Mendocino Camp Photos, Page 3: Thursday Fire Dances!
Joshkun and Company are Back Playing in the Woods!
Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp 2011
photos by Carl Sermon
text by Shoshanna
A day at the Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp starts with breakfast. At the beginning of the week you see many bright-eyed campers ready to eat and set forth on a full day of classes, but as the week goes on the wonderful late-night parties seem to tempt more campers to have just a little more sleep before grabbing coffee and dashing off to class.
With three class periods before lunch and four after lunch it’s very difficult to decide what to take. At any time you’ll find Belly Dance, Folk Dance, singing, and many instrument classes happening all across the campground. The air is rich with music everywhere you go, and even in the lines for lunch or dinner there will be spontaneous drumming jams and improv dance sessions. It’s a true immersion experience where you can attend the same schedule of classes all week that builds and progresses, or sample classes here and there to get a taste. At the end of the week I might not be quite ready to dance in the afternoon, but there is always Yuval Ron’s singing class that welcomes wanderers with a smile and a packet of song lyrics.
Since I teach a class at Camp, organize the vendors and coordinate the dancers for the late night Cabaret dance parties (as well as take care of my little girls and try to take a few classes), I don’t arrive in Mendocino planning to do much sleeping, but I look forward all year to that first night, settling into my cabin with exuberant melodies swirling through the woods from the Dance Hall reminding me that I’m in for what will this year be my 17th delicious retreat of music and dance in the Mendocino Woodlands.
Page 1:Friday photos here
Page 2: Monday photos here
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- 6-28-12 Mendocino Camp Photos Page 2:Monday, Joshkun and Company are Back Playing in the Woods! Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp 2011
The air is rich with music everywhere you go, and even in the lines for lunch or dinner there will be spontaneous drumming jams and improv dance sessions. - 8-19-08 The Mendocino Middle Eastern Music & Dance Camp 2008, Part 1
This morning the classes begin. Dinner and breakfast was quite good! The students on scholarship working the kitchen were cheerful and surprisingly bright eyed after being up so late last night! - 7-3-12 Superstars: What Sets Them Apart? by Jhavia Nayeli
After a brief intermission, it was time for the BDSS half of the show. Could this extravaganza get any better? I assumed so, because the Bellydance Superstars were in the building; my expectations were sky high! - 7-2-12 Leaving Space for Others Opinions, Thoughts while Attending IBCC 2012
In these moments, I find it challenging to remember that my responses are a reflection of my own belief systems, which may overlap, counter, or side-step someone else’s. - 3-27-09 ASWAT: Arabic Music Concert
They’d hired a different director this time, all the way from Cairo, Dr. Sari Dowidar. Dr. Dowidar got professional results even out of amateur performers – probably by pushing them hard. That kind of pressure isn’t always fun, but it really pays off. Maqams (maqamaat) are hard enough for the uneducated ear to distinguish without muddying the waters further with inaccurate pitch and tone. - 3-14-09 So, If You Cut up a Rose, is it still a Flower? Fusing Bellydance With Other Dance Forms
A reader’s position at this point will depend on whether you think that bellydance and Middle Eastern dance are one and the same, and whether you feel any particular sense of ownership over either one of those terms. - 10-15-08 Bellydancing With Fire with Leslie Rosen Reviewed
Leslie gets an "A" on fire safety. Her safety section is a great overview, covers just about everything, and has clear visual demonstrations of fuel handling, dipping, and shaking out the excess fuel. - 5-30-08 Welcome to the Gothla! Dancing Along the Sulk Road Review of 3 DVDs
The costumes are fabulous. It’s almost like—who needs all that dance technique if you’re wearing an enormous leather headdress that makes you look like an alien refugee from Star Wars? Tempest’s approach in particular is a painterly one, not surprising from a student of the Rhode Island School of Design. - 3-3-08 Academics and Belly Dance, Two Books Review
Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism & Harem Fantasy edited by Anthony Shay and Barbara Sellers-Young & Choreographic Politics: State Folk Dance Companies, Representation, and Power by Anthony Shay - 11-29-07 Tribal: Fusion, Bedouin, What’s the Difference? 4 DVDs reviewed and compared
When I see a dancer I really like, I want to *be* her, or him, right at that moment. My heart leaps at the music and then leaps again when I see what they’re doing. With this one, I was interested, but not that engaged. - 8-12-04 The Photos & Poetry of David Ludwig
there is a time each year, when dancers and musicians gather, in a magic forest, to reconnect , with their creative source… - 11-11-03 MORE Photos from The Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino
Just the extra photos of our art and faces you know projected into a beautiful natural setting. - 10-13-03 The Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino
There is nothing like immersing yourself in study and in the strange and unique culture of the Middle Eastern music and dance “scene”. - 8-26-10 Musical Instrument Tour Video with Tina Chancey
Director of Hesperus.org, Tina takes a moment from the camp’s busy schedule to tell us the difference characteristics of this style violin from one we normally see. She touches on the different posture used to play and also why she, a professional player of "Early music" is interested in how Arab music and style relates to what she normally plays.
