Part of the crowd

Hi All



On the 13th of May, the world celebrated World Belly Dance Day. This was the first time since I started performing five years ago that I didn't perform in the event held at Montana Family Market in Pretoria. And boy, was it weird to be part of the crowd . . .

My MiTribe sisters in action

On the day, I gladly offered my near-expert false lash application skills to my dance sisters, just to feel part of the team again. I watched their bags, kept an eye on the programme and ensured that the ladies got backstage when they needed to be. 

It was good to be useful. 



It was aweful not to be dancing. 



I felt out of place, unaccustomed to sitting still  while music that I still knew the choreography for by heart played. My heart ached to be on that stage and I cursed this damned foot of mine for holding me back. 

From out of this misery, something good came: Kgomotso.

Photo by Me

Kgomotso is one of Diamonds of Kahire's dancers and when she took to the stage, I suddenly remembered why I started dancing in the first place. 

The photo barely does her justice, unable to capture the joy and freedom she brought to the stage. And that's when I realised that I wasn't missing just dancing . . . I was missing the freedom. 

Looking back to when I was her age, I could barely imagine getting up on that stage and doing what this gorgeous girl just did. I was painfully shy. I hated drawing any attention to myself and proudly wore the label of "geek." It wasn't until I was 27 that I gathered enough guts to attend my first Oriental Dance class. Perhaps, if I had Oriental Dance in my life as a teenager, I would have been able to achieve a totally different life for myself. 

A young woman like Kgomotso has the whole world open to her, just because she has learned that the fundamental key to personal happiness lies in self-acceptance and self-love. I don't know her personally. I'm sure that if you talk to her, you'd hear of a totally different life of hardships and issues that she has had to deal with in her life. But you don't see that when she dances. You just see joy. You see confidence. You see a young woman who knows what she's worth and isn't afraid to demand it from those around her. I actually wish that I had the guts to go up to her to congratulate her, tell her mother that she's an amazing girl and ask for a photo, but I didn't. I didn't feel confident enough since I was dragging a crutch around and my foot ached almost more than I could bear due to the bitter cold of that day. 

All of this lead me to a new realisation: we are all Kgomotsos. The age at which we dare it on the stage is not what defines us, but the freedom and joy we embody when we get the chance to dance. 

At the moment I am still pretty much useless when it comes to dancing. I can't stand on tip-toes for very long and my balance is still shot. But it's been four months since my surgery. My recovery is slow and painful, but it's progressing. One day soon I'm going to reclaim that freedom.

What is four months compared to the 27 years before all this magic entered my life?

XxX

Marina

Lost and found

Welcome back to my journey!

At this point of the journey, I am actually very happy to report that I've been walking without a moon boot or crutches for more than a week now. I'm not quite ready for a shimmython yet, but I'm getting there!

Today I want to talk about the not-so-nice parts of my journey. One of the biggest issues I experienced after my surgery, was a sense of loss. And I'm not just talking about the loss of speed and agility and not being able to dance anymore. I was probably prepared for that. Somethings I just couldn't prepare myself for. . .

Independence:

You won't understand this until you are in a POP for a few days. You can't bathe alone. You can't make yourself a cup of tea and carry it to the living room. Same goes for making lunch or dinner. Thankfully I'm blessed to still live with my parents, albeit ten meters from the main house in a little garden flat. I couldn't stay there as the flat is divided by two ridiculously uneven steps. Crutches and steps don't mix, if you've ever wondered. Another aspect that went out the window was getting from point A to B. I've been driving since 2003 and I've rarily needed to ask permission to go somewhere or ask someone to take me somewhere. In the weeks after my surgery, my best friend delivered her baby but the problem is that they live outside of town on a farm that involves a horrible dirt road that scares even me. The result? I saw the little bundle on the day after her birth for a few minutes and only because I managed to bum a ride from a mutual friend. I haven't been able to get out there since then since Mom's back isn't up to the shaky road either. Not being able to go where you want to when you want to is really frustrating. That and not being able to control the music we listen to on the drive to work, since the driver picks the music and shotgun shuts her cake hole.

Supernatural wisdom

Creativity:

Before I went to the operation, I had set out clear goals with regards to my writing and costume designing. Guess what? Nothing happened. I managed to waste five weeks of sick leave on Pinterest, curating fabulous inspiration boards for my WIPs, but barely wrote a word. I was (and still am) terribly constipated when it comes to putting my ideas into words. I am slowly but surely fighting my way back to the level of creaivity that I had last year this time. Last year I was in the final hours before publishing my debut novel and it's heartbreaking to confess that I haven't been able to write anything since then.

