sabrinabd

Free Range Show Girl: off to Vietnam and Hong Kong!

2009-10-29T04:44:02Z

All the costumes are sewn. All gigs, clases & shows covered. Workshops finally confirmed. Have a ride to & from airport. Fights, hotel, visas. Phew!!!

Now off to pack. I will hopefully be sending pictures from my phone to twitter @sabrinabd for twitpic links and facebook.com/sabrinabellydancer
don't know how much interwebs I'll have.

Don't worry... castorsd will be with me.

Off on my first Asia trip!! Whee!
Ozma & Eshe - so sorry I can't get to you this time. Japan and Korea for sure next time :)

Free Range Show Girl: priceless comments

2009-09-14T09:20:09Z

Did 4 sets on Sat night. GV was slow but glad to have the gig. 2 set private party was split between those too embarrassed by their own presence to watch and the group of ladies who love to dance and joined in....and their little 5 year old boy who got down with some hip hop in the middle of the dance floor during the show.

The priceless comments from kids:
1. At my 1st gig, an afternoon lecture demo for a kids musical theater group. A little boy asked, after my sword act, "Do you have a magnet in your brain?"
2. After sword set at party another little boy asks, "Is that a trick headband?" Inquiring as to how I keep the sword on my head.

Yes, their are magnets in my brain, Wanna see? *fakes opening head like a horror movie*

free range show girl: the fund raiser

2009-09-09T21:40:35Z

in the final hours of organization of the fundraiser for nadirah. i really hope we raise enough to be helpful to her. thank you to everyone who donated the outrageously generous raffle prizes.
i've been elected mc, so have sewn crystals to a red dress. that counts right? that makes it official?
ok, now i have to decide on my costume, get all the prizes into one large bin, bet the bin into the generously loaned truck. get 1 cupcake for the birthday girl, pack the sana helwa cd (thanks bea and candi! ), pack my gear and be @ the theater by 7:30. totally doable.
ready...go! keep your fingers crossed that the people from the casino really do show up to check out the show. can be *very* good for the performers
.

Thanks!

2009-08-13T07:03:52Z

Thanks to everyone who came out to the showcase. Thanks to the amazing performers. Thanks to the venue - especially for the cool new purple and lime super stylin sofa in the dressing room/green room. A nice surprise & we like it!

Next month is the special Fund Raiser Showcase for Nadirah. Band, dancers, drummers, awesome raffle prizes and a very important cause.
Wed. Sept. 9th 9pm Lestat's West Theater $10. Hope to see you there. Will keep you updated.

Belly Dance Showcase Tonight!

2009-08-12T23:15:17Z

Belly Dance Showcase Tonight!

Belly Dance Nights Showcase Tonight 9pm.
Lestat's West Theater. Cantera, Cairo Beats, Delilah, Elizabeth, and me. Only $5 for a lovely evening of entertainment. Hope to see you there.
www.lestats.com

3343 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116-1821
(619) 282-0437

Nadirah's Prayer Quilt Ceremony

2009-08-12T04:39:38Z

Prayer quilt blessing ceremony for Nadirah. SUN. 10:45am. All faiths/non-faiths welcome to say a blessing/prayer/healing thought for her and tie a knot on the quilt. Many people take their quilts filled with prayers and well wished to chemo treatments. Helps get them through it. Many thanks to Badeah for making this possible!

Tierrasanta Lutheran Church
11240 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego 92124
858-560-8688

The Donate Button

2009-08-10T07:20:37Z

For those who have expressed desire to donate to my friend Nadirah, who is battling cancer :
The first "Donate" button is up on my site. I will put it on her site as soon as I have access.
http://sabrinabellydancer.com/news.html

If you wish to purchase fund raiser raffle tickets, please send $1 per ticket via the "Donate" button and send me an email detailing your:
Name
Email
Phone
How many tickets purchased

I'll keep all the fundraiser raffle info in a giant spreadsheet and notify remote ticket holders of what they won.
Thanks to everyone for your generous, speedy respones.
info at sabrinabellydancer dot com

Fundraiser for Nadirah

2009-08-07T09:01:59Z

My friend and beautiful belly dancer, Nadirah, has been diagnosed with cancer. She is having emergency surgery. So I am organizing a fundraiser for her, which will be held during our normal Wed. Sept. 9th showcase at Lestat's West Theater. Middle Earth Ensemble will be performing with some favorite local dancers.

