And that was it – a few hours sleep, a big fat coffee, a trip on the Bart to the airport. We cleared security fairly quickly again, but were still split up. I was sat with a rather large lady who popped gum for 9 hours…. tell me, am I really easily annoyed or do I attract them ?
If you are thinking about a visit and want to do some dancing ? – Id say :
get used to the public transport, its cheep and easy
email ahead of time and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want
triple check where the live dancing is – I think we were really luck, but it sounds like the Sunday night is a regular thing at the mo. Get onto BHUZ, MySpace and Tribe and beg for info.
Ultra Gypsy and Fat Chance studios are in the Mission, and I wouldn’t go there alone – get a cab.
The locals were more worried about going to the East Bay which is where Suhaila and Shabnam taught. I felt fine in both of these areas, but local knowledge is probably better so again maybe go with someone else.
If you are passionate about dance and can freedance well visit Amina – you will love it and learn more in an hour than you ever thought possible.
Suhaila’s class is only for the very fit and more workout than dance.
Fatchance is well worth doing but maybe only the level one class if you arms arn’t strong or you don’t have all the videos.
Shabnams class was the most welcoming – thats were I got a feeling of being part of a larger group and dancing together. We didn’t do her beginners class, but I imagine it would be great fun. Her terminology was the most familiar and I would recommend her to anyone.
If I lived there I can see that I would get addicted to Ultra Gypsy and would recommend those classes to anyone with a resonable level of fitness and an understanding of the basics. Jill was a fantastic teacher, spliting down the moves and having a good understanding of dancers abilities. My top tip would be Roses class midweek as it was small enough to provide lots of one on one attention and she was one of the nicest teachers I have ever done a session with. The classes arn’t really Tribal, their performance style is more sensual, even sexy, but thats not what you get from the classes. Its a work out, but also a very interesting way to look at the moves and put them together.
I know some of you are going in the next few months and I hope that helps you to be brave enough to take a class or two. It has really done me the world of good to see other styles and learn from new teachers – give it a go !!
Back with a Pop April 13, 2007
Saturday night boogie April 13, 2007
Just as we were travelling back to the hotel I had a text saying the children had landed and were heading home to my dads. That was it, suddenly I was homesick and my brain was back in UK time. – they would have landed late evening and be getting straight off to bed. Laura wanted some more time at the Museum, but I went back for a bath and then fell asleep. Next thing I knew Laura was waking me up to head out for the evening – I’d had a couple of very deep hours, which was good cos I wasn’t going to get much sleep from then on….
A few weeks ago I had emailed Layla Lanty on the off chance she was performing. I’m not sure how much she performs these days, but she was very high on my list of must see dancers. Leyla is one of those people who are very active on the MED and BHUZ lists and is always happy to share her huge knowledge on this subject. Over the years she has provided me with many snippets of gold. We were in luck as she was at Pasha that saturday night and she kindly said she would book us a table. Now maybe its the different cultures, but I expected a table for the two of us in a corner somewhere – but no, Layla was waiting for us in the entrance, with a group of other dancers, and we were to join them for the evening. It felt like being welcomed home after years away and I was overcome with their hospitality. We sat and shared a meal and chatted about some of the lessons we had taken, and listened to the band. I’m not sure how many there were in the band – maybe 6/7 but the quality was amazing. The owner of the resturant played the quanoon beautifully and Layla joined in on the zills for some numbers. The singer was an inspiration, opening each number with (word – see I’m still tired !) the emotional monologue part of the song, which the arabic section of the audience responded to – and I got all emotional even without understanding more than the occasional word. As the tempo kicked off each time he would grab some of us up to dance. I danced with Rose who I know through Bhuz, who is beautiful and a stunning natural dancer. Oh and rather a lot of men.
I’ve noticed I have a problem with dancing with men – and not just a slight dislike for sweaty, drunk men….. You know I am a big supporter of men who dance – but I have a big problem with anyone who tries to “lead” me. The whole idea that a man you hardly know gets to push and shove you where he wants you just gets my back up, and it always has. I understand the romance of being gently sweeped along to the music, but really has this ever happened ? Not to me. The only time I have ever danced with my husband he held on to me for dear life and muttered “this is horrible” into my ear. It might have looked romantic, but it was so far from it….. Anyway I let myself be shoved around a bit and then did some pushing back.
