WOMAN: complex and paradoxical

Reasons to attend the WOMAN show on Saturday, December 13th 2008.

1. Conceptual and inspirational belly dance fusion choreography.
2. Gorgeous dancers, beautiful costumes, amazing soundtrack.
3. Support your local artists.
4. Ponder the meaning of life.
5. Witness honest and intimate vulnerability.
6. When was the last time you cried over something beautiful?
7. Cuz you came to Travlin' Home in May and you want to see how we've grown.
8. To leave thinking.
9. To see the hot ass sound and light guy.
10. Soft delicacy mixed with strength and power.

11. Oh yeah...and the rocking after-party at The Blue Note is going to be howling...


PRESS RELEASE

Moon Belly Dance Studio

Contact: Kandice Grossman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
573.815.9187
bellydance@moonbelly.org

“WOMAN”
Belly Dance Fusion Performance – The Blue Note
8:30 p.m. December 13, 2008

COLUMBIA — Moon Belly Dance Studio presents “WOMAN,” a theatrical dance production, at The Blue Note on Saturday, Dec. 13. “WOMAN,” a one hour show, features an intriguing mix of belly dance fusion and moving reflections into the female experiences of god, sex and body.

Moon Belly celebrates the ancient art form of belly dance, and also brings a fresh fusion to the stage with hip-hop, jazz, African and modern influences. The “WOMAN” soundtrack includes everything from renowned Moroccan music to Beyonce.

Performers include the Dragonflies Belly Dance Company, the Moon Belly Dance Ensemble and the University of Missouri’s Outer Limits Hip-Hop Dance Team.

“WOMAN is truly a diverse collaboration, from our Moon Belly and Outer Limits dancers to costumes by local designer Suzanne VanSickle and video montages by several local artists,” Grossman said. “I see the show as an in-motion collage of the multi-faceted and often contradictory experiences of womanhood.”

Moon Belly productions provide innovative, homegrown perspectives on dance performance. The studio, located in Parkade Plaza, has offered belly dance classes since 2006 and now also offers hip hop, African and jazz dance as well as yoga and Zumba.

All ensemble dancers are Moon Belly Dance Studio students, brought together under the direction of Artistic Director Kandice Grossman. With a master’s degree in women’s studies, Grossman is acutely aware of women’s issues and informs her choreographies from the lives of the women in our community. Her students are women with full-time jobs, families and complicated lives. Their dedication to dance, coupled with their real life experiences, adds honesty to the show in a way that is both vulnerable and powerful.

Tickets can be purchased at www.thebluenote.com; $7 students, $10 community.

For more information, please call Kandice Grossman at 815-9187 or visit www.moonbelly.org.

Meditation Meets Kama Sutra

So, I am smelling the flowers these days. Or, at least trying to. The outside world of work and to-do lists keeps trying to take over. Like everyone else, I get caught up in what I am supposed to be doing instead of experiencing the now. And the fight to smell the flowers is just that: a fight. Paradoxically, the "fight" doesn't originate in stress or anger. It is more a meditation, a state of mind.

You have all heard this before. This is not a new concept. Spiritual leaders from Jesus to John Lennon have been singing and preaching to be here and now for ages. Sadly, though, it is like we have to constantly remind ourselves anyway. The practice is more important than the ideal.

You are what you do.

As a belly dancer, my latest obsession is learning to play the finger cymbals fluently. And, I am loving every second of it. When I am playing cymbals it is like reaching into a new space of reality. A peaceful space. Dancing is the same way, don't get me wrong, but I am at a place in my training where I can go deeper. When the rhythm is pumping through my body and I am playing with the music...my stress goes away. The to-do lists vanish. The world blurs into the illusion that it all really is.

Being able to layer dance movement and play the finger cymbals at the same time is a challenge. (Thank you to Suhaila for making it an uber-challenge at that!) It is not all joy-joy. But, in the effort comes the meditation again.

