We students and hobbyists can sometimes find ourselves in need of a bit of inspiration - an idea for what we're going to work on that day, or maybe just a little reminder of "why we dance." I'd heard of "Daily Bellydance Quickies," e-mails sent by a dancer named Mahin to subscribers, but I didn't get around to signing up until last week. She started this a little over a year ago, and when I signed up, I was half-thinking "oh, I bet by this time 'daily' is now more like 'weekly'." But, true to its name, there's been a DBQ sent to my e-mailbox every day since I signed up.
DBQs are basically links to YouTube videos of several minutes in length that touch on the theme of the day. This past week, "Monday Musicality" was a demonstration of dance rhythms played on a doumbek; "Tuesday Technique" featured Mahin reviewing different types of hip circles; "The Wednesday Watcher" was a comic routine wherein a dancer performed "My First Belly Dance Lesson"; Thursday's "Thrills with Zills" was a demonstration by Mahin of a chiftitelli rhythm with finger cymbals; Friday's "Bellydance Grab Bag" was a couple of videos focused on eyebrow grooming; the "Saturday Stretch" involved an ab-strengthening exercise; and the "Sunday Dance Inspiration" featured a tribal-fusion dancer performing to Turkish music.
So, after a week, I had a few helpful tips and reminders involving rhythm and dance, saw a couple of entertaining videos and got makeup advice on one of my more troublesome issues. (I skipped the Saturday exercise because I have a hiatal hernia and need to take it easy when it comes to ab work.) Oh, and the Tuesday DBQ included a link to an online UK bellydance magazine that had an article about Mahin, so now I have another BD mag to check out! Bottom line, I ended the week feeling just a little more inspired and determined to "get out there and dance"!
As for Mahin, she's a cabaret-style dancer based in Arizona, and her Daily Bellydance Quickies main page can be found here. She also has resumed doing podcasts, which feature interviews with people in the BD community (the interviews themselves are very well done, although the sound quality of the podcast does need some work).
Looking forward to tomorrow's BDQ!
