New Tribal Vision review in the Chronicles Magazine, July/August/September 2009!
A Dancer’s and Writer’s Forum!
D-Quad,
or
Delicious Divas Dancing Dreams!
In the cyber pages of my monthly e-newsletter, Caravan Trails, I am extending an invitation to you to write about your dance. I’m dreaming about publishing a yearly dancer’s anthology, a tribute to you and our dance, and this is our starting gate.
Each month we will write about a chosen topic, so that you can visualize and verbalize something about your tribal dance. You may be chosen to be published, either in edited or full form, in this newsletter or my new blog, and awarded a token gift from Gypsy Caravan. Let’s share our tribal vision. And if you have art to share, send it in.
I look forward to reading your words! Thanks for being a part of our writing community.
Email your submissions to dance@gypsycaravan.us, with a short bio, a photo, and your mailing address so I can send you a token gift for writing! I look forward to reading and sharing your words.
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Interested in more books? I invite you to look up
and
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UK and European shoppers, did you know you can get Gypsy Caravan and Mizna CDs through the LoneBoy store?
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***Another great review for Tribal Vision! on Bhuz.com by Zepora, 12/30/08
“Kudos for Paulette Rees-Denis - Tribal Vision
Hey . . . I just received the book, Tribal Vision, by Paulette Rees-Denis. I have only yet read the first 3 chapters, but all I can say is, “WOW!” This is one of the most refreshing books I have read. It touches on many dance related subjects that are close to heart. It gives a nice history of American Tribal Style belly dance as well as Paulette’s own personal history.
Tribal Vision also touches on belly dance classes, troupes, and the impact the dance has on women. Several personal insights by various dancers are given, along with beautiful, full-color pictures. This book is a must read for all belly dancers. It is also a very beautiful book and would just look absolutely gorgeous on any coffee table, but you MUST read it! I especially love the way she talks about the connection belly dance helps women make with themselves and others. A truly life-changing read.
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/product-news-reviews/22631-kudos-paulette-rees-denis-tribal-vision.html ************
Be a sponsor on this site, my Gypsy Caravan site, and in my enewsletter, Caravan Trails, and my new blog… Email dance@gypsycaravan.us
My new Blog is now very much alive… www.tribalbellydanceblog.com
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The Gilded Serpent and Martha review (12/08)
Tribal Vision by Paulette Rees-Denis
I went on a different Belly dance quest and found Tribal Vision, which is a celebration of life through tribal Belly dance from Paulette Rees-Denis (producer of the Tribal Technique Series of instructional videos and founder of Gypsy Caravan). What I thought would be a book about how-to-do-Tribal-Belly-dancing, turned out to be a great lesson about Tribal Belly dance history! Topics covered how Tribal was created, what inspired it, and who created it, if the creators were always Belly dancers, where and how they lived. I found quite amusing when I got to Chapter 2: “ A Dancer Finds Her Place” where Paulette describes her life’s journey as a dancer, ballet dancer, and jazz dancer who had a feeling that there was still more out there for her. She met Caroleena Nericcio who invited her to this new style process of creating a new form.
Many wonderful photographs of Belly dance in the late 1980s and early ‘90s are included in this book of Tribal dance history. In a way, this is a memoir of Paulette’s Belly dance life.
Many of us have read various articles and books about the history of the golden era of Belly dance, but these renditions of history are always talking about many decades ago. I have not seen other books that were as descriptive as this one concerning the “in-between” era of Belly dance. It is very clear how Tribal Belly dance is defined in the last 30 years; Paulette’s words are very inspiring! I think that her book is an essential for all Tribal Belly dancers because one needs to know the background—and for tribal dancers, this is one of your founders who helped mark an era that revolutionized this art form. (No, it didn’t start with Rachel Brice, but much earlier with Jamila Salimpour—and more directly—Masha Archer.) “Teaching this dance fills my soul with delight,” Paulette Rees Denis writes in chapter nine. Where her vision (as a teacher) of a student’s progression is clearly stated, every teacher must nurture his or her students for them to be able to progress in any art form, and the feedback given by the teacher of both new and old students is not often shared. However, the author makes a very detailed demography of her dance students, and she explains that during the teenage years these young students are often the hardest ones to sign up for classes (a phenomenon about which I fully agree). The joy of dancing and the satisfaction of passing it on to other aspiring dancers led her to create her Gypsy Caravan Teacher Certification Program and in the last chapter, she describes her ups and downs while giving life to next generation teachers. She fully describes the progress of a dancer’s journey through her dance life, through a performance process, to achieving a full awareness off the moment. The full story is in this Tribal Belly dance history book—much as the author lived through it. I would recommend Paulette’s book as an option for dancers who are interested in obtaining a background of this fairly recent dance style. I do not consider it a “must-have” for every Belly dancer’s library; however, it is very inspirational, produced with high quality printing and beautiful full-color photos.
Zil Rating= 4 zils 
http://www.gildedserpent.com/art45/marthabooks.htm
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Congratulations to the five winners of a free copy of Tribal Vision. Thank you for entering the giveaway at GoodReads.com. Enjoy the book!
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finally…Fade To Black, SF Revisited, 1982-1985 Eight songs are now available at www.last.fm.com From LIve shows, the EP Corridors of Gender, and the compilation EP the Quake… (You can also here Gypsy Caravan and Mizna here!)
