Tribal Magazine
- 1. It seems thatI am working my way through the alphabet; I’ve been an Archaeologist, I’m now an Artist making a “hand-made” life for myself, and a Bellydancer! I started Middle Eastern dance 5 years ago in Salisbury with an excellent teacher and beautiful cabaret-style professional dancer, Nancy King. My movement background is of childhood ballet,Tai Chi &Yoga, and dancing to bands in my biker/hippy chick/gothic youth. Like many people, I suspect, the latter has influenced my creative/costume desires. In 2004, when I saw a friend’s programme for the Bellydance Superstars with Rachel Brice & co, it was a “Wow!” moment – “That’s what I want to look like!” Then I saw the performances… Having danced with Nancy’s performance group in a very lifted, mostly cabaret-style with rigorous drilling and ‘Red Arrows’ type floor patterns, I was interested in taking things further and had begun going to workshops with as many different teachers as I could afford. My interests developed towards the ethnic origins of what we call Middle Eastern dance, Gypsy dances, and theatrical styles like sword dance and Raks Gothique. Of the workshops I have attended,AmelTafsout and Raksan of Berlin must have special mention here as inspirational teachers who have their heart & soul in the dance. My internet time was spent absorbing everything from ATS toThe Indigo to Gothic Industrial Bellydance! However, for being instantly labelled a “Tribal” dancer, I must thank Chrissy & Fiona for inviting me to dance at their Summer Hafla in 2005. Panic! Not confident enough to improvise, I adapted the shortest dance I knew; a one and a half minute drum solo choreographed by Nancy. I made my headdress and belt based on my favouriteTribal influences from the internet sites and it’s a good job I am a compulsive finder and hoarder of all things unusual, bright, shiny and dangly! Adding a tail of peacock feathers for my ‘character’, and ‘The Peacock Dance’ was born. My philosophy was:“Blitz the audience with a stunning costume and great music, give it attitude and don’t blink if you get it wrong; it will be over before any of us have realised!” The dance was really well received and without any ATS background I was pigeon-holed on style alone! Not being keen on the ‘girly’ cabaret costumes, I had found my comfort zone… There are only a fewTribal groups developing in this area, and the costumes are a BIG hit. I now make headdresses on commission to suit the colouring, style and look of the individual, and have others ready to buy when I exhibit at shows. I use synthetic hair, ribbons, wools, other trims, beads coins, flowers, shells, feathers, etc – whatever you want! You can also book me to teach your group how to make their own headdress pieces in a day’s workshop. Another offshoot of being an artist/dancer is that I get asked if I do pictures of dancers. Well I do, and I’ve also developed some graphics that I am thrilled Tribal Magazine is using. I paint or draw portraits on commission using photos for reference, in a variety of styles.Through symbolic personal imagery, the emphasis is on creating a picture that is unique, evocative and expresses the dancer’s view of herself (or himself!). The rest of my artwork is largely illustrative, colourful, and influenced by dreams, folktales, Nature, a word or a phrase, or a stunning moment in time. People respond to my work by saying I have helped them see the inner spirit or beauty of the ordinary. I hope my illustrations do not take themselves too seriously, but instead, some have a slightly surreal, fantastical or humorous quality. Please email me if you would like more information. For Hampshire Artists Open Studios in 2006, I exhibited a selection of my work and collected donations for the Nomadic tribes of the Sahara through www.dontletmypeopledie.org as featured in Sharon Ki- hara’s article in the first issue of this magazine. Back toTribal. Although I occasionally dance with the wonderful and gothically inspiredTribal troupe Medusa, this March I was lucky enough to take workshops with Carolena Nericcio and Megha Gavin at Majma in Glastonbury.They were amazingly patient and generous and I was really grateful to be able to hear the story of “Tribal” from the original source. It was great to see theTribal posture ‘wake’ people up to their dance and the synergy develop between dancers who do not know each other. One of the brilliant things about all theTribal styles is that they do not attempt to be “authentic” anything else. Most of us are Western women dancing to something not of our heritage. The only “authentic” thing I can be is Myself, not aTurkish Cabaret or Egyptian Folkloric dancer (or vice versa); too many other areas out there that interest me! This dance is an amazing platform for personal expression. For more on this see an article from November 2006 published on www. gildedserpent.com. I want to develop my dance as fun, sacred, ceremonial, healing and empowering. As an ex-archaeologist I am interested in the origins of dance right back into the Palaeolithic c. 80,000 years ago when we started adorning ourselves, developing art, music and ritual. Check out Carolena’s quote on the first page of her website! When I dance, I instinctively feel as though these move- ments have been in me forever, reconnecting me back to the feet of our ancestral dancers, men and women, beating out our hearts’ rhythms, passions, fears, grief and joys into the earth and up to the skies. Contact: Erica Hemming erica.illustrator@btinternet.com Many of us dream about making our daily bread by doing what we are passionate about. Tribal Belly Dance is growing, and as it gains popularity all over the world, it would seem that some of us may actually be making our dreams come true! In an effort to support budding or established tribal related enterprises, in each publication we will be profiling companies or individuals and their projects. Performers, Photographers, Tattoo