Hands of Kali

Forgot to mention in that last post: The picture of Deidra was taken by the amazing Sarah Wright of Triskele Photography.
Thanks, Sarah!

Hey hey, I'm very excited to announce that we recently held an audition and decided to take a new member into the group. Her name is Deidra, although you sports fans at home may recognize her as fruity_hat_lady .

Check out her hotness:


Deidra has been my student (I should really say "my star student") for about 2-1/2 years now. She's been performing with my student troupe Adderstone since that group's first performance at Medfest '07. In fact, I asked her to lead the performance at Medfest that year; she was still pretty new to the dance then and felt some nervousness about leading, but then she went on stage and tore it up. I've had my eye on her ever since. She has also been performing with her own troupe Fleurs de Nuit. Deidra's into swords, fire fans and pole dance -- the girl really is after my own heart. She's also an excellent seamstress, baker and winemaker. And I hear she's writing keyboard parts for the Fog People these days. Talk about multi-talented! She totally rawks, and we're all really stoked to have her in the troupe. Welcome, Deidra!

You can see Deidra (and the rest of us) in action at these gigs next week:
Olympic Sculpture Park, downtown Seattle, Thursday July 9, 6pm
Mechanismus at The Rebar, Thursday July 9, 10pm
All-Holiday Party at Annex Theatre, Saturday July 11, 7pm

xoxo,
Kendra

Wow, what a blast that was! A bunch of  us met at Kendra and Michael's to get ready, and some folks brought coffee, snacks, and even champagne. As usual lately, I forgot a bunch of stuff, so Kendra loaned me a white panel skirt and red bindis. Michael and his friend Skye rigged the jeep with a PA to amplify SKye's drumming, and Betsy also walked with us drumming. The Jeep was covered in veils and a sparkly dance bra on the hood.

I drove a few dancers down to Seattle Center to park and take the Monorail downtown to the parade route; folks kept taking our pictures everyhwhere we went, and it's fun to walk around the city as part of a passel of bellydancers.

For the entire route, people would zhagareet back to us, jump up to boogie with us as we passed, or holler at us to shake our moneymakers. it's as I'd suspected: everyone loves a belly! Thank goodness the wind was blowing toward us, or we'd have been spitting our veils out of our teeth the whole time--the wind was strong enough that we're lucky no one lost a veil and had it go sailing off.

By the end of the route, my tribal yarn belt had been shimmied into one huge macrame knot. My carpool group went to Seattle Center to the beer garden, but since none of us had any cash and the ATM line was prolly an hour long, we decamped back to the car and thus to Michael and Kendra's again.

All in all, a very successful day. The parade was a nonstop party, and thanks to everyone who participated. We were quite the rainbow!:

Well, crap. I screwed up. I should not have posted a public invitation to attend our performance at the Fire & Ice event at Georgetown Artopia tomorrow, the 27th. It's a private party, invite-only, not open to the public and all that. Sorry! BUT... the party does open up to the public at 9pm, shortly after we finish performing. So come join us for the fun anyway -- just come after 9pm and try not to hate me too much for inviting you out to an HoK show you can't actually come to see, ahem... :|

For your edification, however, I am posting the song-list we'll be performing to at the Fire & Ice event, cuz it's just so cool how could I not? Here goes...
"Snowman" by XTC
"Fire & Ice" (cover of the Pat Benatar song) by Rasputina
"Firewoman" by The Cult
"Apple of Sodom" by Marilyn Manson
"Hot Hot Hot" by The Cure
"Ice Cream Man" by Tom Waits

Too much good stuff, yeah? Super-big extra special mucho lovin' thanks to those who posted song suggestions for us. Nice ideas, guys. We're all winners here!

In this troupe we do work with a lot of props (recently: bullwhip, Mexican bingo cards, hula hoops; regularly: swords, veils, and glowballs; in the near future: fire lamps, fake snow), but I'm talking about support for fellow artists. So, no, I'm not talking about candles or poi.

Here are two salient yet apparently contradictory facts: I do not enjoy romance novels. I am friends with a historical romance writer named Delilah Marvelle.

I met Miz D at a cool literary event in Port Townsend, where they let me dance as well as read from my novel Scar Flowers. She's an awesome person and a pro writer whose first book, Mistress of Pleasure, sold out and is to be reprinted--yet, the book industry being what it is (i.e., pretty much as bad as the music industry), her publisher tells her that it wants to ax her series even though the second book (Lord of Pleasure) hasn't even come out yet! It's due out in early August, and the only thing that will save her series is grassroots support.

