Upcoming Improvisation DVD! I want your input!

BIG NEWS:

You may have noticed that it has been a while since the last episode of my Taktaba podcast. Well, it's going to be a little while longer before Episode 4 is released, but luckily, it's for a really exciting reason.

I've been reviewing the (incredibly encouraging and constructive) feedback from Taktaba viewers, and have decided that it's time to split the project into two different and complementary efforts: Taktaba Foundations and Taktaba Details.

Taktaba Details will continue the podcast's mission to explore individual elements of space, shape, time, and energy to give you new ideas for your choreography and improvisation. Taktaba Foundations will deal with the bigger picture: HOW to choreograph and HOW to improvise.

So I'm pleased to announce that I am working on my first instructional video: Taktaba Foundations Volume 1: Improvisation Toolkit. This video will include a series of exercises that will help dancers of all levels build the skills they need to improvise with confidence. These tools can also be used in class to help your students break their dependence on choreography so they can start buildling their own personal styles.


I NEED YOUR HELP:

I have a lot of ideas about how to improvise, but I need to hear what you want: what do you want to know about improvisation? How can I make this video useful to you? How would you like the DVD to be structured?

If you have any ideas, requests, or questions, please share them in my online survey.

To thank you for your input, I'll be raffling off a copy of the Belly Dancing for Fortune and Fame CD, which has all the music used on the Taktaba podcasts to date, including the Taktaba theme song, Sala Sala. To be entered in the drawing, you must submit your survey (answering all questions and including your name and contact info) by noon eastern time on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008.


I hope to hear from you!
Nadira

Drawing Winner

Congrats to Johannah B., the winner of the World Belly Dance Day drawing! I'll be sending her a set of Taktaba DVDs.

To those of you who didn't win, thanks for entering! You can still view the podcast online. You can find handy links in the sidebar.

Winner Selected!

Thank you everyone for entering my World Belly Dance Day podcast DVD giveaway. I was blown away by the response!

A winner has been selected, and notified by email. I'll post the winner's name once I hear back from him or her.

Thanks again!

DVD Giveaway in Honor of World Belly Dance Day!

A big thanks to The Belly Dance Business Academy for cluing me in:

Tomorrow (Saturday, May 10th, 2008) is World Belly Dance Day! According to the founders' web site:

Our mission is to unite the initiative of many dancers around the world to celebrate the wonderful art of belly dance as a holiday on the second Saturday in May every year. We got inspired by the idea of holding an event that would serve as a reminder that belly dance is an ART form, a cultural event, a sport, and a social and family entertainment.

Belly dancing is misunderstood in many places of the globe. Unfortunately, there are so many dancers that keep giving the wrong signal by wearing questionable costumes and portraying Raks Sharki as a dance of seduction, an entertainment for men.

The good news is that there are dancers who through the years have been trying to change that. This is not an easy job because of so many myths and misconceptions around belly dance. Belly Dance Day is our way of reaching out and putting our beloved dance form in a nice and different light, by holding an event that would be "family-rated" with all profit going to charity.

Enter the Contest:

In honor of World Dance Day, I will be giving away a set of Taktaba DVDs (episodes 1, 2, and 3) to one lucky winner!

How to enter
To enter, join the Taktaba announcements newsletter by noon on Monday, May 19th:

Email address:

NOTE: you will receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription. You will not added to the mailing list or eligible for the drawing until you confirm.

The Fine Print

The winner will be selected from the members of the mailing list in a random drawing that will take place at noon (eastern time) on Monday, May 19th. I'll use an online random number generator to select the winner based on the order in which they joined. i.e., if it picks #15, then the 15th person who joined the list wins. (This is the same process as Knitty magazine used in their awesome 50 Millionth visitor contest.)

You don't have to buy anything to enter, and you can remove yourself from the mailing list at any time. However, only people who are on the list at noon on May 19th will be included in the drawing, so if you take yourself off before then, you won't be eligible.

The winner will be notified by the email (at the address they add to the mailing list) so they can send me their shipping address (PO boxes and international addresses are just fine!). The winner must allow me to post either their first name or their stage name here on the blog.

