July, 2009:

Vesica Sister at the Rothbury Festival

Shakti and Luna pull out all the stops for this performance at the Rothbury Festival. They even incorporated some of the Native American Hoop Dance techniques shared with us at Hoop Convergence by Alley’Oop. This is one of the most original hoop performances I’ve seen.

Founding members of the Kaivalya Hoop Dancers, Shakti Sunfire and Luna Breeze, sisters by birth, return to Rothbury 2009 to awe and amaze inside the circle. Synchronizing multiple hoop acts with contact improv, modern dance, sacred geometrical shapes, and statue-like stillness, Vesica Sister seeks to weave story, myth and ceremony into their feminine duet. Look for them in the depths of the Sherwood forest and beyond.

Check out Shakti’s Blog on her experience at Rothbury here. She writes:

The goal? To push beyond familiar territory. To wipe the word ‘ambiant’ from our contract. To step it up like we never have before. Vesica’s debut added an electric undercurrent to the tingling expanse of uncharted water. In that way we as individual participants matched and contributed to the artistic infrastructure that is Rothbury.

Vesica Sister: Myspace

I’m going to try and recap some of the many memorable moments at Movement Play tonight. We had such a great time really settled into the space, playing for four full days. More on that soon…

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Outtakes from Flow In the Wasteland

Jul 8th, 2009

by rich.

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Khan sent me a text message last Friday asking if I minded if he cut some video from the left over tape from Flow In The Wasteland footage. I knew there was some decent stuff from the beach with these beautiful hang gliders soaring in the background so I told him to go for it. To my surprise, these two beautiful clips were posted before I returned from the Priceless Campout. How would this have cut into “the wasteland” you might ask? Well, we thought there was a busted up military building at Fort Funston. Turns out there is very little left accept beautiful views and hang gliders. We shot some footage even though it wouldn’t go into the intended clip and here it is.

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MiMosa – Priceless Campout

Jul 7th, 2009

by rich.

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I’m happy I made until 3:00am to see MiMosa destroy the dance floor Sunday Morning. If there is one DJ that left me craving more, this was it. I haven’t seen a crowd go off like that in a long time. MiMosa is definitely on my short list of DJs to watch right now.

Mimosa takes listeners on a journey through warm rhythmic sound-scapes, with melodies and vocal samples smoothly crafted to help navigate the sonic terrain. Using basslines inspired by hip-hop classics like Too Short and Dr Dre, combined with deep psychedelic textures reminiscent of the downtempo and midtempo output by Tipper and Bluetech, Mimosa blends the range of styles to create his own fresh take on the west coast sound.

Mimosa’s debut EP release, Hostilis, presents tracks with heavy-hitting low frequencies, sexy grooves, and uplifting dub infusions, floating between instrumental Hip Hop and Dubstep. The Hostilis EP also features prolific MC Souleye from Colorado, known for his extensive touring with jam bands like BLVD and STS9. The track ‘Framboise’ features beautiful vocal textures provided by Canadian artist Sasha [Butterfly] Rose.

Website: here
Myspace: here

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Priceless Campout – False Profit

Jul 6th, 2009

by rich.

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Lauren, Christabel and I just returned back to the bay after a journey into the majestic Sierra mountains along the Feather River for the False Profit Priceless Campout. This somewhat spontaneous adventure presented surprises we hadn’t quite expected. The Belden Town resort was a perfect venue. We spent the weekend floating in the river, listening to good music, and spinning. I’m bubbling over with things to write while being so damn exhausted I know I won’t get them all out.

I spent a good portion of the weekend following the music and hooping. Sean and Prisna of Flow Toys, as always, wandered the festival weaving magic wherever they went. If you get a chance, Sean has written some inspiring theories about flow here.

I also was able to spend some time spinning with Banyan, who is quite possibly my favorite staff spinner. Saturday night while wandering back to camp I stumbled upon him spinning double staff at the chill stage. I can still hear the song in my head (which I’m stoked that I was just able to find, Slidecamp by Comma & Boretta). It was one of those rare moments watching someone spin where I nearly cried. It was as if he had direct access to a powerful source. Being the non spiritual person that I am, that’s a strange thing to hear myself say. Every move was an intimate expression of the song. I’ve seen few moments that rivaled this as inspiration for my personal practice.

I also had some great moments watching Christabel hoop and had a wonderful time getting to connect with her throughout the weekend. This was probably the most time we’ve spent together and I feel honored to have had her join Lauren and I on this adventure. I’m excited that she’s coming to Movement Play too! Jasmine is coming down and I’ll finally get to meet Dawn.

(If you don’t get to watch this whole video, skip to 5:50)