We will also have a raffle to help raise funds for Nadirah's medical care. If you would like to donate a raffle prize please contact me directly. We will also be accepting monetary donations on her behalf. Any help is appreciated. Hope to see many of you at the show. More details to follow.

info at sabrinabellydancer dot com or 858.337.1728

Teaching

2009-08-04T08:18:59Z

Tonight I had the honor of teaching 3 classes. I managed to turn this last weekend's two weird gig relinquishing incidents into teaching tools to help build my dancers "better, faster, stronger".

Lesson 1: If a house dancer suddenly takes you off the schedule because you "need to slim down" but you weigh less than when you auditioned and were hired, and the last time you danced there the audience stood up, clapped and shouted "Bravo" A: something else is up and B: this kind of stuff will happen in your career, its just a matter of when. You will be told you are too young, too old, too short, too tall, too pale, too dark, too smart, too dumb, too much of an accent though you don't speak on stage, one too many freckles, and all manner of other nonsense. Smile, wish them well and move on. Another venue will love you.

Lesson 2: If, on your first night at a gig, the owner explodes in anger when you ask to be paid, its a gift that it happened in the beginning and you didn't waste more time there or let the place become attached to your name / reputation.

Free Range Show Girl: Oy! ABC drama

2009-08-03T03:29:06Z

Due to artistic differences, there will be no show or dance lessons at Ali Baba's Cave on Sundays.
Difference = I expect to be paid for my work :/

If a venue books a dancer and the dancer shows up, the venue must pay, whether or not the venue has sufficient customers to cover their costs. If there is no "call in policy" and the dancer shows up as scheduled, she is entitled to payment for her time.

Free Range Show Girl: weekend so far

2009-08-02T09:11:54Z

Fri: GT was 1/2 full. Faiz played beautiful music as I danced around the unsupervised little floor munchkins. One little boy nearly stepped on my skirt, then announced he is 5 and was a baby when he was born. I laughed and said I was born a baby too. Next table!

Posed for a few pics with the other large family table. Did 3 laps in total :) 1/2 way through the show, Sakti's son appeared in the doorway with a white bag. I knew my black costume was in there. Yay! So I danced my way to the door, quickly asked him to drop the bag next to the keyboard player, thanked him for dropping it off and kept dancing. Owners were appreciative. Got a to go box of dinner. I gave some customers my card. The little boy wanted one too. I gave it to him and he announced to his mother, "I have her phone number!" Changed and drove to FPP.

FPP wasn't busy till after 9pm so they held the show 1/2 an hour. House dancer (who makes our schedule) accidentally double booked me with another dancer again. But it worked out ok because the other dancer wanted to go home and study for a final exam. Glad that resolved itself easily with no hurt feelings. Show was good. The owner declared he likes my copper and gold bedlah with full chiffon skirt and sleeves costume I'm wearing, much more than the lime green Egyptian spandex number from last time I danced there. Well of course! The copper and gold cost nearly $800! The green was $200 + extra rhinestones. At least he has good taste! Haha! I stopped on the way out to take some pictures with a couple and their baby. They were stoked! I think I was the baby's first belly dancer. Awesome! They gave the baby a dollar to give to me. When I took it, the baby started to cry so I gave it back. We all laughed... and they gave me a better tip :)

Was supposed to go to Ana's party after, but it was late and I felt a major headache coming on so I didn't get to go. Needed some sleep.

