Tag: Dance

Videos: Party Kolkata Style + Valeska’s New Book + Podcast

da-AL7 Comments
Titling over Rocky dancing and Valeska's new book cover.
Rocky’s dancing greatness and Valeska’s new book!

Party Kolkata Style + Valeska's New Book – Happiness Between Tails

#India #Writing #Authors #Dance #Travel How do you celebrate awesome news? Share your thoughts, experiences, and questions by recording them on Spotify for Podcasters page — or comment at HappinessBetweenTails.com — or email me. Like what you hear? Buy me a coffee. http://buymeacoffee.com/SupportHBT See Kolkata dance videos at HappinessBetweenTaiils.com — Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/depe9/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/depe9/support

Listen to posts at the Happiness Between Tails Podcast’s homepage at Spotify for Podcasters! Find links to subscribe, listen, and share episodes via most platforms; from Spotify and Apple Podcasts, to Google Podcasts and Pocket Casts, along with RadioPublic and Castbox and Stitcher and more, plus an RSS feed. The full list of 50+ places is at LinkTree.

I had a whole other idea for this week’s blog post — but surely there’s no better way to celebrate a day than to shake, rattle, and roll Kolkata style?!

More posts and podcasts about my visit to Kolkata here and here and here and here…

Work paused on my novel, Khashayar grabbed by the hand, he and I danced with glee to the music of the following short videos. They’re from cousin Giulia and Deep’s India-style wedding. Well-wishers from near and far kicked off days of parties and ceremonies. (Longer videos to come in future posts.)

I don’t think I ever laughed so much in one night in my life! Giulia and Deep hoofed it to the right of Khashayar…

Despite abundant food and drink, I doubt anyone left the dance floor for more than a minute at a time. Not with Paresh (in black t-shirt and jacket) livening the stage!…

For anyone who hadn’t polished their Kolkata-wood moves — hang on, turns out the proper term is Tollywood — Rocky was there to lead the way…

Guests also gave encouraging speeches, sang songs, and we did an impromptu Argentine tango…

Hey — let’s dance to Valeska Réon’s happy new too! She’s guested at Happiness Between Tails here and I first expressed my admiration of her here. An author since 1997, she’s published fifteen books, from crime and thriller novels to health guides. With her dogs Maya and Indie, she lives in Dortmund, Germany and plans to relocate to Berlin.

Her first historical novel, which she plans to publish in the United States, is already doing well…

Writer Valeska Réon with Maya and Indie in front of Mont Saint Michel, where they did on-site research for her history novel about Anne de Bretagne.
Writer Valeska Réon with Maya and Indie in front of Mont Saint Michel, where they did on-site research for her history novel about Anne de Bretagne.

“Forbidden Promises: the first German book about Queen Anne of Brittany” by Valeska Réon

I got the idea for this novel from my Maastricht thriller ‘Der Bibelkiller’ (about a serial killer who terrifies the citizens of Maastricht with his bizarre murders), where it is mentioned in a subplot. Here’s a post about that here.

This then inspired me to dedicate a novel of its own to Anne of Brittany (1477 – 1514).

It is the first German book about her; for the publication in Germany this was an all-important feature.

It seemed rather strange that such an interesting historical figure living in a time of world transforming change, bringing with it the values of the early modern period (Renaissance), had gone ignored by German authors. Until her death, Anne was the Duchess of Brittany and through her three marriages also Queen of France not one, but two times, holding the titles of Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Sicily and Jerusalem and Duchess of Milan at the same time. She was a devoted patron of the arts and initiated for the first illustrated children’s book to be written. 

While history books tend to portray a favourable image of Anne’s second husband, King Charles VIII, another viewpoint can also be explored; King Charles VIII was a foolish ruler who was more interested in pursuing women’s skirts than paying attention to his own wife, or the country he should rule. From a venture in Italy, he and his men spread syphilis throughout Europe, and by the time of his death his court had not contributed in any form to the spiritual or artistic wave sweeping Europe. For a well-educated and enlightened woman like Anne this must have been nothing short of torture. The point of the death of King Charles VIII is the perfect moment to include a twist into the story. 

I make use of my imagination and introduce a knight of the Order of Michael, Jean de Thyberon, into Anne’s life. Historical realism and fiction are walking hand in hand. Jean accompanies Anne over several years. Respect grows into careful affection, and with time more begins to bloom between the two.

