drum solo can be just as interesting even though you know the beat by heart. You still change what you do every single time keeping it fresh and a surprise to everyone including yourself. Tanya from Bellydance Africa showed me some groovy veil moves that I want to incorporate the tough thing is I’m dancing veil while wearing sagats (zills) so that keeps it a bit challenging as I can’t do moves that require me to let go of the veil. Rather challenging.

I practiced some great floor work and somehow managed to get a aching knee out of it. As every dancer knows knee injuries are scary stuff so I’ve done my best to give it a break even though I’m wanting to practice as much as possible. My dashing husband got me some anti-inflammatory meds so I’m hoping that helps it get better quicker along with rest and prayer.

I’m enjoying studying up on Turkish style belly dancing and found this great page explaining the main differences as well as showing some tasty video examples.