Here are some more ways you can celebrate World Dance Day:

Introduce someone to belly dance

Invite a friend to go to class with you, or take someone out to see a belly dance show. Talk to them about what the dance is, and the misunderstandings and stereotypes that are out there. The Art of Middle Eastern Dance by Shira has some great articles that can help you correct misconceptions. (If you don't have classes or shows on the exact day, that's okay. Just extend the invitation on Saturday, and make your plans for whatever day would be convenient.)


Be counted

Those of you who are in Massachusetts can submit the Artist's Foundation's Stand Up and Be Counted questionnaire. This is a census of artists living in Massachusetts, which the foundation will use to advocate for artists in the bay state.


Get the word out

I heard about this holiday just this morning. Help spread the word to other dancers and non-dancers. You can send ecards, courtesy of the World Belly Dance Day web site. Send them as "valentines" to dancers you like and admire, or send them to friends and family. Both are a great way to get the word out about World Belly Dance Day.

If you have a blog, write a post about World Belly Dance Day. (And add a comment here with the URL so I can visit your blog!)


Hone your craft

Part of World Belly Dance Day's mission is to help the general public understand that belly dance is a "legitimate" art form. Many people don't understand that our dance requires dedication and hard work. The more seriously we take our training, the more seriously the public will take us. So this Saturday (or whenever you read this), devote just a little extra time to your own practice. Some ideas:

- add an extra 10 minutes to your regular practice
(or if you don't practice, just do a quick 10-minute drill)

- try something new: cross-train in another style, try out a new prop, etc. Push outside your usual stylistic and technical "comfort zone". Or, ahem, work on your compositional skills by watching (or re-watching) Taktaba. (You can find handy links to each episode in the sidebar.)


Value your work

Part of the reason why belly dance isn't respected as a legitimate art form is that many of us treat it more like a hobby than a profession. When you perform, you are providing a service of value. Just because you love what you do doesn't mean that it isn't work, and that you shouldn't be fairly compensated for it. Some of the best wedding cake makers have day jobs and bake on the weekends because they enjoy doing it. You wouldn't expect the baker to give you a free cake just because they aren't desperate for your money to pay their bills, would you?

Women are often socialized to be modest, minimize their accomplishments, and not be "greedy". However, if you don't value your work, nobody else will value it or even respect it. So spend some time getting comfortable with the fact that your work has value and that you deserve fair compensation. Then start working on strategies to make that happen. The Belly Dance Business Academy is a great place to start.

Shimmies for a Cure DVD available

For those of you who attended Shimmies For A Cure Part Deux: the performance DVD is now available to order online.

$5 will be donated to Baseema's Pan Mass Challenge fundraising campaign (benefits the Jimmy Fund) for every show DVD purchased by April 22nd, so order early!

Shimmies for a Cure a Huge Success

Shimmies for a Cure Part Deux was a BLAST!

First, I owe a HUGE thank you to Baseema and *Samantha*, the organizers. You two consistently put on the best-run and most fun events in the area! I know how much work that took, but from the other end (both as a workshop instructor and as an audience member), the whole thing went smooooooooooothly.

The other workshop instructors (Phoenix Avathar, Najmat, and Aepril Schaile) also deserve some applause. You're all excellent teachers, but it was your warmth and enthusiasm that made me wish I could be in the class, rather than behind the camera.

Congrats also to the workshop performers. You were all a joy to watch and put together a great cross-section of what the New England belly dance community has to offer.

For those of you who haven't heard, the event raised an astounding $4650 for the Jimmy Fund (via the Pan Mass Challenge), almost twice the amount we raised last year! If anybody out there wants to make an additional donation, check out the Shimmies for a Cure web site.

Taktaba on TV! (eventually), Episode 4 in the works

My apologies for my silence lately, but big things are in the works!

Episode 4 is in the scripting stage, and will hopefully be produced and ready to download sometime in April. This episode will cover working with speed in your dance.

