Assembled over the years to quench the thirst & curiosity of Tahya’s class participants below find information on the development of the dance through written documents, oral accounts, art and material artifacts, costuming ideas and more… See also Recommended Reading and Music Lists @ RESOURCE page.
CLASS Description, HISTORY BOOKLET plus more info … TRADITIONS OF THE DANCE & FRAME DRUM
- Beginner Class Description
- History Booklet
- Intro to Frame Drum
- A Few Influential Dancers of Early-Mid 20th C
- Love Your Belly_Yes! Love Your Whole Self!
- Class Questionnaire
- Frequently Asked Questions ~ for ex., what to wear to class?!
- Moroccan Music & Movement
- Stand Up Straight
- TAHYA TECHNIQUE™ Bibliography
- TAHYA TECHNIQUE™ Vocabulary of Movement
- Venus (poster) plus here’s an interesting (10/2019) article about Venus of Willendorf and How This 30,000-Year-Old Figurine Continues to Captivate Today
- Head of the Great Goddess, from a limestone statue found on the island of Cyprus (circa 6th century B.C.)* This beauty models an exquisite ‘smile of contained joy’ (one I encourage emulating so that we not only look lovey but also ‘trigger’ a neurological response which allows production of dopamine and other ‘feel good’ hormones to balance life’s daily stress in the body.
MORE: I was first introduced to this Beauty in Daniela Gioseffi’s book “Earth Dancing” (© 1980) (see “Recommended Reading” on Resource Page) wherein she describes this image as Head of the Great Goddess noting the round dancers on the crown and the spiritual, or Etruscan, smile of peace on the Goddess’s face.
Ever since first witnessing this Beauty, I have used her gracious smile as an inspiration and upon further investigation all these years later (over forty years, oh my!), I now see what was there all along and yet previously UNnoticed by me ~ that is, on her crown, the ‘column capitals in the form of heads of the goddess Hathor…’
*Read more about this statue: Worcester Art Museum (in Massachusetts)
COSTUMING & VEILS
Information on costuming primarily comes from a wonderful book in my collection that, at least the last time I checked, is out of print. Also contained therein are instructions and patterns from a now-retired costume designer extraordinaire ~ the one and only Ellen Laincz!
- Costuming Handout Part 1
- Costuming Handout Part 2: Bra and Belt Construction
- Veil Booklet
- Behind the Veil
- Moroccan Magic (Double) Dress: this is not a handout, rather information about one of my all-time favorite dresses that I fondly refer to as my “Goddess Dress” and consistently wear as my processional attire. It’s called Moroccan (Double) Dress that can ‘magically’ be worn in many ways! NOTE: I originally purchased mine at a great shop down in New Hope called ‘House of India’ located at 76 South Main Street, New Hope, PA 18938 (215-862-3544) and I recently also found it online (altho’ I have not ordered any product from these folks so I cannot necessarily recommend, but at least you can get an idea of the dress) zarabesque.com/magicdress.php & whatnaturalslove.com/products/moroccan-magic-dress
STORY OF THE SYSTRUM
A Story of the Systrum: Lecture with PowerPoint presentation ~ a program for collegiate or community classes programs, women’s groups, museums, libraries, schools. A Story of the Systrum includes 90+ images complete with information about the Ancient Egyptian Goddess Hathor, Her musician-priestesses, and powerful queens ~ women whose confidence, beauty and prominent role in society can inspire us today! 60-90 min program Contact Tahya for more info.
Chant / Invocation to Hathor found at Her temple at Dendera
Rediscovering the Sistrum article penned by Tahya and published in July 2018 Percussive Arts Society’s journal Percussive Notes.