As King Charles’s deadly accident in castle Amboise includes several historically incongruent accounts, the authors use the quirks of history to create some rumours and suspense between the lines. Charles was a man of small stature and died of an aneurism which resulted from him hitting his head against a door frame. How likely does it feel that something like this was just a coincidence? The Order of Michael was under his command, and so the Knight of the Order Jean de Thyberon is called to investigate the cause of death. With time he becomes Anne’s consultant, then a good friend and finally the man whom she adores with all her heart. The problem is: a knight openly wooing the Queen is completely unthinkable.

There are still other strange events in the life of Anne of Brittany. From her eleven children only her daughters Claude and Renée survived. A tragic truth which made the authors question, what if those two had a father far removed from the fragile royal bloodlines? Could Jean de Thyberon have been the father?

And what if Jean advised her in the field of politics and helped to shape history as we know it without ever having been mentioned in any history book? 

In front of this background, the picture of the impeccable Queen is broken apart and a new light is cast on Anne the person, the woman, and the lover. 

For a gripping flow of the story, the viewpoints of Anne and Jean are mixed and told in first person. Through their unique feelings and experiences, the reader is close to the protagonists and all the events of the story. 

The perfect harmony of true history and exciting fiction create the pull of this novel. The reader is left to wonder, and maybe even hope, could it have really been like this?

Here you can see the long version of the book trailer:

The song you hear in the background, Violet et Noir, was written especially for this historical novel.

The book presentation started in January 2023 Berlin, and will continue at the Leipzig Book Fair in April; in May I will travel to Vienna and Salzburg to meet my Austrian readers in person. It is quite interesting that I am also invited to colloquia at universities with this book, because the plot is very interesting for students.

Currently we are looking for a publisher in the USA because we think that this bittersweet love story could appeal to American readers very much.

I’m already writing a new historical novel, this time about an English Queen about whom there is no book anywhere in the world. For this project I interweave the life story of the sovereign with a thriller plot.

The Blurb

France 1498: Anne of Brittany, Duchess of Brittany and Queen of France, has already gone through two marriages. She never met her first husband, King Maximilian I, as the marriage was arranged in her name. Her second husband, King Charles VIII, died under mysterious circumstances. All her six children have passed away. 

Having given up the hope and search for true love she meets Jean de Thyberon – knight of the Order of St Michael, and suddenly finds herself united with her soulmate. After only a few short months, Anne has to part ways with the educated and humorous man forever as protocol dictates that Anne has to marry King Louis XII.

‘I may not love you…’

… so the command hanging over their love like a sword of Damocles.

Photo of da-AL and Khashayar in front of their Norooz spread.
Happy Persian New Year to you from the two of us!

Don’t let not being Persian stop you from enjoying Norooz! More about how we celebrate Persian New Year here…

How do you celebrate a great day?

Vids: Let’s Dance + Do Better: S.D.Jones + Podcast: N.Socha Plays Blind

da-AL63 Comments
Photo of Shira Destinie Jones: Author, Educator,. Activist.
Shira Destinie Jones: Author/Educator/Activist
Want to listen to a podcast/audio version of Happiness Between Tails? Click the Spotify podcast link above. And please give it a follow.

This week I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel of writing my first novel (more about it H-E-R-E)! Yay!!!!

To celebrate, let’s get moving! Can you do this?

Sit in a chair, both your feet on the ground. Then lift your right foot a couple of inches off the floor and use it to make a clockwise circular motion. Meantime, with your right hand, write the numeral six.

Gotcha! It’s an unsolved mystery why that’s so hard to do.

Now for our dance party! As you might remember from my posts H-E-R-E and H-E-R-E, I grew up with flamenco (and classical music). For my father, the louder, the better. After all, that way those neighbors yelling and pounding our walls could enjoy it too, no?

José Planas Moreno, a priest in Málaga, Spain, tears up the church floor with his parishioners. The videographer’s site shows how the province celebrates everything with dance, be it blackberry roots, or plain ole’ regional dance. (A quickie swerve off-topic: what’s your opinion and experience regarding hyperlinks, meaning the sorts in this paragraph vs. the prior paragraph?) …

Carmen Amaya is known as the Queen of Flamenco for good reason! Head to toes, she’s music and dance incarnate…

With her extended family of Romany dancers and musicians, Carmen toured the world. Hollywood (including the Hollywood Bowl) fell in love with her. Here she casts her Fandango spell… 

Whew! Dunno about you, but I’m out of breath! It’s time to sit back and meet our guest blogger…

Ever wish you could make the world better a better place for anyone and everyone? Educator/community organizer Shira Destinie Jones blogs, at least for now, from San Diego and is doing just that. As part of her plan, she’s founded, Do Better, to stop child abuse and help those who care for kids.