Back to "I do no enjoy romance novels." I should point out that books about love and sex are fine with me (there's plenty of both in my novel, for example) but that the usual trappings put my teeth on edge: Fabio-like male models on the cover, heaving bosoms, and head-tossing heroines. But ... I read Delilah's book and soon was racing through it to find out if the two leads will get together. Well, I should say 'reunite,' because they got busy practially from Page 1. But I won't give anything away, except to say that she makes it all work beautifully.

If you are so inclined, please show some support by reading her first book and/or support the book in some way. The campaign is even called "Save the School of Gallantry," and if you know me, you know that I like old-school shizzle. Like gallantry and rational publishers. Go to www.DelilahMarvelle.com and send a message to my friend that she can forward to her publisher. And while you're at it, try to convince your S.O. to get his chest waxed or buy a pair of breeches. Ok, kidding on that part.

Come see our bad-ass student troupe Adderstone this Friday, June 26. They're performing in a benefit show for Knock Magazine. In addition to their choreography to "Blood Oil Gold" by Solace, they'll also be doing tribal to a little somethin' called "Sexbomb" by some old dude named Tom Jones... It might be fun or somethin'. *shrug*

Adderstone -- Fundraising Event for knockmagazine.com
Friday June 26, 2009
7:30 pm - 11:30 pm
Location: Stone Soup Theatre
Address: 4035 Stone Way N., Seattle, WA 98103
No cover. Donations welcome.

We're performing at an event this coming Saturday (Georgetown Artopia) where the theme is "Fire and Ice." Our assignment is to come up with two full sets using only songs about fire and/or ice. Maureen is going to revive her solo to Marilyn Manson's "Apple of Sodom." It's not evident from the title, but in the song, Miss Marilyn repeatedly talks about being covered with snow, so we figure it works well for the ice theme. Maureen wears an all-white Ice Queen costume and throws around fistfuls of white glitter for this one. It's a beaut. Here's a pic from long ago...



And I'll be bringing back my solo with hand torches to "Hot Hot Hot" by The Cure, another oldie-but-goodie. We need to fill out our set-lists with some tribal to other fire- and ice-themed songs. Some possibilities include: 
"Firestarter" by The Prodigy
"Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash
"Burn" by NIN
"Crystal" by New Order
"Highway to Hell" by AC/DC

As you can see, we're a little fire-heavy and ice-light. Help us out? At this point, we welcome any suggestions for songs that mention fire or ice, but what we really is some ICE, yo! Got a cool song about ice, snow, freeze-y things, coldness in general? Post that song title in a comment here and we'll luv ya forever. Thanks! In case you suggest a kickass song and we end up dancing to it, you should prolly come see the show, huh? On that note: We're performing at 7pm and 8:30pm, Saturday June 27, as part of the Georgetown Artopia event at The Engine Room. Address is 5890 Airport Way S., in the old Rainier Brewery, across the street from Jules Maes. It's free, and there will be lots and lots of booze and art!

This show is significant for another reason: We have a special guest star. With two of our beloved HoK members (Xtina and J9) out on medical hiatus, we've recruited another dancer to help us out with this gig: My star student fruity_hat_lady . We look forward to having her rock our socks. ;)

We performed at the Fremont Solstice fair yesterday, after the parade. Thanks to our wonderful and consummately professional friend Reyshard, we performed two numbers on the stage with his R&B band at 5 PM. Reyshard fronts the band, and his lovely sister is the backup singer, while his mom sells CDs and merchandise over by the sound booth. Reyshard always looks fabulous and is prone to saying things like "It's hotter than fish grease in here!" For this show, he had on high-heeled boots, black jeans, and a cool leather-and-six-shooter themed belt that any tribal bellydancer would be proud to own. Oh, and a military helmet with a huge feathered crest. As a bellydancer, I don't normally say this, but I felt a little underdressed in comparison...

Check out http://www.myspace.com/reyshard to catch da noise, people--and word to the wise: Prince, watch out!

PS If you've read my book Scar Flowers, please post a review on either Lulu.com (http://www.lulu.com/content/4072766) or Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Scar-Flowers-Maureen-ODonnell/dp/B0029J3Z1Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243446070&sr=1-1 ) Thanks!

Dress to impress and meet us at the Funhouse tonight. Hope to see you there!

Hey good people --
Please join us for DARK AVENUE at the Funhouse this Wednesday, 6/17. In addition to hot hot hot bellydance action by Hands of Kali and Medea, we also have Babette La Fave on hand to perform her deliciously naughty cabaret this month, and live kooky jazzy circus music by Bakelite 78! DJ Dubonnet will provide the swanky ambiance you love so much, and the whole thing is hosted by the amazing Diva Le Deviant. Not to be missed! Only $7 gets you in the door. Dress in your 40s vintage finest -- fedoras, pinstripes, thigh-highs, cocktail dresses -- and show this city what you're made of!

