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.