Happy Solstice!

Happy Solstice everyone!

The darkest day has come and gone, and we can look forward to the return of the sun. Whatever you celebrate this time of year I hope it is spent in the company of lovely people, food and music. Having a four day weekend is precious to me right now, as I savour every second of sleeping in, playing records, baking vegan cookies and seeing all of my favourite people.

The much anticipated Frostbite: Bazaar of the Bizarre was a smashing success in its new location, the Great Hall.   Congrats to the Plastik Wrap folks, on a fantastic event! And I was loving the soundtrack of the day, brought to us by Jonah K. There were a few craft shows that day on that block and people were out in droves. Of course I was sewing buttons on my cowls right up until the final hour (and beyond!) for the Strange Dames booth. Here we are:

I bought a few things myself, it was so hard to decide with so many talented creative people and things under one roof. I had to get more shimmery eyeshadow from Peculiar Potions of course and later came across Lana Opus Scarves, a guy who makes really awesome scarves –or ‘man cowls’ as I call them, though they’re  unisex for sure. I will post some pics, I got two and although he works mostly in wool (old man pants, houndstooth,etc.) I found a couple without.

On the dance front, I been focused on the final month before the Sugar Shakers bring our new number to the Followlogie competition in Montreal. Now that we are working on final touches, I can really see how truly dynamic and awesome this piece is. Its fast, organic and full of attitude –something us Sugars have no shortage of! I can’t wait to perform it (breaking news: you can get a sneak peak Sat Jan 14th at Dovercourt House, that is unless you want to follow us to Montreal!).

Meanwhile Serpentina North Ensemble continues to work on new ideas and prepare for Inversion/rewind at the end of January. I am constantly expanding my ATS/ITS repertoire and ever challenged and amazed by the improvisational spirit of this style. Falling deeper and deeper in love. Next week the troupe will get a specialty workshop from the talented Rosana McGuire on her visit back to Toronto from San Fransisco…can’t wait for that! Here are some pics from our performance earlier this month at Twilight Mirage. Photos by Peter Lear aka FotoDances.

Om Laila wrapped up the year with its annual holiday soiree. Having no more room in my brain or body for new choreography I chose not to dance and instead enjoyed being an audience member, drinking wine and taking in both new and seasoned dancers. I did however, sing –and in Arabic, nonetheless!  The small crew of us who have been studying singing, drumming and zylls under Roula Said finished off the night with Roula on kanun/main vocals, Jaash on main dumbek/vocals and a few more of us on vocals and zylls. It was a scary and exhilarating experience. I have a bit of a singing background but that is reaching back so many years now…however the songs Ala Warag Il Foull and A’Nadda which we performed are two of our regular songs and I found myself comfortable enough singing them in front of an audience. Hopefully much more of that to come…

On a different style of music, some of you know I’m a huge Erykah Badu (aka: Sarah Bellum, Medulla Oblongata, Analog Girl in a Digital World, Low Down Loretta Brown, Fat Belly Bella and Maria Mexico) fan and have been trying in vain to see her live for a very long time. Last year her New Amerykah part 1  tour was supposed to touch down in Toronto and as I held onto my tickets for dear life, the show was cancelled the day of. So for now I am destined for youtube videos…but her tour with the Cannabinoids is making me want to get my ass to the states for a show. Check this out, as if her voice and flow  weren’t enough for you, she also rocks the drum machine and theramin in the loveliest of ways.

Some older footage from her New Amerykah 1 album

There are so many events going on in the next couple of weeks, its hard to keep track. I’m opting for a low-key NYE (unless someone can persuade me otherwise!) but I still want to get out and dance before that, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Detroit techno legend Juan Atkins is playing next week. I haven’t seen him live in years and I will even bear the Drake for it. As for some online listening, tonight my soundtrack has been Rachel Brice’s mix from her 8 tracks page, it spans pounding to atmospheric. Some really nice tracks.

I wish you all delicious and rejuvenating things for for this last week of 2011. See in 2012 my friends, for more movement, mystery and mayhem!