Advertisement
It seems like when things goes wrong, or things get boring, one person has a way of coming through and making things a lot brighter for everybody. RACHEL BRICE could choose any state in the nation to make an annual appearance and enthuse hundreds of people who worship every move she makes (and get their glutes rocked by her master class workshop series). Somehow, the tribal fusion lucky stick whacked Washington, DC, as proven by RB's abilities to dazzle in any venue, big or small, in this case scenario the uber-intimacy of the Dance Lab Theatre at Flashpoint in nearby Chinatown.
The two sets she performed were not only dances of appreciation (she did a 7pm and the 9'er I attended), but she seen transformed. A lot fresher. A lot at ease. A lot more relaxed. A lot more focused than she's ever been before. As she said proudly in the post-dance conversation (and hug-a-thon with those who attended), she has had plenty of time to reflect and look at the paths paved by she and her Indigo mates and the Bellydance Superstars over the last few years, and she can proudly say she has found her ''place'' to let her inner spirits out when dancing now better than any time in the past. She knows what she wants and to expect, and looking at the beaming grin on her face told you that she's at that comfort zone. It's hard to believe that she's 37 (going on 21) and 2010 will, believe it or not, mark her 20th dance anniversary performing bellydance, when she 1st saw Hahbi'Ru at a ren faire and wanted to take it up. This combined with almost 15 years of dedicated forms of yoga training and instructions, and you see the essence of perfections that makes Rachel the divine queen of tribal fusion the genre looks to find the raised bar and stops at her, and will continue to do so. (She studied Dance Ethnology at San Francisco State back in the late 1990's).
So tonight, a cocoon opened up. An emergence was realized by all. The old did not go away, but was allowed to step aside and embrace a new womanly professional. She is as energetic in continuing to take Fat Chance Bellydance classes back at home in the Bay Area (creators of ATS-American tribal Style) and Viniyoga practice with Gary Kraftsow. A woman who is always very critical of her efforts to give the audience what they deserve, her physical beauty is only as heralded as her unmatched mental and physical daily regimen of what her yoga studies and countless dance classes and workshops has done for her.
In her 1st set, emerging from the darkness of the box-like room, a spotlight beamed on Rachel. The world famous six-pack abdomen has morphed into a softened, curvaceous and jaw-dropping mass of melted muscle creativity. Oh, don't worry, that 6-pack is STILL there, concealed in an exotic flow of abdominal skin that makes her now a 3-dimensional goddess without the need of 3-D glasses. When this close, Rachel Brice is the 1st bellydancer who looks like she's performing in IMAX quality. :D
Dressed in black and white head dressed attire, channeling both her Indigo and FCBD upbringings, she redefined the use of the word ''serpentine''. From head-to-toe, she moved and everyone else hissed. Her 1st four belly rolls could have been a fertility ritual, now having the expansion and control to simulate giving birth (and that's just the forward release movements). Her reversals are the sense of watching the most beautiful lava lamp in the ultimate hookah bar with a casbah of divine perfection amassed all around you. She made the tattoos dance off her body. Every lock and isolation cut into time like the jaws of a shark. Devouring the oxygen in the room, she swayed back and forth until the loud banging of drums (think of a tribal ghawazee sounding force through your ears) serenaded her hips with pop and locks until she spun and spun around endlessly. So much happened for only, what, about four minutes?
A lot of people were fanning themselves with their programs. :)~ Yes, ncluding me. Oh, but there's more...
Tonight, for her final dance ender, she would do (since Saharabesque is based on all dancers experimenting with newer styles of both dance and music choices) something few people have seen, but I've kidded her back at Nissan Pavilion that one day the opportunity would arrive and she'd someday crossover, if just once, and give a try. Tonight was the night Rachel would dabble into the origins. The beginnings. She would do cabaret/modern-style. or as she puts it ''I think cabaret, not essentially tribalret, but something close to it''. :) I like to think ''Modern Rachel'' bellydancing. :)
To no one's surprise (especially myself, learning in a Sahara Dance e-mail 2 days earlier that this magic would happen) , she knocked her 1st taste of this dance out of the building. All that was really different was the musical selections, more of an Arabic groove that commanded her body to ''raq the house''. She played with her belly like a jazz musician works over a saxaphone.Maybe one day, it would be cool to see Rachel grab a veil or balance a sword...but for now, this inauguration would suffice. :D A brief and finalized fury of hip isolations and upper body shimmies concluded this magical evening. You almost wonder if a ''new'' RB emerged from her week-long retreat she holds in Costa Rica back in August? Regardless, this Rachel is as focused her position on this planet as much as her position within the bellydance world as a whole, and both fit perfectly where they currently stand. :)
After 20 years of national and worldwide performing, is it possible RB can dazzle a new generation of tribal and fusion students in the same manner? HELL YES! Because, if not for any reason, she has one of the strongest ''belly bases'' there is for tribal Fusion back in the SF/Bay Area of California. I can see her in the upcoming years developing a teaching certification system similar to the ones of Carolena Nericcio (FCBD) and legendary Suhaila Salimpour. Hell, Zoe Jakes and Mardi Love (and not forget Sharon Kihara and Ariellah) could also have their own as well.
