Introducing the Cyborg Dance Projekt

2009, from Dave Stagner Photography

The photo on the left is one of my most recent dance performances in 2009.  This was at the Midnight at the Oasis room at CONvergence, a science fiction & fantasy convention in Minnesota.  The photo is from Dave Stagner Photography, is a black and white full-body profile shot and shows the author with short blonde hair wearing a black long-sleeved crop top with flared pants, and a fringed hip scarf with a tiger on it.  I'm doing a standing backbend with my left arm over my head and my right hand at my chest.  A tattoo on my left torso is showing that is in possible Arabic script, and another tattoo is on my left calf is a fairy.

I'm embarking on an adventure that I'm calling the Cyborg Dance Projekt (I think I've been reading too much cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic fiction lately, but that's another blog post that could be started with my GoodReads profile).  One of my physical therapy goals was to be able to bellydance again, so I'm going to try going back to dance classes.  I'm scared as my vague attempts at doing hip movements have just caused pain and nerve issues, but I have a specific reason for doing this Projekt.

I received an email from Sahira of Urban Tribal in Houston, Texas, USA that was sent to everyone that posted a YouTube video of their personal performance of her Arabian Spices choreography (click here for my solo performance from 2006).  She's putting together a ten-year anniversary performance that includes some awesome technology to "beam in" other dancers and troupes that have performed the choreography!  So I emailed Twisted Dance, the local dance studio that I used to take classes, and asked if they would be up for doing this with me.  They said yes, so it looks like we might be doing a trio on July 27th.

Because of the performance, this project has an interesting endpoint to use as a benchmark.  I'm heading to the studio shortly for my first dance class in almost two years (minus the wheelchair bellydance experiment I did as a part of the studio's promotional video....you can see me at the start of the video!).  I'm bringing at least one of my forearm crutches as my balance problems are unpredictable and I've warned the instructor that I'm coming.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my chin held high.