Thread: Hello from Minneapolis!!!

Hi Everybody!!
I am a dancer, videographer, and yoga/pilates teacher in the twin cities. Just started bellydancing about a year ago after doing ballet and modern for, oh, about 20 years :) I love "everything bellydance" and would love to meet any dancers in the minneapolis/st. paul area or if any of you lovelies are visiting the Midwest please message me!! oxoxox - Ariel

*waves* I'm in Minneapolis, as well. There are quite a few of us here on Bhuz!

I'm Barb / Amara / Amarasdance- I teach at the Aalim School in West St. Paul and at Cheek to Cheek Dance Studio in Coon Rapids. I dance 2-3 times a month at Jerusalem's Restaurant in Minneapolis. I also dance with Al-Bahira. I'm the Festival Coordinator for the Guild of Oriental Dance- we host monthly festivals at area restaurants and studios around the Cities. Our next one is Sunday, May 6 at Ansari's in Eagan. Hope to see you!

Hi. I'm in the twin cities too. I own a Fred Astaire Dance Studio just south of St. Paul. I'm on facebook as
Joanna lessard.
I'm also on the board of the Guild of Oriental Dance here in MN. Happy to get to know you!

Hey Barb, I'm planning to make it to Ansari's! Yay!

Thanks for the warm welcome Amara and Salsabelly!
I would love to come to - and maybe dance at eventually - one of the Guild Fests, and meet y'all in person. Do you guys do video for that? I was just ranting on another thread ("I Hate Video") about how much bad dance video there is out there and how it doesn't have to be that way!! :) My husband and I specialize in shooting dance/performance video and it's sort of our personal mission to provide awesome documentation at starving artist prices :) you can pm me if interested. How in/formal are the Guild festivals and how does one go about dancing at them (i.e. is it open to newbies)?
Anyways, thanks to you both for saying "hi" and hope to see you soon!
-Ariel/little mermaid

ps. Amara, can I say I absolutely ADORE that zebra costume!! I have a bit of a zebra obsession myself... mostly in the swimwear and legwarmer categories so far, but one day I too will have a zebra Bellydancing costume! a girl can dream, right? I'm almost finished making my very first bedlah in silver lame. It's wearable right now (you can see it in my avatar/prof pic) but still needs that last 5% of work...

Thanks! The zebra is my favorite costume! Several people have told me that they want to be in line when I'm ready to sell it, but I have no plans to ever let that one get away!

The Guild festivals are fairly informal. I'm the contact for them- my email address is guildfestival@yahoo.com to sign up to perform. A helpful website for belly dancing in the Cities is the Guild site- Guild of Oriental Dance Home Page - the calendar is especially useful to see where/when belly dancing events are taking place. The festivals are open to everyone, and are EXCELLENT for newbies- the audiences are extremely easy to dance for (mostly dancers and their guests).

To perform in the festivals, people let me know through email or Facebook (I'm Barb Amara Fulton on Facebook if you want to "friend" me.) I keep a list of who's performing, but I don't actually set the line-up until about 20 minutes before the festival starts. That way, if someone wants to perform last-minute (or can't come for some reason)- there's no problem. I usually emcee the festivals. They are videotaped- I have 2 people who trade off taping them, but I'd definitely keep you in mind in the future (and I'd let you know about compensation to see if it's agreeable to you. Anything besides what we currently do would need to be approved by the Guild Board of Directors).

Hope to meet you in person!

Thanks for the info!

Hello my fellow Twin Citian!

I'm Donna; I'm a student with the Aalim School (oh golly, for a bit over 3 years now) and just recently started taking ATS classes with Kamala Chaand Dance Co.

We have sooooo many awesome opportunites for shows, meet-ups, and hang-outs in the Cities!

