Well, I”m back from China and desperately trying to get over the jet lag…  One thing I find that helps is yoga.  I personally tend to gravitate towards pilates and floor barre classes when cross-training, but when my body is tired or thinks it should be bedtime in the middle of the day or the exact opposite when it is time to sleep and my mind is racing, I tend to get very anxious and grumpy.  Working on breathing and go through yoga flows tends to help more than any of my other exercise routines.

In the meantime I have been dancing nonstop!  Well, except when I have all this computer work to do.  (not my favorite part).  The day after I returned from China I volunteered to do a presentation at a senior center.   Some of my favorite moments included getting everyone to try to find and clap along to the different rhythm patterns in my favorite Moroccan song.  There was also one participant that was happy to tell me all about her experience taking belly dance classes in the 1970′s at the YMCA in Chicago.  Her face lit up as she recalled that time in her life!

I also want to share some video clips Jamilah shared with me on the Uygur style of dance. I have been really inspired by this style of dance lately. One of the most famous, award winning dancers of the traditional Uygur dancer is Tursunay Ibrahim.  My favorite clip of her is where she is dancing on the largest drum I have ever seen (kinda like Jillina’s old drum solo where she stood on the dombeke) only this one is like 5 times the size and she plays the drum with her feet!!  She is dancing to an uygur mukam. I have yet to find this clip online to share, but when I do I will be sure to share!  In the meantime here is one of my favorite old school clips of her….