Do you remember two years ago, when I introduced you to my singer/songwriter friend Fawn Fritzen? Go to this post if you missed it. At that time, she was just getting ready to release her first album, Bedroom Voice.
She’s done some really fun things along the way, including making a very sweet music video that I adore. Obviously I love it because I adore her voice, but also because I’m in it! If you watch it, you’ll see Mr. C and I dancing on the banks of the Yukon River mid-way through. Mr. C has only danced in public with me on two occasions, and this was one of them. Here it is:
Well, time goes on and I’m very excited to let you know that Fawn is getting ready to release her second album, Pairings!
Right now Fawn is raising money to help her get the CD released. She’ll tell you all about it herself:
The album features some of the best Canadian jazz musicians today, including George Koller on bass, Reg Schwager on guitar, Karl Schwonik on drums, David Restivo on piano, Kelly Jefferson on tenor sax, and more…
Would you like to be part of Fawn’s new album release? Go to gofundme.com/fawnfritzen. She’s got incentives!
And if you go to her webpage and sign up to receive her newsletter, you get a free song download!
Zap! …I really can’t believe the month is over and this is the last A-Z challenge post! No more daily Nita in your inbox!
I love the letter Z. There are a lot of great things I could have written about that actually start with a z, but I found out just a few minutes ago that today, April 30th, is actually International Jazz Day!
Jazz hands, everyone! Yeah!
Today I’m going to show you a couple of original fusion pieces I choreographed for the dancers to perform to LIVE Big Band music back in 2011. Bellydance meets Big Band!
OMG it’s the most amazing feeling to be on the big stage with a full 18-piece big band behind you. Amazing! I wish every dancer could experience it.
First, here is a new one that hasn’t hit my website yet (because I only uploaded it to YouTube about 10 minutes ago). Orange Colored Sky!
And here they are again, dancing to another great big band standard: Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.
And last but not least…and entirely appropriate for the very last post of the A-Z in April challenge: our Rockin’ the Casbah FINALE done to New York, New York.
Phew! Can’t believe it’s over. It’s over, baby!
I hope you had as much fun this month as I did!
I’d love to hear from you…which post was your favourite?
I’m participating in the Blogging From A-Z challenge. One blog post for each letter of the alphabet, each day of April (except Sunday).
…but don’t go away! I’ll still be blogging, just not every day, regular as clockwork!
In 2011 I choreographed and produced a full theatre production that featured the Big Band, the Saba Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble and ensemble soloists. If you’ve watched any of the videos I’ve re-posted about the show during the A-Z in April blog posts, you’ll have noticed right away that this was a really fun show.
Everything about it was fun!
Including this dance. And there is a story behind this dance (of course!). As you may know, I have quite an extensive DVD library. I often buy a DVD and then find that I already know the material. But that’s okay because even if the material isn’t new to me, I can glean a new perspective on it or find a different way of presenting the material in class. And I enjoy just putting on a DVD and dancing along … it’s nice to follow somebody else’s lead instead of being the leader all the time. Makes for good drills.
So anyway, at the back of one of these DVDs there was a very nice choreography taught to a song that I have liked for a long time called Raqs Bedaya off of one of the Yousry Sharif Wash ya Wash CDs.When I heard the song, I said “I know that song -I LOVE that song!” So I watched the performance. While the technical material was intermediate, the choreography that she tied it all together with was quite advanced.And I loved it! I absolutely loved everything about it! I loved her cheeky attitude. I loved her lightness of step and heaviness of hips.
I could see myself in that dance.
So … I learned it! I followed the chapters and learned the combinations one by one. While I was learning each combination, I allowed myself the freedom to change it as I pleased. In the end, parts are definitely Jenna’s and parts are definitely mine.
The piece is a hybrid of choreography that I had an absolute blast learning & doing. And – best part yet – it is a blast to dance! Fun fun fun!
The Big Band makes an interesting back drop, eh?
And of course there is the perk of being able to wear that outfit. Today, 4 years and 30 pounds later I don’t know if I could squeeze my big toe into it!
One of my favourite moments in the dance…a cute undulating backwalk, Saiidi style.
If you’ve made it this far, maybe you’d like to see the actual dance?
Raqs Bedaya from Rockin’ the Casbah, Act I: Casbah Cabaret. March 19, 2011.
I’m participating in the Blogging From A-Z challenge. One blog post for each letter of the alphabet, each day of April (except Sunday).
It’s delightful, it’s delicious, it’s delectable, it’s delirious, it’s dilemma, it’s de limit, it’s deluxe, it’s de-lovely! Am I dreaming?
Today’s post is brought to you by the letter D!
Here are Colin Donnell and Laura Osnes singing “Its De-Lovely” from the 2011 revival of the Cole Porter musical, “Anything Goes,” which made its Broadway debut in 1934. Cole Porter wrote both the music and the lyrics for the musical.
From the liner notes:
IT’S DE-LOVELY was born when Cole Porter was taking a cruise. While watching the sun rise over Rio, from the ships deck, Cole remarked ….”It’s Delightful” ; his wife, Linda, responded with….”It’s Delicious” and their friend, actor, Monty Woolley threw in ….”It’s De-Lovely” . Porter used all three comments in the song.
And if you love Big Band music the way I do, here’s the 1936 version done by Eddy Duchin & his Orchestra with Jerry Cooper on vocals (vocals start after the one minute mark).
Another great Cole Porter song is Dream Dancing, originally recorded by the great Ella Fitzgerald in 1978. Here it is performed by Gabrielle Stravelli at the Metropolitan Room July 31, 2014. Wish I had been there!
D is also for Dance, right? Here is Saba Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble performing to Dream a Little Dream of Me, which was written by Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt and gus Kahn in 1931. This dance is the dream sequence from the opening of act II, Rockin’ the Casbah, April 2011 in Whitehorse, Yukon. Fawn Fritzen on vocals.
