"Fun"jabbi Belly Dancer Tara

Tarabelly · 09-07-2008, 10:06 PM

Hi

In the interest of sharing the "glamour" of international performing I share my "Funjabbi" video from a gig in India before I left this year. It was for the Funjabbi Chak De show with 64 million viewers in India, a talent show.

What's funny for me is the story before the show. The story starts with 2 weeks sick in bed with lung infection. Drive to Mumbai for 5 hours with my boyfriend. My boyfriend leaving the hotel at 4am for his flight back to NYC

, me waking up at 7am puffy eyed and a bit sick from food at dinner, drive to studio in traffic 2 hours behind a bullock cart and a million exhaust pipes.

Arrive at studio. I am late. Studio wants me to try to do a dance to their song (never heard before) and put ALL my props in a 3 minute dance (that means sword, wings, goblets, shamadan and fire fingers!). After watching me try to dance with Wings, sword and shamadan and on top of goblets to music I've never heard, studio says "Can't you put more expression, FUN, into it?"

We settled on sword and wings and my own music to which they then dubbed this song.

I had a sweet make-up artist who had no time to do my makeup (10 minutes). They were literally sewing my skirt (too revealing for family show) as I was stooping getting my hair done (I'm 5'9") and sticking on my nails. A little girl watched the whole thing with her huge brown eyes. In Punjabbi, she asked her mom if I was a princess.

Then I'm told I am showing too much cleavage (family show)- so off goes that costume and I put on the yellow lebanese bedlah- which has the tendency to eat veils, wings and hair- with its lovely rhinestones. Still too much cleavage. Off come the bra and then some surgery as I remove the padding, resulting in bra too loose and lifting off in the front (which you will see).

As I walk to the back door of the studio a pigeon decides to drop a good luck blessing on my shoulder which runs down my front into "non" cleavage. Three VERY helpful young men run to my rescue, each pausing in front of my "non" cleavage with a tissue and a "Oh my Shiva- what to do" look on their faces. I take the tissues and thank them as I turn and rub in my "good luck".

There is more. I am called on set to dance twice. I do my best, as always, with the prayer of "I am a beacon of love and light in Our service". The live studio audience was wild and what a blast! Unfortunately you don't get to hear them as the music has been dubbed over.

My stage directions were: "After your dance go immediately to your left" and "After your dance, stand still as you will be interviewed by the show hosts". I chose the first option, which was wrong, as they called me back to ask me where I come from. "Canada". Breathless performance. I wait for my Oscar.

In the second dance, the camera is moving in for close-ups. My bracelet (lovely huge rhinestone beast) snags on my wings and FLIES through the air, landing big crystal jewel face down with a smash. (Still on my to-do list to fix it).

Then it's over.

I change, pack, say my thank yous and goodbyes and off to my next gig which was in Hyderabad. And the beginning of another story.

Mosaic · 09-08-2008, 12:41 AM

What a 'to-do' to dance, love the male judges expressions as you dance. Your dance was great, congrats and welldone even with all the pre-dance goings on.

Love to hear about the Hyderabad story.
~Mosaic

jenc · 09-08-2008, 07:24 AM

Now that's a story!!! Hope you recovered. I see you are partly based in India that must be interesting. Care to share your thoughts on Tribal Fusion or Bellywood - on another thread poss

Tarabelly · 09-08-2008, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenc

Now that's a story!!! Hope you recovered. I see you are partly based in India that must be interesting. Care to share your thoughts on Tribal Fusion or Bellywood - on another thread poss

I think I have recovered

Its fun to write about these things. I'm going to see if I can get a video camera for the next time and film Life. "Eat, Pray, Love...Shimmy". The women I meet are pretty amazing.

I lived in India for 4 years. Spent the week days meditating and playing at Osho Meditation Resort and the the weekends I was on a plane flying to a gig or two.

I'm going to try to figure out the blog for this website, I'm not sure if past stories are allowed.

Do you know of any other places that I could posts my stories?

