While I was teaching and demonstrating bodywaves in my ATS class last week, one of my students asked me, "Are you doing a bellyroll?" and my answer was "Yes, sort of."

In a bodywave, the ribcage shifts forward and lifts, then the back body rolls back against an imaginary wall, with the shoulders touching first, then the ribcage, lower back, and finally the hips.

So, muscularly speaking, the latissimus dorsi contract to send the chest up and forward. Then, to bring the chest back, the rectus abdominis contract, first the upper section, then rolling down to the lower section. Finally, the contraction in the lower abs release, taking the spine back to the original dance posture.

In a bellyroll, the lats are out of the equation and the spine is held in dance posture. The rectus abdominis is still working, however, it's the obliques (mostly external, I think) that are driving the movement and the rectus abdominis is going for a ride on top.

Or at least that's how it's happening in my body.

Anyway, in my first go round at ATS General Skills, I learned about the latissimus dorsi driving the movement in Egyptian Basic. Try generating that movement ONLY using your lats. Amazing! You'll see in the attached image that the point of origin of the lats are way down towards the base of the spine, which gives the Egyptian Basic that dramatic swivel. In barrel turns, the lats are working to compress the side body for the initial "scoop" part of the turn. As mentioned above, in bodywaves, the lats are drawing together lifting the ribcage forward and up. I was under the misconception previously that the rhomboids were the inital part of the bodywave. While this will shift your shoulders back, your chest will not move up at all. You need to contract much lower down your back, towards the bottom tips of the shoulderblades to get that lift. So yay for the latissimus dorsi! To access your lats, transition between upward dog and downward dog. Down-dog lengthens the the latissimus dorsi, and upward dog works them.

It's very helpful for me to figure out exactly what muscle is working and how, both in yoga in dance, and I find descriptions like "this is a skeletal movement" to be frustrating and problematic. Bone doesn't move on it's own, so there must be some muscle taking that bone from point A to point B. You don't have to be an anatomy expert to investigate your movements and see how your body works.

If you've made a discovery of your own, please share! Also please let me know if my analysis make sense at all!

My troupemate requested this practice last time we got a big snow, and I've finally gotten around to writing up this practice. We just got majorly dumped on, and although I have the good fortune to have an awesome HOA that shovels straight up to my doorstep, I still had to help my husband dig out his car from the communal lot. Here's a short asana sequence I cooked up that will stretch out and restore your overworked shoulders and back:

Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
Always a good place to start. Shake out your fingers and wrists to open them up and get some fresh blood in there. Reach one hand out, palm away from you, fingers toward the floor. Use your other hand to pull your fingers back, stretching the forearm, wrist, and bicep. Repeat with the other arm.

Utkatasana (Chair or Mighty Pose)for 5 full breaths.
Yes, I know you're tired but this will warm you up quick!

Uttanasana (Standing Forward Fold)
Soften your knees and allow your back to round. Walk your hands up your shins if it's too much on your back.

Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog)
Melt your heart towards the floor. Five breaths or more.

Balasana (Child's Pose)
Widen your knees so your torso and forehead can come all the way down, making your spine as long and round as possible. Hang out here as long as you like.

Seated Shoulder Openers
Press your hips back over over your heels and sit in Virasana (Hero's Pose) Vajrasana (Lightning Bolt) or Sukhasana (Easy Pose). Interlace your hands behind your back. Squeeze your shoulderblades and elbows together, then, as you lift your heart, lengthen your hands down towards the floor. Hold for a few breaths. Bend your elbows and take your hands to one side of your waist. Squeeze the elbows together and hold, then take it to the other side.

Gomukhasana (Cow Faced Pose)
Feel free to skip the hips, if you're not feeling it.

Janu Sirsasana (Head of the Knee Pose).
Just because it feels good.

Jathara Parivarttanasana (Revolved Belly Pose
Lie down and take a nice and easy supine twist.

When you're ready, peel yourself off the floor and have a cup of something hot!

Hey there bellydancers, dancers-to-be, and lovers of dance! There is so much happening on my dance calendar this month that I just have to jump in and share! I'm wrapping up a six-week session of American Tribal Style Bellydance Classes, and it's such fun I'm going to do it again! In addition, I will be attending the ATS General Skills February 19-21 in preparation for my teacher training certification. I'm so excited about studying with my dance mama again! Onwards to exciting upcoming events!

Wednesday, February 24th, 7:30pm-8:30pm, $10
ATS Level 1 Review Class
If you have some experience in ATS, and you want to refresh your memory, drill moves & transitions, and refine technique, this is a perfect opportunity! This is also great preparation for the upcoming ATS Electric Maid Mixer!

Saturday, February 27th, 9pm Doors, 9:30 Show, FREE!
Verve Tribal performs at Charm City Tribal
We're doing a sword choreography you won't want to miss!

Sunday, February 28th, 6pm Doors, 7pm Show, $10
Kallisti Tribal performs at DC Tribal Cafe
I love this event! A great community of dancers and dance enthusiasts. Always fun. We've got something special planned, too!