For every bellydancer who dare to inspire to make as much as an impact as a performer, if not human being as Rachel Brice does, there are elements to her live act one should recognize and define:
=============================================================
1) ''TAKING A STAND''.
As the spotlight lifts, you find Rachel's body in a statuesque pose, waiting to come to life and make you enjoy what you're about to see.
2) TIMING.
She always knows when to move. She has every move planned out. Yet, she can take an improvisation and throw somethng surprising in the middle out of nowhere and get back into her regular dance perspective in a heartbeat. She doesn't dance to music, she becomes it. She doesn't serenade to instruments of music, her body becomes an instrument.
3) THE ''EYES'' HAVE ''YOU''.
Any1 who has been lucky to see her perform knows that Rachel makes pinpoint eye contact with EVERYbody in an audience, especially folks who she knows personally and/or has taken her workshops earlier. She commands your attention in a respectful, attentive manner. All she asks, without saying a word, is that you do the same back to her. (Not a problem).
4) BE CREATIVE.
From her jewelry to her dazzling pant styles, her attire is always ever emerging (especially since everybody's always wearing it after she comes through town) and is as much a fusionist to fabric of clothes as she has been a fusionist to her fabric of flesh and muscle. A trendsetter she hasn't gotten as much credit for.
5) EACH ONE, TEACH ONE.
As worldly recognized as Rachel is, her need to develop her talents further by taking workshops with other bellydancers still is another asset for her to make her own style special. Dance to make people copy you, nt dance to copy everyone else, right?
6) PREPARING FOR BATTLE
With her adorable assortment of tattoos, her tribal attire represents battle armor for the stage. With her yoga training, she is ne of the more flexible women on the planet for this style. She keeps herself and body in amazing physical condition, doing things now that teens and tweenagers are trying to keep a pace all their own.
7) SHOW YOUR ''GAME FACE''
When Rachel wants to be serious, she LOOKS it. When she wants to make you giddy by smiling at you, she'll communicate to you with her eyes. And, you KNOW it. You almost can tell when something special or different is about to happen by her changes in facial expression. People pays attention, ans SHE knows that. She never gives off a negative vibe, knowing that transforms to her audience, she keeps everything in front of her and in control, with no one losing focus on what's going on.
8) APPLYING ALL THE PROPER ''INGREDIENTS''
Rachel, as exotic and tempting as her world-famous abdominals are, knows how far to push the boundaries in what to do with rolls, pops, locks and flutters. Her choreography mindset blends an even offering of movements and techniques that powers her inner child. Rachel could write a ''Bellydancer's Cookbook'' for teaching and workshops, and everyone would want a copy. And most importantly, she incorporates those ''ingredients'' into a visual taste all her own.
If you can take all thse elements of Rachel and combine them together on your own, whether as a beginner or advanced student or beginning professional, you'll be well on your way to achieving the accomplishments of Rachel. And as proved tonight, it can happen. It always has. There will never be anther Rachel Brice, but a renaissance of the same woman enter a night based on experiment and came out of this laboratory creating yet another creation of divine joy and greatness. And we, in the DC area, was fortunate and blessed to have seen it Friday night.
BFJ 9/19/09.
Added Note:
As equally lucky will be any1 who lives in the Pittsburgh area, for they'll get to have Rachel, Zoe and mardi (The Indigo Dance Co.) when they make a collective 1st appearance there with Zafira Dance (lucky to have Olivia & Maria in YOUR area as well) for Thanksgiving weekend. Get ready, Pittsburgh. You never forget that 1st one. :D
www.rachelbrice.com
...and thanks to ''Our Rachel'' K. Brookmire and the faculty of Sahara Dance who makes this magical moment for us happen, yet again...
