Volume #10 December 2006
The new CD by Mizna!
Order online now.
Paulette is thrilled to announce her brand new and first |
Letter from |
Hello Paulette,
My purpose for writing to you is to express my gratitude to my fellow ATS troupe members...
I first started cabaret dancing and solo performing about six years ago. Even though I loved learning to belly dance and had talent enough to perform as a solo act, I must say that I did not really enjoy being a solo performer. Needless to say, I ended up taking a hiatus from performing for a while. It just never felt comfortable or quite right for me.
Over the past year, however, I began to study ATS with a terrific mentor and teacher, whom after several months, had asked me to join an ATS dance troupe that she also belonged to. Joining the troupe has changed my life tremendously. I have really grown to love performing. I truly feel as though I have been given a second chance to do something that I knew I loved.
I have found such joy in dancing and performing as a troupe member. This feeling of elation is in part due to the relationships that have been formed through dancing and performing with a dynamic group of beautiful and talented dancers. Because of this connection with my fellow troupe members, the commitment part of being a troupe member came very easily and naturally.
Don't get me wrong... being a member of a dance troupe is very hard work and does require a profound sense of commitment. But through it all, I must say that the many (sometimes long) nights spent together at rehearsals are the reason that I feel so rhythmically and spiritually connected to my Sisters through this beautiful dance form. Whenever we dance... wherever we dance... there is this indescribable connectedness that is ever present and transcends spoken words.
This note is really a tribute to my Sisters in dance. For without them, I could never have embarked on this incredible journey!
Thank you so much for sharing your insight and experiences through your newsletter and for allowing me this opportunity to share my thoughts with you.
Workshops with |
Tonya and Atlantis'
17th Annual Bellydancer of the Universe Competition
with Paulette and Jen
February 17 and 18th
Long Beach, CA
www.bellydanceroftheuniverse.com
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Gypsy Caravan Workshop
with Paulette and Jen
Orlando, Florida
March 3 and 4th 2007
Contact Lisa Myers
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April 14th
Vibe Tribe Productions, in Edmonton, Canada
with Paulette and Jen
nancy.vibetribe@gmail.com
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Gypsy Caravan's
Beginning Level One and Two
Teacher Training in Portland
Monday, April 16 - Thursday, April 26, 2007
contact Caravan Studio
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Finally!
Gypsy Caravan's first Week long Tribal Bellydance Intensive
in Portland
April 18-24th
Come join Paulette and Gypsy Caravan Dance Company at Caravan Studio, for this new intensive tribal bellydance workout week. Daily workouts, with yoga and aerobic toning and strengthening, and several hours of tribal bellydance, including assorted levels of classes almost every night, and a bellyjam to celebrate our new growing family. Come together to improve your technique, learn many new moves, build your confidence as a dancer, strengthen your improvisational skills, participate in discussions about artistry, integrity, and our dance, and have a great time feeling the community spirit! And we'll do some drumming too. All levels of dancers welcome. There will be some down time to enjoy our beautiful city of Portland and to arrange for wine tasting, hot tubbing, massage, pedicures, and more…
Contact Caravan Studio for more information, pricing, accommodations, and to register. Space is limited so don’t wait.
jen@gypsycaravan.us
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OUR 14th year!
A Celebration of Tribal Bellydance,
Women, and Community
Tribal Vision/Tribal Fusion
With Paulette Rees-Denis and
The Gypsy Caravan Dancers
And Special Guest Instructors
Sharon Moore (of Seattle’s inFusion)
and Lynea Gillen
(of Portland’s Yoga Calm and Ripe Fig Rhythms)
Breitenbush Hot Springs, Detroit, Oregon
A Weekend for Women... April 27-29, 2007
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May 25 - 28 of 2007
Folk Tours US dance camp in PA
US MIDDLE EASTERN CAMP FOR DANCERS AND MUSICIANS
Friday May 25th - Monday May 28th 2007 in lovely Pennsylvania is going strong with yet another great group of instructors on board! We are excited and proud to announce our teaching and music staff for 2007:
Dance instructors: Sahra Saeeda, Dalia Carella,
Paulette Rees Denis, Artemis Mourat, Karim Nagi, Ibrahim Tunc, Tayyar
Akdeniz and Julia Arenson.