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Recent Book Review in Zaghareet Magazine, October 2008 www.zaghareet.com
Tribal Vision by Paulette Rees-Denis reviewed by Sharina, publisher of Zaghareet
My troupe attended a Tribal Synergy workshop taught by Kajira Djoumahna and Paulette Rees-Denis in 2000 that completely turned us around! The whole “tribal essence” and idea of the community of women was such a beautiful concept that we wanted to be a part of it! Paulette’s new book, Tribal Vision: A Celebration of Life Through Tribal Belly Dance, creates the same wonderful feeling and totally imparts what tribal belly dance is all about. As soon as you open this book, you’ll see that it’s just packed full of incredible pictures, so when I first got it, I just had to page through all of the photos! Then when I showed the book to my husband, there we were, paging through the photos again … and when I sat down to read it, I had to go for the photos one more time!
So suffice it to say that this book is worth reading for the beautiful photos alone! But then there’s Paulette Rees-Denis’s wonderful philosophy. Yes, the book is heavily tribal since that is Paulette’s chosen style. And for those of us who love tribal belly dance, you’ll find yourself nodding and smiling in agreement as Paulette shares this part of her path. The book is also filled with quotes from many other tribal dancers about how the dance has affected their lives as well! I’ve read the book twice now just because it makes me feel so good each time I read it! But there is so much wisdom here that that ANY dancer could relate to no matter what dance style is her preference.
Paulette talks about her early years and her “calling” as a dancer and the whole “path of a dancer” is something that we can all identify with … you know, how this beautiful dance form has transformed our lives and changed how we feel about ourselves? She also talks about the challenges of moving to a different state and having to build her own dance community, plus issues with forming her performance troupe and student troupes. Her discussion of dance as ritual … or trance dance … was very powerful! And the chapter on “Adorning” — how you build your mood as you’re getting ready for performance (or even class!). Of course, it takes us tribal dancers much longer to get into our costumes, but I so loved Paulette’s description of how she cherishes that time! Each one of us has that “something” that we do as we’re getting into costume that transforms us into a dancer!
And music … how could we dance without music? Music was such an important part of Paulette’s earlier years, and she was so strongly attracted to the rhythm of the music she danced to, that live music became a part of Gypsy Caravan as well. Now let’s go back to those photos … we have Paulette as a young dancer (as a cancan girl and in Swan Lake!), photos of Paulette with Carolena Nericcio in FCBD’s early years (with their first performance in Paulette’s backyard), photos of Paulette and her husband Jeff along their earlier path, plus 20+ pages showing the whole evolution of Gypsy Caravan from 1993 to present. Enough said? One of the really beautiful parts of the book is that not only do we learn more about Paulette’s path as a dancer (and I loved learning about her attachment to music and dance as a young girl), we also share in her philosophy that she passes on to her students, what she feels is important for them to know about the dance, how she shares what she’s learned along her path, and how she enjoys watching their transformation.
This book is thoroughly enjoyable and you’ll want to get your copy today! For ordering information, see Paulette’s website:
http://www.gypsycaravan.us/shopping/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=67&products_id=296
About the Author: Paulette Rees-Denis Paulette Rees-Denis has been a local and international cutting edge dance force since 1991, with her innovative and inspiring style of dance-Tribal Belly Dance. Based in Portland, Oregon, Paulette teaches and performs at home and around the globe, while directing her performance dance and music group, Gypsy Caravan Dance Company; managing her world dance studio, Caravan Studio. She produced Tribal Quest Northwest, the five-day international music and dance festival for six years. One of the founding members of this quickly spreading dance style-more than just a craze- Paulette has an ongoing teaching itinerary in Scotland, England, Germany, Italy, Canada, Taiwan, and Australia, as well as across the United States. Paulette currently writes a monthly travel international e-newsletter-Tribal Travels. From 1998-2003, she published a quarterly journal, Caravan Trails, and in 2005 had a monthly dance column in Jareeda Magazine. She has written belly dance articles and been interviewed for dance magazines-Jareeda, Zaghareet, and Habibi, England’s Tribal, Germany’s Tanz Oriental, and Australia’s Belly dance Oasis-as well as Portland area newspapers and magazines. Along with her troupe, Paulette has been featured in numerous books, including The Tribal Bible and The Belly dance Book, and on the Belly dance TV/DVD series. She graduated in 2007 with a Master’s degree in Publishing and Writing from Portland State University. Having received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1983, she also self-published a limited-edition photography book, Skin Stories, in 2000. Rees-Denis has directed award-winning videos and DVDs, including eight international best-selling teaching technique DVDs and four performance videos, along with seven musical Cd’s. Her documentary, Tribal Travels, about Gypsy Caravan’s experiences and performances (June 2005), won “Best Historical Documentary” from the Giza Academy Awards. With Gypsy Caravan, she has won awards for ” Troupe of the Year” (twice), “Favorite Musicians” (twice) from the Zaghareet Magazine Golden Belly Awards, ” Best Choreography for the Camera” from the International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance, and “Best Troupe”, and “Best Entertainment Video” from the Giza Academy Awards.
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Recent Awards Paulette and Gypsy Caravan have received the 2008 Best of Portland Award in the Dance Instruction category-a nice honor from the U.S. Local Business Association. This award is given to the local companies who have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category, and who that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
