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WHAT'S NEW WITH DONDI - ARCHIVES |
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| January 2007 |
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I have had an amazing
year. My goal for 2006 was to dance, perform and teach less so I could enjoy my home and
family in San Diego and my career of tour guiding. I moved in to my new house in the
summertime and still have not fully unpacked…I have been as busy as ever with Middle
Eastern Dance! Just when I was going to be more selective about contracts, I received
incredible offers from Brazil, Africa, Alaska, India, Iceland, The United Kingdom, Germany
and many places throughout the U.S. The jobs have been wonderful and I have worked with
incredible people like Melissa Wanamaker, Badriya, Afra Al Kahira, Beata and Horacio
Cifuentes, and Josy Zareen. I have sipped tea in Zanzibar, photographed cheetahs in Kenya,
hiked to geysers in Iceland, delivered mail in the outback of Alaska and ate lots of
clotted cream on the English Riviera. I have spent a good part of the year on the road and
will do so again in 2007 with contracts to India, Mexico, Russia, North Carolina, New
York, and Montana. Hopefully this year I will be able to do some laundry and ride my
bicycle a bit more. But no complaints; I live a blessed life!
~ Dondi, January 2007 |
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| June 2007 |
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It is late June and I
am sitting in JFK International airport in New York City. I am usually here awaiting a
lay-over to Europe or the Middle East, but this time I am heading back to California. It
is one of over ten working trips that I have taken in the last 6 months…a normal year
for me. My sister, Titanya and I just taught at OMEGA institute in Rhinebeck New York. The
week was incredible with one of the best groups of students I have ever had. Bobby
McFerrin ("Don’t Worry Be Happy") was also a teacher during the week and
his students kept the campus positive and alive being "their own Walkmans."
New York City is incredible. I LOVE San Diego but I yearn for more
colors, more languages, more ages, more diversity in the people who live there. I am one
of the average, white, "30 somethings" who make up the group of 3 million people
that can feel a bit homogenized at times. However, I deeply appreciate that San Diego
promotes a laid-back, liberal, sunshiney feeling in the moods of the people. The
"bull dog" nature of New Yorkers can be a bit overwhelming.
New York City is becoming a tradition for Titanya and I as a part of
our annual retreat at OMEGA every year. This last weekend we dressed as mermaids and
frolicked at the "Mermaid Day Parade" on Coney Island as we were swept up into a
world of walking sea creatures, lobsters, mermaids, mermen and Vinnie’s. During the
weekend we also took a harbor cruise, and jumped the subway to Broadway to see "The
Color Purple" with Fanatasia Barrino of "American Idol fame. When Fantasia was
competing on American Idol it was during the final months of our father’s life and he
was rooting for her to win. He adored her, thought she was beautiful and clearly the most
talented…he was excited to hear her sing every week. She won A.I. and when she did we
all celebrated in Dads living room like she was our own best friend. She was OFF THE
CHARTS in "The Color Purple" and tugged at the audiences heart strings more than
once during the show. The entire cast was phenomenal. Next year Titanya and I will book
another Broadway show in the city but I am not sure how we will find one to top "The
Color Purple."
This week I will be home for three days before heading to Ashland,
Oregon for the 4th of July and then on to San Francisco for an Energy
Medicine/Energy Psychology workshop and then on to Mexico. Meanwhile, I am working on
choreography for the IAMED show in Los Angeles in August.
I have a few contracts in the fall but am being more selective about
when I perform and whom I work with. The Belly Dance world is changing~ becoming more
commercial, more fused with things that Belly Dance should not be fused with (in my
opinion), and is simply changing. I am still enjoying the ride but opening myself up to
other aspects of life and all that it has to offer.
Have a GREAT, fun, healthy and amazing summer!
~ Dondi, June 2007 |
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| January 2008 |
Happy New Year!! ~ 2008
~ As my sister says, "The year of infinite
possibilities!" We have had a lot of rain here for the new year in
San Diego and I love it!
The end of this last year was filled with jobs in Oregon and San
Francisco, including a photo shoot for my Mom's new book, "Energy Medicine for
Women," due out this Fall.
One of the most fun things I did last this last year was travel to San
Francisco for The "Charles Dickens Christmas Fair" (see photo below.) Walking
into The Cow Palace in SF is like being transported to the streets of London in the
1800's. There was bread pudding, roasting chestnuts, paperboys, Abe Lincoln, and even
Charles Dickens himself giving story readings. I highly recommend it! My sister and I will
go again next year. www.dickensfair.com
I am presently getting ready to travel to New Orleans to perform for
Mardi Gras at Michaul's Live Music Restaurant www.michauls.com. In March I will be teaching at Rakkasah in
San Francisco...the worlds biggest Belly Dance festival. www.rakkasah.com
Happy New Year!! |
~ Dondi, January
2008 |
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| June 2008 |
Summer is upon us and I am preparing to perform and teach in New York and England.
While in New York I will attend a Yankees VS PADRES game at Yankee Stadium and skip over
to Coney Island for the 26th Annual Mermaid Parade! My sister, our friend Emily
and I will be dressing as postcard pin-up girls from the 1930’s…with a sailor
theme of course!My sister Titanya and I will perform in New York City,
and teach at OMEGA Institute in the Hudson River Valley. While in Europe I will teach and
perform in Norwich as well as visit Venice, Italy and Sweden. My namesake of
"Dahlin" is Swedish from ancestry on my father’s side so it will be
thrilling for me to step onto Scandinavian soil for the first time.
