Well its finally the summertime I’ve been waiting for, bright languid days and sticky breezy nights. And its street festival season! Tons of things to do and people to see. As for dance stuff the weekends are booking up quickly. I had a chance to watch some of my favourite local bellydancers at the first Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington Market. My favourite acts were Lavish and Serpentina North Ensemble and I can’t wait to start performing with Serpentina. My ATS training is coming along nicely and I am learning some great new moves and working on the different posturing and angles of the genre. I continue with Roula Said and just came back from a workshop at Om Laila where she taught us drumming, zylling and a dance choreography to an old Arabic song Tahtil Shibbek. It was nice to get back into that groove after our Sunday jam sessions ended a while back…we would dance drum zyll and sing. But the summer is busy and everyone seems close to maxed out with things to do so that transformed into monthly workshops.
On the flapper side of things, Sugar Shakers just debuted a new piece at the Frankie Manning Tribute Night — a major event in the swing community. It was an amazing night of great vintage jazz and dance performances in honour of an old dancer who had quite an influence on the Toronto lindy hop scene. As a newbie to this scene, I recently learned that he taught dance workshops here well into his 90’s and is credited as a major player in the resurgence of lindy hop with younger generations. This Saturday, the Sugar Shakers will be on a float at the Veggie Pride Parade and be doing a show afterward at Trinity Square behind the Eaton Centre.
Stay tuned for more updates on shows, events and workshops for this summer.
Song of the day: Picnic in the Summertime by Dee-Lite circa 1994
Sandy Watters 