Music staff will be Tamer Pinarbarsi, Hamit Golbasi, Seido Salifoski,
Osama Faruk, Karim Nagi, Ali Kahya, Souren Baronian, Umut Yasmut, Soner
Cicek, Ara Dinkjian, Mike, Sami Abu Shumays, Aboud Agha, Tayyar Akdeniz
and special guests!
Contact danceinfo@folktours.com
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June 2 and 3
Muncie,Indiana
with Paulette and Jen
contact Camelia
shaitenkauwa@sbcglobal.net
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Northern Migration
July 12-14
Buffalo, New York
with Dulcinea and Jen
contact Kim
kadri274@msn.com
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the 5th Annual
Tribal Quest NorthWest in Portland
August 2, 5, 2007!
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Southern Fusion Fest
August 10-12, Atlanta, Georgia
with Dulcinea, Jen, and Nicole, and many more...
www.southernfusion.net
Contact Vera
fatina_dance@yahoo.com
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Paulette and Jen in Europe!
in Holland with contact Sheila at sheilazz@home.nl
September 22-23
www.orientaalscentrum.nl
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Munich, Germany
Burg Rothenfels
September 28-30
www.burg-impressionen.de
nesimah@gmx.de
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Tribe Vibe UK
October 2007
with Gypsy Caravan and Mizna!
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South, England
October 19-21
contact Steffi
barefootsteffi@hotmail.com
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North, Scotland
October 26-28th
contact Deirdre
hipswithattitude@yahoo.com
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For more information
about all of our workshops,
please visit our website.
Tribal Travels with
Paulette Rees-Denis
 Jen, Michele, Paulette and Gina of Gypsy Caravan Dance Company at Tribal Lounge. |
After being in my new country home for just a short time, I have fallen into the groove of the meaning of the light. Meaning I go to bed early because it is so dark out! Actually, I am so enjoying the light and the dark this year because I am surrounded by big open sky. I watch the beautiful sunrises from my bed, and the sunsets over the pine trees has been outstandingly gorgeous. The night sky is studded with zillions of stars (when it’s not raining in Oregon!), something I only got to experience in edited form from my city home. I watch the deer graze as my dog sniffs out the critters that don’t show their faces to me. The six inches of snow we had early was the first time in eons that I have gotten excited about winter. Daily I walk through our fields in the early morning fog or rain and feel blessed.
 Gina of Gypsy Caravan Dance Company. |
It is that time of the year again. Time for me to think about the past year and the coming year, as the longer light returns, as solstice marks the longest night. What do the holidays mean? It is a time of year when I want to appreciate and acknowledge my friends and extended families. To actually take the time to honor them in my life, that is the hard part. Slowing down long enough in the slurry of parties and holiday travel, and everyday life, to take special time, to think and meditate on my life. Now that I am surrounded by fields and trees and creatures, I can truly feel the earth that I stand on, experiencing the seasons in a different way. So not only do I appreciate my loved ones, but the earth and its bounty. I never want to take anything or anyone for granted. I am blessed.
We circle through life with our experiences as well as the seasons, and it seems like my dance always comes full circle in a year. The ups and downs of dancing, teaching, and performing lend themselves through every emotion possible, I think. Intense joy, aerobic workouts, intimate soul connections, exciting creative passion, and yes, sometimes ultimate sadness. I think as tribal dancers, because we have chosen to dance together with someone else or many others, we wear our hearts on our sleeves, showing our soul when we dance. That can be intimidating and exciting, all at the same time. Having been dancing all of my life, I try not to forget what the early stages of becoming a dancer feels like. I don’t want to take my dance for granted either.
Gina, Nicole and Meghan of
Gypsy Caravan Dance Company.
Photo by Steve Hambuchen.
Try this. Compare your dance to the seasons, or to a seed. Where is your dance in your life? Is it fresh and alive like the springtime? Are you a new dahlia bulb about to be planted? Maybe it is in the fullness and heat of summer, or in the hibernation of winter stage. Does it feel young or old? Can you dance your dance with those feelings or images? Can you write it down for me? I would love to read how you feel about your dance, and where you are with it.
Please read the sidebar, what a reader shared with me after the last enewsletter. She so beautifully was able to express her soul about the joy she gets from dancing with her sisters and being able to share that as a performer. It rocks my world to read about your dance experiences, and to be able to share them with the rest of you. I learn so much from you, my fellow dancers, students, and teachers. Thank you for sharing with me all that you do.
Alrighty then, getting on with the news!