TaraStarDancer.com | International Belly Dancer & Goddess Arts Retreats

anna25 · 09-08-2008, 04:42 PM

hey tara,
I'm amazed at how professional you did this performance with so few time and everything- congratulations- and what a nice dance!
yalla!

09-07-2008, 10:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
Tarabelly Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: New York City, Pune-India, Salisbury-Canada Posts: 52	The "fun" of dancing in India! Hi In the interest of sharing the "glamour" of international performing I share my "Funjabbi" video from a gig in India before I left this year. It was for the Funjabbi Chak De show with 64 million viewers in India, a talent show. What's funny for me is the story before the show. The story starts with 2 weeks sick in bed with lung infection. Drive to Mumbai for 5 hours with my boyfriend. My boyfriend leaving the hotel at 4am for his flight back to NYC, me waking up at 7am puffy eyed and a bit sick from food at dinner, drive to studio in traffic 2 hours behind a bullock cart and a million exhaust pipes. Arrive at studio. I am late. Studio wants me to try to do a dance to their song (never heard before) and put ALL my props in a 3 minute dance (that means sword, wings, goblets, shamadan and fire fingers!). After watching me try to dance with Wings, sword and shamadan and on top of goblets to music I've never heard, studio says "Can't you put more expression, FUN, into it?" We settled on sword and wings and my own music to which they then dubbed this song. I had a sweet make-up artist who had no time to do my makeup (10 minutes). They were literally sewing my skirt (too revealing for family show) as I was stooping getting my hair done (I'm 5'9") and sticking on my nails. A little girl watched the whole thing with her huge brown eyes. In Punjabbi, she asked her mom if I was a princess. Then I'm told I am showing too much cleavage (family show)- so off goes that costume and I put on the yellow lebanese bedlah- which has the tendency to eat veils, wings and hair- with its lovely rhinestones. Still too much cleavage. Off come the bra and then some surgery as I remove the padding, resulting in bra too loose and lifting off in the front (which you will see). As I walk to the back door of the studio a pigeon decides to drop a good luck blessing on my shoulder which runs down my front into "non" cleavage. Three VERY helpful young men run to my rescue, each pausing in front of my "non" cleavage with a tissue and a "Oh my Shiva- what to do" look on their faces. I take the tissues and thank them as I turn and rub in my "good luck". There is more. I am called on set to dance twice. I do my best, as always, with the prayer of "I am a beacon of love and light in Our service". The live studio audience was wild and what a blast! Unfortunately you don't get to hear them as the music has been dubbed over. My stage directions were: "After your dance go immediately to your left" and "After your dance, stand still as you will be interviewed by the show hosts". I chose the first option, which was wrong, as they called me back to ask me where I come from. "Canada". Breathless performance. I wait for my Oscar. In the second dance, the camera is moving in for close-ups. My bracelet (lovely huge rhinestone beast) snags on my wings and FLIES through the air, landing big crystal jewel face down with a smash. (Still on my to-do list to fix it). Then it's over. I change, pack, say my thank yous and goodbyes and off to my next gig which was in Hyderabad. And the beginning of another story. Last edited by Tarabelly; 09-10-2008 at 08:04 PM. Reason: i realized a better title would help get more traffic

09-08-2008, 12:41 AM	#2 (permalink)
Mosaic Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Melbourne Australia, but a Kiwi Posts: 855	What a 'to-do' to dance, love the male judges expressions as you dance. Your dance was great, congrats and welldone even with all the pre-dance goings on. Love to hear about the Hyderabad story. ~Mosaic

09-08-2008, 07:24 AM	#3 (permalink)
jenc V.I.P. Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Colchester UK Posts: 1,029	Now that's a story!!! Hope you recovered. I see you are partly based in India that must be interesting. Care to share your thoughts on Tribal Fusion or Bellywood - on another thread poss

09-08-2008, 04:42 PM	#5 (permalink)
anna25 Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Basel, Switzerland Posts: 34	hey tara, I'm amazed at how professional you did this performance with so few time and everything- congratulations- and what a nice dance! yalla!