DARK AVENUE at the Funhouse
Wednesday June 17
Doors at 9pm, show starts at 10
206 5th Ave. N., near Seattle Center

Visit www.handsofkali.com/darkavenue for more info.
xoxo,
Hands of Kali

Pride parade will be here on Sunday, June 28, heading north on 4th Avenue downtown. This year, Kendra has taken over representing bellydancers under the banner "Temple of Isis," and we dancers had a meeting at her house yesterday. Proceedings were monitored by Kendra's cat Fargo, who flirted with every woman there.

The parade starts at 11 AM from 4th and Marion and will wend its way toward lower Queen Anne, but don't fret if you don't like getting up early on Sunday mornings: our group is 144th out of 185 or something like that, so you have time to grab a few mimosas beforehand to rev yourself up with. We'll be representing the diversity rainbow with various colors of costumes and veils (Kendra posted earlier about dyeing a silk veil orange--I went the lazy route and joined the red ranks, because I already have lots of red to wear). We should have live drumming too, and the most originally decked-out Jeep you've probably ever seen. Hope you can join us!

Kendra and I went to Spin the Bottle on Friday to watch Adderstone--wow! Those ladies are intense and in synch with their intricate new piece, and they took over the entire stage. Way to go!!

Spin the Bottle is a great cabaret show held on the first Friday of every month at Annex Theater at 11 PM. I highly recommend attending it if you like hilarity with your variety.

Oh, and they serve drinks. Rather strong ones. Which is why I was relieved of responsibility for my raffle ticket by the end of the night by Kendra, who then proceeded to win a raffle prize that she generously gave to me. A gold star on the forehead to anyone who can tell me what exactly Ms. Kendra won. In a tasteful and preferably euphemistic manner.. ;-) [of course this is bellydance-related! take a gander at her TribalFest T-shirt!]

...without leaving the comfort of your keyboard, you can take a trip through an earlier DARK AVENUE. I hope this inspires you to come see the next DARK AVE at the Funhouse on June 17: "Murder Under the Bigtop," featuring Hands of Kali, bellydance by Medea, cabaret/burlesque by Babette La Fave, and tunes from God's Favorite Beefcake (oh, and maybe you'll recognize Ronald McFondle of Seattle Semi-Pro Wrestling too).

A trip down memory lane to a DARK AVENUE with the Fog People, Gale Force, Cherry Manhattan, and Hands of Kali can be glimpsed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7ssTTTMJQk



hmmmm... tastes like.... sword!

D'oh! I forgot to say where you can find the Saroyan scimitar online. The website is www.saroyanzils.com. Enjoy!

Man, I'm just a posting fool here tonight, huh? It's too hot to do much of anything other than type words into the computer. We're such pansies here in Seattle -- we think 70 is "hot," and anything over 80 totally paralyzes us. The high today was maybe 82 or 83, so we're dying, I tell you, dying. I just swatted and killed 3 of the 5 flies that have been buzzing around our house for the last several days; guess the heat slows them down as much as it does me.

Anyway. Let's talk about swords. Some nice person posted a comment in response to Maureen's latest post -- wherein Maureen referred to our new double sword choreography -- asking what kind of swords we use. This is a very good question, and hey, I love swords and I'm ready to talk about 'em all night pretty much any damn time. So here's the low-down. There are three different swords I recommend to all of my first-year sword dance students. I own at least one of each of these three different swords; I've practiced and performed lots with all of them; and I think they're all awesome, for different reasons. The one rule of thumb I am very serious about: Get a sword that you'll enjoy dancing with. It doesn't matter if your sword matches your troupemates' or your classmates' swords. The important thing is that you like your sword. Sword dancing is such a delicate and personalized art that there's no point in making yourself miserable by picking a sword that doesn't totally wow you.

That said, here are the three swords I recommend. The first is the Moorish Scimitar from Kult of Athena. It looks like this:

This is the sword that HoK members use for double sword dancing. The website is www.kultofathena.com. These scimitars are inexpensive (usually $40 each), and as you can see, they look scary as hell. They're pretty heavy, and they're kinda hard to balance -- those are the drawbacks to keep in mind.

Sword number 2 is Saroyan's famed Scimitar:

These swords are absolutely beautiful. In my mind, they're The Ultimate, The Apex, a sword dancer's Dream Come True. Harry Saroyan has been making these swords since before I was born, and I'd bet you there is no greater master maker of bellydance swords on the planet. The way these things balance is just dreamy -- you set one of these scimitars down on your head and it'll stay there like it never wanted to be anywhere else. There are two little drawbacks to these swords, however. One: They have a hilt-guard, a piece of metal around the back of the hilt that comes over the back of your hand. The hilt-guard makes it relatively impossible to do the toss/catch move from finger-balance. If you have no idea what the "toss/catch from finger-balance" is, message me via comment here and I'll post a video demo of the move. The other drawback is that these swords are pretty expensive: $175 each, currently. But dude, the axiom "you get what you pay for" truly applies here.