 Joyful Jen in a party spirit! |
Michele and I had a wonderful and quick weekend in Evergreen, Colorado, teaching for the beautiful couple, Ocean and Elizabeth, and their store, Marrakech. We danced in a cowboy bar (even had a bronzed buffalo out front!) and it was an exciting and packed show with dancers and musicians from around Colorado and Nebraska-very fun! We taught some full-of-good-stuff workshops, with lively discussions, and met many wonderful and enthusiastic dancers. We got great feedback from many of the dancers and it was fun to watch them put the dance moves and techniques to use as we had them drill the new stuff over and over again. I always feel so rewarded when I get positive feedback from a workshop. I want to make sure what I’m teaching is relevant and useful to the dancers who participate, and that they leave feeling challenged and excited about their dance and what they can do with it. And thanks to Ocean and Elizabeth for a well-organized event.
If you haven’t had a chance, please check out our website. Our web mistress extraordinaire, Dianne, has revamped the pages and the Souk and it looks hot.
Mizna—Bruce Beaton, Bruce Robertson (guest musician), Doug Shafer, JD Devros, and Jeff Rees. Photo by Dianne Foster.
I’m sure by now, most of you know about the new Mizna CD, It is released and sounds fabulous! It’s hard for me to pick a favorite track, but I’m loving #6, Wazm. Then there is Caravan to India, oh, and Rif Mountains. Tomorrow I’ll love a different one, too. Which are your favorites to dance to and why? Drop me a note. I’ll pass it on the musicians!
Michele of Gypsy Caravan Dance Company
performing with fire at the MIzna CD release party.
Photo by Dianne Foster.
 Our Bruces— Bruce Beaton and Bruce Robertson. Photo by Dianne Foster. |
We had a wonderful CD release party for the musicians. I understand how rewarding it is for them to have a beautiful product to share with you, after writing songs and performing them, then rewriting them, spending hours rehearsing, and then more hours recording and mixing the music. A child is born! A lovely child at that. And for me, it is the first child from my new publishing company, Cultivator Press. So we are all a happy bunch here at Caravan Studio.
Jeff Rees and Bruce Beaton
of Mizna performing at the CD release party.
Photo by Dianne Foster.
This month the studio hosted an informal salon, an evening for the dancers and teachers to show each other what we’ve been working on in the different dance classes, from the Intermediate level and up tribal dancers, with the Tribaret and NIA classes. It was so beautiful to watch and participate in. The studio came out in full force to support, applaud, laugh, and cry with each other. Dancers were nervous—especially if it was their first time in front of an audience, and excited—dressed in full on costumes. I did not want it to be open to the public; it was for family only, and I’ll say they were a very enthusiastic and loud family! Zaghareets, cheers, and applause filled the rooms as each class did their thing. Our teachers put together beautiful, short sets for each class, using props—swords, veils, (my advanced class did some difficult and snappy zill rhythms)—and formations. It made me so proud to see the beauty in each dancer, and to remember how far they’ve all come from those nervous first days in Beginning One class! What a night…
 Meghan, Jen and Gina of Gypsy Caravan Dance Company. |
We also had an energetic (and sweaty!) holiday bellyjam, full of local musicians and dancers, and they did not want to stop playing and dancing. Sipping wine, eating chocolate, and grooving together to the improvisational tunes, what better way to celebrate the season together. I wish you all could have been with us to celebrate together!
So in the beautiful darkness, as I sit and think about all these blessings in my life, I have also started a new side passion—spinning yarn! It’s a lovely meditative method to slow down and create something, and after all, I do need to get ready for my goats this spring. Ah, my life as a country girl…
I am looking ahead to 2007 and a full year of traveling with Gypsy for workshops around the states, Canada, and Europe. I hope to meet many of you on those travels.
We also extend an invitation to you to come and visit us in Portland at Caravan Studio for our brand new and first Week Long Tribal Bellydance Intensive April 18th-25th, our teacher training April 16th-26th (stay for the 14th Annual Breitenbush retreat—only a few spots left), and of course, Tribal Quest NorthWest—what a lineup we’ve got happening.
And you know, I thank all of you from deep within, for the support and encouragement you give to me (and my dancers and our musicians, and to each other), to continue on doing what I love and to have the opportunity to share it with you, to help you be the best dancer you can be.
May you have a stupendous holiday season, may you be safe, may you love and be loved, and may you always continue to dance with joy and peace. Enjoy the darkness and the light.
Blessed be.
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You can write Paulette at paulette@gypsycaravan.us
©2006