I've also joined my community TV station, SCAT. So not only will Taktaba be shown on the air (Channel 3 in Somerville, MA), but I will be able to film it in a professional studio with real lighting, real cameras, and plenty of space! (Jumping up and down.) I've spent the last month in production classes and working on other shows' crews to get some experience. My plan is to finish Series 1 (elements of time) in my home studio, and switch to SCAT production for Series 2 (elements of space).

For those of you in the Boston area, I'm teaching a workshop and performing at Shimmies for a Cure Part Deux fundraiser hafla. My workshop, "9/8 911 - a Karsilama Emergency Kit", is a how-to-cope guide for the karsilama illiterate. I'll also be taking footage for SCAT at the event.

And, since the details are not yet finalized, I will NOT be telling you about my plans to offer a group class just yet. Oh wait...

Taktaba Episode 3 Now Available on DVD

You can now buy Epsiode 3 on my web site.

You can save on shipping by ordering a combo pack of two or more videos.

Episode 3: Timing Patterns

Well, I said I wanted to get Episode 3 out before the end of the year, and I just made it!

Episode 3 is now available to view online or download:
Our Media (full version, downloadable)
Google Video (full version, downloadable at a lower picture quality)
YouTube (introduction only)

As always, you can Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Note: it takes up to 24 hours for the video to appear in the iTunes music store, but if you subscribe, it's available immediately.

In this episode, we'll explore timing patterns, which are the rhythms we create with our bodies as we dance. We'll take a look at five different patterns, how they may make your audience feel, and which musical rhythms they complement.

This episode includes:
- simple exercises to get the patterns into your body
- theme & variation exercises to explore different ways to use timing patterns
- do-it-yourself exercises to spark your creativity
- four combinations that use timing patterns
- two ways to adapt timing patterns to zils

The DVD will be available soon; I'll post again when it's ready.

Note: this is a big file (almost 800MB), so you'll have best luck downloading it from a high-speed connection. If you can't view the file, make sure you downloaded the whole thing successfully.

Episode 3 Coming Soon

Hi everybody,

First, thanks for all your feedback on Episode 2. Since most people contacted me via email this time (rather than in the blog comments or iTunes reviews), I thought I'd share a few quotes:

"These podcasts provide an element that I've never had before, even when I had regular instruction."

"I had so many 'ah-ha moments' watching it."

"And interestingly, I suddenly understood why I strongly dislike the bag of tricks style bellydance. I knew clearly before that I didn't like it and felt its too convoluted and unemotional, but I also now understand that it makes me feel unsafe and agitated."

"Thank you. This is wonderful and very helpful! Can't wait until the next episode."

Thanks, everybody!


In other news, Episode 3 will be ready soon. I seem to be missing some footage, so I'm hoping that they just didn't import properly and are still on the tapes (i.e., that I didn't forget to press Record). I might have to reshoot portions of it, but I'm more than half-way through editing the rest, so it shouldn't take too long, particularly with a long weekend coming up.

Episode 3 will cover timing patterns, and includes quite a few exercises (both "follow-me" and "DIY"), several combinations, and some zil work!

Keep an eye on this blog, or subscribe in iTunes to get it automatically.

Taktaba now available on DVD!

I'm happy to announce that Taktaba is now available to purchase on DVD.

The podcast is, and will remain, free to view online or download, and you're perfectly welcome to burn your own DVDs of the program and even share them (as long as you honor the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License - i.e., you can give them away, but you can't sell them, you have to attribute it to me, and you have to include the program in its entirety).

However, if you can't or doen't want to burn it yourself, you can now pay me to do it for you for $10 per episode plus $2 shipping in the US. (Contact me for international rates.)

Essentially, you're still getting the content for free, but paying me for my trouble to author, burn, and label the disk, to take it to the post office, as well as for the cost of the disk and packaging.

You can order online on my web site.

Episode 2 will return shortly

UPDATE (11:30am, 11/23/07): The corrected version is now available in all formats. Enjoy!

For convenience, those links are here

The audio is out of synch for a portion of Episode 2, so I've removed it while I fix the error. It takes about 4 hours to render and 20 minutes or more to upload, so the corrected version won't be available until later tonight.

Sorry for the snafu, everybody!