Sat: Wedding gig. Wore the purple and gold Abla to match their wedding colors. Was a very nice family. I thought the kids scrambling on the floor were going to take my tips. (sometimes it happens) But they were so sweet, they arranged all the $1 bills (thrown money shower style) in neat little stacks on the edge of the dance floor. It was so sweet. My assistant picked them up at the end of the show, along with my sword, 7 foot Isis wings and what ever other glittery stuff I left on stage :)

I knew it was a good show because the ladies wanted to take pictures with me afterward and the elderly ladies gave me the double cheek kiss, thanked me and asked for my cards. A man followed me to the door to ask for cards and my party rates. It feels really good to go into a job and create an accurate representation of the hosts' cultural dance in a way that makes them happy. When the elderly ladies like it, you know its good ;)

The videographers had the big cameras on trolleys and chased me around the dance floor during the show. It was really funny. I asked them for a card but they said they didn't have any. So I wrote down their website. "Under construction" with no contact info. Noooo! I must get a copy of that video! Will hunt down their info from the bride after her honeymoon.

Tomorrow is a very early brunch, visiting with cousins and then the 8pm show at ABC (for future reference, ABC is Ali Baba's Cave in Sorrento Valley) I'm at ABC every Sunday in August. If Sundays stay busy, they will keep having me for a Sun. show. Please keep your fingers crossed! We are trying a new format there. The show will be a little shorter and will be followed by a mini belly dance lesson, free to patrons. Its good for the restaurant because its something unique to offer and its good for me because it takes the same amount of time as a full night club show (so no loss) and helps advertise for my regular classes. Its an experiment.

Stopped at the all-night store to get some juice for the brunch in the morning. Ran into an interesting scam. A woman at the register holds up the line asking if anyone has change for $100 bill. If you say yes and give her the change, she texts someone waiting in the parking lot to mug you for the $100 on the way out. Fortunately, I've heard of this before. Lo and behold, there was a lone guy waiting in a nondescript truck. When I got near my car, he got out of his truck. I quickly got in my car and went home. Be careful out there! People are crafty and more desperate every day.

I am so lucky and feel very grateful that in these tough economic times, I can drive to work, do what I love most, wearing something sparkly and outlandish, have a nice restaurant dinner (most places feed the dancers), go home and take a hot shower. My class is full and I'm starting 2 new ones at Cuyamaca College Sept. 10 (Beginning and Int/Adv if you are interested send me a message please) Even have inquiries about teaching workshops at upcoming festivals (2010 & 2011) I am truly blessed and appreciate the opportunity to be gigging and teaching full time. Thank you Universe ++

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! Good night.

return

2009-07-30T08:42:58Z

Wow, i haven't been on LJ in weeks. But was brought back by a moment to breathe and a kind post by castorsd

The quick and dirty version...well not that dirty.

Many local M.E. venue shows. Yay work. The Comic Con. Comic Strip comic themed burlesque show + 1 belly dancer (me), 1 new Sunday gig at a new local venue. Yoga 1x week, super helpful. As much of Ray's Boot Camp as I can get in.

have been trading dance class attendance credits and seo/sem for all kinds of stuff. aside for the financial/economy stuff, my lifestyle looks better now from all the trades than when i was working full time in an office. haha been spending a lot of time with the grandparents. they are needing more and more help to manage daily stuff. hard to watch but glad to help.

And today I was officiall offered and accepted the position of Belly Dance Professor at Cuyamaca College. We start Sept. 10. I'm so excited and honored to have the position.
I remember when I took Angelika Nemeth's classes at the local junior college and thought how great it would be to have that position. Well, many *ahem* years later, I have my chance. Single minded obsession has its perks. ;)

I'll attempt to catch up on what's been going on with everyone here after I get some sleep. Hope its been good stuff

support fail

2009-06-24T08:58:40Z

some of my inbound mail from hotmail and cox.net mailservers is not being delivered and off playing in the ether. hotmail accounts are not receiving my outbound mail either....sometimes.

so i submitted a ticket to my mail host. they wrote back that i need to delete some emails making more storage. i wrote back that i've paid for and received unlimited storage and they can see that clearly by viewing my account, and would they kindly investigate further.

just received a received a message from "support" that i should send them the header information from the emails...the ones i never received.
they didn't bounce, they didn't get delivered. what header would they like? i don't save a copy of everything sent. oy!

if you need me relatively quickly, just text me till i get this mail issue worked out. ok? thanks

father's day gig

2009-06-22T01:56:36Z

just got back form my father's day gig at a local senior home. can't call it a nursing home because its really well appointed and they have all levels of care.

