Tribe.net. Local Connections Maureen http://handsofkali.tribe.net/thread/6627e739-f94e-49b7-b2ff-81faf5dc76cf#9d8c1afb-6093-49ef-8ad7-5ec36ea4b954 2009-03-16T17:33:12Z 2009-03-16T17:33:12Z

Here are two favorite entries from our HoK LiveJournal. (http://handsofkali.livejournal.com/ ) the first is a description of Kendra's Femme Fatale Workshop. the second is from Xtina, and it's about "Why Kali?" and the nature of our namesake goddess--if you want to know how we can go from Kali to steampunk to belly noir and back. Kali basically encompasses everything that you can think of, and here's how: Dark & Dirty Drama: The Femme Fatale Bellydancer In this workshop, we'll explore the femme fatale archetype from film noir, play with dramatic facial expression and drill some kickass moves while learning choreography in true Hands of Kali style: Dark, edgy, sensual and somewhat morally questionable. We'll pull moves from tribal bellydance, Raqs Mecanique and the wonderful world of exotic dance. Disclaimer: No nudity is involved, but the song we're dancing to ("Ms. Mad Love" by the Fog People) does have a few naughty words and we might do a few, um, naughty dance moves to go with 'em. Get ready for the World's most innovative, contemporary, fresh, skilled, and dare I say... Darkest Belly Dance Troupe in existence. Formed in 2003, Hands of Kali are out to make a statement... lead, Follow, or get out of the way. Under the direction of Kendra, you will be challenged and you will overcome (she will make you). Your horizons will be broadened, you will learn, you will appreciate... and you, yes you, will be infinitely better for surviving it... **** Mama Kali--Xtina's entry Hands of Kali has been working on a visual symbol that represents our spirit in dance. Magi - our new mama, member on hiatus - has been putting her amazing gift for drawing and painting to work and has come up with a masterpiece!! We will debut it soon, but I will say it is a representation of our namesake, the goddess Kali. Why do we love Kali? Because she embodies the energy of transformation. That energy can be threatening, but also life giving When her energy is channeled it is like a thunderstorm in a desert.You hear it rolling in. LIghtening strikes and things burn. It awes you because you don't know how intense it is going to be. Then the rains come and wash away all dead things and nourish the deeply rooted things and the seeds that have been lying dormant for a long,long time. So the desert blooms. That is the energetic analogy for Kali, but can also be an anology for the transforming power of dance in our lives. I know that for myself, belly dance has completely changed my life. It has been a powerful catalyst for positive, life affirming energy and people and situations to enter my life. It connects me to the earth, to the women of ancient times who danced the same moves we do today, as well as all women in this world. Belly dance is the dance women have been doing since women existed. Rock! Here is some more info on Kali that I found interesting. She is the hindu personification of time. And nothing is more transformational than time! This is a really interesting passage. "The Sanskrit word Kali literally means time. Kali is the feminine word for time. Time as we are forced to understand it, is the foremost power that we experience. Kali is the personification of time. It is not surprising that the deity of time has a terrifying image. After all, time is the slayer of all. Time is the very stuff that our lives are made of. To waste time is to waste life. The reason as to why time is represented in a feminine form is that time is the great womb – the great mother – from which we are all created – therefore it has a feminine quality. Time is also the force which causes all living beings to perish. Therefore Kali is like the mother who destroys the children which she has created – which is one of her frightful features. Yet, through the action of time, Her action, occurs our salvation. Through time, over repeated births, we experience all that we have to and learn all that we must learn in order to merge back into our eternal existence, from which we fell into limited time and space." (from: http://www.the-tenured-student.net/blog/archives/2004/12/why_is_kali_dan.htm) Solidarity in the Dance, Xtina

Maureen 2009-03-16T17:33:12Z Maureen http://handsofkali.tribe.net/thread/6627e739-f94e-49b7-b2ff-81faf5dc76cf#869143f2-4f46-4939-8669-d72b761b0a91 2009-03-13T20:03:27Z 2009-03-13T20:03:27Z

I recommend that all of you visit our official HoK blog on LJ to keep up with the latest news--it's at http://handsofkali.livejournal.com/ here is a recent post on our new belly-noir cabaret, Dark Avenue, to whet your appetite (and this is from the first Dark Avenue--see more recent LJ posts for a teaser of the new show next week on 3/18): Killer week Last week, HoK was privileged to perform 3 times around town. We kicked off the week with a bang, as a single shot rang out in a dark alley. Well, it was more of a quack, actually. Gumshoe Richard Spade (everyone calls him Dick--yeah, that's right, a private dick named Dick--whaddaya make of it?) got a visit from a real looker--but not a see-er. That's right, this doll was blind, and she'd lost her seeing-eye duck. For those of you who did not make the show, you missed seeing Kendra as a gumshoe, J9 as the curvaceous but blind Brigid O'SaveMyAss, and Xtina as the mincing hottie secretary. I don't want to brag, but my turn as Fat Tony, the local tough, should snag me a Tony award as this season's most compelling, potato-chip chomping, cigar-smoking, flask-swilling character. Even if Dick did manage to sucker-punch me and make off with the Maltese Duck. Oh, and HoK also danced several times--it's not all acting with us. The evening was expertly MC'd by Diva le Deviant, the hostess with by far the mostess, right down to her seamed stockings. She was there when Dick Spade got a real eyeful from the coolest kitten of them all, Fuchsia Foxx, who went from smokin' seniorita to sad siren and sailor wrecker as the evening--and her outfits--dwindled. And don't forget DJ Dubonnet, who should be called DJ Debonair for his sartorial contribution to a glamorous era gone by. Plenty of guys and dolls in vintage attire made up the audience, who swilled hooch and clamored for more from Lonesome Shack, who, in addition to producing music that had everyone boogying, is also an internation jewel thief--who knew? and let's not forget, punk-art dolls from Miss Oblivious [www.paynecreations.org/] and slinky club fashions from Designs by Juliet [www.get juliet.com] were on sale for those who remembered to bring their mad money. If you want to keep up with forthcoming antics on Dark Ave, add www.myspace.com/darkavenue to your friends' list. And remember, March 18 at the Funhouse is the next installation in this exciting series--there's sure to be more characters (and more hooch) to come. And that was just Wednesday night, ladies and germs. Friday, Hok appeared at the King Cobra to support Legion Within and Deathbed Repentance for their tour fund raiser. Syztem 7 rounded out the evening, which was loud, dark, and not short on rock star stage turns and men in corsets--I'm just sayin'. Sorry if you missed it, schweetheart. Let's not forget a very current topic: VD. As in Valentine's Day--why is your mind always in the gutter, kid? HoK appeared, apparitionlike, at midnight at Club Mercury, cloaked in white veils and decked in that same snowy hue to represent Voodoo in all its forms: Baron samedi in his top hat, a voodoo doll with pins in her heart and feathers in her hair, plus a couple of snow-white dreadlocked bellydancing zombie chicks. We even had a smoking cauldron with which to conjur up the ghosts of love long dead. The crowd at the Merc was a sight to behold, with more white-clad zombie brides than you can imagine.

Maureen 2009-03-13T20:03:27Z