The third and final sword I recommend is the Moon Dance. Moon Dance swords look like this:

Moon Dance swords are available all over the web, usually for about $60 each. Sometimes you can find used ones for $40 or so. The balance on these things is imperfect but generally okay. They're affordable and light-weight, and they look really nice. They don't have hilt-guards, so you can do toss/catch if you want to. The big advantage here is that you can find them in most bellydance stores, so you have the option of playing with them a little bit before you buy, unlike ordering blind off the internet. I'd say the Moon Dance is a perfect choice for first-time sword dancers.

I would be remiss if I did not address the "battle-ready" question when talking about bellydance swords. Lots of swords you'll see online will be advertised as "battle-ready." This means they're sharp. Unlike most dance swords, which have a dull edge so as to not be dangerous while dancing, "battle-ready" swords have a sharpened edge and they cut. I'd suggest avoiding these things. Some people think battle-ready swords are really cool, but for my money, there's no reason. While practicing with dull-edged (meaning not battle-ready) swords, I've bruised myself MANY times over -- in the head, in the thigh, in the shoulder, even in the face. Why make it harder than it already is? Get a sword that was made for dancing with, not for killing people. After all, dance is about love, not violence -- right?
Yay.
Thanks.
Good night and happy sword dancing.
-- Kendra 

Hey hey, just a reminder that Maureen and I will be performing with Troupe Hipnotica (LOVE them) at the Capitol Club this coming Thursday, June 4. Address is 414 E. Pine on Capitol Hill. Show starts at 8pm. No cover!

Friday June 5th, my most seriously rockin' student troupe Adderstone can be seen on-stage at Annex Theatre, as part of Annex's monthly cabaret known as Spin the Bottle. Annex is at 11th & E. Pike on Capitol Hill, tickets are $9 at the door, and showtime is 11pm.

Wednesday June 17, it's DARK AVENUE at the Funhouse again! This month's theme is "Murder Under the Bigtop." Ya see, even the shadowy denizens of DARK AVENUE need to go the circus once in a while. This past weekend, Maureen and I had a fun little shopping trip, getting costume goodies in preparation for this next iteration of DARK AVENUE. She was in the market for a tailcoat, and I was looking for fuzzy/furry fabrics. I don't want to give away too much at this stage of the game, but I will say this: Maureen's going to be the lion-tamer. Showtime is 10pm, cover is $7. We've got cabaret by the immortal Babette la Fave this month. Our musical guests will be God's Favorite Beefcake, and yes, they really are God's favorite. More info here: http://www.handsofkali.com/darkavenue/.

Well, w00t! As I was saying last week, I'm in the midst of making plans and costumes for our bellydance group in this year's Seattle Pride Parade (takes place June 28). Each dancer will wear a basic white costume and then carry a veil in a chosen color -- the veil colors will represent the rainbow that is the symbol of Pride. I'm to be orange. Being the aging goth chick that I am, I don't have much of anything in orange -- pretty much all my clothes are black -- so I've been working on piecing together some orange costume bits to go with my white top and pants, and I needed to get ahold of an orange veil. I had such a great time hand-dyeing veils for the troupe a few weeks back (here's the post about that little adventure: http://handsofkali.livejournal.com/39851.html) that I decided to try my hand at dyeing myself a new orange veil too, instead of just going out and buying one. I'm so glad I did. Here's a peek at the results:



I love all the fiery color variations and weird markings that came out in the dye bath. That clever bitch fruity_hat_lady  is the one who turned me on to the wonders of hand-dyeing veils. I followed her instructions to the letter and have been nothing but thrilled with the outcome both times. So here's a quickee on how to do your own hand-dyed veil, if you're interested. Go to Dharma Trading Co. online and order yourself one of their $10 habotai veils. Order yourself a bottle of Jacquard acid dye in your desired color too. Follow the instructions on the bottle. Be sure to wear some kind of mask and open your kitchen windows while you're dyeing, cuz there's some nasty chemicals in that stuff. If you want lots of fun color variations, stir the pot only a little or not at all while it's on the stove. On the other hand, if you want your veil to be a solid color, keep stirring the pot the whole time it's cookin'. 

If you try this method and want to show off your own new hand-dyed veil, email a picture of it to info-at-handsofkali-dot-com and we'll post it here. We'd love to see it! :)
xoxo,
Kendra