Tag Archives: belly dance

Final Fantasy Distant Worlds in Boston!

13 Mar

So this past weekend was full of fun adventure! Kanzashi, Final Fantasy, Die Jewlery- Oh my!

It started last week when my friend Tyler posted on “the facebook” about missing out on concert in Boston. Low and behold, “Final Fantasy Distant Worlds” was coming for the first time to Boston! I logged on to the website and found out they were advertising “obstructed view” seats only. (wahhhhh waaaaaaah). That means we would miss seeing the orchestra/ choir, AND the big screen! (They show artwork, cut scenes, and recorded play to match the timing of the music- brilliant!) I knew that sometime the week before a show, Donation Members or handicap access seats will open up. Luckily some did; Orchestra Seats too!

It was SUPER nice in theBostonSymphony Hall- they had an actual Pipe Organ! This meant of course they HAD to play “Dancing Mad” from FF VI (4 on the SNES). I saw the show inBaltimoreduring Otakon/ Artie’s Week long Turkish intensive- but the song selection was way different.

They even had a “sing-a-long” to “One Winged Angel“.

I let Sam-Sam and Ty-Ty sit in front of me, together, since I got to see the show once inBaltimore. Interestingly enough I sat beside a gentleman who’s wife was in the “Forca”, the choir accompanying “The Video Game Orchestra”. He gave me some tidbits of info behind the group (such as they record music for video games often!), but I won’t spill any more beans.

Now I want to re-play some Final Fantasy games- even though I haven’t played XIII (and XIII-2) ! GASP! I was told they both are decent games, and super pretty.

A show idea for Antipode, that we’ve thought about it Final Fantasy characters. More of a Mog, Chocobo, Tonberry King, or Cactuar type show instead of a specific character or class (thinking about it still). Sam suggested one of us do Chocolina from FF XIII.

Photo of: Moogle, Tonberry, Moogle, Cactuar, and 3 chocobos.

Chocolina from Final Fantasy XIII

He’s serious in starting to do costume masquerades/contests, which would lead into commissions. I think I need to do more sit-ups- not to lose weight- but to make sure my core is strong enough to hold that costume up! haha!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Ayla

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Firefly BellyDance: Music Choice

4 Mar

Like this artwork? It was done by Megan Lara 

If you want to buy the set, you can here 

The music from the show “Firefly” is rich with layers, in multiple ways…

For one the roots! There are Celtic, Country, East Asian, & Indian undertones in the music. Not to mention the music sounds fully orchestrated.

Secondly “mash-up”; Interestingly enough most songs around close to 2-2 ½ mins long, yet they change tone completely sometimes 2 or three times! It’s incredible! Little bite sized rifts.

Thirdly the music it’s self can be tensive, yet it still flows. Sometimes it portrays a Bitter sweet catch-22. Sometimes songs spark a feeling, I can only describe as the “Beauty of Sadness”- not “Beauty from Sadness” per say. It speaks of finding happiness in those harsh times- such as when a love one dies and you are looking through old memory books or chatting with old friends. You bring up & remember all the good times, but you know it’s impossible to re-live them. That moment when you hold back those tears and you feel your stomach drop- that’s how the music feels- When you look at it, it really is beautiful that you would love and care for someone/something so much, it brings you such pain…

And to think, I haven’t really gone into the music from “Serenity” (the movie)!

Now how am I going to convey that message? Well… that’s another story. Interestingly enough, “River” is in the title of most of the music. I feel like I should re-watch the show to see how much music is played when River is on screen vs. all the other characters.

Then again, I do see a sadness (and crazy) held within all the women from firefly; Joss always seems to write VERY strong, independent, multi layered women in his shows/movies. I could easily channel some sadness and doubt from Kaylee with… well any scene where she tries to impress the doc (won’t spoil it for you!). I ALWAYS try to make sure I get into character, when I dance… whether it is one already established (Mario, Link, Lucca/Marle/Ayla, Sonic, Tifa, Red XIII, Prinny, Chi, Snape, Akasha, DOMO!, etc) or in general (Sassy or Melancholy Belly Dancer). Ok, I was joking about that Domo one- sort of. I envision he’s usually happy!

