Exciting things are afoot this week!

I've been keeping busy busy busy and still trying to find time to do more. I wrote a sketch piece that was accepted into an evening of sketches with the theme "that's uncomfortable". For those of you who know me, you may very well recognize the character I'll be portraying. Hosted by the PinUp Squirrels, a fun and hilarious group of women writers, comedians, and actors. I'm super nervous about this so come out and cheer me on or laugh ackwardly even if you don't think it's funny!

The Pin-Up Squirrels present Sketch Slam!

Thurs Sept 27th, 9:30pm, $5 at the door

The Tank

151 w. 46th St. (b/t 6th and 7th Ave) 8th Floor

New York, NY 10036

And if you haven't gotten enough sketchy loveliness on Thursday, I'll be performing on Saturday in:

Satire Off Broadway, An Evening of Sketch Comedy

Directed by the incredible Ann Bowen, founding member of Second City

Sat Sept 29th, 8:30pm

Sat Oct 5th, 8:30pm

The 45th Street Theatre

354 W 45th St, NYC

Tickets $25, to reserve, call Smartix 212-868-4444

www.45thstreettheatre.com

Ongoing Drop-In Bellydance Classes for Saturdays 3-4:15pm in August!

I'm back from lands afar (the Lonesome, Crowded West) and feeling invigorated and inspired by the Mojave Desert, George Van Tassel's Integretron, the drag show at Mary's Hamburger Grill in Portland, OR, and various rivers and mountains in Oregon and Montana. Come check out bellydance class this month, Saturdays 3-4:15pm, I promise you will feel invigorated and inspired, too!

Photo by the fabulous Guy Car. Check out what he's been up to lately HERE

Only 2 More Days to sign up for my Tribal Bellydance Workshop!

The first day of my 4-week Tribal Bellydance workshop is this THURS June 7th. There are only a few spots left, so if you're interested, pre-register SOON by emailing makarastudio@gmail.com. This workshop will focus on improvisational dancing in community. We will create a tribe of women who gather to dance together. The cost is $85 for 4 1 1/2 hour classes and it's located at Makara Studio, a beautiful place to practice in Brooklyn, located off the Montrose stop on the L train. Week 1 (6/7) will focus on Bellydance Basics for those who've never danced before and will refresh the memories of those who have. Week 2 (6/14) will focus on Drills to Build Skillz; mastering Bellydance requires lots of practice and repetition, this week's class will provide you with drill sequences you can take home and practice on your own. Week 3 (6/21) will focus on Musical Interpretation and include a special summer solstice component. Week 4 (6/28) will be all about Group Improvisation, expanding our awareness of those around us and learning group improvisation formations from the tradition of American Tribal Style (ATS) Bellydance. Photo by Joy Stuhr

Upcoming Shows and Events!

Well, I had such a relaxing time in Colorado, teaching and learning and sharing that I've been neglecting this blog. Dance Utopia's Spring Retreat was amazing and I'm planning on going back next year, if they'll have me. I taught a workshop called 'Creative Bellydance' where we explored bellydance movement, yogic pranayama, and Kundalini yoga techniques. Accommodations were in very nice cabins at the YMCA camp near Winter Park, CO. The vistas were amazing and we had snow, rain, lightning storms, the works; the weather did not disappoint! I had the opportunity to spend time with my amazing mom and cousin and take great workshops on everything ranging from Shamanic movement, vinyasa yoga, drumming, and Tantra.

This weekend I'm stage managing an off off Broadway production of Sartre's 'No Exit', directed by Sissy Denkova and PLEASE COME SEE IT! The acting and directing are amazing, truly. I'll be up in the light booth so be sure to say hi if you come!

ALSO, this weekend I'll be performing myself with Brooklyn Raga Association on Sunday June 3rd at 7pm in conjunction with Bushwick Open Studios. It's a donation show held at the Loom Yoga Center located at 1087 Flushing Ave Shop #117, Brooklyn, NY 11237, nearest trains are the Morgan L or Jefferson L. Come if you can make it, we just rehearsed on Memorial Day in McCarren Park and have some new melodious grooves to put you in a trance!