UPDATE (2pm EST, 11/22/07): The corrected version is now available through the Our Media link below, and should also appear on iTunes subscriptions. (NOTE: according to Apple's podcasting FAQ, the iTunes Store only updates once a day, so the Taktaba page on iTunes doesn't show Episode 2 yet. However, if you subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, it will already be available for download.)

Episode 2: Long-Term Repetition (Finally!)

First, I'd like to thank you all for your patience and support. Episode 2 was a long time (and a lot of work) in coming, and I hope you'll think it was worth the wait.

This episode deals with long-term repetition. That's repetition over the course of a song or an entire routine. We'll discuss:
- maximizing intellectual satisfaction by balancing length & complexity (with graphs!)
- maximizing emotional satisfaction by balancing frequency & drama (also with graphs!)
- using theme and variation to keep repeated elements fresh and interesting
- using the structure of your music to guide your repetition

In the process I'll be sharing:
- low-, medium-, and high-complexity combinations
- several ideas for medium- and high-drama movements
- combinations that demonstrate Theme & variation
- my "cheater's drop", a less intimidating alternative to the Turkish Drop
- a DIY exercise on working with your musical structure

This episode also includes performance clips by me, as well as by Badriya al Badi'a of Boston.


VIDEO:

This episode runs just over an hour, which is too long to fit on You Tube (due to their 10-minute limit), so I'm only posting the introduction there. All versions are formatted to be iPod-friendly.
- Our Media (full version, downloadable)
- Google Video (full version, viewable online and downloadable)
- YouTube (introduction only)


I've created an RSS feed on Feedburner, and you can now subscribe in iTunes.


MUSIC:

The music featured in this episode is from Belly Dancing for Fortune and Fame:
- Sala, Sala (the Taktaba theme song)
- Shisheler
- Drum Solo
- Mastika
- El Samer
Special thanks to Stella Grey for donating the use of this CD.

Taktaba Workshop + Episode 2 coming soon

Hi everyone,

It's my pleasure to announce the very first Taktaba workshop! The workshop will kick off the Shimmies for a Cure benefit hafla:
April 28, 2007
Somerville City Club
20 Innerbelt Rd
Somerville, MA 02143

My workshop begins at 12:30pm, will be followed by three more fabulous workshops, and then a dinner show. I hope that many of my Boston-area viewers will be able to come!


DETAILS:

This one-hour workshop is an overview of the Taktaba analytical approach to dance composition, and is based on an exploration of the 4 elements of abstract movement: Space, Shape, Time, and Energy. We'll examine these elements in detail, focusing on their many variations and the audience responses these variations produce.

The workshop will include:
- Analytical vs. Intuitive composition
- An explanation of the four elements
- An introduction to element variations
- Moving exercises for some variations
- An improvisational exericise
- The limitations of this method
- How to use this method in improvisation

Workshop notes will be provided, including an outline of the topics covered, and information on further resources.


In other news, Episode 2 is in final editing, and I hope to have that up soon. Thank you for your patience while I tweak the transitions, captions, and voice-over.

We are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Hi Everybody,

Thanks for your continued patience. The external hard drive I use for editing has died, meaning that I have lost:
- Episdoe 2 in-progress (about 1/3 of it needed to be re-shot anyway, and I do still have the original tapes, but not including any editing)
- Episode 1 full-sized (this is a bigger loss, since without the source media, I have only the iPod-formatted version)

I won't have time to buy a new one and do the reshoot before the new year, so, unfortunately, it'll be a little while before Episode 2 is available.

Sorry, everyone, and happy holidays!
Nadira

Episode 2 Delayed Again

A few sections of Episode 2 will need to be reshot, so I won't have Episode 2 posted for another few days. I think it'll be worth the wait, though: this one has over 40 minutes of dancing time. I'm hoping to have that out by Wednesday or Thursday, but as you've probably noticed already, these things tend to take longer than I expect. So bear with me!

Episode 2 in Editing, Performance video available in the meantime

Hi everybody,

After much delay, Episode 2 has finally been filmed. I hope to finish the editing tomorrow and have it posted for you bright and early Monday morning. That said, this is a long episode: 42 minutes of dancing time alone, plus lots of talking, tips, tricks, and graphs. Yes, GRAPHS; I am an engineer by training and a geek by inclination. So it may take a little longer than usual to edit, compress, and upload this one.