The two sets she performed were not only dances of appreciation (she did a 7pm and the 9'er I attended), but she seen transformed. A lot fresher. A lot at ease. A lot more relaxed. A lot more focused than she's ever been before. As she said proudly in the post-dance conversation (and hug-a-thon with those who attended), she has had plenty of time to reflect and look at the paths paved by she and her Indigo mates and the Bellydance Superstars over the last few years, and she can proudly say she has found her ''place'' to let her inner spirits out when dancing now better than any time in the past. She knows what she wants and to expect, and looking at the beaming grin on her face told you that she's at that comfort zone. It's hard to believe that she's 37 (going on 21) and 2010 will, believe it or not, mark her 20th dance anniversary performing bellydance, when she 1st saw Hahbi'Ru at a ren faire and wanted to take it up. This combined with almost 15 years of dedicated forms of yoga training and instructions, and you see the essence of perfections that makes Rachel the divine queen of tribal fusion the genre looks to find the raised bar and stops at her, and will continue to do so. (She studied Dance Ethnology at San Francisco State back in the late 1990's).
So tonight, a cocoon opened up. An emergence was realized by all. The old did not go away, but was allowed to step aside and embrace a new womanly professional. She is as energetic in continuing to take Fat Chance Bellydance classes back at home in the Bay Area (creators of ATS-American tribal Style) and Viniyoga practice with Gary Kraftsow. A woman who is always very critical of her efforts to give the audience what they deserve, her physical beauty is only as heralded as her unmatched mental and physical daily regimen of what her yoga studies and countless dance classes and workshops has done for her.
In her 1st set, emerging from the darkness of the box-like room, a spotlight beamed on Rachel. The world famous six-pack abdomen has morphed into a softened, curvaceous and jaw-dropping mass of melted muscle creativity. Oh, don't worry, that 6-pack is STILL there, concealed in an exotic flow of abdominal skin that makes her now a 3-dimensional goddess without the need of 3-D glasses. When this close, Rachel Brice is the 1st bellydancer who looks like she's performing in IMAX quality. :D
Dressed in black and white head dressed attire, channeling both her Indigo and FCBD upbringings, she redefined the use of the word ''serpentine''. From head-to-toe, she moved and everyone else hissed. Her 1st four belly rolls could have been a fertility ritual, now having the expansion and control to simulate giving birth (and that's just the forward release movements). Her reversals are the sense of watching the most beautiful lava lamp in the ultimate hookah bar with a casbah of divine perfection amassed all around you. She made the tattoos dance off her body. Every lock and isolation cut into time like the jaws of a shark. Devouring the oxygen in the room, she swayed back and forth until the loud banging of drums (think of a tribal ghawazee sounding force through your ears) serenaded her hips with pop and locks until she spun and spun around endlessly. So much happened for only, what, about four minutes?
A lot of people were fanning themselves with their programs. :)~ Yes, ncluding me. Oh, but there's more...
Tonight, for her final dance ender, she would do (since Saharabesque is based on all dancers experimenting with newer styles of both dance and music choices) something few people have seen, but I've kidded her back at Nissan Pavilion that one day the opportunity would arrive and she'd someday crossover, if just once, and give a try. Tonight was the night Rachel would dabble into the origins. The beginnings. She would do cabaret/modern-style. or as she puts it ''I think cabaret, not essentially tribalret, but something close to it''. :) I like to think ''Modern Rachel'' bellydancing. :)
To no one's surprise (especially myself, learning in a Sahara Dance e-mail 2 days earlier that this magic would happen) , she knocked her 1st taste of this dance out of the building. All that was really different was the musical selections, more of an Arabic groove that commanded her body to ''raq the house''. She played with her belly like a jazz musician works over a saxaphone.Maybe one day, it would be cool to see Rachel grab a veil or balance a sword...but for now, this inauguration would suffice. :D A brief and finalized fury of hip isolations and upper body shimmies concluded this magical evening. You almost wonder if a ''new'' RB emerged from her week-long retreat she holds in Costa Rica back in August? Regardless, this Rachel is as focused her position on this planet as much as her position within the bellydance world as a whole, and both fit perfectly where they currently stand. :)
After 20 years of national and worldwide performing, is it possible RB can dazzle a new generation of tribal and fusion students in the same manner? HELL YES! Because, if not for any reason, she has one of the strongest ''belly bases'' there is for tribal Fusion back in the SF/Bay Area of California. I can see her in the upcoming years developing a teaching certification system similar to the ones of Carolena Nericcio (FCBD) and legendary Suhaila Salimpour. Hell, Zoe Jakes and Mardi Love (and not forget Sharon Kihara and Ariellah) could also have their own as well.
