So far, things are going well in my little world. Better than expected. And though I still am hesitant to start screaming my accomplishments from the rooftops, it's time for an entry so I can share with the world all the exciting things that have been going down. The shift has come -- no longer am I holed up at the desk in my studio, quietly making work that I'm never sure if anyone will see. Nope. I almost WISH I had time for that right now. Instead, I have a painting commission in progress, 5 pairs of feather earrings ready to sell (and one sold pair to a sort of VIP customer), just received the design fee to start designing a large scale public outdoor mural, and I can't tell you how many people (friends, acquaintances, random strangers) have been contacting me asking if I want to hang my work in restaurants, bars, and cafes all over the city. And even if I did have the time to organize a show in the next couple months, I wouldn't have very much work I still own to hang on the walls of whatever venue, because I've sold some of my more popular paintings recently and there is a noticeable gap in my personal collection (ie, personal artwork storage.)
I know it's not a terribly exciting photo... but I had to put one here.
This boring little building will soon be the site of my first outdoor mural project! I've been "discovered"
One of the most exciting things so far this past month was that I finally got my sh*t together and sent in images of my paintings and bio to Anna over at SacredGeometryArt.com. She contacted me recently, asking if I was interested in having my work displayed on their website, to which I replied YES, absolutely! Check out my page over at Sacred Geometry Art. Sacred Geometry Art is essentially an international artist's collective set up in web gallery format, featuring over two dozen artists from all over the world. From their homepage;
Displaying the artwork of artists who are inspired by and work with
Sacred Geometry, Symbols, Science and Spirituality.
Artists experience a visionary world which informs their expression and the end result is their artwork. The chosen media is simply the tool that artists feel can best represent their experiences and visions at a certain time in their lives. The purpose of this website is to display work across any media including; digital art, design, sound and motion as well as painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, mixed media and jewellery.
What else? Oh, there is more. Much more.
The Workshop
I am thrilled to announce that I will be teaching an art-related workshop at this year's PEX Summer Festival in Darlington, MD. The Mandala: Sacred Art & Creative Expression will be open to anyone regardless of artistic level or experience.
Here is the workshop description (the long one, that actually explains what the workshop will consist of -- I had to squish this into 15 words or less for the printed guide distributed at the gate during festival weekend):
The Mandala, the design of the universe --a spiritual tool for meditation...a therapeutic method of creative expression...or a thoughtful work of art? Through visual & verbal presentation and hands-on techniques, we will explore the history and meaning of the Mandala as a sacred art form. We will learn some of the basic principles of sacred geometry as well as discuss the general art & design elements that make up Mandala imagery (such as symmetry, color, and balance.) Then, we will examine how we can translate this ancient symbolism into a form of creative meditation through what we've learned. Students will create their own personal Mandala drawings, balancing the left and right hemispheres of the brain in harmony as we practice this ritualistic exercise in creative expression.
This workshop is open to anyone regardless of artistic ability, but some interest/knowledge in art/sacred geometry is welcome and encouraged.
It is a Christmas miracle that I was able to get the paperwork for this workshop in on time. Some glitch in the system/my computer/internet connection failed to properly send my original application. Thankfully I had mentioned wanting to teach it to one of the workshop coordinators months ago, and when she noticed mine wasn't in the stack of applications (metaphorical stack, because this is all obviously digital) she contacted me and I of course had not saved half of the information properly and stayed up entirely too late one night trying to re-create the whole darn thing. But I did it, and I got it, and I will be teaching it. Hooray!
My Lovely Luxies
Other than all that, my troupe Lux Arati has been doing fantastic. Every group like that goes through changes, and the past year was a major one for us. We lost three of our performers that had been with us since Lux Arati's inception, taking the total group # down to a measly 3. However, there is no shortage of lady performers in the Philly area interested in joining. We invited four new girls to be a part of the group, all with different levels of experience and a variety of backgrounds in dance or performance. Thankfully, it has been going very well -- even though we still have a lot of work to do to get ready for the summer performance season, it has blown me away how fast some of these girls are picking up the choreography and taking to working with fire. Everyone is enthusiastic about being there, everyone is practicing at home, and everyone is bringing their own contributions to the group as a whole.
We had quite a successful performance this past week at the Rotunda in West Philly, the first performance we've done with the entire troupe present since the new girls joined. We had a ton of people come out to the event just to see us... we had people who found us online randomly, friends driving from hours away... I even had a regular customer at the Cafe and his 16 year old daughter (who works with me sometimes at the Cafe on the weekends, a dancer her whole life) come out just to see us perform. It was not without it's small hiccups, but for what it was... a 20 minute showcase of solos, duets, fire, non-fire, bellydance, burlesque, "crunking"...totally come together in a short amount of time and look pretty darn decent. And the audience LOVED US. Yes, things are good.
Check out the amazing shot below (photo courtesy of Reagan Lam) from our performance at the Rotunda, May 1st for Poet-tree en Motion Spring Performance Series. This is a move that Lux Arati has done before... from our first fire performance at PEX Summer Festival in 2011, with a whole different cast of performers. We call it "The Flower" -- we come into a circle and then fan out (literally, with our fire fans out, haha, bad pun...) We rotate in a circle, with the highest point in the back and the lowest point facing the audience... creating the effect of a giant flaming flower! This particular move has it's roots in traditional Japanese fan dance choreography, something we almost always end up referencing since we use fire fans quite often with our group pieces. At any rate, the audience always goes nuts when we do this move. We hear a lot of "Oooohs" and "Ahhhs" and that sort of thing.
The Show Speaking of performing, I'm also working again on the team organizing this years Russian Roulette Variety Show for PEX Summer Festival 2013. I suppose at this point my role is something like co-creative director/co-producer, and along with my dear long-distance friend Jexi we are making it happen this year, rain or shine. We have two shows planned for the weekend (Thursday and Friday night) and proposed a rain date JUST IN CASE. We will NOT be rained out again! Aside from co-directing and co-producing the show, I'll likely be performing in it with Lux Arati and I've taken on the role of graphic designer. Whatever we'd had from previous years was somewhat unfinished and needed to be updated. Below are what came of that assignment... a new logo and the rectangular graphic is for our Facebook page cover photo. Not to shabby, eh?
New logo for The Russian Roulette Variety Show for 2013
RRVS Facebook cover photo graphic
Besides being incredibly busy and finally feeling successful in my art and performance outlets... I've been able to handle most of the unnecessary drama that goes with my life (evidently) in stride, so far. In case you couldn't tell from my paintings, I am a serious perfectionist, and more often than not this curse-blessing can stress me the hell out. I pay the same amount of attention that I give my detailed, mathematical geometrically perfect paintings to the costumes and accessories I make, "rough" sketches for bigger plans, graphics and everything else. It can be really intense, and I am definitely my own worst critic and judge myself harsher than anyone else on a regular basis. After nearly giving myself a nervous breakdown this past weekend over some simple costumes (for our long-planned Lux Arati video shoot day) I decided that I have enough anxiety in my life, and if I can avoid putting extra stress on myself for things that just aren't worth it, I will try my hardest to do so. (For example -- instead of trying to make things when I really don't have time... I promised myself to try and find something I already have to use, or go buy something. It won't kill me to not have a completely new, original, beautiful costume piece for every single performance. It just won't.)
On that note, I have loaded but not edited all kinds of pictures of some of the earrings I've recently made (sold 1 more pair to a Lux Arati member and friend of mine, thank goodness), painting commissions in progress, and other random things that need documenting. Going to try and post more entries, even if they are shorter in writing and just a lot of photos. People like photos. People hate reading. People... are in general dumb. Not that anyone reading this is dumb. If you get this far, I freaking love you, man. I do. Thank you for listening to my ridiculous rants and musings. It means the world. <3
2013 is under way, and even though it's not quite the middle of February, there have been some exciting opportunities that have presented themselves for my performance and art careers.
Their Facebook page describes their music as "Catchy tunes, snarky lyrics" and "innovative pop" -- and although my first thought was "Okay, how are we supposed to bellydance to this?" -- we are fortunate enough to now have a mistress of modern dance in our midst. The inspiring and multi-talented Geri Vanore, aka Lady Omni, is one of the newest members of Lux Arati, and even though she is new to the world of fire, she has an extensive background in choreography and dance instruction (among other things, of course.) She also happened to be the link between Sunshine Superman and Lux Arati, and was asked by their snarky-sexy songstress Valentina to help choreograph dancers for their next music video. Geri mentioned the Luxie ladies and the band was sold. Guided by some seemingly magical unseen forces (and a lot of hard work), in one week we were able to put the pedal to the metal, as Geri adapted some of our existing dance sequences to fit the tempo and mood of the music and we did our best to learn the new material in time for the video shoot this past Tuesday evening.
Still shot of Lux Arati with Sunshine Superman lead singer Valentina in the center
during the video shoot for "Say You Missed Me."
(Photo courtesy of Valentina Raffaeli)
It was edited by their band member/resident videographer in just a few days and now has over 2000 hits on Youtube, which is totally mind-blowing.
I can't wait to see the rest of the footage -- we shot a TON of takes that night, freezing our little butts off in a friends newly purchased warehouse space not too far from where we practice. There's always a measured degree of suffering with performance art, especially what we do. For awhile there, it seemed like every time we had a show there was a threat of rain or snow and one too many nights with frigid temperatures -- or, during the summer we were lighting things on fire during some of the hottest & most humid days of the season, which is almost worse than the cold. (Heat + humidity + fire = seriously unpleasant conditions.) It looks like Lux Arati will be exposed to a whole different audience thanks to our involvement -- hopefully this will lead to more (paid!) gigs and performances in the future. Next stop? Not sure, but we are tentatively scheduled to perform at Poet-Tree in Motion again this spring at the Rotunda in West Philly. More information on that and other performances will be posted soon.
****Sunshine Superman is playing in Philadelphia tonight at the World Cafe Live. Click here for the Facebook event page and more info. ****
Those close to me know that I am happy to move on to 2013. It's just another day, just another year, but something about the shift from December to January has us all reflecting on how we've been doing, what we've accomplished in the past 12 months, how we feel about it and what we want to change for the next year to come. I've always resisted the New Years resolution thing, on the premise that I should be able to make changes ANY time of year, not just in January. But I welcome it now. I think I need the reassurance that in 2013, things will be different.
I couldn't figure out what image to use at the beginning of
this entry, so... here's THIS. (Photo by Alex from Burning Man 2012)
2012 had, among other things, a rocky start, literally from New Years Eve on. It was a rather turbulent year from start to finish. Not just for me - in fact, more so for those close to me, including my friends and family. There were many beautiful moments, and plenty of difficult times, and a whole hell of a lot of hard work. But life goes on, and here we are in January of 2013 and I have assured myself (and those around me) that this year will be better.
It may be because come July, I'll be turning 30, or because things were so chaotic this past 12 months - regardless my willingness to move on and keep going is strong and steadfast. It's not that I've never had (or written down) concrete life goals -- I think usually a vague direction of where I want my life to go has been enough in the past to get me by the day to day. With so much chaos, drama, tragedy... it's hard to sit down and think about your 5 year goals in a calm, collected manner. That was then, and this is now. Changes abound, and I've been pondering where I want to be, what I want to do, and how I want to get there in the past few weeks. Who knows what date this entry will post under, but I've been working on this entry since the first week in January, and now it's FEBRUARY and I'm finally able to understand what my brain has been processing since the start of 2013.
PROJECTION
What I want to accomplish in 2013
1. More opportunities to show my work in and around Philly.
Last year I was ridiculously busy with enough extra projects I didn't have time to focus on exhibitions. I had one solo show at a local cafe and submitted my work in several group shows at First Friday events, parties, and so on. I'd like to show my work at several new venues, and hopefully organize another solo or partner show. Providing I can find appropriate outlets (sometimes these things just cost tons of money in entry fees) I'm hoping to submit my work to local group shows as well.
2. Mural gigs.
The goal I am most excited about trying to accomplish this year is to get a mural gig. My idea is this: Despite having done murals for much of my life as an artist so far, it's been several years and none of them have been in the city I live in - the mural "capital" of the country. I want to find someone to donate an outdoor wall in a public area that I can use as a kind of advertising space for my work. I can fundraise for the materials and donate the time when I can -- possibly through a kickstarter campaign or something similar. I've always dreamed of going into the mural business with my dear friend and fellow artist Kristin Sholz. (Since we both work in the service industry and are otherwise prolific artists doing freelance work whenever we can, and between the two of us I think we can paint anything and cater to any client... yea, we should sit down and talk about this one.)
3. Fire, bellydance and performance art ; take what I am already doing to the next level of awesomeness.
I created this ridiculous headdresses for performing in and have only worn them each once, for two separate performances. (One for my NYE gig, and I'll post the anticlimactic video of the performance at the end of the entry.) I want be able to incorporate the things like the headdresses that I create into my regular performance outlets, like Lux Arati. I want to get better at creating choreography so I can contribute more in that area of what we do. I want to learn a *new* fire tool, probably fire staff, and if I can afford to get one sometime soon, work on learning the art of sword balancing for bellydance. I also want to put on a concrete show of what we do in Philadelphia, though that may be more than I can handle this year. We'll see.
4. Personal goals:
Work on fixing up my credit and be on my way to buying a house by this time next year. Work on quitting smoking, cause that is important for you know, staying alive. Especially if I ever want to have kids, which I should probably start thinking about doing before I get too old. I want to travel more this year, and forego Burning Man in 2013 to do so if need be. (Unless I come into a bunch of money, yea, that's not happening. I'd rather buy a house.) Incorporate more yoga/exercise into my daily & weekly rituals, along with more juicing and raw food smoothies, which I already do fairly often. Get better at setting up systems in my life for keeping things clean and organized. And go to bed earlier, because I am pretty much always exhausted.
REFLECTION
Looking back on 2012
1. Changes, changes...
Three of my dear friends and fellow members of Lux Arati either have moved to different cities or are about to leave Philadelphia. Or probably will. We also gained three new members, who are AMAZING and talented and I'm really excited about having them be part of the group. The saddest no doubt was the last minute exit of Lux Arati co-founder (and my closest friend in Philly) Jexime, one of the most talented, inspiring people I know.
Jexi spinning fire fans with the rest of Lux Arati
(I'm next to her on the right, Nicole and Michelle on the left.)
Photo by Lindsey Tweed.
Jexi left us to go halfway across the world to join the circus in Thailand. Seriously. And that's just for a few months, until she returns to the US and follows her heart to Taos, New Mexico. Since Jexi and I pretty much only got through 2012 because of our mutual support of one another, this is a hard one to let go of. However, I know she's doing the right thing, as the heart is the only thing you should listen to sometimes. I wouldn't be here, in Philly, if I hadn't done the same thing back in 2007. Ah, love. Le sigh.
2. Some of my favorite things from 2012:
Performing with Aish Tamid Fire Conclave at Burning Man 2012; From the beginning -- assisting with bringing already practiced choreography and seriously talented performers into our fire fan & bellydance sections ; to the hot sticky middle -- just surviving the 101 degree day with 100% humidity the day of the (hot hot fire) video shoot ; to the very end, the actual performances out in the desert -- in front of the Stella sculpture the one night and then at the base of the man, the best seats in the house, surrounded by our Philly fam and representing the East Coast (serious business) under the magnificent, magical full moon the night of the burn.
Michelle and I performing with Lux Arati at PEX's
Magic Garden Party in August 2012.
(Photo by Redlite Photos.)
Getting better at doing what I do (and being recognized for it); Especially with performing, I know I have a long way to go to be anything shy of an expert -- but with each performance and each practice session I find myself picking up choreography quicker, I can understand the moves faster and I'm finally ready to graduate to a new set of fans (now that I found someone to make a set that I actually really love.) My comfort level with free-spinning (as in, no choreography) has always been lacking, but this year there were several occasions where I went out there and did my thing and killed it. PEX's Halloween party was the pinnacle moment of that realization -- no awkward pauses, no fumbled moves, just smooth, tight transitions and graceful maneuvers. Thank god. Several friends came up to me after that performance to tell me how amazing it was. And it felt good.
On a similar note, suddenly I find myself taking on a role and responsibility with Lux Arati that I never anticipated -- I am now the one who knows the most about performing with fire and the one that has been doing it the longest. Wait -- I'm the what? But yea, that's now me. I started playing with fire in early 2009, and now it's 2013. Anyone else who has been doing it longer has moved on, and I'm the resident fire expert for the group. Who knew?
Continuing to develop my work and name in the art community of Philadelphia; Art related, I sold more paintings, prints and received more commissions in 2012 than I ever have. The paperwork for these things I still need to get better at, if I ever want to transition into doing my thing full-time... which may happen someday, you never know. In the meantime it feels good to have 355 "likes" on my art page on Facebook, a handful of followers of this blog, and a number of people who I know read these words occasionally and are hopefully entertained, amused, or inspired.
Shape of the year: Definitely the Merkaba.
This is the long-ago promised photo of Stella Octangula, the Philly C.O.R.E.
Burning Man project at night all lit up with LED lights.
I heard some FANTASTIC music and danced my ass off on numerous occasions; Favorite mix of the year (that would be music, folks, and mix as in a set that a DJ plays and/or records for our listening pleasure) I think has to be Coyoti's set from PEX's Halloween party, Back to Battle aboard the USS New Jersey. Actually, he played from the art car The Blackbird, parked right out front of the ship where we were spinning fire. Incidentally, I am almost positive that my greatest free-style spinning I was referring to earlier in the post took place during this set. Coyoti has come a long way since he started DJing and this mix absolutely shows it. (Click here to listen to the mix on Soundcloud.)
Now, if Mr. Michael Nighttime, one of my FAVORITE Philly DJ's had recorded his set from Sunday night at PEX Summerfest next to the pool... that might have trumped Coyoti's Halloween mix, but as it turned out, unfortunately that fantastic set that saved my weekend was not recorded. Oh well.
Other notable music moments include seeing legendary drum n bass DJ Aphrodite play at the Opulent Temple stage during Burning Man. Waking up several mornings in the desert, listening to the sunrise sets from our Baltimore brother Neil Kurland travel into my tent -- and I can't forget hearing Neil's private drum n bass/jungle set during the only rainstorm on the playa, played to a maximum of maybe 8 people underneath the semi-shelter and on the modest musical setup of Mosaic Lounge (literally a block down from our camp.) That was a special moment, indeed. We couldn't find any music we liked that night so we made our own.
All said and done; It was an excellent year for growth in performance and my artwork, and I like to think I made some marked improvement with my costuming projects, painting and even with my technical bellydance skills. I had several decent paying gigs with Lux Arati and on my own, I finally finished "The Honeycomb Merkaba" painting and gave it to it's owner(s), and sold a few paintings and pieces to friends and strangers. Just finished another commission at the end of the year (photo below) and am in the beginning stages of another one.
I survived the chaos, the tragedy, the abrupt changes to my comfortable little world. I had a lot of fun, many times, and worked hard in between.
"Papaver Somniferum" / acrylic, charcoal pencil on wood
Commissioned painting for Drew Rodkey, completed at the end of 2012.
"Poppy Box" / acrylic on gessoboard, wood
Sold this year to friends Erik and Hedy after my show at Buzz Cafe in April 2012.
Going to stop there as far as reflecting on 2012. Though I wasn't sure how this would turn out when I began writing -- if it would be as negative and depressing as my initial reflection on the year at it's end -- I managed to stay hopeful, positive, and concentrate on most of the great things that came from the past year instead of the disappointing ones, the hard times, and general chaos. (Cancelled performances, family drama, breakups, and other rough times.) There were some fantastic moments within the general sludge, and on the whole I worked my ass off in all of my creative outlets.
Now that the initial shock of the new year and the necessary time to reflect and plan ahead has passed, I feel at ease. Writing has always been a form of therapy for me, whether it happens in private journals or here in my blog, on display for anyone to read. I believe everyone should try and write (even if no one else ever reads it), just as an emotional release. It doesn't matter what or why, be it something amazing that happened to you that you want to share with the world or a private message to yourself to re-read in years to come, and especially if you just feel awful that day and need to get some of that emotional baggage off your shoulders.
I've realized lately also that I'm an incredibly, unnecessarily wordy person. Whether it's a personal email to a friend, info I'm posting to a group online, or most obviously, the blog post you may have not bothered to read this much of, I can't help it. It's my nature to draw things out longer than needed, there is no part of me that is naturally short and to the point. For those with short attention spans that can't be bothered to read my nonsense, I apologize. To the rest of you that have gotten this far and will continue to read whatever words I paint this page with, thank you. In a world that has become increasingly brief -- if you can't say it in a tweet or text message, it's not worth reading -- I'm going to hold on to the essays, the short stories, the gorgeous possibilities of the English language and it's bountiful, copious, innumerable myriad of words to choose from. (I hope that made sense and I used all those words correctly.)
My next post will be less wordy and have more photos of new work, hopefully exciting developments on new projects -- and not take as long to compose as this one did. Happy New Year, in February of 2013 from Xtina.
And, the previously promised video of my performance from NYE 2012, dancing with fire fingers and wearing one of my headdresses. Also features fire eating by Lauren Raske and Liana Cameris, my fellow performers from the evening. Enjoy and don't laugh too hard. :)
I will be exhibiting work this upcoming First Friday, December 7th at Frank's Kitchens Figgy Puddin Fiasco! It also happens to be my lovely husbands date of birth (the big 3-0) and this may be the first time we've been featured on the same flyer together. A-mazing. Ya'll had better come out for this.
As I post this flyer to advertise the event, I must say -- I haven't the slightest idea what I'll be showing in less than 2 weeks. Guess I need to get crackin', don't I?
"The Honeycomb Merkaba" prints made for the Stella project fundraising series -- all laid
out on my kitchen table awaiting the artists signature.
I'm not sure if it's because the last one was so long, or because I haven't had much to write about, but again it's been quite awhile since I've written anything and I'm feeling guilty. I started some posts that were too whiny, really should be updating the photos on my website instead of just posting a blog - but alas, there are never enough hours in the day.
I recall a friend and my husband, even, getting some laughs at my expense when I realized that marketing yourself as an artist (totally, including social media, entering shows, maintaining your website and of course, creating the work itself) felt like a full time job in itself. Now that I have a nearly-full time job again on top of "being an artist" (to you know, pay the bills) so much of the extra work past just drawing and painting (the part I love) is such a chore. Also somewhat overwhelming. I only have so many hours in the day after work... and then tack on practicing and performing with Lux Arati and when the HELL am I supposed to update my website? And write in this blog? (Can I hire an intern yet...? I'll sign whatever papers I need to and give you loads of college credit! Oh, if only...)
Right now I'm working on two commissioned paintings for friends. One is nearly done, the other I have just barely started. Here is my painting sketch for the piece, still unfinished as I decided it was more important to move on from gouache and paper to the real thing.
I'm hoping once the actual piece is done I can finish filling in the rest of the color blocks and exhibit it next to the final painting as its own art work. I rarely spend this much time on something in its planning phase, but my client is a good friend with a keen eye for design and I was right on with my instincts to plan out his painting in such detail.
It's basically a spin-off of the famed "Honeycomb Merkaba" painting I had been working on (and posting about) for much of the last year and a half. Using similar geometry, including the star tetrahedron as a center piece, this one will be square and therefore relate more to a Mandala painting than anything else. It will undoubtedly be another test in how well I can mesh together organic and geometric forms harmoniously within the same piece. Conceptually it will be more about expressing this kind of balance than anything emotional, at least so far. I'm almost ready to start drawing the design on the surface, which had to be hand-built from scratch. I realized as soon as I set foot in the art store that they didn't make anywhere near the size he wanted in the smooth surface I desired, so instead we made a trip to Home Depot and my fabulously talented hubby turned hardboard and plywood into the perfect "canvas" for this piece. Heavy and smooth with thick wooden side panels. Perfect for detail. On that note, I should probably finish sanding it's surface and start the painstaking yet satisfying process of measuring and marking, essential prepping for laying out the actual design.
As a side note, my fiery bellydancing ladies of Lux Arati and I recently had a successful gig performing for the Fairmount Park Conservancy at their Glow in the Park event at FDR Park in South Philly. We were lucky enough to be captured by their official event photographer (see the Facebook album here) as well as bring our own to document the evening and take some posed shots after the performance. Here are a few of my favorites from our photoshoot with Lindsey Tweed -- ending this post with some fiery eye candy of the finest caliber.
(Last but not least -- FIRE NOM NOM.)
Fire photos of Lux Arati by Lindsey Tweed.
And I've waited long enough to post this entry that the holiday season is now officially upon us. I wanted only to add that while my list of things I find myself thankful for this season is long and detailed -- I am extremely thankful for every single person who takes the time to read Midnight in a Perfect World, all of my fans, friends and family that support my work in the many fabulous ways that you do... and every day I am thankful for my patient, understanding and loving husband Alex. I wouldn't be able to do HALF of the amazing things I have devoted my life to without your support. I love you and am so lucky to have you in my life.
Silly kids and their pink hair and piercings.
(Burning Man photo tease! I promise, I'll get around to editing and
I wish I could tell you that any of the photos in this post are my own. Unfortunately, the exact location of our camera is currently unknown. It did not return with us in our checked or carry-on luggage, so our most hopeful scenario is that during the insanity of breakdown I packed it somewhere in our bins on the PEX shipping container and I will find it sometime after this Sunday when we get them back. Worst case scenario is that the silly little dust-proof, water-proof camera I bought only a couple months prior is lost. Either way, I'll find out soon enough.
For now, here is a brief synopsis of Burning Man 2012; Fertility 2.0, illustrated in part by several collected photos and video from the lovely folks that shared this epic week with us. May I present: Readjustment to the "DEFAULT WORLD", part 1.
Oh, what fun.
Putt Putt Playa, featuring Frank's Kitchens and DJ "Cardboard" Lee Mayjahs,
Burning Man 2012, Black Rock City, NV
(Photo courtesy of Bill Wynes)
The thing about this particular place and it's adventures is that chances are, if you do it the way we do, you're out in the desert for quite some time. The environment is harsh - dry, intense heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night. If you don't know that you should be drinking ridiculous, almost vomit-inducing amounts of water all day long, you will probably become dehydrated. Even if you do know this, chances are you'll have a day here or there where you aren't feeling so hot and are possibly in a not-so-great mood. The event of Burning Man spans such a length of time that you end up running the whole gamut of human emotions and physical conditions as you adjust and adapt to the weather, environment, and temporary constructs of this giant little city. Everyone, for the most part, who is there for an extended period of time, has a bad day — usually once you're at the end of your rope, the one tethered to "reality" and the rest of the normal functioning world. Here you are, in the middle of the god damn desert, the middle of nowhere, incredibly far away from home, eating a can of Spaghetti-O's for breakfast. It's 110 degrees out (dry heat, so your sweat evaporates before you know you're sweating) and your tent is a nylon greenhouse, entirely too hot to sleep in right now, you stayed up too late the night before partying, and dang: you kinda feel like shit.
But you take care of it, or yourself (or someone else does), and you recover. Then once you're back home, maybe you choose to remember all your amazing, fantastic moments from the 7 days you were part of Black Rock City and all it's glory, instead of the day you got too hot or the morning you couldn't sleep thanks to Bubbles and Bass and their 5am - till - noon champagne dance party. Oh, the bass. I hope you like bass (the musical kind of course, because BRC is a little dry for the aquatic variety)... and if you don't, I hope you remembered Valium and earplugs.
But then there are all the wonderful things. Here are some of mine, illustrated through the eyes of my camp-mates' cameras and more, plus my wordy commentary, the extended version...
Welcome home! Look how happy we are. And still so clean. ;) (Photo courtesy of Miss Andria Key)
Vegetarians for bacon! At Burning Man, that is. Normally, my ideal diet is primarily plant-based, augmented by fish and other sea creatures on occasion. (I'm from Florida; I've tried the actual vegan/vegetarian thing and it's not my bag. I love fish too much.) However, two years prior, I cracked after 4 days in the desert and eating bacon made me feel human again. Burners do love their bacon. This go-around I didn't go out of my WAY to eat bacon... but if it was offered to me I took it. Just ate the pigs, wasn't really interested in birds and can't do red meat just like that out of nowhere. (That's a sure-fire recipe for a tummy-ache and maybe much more, which is very unpleasant without running water and flushable toilets.) This shot is from Andria, the lovely cherry-clad lady on the right, as we make a Shari sandwich immediately after I was handed a spicy, strong Bloody Mary during our Monday morning camp set-up, within which there was a delicious, protein packed morsel of bacon-wrapped shrimp floating about. Breakfast and cocktails, all in one. (Thanks Cameron! That bevvy made it all happen.)
The shiny ladies showing off the goods at Gold Bikini Cocktail Hour.
Ahemm... ZOOM; ENHANCE.
(Photo courtesy of Miss Patty Rice.)
I did not bring a gold bikini. That means my fabulous golden outfit was pulled out of NOWHERE. A mish-mash of pieces of other outfits meant for some other moment; I did well, I thought, save for the red and black bandana. (Should have switched it out for a black one, but it went with my previous and following outfits for Thursday, which was also "red" day in my outfit planning schedule, apparently.) I was only able to make it happen with, of course, a little help from my friends. Thanks, Geri, for the sexy, see-through, golden bikini top. Option from Geri number two was golden pasties, which I was actually going to wear first, but I lacked the proper tape (which did NOT come in the box, thank-you-very-much.) So, see-thru glimmery teeny bikini it was. That is officially the closest anyone got to viewing my nipples. Luckily the golden spectacle was well-documented, so you can almost see my nipples forever, etched in digital film. (Cue obligatory CSI/SVU techno joke - "Now for that special, magic fantasy button that clears up shoddy low-res photos...zoom in, now ENHANCE. Yes, now ENHANCE again. Perfect.")
(Of course these are probably all amazing resolution, this is 2012, but I just couldn't help making an "enhance button" joke that references a grainy photo and my own boob.)
Makin' faces at Bill (during Gold Bikini Cocktail Hour at Rat Camp. Feelin' saucy.)
(photo courtesy of Bill Wynes)
So I will take full responsibility for the following "pants accident" that occurred the sunny, golden Thursday afternoon of Gold Bikini Cocktail Hour. Hosted by our friendly frisky neighbors, this was evidently a pre-planned Cocktail Hour (of the golden variety) and was a very brief walk or ride just on the fringe of PEX Village (I'd say the suburbs, maybe) and took place roundabouts 5pm on Thursday afternoon. Alex, pictured next to me above, I think was also not aware of the event prior to our hurried pre-Playa packing, and also did not bring a gold bikini. He did, however, have a smashing silvery-gold vest (very nice, not too expensive, vintage and sexy enough to go with the ladies gold bikinis and the men's golden spandex) which paired well with white sailor pants (the pre-worn variety) from the army-navy store here in Philly, I-Goldberg, and which have accentuated many an outfit since their purchase.
Fritz, of our Golden Bikini hosts (Rat Camp/Theme of the Moment Camp, and whatever else they happened upon during the week) was in his usual over-excitable, happy but kind of devious form that accompanies such pre-planned Playa activities. Because participation out there is half the experience, but you can't expect everyone to have planned ahead as well as you have, Fritz happened to be running around with, just in case, a can of gold spray paint, offering to spray anyone's ... well, anything ... had they come to Gold Bikini Cocktail Hour unprepared. Little Krystena had sacrificed a well-loved boot to Frtiz's golden mania, and now sported a single flash of gold, emerging from the dust caked on her once-black Playa boots, and seemed pleased with herself and its results. I, finally coming back to reality from my mid-week low days of dehydration and lack of proper sleep/food/etc, had a flash of "genius," no doubt tainted slightly by the sparklingly sweet golden bikini cocktail I had already began consuming. Alex's white pants, I thought excitedly, were altogether too white! Too white for Gold Bikini Cocktail Hour, indeed! Wouldn't they look smashing in another shade?? GOLD, perhaps??
In my mind, four days into this Mad Max adventure, this gorgeous city covered in sparkles, rainbow LED's, leather, feathers, dust, dust, and more DUST, I convince myself quickly that this stroke of genius is indeed a smashing idea and grab my hubby, start gesturing wildly and harassing our golden-inspired host to make my husbands pants GOLD, not white but GOLD! You must, they are FAR too white, and this is Gold Bikini- Freaking Cocktail Hour, god freaking golden dammit. We're all so bloody GOLD that this is like the end of the double hippie rainbow in Emerald City, what does it all MEAN (??!!) and everyone that's been there at least 3 (if not many more) days is well on their way to losing their minds. I most certainly am. I learned the first go around that strange and amazing things happen on Thursdays in Black Rock City, but you have to crack first. And possibly make some bad decisions, like convincing someone to spray paint my husband's white (absorbent poly-cotton blend) sailor pants gold. Especially when he turns him around and in an only half-amused haste, decides to only paint part of his pants gold. The part right around his ass. Two hastily sprayed golden circles , one for each butt cheek.
Needless to say, the pink-mohawked husband was not amused, and it took his tipsy, golden-tittied wife awhile to realize she had just thrown his wonderful white sailor pants into the belly of the beast, tossed them under the golden bikini bus, never to be the same again. This caused some tension and later, sincere apologies on my part, for it really (as so many things do) seemed like a great idea at the time. (No matter, for I have promised him new white sailor pants and I intend to hold up my end of the bad-idea bargain.)
Long live Wiener Camp!
(photo courtesy of Randi Sether)
Within Putt Putt Playa, my home away from home on the Esplanade at Black Rock City - was a smaller, more intimate camp that developed throughout the week. Our little compound became henceforth known as Wiener Camp, due to our propensity to dispense wieners, usually of the hot-dog-flavored variety, to visitors, friends, passersby, and the like. The wieners were brought to said camp by its inhabitants, and once these were consumed, more and more weenies of all varieties were brought to Wiener Camp by its friendly neighbors. Wieners were happily scarfed, by all, on the regular. Even veggie wieners were enjoyed by those who do not normally consume regular weenies (myself included, and possibly exclusively). One of the most enthusiastic Wiener Camp members, Randi (who may or may not moonlight occasionally as the heathen known to some as BAD BUNNI) discovered the above "Art piece" somewhere in deep playa and tried to bring it back to Wiener Camp to its inhabitants, in true weenie camp spirit (considering the consistency)... but found herself unable to do so. If only Bad Bunni had been there to assist her, perhaps the mission may have been more successful.
Hey, where is everybody?
(Photo courtesy of Patrice Caron)
This shot, included simply for reference, is a strangely empty shot of our camp (must be before we got there...before the real party started) from one of my PPP camp mates (Meg perhaps?); the infamous, the easy, the never-ending, the around-the-clock sets by world class DJ's (Cardboard Lee Mayjahs) — just set-it-and-forget it, fun for all ages, mini-golf extravaganza that was Putt Putt Playa.
That's us! The epic fire conclave performances around the man right before the big burn. A crazy night for the rest of the population when the performers are sometimes just about done, or haven't yet gotten started. As it is, I've only ever watched the burn quite sober, but that's what happens when people trust you to throw around flaming toys for their entertainment, I suppose. (Such
gorgeousness is the sky in the desert, sunsets and sunrises and moonscapes and stars... so unlike
anything we have here or anywhere else I've been but "out west." Inspiring artists since the beginning of time,
there is nothing quite like the light out there. )
Yea, bitches. That's a freakin' full moon hovering above the fiery spectacle. Pretty much, anyway. This is burn night, Saturday, the night after the full moon (which was hidden from us thanks to a crazy, insane dust storm the evening before) but it was beautiful just the same. My participation this year was that of a performer, naturally, as Philly's own Aish Tamid fire conclave was the ONLY East Coast conclave to be accepted.
Here's the deal with conclave: if you want to be part of it, to get a chance to perform in this sacred circle in front of 50,000 people and, equally importantly, to get a discounted ticket to the big beautiful burn in the desert, you really just have to show up. By showing up it's assumed that come August you will have then logged enough practice time to actually know what you're doing, even if you didn't when you started out. A lot of beginner fire spinners start off doing conclave, learn a lot, and then move on. So in general, especially in the past, conclave performances can be rather... boring. The one time I was a part of the safety crew, no offense guys, the whole shebang was pretty uninteresting. Then again, I do this all the time - organize large groups of people and put on just long enough of an exciting performance to keep a crowd. The crowd is NOT moving here, because you're just the preview for the main event (the "Man" burning to the ground). Problem is, what with the population explosion at this particular event, they've had to tighten the reigns a little bit and not accept everyone who applies. Some small but specific rules for 2012 made it a bit more complicated, and as it was, Philly was the only East Coast conclave to make the cut. Then again, I heard once we were out there that of the 23 conclaves accepted, some ridiculous number, 17 perhaps, were from California.
Now I understand that a great deal of people who attend this event are from Cali. It makes sense, considering the culture out there and the culture of Burning Man, not to mention its proximity to where the event is held. (But 17?? Out of 23?!? You've got to be kidding me.)
Regardless, everyone in our Philly conclave really, really wanted to go to Burning Man this year. No surprise there. If you don't really really really want to go to Burning Man you probably won't begin to bother because it's such a freaking pain in the ass to prepare for, pay for and simply survive that you'll stop while you're still ahead. Poor Philly kids, have to travel so far, what ever will we do if we can't save $150-200 out of the grand we'll be spending to get out there by purchasing a performers ticket?? Philly did what Philly does, and we took it up a notch -- (several notches!) Some of our Philly people that usually perform with other groups, international conclaves, stayed with Aish Tamid this year - truly contributing some of the best choreography of the show, which of course had been developed and perfected way before we all started meeting and practicing together as Aish Tamid this past Spring. Same thing with my Lux Arati girls and me - with tons of choreography borrowed from our performances and combos, the fan section (that'd be me) of conclave was almost more technically advanced than some of its participants could handle. (Sorry girls, but we, uh, did tell you to practice.) There were definite leaders and followers, of course, some of us more experienced with our tools than others (some of us still drop our fans even though we know the choreography and moves like a second heartbeat)... but in general, nearly everyone who performs regularly in some professional fire troupe or group act in Philadelphia was involved somehow.
Burners being as they are, and most of you knowing what I do performance wise - any asshole with a hula hoop or a pair of poi can make a big deal out of spinning fire, even poorly, to the right audience. Common as it may be in some circles (like "Burning Man," perhaps you've heard of it? I know, too much), once you get past the spin-jam style performances, it is well-rehearsed, excessively-drilled, and utterly-perfected choreography that stands out in this kind of setting. (We can't all have solos, especially when there are 18-25 people and 15 minutes of performance time - plus, that's rather boring.) So it would make sense then to take all the people that are doing that stuff anyway, gather them together, have them teach a few other people the already-developed choreography, simple or complex as it may be, and then you have a cohesive show to perfect in only 5 months, with a massive learning curve and range of skill levels among the participants. With the right teachers, with proper direction (thank you Terry and Vinny, organizing any group of that size can be frustrating and near impossible) tossed with a splash of blind faith and sprinkle of luck, it can work. And it did, we I'm proud to say that Philly kicked ass. We did it, we got there, we represented Philly and the East Coast with the kind of city pride usually reserved for organized sports, and we all don't even do this together year long. That is, except for those of us that do -- in different groups, with different names.
It was said after the burn that while Aish Tamid isn't a regular cohesive troupe beyond Burning Man (its leaders and members tend to change from year to year, the leaders passing the torch to the next in line and a new crop of eager virgin burners waiting their turn for a discounted ticket and a guaranteed spot around the circle), that our group was an accurate representation of the best performers and troupes in Philadelphia. And though I'm newer than some of my peers in these leadership roles regarding organized fire performances, I proudly agree. (I think my cherry-clad, Putt-Putt sista Andria was that voice of reason.) Cheers, kids. We made it there and back. Almost all of us, anyhow.
I must confess one point of shame from my trip and coveted performance spot. I must preface this confession by noting that while I'm not the best fire fan spinner in the world, nor Philly, nor Aish Tamid (by any means), I walked into this performance opportunity with confidence in my skills and was not intimidated by any of the choreography or technical skills with my preferred tool. I got this, and most certainly did. Plus, it helps that I regularly dance with both of the ladies that were planning my portions of the choreography, so I know how to follow and dance with them no matter what crazy music we happen to be moving to this time. (Three drummers, maybe? Some psytrance? World fusion?? Throw it at me, Mutant Vehicles, you janky Art Cars, give me what you've got.) I'd rather burn myself than drop my fans during a performance. The fire fingers were a learning experience, but I was more concerned with perfecting my bellydance moves than tangling my flaming finger appendages.
However, Butterfingers McGee over here, as luck would have it - four years of performing in front of audiences with fire and I absolutely totally f*cking (excuse my french) dropped one of my fans during our final, #1 super important on-stage moment, right there, into the dust, in front of the soon to be flaming man-building on burn night, Saturday night with that big beautiful full moon in the background. The big kahuna, the climactic moment... 50,000 dusty, dirty burners hooting and hollering... 50,000 tripping hippies, flashing farting art cars on lifts, guys in big fuzzy orange tiger top hats in elevators dispensing questionable consumable items (what?), sarcastic and/or fucked up assholes waiting around for our dumb asses to finish so they can set that big wooden building on fire. You know, the big one in the middle. With the guy on top. (Or was it a female this go around, on account of the fertility thing?) Who knows, because I will never forget that big effing oops. Seriously though, I knew that move inside and out... but things happen. I guess that's a lesson to you beginners, even the people who taught you the move can f*ck it up, including that important moment when everyone is actually watching. Obviously I'm still kind of pissed at myself for doing so. (At Burning Man? The culmination of EVERYTHING? Yep, shit happens. *Raises hand* Even professionals, ahemm, occasionally slip. This was my time.) My conclusion for this major slip up? Nothing... moving on. I'm not the only one who fudged something -- Terry burned himself slightly, as usual. Who doesn't? Andria singed her hair a bit... I forget, there was more. But who can you see drop their tools? Oh just me, right in the middle. Thank you, I just needed a little cheese with my whine, I'm over it and thanks for listening. ;)
Other than that, everything else was lovely. I say that with only a slight twitch in my eye. Better a giant audience with an overwhelming spectacle that you are only a small part of than an intimate one with all of their eyes on you and you alone.
Oh, here's the video btw.
Alright, dear friends. This is long enough of a post for one that doesn't even contain any of my actual photos. To update you, I began writing this pre-container load-out, when our camera was still MIA. It is over a week later and post-container load-out, and we have (most) of our large awkward camping/bicycle junk back in our possession. Although I have already appropriated, and nearly written a friggin' novel about my dusty week via my friends photos, I am happy to announce that we have since located the missing camera and are in the process of recovering and editing its contents. In retrospect I had felt like we hardly took any pictures compared to some, but after completing this post I realize that there are oh, so many more stories to tell. I've just barely begun, barely scratched the surface of a wealth of dust-filled adventures, yet I already can't wait to go back next year and do it better. AGAIN, and with more gusto!