Oh, and interestingly enough “Jade” just commented on my last post on having some music ideas for me! Huzzah! I’m always excited for Arabic/ East Asian fused music (as I have very little). ^_^

I wonder if I pitch my idea to Dragon*con I could dance it at their yearly shindig! I love video, but a live performance would be cool… Hum, I wonder how many belly dancers go to dragon*con… I’m sure plenty! :: plotting ::

Thanks for your time!
Cheers,
Ayla

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Aside

Happy Domo Day To You!

27 Feb

Today as Redditors say, it’s my cake day!

My friend Omar (from the 6th of October City- Cario, Egypt) gave me one of the best things for my “Domo Day”… a New avatar. I like to call it my “domo day”- because the one thing that can away cheer me up… is a hug from a domo. What is a domo you say?

LOOK AT HIS CUTE STUBBY LEGS! XD

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domo_(NHK)

Domo is the mascot for the Japanese Television station NHK, kind of like CBS has an Eye or NBC has a Peacock. He’s featured in 30 second shorts, usually about TV or causing trouble. He also makes me think of Pokemon or Chobits as he only says his name “DOMO” to the other characters (Rabbits, Bats, Ferret, Foxes, Etc)- they seem to understand him completely. I’m not quite sure why I appreciate this screaming boxy brown shark (as my mom calls him), but he always cheers me when I have a bad day. I’m not quite sure when my obsession with domo came about, when I was in Japan 2.5 years ago I remember wanting to buy “ALL THE THINGS” related to domo (and Totoro- haha!). But years ago when I was a freshman in college- my friends Sam & Ty in college were looking to buy Domo Hoddies, and that is when I came to know the domo. Sounds like a cult!

From Intervention 2011 

Intervention (Internet + Convention) is a convention held in the Baltimore/DC area usually held in September. We were invited as guests and did panels on “Steampunk Pasteries”, “Cosplay 101”, “Super Mario Belly Dance World”, and “Internet Meme’s”. For Internet Meme’s we all dressed as different viral videos/ meme’s and, you guessed it, belly danced to meme music. Numa Numa, Female Night Elf from WOW, This is Sparta, Taking the Hobbits to Isenguard, Harry Potter Puppet Pals… maybe even a Rick Roll.

I was lucky and got to dress not in one, but TWO domo costumes. Sadly, this is the best picture of my Domo costume that I have (his eyes are missing by this point and replaced by FSM!). I’ll add another one when I see my photographer friend in a few weeks!

In the mean time, you can look at what my sister gave me for my “domo day” last year…

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Ayla

                           

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Rakkasah Spring Caravan

25 Feb

With living in Upstate NY it’s hard to find other belly dancers in the areas- compared to say NYC. Trying to look for Workshops, and Hafla’s to meet other dancers while going through the Internet, Calling around, Bhuz websites… and once you find them it’s not so easy to hear back (still waiting for Club Bellydance and a few other possibilities 1-2hours away). I’d  like to find some one that can help me expand my dance talents, as well as maybe join a semi or professional troupe- I’m tempted to start taking monthly classes in NYC- that’s only a 2.5 hour train ride to Manhattan.

I enjoy performing at anime/ sci-fi/ gaming cons, but that’s a different story for a different blog entry 😉

One performance (and  set of workshops) that are always fun, is Rakkasah Spring Caravan.  It is the largest belly dance convention on the East coast. http://www.rakkasah.com/spring/

Rakkasah Spring Caravan had their call in for live music was today, tomorrow is call in for CD music. I offered to help the Penn State Belly Dance call in for them (even though I have no clue what they’d be dancing). I also voluntold Domo to help out too, haha.

Antipode will be performing 5:24pm Saturday evening- we will be doing a surprise! 😀 Deals with a pop-culture set of books and movies, reaching a wide audience. Last year we did Super Mario Belly Dance World.

I’m super excited for all the workshops. Anasma & Sera (whom I’ve taken workshops  before) will be there and many other new instructors! I really enjoy last Rakkasah’s workshop from Anasma- Wu Shu Belly Dance Fusion. Yes, it actually worked well. It put even more inspiration for me to do a Red XIII’s Theme fusion (Final Fantasy VII). I was going to do sword dancing, and add Tribal fusion elements- but I’d like to learn more & have more experience in tribal fusion. I’m more of a cabaret & folkloric dancer, but I’m still learning!

Thanks for your time.

Cheers,

Ayla

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