Performances and workshops abound but I am also preparing my home for
the possibility of historical designation. For two years I have been researching my 1904
National Folk House and will defend myself before the San Diego Historical Board in July.
I have a passion for history and believe that saving historical buildings from
over-development is a gift for our future generations.
In August I will return to the East coast and spend time at Lily Dale,
New York assisting my Mom, Donna Eden with one of her workshops. I am excited to walk the
ground where mediums and spiritualists have practiced, meditated and channeled energies
for well over 100 years.
It is the beginning of an exciting season and I am very blessed.
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~ Dondi, June
2008 |
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| November 2008 |
I am nesting at home this holiday season as we prepare for the new year of 2009. I have
returned to San Diego from performing and teaching in Italy, England, Sweden, Denmark and
the East Coast of the United States…while being 4 months pregnant. As my belly grows
and we head into winter I can reminisce on an amazing year of 2008. Not only am I creating
a human being but for my entire life I have been performing and teaching a dance that was
by women, for women and had significance with mid-wives and childbirth. Now I am embarking
on childbirth and have chosen my own mid-wives to assist me with a birth at home in the
water. This decision was well thought out and cemented in stone when I watched the movie,
"The Business of Being Born." It is a masterpiece produced by Ricki Lake that I
encourage every woman and every human being to view at least once in their lifetime.
Please view a clip at: www.TheBusinessOfBeingBorn.comIt
reminded me what I already knew- that hospitals are about big lobby, big dollars and they
are a big business. They treat birth as a medical emergency instead of a natural process.
And, yet, The United States has the 2nd worst newborn death rate in the
developed world.
The following is taken from the writings of "Homebirth" by Sheila
Kitzinger: Whether birth is difficult or easy, painful or pain-free,
long-drawn-out or brief, it need not be a medical event. It should never be conducted as
if it were no more than a tooth extraction. For childbirth has much deeper significance
than the removal of a baby like a decaying molar from a woman's body. The dawning of
consciousness in a human being who is opening eyes for the first time on our world is
packed with meaning for the mother and father, and can be also for everyone who shares in
this greatest adventure of all.
There are many women who hope for childbirth in which they, not the
doctors, are in control. They do not wish labor and birth to be taken over by managers.
They know that it is easier to do this on their own ground, in a place to
which the doctors and midwives who are their caregivers come as guests. They would like to
give birth outside a hospital. Where birth is centered on people instead of on mechanical
processes.
Hospitals exist where all members of staff share this attitude, but they
are few and far between. You need only one person who is out of tune with such ideas, who
believes in the aggressive management of labor, who, instead of being client-oriented,
sees a woman as a patient who must obey hospital protocols, one person who is anxious and
afraid, and who cannot trust women's bodies, for the environment in which birth takes
place to be poisoned, and completely unsuitable for the focused concentration and inner
confidence that is needed for a good birth.
In my research of home birth and midwives, I am convinced that most doctors do not
trust that a woman’s body can birth a baby without the use of epidurals, Pitocin and
even Cesarean Sections. I am trusting that my body can. And forward I go on my
journey…
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~ Dondi, November
2008 |
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| August 2009 |
I don’t know how people keep up with blogs let alone sites like Myspace and
Facebook. Life was busy without a child and now even more so with this precious new
being in my life. I don’t want anything to take me away from him, including the
computer. But, alas there are wonderful people in the world wanting to know about our
lives. S o, here it is: Tiernan Ray Devenyns was born on May 23, 2009 at 4:55 am. He was 8
lbs, 3 oz and 22 inches long. The birth was at home in San Diego and was incredibly
spiritual, emotional, powerful, and life changing. My life is complete now. I am in
bliss…there is nothing more important than this…We are
unfolding into September and my sister and I just performed and taught at OMEGA Institute
in New York and for Zabeth in Boston. Tiernan came with us and family joined along
the way. We are now getting ready to assist with Moms workshop (www.innersource.net) in Alaska and
then we will head to Miami. We will be back home for the holidays.
Until then…
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~ Dondi, August
2009 |
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| November 2009 |
Happy Holidays Everyone!! Please
see the December issue of "Better Homes and Gardens." My house and I are being
featured on the back page! It is a great honor after working hard for two years to get my
home historically designated. This is a very important distinction since Southern
California is, unfortunately, full of developers who are keen on demolishing historic
buildings. When a building is historically land-marked or designated it is very difficult,
if not impossible, for it to ever be demolished. The preservation of history is a great
passion of mine.
Baby boy Tiernan Ray is 6 months old!! I soak up
every second with Tiernan Ray. While soaking up the seconds with him I am preparing for a
trip to Ashland, Oregon, Hawaii and Rakassah West in March where I will be teaching. In
April I will be teaching a series of pre-natal and post-natal belly dance classes here in
San Diego.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Dondi
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~ Dondi, November
2009 |
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| January 2010 |
Happy 2010!! Tiernan and
I have lots of travel scheduled for the year. I will be teaching dance workshops,
performing on the Queen Mary & at Rakkasah, and helping Mom (Donna Eden) with her
Energy Medicine workshops.
We will head to Hawaii, Phoenix, San Francisco,
Norway, Denmark, France, Spain and many places in between. By that time Summer will be
here with trips to Esalen and OMEGA.
May it be a fantastic 2010!!!
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~ Dondi, January
2010 |
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