After a short break Leyla danced – and It was the highlight of the week. She held the stage like a true goddess and with the slightest of moves made the music visable. Nothing was over stated or exaggerated – just her body enhancing the sounds that filled the room. I think I did a goldfish impression. I hope at some point she puts something up on You Tube as I would have liked everyone to be there to share. I see so many dancers who have to put their latest “trick” into a performance, or get 17 laps of the stage into the first minute – whats so wrong with letting the music wash over you and fill you up ?
And then the singer had us all up again dancing and before I knew it the clock said 2am and we had to say our goodbyes. It was an interesting taxi ride back and then we had to face the packing and clearing up, although we were in high spirits so it seemed to be done fairly quickly.
more Ultra Gypsy April 10, 2007
IN San Francsico on a Saturday you can take no end of dance classes, so when we were planning our time we had left Saturday open to see how we would feel. IN the end it was an easy decision to take an extra Ultra Gypsy class with Jill Parker. Rose had been one of my favourite teachers, and it felt like we had really missed out earlier in the week when we had to watch the UG class. Laura took a private lesson with Jill on Friday, and came back very energised and enthusiastic.
Again we did lots of conditioning in the first session followed by some variations on the cha-cha and a fab move/combo called the sprinkler. The ingredients were given to us bit by bit so that by the time we were putting them together they had become second nature. By the second class I felt out of my depth, which was a good thing really. One problem was the names – I kept forgetting which moves we were doing and some of them had different names than those I’m used to so I was starting half a beat behind. – we also did lots of twists to the back, where I am naturally a to the front person. Maybe if I hadn’t been so tired…. or maybe I just need to work on them some more. Again we built up the moves until we had a really cool combo to drill.
After that we walked up to take a photo of Amina the resturant where the Indigo started out. – Great fun trying to take a photo through the traffic – Laura now has 5 photos of the sides of buses or trucks. And then down again to the studio where I had left my jacket mid week. We arrived just as it was being locked up so our timing was brilliant. – I had my jacket back !!…..
This one time – at Fatchance……. April 7, 2007
Yes Friday was Fatchance day !
I started off the day at the San Francisco museum of Modern Art. It was really inspiring, and I want to go home and get out the black paint. I also wanted to walk south to see the sea, but I got bored after about 10 blocks so stopped and came back – but it was nice to be in a different area and have time to wonder.
I went into Gap to buy some jeans. I’m really happy as they have my cut and size back on the shelves here and told me the UK will be getting them again by autumn. You know how it is when you find something that just really fits well and they they stop selling it….. To a shop phobic like me its really important to be able to buy somthing like jeans straight off. I’ve also bought some Mac which is cheeper here. – thats it though, I’m done shopping.
We then spent the afternoon in Tattoo shops again – I don’t think we are going to get a walk in appointment, but we may give it another go this afternoon.
Then Fatchance. Everyone was very welcoming – the studio is tucked off a main road and you go upstairs into the shop, with a studio behind. We had managed to be here on a week one of their 12 week system, so the first lesson was a good introduction to the style and a number of people where there for their first lesson. (sorry if I’m not making sense – the person sat next to me is being very annoying and chatting while I’m trying to type). We covered the posture, hand floreos a basic turn and three important moves, stationary and travelling. This was mostly done in a follow me style, although she travelled round making corrections. The first thing that really hit me was how hard the arms are – more than any other style FC really needed the arms for the full 90 minutes. We checked if we were ok to stay for the second session, and so stayed for more…..I’ll add details later. I’m afraid I have to go now before I shout at the woman next to me to be quiet – I have 3 hours of Ultra Gypsy today, and then we get to see Leyla dance tonight – and fly home tomorrow. We arn’t sure when we get to sleep, but thats not really important…..
sorry April 6, 2007
If I don’t get to blog again for a few days – we are a bit busy now. Also if you have emailed me I might not be getting back to you til mid next week. If you have a comment on the blog you can add it here rather than email it to me – as long as its suitable for all to read !!
see you soon – Sx
Thursday – I think April 6, 2007
I slept well last night so now I know its Friday, but the last few days have been a bit odd in a jetlag kind of way.
Yesterday we went back to Fishermans Whalf and took a boat trip around the bay, then did some people watching while Laura drew in my ears. We got some funny looks.
We had lunch in the Hard Rock on pier 39, took lots of photos and chatted to a few people. Then took the tram back to the hotel – I really like the bart and the buses, but the trams were over stuffed and very jerky – I don’t feel the need to take them again.
