My First SongDance.

This is sort of an apologia for the video in this post. And it's also something of a public post-processing of working out a comeback, of sorts, after four years of not dancing (more or less), and what that means to me. I believe pretty strongly in Open Source -- and that includes dance, so think of this as the documentation for the dance you see in the video. Source code available upon request. :)

Most importantly, Please Comment. Either here, or in the YouTube post. And that includes Constructive Criticism; I'm a big, tall black gentleman, and I can take someone criticizing my work pretty damn well, so if you feel it, and you think it'd be helpful, Do It.

And if you'd be so kind as to email, and repost, my video or this blog entry, I'd be grateful. If you like my writings, the subscription box for APOSTATE is in the upper-right corner of the webpage; feel free to use it!

And now, Your Q & A:

What's that music?
It's two pieces that I fused together. From a post elsewhere:

It's a mix; the first half is a slightly changed-up DJ Nader remix of a Waleed Tawfic song, Niqsim El Qamar. That's off his Music for the Hips album, which I highly recommend. Especially if you're trying to get to your Mom's place over Thanksgiving, and you're forced onto State Highways, because nothing quite says "I'm not like you!" like playing remixed modern Arabic pop music from a Minivan Driving Too Fast For Conditions in rural South Carolina, oh, yes.
The second half is blended in roughly towards the end of the first song, and it's Judas Goat by Filastine. The song used to be on the 'net, but all I can find is his politically-charged (and really powerful!) "Terror Mix" version (also on his Myspace page, along with other songs from the album; I'm a huge fan of the bizarre "Dental Rap meets Latino backbeat" song "Boca de Ouro"). Overall, he does amazing work, and I highly recommend him for dancers looking for the New Sound from Traditional sources, as well as people just looking for music that's far, far from Top 40.

One disappointment was that the blend never came out; it sounded, to my ear, like I just cut from one song to another, and I was trying for something a bit more subtle, a growing sense of unease in the music as "Judas Goat" gets louder in it's opening bits. Something to ponder for future shows.

Why is the video so dark and distant?
It was a pretty dark interior. More than that, I'd have to ask the kind people who did the video, and I would not care to presume upon them any more. They gave me this out of friendship, and the kindness of their hearts.

You look fatplump.
Yea. Four years of hiatus did me no damned favors in that area, let me tell you. I mean, I'm not a small guy -- 6'4" in height, and I hit just about 300lbs on the bathroom scale -- but I'll admit that black top does me no favors. It's an old, old friend, that top, one of the first hand-sewn items I ever made, but I think it's retirement is nigh.
Post-Xmas, I have a project to make some new outfits from my Historical Recreation, and they promise to be good for wearing on stage for dancing, as well. We'll see.
And, of course, I'm working on my weight less program. Because of the vast number of projects I've been involved in, it's slow going, but we'll get there soon enough.

You don't do a lot of dancing.
Nope. I've never been one for the complex moves, and a lot of the small stuff I'm doing -- and I'm doing quite a bit -- is lost in this video. Add to that the effects of 4 years of hiatus, and the finger cymbals/sagat played with the music (more on which in a second), and this is sort of an experiment, as well as a return to arms.
I worked a great deal on this, but all this dance is improved -- I had some worked out ideas as to what to do, staging, movement, and sagat-playing wise in various segments. Yet that would not, in any way, count as a full-bore choreography. It might have looked better as choreography, yet I really wanted to play with the spontaneity that's been my hallmark as a dancer, and really is part of why I dance.
I am ponding working in contrast with many of my peers, many of whom are amazingly talented dancers of the first caliber. And I'm not just saying that because they might be reading, I really am blessed to be friends and compadres with 'em. And my goal was never, really, to be the best dancer, but to do two things:

1) Have fun doing what I love, and
2) Share my uniqueness with the world.

You see some of that on stage, in this video. You'll see more as I start to regrow and reshape myself as a dancer, once again.


Yea, what about that finger cymbal/sagat/zilling? Dude, isn't it off?
Sometimes it is. I didn't always hit my marks, nor did I always make the sagats sound like they do in my head while working this out, or even in practice sessions. The challenge was, in part, just to keep it going; despite the weeks of practice, it's been a long time. And yet, I felt it was important to do it, no matter the cost of the dancing, overall. I wanted to make that statement, to etch into the audience's mind that I was a different kind of dancer, one comfortable in my skin and with my movements, no matter how unskilled they were.
There's no better way to say "I'm cooler than cool" than to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time. Or, in this case, play sagats syncopated to the music -- to the point where I played differently if it was a male of female vocalist -- while dancing. It's kind of a lost art, and I really, really wanted to bring sexy...er, I mean sagats, back in whatever little way I could.
The ideal would be that the sagat playing would be an integral part of the music, a way to bring a bit of "live and direct", overlaying the sometimes synthesized sound (especially in the second piece of music) with something more authentic to the raqs sharqi experience. I want my sagat playing to be truly an instrument, and not just something I do "one-two-three one-two-three one-two-three " to a four count as I dance.

More questions? That's what the comment section is for! Thanks for reading!