For every bellydancer who dare to inspire to make as much as an impact as a performer, if not human being as Rachel Brice does, there are elements to her live act one should recognize and define:
=============================================================
1) ''TAKING A STAND''.
As the spotlight lifts, you find Rachel's body in a statuesque pose, waiting to come to life and make you enjoy what you're about to see.
2) TIMING.
She always knows when to move. She has every move planned out. Yet, she can take an improvisation and throw somethng surprising in the middle out of nowhere and get back into her regular dance perspective in a heartbeat. She doesn't dance to music, she becomes it. She doesn't serenade to instruments of music, her body becomes an instrument.
3) THE ''EYES'' HAVE ''YOU''.
Any1 who has been lucky to see her perform knows that Rachel makes pinpoint eye contact with EVERYbody in an audience, especially folks who she knows personally and/or has taken her workshops earlier. She commands your attention in a respectful, attentive manner. All she asks, without saying a word, is that you do the same back to her. (Not a problem).
4) BE CREATIVE.
From her jewelry to her dazzling pant styles, her attire is always ever emerging (especially since everybody's always wearing it after she comes through town) and is as much a fusionist to fabric of clothes as she has been a fusionist to her fabric of flesh and muscle. A trendsetter she hasn't gotten as much credit for.
5) EACH ONE, TEACH ONE.
As worldly recognized as Rachel is, her need to develop her talents further by taking workshops with other bellydancers still is another asset for her to make her own style special. Dance to make people copy you, nt dance to copy everyone else, right?
6) PREPARING FOR BATTLE
With her adorable assortment of tattoos, her tribal attire represents battle armor for the stage. With her yoga training, she is ne of the more flexible women on the planet for this style. She keeps herself and body in amazing physical condition, doing things now that teens and tweenagers are trying to keep a pace all their own.
7) SHOW YOUR ''GAME FACE''
When Rachel wants to be serious, she LOOKS it. When she wants to make you giddy by smiling at you, she'll communicate to you with her eyes. And, you KNOW it. You almost can tell when something special or different is about to happen by her changes in facial expression. People pays attention, ans SHE knows that. She never gives off a negative vibe, knowing that transforms to her audience, she keeps everything in front of her and in control, with no one losing focus on what's going on.
8) APPLYING ALL THE PROPER ''INGREDIENTS''
Rachel, as exotic and tempting as her world-famous abdominals are, knows how far to push the boundaries in what to do with rolls, pops, locks and flutters. Her choreography mindset blends an even offering of movements and techniques that powers her inner child. Rachel could write a ''Bellydancer's Cookbook'' for teaching and workshops, and everyone would want a copy. And most importantly, she incorporates those ''ingredients'' into a visual taste all her own.
If you can take all thse elements of Rachel and combine them together on your own, whether as a beginner or advanced student or beginning professional, you'll be well on your way to achieving the accomplishments of Rachel. And as proved tonight, it can happen. It always has. There will never be anther Rachel Brice, but a renaissance of the same woman enter a night based on experiment and came out of this laboratory creating yet another creation of divine joy and greatness. And we, in the DC area, was fortunate and blessed to have seen it Friday night.
BFJ 9/19/09.
Added Note:
As equally lucky will be any1 who lives in the Pittsburgh area, for they'll get to have Rachel, Zoe and mardi (The Indigo Dance Co.) when they make a collective 1st appearance there with Zafira Dance (lucky to have Olivia & Maria in YOUR area as well) for Thanksgiving weekend. Get ready, Pittsburgh. You never forget that 1st one. :D
www.rachelbrice.com
...and thanks to ''Our Rachel'' K. Brookmire and the faculty of Sahara Dance who makes this magical moment for us happen, yet again...
posted by:
|
Washington, D.C.
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