Austin = Awesome

So many things were great about Austin. Thanks to all at the Austin Psych Music Fest, everyone was Texas-manners nice, pleasant, helpful and fun. Brooklyn Raga Association went over well with the crowd and we got some great pictures and truly great feedback from people. It's amazing to have the opportunity to dance with such a talented and eclectic group of people. I appreciate what each brings to the performance to cast the spell!

Photo by Super Photographer Guy Car My favorite groups that I saw were The Wooden Shjips (at the Knitting Factory on 6/24 if anyone wants to go), Bombino (from Niger and really amazing), and New Fumes (formerly of the Polyphonic Spree, just can't get enough of former members of that band--Sky White Tiger anyone?). The bass player from Spindrift, Henry introduced me to Tinariwen (playing in Croton-on-Hudson 6/16) and the Coral Castle http://coralcastle.com/ near Miami, FL. I hope the rest of everyone's tours are great and without van drama! In Austin I swam everyday, ate lots of tacos and super Vietnamese food, hung with my awesome friend Julie and her quadrupeds, had passionate late night discussions and drank Pimm's Cups in the backyard (gonna be having a lot of those this summer), and caught up with friends. There was definitely some hammock sitting on Julie's front porch to boot...Austin got me thinking about how we travel around and leave little pieces of ourselves everywhere and sometimes those pieces are fed by a place. For me, Austin has a great energy that feeds my need for nature and culture and that makes coming back to NYC hard in some ways but I feel invigorated and inspired, so I can put up with the loud noise, terrible air quality, and less than ideal climate here. Plus, I'm headed to Colorado next week to teach a bellydance workshop at the Dance Utopia Spring Dance Weekend in Granby, near Rocky Mountain National Park.

Headed to the Austin Psych Music Fest!

After an awesome evening meeting with Casting Director Donna McKenna at CnC Studios, I'm so excited to leave for Austin to bellydance with Brooklyn Raga Association in the Austin Psych Music Fest. Great things are happening all weekend and we go on Sunday April 29th at 4:30pm at the Beauty Ballroom. The whole festival lineup is awesome (The Black Angels, Meat Puppets, The Black Lips!). If you're in the area, come check us out...we'll be spinning a spell for you with oud, flute, doumbek, sitar, bellydance, sage, fire, sword...

Post Birthday Awesomeness

After a super fun performance last night at Makara Studio, I'm excited to announce that I'll be headed to Austin (!!) on Friday to bellydance with the Brooklyn Raga Association for the Austin Psych Music Fest. http://brooklynragaassociation.bandcamp.com/ I'm also excited to announce that I auditioned for and got into the Michael Chekhov Theatre Company and hope to be showing up soon in productions of theirs! Stay tuned... This week tops off with a photo shoot on Wednesday and meeting with Casting Director Donna McKenna on Thursday at CnC studios, all in all a fabulous week. I'm feeling inspired by all of the birthday love I received last week (Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, bike rides, surprise birthday party, playing cello with awesome country band Home for Wayward Drummers) and am excited to keep the good times rollin'.

CnC Fest: Performing Improv tonight at the Producer's Club

I'm excited to announce the that I'm performing in tonight's CnC Fest at the Producers' Club on west 44th Street! It's going to be a blast and I'm really looking forward to showing what we've been working on in Improv Class for the last 2 weeks.

http://www.cnc-8thanniversary.com/

CnC stands for Castings and Classes (and Community) and is the studio where I've been taking acting classes of all kinds for the last year and half. Though the performance tonight is sold out, there are frequently industry events and classes you can check out at:

http://jaggerkaye.homestead.com/AAC-Main.html

CnC Studios is run by the zesty, take-no-bull Jagger Kaye. I feel like I've learned so much from his teaching, coaching, and guidance in the last year.

Rough edit of 'Loose Ends'

Check it! I'm super excited how this turned out. I really enjoyed working with such a professional cast and crew last weekend.



'Loose Ends' is being entered in the YouTube Online Film Festival, details to follow!