This episode deals with long-term repetition within a piece or set, including:
- deciding how often to repeat an element in order to maximize intellectual and emotional satisfaction, based on the balance of the length, complexity, and drama of the element
- strategies for making repetition more interesting
- using the structure of the music to dictate long-term repetition patterns
- exercises and combinations, including two of my signature movements: Alternating Posing Turns and The Cheater's Drop


In the meantime, I've posted a performance clip from the 3rd Annual Boston Belly Dance Awards, in which I won first place in the new performer (most advanced, i.e., baby belly) category. You can view that on:
- Google Video or
- YouTube

Episode 2 coming soon

Thank you everyone for your wonderful feedback. I'm so glad to hear that so many of you found Episode 1 (Repetition & Alternation) to be helpful, and I especially appreciate your suggestions for improving the show and requests for future episodes.

In fact, Episode 2 was suggested by a viewer, Mala Bhargava. Mala suggested that I cover some additional aspects of repetition, particularly relating to repetition within the context of an entire piece, rather than within a combination. After mulling over her suggestions, I've come up with a few ideas I hope to cover:
- repeating longer "chunks" of choreography (like an entire chorus)
- under what circumstances repetition can seem ameteurish or boring (and tips on how to keep it fresh and effective)
- guidelines for repeating elements throughout a piece, including background elements, forefront elements, skill elements, and danger elements.


I expect to have Episode 2 online just after Thanksgiving (late November). I'll be doing about one episide per month, as it takes about two weeks to mull over ideas, an evening to plan, a day to shoot, and a weekend to edit, export, and upload. Not to mention sleeping, dancing, knitting, laundry, and seeing my husband once in a while!


For those of you viewing on You Tube, I hope to have parts 2 and 3 of Episode 1 posted within a week or so. Sorry for the delay! In the meantime, you can view it on Google Video or Our Media (linked from the Episode 1 blog entry).

Episode 1: Repetition and Alternation

Thanks for your patience, everyone. Welcome to Series 1, in which we'll explore themes that leverage the element of time. This series will be followed by the elements of space, shape, and energy (not necessarily in that order).

Episode One of Taktaba is now available. This episode treats the twin topics of repetition and alternation, including:
- when and how repetition can be effective
- different alternation patterns, and their psychological effects on your audience
- exercises
- combinations


Video:

This episode runs about 24 minutes, which is too long to fit on You Tube (due to their 10-minute limit), so I'll have to break it into three chunks. It may be another week or so until I have the time to do that.
Our Media (full version)
Google Video (full version)
YouTube Part 1 (uploaded and available soon)
YouTube Part 2 (coming soon)
YouTube Part 3 (coming soon)

I've created an RSS feed on Feedburner, and you can now subscribe on iTunes.


Music:
The music featured in this episode includes:
- Sala, Sala
- Ma Ali Wiolti Loo
- Caravan
- Drum Solo
- Chiftetelli
from Belly Dancing for Fortune and Fame, courtesy of Stella Grey.

Episode 1 Coming Less Soon

Sorry everybody, but Episode 1 is going to be delayed a few more days. Some of my footage is unusable and needs to be reshot.

Please bear with me while I figure out this whole podcasting thing.

Episode 1 Coming Soon

Hi everybody,

Thanks for coming back! Unfortunately, Episode One is going to be delayed for a few days (editing is really time-consuming). I'm hoping to have it up on Wednesday night.

Please check back in a couple of days.

Thanks again,
Nadira

Episode 0: Podcast Promo and a Poll!

Hi everyone,

My podcast promo is now available on Google Video:



(This video has been formatted for iPod; you can download it at Google Video or Our Media)

I will be filming the first episode over Columbus Day weekend, and plan to release one episode every two weeks or so. Keep your eyes open for Episode One on Monday or Tuesday of next week, and please pass this on to anyone you know who might be interested.



In the meantime, I have quite a few topics in mind for the show, and would like to know which YOU are most interested in.

