Heading Out To New York
Just wanted to let all of you know that my daughter and I are heading out to New York and we will be spending this weekend with costume designer and renowned belly dancer Noora – owner of Decotach. Noora is making my Marilyn Monroe dress for a workshop in April so I can’t wait to get fitted and see my dress. But our main goal is to spend the weekend with dancers from the east coast and get a better idea of their community ethics and ideals along with comments on today’s issues.
My daughter Savanah will be behind the camera while I will be conversing in the dancers round table of discussions. It will be her first time to New York and behind the camera so for a 15 year old, I am pretty proud of her for stepping up to the plate!
Daniel won’t be going with us this time, he will be taking care of the home-front plus our 3 legged dog Zipperino and Booboo our 15 year old cat. He is definitely apart of this trip though because he is not only supportive of the documentary but he believes we need more. Not only is he the best business partner in the world but I couldn’t ask for a better husband! I must have earned kudos in a past life because I wouldn’t be where I am today without him!
So next time I write I will have more to talk about so stay tuned for my return trip meanderings, tales and tidbits!! I’m sure it will be a journey worth talking about!
New York; Vintage Charm with a Modern Twist and Classical Elegance
Nothing prepared my daughter and me for our amazing trip to New York. Just the trip alone was exciting but once we arrived in New York I must say our journey really had just begun. Our taxi cab driver was the first of our “We’ve arrived” moments when he literally took me at my word when I said it should take no longer then 12 minutes to get to our destination. And let me tell you it was a white knuckle ride the whole way!
Our destination was the apartment of Noora, dancer extraordinaire and costume designer and owner of Decotach; Creative mix and match costumes. As we entered her apartment we were greeted by 4 of her 6 cats. Since my daughter and I are animal lovers, we definitely were in heaven! Our day ended with an evening out at a local restaurant not far from Noora’s house. But that evening the rain started and it kept coming down the whole time we were there.
We walked the streets the next few days and I literally saw umbrellas scattered on the sidewalks in every direction. I asked Noora about this and she said, “In a few minutes you’ll understand.” Just five minutes after she said that the wind took my umbrella and swept it up and tore it to shreds. Nothing like laughing in the rain and getting wet! At one point I was wet from my tippy toes up to my waist. This was because I wore my New Mexico style clothing and it just didn’t work for the New York winds, rain and busy life style. And just so you all know, we went through 4 umbrellas in one day!
There where many high lights of the trip, one was going to Serena Wilsons’s studio and videotaping a class in session. Our main goal was to videotape Noora and her dance friends in a group along with solo discussions on belly dance issues and we had a wonderful evening of just straight belly dance talk. I will start to edit this week and I am looking forward to viewing what we were able to get on film.
Another highlight was watching videos of Noora performing at different venues such as a wedding and a major dance project that she collaborated with Tamalyn Dallal. I was awe struck at her dance ability and truley believe Noora is one of the best dancers we have here in the United States today. I cannot recommend her highly enough to any dance teachers who want to bring in a highly talented, educated master dance teacher and performer. Noora is the definition of everything you would expect from a dance master and I feel so honored and fortunate to have spent time with her.
Noora is also an amazing costume designer and I was able to be fitted for a new costume that she is making for me. It is the red dress that Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I can’t wait until it is finished and I will be wearing it at the Floralia workshop and show I will be teaching and performing at April 29th-May 2nd 2010. There is nothing like a sexy, classy red dress to lift a dancer’s spirits and this one is definitely going to help me make an entrance.
Unfortunately after we arrived back to N.M. safely I battled the flu and for a while there thought I had brought back the bubonic plague. Plus I shared it with Savanah and Daniel (which they didn’t appreciate) so we are all just now getting back to good health again. But all in all it was a great trip and I highly recommend New York to any dancer who is serious about her dancing. New York should be a rite of passage for all dancers and once you experience the dancers back there you will totally understand why. They are of the highest caliber of integrity, talent, friendliness and some of the most educated dancers of today. New York was everything I expected and more!
A note of importance; in the costume designing world Noora is known as Angela Lambru. She is world renowned by both names!
Check out Noora’s website at www.decotach.com or angela@decotach.com
Tips On Belly Dance Video Play Back
Occasionally, video playback is inhibited causing a bit of frustration and I want to publish this little FAQ so that the free Belly Dance video you requested is plays back properly and without issue. Most of the time these issues can be overcome with just few simple steps which have been outlined below. You’ll also find screen shots below to help you along in case dealing with technology is something you are not familiar with.
New Technology
The video player we use is new technology. We choose it because it is able to play any length video from start to finish without pause in DVD quality.
First; Browsers
Currently you can use either Internet Explorer, or Firefox to watch the videos.
Second – Pop Up Blockers
Occasionally, if you have pop-up blockers enabled they may interfere with the installation of the player, so make sure you have them turned off. Here’s how, First on both Firefox and Internet Explorer there is an option on the toolbar called “Tools”. The graphic below shows the Firefox “Tools” option but it looks the same on the Internet Explorer toolbar.
From tools select “Internet Options” as shown. This will bring up another window.
Internet Options in Firefox.
You can see at the top that there are number of option. If you click on the one that says “Content” as I have that you can check, (to enable) or uncheck (to disable) which is what we want to do.
If you’re using Internet Explorer the graphic below shows how to turn off pop up blockers from the “Privacy” tab after selecting Internet Options.
Third Installing the Player
After turning off your popup blockers you can try and install the player again. This time however, rather then installing from the video page, we’re going to download and install the player manually. Click on the link below for the browser type you are using. Then run the file.
- For Firefox Player
- For Internet Explorer qmpsetup_win_ie_07010901
Fourth, Clear Temporary Internet Files
If you think that you have the player properly installed and the video still does not play properly then clear all intenet temporary files and cookies using the following process.
- Start Internet Explorer (I’m using version 8 and if you are not the screen shots may look a little different but the process is the same for the most part) and then click on the tools menu option from the tool bar and select “internet options” as shown.
Next from internet options (the graphic is below) select “Delete” under Browsing history.
After you click on “Delete Files” you’ll get something like this. I’m using IE Version 8. You may get something a bit different.
Then retry the video. You may need to refresh the page using the F5 key, but 99 pecent of the time these steps will resolve most all issues.
What to Do If You Believe The Player is Installed Properly, but You Still Can’t See Video
Occasionally this happens. There are a wide variety of browsers on the market and some work better then others. The technology we use has been tested to work for Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer. It currently is not compatible with Googles new browser Chrome. In my experience the browser that gives me the least amount of problems overall regardless if it is video, or not is Firefox.
I used to use Internet Explorer exclusively, but now it is my secondary browser of choice, not my primary and I now use Firefox for everyday browsing. You can get Firefox at http://www.firefox.com
However having said that whenever there is a playback problem fist try to do a refresh of the page. For most browsers you can refresh a page simply by pressing the F5 key.
Before pressing the If you press F5 key press and hold down the control key. Control+F5 will force the browser to grab a fresh copy of the page from the server.
I hope this helps.
Please post any questions, or comments below and I’ll reply promptly.
Best
Dan (Bellydance Husband)
