Dulcissime

Art of the Belly was pretty great. I stayed in an amazing condo with my Transcendence troupies, took leg-melting workshops from the incredible Jill Parker, and performed with both of my troupes. TT's set was an homage to the roots of tribal in the US, with a very Bal Anat-ish feel. Video will be up soon. Verve did sword and a lightning fast Raquy drum solo. Like seriously, so so fast. Very challenging for me, personally, but I love the song and want to perform it again.

I scored some swag from the vendors, too-- I got a dress and a pair of dance pants from Willow, a biiiiiiig medallion to start my medallion belt (am still searching for heart-shaped ones like FCBD's Kae has on hers), bought Belladonna's advanced sword technique DVD (and an "I'm With The Dancer" tee for J), and a preeeetty striped assuit hip scarf. All told, I spent too much, but I am thrilled with my purchases.

The performances were largely wonderful. Even most of the "baby" dancer troupes that got up there were entertaining and looked like they were having a great time. Artemis brought the house to the ground, Ebony's troupe was absolutely perfect, Sera Solstice's troupe piece damn near made me cry, and I loved Shakra's haunting duet piece. Autumn Ward's drum solo piece was also a favorite. Of course there are so many performances that I'm not even mentioning, but I wanted to give special props to lapinetrose for her live set with Ishtar, which had a level of polish that I greatly envy. Overall, it seemed to me that the gimmicky bs that we've seen too damn much of was much reduced this year, which was a relief. I saw a lot more dances that wanted to say something, and far fewer ones that relied on whacky props (though, sadly, I did see one props-ridden performance that I felt was wholly inappropriate).

Going forward, I can't wait to break into the new sword DVD and see if it helps me improve a solo sword piece I'm currently working on to an SJ Tucker song. Verve is scheming, too-- I think it will be incredibly challenging and rewarding for us to work on a theatrical set that tells a story and forces us to dance as characters. And then TT is doing Spoutwood, so we've gotta get our sets down for that on Saturday and Sunday.

Time to start going into full production on the wings at the start of next week. The remainder of this week is custom work and pearl stringing assignments. Then the assembly line starts.

Can't wait to get home to the furbabies tonight. Last night, Nox was running around like an absolute nutcase and collided with a wall pretty hard. J said he ate just fine this morning, but when I got up, I noticed he was really sleepy and felt extra-warm in his ears and belly area. It's probably nothing-- I did a full check over and he didn't seem to be in pain anywhere particular, but he's my kitty soulmate, so of course I'm gonna worry and fuss over him.

Last night's class with Flo was good. It felt great to get moving again. Things I learned: a) my fast shimmy has gone to hell and I need to work on that, especially with chest isolations on top of it, and b) I now know the correct way to do an arabic with a twist, and how to turn it 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2. She also taught a longer combo she learned from another troupe, and while it was fun, it's not something I can really see Flissy or I using (unless we do that tribal cheerleader routine for the inappropriate hafla!). I think I'll probably keep dropping in on her Wednesday beginner/intermediate mixed class, as the pacing felt good to me. It was a good mix of review and new material.

Today, I have photography and photoediting to do. I have a very small update of about 25 items to put up, including some steampunk stuff I'm really proud of. If it doesn't go up tonight, it will go up tomorrow morning. Huzzah!