I contacted a friend this morning, asking if she knew anyone still in the local bellydance scene because I'm ready to ditch all but the very last of my dance stuff. I'm still pointlessly hanging onto my three favorite/most sentimental costumes but for the most part I need these things out of my life. Getting smacked in the face with a box or drawer full of scarves and jewelry is too painful. I don't know what to do with all the zills, though. When Saroyan (a famous manufacturer) decided to close years ago I bought several extra pairs. Turns out they re-opened (I think with different owners?) which is great, because their zills are The Best, imo. But I have many hundreds of dollars of zills now (some in unopened packages) that I have no idea what to do with.
Which brings me to today's question! I'm combining questions from![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nnozomi and tinny, who both asked me to ramble about bellydance (and other things, which I might also run with at some point). Bellydance as a general topic is too big for one post. I spent nearly twenty-five years identifying as a bellydancer and the loss of that is still, ugh, tough. So let me focus on one tiny part of it for now.
The first time I tried to zill was a disaster, as it is for everyone and everything. My teacher was a difficult woman and abusive in many ways (stereotypical Stage Mom with two sons disinterested in performance so she took out all that energy on her troupe). But damn she could choreograph and she put together a routine that matched steps to zill patterns. I don't have a good brain for memorizing choreography, but my muscle memory is stellar and once those patterns were ingrained in my fingers I was golden. After years of performing with them, it got to where my dancing was better when I was zilling (with or without backup music). Pretty much any photo taken of me dancing after 2005 or so I've got zills on my fingers (unless I'm holding a veil). I have small hands, so I can't wear the giant cymbals (like my teacher did), but my tiny fingers are strong and fast and I can make a pretty impressive (and rhythmic) racket with the ones I do use. This is my favorite style and I have four pairs of them--two pairs each of German silver and brass.
I think I've mentioned how much I enjoyed playing music with my drummers, even when we weren't performing. Making group music on a regular basis was an incredible experience, and since I was the only person who zilled (we had about six regular drummers, and a guitarist), I had lots of opportunities to improvise and play with rhythm embellishment. My zills often took the role of a vocalist, and I learned to weave the melodies I made with them into what the guitarist was doing. Everyone scoffs at jam bands (especially drumming circle bands), but we were really, really good. I wish I had access to the recordings that our head drummer made of us.
When I was performing with my zills, I also used them to communicate with the band (slow down/speed up) as well as the other showrunners (attention/little help here) and occasionally patrons. Nothing like a rapidly-clacking pair of metal disks to stop wayward fingers from getting too friendly! I got to where I could take money from a hand and stick it in my bra while barely missing a beat.
The chances of me dancing again are slim to none, but maybe someday I can make music with people again. I like to hope my zills won't languish forever. But if anyone wants to buy any of the new-in-package ones, hit me up.
My collection of zills that I used. The ones in the bottom right were my standard pair, the Saroyan Professionals in brass.
Oh, and today's dump on cm.net.
Which brings me to today's question! I'm combining questions from
nnozomi and tinny, who both asked me to ramble about bellydance (and other things, which I might also run with at some point). Bellydance as a general topic is too big for one post. I spent nearly twenty-five years identifying as a bellydancer and the loss of that is still, ugh, tough. So let me focus on one tiny part of it for now. The first time I tried to zill was a disaster, as it is for everyone and everything. My teacher was a difficult woman and abusive in many ways (stereotypical Stage Mom with two sons disinterested in performance so she took out all that energy on her troupe). But damn she could choreograph and she put together a routine that matched steps to zill patterns. I don't have a good brain for memorizing choreography, but my muscle memory is stellar and once those patterns were ingrained in my fingers I was golden. After years of performing with them, it got to where my dancing was better when I was zilling (with or without backup music). Pretty much any photo taken of me dancing after 2005 or so I've got zills on my fingers (unless I'm holding a veil). I have small hands, so I can't wear the giant cymbals (like my teacher did), but my tiny fingers are strong and fast and I can make a pretty impressive (and rhythmic) racket with the ones I do use. This is my favorite style and I have four pairs of them--two pairs each of German silver and brass.
I think I've mentioned how much I enjoyed playing music with my drummers, even when we weren't performing. Making group music on a regular basis was an incredible experience, and since I was the only person who zilled (we had about six regular drummers, and a guitarist), I had lots of opportunities to improvise and play with rhythm embellishment. My zills often took the role of a vocalist, and I learned to weave the melodies I made with them into what the guitarist was doing. Everyone scoffs at jam bands (especially drumming circle bands), but we were really, really good. I wish I had access to the recordings that our head drummer made of us.
When I was performing with my zills, I also used them to communicate with the band (slow down/speed up) as well as the other showrunners (attention/little help here) and occasionally patrons. Nothing like a rapidly-clacking pair of metal disks to stop wayward fingers from getting too friendly! I got to where I could take money from a hand and stick it in my bra while barely missing a beat.
The chances of me dancing again are slim to none, but maybe someday I can make music with people again. I like to hope my zills won't languish forever. But if anyone wants to buy any of the new-in-package ones, hit me up.
My collection of zills that I used. The ones in the bottom right were my standard pair, the Saroyan Professionals in brass.
Oh, and today's dump on cm.net.