The Tribal Way is Coming Back!

It's been a long and eventful hiatus from blogging, but I'm ready to start again! I'll be starting slow but please let me know you're still here! Any tutorials or topics you'd like covered please comment or email me! :)

The last few months have been a rollercoaster ride. After my daughter was born, I dealt with a long recovery from birth (it was fast and her hand was by her face, so as well as many stitches I needed a blood transfusion) and the usual adjustment into motherhood. Then we were faced with heart breaking news. My daughter was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, a very serious liver condition. Luckily they found it early. She had surgery in May and is doing very well so far. We're hoping the prognosis is excellent when we see the specialists in July, and we're praying she won't need a liver transplant.

Another big change is that my dance teacher has moved away. I cried longer than I care to admit over this. There isn't another ATS teacher in my area either - not that any other could replace her. The level two and three students have joined together to continue practicing the dance form and learning as best we can from Fat Chance DVDs and long distance mentoring from our dance teacher. We will be facing new obstacles together - the new dynamic will test our discipline and dedication to do each move well even with no watchful teacher to correct us. If anyone has any advice for this, please comment! I know some people start ATS with the DVDs alone so at least we had a strong start, but I still really want to ensure we are all pushing ourselves to keep our posture strong and our timing accurate. I know I will need reminding.

I've also made a few new pieces of belly dance attire, so I'll be sharing pictures and brief tutorials for those. I hope you enjoy what's to come, I'm happy to be back! :)

Welcoming A New Little Dancer

My beautiful girl - born March 22nd 11:06am 7lb 1oz

Chantelle Eliana

PS: Life has changed dramatically... and it will be a while before it settles into any kind of routine. If you are interested in contributing to The Tribal Way with a guest post, please contact me at thetribalway@gmail.com

Christmas Hafla 2011

  Wednesday my dance group had our annual Christmas Hafla! It was so much fun.  For two hours, I got to eat great food, listen to great music and dance with the coolest ladies I know. We did SO much dancing. It was tiring but such a joy! The Level 3 ladies, including myself, and my teacher with us at one point, danced for the other girls! It was nerve racking but so wonderfully empowering. We got some great feedback too though that the others really enjoyed watching us. So much love in our little dance group.

  Here is a picture of me and a friend at the hafla (sorry about the poor quality):

  So you can see I kept it very simple this time, my gypsy rose skirt from Flying Skirts, Red choli, coin bra, bindi from Kuhl Jewels and necklace and mirror belt that were gifts from my mom. My hair was up in a bun surrounded with red and black roses, to match the red/black gypsy theme! You can see my baby bump too!

My friend here is wearing a gorgeous peacock feather skirt with orange underneath, several fringe/sparkle belts layered, a purple sweetheart choli and coin bra she made herself as well! Beautiful! Of course she has a bindi from Kuhl Jewels as well! (No outfit is complete without one, am I right?!)

I hope your Christmas parties are full of just as much joy :)



Level 3.4, 5, 6 Catch-Up!

It has been a busy busy month. I think for the first time since I've started dancing, it has taken a backseat to other things going on in my mind. 18 weeks pregnant, looking for a house to buy, and dozens of other little things taking up my thoughts and energy. Feel free to check out my baby blog for more pregnancy talk!

Level three. In the past 3 weeks, we've learned Chico 4 Corners and the partner pass, the Water Pot, Wet Dog, Reverse Shimmy, and ASWAT Fade and Circle. It has been challenging to say the least! My favourite out of these moves is probably the Water Pot. Least favourite is the ASWAT Circle - not because it isn't beautiful. I just find it so confusing! That one will definitely need some practice.

Reverse Shimmy is a funny one because I can't do it. Period. Haha. I'll keep trying though I promise. Right now I'm trying to do a Reverse Taxeem and add that shimmy-wiggle to it. If anyone has any other tricks for learning it please let me know! Surprisingly it has a very different feel from the normal ATS Shimmy. You'd think turning up-down-up into down-up-down wouldn't look any different, but when my dance teacher first showed us she reminded me of a flittering fairy! It's very light and bouncy, whereas the regular Shimmy seems more earthy and solid - in my opinion at least.

Chico 4 Corners is fun and energetic. When we learned the partner pass and danced in pairs for about 3 songs straight I don't think I've ever smiled so much at dance! It was such fun. You know that fun moment when you're dancing in a group and the leader turns around and surprises you? There's that second of cheeky giddiness and then you smile and circle into the next position. That's what dancing in pairs is like - but it goes on the whole time! It's interesting too how the chemistry changes a bit depending on you dance with.

Well, Level Three is officially halfway over! I can't wait to start again in January and have more people in the class. After having an overview of all the moves it will be great to really develop them and get them into my head, and more importantly, muscle memory. Hopefully my growing belly doesn't make me too clumsy or unstable!

Question - what's your favourite and least favourite move in level three?

Have a great day everyone :)

This Belly Dancer Has Big Belly News!!!

Hey everyone! So it's finally time to share my little secret...

I'm having a baby!

So my belly dancing is going to turn into big baby belly dancing!! :) The little one is due on March 27, which makes me just over 3 months along. My man and I are very excited. This is our first child and the first grandchild on both sides as well! :)

I hope this may shed some light on my lack of posts and tutorials over the month of August - I was exhausted! Literally aside from work, sleep, eating and dance class I was a lump on the couch. I was lucky and didn't have any 'morning sickness' persay but all day nausea was just about as bad!! Luckily that is gone now and I'm feeling much better.

Now obviously this is a dance blog, so I'm only going to be talking about my pregnancy as it impacts my dancing. However if you are interested in following my progress, you're welcome to follow or check up on my pregnancy blog - Baby Adventures. I'll put a link at the top of the sidebar as well.

Thank-you for all your support. If you have any dancing-through-pregnancy advice I'm all ears - or questions too, maybe I'll be able to answer them eventually! Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Chella & Baby