Wednesday, March 3rd, 7:30pm-8:30pm, $84/session, $17/drop-in
Fundamentals of American Tribal Style. I am following the ATS Level 1 format. Yes, we will be zilling! Beginners always welcome. Experienced dancers are also welcome to drill with us and refine technique. After this session, I hope to offer an intermediate level class as well.

Sunday, March 14th, 3pm-6pm, $8 suggested donation
Kallisti Tribal Hosts the Electric Maid ATS Mixer
My troupemates and I are super excited about this one! The Mixer is a low-key event for dancers to flex their improv muscles outside of class or performance in an intimate, sharing community arts venue. No pressure, no recital, no judgement, no costumes, just time to mingle and dance with the far flung MD/DC/NoVa community.

I hope to see you out dancing soon! Please stay in touch!
Om Shanti!

I just watched Yoga, Inc. for free online, and you can too! Just click on the little widget at the end of this post!

I was really impressed with the quality of this documentary. There were lots of informed yogis that shared their perspectives on the history of yoga in the US as well as speculations for the future. There are two camps of people on the commercialization of yoga: there's the "YAY! Let's go! It's the American way to make money on everything!" and there's the "Yoga is an ancient spiritual practice not to be sullied by the dirtiness of money!" This film did a good job of giving each camp equal voice, as well as some balanced perspectives from realist yogis.

There was extra focus on the YogaWorks guys (who also founded AskJeeves.com, back in the day. Who knew?!) and my favorite yoga don, Bikram Chowdury. The filmmaker and some of the interviewees seemed concerned that Bikram and YogaWorks are paving the way for other McYogas that will kill all the independent yoga studios. I don't think that will ever happen, unless there is some widespread regulation of yoga teachers, beyond what the Yoga Alliance is already doing. Anyway, it would be a long time.

Personally, I'm not that worried about it. I get a thrill out of Bikram, I love the abundance of chic yoga wear available to me, and it doesn't bother me that yoga is super commercialized. If any of this brings people to the practice, good can come out of it. People come to yoga for all sorts of reasons, and because there is such diversity in instructors and teachings, there will always be room for everyone.

Your thoughts?

This information is primarily for my ATS bellydance students, but other dancers might find these resources useful as well.

Music Theory by Mary Ellen Donald. This is a brief, clearly written article that defines basic music terms like "rhythm" "measure" and "time signature." This extremely helpful for communicating about music with other dancers or musicians.

Carolena's Music FAQ for ATS is less about music theory in the technical sense, and more about the theory behind our choices for music for ATS. In this article, Carolena lays out what music is most appropriate for ATS, and also explains other points, such as how it is that we use slow moves with songs that have a fast tempo. Throughout the FCBD CD catalog, tracks are labeled with fast, slow, and sometimes a description of the piece. Very helpful!

Zill Speak by Artemis Mourat is a fantastic CD that comes with a booklet. She breaks down rhythms very clearly, with a variety of techniques to remember them by. While not all the rhythms are relevant to ATS, they are all common to Middle Eastern music, and therefore good to know!

Learning about music theory is definitely an ongoing process. It takes some initiative to investigate the variety rhythms and instrumentation to flesh out your knowledge. While there are tons of resources available for learning the basics, there is no replacement for just sitting down and listening to A LOT of music!

Here is a jumpstart to music for ATS! I've made an iMix featuring my favorite songs for drilling and dancing:

Once I started bellydancing, my music collection started to explode. SInce I use music in my yoga classes, as well as for dance practice and classes, I had to get my library under control. Here's how to gain control over a sprawling library so that you can easily use it for practice or in a class setting.

I used to make playlists for every yoga class, but now teaching multiple, distinct classes over the week, that just takes way too much time! Now everything yoga-appropriate is tagged "yoga" in the comment field, and I use a smart playlist of 4- or 5-star yoga songs shuffling through class. I make sure not rate anything too raucous in the 4 or 5 stars so as not to have any jarring moments in savasana, and it works great.

Managing bellydance music is a little more complicated, but the work is totally worth it:

• Step 1: Listen to your music and rate it. This part is unavoidable. You have to know your own music. For me, a 5-star rating means it is perfect for drilling and/or dance performance. At this point, you also need to ask yourself questions about your music so you have an idea of how you need to categorize things.
• Step 2: Use the comments tag. You can download a BPM counter to automatically tag your music, but you still have to listen to it. In ATS, for example, we might use slow moves for a song that is dramatic but actually has a fast tempo. I use "fast" "slow" and "tempochange" for my dance tunes. I also have the tags "ats," "vintage," "odd", and "zill," as well as tags for "kallisti" and "verve" for songs that we have or might perform to.
• Step 3: Use this information to make Smart Playlists. This is where it gets easy! Now that everything is tagged in a useful way, you can sort it as needed. You can enlarge the attached image and see my playlists. Using smart playlists also makes it way easier to pull songs for classes or practice if you want to put together something specific.
• Step 4: Maintain! Anything I can possibly bellydance to is tagged "belly." Even if I don't have time to listen through something right when I load it, I tag it all "belly" or "yoga" so I can find it to revisit it, rate it, and sort it.
  