In belly dance we have a goal to make the dance appear effortless. Believe it or not, it is a huge compliment when an audience member says, "That looks easy. I think I can do it, too." The larger goal in belly dance though is not make it "appear" effortless, but eventually for it to feel like an untapped force channeling through and out the body. Effort is involved, but it is at ease. A calm effort.

The art of Middle Eastern dance is an interesting medium for meditation because there is a powerful sensual element. Meditation meets Kama Sutra. So, not only am I tapping into a state of mind that is focused and unfocused at the same time, but I am opening up areas of the body that rarely get to be free. Vibrating the glutes is a special treat that only happens after years of training. And, let me tell you, the elated benefits of super-glute control for your expressions of sensuality are just simply too personal and joyful to explain in a blog.

(Side note: My best friend in Chicago keeps begging me to teach her how to vibrate 7 different ways while sitting on a man. My response: get your ass to class!)

Some people jog. Some people practice kung fu. I belly dance. I find the greatest source of meditation in the moments of complex, layered movement and rhythm. I have a funny (and great) feeling that this is only going to get better with time. I am so excited to practice on into my prime years.

Don't be envious. It is just a distraction from your desire to go there too. Just get your ass to class!

This is what Community feels like: Thank You

The day before my birthday I found nits in Isadora's hair. Shit. shit. shit.

I surrendered to louse warfare and engaged full force. shampoo x 3 in the household. 4 hours of combing. vacuumed and ironed the mattresses, couches, chairs. laundry, continuous laundry.

At around 4am in the morning of my birthday (I was born at 5:02am, mind you) I was awakened by the feeling of warm piss oozing into my pajamas. Isadora peed on me. lovely. changed the sheets again.

Woke up, said happy birthday to myself, stepped on a juicy slug that was slugging across my bedroom floor. Went to the laundry room and found cat shit on a pile of freshly washed clothes. Spilled spoiled milk all over my pants and found moth worms in my flax seed. What the fuck, right?

I was having a parasitic birthday party...

I went to class at 6pm with the mindset of "this birthday sucks, let it go. No expectations. Get the day over with." I was planning on dancing until 10pm and coming home to work on my newlsetter until it got done. Even if it meant sleep time at 2am. I had a list of stuff to get done. Birthday-shmirthday.

As the advanced girls filed in, Christi handed me an envelope. Everyone gathered around. I thought to myself, "oh, no they didn't." Yes, they did. The DragonFlies and several of my most devoted students all went in on a new stereo sound system for the studio. The blood rushed to my head, I saw stars, I started to happy cry, but I couldn't really. I was in shock. I went from cat-shit, nit pickin' hell to the feeling of utmost gratitude. I felt loved and appreciated.

I had just come out of a low too. One of those nasty small business owner lows when I had been doubting everything I was doing at Moon Belly. All those doubts melted in two seconds. It was a jolt. It was a surprise from the women I love most in the world. It was a message, "We believe in you."

I know they have their own selfish motives here too. Ever since the ipod speakers croaked we have been drilling to computer speakers that tweeked and twinged with every bass. But, it was more than selfish desire. It was an investment. It was, yet again, another form of commitment to themselves as dancers and to the community at Moon Belly.

I canceled class and went out for a stiff drink with all the gals. I came home a few hours later and just cried. I cried because I am happy. I cried because I am grateful. I cried because these women knew better than myself what I needed. This is what community feels like. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

To the Moon Belly dancers:

Thank you from the bottom of my heart ladies. My heart will thump every time I look at my new 30" maude deco speakers and feel that bass rock the sushi plates at KoJaba upstairs.

I never cease to be amazed by your devotion. When I see ya'll in home posture, glutes contracting, sweat dripping down your face and that look in your eye of sheer and utter will...it reminds me of why I am doing this. The magic you bring to the wood floors of Moon Belly will remain there for years and years. Even after we are gone. When you dance, you change the world.

Love-love always,

Kandice