Another intention I had was to work my way through the Datura workshops that focussed on arms and upper body isolations. I was just unable to get myself to commit. Apart from the logistics being a nightmare, I fell into a really unpleasant depression after one try. It wasn't going to work. It also didn't help that I missed my dance sisters terribly and bummed another ride from Diana to go visit them. What a giant mistake. Watching them work through new arm patterns and preparing for World Belly Dance Day was physically causing me pain. After getting home that night, I vowed never to do that to myself again.

Don't do it to yourself.

Physical strength:

The one thing that bugged me the most was the loss of physicality. Did you know that you can lose 5-10% of your muscle mass in a three week period due to inactivity? I was in a POP and a moon boot for three months. That's 12 weeks. Since I was forced to lie down for 95% of my day during the first two weeks post-op, I had to do exercises that would maintain muscle mass in my thighs and glutes. What they don't tell you is that no matter how much you exercise, one day you're going to look down at your leg and think "What the heck happened to my thigh?" I was not in the best shape to start off with, but the difference between my "good" leg and my "bad" leg became more apparent as time wore on.The rehabilitation process is long and difficult. Although I'm walking at the moment without much of a limp, my balance is shot to hell. The foot doesn't allow me to stand on tip-toes yet. And walking long distance? Ha! Hamstrings, glutes, shins . . . the whole gamut of them protest violently. 

The way forward:
Thanks to the hard work and motivation provided by my physiotherapist Paulien - who is 100% aware of my desire to return to dancing as soon as possible and who thankfully supports it - I'm taking baby steps. Literally. You can't run before you can crawl and all that suddenly makes sense. So now I'm brushing my teeth while balancing on the bad leg. I'm doing calf raises while cooking dinner. I've got a Theraband and I just need to find a table leg sturdy enough to tie it to in order to condition the whole leg again.And I'm in negotiations with Jacqui to start a special re-conditioning class as soon as the dust has settled in my personal life, which should be after next week. That should at least ensure that I'm working on the correct muscles needed for a smooth transition back into oriental dance.

Well, maybe not a cute dress . . . but a coin belt will do!

And tomorrow morning when I drive myself to work, my radio will be blaring my favourite tunes. Just because I can. 

Until next time.

XxX
Marina

129 Days

Dear Readers

It's been an absolute lifetime since I've posted, but recently I've felt compelled to share something with you all. 

As of today, it has been 129 days since I've last danced. 

At our Rhythm Divine Hafla 2016

Yes, you're reading a blog on the topic of oriental dance and yes, I am a dancer. But something has been keeping me from my favourite hobby/escape/life line. I was the proud owner of a very terrible set of feet since birth. The kind of feet that made sure I never had any ballerina aspirations. The kind that made finding shoes a nightmare. The kind that eventually required surgical intervention to ease the pain of basic walking. When I was in high school, I had surgery to both feet to fix what is known in lay-man's terms as "flat feet." That should have been the end of the story as the surgery should have made buying shoes and walking easier. 

Except it didn't. At least not for the left foot. 

The right foot's surgery was a smashing success. The bridge of the foot was lifted with the use of screws that were removed a few months after surgery and the effects remained. The left foot . . . well, let's just say the screws came loose too early and so did the rest of the foot.

Five years ago I realised a life-long dream of taking dance lessons with our amazing teacher Jacqui. I told her from the start that my left foot was always going to be an issue and we devised a plan to work around it. Dancing was always difficult with a foot that would be swollen by the time I got home. I tried dancing with shoes and dancing without shoes, but nothing made it better. It didn't matter because I was dancing and I loved it. 

The BEFORE - note the deformity of the bones of the big toe

As the years went on, my left foot continued to be a problem, often seizing up in the middle of class. My day job requires me to spend a lot of hours on my feet and eventually, things just became unbearable. I asked my GP for a referral to a new orthopaedic surgeon in town, Dr. Letsie Ledimo, as I had heard good feedback from him. Armed with new X-rays, I arrived at his office. He examined me and sent me for further X-rays and a few minutes later, we examined them at the light box. Dr. Ledimo was honest with me when he said he didn't have the guts required to fix the problem with my foot. He immediately referred me to a specialist in Pretoria, Dr. Pauline Greyling who had been his mentor at university. He gave me an option to obtain a second opinion from another local orthopaedic surgeon, but when I asked what he would do if it was his foot, his answer was that he wouldn't let anyone else go near it. 

From the start I knew that I was letting myself in for a long process. The joints of my calcaneus, the bone that form your heel, had moved out of position in the seventeen years since the first surgery and had started chafing bone against bone. My Achilles tendon had also moved out of position. There was speculation that my big toe would also have to be broken in order to be set in the correct position. Dr. Greyling was optimistic about the results, but said that I would spend two weeks in a backslab, then a further four weeks in a circular POP before spending another six weeks in a moonboot. That's three months of inactivity. Three months of little to no weight bearing on the operated foot. 

It would also mean that dancing was ruled out for a minimum of six to eight months post op. 

And that's how I ended up here.

The AFTER - with the addition of two in-dwelling screws

129 days without dancing. 

Tomorrow, Wednesday 12 April, marks the official twelve weeks post-op date. However, due to all the public holidays we're enjoying in South Africa, I'll only be able to see Dr. Greyling next week. On week 13 - my favourite number in the whole world. I'm hoping it will bring me luck. 

So, why did I just share intimate details about my foot's history with you? I'm not looking for pity. I'm looking for someone to keep me accountable through the next couple of months. I'm looking for someone to share the highlights with and someone to drag through the low points. 

More than that, I'm hoping to be a source of inspiration for someone else out there who is struggling to stay positive and to stay committed to his/her dancing when it seems Fate is against you. Genetics and bad luck shot me in the foot, but I'm not going to allow this to be the end of it. I'm still young, I've got a lot of dancing years ahead of me. I hope to be looking back on this one day in the future and think back fondly of the trial I went through. And I hope that you will fight through your own battle along with me. 

After all, a day without dancing is a day wasted.

Sending you all shimmy greetings,

Marina

Celebrating Women's Day....as only Women can!

Today is Women's Day in South Africa. A day to celebrate all that there is to being a WOMAN.

As a Dance Studio my Ladies and I celebrated today a little early, on the 30th July, with a special Women's Day Hafla in Rustenburg. It is the first time that we as a Studio have held a Hafla or event that has been open to the Public, albeit a Ladies Only audience.

The show was our way of introducing ourselves to the Ladies of Rustenburg as we have discovered that we are not really 'known' in our small town and as the studio offers 'Belly Dance' that we have gain a 'not so cool' reputation with some of the ladies that have heard of us. So we decided to set the record straight. Addressing our lovely ladies I explained to them the origins of 'Raks Sharqi' and 'Raks Baladi' and that we belong to a Sisterhood of Women from all over the World that celebrate being Woman.....Being mother, wife, lover, homemaker, peacekeeper, nurse, taxi driver, teacher, counselor, chef, maid, Jill of all trades without complaint (okay we do complain - but we still love it). Being strong, being fearless, being courageous. That we celebrate how we learnt to love ourselves again, accept who we are and love the way we look, found time for Us, without losing all the other things that we loved about being a Woman. We accept all Women, no matter what your age, color, circumstance, religion, body shape, fitness level or experience. We dance because it speaks to our Souls, the one's that we have lost in the chaos of everyday life and it brings joy and light back into our lives.We are in fact the absolute opposite of everything that is ever said about Belly Dancers in hushed tones behind our backs.

After a slow start with ticket sales and some hiccups with our posters (businesses not displaying them when saying they will) and some awe inspiring sponsorship's (which included our lighting and sound by Sound Motion Professionals courtesy of a Fairy God person)  we eventually had 80 Ladies from all walks of life join us at our favourite Hafla venue in Rustenburg for a Show and a light lunch.

Friday night was spent placing tables and hanging backdrops etc, with lots of giggles and chuckles - when your other half is delegated to holding the ladder so that you can hang the drapings just so...love you my lief....Saturday was a mad rush to finish the table decor (courtesy of Studio Mom & Costume Guru, Tannie Susan Ferreira), organise Lighting guys and then dash home to finish make-up and hair....chaos, need to I say more.

The Show was a roaring success..... almost everyone that was asked how they found the Show was amazed. They had no idea that this is what Belly Dance is. It was called beautiful, stunning, incredible.....so I think we set the record straight. Hopefully our new converts will go out into the world (our small town) and spread the word and the love for our Dance.

Maybe.....just maybe.....we might make this a Annual thing.....will keep you all posted on that one....lol!

Here are a couple of images taken by one of our Dancers - Rene Schoombee....