I've decided that I'm going to participate in YogaDork's Sirsasana Challenge! The Sirsasana Challenge is inpsired by Cora Wen, a yogi who has started "tagging" various places she visits by doing a headstand and taking a photo of it. This seems just so random and fun to me, that I had to join in.

I went over and above the "take a photo of yourself in headstand" and made a short video blog post about it. I got it in my system that I was going to do this thing, and couldn't figure out how to push the button on my iSight camera and get in headstand in three seconds or less. So video it is!

TADA! I hope you thrilled by that 20 seconds of headstand in front of an old TV and Super Nintento! Hopefully my future sirsasna pursuits will be more exciting.

Be sure to share with me your headstands and other random public yoga poses!

Recently I have treated myself by attending a few classes. It started when I was on vacation in Florida, where I dropped in on a Power Vinyasa class at M Body in Jacksonville Beach. It was wonderful getting some magical adjustments that I know I needed and couldn't give myself. YUM. Since I've been back, I've dropped in on my colleague's Fluid Strength class (a fun fusion of dance and yoga), another AcroYoga workshop, and, with my dance partner, took a private lesson with Belladonna.

I love that I can get fresh insight into my own practice just by experiencing how other teachers present their material. This is why I never mind going to a beginner's yoga or dance class! I can always get a little (or big!) bit of information that can shed new light into a pose or movement. It's also so nice to just show up for a class, without having to plan for it and without having to be "on" for my students. I can just be present and go with the flow. Even when I am at home practicing, I get caught up thinking about how I might incorporate what I'm doing into a class, and so that opportunity to let go and be with my own practice also helps me refuel as a teacher. So, for once, I've got my lesson plans for the week completed EARLY! I should really keep this up!

In the new year we often find ourselves reevaluating our place in life, searching for new perspectives, and setting new goals. It's strange that we do this by the calendar year, because these coldest, darkest days can be the most difficult time to find motivation to do anything at all!

Amy put in a request over the holidays for energizing sequences to beat the post-holiay meal slump. Here's a heat-building sequence with lots of twists to freshen your spirit as you warm your body up! Twists are also great for those of us who tried to eat our weight in chocolate chip cookies over the holidays, as they help regulate digestion by giving all your organs a nice squeeze.

Yoga for the Winter Blahs

• Start with at least three rounds of Sun Saluations (Classical or Version A)
• Next round, Low Lunge Twist: Step the left foot back into a lunge and release the right knee to the floor. Bring your hands to anjali mudra. Inhale and get tall, exhale and twist to the right, catching your left arm to the outside of your right leg. Five breaths like this: inhale and lengthen the spine, exhale and twist. Inhale and lengthen to come back to neutral. Take a vinyasa (downdog, plank, chatturanga, cobra/updog, downdog), and repeat on the other side.
• Sun Salutations, Version B, Two or three.
• Utkatasana Twist From uttanasana, bend your knees deeply, sitting back into a chair, getting as low as you can. Scoop the tailbone under and lift the heart up. Hands come to anjali mudra Inhale lengthen the spine, exhale and twist to the right, catching your left arm to the outside of your right leg. Keep squaring your hips forward. Five breaths on each side. You can do it!

You should be getting warm now!

Onward to some standing poses! (or skip ahead to seated if you prefer)

• Uttitha Parsvakonasana(Extended Side Angle) to Parivrtta Parsvakonasana (Revolved Side Angle)
• Uttitha Trikonasana(Triangle) To Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon)
• Parivrtta Trikonasana(Revolved Triangle) to Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana (Revolved Half Moon)
• If you're an overachiever or if you just like a nice sweaty vinyasa practice, throw down some vinyasa between those standing poses.

Seated poses to finish

• Janu Sirsasana Emphasize the twist before even thinking about folding!
• Marichyasana III
• Bring it on down a nice supine twist before savasana
  

Thank you, Amanda Palmer, for summing up my entire philosophy of ART (capital letters) using my most favorite instrument, the ukulele.

"Art is great that way, you can do anything."

I'll tie this one in to tribal bellydance. I'll wholeheartedly admit to being a "tribal curmudgeon." I love American Tribal Style in is purest form. I love watching it, and I love dancing it. I am satisfied digging as deep as I can into the nuances of the format and giving an entertaining performance. I've reached a point in my creative path where I enjoy simplicity to the point of minimalism and easy communication with the audience. I got all my hard-core analyzing out being an art history and theory major. Now is my time for enjoying the process.

It's nice to have this approach validated by another artist. I often feel that ATS is being increasingly pushed out of the picture by fusion dancers who are going nuts bringing in personal or popular influences into the dance. It was a humbling relief listening to Amanda Palmer's song and being reminded that fusion dancers who challenge the tradition of classical bellydance and tribal style have space for their voice as well. Art is great that way, you can do anything!