While working on monologues...reflecting

The last two weeks have been incredibly busy for me with an off off Broadway show, a short film shoot, and three auditions. As I gear up to get my monologues in order for an audition Tuesday, I'm finding myself in a reflective sort of mood. Getting hit by a taxi the other night is probably contributing to this situation as well (I'm fine, fine, fine and lucky, lucky, lucky) as well as ye olde impending birthday...

My fear of acting was always really a fear to be my most authentic self. On the surface, this is counter-intuitive, because the initial perception of acting is that I am playing a character, putting on a mask or facade to become someone else. But that's not what acting--good acting--is about. To really act, you have to go deeper than the monologue or scene to truly connect emotionally to what is happening within it. You have to be even more yourself than usual. And for this connection to occur, MY emotions have to be MINE, not the the character's, not an approximation, but MY actual emotions and feelings, bits and pieces of myself. I have to let down my guard, those thick fortress walls I've constructed between myself and others.

For someone like me, this is a deeply frightening prospect. I have spent so much of my life being defensive to keep other people OUT, hiding myself from others and from myself. But heading down this path of finding out that acting is what I'm COMPELLED to do with my life, I'm realizing I have to let go of this old pattern. To be not just a good actor, but a great one, I have to connect emotionally and do this work.

Because of the environment I grew up in, I wasn't allowed to have my own feelings and emotions. It has taken me literally years to develop an awareness of the following:
A) WHEN I'm experiencing a feeling or emotion
B) WHAT that feeling or emotion is
C) HOW or IF the feeling/emotion connects to an event in my current life

Sometimes I've only got A or B down, on a bad day, none at all. I'm human, I'm not perfect, I do the best I can in each moment. For me to be a great actor, however, I need to practice this more and more. It's a process, I've got the whole rest of my life to get it. Sign me up, I'm ready to be fully present and find the truth within myself to channel into each role, part, and scene.

What got me on this path initially was taking Jagger Kaye's Advanced Acting Technique class back in January. I honestly recommend it to anyone who wants to go deeper in their acting:
http://jaggerkaye.homestead.com/AAC-Technique.html
Often while at rehearsal, an audition, or film shoot I remember something Jagger said to me, "But Rachel, being an exhibitionist isn't the same thing as having confidence!!" This reminds me to stay away from my defensive place and to go to the root of my feelings, to make emotionally authentic decisions.

Something Outrageous THIS weekend!

So, to continue reaching my goal this year of performing in Manhattan, I'll be in the Off Off Broadway production of 'Something Outrageous' directed by Michael Horn THIS Saturday and next 3/24 and 3/31 at the 45th Street Theatre in Times Square.

'Something Outrageous' is a satire on vanity, narcissism, and sex that is performed by an ensemble cast as a collection of sketch comedy skits linked together. The show itself is a right of passage for many a New York actor. I've really enjoyed the rehearsal process these last few weeks and have met some truly talented and fun people!

The show starts at 10:30pm (it's a cabaret!) and costs $25, which includes an open bar. To reserve tickets, please call 212-868-4444. The location is:

354 West 45th Street
(bet 8th/9th Aves)

Please come and show your support, I PROMISE you won't be disappointed!

Get Tickets for this weekend's Women Center Stage Festival

Tickets Tickets Tickets!

If you're interested in seeing me portray a Bank Teller at the Bank of the Bureau of Self Recognition, you can get tickets here:

https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/907575

I'll be performing in the installation before and after each of the days' performances on Saturday and Sunday. Come out and support a great festival!

Performing next weekend in the Women Center Stage Festival

Come check out the Women Center Stage Festival next weekend at the Living Theater. I'm performing in an installation called 'The Economy of One' happening before each of the weekend's performances.

http://www.cultureproject.org/wcs/festival/2012-directors-weekend/

If you can't make it, the festival is happening all month so get out and support women directors right here in NYC!

U SAY USA music video up!

Check out me bellydancing in the latest U SAY USA video below...they were a great band to work with and I had a lot of fun!