Our Ultra Gypsy class with Rose was early evening, and we shared the class with half a dozen – including the first men I’ve seen in class over here. One of them was fantastic, very isolated with a fantastic shimmy – I would have liked to video him, but we were rushed for time. Again we did 45 mins of conditioning, then moved on to breaking down and drilling layers of a move and then putting them together. We did a gliding maya in the slow section, a vine with a shimmy mid tempo and a moves whose name I forget, but I could show you for the fast. – I loved Rose, she was a very inspiring teacher, very good at explaining what we were doing and hugely likable too. I’m really embarrassed that I’ve forgot the name of the move. Highly recommended.
We were in a rush because we had talked ourselves into going to the Ballet. We had half an hour from the end of the class to get a cab up to the theatre and into our sets. Interesting that here people were dressed up (always good when you have rushed from class), and that the show started dead on time. I can’t remember the names of the three peices, but will add them when I get home.(edited to add : Night by Matthew Pierce, On Common Ground by Ned Rorem and Rodeo by Aaron Copland) The first was a dream, with wonderful costumes and mood changes. The second was very modern, exploring the issues of duo and trio, as dance but also in relationships – it had premiered the day before, so there was a buzz about it. The third was Rodeo, with lots of familiar music and a more comic storyline. The middle one was my favourite which surprised me as I don’t always like the modern ballet, but this really touched me. -
Anyhow we had dinner in the room and a fairly early night, which might be why I slept well.
The Jacket April 6, 2007
I think my Jacket wants to stay in SF. Our first day I came here to blog and left it behind. The next day I had to work out if it was at Starbucks or here, so asked in both and collected it from here. Then I went back over the road for a coffee and left it behind again.
To lady in Starbucks “hi, did I just leave a jacket in here ?”
Starbucks lady “didn’t you just come in and ask ?, I checked, its not here”
Me “er yes, but I think I might have left it since then”
Then we went to Amina’s house and out for Pizza and I got back without it again. Luckily it was at the pizza place – where we had a discussion about how Cord meant Cordaroy and how cute that is….
Last night we went to Ultra Gypsy and I left it behind again. Its now hanging out in their studio – I might be able to pick it up tonight when we go to Fatchance, but maybe not. I’m very tempted to go into Gap and buy a new one and just leave the old one to wander the town on its own.
PANIC April 5, 2007
Yesterday I lost Laura. Outside Subway, which is just across the road from our hotel. There is a late night american TV show we often watch having our supper after class where a police team try to find missing people ? – forget the name but along the bottom of the screen it says “missing 55 minutes” – I swear all I could think of was that counter going up from 2 to 20 minutes. This is what happened to me – Laura felt the need for salt so went into Subway to get some crisps, I leant on the wall, checked my phone, watched the traffic, daydreamed a bit. I turned to find out why she was being so long and saw that there was a huge que, but she was just paying, so turned back to the traffic and people watching. A couple of people came out of the shop and I looked round and it was empty. It was like a magic trick. I walked up to the corner, back to the shop, up to the corner, back to the shop. Then I had a pointless conversation with the guy in subway “did you notice an english girl just come in ?, she bought crisps ?, she came in but she never came out ?” – I knew as I was saying it I should have a bottle in a paper bag. I text her, but she doesn’t always carry her phone. so 30 minutes after leaving I went back to the hotel to face an evening on my own and the worry of what to tell her family if she wasn’t back by 10 pm. About two minutes later she was back too. She had been about 10 seconds in Subway before heading off towards the Bart assuming I had gone on ahead. She saw me just as I went down the stairs and ran to catch up but by the time she got to the platform the train was pulling out and she had to decide if I was on it or not.
We were both so shaken and relieved, but then had to decide what to do next. The ultra gypsy class started at 7.30 and it was already gone that, but Laura wanted to meet Jill and we had come along way to miss a class. Anyway we travelled to the mission district and found the studio just as they were finishing their warm up and stretches. We sat quietly in the corner and watched the class. – Jill is a fantastic teacher and I’m really hopeful we can take a class with her on Saturday now. She broke down and drilled a couple of moves in a way I’ve never really seen before. Some of it was fairly complex for a beginners session, but she gave everyone achievable milestones to hit and by spliting the moves and drilling them everyone seemed to show an improvement by the end of the session. I also liked her choice of music – it was hard to sit still and be good.
The mission area is an education – oh boy. I’m glad I got to go with Laura, as I don’t think any out of towner would survive on their own. It was hard not to stare or too look at the floor. They have real prostitutes and everything !! – it put the Oxford road into cocked hat.