I’m participating in the Blogging From A-Z challenge. One blog post for each letter of the alphabet, each day of April (except Sunday).
I’m participating in the Blogging From A-Z challenge. One blog post for each letter of the alphabet, each day of April (except Sunday).
C is for the Casino Opera Choreography!
The inspiration for this particular choreography was Badia Masabni, the founder of modern Egyptian dance as we know it today, and her famous nightclub, called The Opera Casino, which opened in Cairo in 1926.
Here, Egyptian dance was taken from street entertainment and chaabi (popular dance) and put on the stage in a theatre/nightclub setting for the very first time. Soloists began showcasing props and dancing in front of “chorus lines.” Another first, important for today’s modern bellydance troupes, was the beginning of choreographed ensemble dancing. For the first time, audiences saw groups of Egyptian dancers performing choreographed pieces together on the stage.
One of the very first choreographies I wrote for the dance troupe (Saba Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble) was inspired by Madame Masabni’s Casino Opera. This piece was written in 2002 or 2003. This performance was filmed in 2006.
I won’t criticize the work. It was an early attempt and pretty good, considering. Simple. But then, so were the early ensemble dances at Badia Masabni’s establishment.
I based the costume for the choreography on the 1940s style chiffon skirt and matching chiffon covered bra typically worn by Samia Gamal and other dancers of that era.
The music is Nebtiti Minin el Hikiya, from Jalilah’s Raks Sharki 5 cd.
Today I am taking part in The Simple Woman’s Daybook. I haven’t done it for awhile. Today seems like a good day for it. Check out the link to see what other simple women are up to today. And if you’re a blogger, join in! 🙂
Outside my window… The sky and the lake are both the same colour. Fog obscures the far shore. Everything is shrouded and still.
I am thinking… about how I am procrastinating this morning. I mean to wash the floors but keep finding other things to do first. Like this blog entry. And how I couldn’t do anything (even get dressed!) until I sewed a bag. And my fiction story is waiting for me. I would prefer to devote the majority of my day today to it. And I just might do that! Who needs clean floors, anyway? (insert shifty-eyed emoticon here)
I am thankful…for the love of my husband and the care of my friends and my laptop and the web. And for pink shoes. And rick rack. Definitely thankful for rick rack this morning!
In the kitchen…no mess! Nothing baking, nothing cooking. Just the kettle waiting to be filled.
I am wearing…leggings and my funky green baby-doll top, my favourite brown sweater that could really stand to be new (but maybe that’s why it’s my favourite – well used/loved), beige & brown polka dot socks and my birks. and a good collection of loose threads. Insulation, you know!
I am creating… a bag! I needed a bag for the Friendship Garden Quilt that I finished (click the link to see it) and just happened to have some happy denim-like sunflower fabric that I got at the thrift store that actually kind of matches the quilt! But I had some bobbin tension issues…
Ta da! Rick rack to the rescue!
The bag looked kind of small. Would the quilt fit?
The pattern is from The Green Bag Lady. I changed up the pattern a bit…4″ straps instead of 3″ and I used French seams.
I am going…to the Big Band Valentine’s Day dance in Whitehorse on Saturday! Pink shoes, you know. Just sayin’.
I am wondering…who of my old friends will be there to dance with me? 🙂 …And also what it would be like to write a song. My friend Fawn Fritzen, who is an awesome singer, is taking part in FAWM (sort of like NaNoWriMo except it’s February Album Writing Month) where she has to write 15 songs during the month of February. It would be fun to write a song together, except maybe more fun for me than for Fawn, lol! since I have never written a song in my life and can’t sing a note to save it!
I am reading…Festive in Death by J.D.Robb. I checked it out from the library and it is due tomorrow!
I am hoping…that I can finish this book tonight! Shouldn’t be a problem…I love J.D.Robb’s Eve Dallas stories. 🙂 (did you know that J.D.Robb is actually Nora Roberts? Such a versatile author! And prolific…eee gads, that gal can write!)
I am looking forward to…spending time at the Fox Lake cabin. Really looking forward to it. I want to walk in the door and not walk out again for days and days. I love it there so much!
I am learning…always.
Around the house…dust bunnies to sweep. kitty and doggy footprints to mop, a rug to vacuum, a bathroom to polish.
I am pondering…whether I should sign up for a free Open University Future Learn course called Start Writing Fiction, which focuses on the central skill of creating characters. It’s 8 weeks long and starts at the end of April. Only 3 hours per week, but I am so slow, I know I will need to devote more time than that to it. I should sign up for this. Yes, I should. But I’ve never taken one of these free Open University courses before. Have you?
A favorite quote for today…“If we walk far enough,” says Dorothy, “we shall sometime come to someplace.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
One of my favorite things…cold left over pizza and tea, earl grey, hot – for breakfast! Served with a good book in a corner of the couch and don’t talk to me until I’m done!
A few plans for the rest of the week…Spend time writing on my fiction piece. I need to get another couple of chapters ready to send to my two critique partners, Holly and Lisa. And I’ve got Holly’s chapters to read and make comments on. Plus, I am determined to make 14 (yes, I said fourteen) baby elephants for the elephant-a-long that I’m participating in. 🙂 Here are the momma and daddy elephants:
A peek into my day…because no matter else what I may or may not do today, writing is at the top of the list. 🙂
and this:
with a good dose of this little guy who will need to go for a walk.
When I heard the song, I said “I know that song -I LOVE that song!” So I watched the performance. While the technical material was intermediate, the choreography that she tied it all together with was quite advanced.
And I loved it! I absolutely loved everything about it! I loved her cheeky attitude. I loved her lightness of step and heaviness of hips.