Which topics are you most interested in seeing on Taktaba?
	Speed and Timing
	Repetition/Alternation
	Movement vs. Stillness
	Pacing (within a piece, show, etc.)
	Framing/Silhouette
	Level
	Layering
	Body Orientation
	Symmetry/Dissymetry
	Traveling vs. Stationary
	Using Floor Space
	Direction of Isolations
	Painting Shapes in the Air / Imagery
	Intensity/Sharpness (muscle engagement)
	Pushing vs. Pulling movements (inward vs. outward energy)
	Movement of energy within the body/space
Free polls from Pollhost.com

These are the "core" topics I intend to treat first. These will be followed by several special topics that don't fall clearly within the bounds of shape, space, time, and energy.


The song used in the promo is Sala, Sala from Belly Dancing for Fortune and Fame, courtesy of Stella Grey.

Ahlan Wa Sahlan

My name is Nadira, and welcome to this blog, the home of Taktaba, my upcoming video podcast on dance composition for belly dancers. Taktaba means "she writes", or more aptly, "she composes" in Arabic.


About me:



I am a threshold-professional belly dancer. This means that I dance at student nights at better venues, and dance professionally at less prestigious venues and at festivals, bellygrams, etc. Sometimes we're called "baby bellies". :)

I specialize in American traditional style belly dance. This is a natural fusion style that arose when dancers and musicians from all over the world performed together in ethnic clubs (primarily in the northeast USA) for mixed American and Middle Eastern audiences. Forged in this "melting pot", American style belly dance mixes Arabic, Turkish, and Greek dance movements with ballet and jazz influences, evolved it's own set of conventions, shows a distinctly American flair for dramatic staging, and uses an eclectic mix of middle eastern music. It tends to be energetic, joyful, and very entertaining.



What We'll Be Covering:

Rudolf Nureyev once said that the elements of choreography are:

• space
  
• shape
  
• time
  
• energy
  

Whether you plan your choreography in advance or improvise it, the way you use these elements defines your dance.

Over the next weeks and months, I'll be exploring these elements through several themes. In each episode of this podcast, I'll:

• introduce a theme
  
• lead some simple exercises for exploring that theme
  
• then present a few combinations that demonstrate it.
  

Whenever possible, I'll also refer you to dancers and videos that demonstrate these themes in the show notes on this site.


A Note on Styles and Prerequisites:

I intend for this program to be useful to belly dancers in all styles and at all levels. To that end, I will be gearing most of my exercises and combinations to an advanced-beginner and intermediate audience. More advanced dancers can add layering and additional complexity, and use these concepts to create more complex and difficult combinations.

Also, the combinations and styling will reflect my own personal style, and may or may not suit yours, particularly if you were trained in Arabic or Tribal Style. If that's the case, I'd encourage you to try them anyway, and adapt the material and concepts to your own style.


Important:

This podcast is not a substitute for a live instructor. I won't be covering technique, musical interpretation, or any number of things you'd learn in a good class. Shira has international teacher listings.

Even for choreography, this isn't formal instruction. I will be sharing concepts and ideas and presenting exercises, but remember that I am not the font of all knowledge on this topic. I'm embarking on this program in order improve my own dance and inviting you to learn along with me.


How You Can Help:

Give me your feedback! Let me know what you find helpful, tell me what you'd like to learn about, and share your own ideas. You can leave a comment, send me an email, or, even better, post your own video to show us all what you did with these ideas.


The Fine Print:

This podcast and blog are made available to you for free under a Creative Commons License (see the link in the sidebar for terms). In short, you're welcome and encouraged to download it and share it, as long as you:
* share it in it's entirety and without modification
* use it for non-commercial purposes only
* attribute it to me

If you'd like to use it in a way not covered by the CC license, please ask me first. Most of the time, I expect to say yes.

Feel free to use my combinations in performance (paid or not) without attribution, to teach them in classes or workshops with attribution (it's okay even if you're being paid), but please do NOT teach them on a commercial video without my permission.


Thanks for reading, and keep an eye on this site. I'll have the promo posted in a few days, and will be filming the first episode over Columbus Day weekend.


Dance On,
Nadira