Return

It's been over a year since my last post. I've lost several followers since the last time I checked up on this blog, and it makes me a little sad, but I cannot really blame them, especially since my last post was such a sour note.

Thankfully things have gotten better for me in general, although I still struggle some days, but I've been returning to the things I love. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm actually bipolar as I consistently alternate through these phases of not being interested in or motivated to do anything and then being intensely involved in all sorts of subjects simultaneously.

Some of my new ventures have taken up a lot of my time and energy, so I haven't been able to be very engaged in local bellydance events or classes and in keeping up to date on blogs in virtual bellydanceland, and it's resulted in some serious bellydance withdrawal. Next week I shall have my fix! :D

I start a Zills and Drills class at the Tribal Bellies Studio on the 5th. The Tribal Bellies Studio is the center of the most tight-knit bellydance community I've encountered in my area and I really look forward to going back and partaking of that egregore. I also really adore fumbling my way around with zills and so far I have not found any other teachers who place such an emphasis on playing them. I had teachers who took maybe 20 minutes of one class in the entire session to discuss zills and walk in a circle while playing, but even in non-zill oriented classes we worked with zills every single class at Tribal Bellies.

Although I've been anxiously awaiting it since I registered, another part of me is shaking her head, convinced that I must be a crazy person after all to try to stuff my Wednesday schedule even more densely. That is the day where I already have a private harp lesson, errands/cleaning, about a 2 hour (round-trip) commute to a hospital where I then play the harp for a couple hours, and an Ancestor ritual in the evening along with some crafting/art-making if I can fit it in. I'm also hoping to take part in a weekly Harp Circle held at said hospital (also on Wednesdays) which start on the 13th, so that will be another thing to add to the list.

But back to bellydance... I'm really thrilled about Rachel Brice's new venture in online classes: Datura Online. Although I would love to take multiple classes a week like I was doing for a while, it's just not feasible. Datura Online presents a really nice option to get an extra dose of bellydance basically wherever you have access to WiFi. The classes offered are also not solely in Ms.Brice's own particular tribal fusion style; she has brought a few other teachers on board the project to diversify somewhat. I imagine as Datura Online evolves, more teachers may be participating to provide special workshops.