Footage captured in August 2008, at the Mendocino Woodlands, Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp. - 6-13-10 Miles Jay demonstrates the String Bass.
Another video filmed at the Mendocino Music and Dance Camp in 2008. Miles show us bowing and plucking the bass as well as the maqam bayati and how the bass is tuned. - 11-28-09 Rowan Storm Tteaches about the Daf, Tar, and other frame drums used in the Middle East and North Africa
Filmed in August 2008, at the Mendocino Woodlands, Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp. Rowan Storm talks about the different names each frame drum has in each country and the confusion that can happen. She also tells us about women only drum groups in central Asia. Another topic- plastic vs natural materials - 2-2-09 Bahram Osqueezadeh on Persian Santur video
Footage captured in August 2008, at the Mendocino Woodlands, Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp.Bahram play for us and talks about his intrument. - 11-7-10 Ergun Tamer on Saz,
Ergun is one of the organizers of the Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp held in Mendocino, California, each year in August. Ergun plays many instruments. In this video he tells us about the Turkish saz. The saz has many names depending on the country, such as bazouk or bazouki. This instrument also comes in many sizes. - 6-17-10 Leila Delivers Live Music Under the Stars, Camp Negum 2010
Camp Negum did indeed happen May 4-8, 2010. It was everything Leila promised and more – 5 days and nights of music and dance classes, almost all to live music. - 3-12-10 Creating Camp Negum
The idea came to us as we laid on the beach at Ras Sidr, a resort town near Suez on the west coast of the Sinai Peninsula. It was one of those rare times when my husband, Safaa Farid, and I could slip away from work for two days. We were watching the wind surfers and listening to Om Kalthoum on the clubhouse speakers when the question just popped out. - 5-5-09 One Hip in Each Camp, My Experience of Working in Both the Arabesque Dance Company and the Arabesque Orchestra
My dancing is fuelled by my understanding of the music and now, my playing is influenced by the emotions I experience when I dance. It is a cyclical experience which has been boosted by this incredible opportunity to work with some of the most talented Arabic musicians on the scene. - 4-24-09 Oasis Dance Camp South A New Twist on an Established Retreat
Every student received a personalized notebook and music CD, which included class notes and news articles about dance and culture. - 9-13-08 Folk Tours 6th Annual Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp
held at Camp Greenlane in Pennsylvania, May 2008. The authenticity of the camp is amazing. I love Rakkasah and Tribal weekends as much as anyone else, but watching and listening to Arab musicians play Arab music and Turkish musicians play Turkish music, well, that adds a little something! After the nightly shows, the musicians keep playing to the wee hours and the camp dances in the big dining hall until we drop. - 10-23-07 Khamsa Holidays, A Dance and Culture Camp in Tunisia
How do you judge a dance trip? Would you go back next year? …in a heartbeat. Damn the cost and mercury retrograde and the heat. It was that good! - 6-16-12 Gigbag Check #40 with Khalilah!
Filmed at the Belly Dancer of the Universe Competition 2011, Khalilah competes in 3 categories in one day while sick with the flu including a high fever! This event was held in Long Beach, California. Khalilah is a student of Najia Marlyz. Khalilah gives us a tour of a few items that she takes with her to her performances. - 6-15-12 My First Day at IBCC 2012, The International Bellydance Conference of Canada held in Toronto
The first day of IBCC is always exciting – participants are full of pep, hungry to learn, and ready to try it all! Selecting which of the tempting workshops, lectures, discussion panels, and shows to attend is daunting. Like many others, I found it really difficult to decide what to go to and what I’d have to miss; with so many things happening at the same – and overlapping times – not being able to take in everything you want is unfortunately inevitable. - 6-12-12 Les Art Turcs: A Rich Resource for Dancers, Bridging Cultures through Traditional Arts in Istanbul,
When we arrived, we found that the residents weren’t really sure about all things Bellydance, save for the touristy performance posters seen in highly traveled areas. Many vendors have offices with tours; so Bellydance, Sufi/Dervish performances, and boat tours are all lumped together as commodity-like offerings. Still, we had some leads
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