anyway, the staff was lovely and helpful setting up my speakers. the residents were into it and clapped and moved around in their seats to the music. those who could stand or walk were brought up to dance a bit. i danced a whole song with a man who was in the british army in the 50's in the suez canal conflicts. he said he saw some very famous belly dancers while on duty in egypt. i wish i could've climbed into his brain and seen his memories. was it samia gamal? tahia carioca? a young nagua fouad? i asked him how he came to live in san diego, he would only say its a long story. i bet it is.

it was quite an international group. a polish woman danced without asisstance, a japanese woman tried to get out of her wheel chair and dance but couldn't stand so some of the attendants held her hands and moved her around. one woman, who i thought was in her own world really came present when the music got lively. only one woman gave me stink eye and held her husbands hand really tight when i came near. it made me feel a little sad for her.

over all, they really responded to the music and large colorful shapes of my skirt and veil. so, this is an excellent reminder on father's day: if you have elderly people in your life, give them music, give them dancing, give them art - as much as possible, its so impotant to keep their minds stimulated with new and creative things. happy father's day!

prep & rip

2009-06-12T08:17:58Z

preping the acid green egyptian lycra for cairo caravan. fingers so tired of crystal chain. waist band and hem will wait till morning.

open note to egyptian costume beaders: "please please please knot the ends of your threads so i don't have to spend hours finishing your work!" why can they do the most exquisite hand beading and keep the stretch in the fabric but neglect to knot the end of the thread to secure the design on the fabric?

the latest show/festival dvds ripped for your viewing pleasure :p

the custom jazz fusion costume from miss kate. most comfortable costume ever! thanks again

Belly Dance Showcase Wed June 10th 9pm

2009-06-09T11:49:20Z

Cairo Caravan '09 Ad

2009-06-04T08:41:38Z

quite possible the fastest ad i ever made. never claimed to be a graphic designer :p

giggles - in case you haven't seen...

2009-06-04T08:21:28Z

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2 new venues

2009-06-01T23:55:14Z

I've officially added Greek Village and Troy's Greek Restaurant to my schedule. Yay!
http://sabrinabellydancer.com/calendar.html

workshops in cabo san lucas

2009-05-30T20:36:33Z

aside from the wedding, the absolute highlight of my trip to cabo san lucas was meeting the local dancers and teaching workshops for them.
i taught a beladi progession workshop for the local teachers and an egyptian song for the local students + a little "shimmy lab" this is a pic of us all sweaty after the egyptian song class. i'm obviously the one in glasses. ylenia, the studio owner and my new friend, is on my right. she raqs!

kina's red skirt @ bduc ftw!

2009-05-29T07:33:45Z

thanks a million to kina for the red skirt! its been getting quite a workout. here it is in full flair, winning @ belly dancer of the universe 2009
the crazy universal catagory where we had to improvise to a surprise 9/8, 6/8, 4/4, + drum solo

arriba tequila!

2009-05-24T19:11:56Z

went last night to arriba tequila. live salsa band from heaven! met up with ylenia, her man, some new friends including the lady who does pr for the club. we were treated like godesses. food, drink and salsa dancing with the best instructors for dance partners. including the salsa instructor from ylenia's studio. wouldn't let us pay for a thing. just wanted to take pics of the "famous belly dancer from california" partying at the club for the newspapers to promote the club. haha! glad i could help ;) apparently, my new friends totally know how to work it! we had so much fun.

omg the pro salsa exebition! wish i had video for you. overhead spins supporting her with 1 hand like ice skating and other feats of maximum awesomeness. flips & everything.

currently scrambling to get ready for wedding. almost celery dress time. promise pics<input ... ></input><input ... >

Met Ylenia!