Artists, Costume makers, Web Designers - anyone involved within the wonderful world of Tribal, taking those steps toward quitting their day job! If you wish to be profiled for this feature please contact us via email info@tribalmagazine.co.uk When & how did you become involved withTribal Belly Dance? One february evening in 2005 two vixens walked into my studio… a certain Miss Dangerpants and a Katie Kay…. the feathers, the metal jewelry, the sassiness, I was hooked….There’s a timelessness in the dancer caught in the moment that they allowed me to experiment with… my love of tribal dancers started with them and just sort of reverberated out from there. This is a bit of a chicken and egg question! What came first the photography or the dancing? The photography, of course….The camera is my chosen medium to capture emotion… the dancers are muses that express the emotion that my camera craves. Dancers spark me.They’ve always sparked me.There’s something that happens when a dancer is lost in their song… the tilt of the head, the sweep of hair, the billowing cascade of fabric and color… these are the moments that I’m sensitive to, that trigger me… I love capturing this beauty… How did your career evolve to where it is now? It started as a wish…. I wished real hard for years for this… to find my river, the place where I flow and grow…. I didn’t know how it would happen or when… all I knew was that I loved my camera, took it with me everywhere…. I loved to watch people and guess at their lives… I’ve been writing, shooting photos and video since I was 6 years old.There are old home movies of me pretending I had a camera or looking for music to choreograph a video to. My earliest muse was my little sister. I would tack up my bed sheets to the wall, braid her hair, paint her eyes and lips black and shoot using a garage lamp, guessing at exposures. I’ve never taken a photography class. I was obsessed with painting with light and telling stories. I was very dark and serious back then… I would shoot ketchup over oranges and call it ‘art’. As I got older, I found myself immersed in the nyc club scene, I had more characters to capture and my love of music grew. It was all about the music for me. I’d hear a song and want to photograph a dancer to remember the song by. For many years I was a spectator in a crowd… first in NewYork, then in Los Angeles. The difference between my creative life in NYC and in LA were the people I met. In LA there were these amazing underground parties where all these performers were living their art. I really started to thrive once I moved to Los Angeles. I was surrounded by dancers, fine art, new music, new energy… a sweet friend gave me a project, made me a website. Another sweet friend introduced me to the burning man scene. I got involved with projects like the Mutaytor, Lucent Dossier andVau de Vire Society… people soon began to notice my work, ask me to shoot their performances and started to support me in this functional way that made me start to think I could do this full-time, that I, too, could live my art. Evolution is a wish made into action by circumstance and opportunity... and for this I thank my friends and everyone in this community for the sup- port and encouragement. What is your training & previous experience? I studied film at the School ofVisual Arts in NewYork City for four years, winning the Dusty award for ‘best editing’ and ‘best video of 1995’. I’ve worked with dancers such as Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes, Kami Liddle, Olu, Blue Damsel, Hiplash,Tamra-Henna, Freyja,The Indigo, Bellydance Superstars,Talisman Dance Company, L’Anonyme Collective, Subee Djinn and She’enedra. I’ve shot cd covers for companies like Eventide Music Productions and ARC Music Productions International and worked with bands and musicians such as Dresden Dolls, Flaming Lips, Fishbone and James Brown. My work has been featured in Rolling Stone, Pulp Magazine, Metal Edge, Barnett’s, Faeries Magazine, Glide Magazine, Complete Woman, KTLA and others. Have you quit your “day job?” I used to work for warner bros studios but as of January 2006 I’ve been making my living solely on PixieVision Productions.The freelance lifestyle really suits me well. I love working in my pajamas, traveling the world and making my own schedule~ You have photographed so many fantastic dancers, who have been some of your favourites? There has been so much artistic chemistry between so many dancers over these past few years that it would be hard to pick my favorites.The instant energy between Zoe & I has been really amazing… Her sensual confidence and openness is a gift.Any idea I could come up with, I’d look up and she’s already owning it. It’s an incredible synergy. Freyja comes to me with strong energy as well. Her mother is a photographer so she knows how to shine. My studio is a sandbox, it’s a safe place to play and build stories.The best shoots I’ve had were with women who truly believe in themselves, who are open to direction and can come away from their fear and express who they really are. I use techniques to help bring it out but in the end, it’s really up to the dancer how much energy she wants to share. Do you think that being a dancer yourself helps with running a business within this industry? Can you explain your answer? I am not a dancer. I don’t know why everyone thinks I am! Lolol! I do a mean pogo stick though! What advice would you give to anybody starting a business within the “Tribal Market?” My advice would be to get to know your clients as Goddesses. Everything else will come instinctively. What do you see in the future for PixieVISION Productions? I’d like to spend more energy on the video aspect of my company. I’ve reached a plateau recently with dance photography and while it’s still excit- ing to me, I’d like to explore video as well. I also plan on publishing a photo book on Belly Dance in the future. 532 Tribal Mag Issue 4.indd 5 26/6/07 09:25:32