Volunteers Needed: Shira needs feedback on the book she’s writing about how Do Better works, as well as the project itself. Find out more at h-e-r-e.

On her way to also becoming a historical fiction novelist, she’s already published an academic text, “Stayed on Freedom’s Call: Cooperation Between Jewish And African-American Communities In Washington, DC.”

Read on for a sample of her writing. When the following incident occurred, which she titles “Standing in the Gap,” she was completing PhD studies…

“Standing in The Gap” by Shira Destinie Jones

There it was again. I knew that sound.

“Oy, they’re having a fight down there!”

That was what Mona thought. I knew better. That was an old sound, from a lifetime ago. One I thought I’d finally escaped. I should have known better.

I looked out the window, counting five men holding smart phones up toward the screams. Then my feet moved of their own accord. It was only from hearing a muffled shout as the door slammed behind me that I knew I’d left the flat. The rain had just ended, and the pavement was still wet. My feet pulled me to the source of that sound. Not the shouting, not the screaming, but the one I remembered so deeply that it still hid under the table with my inner child. The sound of a head hitting a wall.

There it was again, but this time, I could see them. Both of them. The woman’s head sounded like a watermelon when she slammed against the wall, sliding down those slimy bricks to finish crumpled on the filthy paving stones. Her eyes were open wide, looking stunned and frightened, as a giant advanced on her from the ten or fifteen feet from where he’d launched her. My stomach churned as the pain of that impact coursed through my own body, as if I had been the one tossed like a sack of rice into that wall.

Looking at the giant, I wanted to flee, abandon this woman to her fate. But my feet had a will of their own, carrying me right into the one spot where I didn’t want to be: about 5 steps between each of them.

I realized that I’d carried an old umbrella with me out the door. At least those Kung Fu lessons had had one result: they kept me from rushing in where angels feared to tread entirely unarmed. Then again, my next thought was that this flimsy brolly was more like a liability against that big drunk guy. I took a second of comfort in hoping that as a foreign PhD student, at least the NHS would cover my hospital stay if I didn’t manage to duck fast enough.

“Move!”

I flinched as the sound wave from the giant’s lips struck me. It felt just like the impact of furniture breaking against the wall that night. When the giant stepped closer to me, my feet moved me back the same step, but my body refused to budge. That brolly, I now realized, was balanced in my left hand behind me, just like a short staff. My stomach had turned into a solid ball, no longer churning. As I saw him look at me, the giant’s eyes suddenly grew wider. If he hits me, it is going to hurt. But then why did he seem to be afraid of me?

“Move!”

“No.”

Who said that? Oh, wait, that was my voice. So why did the giant look confused?

“Thank you.”

I risked a glance backward. That sobbing voice had come from behind me, as the woman I was foolishly blocking wept, her tears mingling with the rain on the wall as she’d stared up at me.

Focusing on the giant as I’d learned to do in so many sparring classes, I drew a deep breath, preparing. But the giant stood frozen himself, staring at me with some odd drunken mixture of contempt and fear. Both were clearly written in his face, as well as the frustration of being denied another chance to strike the woman on the ground behind me. What was he waiting for?

“You prick.”

He was treating me like a man? He really must be drunk. Then I realized that I’d dropped into an automatic fighting stance. He wasn’t that drunk, then.

“Ok, but you should be ashamed of yourself.”

As those words tore themselves from my throat, I began to tremble so violently that I thought I’d begin crying like the woman at my back. The giant looked so confused that I could practically see the gears turning in his drink-addled mind. Then, a tall woman stepped between us, her back to me, placing a hand flat upon the center of the giant’s chest. I found myself letting out the breath I’d not known I was holding, and heard movement behind me.

I turned to see the two young bar girls helping the woman, finally, up off of the pavement, and taking her inside the pub. As I looked back at the giant, he had backed away, the tall woman’s arm guiding him to the curb.