 Happy Shimmying
Jacqui

Re-Branding of Rusty Belly Dance

Hi All,

So sorry that there have been almost no new posts to the blog for way too long. That thing...."Life Happens When You Busy Making Plans".....I think got the better of us.

Lets hope that in the future we get to share a little more on the going's on of the Studio and all the Tribe Sisters.

Now, a little recap of reasoning behind our decision to rebrand the Studio...if you haven't already read it on our Social Media Platforms.

As of today, the 1^st of August 2016, RUSTY BELLY DANCE will undergo a re-branding and become MiTribe Oriental Dance Collective.

Our reasoning behind this move is to clearly define what we do as an Oriental Dance Studio. Although we still firmly base our foundation, and especially that of our Beginners in the fundamentals of Belly Dance, we have steadily become more Fusion orientated over the past three years. We aim to combine different dance forms, such as Tribal Fusion, ATS (American Tribal Style), Ballet, Contemporary, Cabaret, Kathak Indian, Bollywood and Spanish Fusion into our unique choreography and technique classes. We still feature Classical Egyptian and Turkish Belly Dance, but it is not our main focus.

Most importantly, we have to rebrand to suit the conditions of the extremely conservative, predominantly Afrikaans, “small town” mentality we face in our city. Rustenburg is growing and evolving, but it is not as cosmopolitan as the larger cities in the country and if we hope to sustain our growth, we will have to move away from the “Belly Dance” reference. It is a sad state of affairs that, even in this day and age, women are still led to believe that Belly Dance is something akin to stripping. In our town, this radical step is needed to change the attitude towards our dance form so that women would no longer be afraid to be associated with Belly Dance. We understand that we run the risk of being seen as taking a cop-out by Traditionalists, but we daily face comments from unenlightened women asking “Don’t you only dance for men?” or “What does your husband think?”, not to mention the negative body image issues that are associated with our costuming. This lack of education and exposure is harming the dance form, not helping.

The rebranding of our studio is therefore not a move away from spreading the knowledge and joys of Oriental Dance, but an action to strengthen it. Our studio ethos and mission statement had and will always be that of a tribe of women who collectively share the same standards and values and who embody the power and passion to motivate each other to be the best they can be. We strive to always represent Belly Dance in all its associated forms with the reverence and respect it deserves.

So that is the long and short of it.....

Lets hope that the 'New Look' does make it easier for the ladies of Rustenburg to feels comfortable enough to come and give the Beginners class a try.

Only Time will tell.

Happy Shimmying

Jacqui

All Hallows Eve......

Yes, tomorrow - 31 October - is Halloween or 'All Hallows Eve'. Admittedly we here in the Southern Hemisphere have only gotten into the spirit of Halloween in recent years, but in the Northern Hermisphere, particularly the US, it has been an staple on the 'Holiday' calendar for decades.

So for us Halloween newbies - here's the low down on what the feast day is all about and where it originates. It has origins in the British Isles where it is linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced 'saw-in') which marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. A time when the boundaries between this world and the 'Otherworld' thinned. This meant the 'spirits' or 'faeries' could more easily come into our world and be particularly active...or mischievous. It also has origins in Christianity as early as the year 609, being the evening before 'All Saints' Day or 'All Hallows' day. A time for honoring the saints and praying for those that have recently departed.

The dressing up for Halloween started as far back as the 16th century, and would involve people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verse or songs in exchange for food.

So we have Spirits, faeries, ghosts and ghouls, dressing up in disguise in exchange for treats......sounds like a recipe for GREAT FUN!!

Here are a couple of pic's that show just how fun, cute, bizarre and crazy Halloween can be. Hope you all have great fun tomorrow night....but please spare a thought for our fur-kids and refrain from using fireworks in town....remember in the old days they did the song and dance thing, much cooler!!

How Belly Dancing gave me wings - an article by a fellow teacher

Hi Everyone,

First post for the new year. Well it has been a good start to the year, with load of things lined up. Among others a new Beginners Course starting on 9 March 2015. So with that in mind, when I came across this amazing article written by Tarah Van Wyk, a Tribal Fusion Teacher at Dance Tribe from Kwazulu Natal, I just had to share it.

I hope you loved it as much as I did. And after reading it I hope to see you in a Belly Dance class soon!!

Happy Shimmying
Jacqui


http://mindtheway.com/dancing-my-heart-out-how-belly-dancing-gave-me-wings/