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Friday, August 25, 2006

hip tranquil chick podcast #46: celebrating femininity through dance

HTC: August 25, 2006 Shownotes




Welcome to the 46th edition of the Hip Tranquil Chick podcast: a guide to life on and off the yoga mat. This week's show was produced in a mountain cabin outside of Luray, VA.

Today’s podcast is an interview with Rachel Brookmire on celebrating femininity through dance, topped off with her fave pose, hip tranquil chick chat, and groovy podsafe music! View our shownotes at hiptranquilchick.com/blog.

Rachel Kay Brookmire is the founder and director of Sahara Dance, an artful approach to belly dance. A sought-after performer in the Washington, DC region, Rachel specializes in modern Egyptian raqs sharqi (belly dance). She has performed at theaters, embassies, weddings, private functions and festivals throughout the DC metro area, as well as regularly in Arabic nightclubs.

Rachel is Artistic Director of Raqs Sahara, Sahara Dance’s professional performance ensemble, and Raqs Caravan East and West, two student performance companies in residence at Sahara Dance. Seeking to elevate and develop belly dance as a theater performance art, Rachel and Raqs Sahara create several annual theater productions highlighting both traditional and experimental belly dance.

Rachel has taught belly dance to hundreds of students. In addition to her weekly classes, she has taught as a guest instructor with the Chautauqua Institution (NY), Mercersberg Academy (PA), The National Cathedral School (DC), The Women of Selket (VA), Hadouni Dancers (PA), and the Madeira School (VA). Her teaching style emphasizes postural alignment, contextual awareness of Arabic music and culture and a celebration of femininity. Recognized for her detailed, structured teaching approach, Sahara Dance classes focus on precise and intentional movement execution, musicality and individual expression through a range of stylizations.

Before launching a full time dance career, Rachel completed a two-year course of intensive training with Autumn Ward. Rachel continues diligent training and has traveled to Egypt and throughout North America to learn from native and master Egyptian style teachers. Prior to studying Middle Eastern dance, Rachel practiced yoga and trained in modern and West African dance.

Pose of the Podcast:

Pigeon

Hip Tranquil Chick Chat:

I wanted to send you quick note to let you know how your podcasts have affected me in the last week. i'm someone who has done yoga off and on for years. i tend to get sick a lot, and so stop my practice when i start to feel ill. i've been told i should switch from a more intesive version of yoga to a more meditative, to help center my body. (incidentally, listening to the podcast on ayurveda has moved me to eat better for my body type!)

i've spent the last week updating a new website i've started up. i'm a knitter, and have spent too much time looking for an online space for people who have a strong desire to donate their handmade items. not finding one to my liking, i decided to create one. as i've been sitting up here in my computer room every night after work (burning the midnight oil, as you have said) i've been listening to all of your podcasts, getting caught up.

i am incredibly grateful to have your voice speaking to me in these moments. i have such a strong desire to be creative full-time, and the job i currently have does not offer that to me. but listening to your voice as i type and type and type, daring to put my dream of a better world altered through handmade goods out there for the rest of the human beings out there to catch onto and run with ... man, it's been so inspiring. you have reminded me that a woman with a dream can and will find that dream realized if she sets her intentions correctly, consistently giving thanks to the universe for giving her the dream and the ability to see it through.

and i have seen amazing things happen, even in this week. a week filled with sickness on my part, missing work and laying around unable to do much else. i have seen a website take shape, people take hold of it and help to make it better. i have seen connections made. and i have seen my dreams come that much closer to fruition.

and so i thank you. and i let you know that you, sitting in washington dc, so far from the nebraska i live in, have aided in this week being so amazing.

Au Revoir:

Share your hip tranquil chickness with me, request show ideas, or pass along feedback by e-mailing me at kimberly@hiptranquilchick.com or leaving a love note in the comments section of hiptranquilchick.com/blog. A reminder that we’re on MySpace and Frappr, so please connect with the community virtually there, too! Have a burning question that you’d like hip and tranquil feedback on? E-mail me to have it featured and answered in our dear hip tranquil chick segment!

View the summer edition of tranquiliT times: a quarterly museletter on all times hip and tranquil that you can sign up for at hiptranquilchick.com. You can now pre-order Hip Tranquil Chick here. Join me for my annual Fall Foliage Retreat in a rural setting in the heart of Virgina October 13-15. Save the date for our book launch fete on Thursday, November 16 in DC. Details to follow!

I’m busily putting together all the step-by-step scoop to hosting a Hip Tranquil Chick Signature ChariTea Soiree with your fave gal pals when the book is released in November! Watch for this downloadable PDF coming soon with discussion tips, a toolkit, yoga sequences, recipes, and more! To host a Hip Tranquil Chick Signature ChariTea Soiree in your area, please send your stats (name, location, e-mail) to kimberly@hiptranquilchick.com and you'll receive your Toolkit via e-mail shortly.

The Shanghai Restoration ProjectTo close out the show, we’re playing podsafe music---by new and independent artists who are sharing their music through podcasting from the Podsafe Music Network. Today’s selection is Miss Shanghai by The Shanghai Restoration Project. You can learn more about The Shanghai Restoration Project, including how to get more of their music, at Promonet and shanghai-restoration-project.com. Download Miss Shanghai here (MP3, 192kbps)

Thanks for joining me for the 46th edition of the Hip Tranquil Chick podcast. Namaste and keep dancing!

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    1 comment:

    Regina said...

    Hi Kimberly- thanks for another great podcast! I really enjoyed the conversation with Rachel- fascinating. Wanted to let you know I added your show to my blog. I really want to get the word out that we can all be hip and tranquil at the same time- you are my hero!