Katerina Shimmies

I am a dance addict. Once I start learning a new style, I'm hooked lol. This is a journal to keep track of my practice to improve my dance and fitness. Expect to see lots of belly dancing and yoga posts :)

[bellybollydance]

Nelly from Greece

[katerinashimmies]

gorgeous

[katerinashimmies]

Great resource. Check it out!

[katerinashimmies]

This lecture is from a panel discussion in the Diwan 2009 conference at The Arab American National Museum in Deerborn Michigan, USA. The aud...

[frommoon2moon]

Moon to Moon: Tour of Dreamy secluded Tree house

[katerinashimmies]

Heaven

[katerinashimmies]

" India by the Nile" - Chugge Khan & Rajasthan Josh - at the Indian Embassy, Cairo with Colleena Shakti

(via Chugge Khan and Rajasthan Josh in Cairo - YouTube)

[rhysiare]

30 days - 30 languages Masterpost Our world is and has been home to thousands upon thousands of languages. This 30 days 30 languages blogpost project is to celebrate languages from all over the world: the extant and the extinct.

[Day 1: Georgian] —–Extant, Kartvelian: Karto-Zan Family, West Asia [Day 2: Icelandic] —–Extant, Indo-European: Germanic Family, Northwest Europe [Day 3: Basque] —–Extant, Language Isolate: Vasconic Family, Southwest Europe [Day 4: Serbo-Croatian] —–Extant, Indo-European: Slavic Family, Southeast Europe [Day 5: Phoenician] —–Extinct, Afro-Asiatic: Semitic Family, Ancient Middle East [Day 6: Gothic] —–Extinct, Indo-European: Germanic Family, Ancient Central Europe [Day 7: K'iche’] —–Extant, Mayan: Quichean Family, Central America [Day 8: Italian] —–Extant, Indo-European: Romance Family, South-Central Europe [Day 9: Tamazight] —–Extant, Afro-Asiatic: Berber Family, Northwest Africa [Day 10: Lithuanian] —–Extant, Indo-European: Baltic Family, East Europe [Day 11: Mongolian] —–Extant, Mongolic: Central Mongolic Family, North Asia [Day 12: Welsh] —–Extant, Indo-European: Celtic Family, Northwest Europe [Day 13: Etruscan] —–Extinct, Language Isolate: Tyrrhenian Family, Ancient South Europe [Day 14: Tocharian] —–Extinct, Indo-European: Tocharian Family, Ancient Central Asia [Day 15: Hungarian] —–Extant, Uralic: Ugric Family, East Europe [Day 16: Albanian] —–Extant, Indo-European: Albanian Family, Southeast Europe [Day 17: Japanese] —–Extant, Language Isolate: Japonic Family, East Asia [Day 18: French] —–Extant, Indo-European: Romance Family, West Europe [Day 19: Cherokee] —–Extant, Iroquoian: Southern Iroquoian Family, Southern North America [Day 20: Bengali] —–Extant, Indo-European: Indic Family, South Central Asia [Day 21: Sumerian] —–Extinct, Language Isolate: Sumerian Family, Ancient Mesopotamia [Day 22: Old English] —–Evolved, Indo-European: Anglo-Frisian Germanic Family, Ancient Britain [Day 23: Swahili] —–Extant, Niger-Congo, Bantu Family, Central East Africa [Day 24: Romanian] —–Extant, Indo-European, Romance Family, East Europe [Day 25: Tetum] —–Extant, Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian Family, Oceania [Day 26: Polish] —–Extant, Indo-European, Slavic Family, East Europe [Day 27: Turkish] —–Extant, Turkic, Oghuz Family, Middle East [Day 28: German] —–Extant, Indo-European, Germanic Family, Central Europe [Day 29: Quechua] —–Extant, Quechuan, Quechuan Family, West South America [Day 30: Latin] —–Extinct, Indo-European, Romance Family, South-Central Europe [Runner-Up: Xhosa] —–Extant, Niger-Congo, Bantu Family, South Africa [Runner-Up: Maltese] —–Extant, Afro-Asiatic, Siculo-Arabic Family, South-Central Europe [Runner-Up: Klingon] —–Extant, Constructed Language, Internet/Klingon Space

[Choosing the Languages Pt 1: Days 1-12] [Choosing the Languages Pt 2: Days 13-22] [Choosing the Languages Pt 3: Days 22-30, Runners-Up, & Considerations]

[katerinashimmies]

Linguistic nerdiness. Love :)

[bridgettelizabeth]

Belly dance blogs

Someone mentioned not being able to find belly dance blogs, so I threw together a list of the first few I found, then figured that it was probably worth sharing. They’re not all active, but there’s still an awful lot of information and insights packed into them. There are probably hundreds more that I’ve missed too.