2009-05-23T17:04:41Z

i'm still in cabo san lucas hiding from evil yellow face under my long black dress and giant black paper parasol which attracts way more attention than i anticipated. but in a positive way. the local ladies keep stopping me to ask me where i got it cause its so good and blocks out so much sun. hmmm, apparently there's a market for large paper parasols in mexico. :)

but somehow i got a burn on my chest even though i'm wearing 45 and obsessively under shade at all times. boo! i will not turn into an old leathery sun spotted woman. no way!

so, the best part so far. i took the bus to cabo san jose and met ylenia

she is a very well respectied belly dance performer and instructor in mexico, and one of the sweetest and nicest women you'll ever meet.

so....after a solo adventure on the bus that takes everyone home to san jose after schlepping for lazy tourists all day in san lucas, i had to take a cab the rest of the way to her studio cause the bus doesn't go that far.

got to her advanced belly dance class....totally in spanish :) (i only have minimal spanish skills so it was a really fun challenge) she is very patient and clear with her students. she has a lot of argentine influence in her dance since some of her teachers were arabic/argentine. makes for interesting musicality and the way they break up the phrasing is a bitt different and so cool. learned a combo will def share with my class.

then it was my turn to teach the egyptian workshop. it was very challenging to teach to a group of women who couldn't understand me, but ylenia speaks very good english and is a fab translator. but after a while, we got a set of basic hand signals down for the class and just used those. now have sign language for shimmy, side-to-side, hip-circle, hip-drop, full-turn, etc. haha. was so awesome!

had a little question and answer seesion after class so her students can learn about what its like to be a pro dancer in other places. then she drove me back to the hotel. we sat in a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean and had an amazing dinner. we totally dance-geek bonded.

how similar the local dance scene is where ever you go. same 6 week wonder issues, same issues dealing with venues, private events, student retention, etc. was so interesting.

i believe she and i will be friends for a very long time. we totally bonded over our mutual obsession over belly dance and there is talk of bringing me back to teach at their annual conference, if the economy swings a bit back to normal. i knew we'd be friends when i saw she is as obsessed with belly dance as me and uses joomla ;)

ok, enough dance geek gloating. off to the gym
<input ... ><input ... >

Belly Dance Showcase, Live Music of Middle Earth Ensemble Wed. May 13

2009-05-08T05:30:11Z

raqs la

2009-05-07T10:22:34Z

the raqs la show with middle earth ensemble. ignore the part where i battle the air conditioning and momentarily lose while the veil eats my head ;) but check out my very best hair...swanky huh? thanks to who ever grew it :p
middle earth ensemble plays aziza and improv drum solo. well, the whole thing was improv
thanks again to polluxsj for letting me couch surf for the event.
thanks a million to polluxsj and castorsd for the computer hook up. i'm ripping and editing at mach5 baby! love love love it. and finally got ffmpegX to work. now to find the patch for sony cams into final cut on mac. anyone got a suggestion?

boost my hits here

or watch decent quality vid here

sabrinabd

Free Range Show Girl: off to Vietnam and Hong Kong!

Free Range Show Girl: priceless comments

free range show girl: the fund raiser

Thanks!

Belly Dance Showcase Tonight!

Belly Dance Nights Showcase Tonight 9pm. Lestat's West Theater. Cantera, Cairo Beats, Delilah, Elizabeth, and me. Only $5 for a lovely evening of entertainment. Hope to see you there.www.lestats.com3343 Adams AveSan Diego, CA 92116-1821(619) 282-0437

Nadirah's Prayer Quilt Ceremony

The Donate Button

Fundraiser for Nadirah

Teaching

Free Range Show Girl: Oy! ABC drama

Free Range Show Girl: weekend so far

return

support fail

father's day gig

prep & rip

Belly Dance Showcase Wed June 10th 9pm

Cairo Caravan '09 Ad

giggles - in case you haven't seen...

2 new venues

workshops in cabo san lucas

kina's red skirt @ bduc ftw!

arriba tequila!

Met Ylenia!

Belly Dance Showcase, Live Music of Middle Earth Ensemble Wed. May 13

raqs la

Belly Dance Nights Showcase Tonight 9pm.
Lestat's West Theater. Cantera, Cairo Beats, Delilah, Elizabeth, and me. Only $5 for a lovely evening of entertainment. Hope to see you there.
www.lestats.com

3343 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116-1821
(619) 282-0437