I stood straight, now in tears myself from the relief, and from the shock. I was still four years old, still hiding under the table, while furniture still shattered, as my mother screamed in the other room. But this time, I had not stayed hidden under the table.

This time, I had come out to help.

Lost in these thoughts, I turned down the bar girl’s offer of a drink. As Mona came over, saying something I couldn’t hear, I wondered where she had been during all of this. Recalling her nights of coming home drunk, I realized that she had been standing there, 20 feet away, the entire time. Now I could see her in my mind’s eye, standing off to the side, just watching. As the five men and two bar girls had stood by and just watched.

All standing idly by while… And all but the young bar girls were bigger than me.

What’s a problem you think people need to know more about?

To Dance Argentine Tango is a Miracle: 2 videos by da-AL

da-AL72 Comments

Some time ago, I messed up my left knee big time in a skiing accident. This is a revival of an older post, one that I wish brings hope to anyone who’s feeling frustrated — about anything. My recovery from that mishap was horrendous, as was dealing with insurance. It wasn’t till six months later that I had healed enough to schedule the surgery I was informed that I needed. A few weeks before the big day, however, I slipped and broke more parts of the same knee. That second fall meant postponing surgery.

A blessing! As I waited anew for the surgery, I met a wonderful orthopedist who suggested that I might not need cutting after all! Lo and behold, within a year and a half later, my knee was — and remains almost perfect! I can dance!

Here are a couple of short clips of my husband and me at the very start of our learning new Tango Elegante steps taught to us by the best Argentine Tango teachers ever! Btw, if you’d like to learn how to edit video, I found this youtube video on how to use iMovie very helpful.

 

Want to try learning? Here are excellent teachers online…

Did you know that dogs like to dance too? Ours does!

Keep Calm and Dance + Guest Post by roijoyeux

da-AL44 Comments

How are you faring during this challenging time? I mean individually in your slice of the globe? Let’s all help each other — tell us — how do you keep your spirits high?

Screenshot from The Weeknd – Blinding Lights – Vintage Dance Choreography – Roberto F

“I do everything the man does, only backward and in high heels!” — Ginger Rogers

Here in Los Angeles, weeks ago, cleaning supplies were nowhere to be seen. Still, it wasn’t until I grocery shopped a couple of days ago that the sight of ravaged shelves was genuinely arresting. And then yesterday — things reached a tipping point. Long lines of heaped grocery carts, jammed parking lots… a friend canceled a much-planned birthday party, Iranian-American family shelved Persian New Year’s festivities…

Connecting with loved ones in any way I can, keeping fit — and having fun!! — are what keeps me afloat. Fortunately, everyone I know has their toilet paper and we’re all okay. That includes my family in worst-afflicted Iran, Italy, and Spain, along with Australia, Argentina, England, and Canada.

It also helps when my husband reminds me that people elsewhere have endured far worse for much longer. Another thing that lifts my spirits is when I visit blogs like RoiJoyeux’s. His is filled with kisses, interesting biographies of non-straight people, the treats he bakes for his loved ones, and dancing!…

“Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot.” — Truman Capote (read, don’t watching his phenom “Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories.”)

Roijoyeux

View original post

Video: Argentine Tango Elegante Newest Step

da-AL44 Comments
Khashayar and da-AL learning a new step. Khashayar and da-AL learning a new step.

It’s no coincidence that my soon-to-be self-published novels have to do with dance! Here are my husband and me practicing a step we just learned at the end of class (and here’s more and some more and more and a quick clip and the first time I posted a video of our dancing about the style of Argentine tango that we dance that’s taught by these outstanding teachers)…

Here’s a masterfully fun tango clip of “Lost in Paris,” a marvelous film I recently discovered by French film burlesque style due Canadian Fiona Gordon and Belgian Dominique Abel…

And another from the same movie — that’s choreographed by them (and danced?)…

What’s your favorite dance film?…

Call for Writers, a Quickie Tango Video, Plus it’s Day 3

da-AL31 Comments

Old Hermes typewriter courtesy of Wikipedia. Forever green, runs on finger and brain power.
Old Hermes typewriter courtesy of Wikipedia. Forever green, runs on finger and brainpower.

Fingers itchy with needing to express yourself? Guest post on my blog! Click here for guidelines.

Today is my third day of a 30-day personal challenge to post daily for a month. Here’s a little video of my honey and me working to get a new dance step just right. We’re students of the Tango Elegante style of Argentine Tango.