Dancin the night away

Actually, I've been dancing the week away!

Last Thursday I taught a Tarantella class at the Sacred Space conference in MD. After my class, I went to a trance-prophecy dance where Lakshmi was very present with me. On Friday, I went to a conjure dance and thankfully stopped myself before I was taken. On Saturday, I danced with Alessandra Belloni at her show in NYC. On Sunday I took a drum and dance class with her. On Monday I picked up my new castanets and spent a few hours breaking them in while dancing and teaching kiddo how to use them and the steps to the dance.

I'm taking today off from dancing!

Tomorrow I'll post the outline from the class along with a reading and reference list.

Here is a bit of what I've been doing with the castanets:

Learn something old every day

Tonight I attended another of Alessandra Belloni's Italian drum and dance classes. She is an amazing artist and a wonderful teacher. I can't gush enough about her, but I will stop it there for now. Tonight we worked on the tarantella drumming rhythm. I used to be able to do it fast, or at least at full tarantella speed, but when I tried to follow along with a dvd a few years ago, I was incredibly rusty. Tonight she broke it down into steps and I was mostly able to put it back together. I could follow her drumming and kept up as she went faster and faster but couldn't rock the speed on my own lol Ah well, I need to practice!

As we were putting our drums away and moving into the dancing part of the class, I was transported back to my Grandparent's kitchen. My Grandfather was sitting at the head of the table and I was sitting to his left. I was maybe 3 years old (and when older, he would show me this a lot...). He would drum out a beat on the table using his fist and his hand, which would flip back and forth to make the rhythm. It was almost the exact same thing we were drumming tonight. When I was little, I thought it was an army thing. he was incredibly proud of having served in WWII. And in all the years I've been doing tarantella, I never put that together. I was just good at that kind of dancing and drumming and never gave it a thought. Then again, I've never taken my study and work with it as seriously before.

This is a perfect example of how it works in my Family: You are taught without realizing it, without having to put together the connections because it's just there, a part of your life, part of the family games and the stories and "the things we do."

Thank you, Grandpa, for teaching me something I didn't know I had learned!


On deck for posting (which doesn't actually mean it will appear here):

Why words are important and when and how they should evolve (pt 2 of  "formed in strength" vs "formed in beauty")
Witches in Turin cause earthquake (on purpose, in protest!)
The difference between "tolerance," "acceptance" and "understanding."
Commedia dell'arte

Showtime at the Apollo

I walked by the Apollo theatre today on my way to Tarantella Class with Alessandra Belloni. Are you tired of me posting about her yet? Haha sorry. She's a wonderful teacher and I'm happy to have had the opportunity to take up studying with her once again. It's been about 8 years since I last took her classes. Was nice to know that I'm not all that rusty! The moves we did tonight were some of the same ones I used to trance on Saturday. I was very, very careful to keep the locks closed: There was no way I wanted to trance when I had to take public transit home right after!

So again, on the walk to the train, I was pondering the name of the famous theatre and who named it that? And why? Turning to the holy wiki:

Apollo Hall was founded in the mid-19th century by former Civil War General Edward Ferrero as a dance hall and ballroom. Upon the expiration of his lease in 1872, the building was converted to a theater, which closed shortly before the turn of the 20th century... However, the name "Apollo Theater" lived on.

Paisan! He was an Italian whose parent's had paused in Spain when he was born and moved to NYC a year later. In addition to being a soldier, he was the most famous dance instructor of his time.

He educated the wealthy and elite of New York society in the art of dance, and originated many dances that spread in popularity throughout the country. Ferrero became renowned as one of America's leading experts in dance. He worked part-time as a dance instructor at the United States Military Academy and was the author of The Art of Dancing in 1859.

He's from Italy, was a Freemason, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn; I've hit the trifecta of this blog's mission statement! Italian! Magical! Brooklyn! lol My husband has been looking at me like I'm crazier than usual, especially since I was just doing a little touchdown dance. Dancing for the trifecta? I was at first, but forget that, I've hit the jackpot! books.google.com has a free copy of the book, The Art of Dancing !

Why is it a jackpot? Aside from the intro being almost entirely about him debunking "the church" on how dancing is the province of "the devil" there is a large section devoted entirely to ancient dances. Make no mistake, it's no "yay for Pagans!" tome: He's as judgmental as expected when it comes to the rites of Bacchus, but he cites ancient writers as sources and so far, backs up his theories with evidence. Sections include titles such as: "Dance among ancient Hebrews," "The Bacchic dances," "the Kybeslesis," "the Memphitic dance," "the Festinalia" and others, including one called "Cabalistic Hat" :-o He also includes various theories on who invested dance, naming candidates such as Castor and Pollux, or Rhea, communicated to her Priests and Priestesses in Crete.

I'm stopping the blog here so I can actually sit down and read the book! So far I'm enjoying it! Care to read along with me? The link will take you right to the book!

Honoring The Sea Goddess

I attended a concert tonight where Alessandra Belloni and company honored Aphrodite/Yemanja/Anahita/Black Madonna as The Sea Goddess. They sang songs from Italy, Brazil, and new compositions inspired by those places as well as Hawaii. The performance was dedicated to honoring Her and healing the waters of the world. We got up to dance too :) I was mesmerized as she played various frame drums. Her hand was like a hummingbird! I'm inspired to pick up mine again and get back to practicing!

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be dedicating the labyrinth and spent this afternoon cleansing and consecrating the crystals and stones which will become a part of it. I'm pretty tired after my funtastic adventure so I will leave you with a different performance of one of the songs from tonight

Distraction

I've been working all day and I'm pretty wiped so here is an Alessandra Belloni video where she talks about and plays the Pizzica Tarratata. Enjoy!

Why?

Why do I post something daily (or nightly, as the case has been)? It is an offering in response to a request. It is my offering to Mercury. He wanted words and, I have to say, the tiny amounts I post here barely scratch the surface of what bubbles up when I take the time to sit and think. One thought will float to the surface which will lead me to a book, which leads me to the author's other work, which leads me to a whole new post idea, but wait, there's another book I want to peek in first!

So thank you, Mercury, for leading me deeper into my practice by having to stop and think every night. Even my seemingly random Sappho post from last night was done only after an hour of research. There are things I would love to post about, but I can't give it the treatment it deserves, so I hold onto my notes and wait.

I feel incredibly inspired and incredibly happy to be of service and in service.

So for fun (because what is entertaining if not a service), here's Alessandra Belloni and the Pizzica Tarantata: