A sound experiment film by me and ray

Starring – Ryan ingrassia, ray, ben, Bryan, liqing, jacky, joshua, eugene and shu hui

Directed by- Sabreena and Ray

Well this is just an experiment me and ray carried on sound. We played with loud sounds, soft sounds, infidelity and all type of other sounds. It took us almost two months to do up everything. I personally like this the most among all the crazy videos or films i made. I love sound. This tiny film was very well loved by my friends in Germany, Indonesia and singapore as well. Strange that people like random ideas. I have to thank Ryan for helping us alot. I dont think this would have been possible without him. When i imagined the role of the eveeeel teacher, i saw him in my mind. If it was acted by someone else i dont think it would be this nice. Everyone loved his “you stupid noob” diaolouge. 

Strangely the cast tend to enhance the characters better. Ryan was just supose to be a heartless teacher. But he changed the character into a psychotic one that loves scolding. Jacky was never supposed to slap shu hui. But he did in the actual take. And we liked it so much, we decided to keep it that way.

Originally the fan wasnt suppose to move or talk. But i managed to animate it with a string. The initial music video of the film was very very sucky and messy. During the final days, we suddenly edited a new one which matched our idea.

The red mark on Ryan’s face was $1 lipstick. And we had a great time washing it off. Ryan went off home looking like a red lobster.

Ray is the one who speaks for the fan. She is very embarrased by it. But she did a great job. Initially, its her fan that was supposed to star for this film. But since the shots corrupted in the last few days, my fan starred in this film. Seeing the string attached to the neck of the fan, my dad thought the fan was attempting sucide.

Wendy wee seemed to have liked our randomness. We really dont like cliche. Maybe weird videos like this would be the latest styles for movies. I love working with Ray. She is never cliche. If you tell us to walk right, we will walk left. If you tell us to say yes, we will say no. Ray is cool and crazy and absolutely random.

One more juicy detail, this story was born during an mrt ride to school. And it became into being thanks to the lovely casts. Thanks alot all for contributing!

Sabreena

When Art becomes business

Thats my dance at my school in front of muttons of the midnight. I think i gave the best i could. I smiled alot. I didnt freeze, forget any step. I guess the more you perform the more comfortable you would be in dancing in public. When i am dancing alone, i tend to smile less cos i am only dancing in front of a camera. I guess my motivation is my audience. Enjoy!

Well i guess some of you who had been tuning in to my blog would be very sad that some of these videos are gone. Well, my teacher didnt quite like the idea of me putting up videos of fellow dancers. I cant blame them. I should have seek proper permission. But it was something naive i didnt had any intention to do any harm. Two of the video techniques too had been removed. Well i still cant blame anyone as she claims its her techniques.

I had to reflect about something which had been in my mind for a very long time. I respect the line of teaching very much. When i was a kid, i used to observe teachers who would call students “stupid” just because they couldnt get a math problem right. I have touched this topic before on my blog. Whatever you say to a child really matters to him or her. So when i became a teacher, i was very careful with my students. Even if they are in the “Wanted” list in the teachers room. To me, i respect art alot. Its in my blood. Its in every malayalee. But for one moment, i thought to myself, art has been passed down over many generations. And its alive because it has been passed on, taught over and over again. Can art be copyrighted? Films are different totally. Copying an idea or a storyline can be considered infringing copy right. But can a special camera angle or movement be considered copyright?

I believe when we start teaching we should let it all flow free. Let everyone see and learn and spread the art everywhere you see, so it wont die. Like look whats happening in Egypt? Egypt claims that zills are boring. Lesser and lesser dancers are doing zills. That move is in great peril of being wiped out.

I guess this is just my opinion. I usually learn from observation. From hearing and seeing. So i take videos. I guess a teacher should let a student learn in whatever method he or she likes. A teacher should never be the obstacle of learning. But then again, who am i to say that? She might just be very uncomfortable at the idea. It really is up to the individual. Art to me cant be copyrighted. Its meant to be imitated, innovated and spread around to keep it alive. Bellydance has alot of misconceptions around it. Isnt this an opportunity to let everyone know its the most feminine art?

I cant help but say i am a little hurt. I am not writing this to hurt anyone. This is only my opinion. And i need a place to throw it out and this is it. I make a promise to myself, if i ever were to teach, i would let it open all free like i do in my videos. Maybe its my nature. Recieving all the msgs from women has only made me happy, that somewhere in the world someone is learning and benifiting from it.

I will tell all you girls one thing. You do not need the best teacher to teach you. As long as you have the determination to learn, you will be the best you can be. I always thought a teacher matters. But what matters more is the individual. The fiery passion to learn.

I will continue my journey of learning this art form even if it takes a thousand obstacles. I am planning to visit my friend in egypt and take some workshops there and i promise to share it.

Talking about teachers, i respect my audio lecturer the most. When this incdient happened, i couldnt help remmebering my audio lecturer. We wanted to record a very soft dailing tone and i remmebered how my lecturer sacrificed his lunch time. Even when we gaf up the idea nd told him its impossible. He kept changing the mics until he managed to record the sound. Now to me, thats a true teacher. Selfless just to make sure the student learns no matter what it takes. I have seen many teachers who say they are busy or just cant be bothered for the extra time and effort. Thats why i nominated him. I appreciate him alot more after this incident. He never feels tired of explaining and re explaining what we dont understand. He is so passionate about audio that he practically drowns us with knowledge. Its hard to fine true teachers like him. And i hope our radio ad will be a super sucess.

Sucess tastes more sweet when there are obstacles. Like the shooting for my school project, we screwed it up big time. I could see the pain in Eugene’s face. I didnt want to gif up and hurt the old guy. I could only rely on my creativity and i did something extremely unique. I will upload that soon. I could have given up and handed up a crappy project. But take risks people. Life is a gamble. If you are gonna be cliche, then you would never make it in movie business. I dont know and i dont care if my lecturer doesnt like the idea. What matters is, i tried. That goes for everything, even dancing. I hope this blog is an inspiration to all of you who are dying to learn.

Again no name has been mentioned in this blog, and no one knows where i am learning from. So your privacy is protected. This is just a venue where i throw what i feel. And its only what i think. I have nothing against anyone. I hope you understand. And this might in turn be a positive feedback for you.

Drum solos and a demo

Drum solos are my favorite in bellydance. Even though veils are beautiful. I have a particular interest towardsdancing according to the drum beat. As years go by, i find many dancers dancing lesser to the music. Even though they do not have to “mickey mouse” to the beats of the music, i guess that they understand the music alot lesser than ancient art forms.

In bellydance, following the music and understanding it is one of the core parts. Different drum beats have different types of movement. There is no rule that you have to shimmy to a fast drum. You can always be creative! What i mean is, understanding that movement and getting involved in the music

Whether its drums or other instruments, bellydance really requires knwoledge in msuic. That doesnt mean all the dancers are musicians but they work very closel with msucians.

Steps taught

Funky temple

Rotation shimmy

and a short demo

Difference between indian dance and Belly dance

This is a question many people ask me. As an indian, i can clearly see that indian dances has a strong foundation of bellydance. They have the hip drops, hip circles, shoulder shimmies and chest drops. In fact they have everything! Even floorwork. But they just do it differently.

The grand question is, Is there something called indian bellydance?

Would i be wrong to say, NO. Indian dance is not really bellydance. Bellydance understands the music and the body moves according to the music. Indian dance revolves around expressions. Even in modern film dances, the expressions are very strong along with the hip movements. Its almost like gothic bellydance.

So whats the difference?

As i have explained in the video, Indian music and middleastern music is very different. The drums of arabia goes. TAK TAK, The sounds are sharp and sudden. Whereas in india, the tabla sounds “DUNG DUNG”. The sound is less sharper to the ears. The idea of dance or bellydance is following and understanding the music. This is one possibility for arabic dance and indian dance to be soooo similar yet very different!

Another possibility is because the arabs ruled india for some time. And there is high chance of spreading some bellydance around india. Bellydance is danced by males females and children in the middleast. Its strange that even today indian movie male stars shake their hips. Even though, you dont see many doing it. But go observe all the indian movies, you can actually see many males doing hip movements. Obviously, the manly way!

That bloated stomach is result of having KFC. Lol. I had stayed away from fast food for many months. But having it again is really a bad idea. My stomach is very sensitive to garvabe and junk. And my sister kept reminding me how chemical the food is. Eating experience sucked all the way. And dancing with a full stomach is a NO NO!  Well i have a question? KFC tasted yummier when i was younger. Is it my imagination that KFC is not yummy anymore or as the taste become boring…Now this yummy topic should be saved as a different post. Anyways, all fast food is bad food!

As for the dance, its not choreographed. Its crappy dancing. Lol

Hafla bellydance party!!!

Well, i have mentioned hafla in this blog before. Now you can see a real HAFLA. Its a circle of dancers dancing towards each other! This is the 1st time i am entering this club. I had been busy with my rehearsals. I might be performing on the 15 dec as well.

Today we touched more on veil dancing with a choreography. The song is called Sidonya’s veil. I couldnt get hold of it. So i am planning to redo  choreography for a differnt song. I am also eying on a floorwork DVD to learn and practise some style. I am pretty impatient to wait till my teacher officially teaches me. So i am deciding to get a DVD to guide me through.

As for the auditions, i cant really say it went well. I screwed up 3 steps but it wasnt too obvious. I was taken aback at how the seniors were blushing. A fear crept into my heart cos i thought they would label bellydance as sexual and totally dismiss it. I wish i had told them a bit about the history before dancing. Or the worst case, the school might think the whole art is obscene. Now, i am being paranoid!  I had dress as conservative as i can so i can display the art in the most correct manner. But seeing them blush and giggle, i forgot 3 steps but managed not to make it too obvious. Singapore really hasnt seen bellydance before.

When i started shouder shimmying, my breasts s tsratedto shake. But i guess it looks obscene to someone who has never seen bellydancing before. It makes it even more important that i introduce this art to them so they would know how great it really is! I was very conscious of myself halfway through the dance. I really hope if i ever get to perform in this school, the audience will not look at it as dirty dancing. It really isnt dirty dancing. Its such a lively beautiful art that any age or gender can do! Well lets see if i make it through. Well seeing me in “Live” must be much more obscene than youtube. I just figured it out on the auditions. Its very sad actually.

One of my friend’s friend needed a bellydancer for this arab club or restuarant. My friend wanted to recommend me. But after hearing the requirements, she dropped the whole matter. It seems the owner of the club has a very very horrible idea of bellydance. If i were to take this up, i must be dressed skimiply, wear a face veil and seduce the guys with my eyes. And if i get lucky some rich asshole might pay me tips! This is the 1st time im swearing in my blog. WHAT THE HELL!!!!!

Bellydance isnt for seduction. Please. Get a life! I dont wanna take the touble to tell him the history. I guess some modern bellydancers themself think its an art for seduction. They do stupid things in clubs. Its sad! Really sad.

Bellydancing at cityhall

This is my short performanc for my bellydance sisters and my teacher. Its like a rehearsal for ur big day at Sembawang CC. I will be doing a solo performance to a drum solo on 24th November at around 8pm. So all are welcome to Sembwang community center. I really had no escape from smiling cos my teacher was scrutinizing me. So i smiled. I decided to give up the veils not only for the performance at sembwang but as well as at the FMS carnival. I am not such of an expert in it yet. So i will be only dancing for Sahra saidi.

 

This is a video of the senior citizens bellydance rehearsal. There is a 70 year old dancer wh went all the way to turkey, I have alot of respect for that lady. She took up bellydancing a year back. And i must say, she is very good. Her main speciality seems to be at cane dancing.

I had a good time exchanging choreogrpahies with all of them. I am interested in joining the club. They will be holding a hafla on 15 december. A hafla is like a circle of dancers…one dancer dances to the middle of the ring and then dances toward anyone in the circle and pulls her in. Its really fun and beautiful and it helps train us better.

To be honest, i am more of a self taught dancer. I initially started with dvds and observing ther dancers. I am joining classes officially as an aid for my dancing. For an example, i was never able to do Barrel turns(the one with the veils) until my teacher told me to focus on the floor. I believe its very important that we not only learn from a class, bt from dvds, observation, fellow dancers as well

Veil Bellydancing and a performance

We touched on veil today.

We learnt 5 techniques. I have covered them all on video.

-Love letter, whirlpool, around the world, butterfly and godess.

I am also doing as many practises for 2 upcoming performance. One would be the FMS carnival and the other would be at sembawang CC, my teacher told me i can do a solo performance. Isnt that cool? I am excited. I will be practising at citylink at cityhall mrt station where you can see many others practising I will be there, wednesday at 7pm. I shuld be ready with my drum solo by wed. I was too shy to show her my backbend. That i would secretly display at the carnvial.

I am thinking of bringing a yoga mat and doing my backbend on it for the actual performance. I really dont want to risk injury for my knees. Veil bellydancing helps build strength in your arms. The chiffon material was too light and slippery. I needed to get used to it. And i still need to.

The song i danced to is “AAHAT” by bellydance superstars.

Taking part in FMS carnival

Okay. Its strange. But i am in it. Mainly because of the encouragement from my teacher. I do not really have stage fright. But i dont smile that much. I told her its because i am doing it in a class. But she told me to do a few public performances to get over the fear and be used to it. I dont really like telling anyone this, cos i am scared i will screw things up. What if i fall down? And if my clothes drop off. Its bad enough that people think of this dance as something to do with sex. What if i get banned? I got myself a new costume cos the older one is really uncomfy to dance in. And i cant do a backbend in it. This one, i am securing it real well, so even if something drops off, i am not nude.

I wanted this as an opportunity to let people see how beautiful this is. I sound like an artsy fartsy person. But really, bellydance never stops amazing me. I am starting on veils. Its so beautiful, like you are flying. I am trying to master the windmill turn so people can see how nice it is.

My attire is going to be conservative. I dont want people to see this art in a wrong way. I will be doing a drum solo and veil dance (if i am really performing). In a way, this dance helps me through this semester. I dance when i am pissed or frustrated. 3d com graphics is scaring me. I feel so handicapped in it. I feel so shy asking questions being older than the rest. The kids are gooood. I am forcing myself to practise. Mr.Liswanto is a nice teacher. But i dont want to keep making myself small or look like a bimbo. I have to make effort somehow. This is the 1st time i think i am writing about school.

I love challenges, And overcoming them. But i am very frightened. I really want to graduate in time.

I am also practising dance like crazy everyday. I have lost half a kilo. Lol. Its that vigourous.

A MUST BUY DVD

I bought a dvd from ebay, excellent one that helps ur drum solos. Let me attach a picture.

Its true. After this Dvd, ur drum solos will never be the same again. The lady’s cute english is soooo cute that  u will love her. She uses please for everything, making u adore her presence.  The dvd is 2 hrs and 15 mins. WORTH UR MONEY! Buy it,

DRUM SOLO BELLYDANCE…N REFLECTION ON MY FEELINGS…

Hello again. I am back this time with a drum solo. I remmeber a girl by the name of Allysa requesting for a drum solo. I also must thank Carly again for all that support! This goes to you as well. I have to thank cassiopeia for helping many women out there. I practise what we call a windmill turn in bellydance with a useless shawl. I am hoping if cassiopeia can tell me my mistakes in it. Cos i cant get my bellydance teacher to help me yet, cos i will be only seeing her next week. And Cassiopeia is a very knowledgable dancr

Emotionally down…

Apart from using this blog for bellydance. I use it to express my emotions and feelings as well. I am feeling down mainly because i lost my temper very badly yesterday. I have a bad temper. Espcially lately ever since i lost my brother. I seem to be using it as a way to vent my frustrations. Not to mention, yesterday was my first day of my period. So i met a freind Ateeq. I guess i can call him a friend. I didnt quite lke the way he behaved with me yesterday. I think you know what i mean! I can respect friends. But not people who act funny.

So, he saw the terrible side of me. He pissed me off so bad, He got it back so bad. And he was sick and all. I just left cos i was frustrated. Today i reflected back at my bad behaviour. It was still mean of me to be pissed off at a guy who was quite sick. Even though, his intentions werent that great. So, i just said sorry to him. N he did 4gave me. But i am glad about one thing. I know i have changed. I remmebered the last time  a guy acted funny towards me. And i froze. This time it didnt happen. Its not that ateeq was molestng me. Just acting weird. But he got it back so bad. So, there is somethng good in something bad. Atleast, i dont freeze anymore when people act funny But still i shouldnt have been very mean to Ateeq. I just cant tolerate people who think of me as someone they can have fun with, when i am a person who realy hold on to my morals and culture strongly! I did make it clear to Ateeq that he is a friend!  I just feel guilty cause that guy became a victim of my wrath. And he didnt react back. He just gave a sad blank face!

I still dont understand flings. Or people who go for short term relationships. I rather marry and settle down. I dont know about trusting anyone in love yet. Cos, i am kind of scared and all after one terrible experience. Love is a big responsibility. Not just kissing and hugging and hanging around. Its about taking care and being taken care. I have too many typos here and i am NOT GONNA REVVIEW THEM. lol. Too tired…. argh

Oh ya, sorry ateeq 4 being evil. I am really not that sort of woman.