Adiemus Aleya Apsara Arabic Music Translation Ashara Ashna ATS is Religion Atéa’s Belly Dance Blog Beginning Bellydance Belly Belly Yeah Belly Dance Blog Belly Dance for the Brain Belly Dancer’s Mind Bellydance Arabesque Bellydance Business Academy Bellydance Guru Bellydance Jakarta The Bellydance Blog Bellydance Paladin Bellydance Video Clips Bellydance Vogue Bellydancer in Manila Bellylorna BellyMuse Bellynotes by Eshe The Belly Whisperer The Big Asian Bellydancer Bionic Bellydancer Blanca Buggirl’s Increasingly Strange Tokyo Tales… Carousel Bellydance Celestes Musings Charlotte Desorgher Confessions of a Dance Pants Addict Crumbs in the Costume Closet Deep Roots Dance Discordia FCBD From the Belly of a Traveler Habibadance Hadia Heather Dances In the Ears, Out the Hips Jade Bellydance Joanna Ashleigh Just Shimmy Kathleen Crowley Kismetisms Lily Moves Mauna Lea Manor Medina Maitreya Megan Hartmann Missouri and Midwest Bellydance Morocco’s Meanderings Naimas Bellydance Blog Nakari A New Old Dance Nierika Nyla Crysal The Occidental Dancer Paulette Rees-Denis & Taking Tribal Global The Pink Coinbelt The Practical Dancer Princess Awesome Princess Farhana Raks Christina Raksgina The Right and Kind Reverend Rising Sirens Romancing the Weird Sarabeth Scribbling Gypsy The Secret Life of a Bellydancer Serenity Tribal Shelley’s Bellydance Adventures Shimmies Sequins Slippers Shimmycast Suhaila Swish and Hips Taktaba Tamsyn Bellydance Tempest Thinking About Bellyraqs Tribal Babes Indonesia Tribal at Night The Tribal Way Twisted Tails Undulations Undulations of Lyra Vagabond Princess Vaudeville Bellydance Visionary Bellydance What Were They Thinking? Who Me? World Bellydance Alliance World Bellydancer Yip Podcast Zanbaka

[katerinashimmies]

I’m starting to get back into reading blogs, so here’s a good list of options! I’m currently finishing up reading Kisses from Kairo by Luna. Also reading through Stories of a Travelling Belly Dancer, Memoirs of a Bellydance Career 1977 - Present, and my friend’s blog Sarah Malik Belly Dance.

[katerinashimmies]

Belly Dance Geek Clubhouse

I’ve been listening to the Belly Dance Geek Clubhouse podcasts during my daily commute and they are chock full of information! I highly recommend them for any belly dancers regardless of your genre (oriental, fusion dancers etc). You can listen to them online, but I listen through itunes podcasts.

I recommend starting with the interviews with Morocco and Sahra C. Kent.

[katerinashimmies]