We then went back to this end of Market to get dinner and write up our notes – I’m going to need a new notebook. Its good that we are eating late as no one seems to mind our heated discussions and wild arm moves as we work out what we saw or did and how to make notes that will still make sense next week.
Today I think we are taking a boat trip and/or visiting the museum of modern art. Then back to Mission for another class – I’ll try to keep my jaw tighter tonight.
Catching up April 5, 2007
OH I have so much to say – I’m really sorry these blogs are rushed, but I’m paying by the minute – I will go and tidy it all up when I get back.
Tuesday we went to El Cerrito to take a class at Suhaila’s studio – the bart trip out was great, we saw some nice neighbourhoods. The class didn’t really do it for me. It was a mix of Yoga and Ballet conditioning, which was fine, but it lacked something – not sure what. Its good to have said we have been and we took some cool photos.
We then enjoyed the sunshine and being in a different town for an hour or so and headed back. After a quick change and bag drop we started walking East to get to the Asian Museum – it was a fair bit further than we expected so we arrived 15 mins before closing – the up side was that it was free tuesday, so it didn’t cost us anything to look in three rooms and then head back.
I’m really struck by how the neighbourhoods change, one moment we were surrounded by suits, the next it was huge groups of big jacketed men and tiny ladies in short skirts. We found the hotel we nearly booked in this area and let out a sigh of relief that we didn’t book it – it wasn’t too scary in daylight (although I havn’t been called a kitty for a while), but I imagine we would have frightened ourselves coming and going at night.
Early evening we took a cab to a class with Amina. The cab got lost and ripped me off, but we had to ask him to wait as it was just a normal house in a normal (but cool) neighbourhood. We hesitated in knocking, but yes it was Aminas house and her ground floor is the studio. We were welcomed in and got changed. With amazing luck this week most of her students were away, but she had decided to run the class anyway – which meant we pretty much had a private lesson with her. I had asked to work on Baladi having seen Marsella dance on Sunday (who is one of her students) and we had 2 and a half fabulous hours with her working on the interpretation. Mainly we worked on three versions of the same song, which meant we used some of the same moves, but not in the same order or even in the same way – oh its hard to explain, but it was wonderful. I’ll have to see if I can find a youtube of Amina for you to see. I was really inspired – if I could magic her over to the UK I would travel for hours to take a weekly class with her.
I came back to the hotel and caught up on some text – I am so missing email !
Monday with Shabnam April 3, 2007
Hello – !
So yesterday was Monday and we started the day with a long lie in then a fair few hours round Macy’s. Anyone who knows me will know I don’t like shopping and really don’t like department stores, but Laura had some things to get so I people watched and proved to be useless at finding the other size of anything. It seemed like half the people there were just taking photos so thats what I did too 
Then we took the Bart out to Oakland and walked a couple of blocks to Shabnams studio. Shabnam is a delight – a tiny powerhouse. Her class made us very welcome, and didn’t seem to mind that I kept hitting them when I turned the wrong way. I think this was the second or third class of their term, so we had some fast learning to do to get the choreography – but Shabnam broke it down well and by the end it was coming together. We learnt some combos, then some zill patterns – then did the combos with the zills. I had some trouble with the terminology, but it was a matter of forgetting names and remembering moves. By the end of the session we had a minute or two of it all linked together and the group looked so happy to be dancing and playing with confidence.
The second class was all about drilling slow movements – I’m sure you will know I say that the slower you go the harder work it is – well this was hard work !!! – we stepped slowly and carefully over the floor with every muscle aching and aware of every joint. Again the end results were stunning. I had some great corrections – feel I need to really work on lengthening my neck and keeping my shoulders down.
After class we thought we would nip back to the hotel before getting some food – big mistake !! – ok I know the americans eat early, but by 10pm we couldn’t find anywhere to eat locally – so we took the bus to little italy to find pizza only to find that was all shut too – finally we found a late night pizza place, which did do great pizza but was a bit rough and ready and full to bursting with men. It didn’t feel unsafe, just a bit odd, so we ate pizza and made our move. With fantastic luck our bus was just passing so we hopped on – but the bad news was that it was going the wrong way so we had a 45 minute late night tour of SF including a 12 min wait at the end of the line. More people watching – don’t tell my husband I got lost on the late bus.
I hope that those of you who went to Deborahs class this evening (I know the grammar is shot, but I think its happened) had a great time and have lots to report back – I am missing everyone !
So now its Tuesday morning and we have a busy day of workshops lined up. I’ll try to update you in the next few days.
