Hi Dee ... maybe we are all just shy! ..... Four of us are coming over from Adelaide and as yet have not booked flights so when we finally make the best choice financially that will dictate when we arrive and whether we will be joining you for a night of trivia! ... there are so many considerations of which you have listed some really relevant ones. Try not to stress, every one comes to festivals for different reasons, education, networking and fun (not necessarily in that order) !! Ps thanks for moves for the sword workshop ( my first reaction was eeeek! its all gc !!! luckily Mirahmar has come to my rescue and will get me up to speed ) regards Evangeline

Aaah, the big silence. It is a killer you know, and I am one the guilty ones who didn't reply. Firstly, because of the roller coaster ride with major weekly ups and downs with my dancing troupe, it just wasn't possible to know where we would be at in September (ie. did Black Diamond still exist), and secondly because time had passed and I overlooked responding to you Dee.

So, mea culpa, Dee. Please accept my apologies.

Realistically, I just can't say if my troupe will be around - some of them want to do workshops, but I'll bet you I won't get a commitment from them one way or the other, which is really tough when you are organising an event.

As for the tribes getting together is a really fine idea. It is a great idea, and that is why Tribe works because you can connect, but in your own time and share as much or little as you like. Yeah, but it not the same as your idea.

I thought that with Black Diamond or Belly Dance Alliance, no one would know anything about us anyway, and then there is the" we're not good enough or out there enough" feeling - well, that just might be my thinking that.

Dee, maybe it is just only 30 of us in Australia who really cares this much about tribal and thirst for communion with other tribal dancers, the rest just like the jewellery and RB costumes and snakey arms.

Boy, I am a little cranky pants tonight. Saw the Dalai Lama yesterday, and the big message at the public talk was about compassion. So all you tribal dancers who are only half way committed, please have some compassion for us poor obsessed women who want to learn and teach, but would like to have others to feel the same way.

Aaah, just another bit of sillyness from me.

Susan

Hi Dee,

This is such a shame. When I first heard about the Trivia Night, I thought "Cool! This will be fun" and I am really looking forward to it.

I was very surprised and saddened when I realised that many of the girls from W.A. were not intending to come along. I know that some do feel a little shy, and that others want to party in Newtown on the Friday.

Most people are just dreadful at RSVP-ing, and just don't stop to think about how difficult it is to organise something when you have not got a clue how many to expect.

Why don't you post this same message to the autraliantribaldance Yahoo group at groups.yahoo.com/group/aus...ribaldance Currently there are 190 members in the group.

Perhaps reading about your dream and the sad lack of response so far might prompt a few more to reply, and to come and join in the fun.

Good luck, Annabella

Hi Dee

Don't loose heart, your dream is beautiful and an honoured one...others share it... it is an inspiring and a great seed to plant.
When we are personally and/or professionally attatched to something, our expectations, heart and soul become entwined with it and it is disheartening, frustrating and confusion... when things don't appear to be moving in the direction that we hoped. Remember that the essence of your idea/dream and how people respond (or don't respond) can either be interpreted as two separate things or linked. I think this is not so much that people don't want to connect, meet and strengthen community but more about the personal, situational and event issues that surround people, their lives and dance. Many may be passionate about dance but, a balance needs to be struck, particular for those who see it an a interest... not professionally. There is the constraints of life... family, work, living costs, fuel prices, distance, other interests, getting the money together to come to the festival, self confidence, being unsure about whether they would 'fit' or 'know enough' for a trivia night and then all the interpretations of what an event like this may involve or represent....
In all the years I have worked in the community development, community services..... sectors RSVP to events, training... I have come to understand that responses can be low and there is often a whole range of reasons for this. Sometimes RSVP's reflects on the event... and other times its the opposite and a huge success. I am also aware that when co-ordinating large scale events or events that are bring people together from great distances, differing economical positions, skills levels, experiences.... and we remain separate up until the event it can be isolating and open up a whole range of dobts, concerns... as there is limited ways to bounce the issue around and check in about the process, content and context.
I believe that it is also important, although difficult not to compare what each of us would do to someone else. Commitment, events like the festival, trivia night... mean different things to each, because we all interprete them through our own value systems, emotional and social radars, budgets.... we all at the end of the day prioritise or make decisions and judgement against our individual check lists. This too, is to be respected as much as the the belief in community building...


Anyway enough dribble from me. If the dream is central to you Dee, do not loose it. If it comes to bear fruit that is a special reward and if it doesn't, then only you can decide whether it is worth planting another seed and trying again in a different form.

I will light a candle, add the trivia night to my mediations and put it into the blessing circle group if that is ok with you.

Take care, big hugs and keep your light shining
Namaste
Becky x