I'm probably the nerdiest dancer you'll meet... though, Amara might have me beat (by just a little)

Hey Donna!
nice to meet you - i love nerdy dancers - they're the best! and you're sign-off quote made me actually *literally* lol... (although i think you might have an extra "in" in your "gaping" ) I've never tried ATS; it's cool to know there's a scene for that here too. The TCs are a great place for dancers. Thanks for sayin' hi!
-Ariel

Originally Posted by little mermaid

Hey Donna!
nice to meet you - i love nerdy dancers - they're the best! and you're sign-off quote made me actually *literally* lol... (although i think you might have an extra "in" in your "gaping" ) I've never tried ATS; it's cool to know there's a scene for that here too. The TCs are a great place for dancers. Thanks for sayin' hi!
-Ariel

Bahahahaha! I never noticed.
Gotta fix that now.

okay guys - Erin K has talked me into dancing at Ansari's on 5/6 (!) it didn't take much to convince me actually :) what are the dimensions of the dance floor there? gotta make sure I'm practicing in the right amount of space in my mini-home-dance-studio. can't wait to meet y'all IRL <3 <3 <3

I have no idea, actually. I've danced on that stage several times, and all I know is that it's quite a bit bigger than what I'm used to (Jerusalem's, where I dance, has the smallest stage in the metro). Several of my friends are house dancers there- I'll ask them if they know the size of the stage.

Originally Posted by amarasdance

I have no idea, actually. I've danced on that stage several times, and all I know is that it's quite a bit bigger than what I'm used to (Jerusalem's, where I dance, has the smallest stage in the metro). Several of my friends are house dancers there- I'll ask them if they know the size of the stage.

That would be awesome - thank you! Erin said it was bigger than Beirut, where I've seen her dance. She drew out a roundish space on my floor, but then she realized she was thinking of the *old* Ansari's, and didn't know how big the new one is.

Also, I was thinking of having my drummer husband play for me - is there a mic available there or should we plan on bringing any necessary amplifying equipment? Sorry for all the questions I'm sure I'll have a gajillion more. Must admit, I'm a bit nervous/excited for my first BD performance ever and also my first dance performance of any kind since 2008 !!!! it's been awhile...

Originally Posted by little mermaid

That would be awesome - thank you! Erin said it was bigger than Beirut, where I've seen her dance. She drew out a roundish space on my floor, but then she realized she was thinking of the *old* Ansari's, and didn't know how big the new one is.

Also, I was thinking of having my drummer husband play for me - is there a mic available there or should we plan on bringing any necessary amplifying equipment? Sorry for all the questions I'm sure I'll have a gajillion more. Must admit, I'm a bit nervous/excited for my first BD performance ever and also my first dance performance of any kind since 2008 !!!! it's been awhile...

You'll be fantastic! I'm very excited to meet you in person! Please, ask any questions you think of!

The stage is 6-7 feet deep, 9-10 feet wide, and raised 9 inches off the ground. There isn't a mic available, so bring any equipment that you'll need.

Basically, how it works...the open stage begins at 6:30. I'll get there around 5:45. When you arrive, find me (I'll have a table reserved near the stage). I'll have a Performer Info Sheet for you (information like name, length of piece, start on/off, special requests, etc)- when you give that back to me, I'll also take your music (cd only if your husband isn't playing for you- that's so cool!) I use those sheets to create the line-up, and we begin at 6:30. We usually have between 14-20 performers. I'll emcee the show, and one of the house dancers will run the music. The only place to change is the public bathroom (but it's fairly big). If your husband is going to play, I might have you go right after intermission, so he can have some time to set-up.

These get pretty busy, so I recommend getting reservations to guarantee a table.

Please, ask any questions you think of!

okay you asked for it...
Is there space for a drummer to sit (in a folding chair) nearby the stage or should I factor in "drummer-space" into those stage dimensions? Is the floor wood or... ? I was thinking of dancing barefoot - is that kosher? I'll bring shoes for when I'm not dancing of course :) Can you enter/exit from both sides of the stage or just one?
...and some video questions...
How do you sign-up for a DVD? How much are they? Does the DVD include all performers? It would be fun to see the dances I'll miss while changing and so on. Do you know who's doing the video for this festival yet?

[[[HUGS]]]