LSR: Beguiling Dance and Strangely Familiar Music
Beloveds Rachel Brice, Mardi Love and Zoe Jakes –known collectively as The Indigo Belly Dance Company– are back on tour with their phenomenally lovely, lively, singularly delightful show Le Serpent Rouge. “The Indigo has created and defined a new style of belly dance, embracing the roots of middle eastern dance while incorporating an aesthetic reminiscent of early twentieth century cabarets and world’s fairs.”
They’ve got the fantabulous Crow Quill Night Owls with them again, as well as those rambunctious Gallus Brothers. (Several video clips of all the players are embedded in the playlist below.)
(With apologies to our Northwesternmost US readers) the tour actually kicked off yesterday in Seattle, but several more Le Serpent Rouge shows will be happening across the country this month. If you like timeless beauty, raucous laughter, joy and dance and song, this outfit ain’t to be missed.
More information via Bricey’s site after the jump.
Since the Indigo’s inception in 2001, the company and its members have been seen throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Indigo has toured extensively with The Bellydance Superstars, Lollapalooza, The Yard Dogs Road Show, and has performed at a number of festivals including the prestigious Glastonbury Festival. The Indigo has created and defined a new style of belly dance, embracing the roots of middle eastern dance while incorporating an aesthetic reminiscent of early twentieth century cabarets and world’s fairs.
The Crow Quill Night Owls are submerged in the depths of old medicine show music like a serpent eating it’s own tail, playing a mix of 1920’s jazz, jug band music, ragtime country blues, and minstrel songs gone feral. Kit “Stymee” Stovepipe sings like the surface noise of an old 78 rpm record and picks a resophonic guitar like a broke down engine on rusty zig-zag tracks. while Windy City Alex shreds the tenor banjo and sings with a voice like piano notes gliding through the spokes of an old bicycle. The band is composed of part old instruments and part old junk, including tub bass, washboard, National steel guitar, banjo, harmonicas and kazoos. They’ve indulged audiences all over the West Coast, from big concert halls to dusty street corners, playing the obscure songs of a forgotten America that sets people’s toes to tappin’.
The Gallus Brothers play rollicking good country blues peppered with old rags, pre-war pop songs and dance tunes. Devin Champlin syncopates wildly on a reso-phonic guitar, while Lucas Hicks brings the music to a new level by playing percussion on a suitcase full of bones, bells and antique tomfoolery. They have played up and down the west coast from festival stage to smoky bar, wooing crowds with their music, their humor, and their willingness to jump on a table, stand on each other, and juggle while playing a good old tune from way back when.
Details:
Date: Saturday, November 6th
With: Lonesome Shack
Venue: Wild Buffalo
City: Bellingham, WA.
Address: 208 West Holly Street
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $15
Venue/tickets: Wild Buffalo
Date: Tuesday, November 9th
Venue: CultureWorks
City: Ashland, OR.
Address: 310 Oak Street
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $15/$18
Venue/tickets: CultureWorks
Date: Thursday, November 11th
Venue: Hopmonk Tavern
City: Sebastopol, CA.
Address: 268 Petaluma Ave.
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $12
Venue/tickets: Hopmonk Tavern
Date: Friday, November 12th
With: Brass Menazeri
Venue: Great American Music Hall
City: San Francisco, CA.
Address: 859 O’Farrell St.
Time: 9pm
Tickets: $21
Venue/tickets: Great American Music Hall
Date: Sunday, November 14th
With: Asha Belly Dance Company
Venue: The Great Escape
City: Reno, NV.
Address: 1575 S. Virginia St.
Time: 7pm
Tickets: $15/$20 $25 table
Ticket link:The Great Escape
Date: Tuesday, November 16th
Venue: Casbah
City: San Diego, CA.
Address: 2501 Kettner Blvd.
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $20
Venue/tickets: Casbah
Date: Thursday, November 18th
Venue: Solar Culture
City: Tucson, AZ.
Address: 31 East Toole
Time: 9PM
Tickets: $12
Venue/tickets: Solar Culture
Date: Saturday, November 20th
Venue: Low Spirits
City: Albuquerque, NM.
Address: 2823 2nd St NW
Time: Two shows – 7 and 9:30pm
Tickets: $20/$25
Venue/tickets: Low Spirits
Date: Tuesday, November 23rd
Venue: King King
City: Los Angeles, CA.
Address: 6555 Hollywood Blvd.
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $20/$25
Venue: King King
Date: Saturday, November 27th
With Unmata
Venue: TBA
City: Sacramento, CA.
Date: Sunday, November 28th
Venue: Moe’s Alley
With Crystal Silmi and Raks Araby
City: Santa Cruz, CA.
Address: 1535 Commercial Way
Time: 8:30pm
Tickets: $15/$18
Venue/tickets: Moe’s Alley
Date: Tuesday, November 30th
With: Blair Street Mugwumps
Venue: WOW Hall
City: Eugene Or.
Address: 291 W. 8th Ave.
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $15/$18/$20
Venue/tickets: WOW Hall
Date: Wednesday, December 1st
With: NagaSita’s Apsara and Underscore Orkestra
Venue: Mississippi Studios
City: Portland, OR.
Address: 3939 N. Mississippi
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $22.50
Venue/tickets: Mississippi Studios
November 6th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
I loves you, Coilhouse.
November 7th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
O how I wish the Indigo would come to Ireland! Words can’t describe how much I would love to go to a Le Serpent Rouge show. I’ve never seen bellydance so tightly choreographed yet with each dancer’s personality shining through. And even the dances done to relatively slow songs are done with such energy that you’d never notice the slower pace of it – a really difficult thing to do. <3 An inspiration to tribal fusion dancers everywhere. <3
also, I love the faces Zoe makes in this video. she reminds me of Lucille Ball.
November 8th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Ooo.. thanks for the heads up!