btb news

Well the bad news is, I've been doing the btb weave wrong this whole time. Damn. I really though I had it nailed, I have no clue what it is I'm doing, and it looks pretty cool, but btb weave it ain't. Ah well. The good news though, is that I have happily finally figured out the waistrwrap and the btb waistrap. I've also finally nailed the 5 bt weave in reverse. So yay... now to just get that darn btb weave.
*SIGH*
It feels like I'll just NEVER get that one.

Poi Fusion -Video

Oookay, I had time to get some video made...
and made a nifty graphic to go with it ^_^

Link to Video (6MB)

I compiled the video from a few different takes including some bits on the mainstage, so it's a bit choppy but it's finally done! The two stages found in the link are the main stage and our own stage at our encampment (Endless Productions), they had a great sound system at the main stage, so I left the original sound, our sound system sounded terrible on the video, so I used the original sound file.. again, a bit choppy, but it blended better than I expected... anyways... Choreography, and the designs on the costume, jewelry and flag poi are all mine, all mine. :D

Yes, I was nervous and my isolations went to poopie, but it was a great experience and loads of fun!

Fire Fans

I performed with fire fans for the first time this past weekend at Faire. Oh. Yeah. Baby. I'm hooked. They are so beautiful and fun to work. And they blend WELL with bellydance. Mmmmm, yay.
All went well at faire, I performed my solo on the mainstage and didn't fall off headfirst, that's always good. Not much else new to report, the photos from faire are here, Las Vegas, Age of Chivalry 2005 ...we didn't have any cameras going for the fire show unfortunately, so it'll be a bit longer before I have much to show there. Ummm, so yeah... that's about it.

Faire's around the corner and btb is MINE!

Fire spinning sessions have been more frequent, I have some pictures and video I will try to upload soon.
Ren Faire is almost here... only about 6 weeks left of practice and I still have yet to get my solo choreographed. So that's what I'm doing tonight...but I had to take a break after konking myself in the chin with my freaking huuuge rope monkey fists. Ow. But the whack was worth it, I have btb down pat now... no more wondering!
I'm there, yo.

Update, because it's been a bit.

I've received my fire performer card renewal and we're planning a trip to NM in a week or so... I wonder if my card does me any good out of state? I'm a registered performer with the Nevada Fire Marshal, but does that do me squat outside of Nevada? Hmmmm. I would like to have footage at White Sands, and there's a few other spots I wouldn't mind shooting some video at as well. It will probably have to be sans the fire, but I will definitely have to see what I can get away with.

In other news, it looks as though I will be performing with fire this year at faire, the troupe will be on the main stage at points too, I'm pushing to do fire up there as well. I've been working on choreography for the bellydance/fire poi fusion thing, but as of now it's all freestyle. Still must work on the courage thing, once I light up my technique goes out the window. So lately I've been swinging the poi around while doing my basic practice sessions in dance, getting that muscle-memory fine-tuned and all that jazz.

Bellydancer on Fire

Here's some fire dancing in full costume.
http://www.ravenrings.com/gallery/fire/video/arbdfire5-26-05.wmv (22MB)

It's mainly just practicing and such, I have found lots of fun ways to incorporate the chains with bellydance but unfortunately I chicken out when I light up, heh. Hopefully once the moves are more programmed into my muscle memory I can pull it off on fire, but for now, I do this. :}
And I do so need to find a more interesting location to shoot, but other than that I'm kind of happy with it...

More Video

I got this new video proggie that is very unfriendly, but I'm figuring it out slowly...so here's my first attempt with it, I played with settings and stuff, tried out various features, so forgive what appears to be changes in picture quality, it's both a mixture of the different angles used on the camera and (mainly) me playing with contrast and such. I figure it's better if it's a bit grainy but you can actually see more than just a couple of light spots moving around in a dark screen. :P

http://www.ravenrings.com/gallery/fire/video/arfire05-24-05.wmv
...right click, save as... :}

GIG

I graduated to larger wicks last night, now we're swinging with power! :P I wasn't nearly as intimidated by the larger flames as I was worried I would be, and I even pulled off some of the newer moves I have been developing to integrate into bellydance routines. The reason for all this bravery is the gig I've been booked for on the 28th..as of Saturday I will officially be a 'professional' fire dancer. I've performed here and there for small groups of friends and such, but this will be my first paid gig, booked by an outside source. I'll be performing with 2 other girls from my troupe for a couple of dances, then I will have a fire dance solo with poi, and we will be doing the fire dance from faire which requires me to eat one torch. The funniest thing is, I'm more nervous about my costume and the bellydance routines than I am about my fire solo. Though the fire eating has me a bit unraveled as well.

Wind! The wind!

Curses... every time we've planned a fire session the winds decide to have a parade through our neighborhood. It' s blowing like crazy out there! Yet another night of spinning inside and longing for fire. *sigh*

Iso, my love.

I found some excellent videos at HoP that show off iso's, I just didn't fathom the possibilities! I have found a new love, now I must court her and ask her to marry me.... oh Isolations, won't you be mine? :P