In the spirit of the upcoming New Year, now is a great time to pause and take a moment to observe. The weather is changing, the holidays are upon us, and before we know it we’ll be writing the wrong date on our checks. (Does anyone write checks anymore?) Many of us are just a few weeks away from getting caught up in the Resolution Machine as I’ve come to affectionately call it. This is a time when many of us feel inspired—or pressured—to make some significant changes in our lives, as we become acutely aware of the passage of time and of opportunities that may be passing us by or goals we may have let get covered in cobwebs. Others may start to ask you: “What’s your resolution this year???” and like a deer in headlights, you’ll start churning out sentences which may or may not actually mean anything to you, without any idea of how to get there or even why you think you need to make those changes. That said, of course the New Year is a great time to assess, re-assess, look ahead, and plan for greatness. Then again, any other time is good for all that, too. But I digress. Often we will look at a current situation and realize we are not where we’d like to be, or even more importantly, we are not on the path to getting what we really want. This may include current employment, education level, financial situation, relationships, physical fitness, health, creativity, productivity, and all other aspects of our lives. But hold your horses there, cowboy…before you jump into your journal and start scribbling away at numbered lines that detail all mega and minor dreams that are sure to fix all of your current problems and take away all potential threatening anxieties for the future, take a moment to look at where you are, who you are, how you are, and where you’ve come from. It’s incredibly valuable to get acquainted with your current situation in order to figure out how to get to where you want to go. It’s like looking at a map: if you can’t find the “YOU ARE HERE” spot on the map, the map does you no good. Here’s a list of things to consider before writing your beautiful list of short- and long-term goals. This is just a starter list, I encourage you to get some ideas here but make a list that truly suits your lifestyle. I like to rate each 1 (worst) to 5 (best): PERSONAL LIFE 1. Overall happiness 2. How satisfied are you with your current living situation? 3. Mental health and ability to manage stress 4. Intimate relationships/partnership 5. Family life 6. Friendships PHYSICAL LIFE 1. How well are you sleeping? 2. Nutrition 3. Hydration 4. Physical activity 5. How well are you making progress on any previous physical goals? DAILY LIFE 1. How happy are you with your current job? 2. How stable is your financial situation? 3. Are you satisfied with your current level of education/continuing education? 4. How well are you making progress on creative projects? 5. How efficient are you at managing time? 6. How inspired/focused/motivated are you on a day-to-day basis? Be as detailed as possible with this. If you have a spiritual practice, include that in the personal life category. If you are a marathon runner, include your progress in the physical category. If you have a few things that you juggle in your creative life like playing an instrument and painting, include both and rate them separately. In other words, leave no stone un-turned. Gather as much information about yourself as possible, so you can make the best plan of action for where you are right now. Making plans for another version of you that doesn’t exist will do you no good and you’ll end up feeling like a hamster on a spinning wheel. Cute, but frustrating… Things won’t be perfect, of course. Life is not perfect. And just because things aren’t perfect is not an excuse NOT TO START making progress toward your goals. But this helps you get an idea of what’s going on and to factor all of that in when you’re making your list of goals and plan of action. It’ll help you be realistic about your expectations, and it may clue you in to some things that you were unaware were keeping you from making more progress in the past (or present.) If you’re preoccupied by the fact that you can’t pay your rent, you’ll be stressed, this will negatively affect your mood and your motivation. If you’re not sleeping enough, nourishing your body, or are stuck in a toxic relationship, well…you get the idea. Regardless of what your long-term goals are, it’s important to recognize that the most efficient way of going about getting what we want is to be a balanced human being in the first place. If your mental, physical, financial or social/romantic health is in dire need of attention and improvement, it’s unlikely you’ll be successful at beginning a new degree program, turning up to dance class or starting a new nutritional regimen. And if you do, you’ll unlikely get as much out of those things as you could, or realize your true potential, because you’re not fully engaged—distracted by other pressing life issues. Another tip: if you’re having a particularly bad day or are going through a very rough patch in life, it may be more helpful to go and do something that nourishes you instead of this. Make a note of what’s going on, how you’re feeling, and later re-visit this and see if you can figure out how you got into that negative place. Rather, assess yourself when you’re feeling balanced, well rested and calm. We are all hard on ourselves and it’ll do you no good to get down on yourself when you’re already feeling crappy. Plan ahead. Make a date with your journal or sketchpad and schedule this in your calendar, say for a Saturday morning with a cup of your favorite tea or coffee in a spot in a park or your garden. Now, I’m not saying you can’t sleep 2 hours a night and be in debt and use heroine and NOT become an amazing actress or athlete, but it’ll be harder for sure. Plus, you’ll be miserable the whole time. You’ll chase those goals to become the best or obsessively work on your art as an escape (I’m not saying art or exercise aren’t great escapes—but only to a point…) and mistakenly think that once you get to the Mountain Top you will find satisfaction and peace. And you might get to the mountain top, or you might not, but either way in the end there will be no peace, happiness or satisfaction awaiting you. You’ll work your ass off, often making terrible mistakes and unnecessary sacrifices along the way, and then you’ll get there and be just as unhappy as before. What a waste of valuable dedication! Think of it like going around with a wound. You can ignore it, and you may manage to do amazing things, but that wound will still be painful—and if left unattended long enough, it will start to ooze, fester and make you less and less able to continue doing those amazing things. When you make your goals, make them from a place of authenticity. Don’t make your goals for someone else. Don’t make your goals based on others’ expectations of you. Don’t make your goals for another version of you that you wished were real. Make that version of you real—all aspects of that person you want to be. That’s it for the do’s and don’t’s. Enjoy the foreplay, and take your time. Next thing you know it’ll be time to move on to the big event…now go dream big.

[quick-nip]

(via Saturday Morning Cartoons: Baopu #15) by Yao Xiao

words to remember

[katerinashimmies]

Reposting because the disappointment one really hit home (aka I’m still teary). It’s definitely an important shift in your mindset. 

[alexander-arnolld]

Dola Re Dola vs. Pinga 

[katerinashimmies]

The dances from Devdas are some of my favorites! Now I need to check out Pinga

[katerinashimmies]

Dariya Mitskevich (via Danse orientale-Stage avec Dariya Mitskevich - YouTube)

Love her dancing!

[bubblywubblydubbly]

We need to build each other up. Not tear each other down. Thank you Bill Nye.

[katerinashimmies]

Celebrate the little victories

I did the first 30 min yoga practice from Rachel Brice’s Serpentine dvd. I actually decided to practice outside, but about ten minutes in the sky opened up and started to pour. I moved inside and discovered that my kitties love weaving around me during downward dog and plank lol.

So yay, I met the goal I set yesterday! Tomorrow I’ll be babysitting some munchkins during the day, but I’ll plan on scheduling in 10 mins of hip drills in the evening. Just need to keep my goals small and manageable until I can get back into a routine without getting overwhelmed. 

[katerinashimmies]

Struggling

I've been struggling for the last month and a half trying to motivate myself to work out. Unfortunately it always gets pushed off with something else taking precedence. Part of the issue is working through depression and finding the strength to motivate myself. I start to feel overwhelmed and just can't even bring myself to start. So I need to start small and build up again. My goal for this week is to do 30 mins of yoga, either in one sitting or broken up.

[katerinashimmies]

Makeda Perryman: EQ on Stage • Six Seconds

If you have every done any performing, at the school talent show or Carnegie Hall, you know the paralyzing stage fright that can wipe out your creative juices. Some performers are reduced to a puddle of anxiety backstage, or worse, carry this feeling onstage with them. It is the stuff of nightmares. Makeda Perryman …

[katerinashimmies]

Oh my gosh! Zoe Jakes Format coming in June 2015! I’ll have to add it to my wishlist of training programs