Thanks Sale!

Wonder Wonder store is having THANKS! Giving Sale until this Sunday of 29th!

Thank you :)

WW at Brooklyn Flea!

Wonder Wonder is so excited and working like a machine right now, to take a part in..

Brooklyn Flea Design CO-OP
Curated by Lena Corwin

November 21st, Saturday, 10am-5pm (This is the last one this year!)

WW will be joining in the wonderful local designers:
Virginia Sin – Ceramics
Deadly Squire
Moontree Letterpress
Wayne Pate / Good Shape Design
Maptote
Lena Corwin / Lines & Shapes

And, there will be several other sellers, to be announced.

Brooklyn Flea
176 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene

G train to Clinton/Washington Ave. stop, C train to Lafeyette Ave. stop

For more info: http://www.brooklynflea.com/

Baay Faal Style

In my recent Sabar dance class, We learned a type of dance called "Baay faal."
My teacher explained that the dance comes from Bayefall people in Touba, Senagal, and they wear dreadlocks, wearing a patchwork clothing, just like the pants he wears in the class.

That's all he said before we danced, but it was enough to pull my interest. Not only I liked my teacher's patchwork pants made of various colorful African fabric, It sounded like very interesting people that I had to know who they were! I also thought that it was important to know the meaning and history behind of dance we learn.

Sabar is a drum and dance culture of Wolof people, a largest ethnic group in Senegal - about 40% of the population, and many in the Gambia and Mauritania. So I thought Bayefall is a group of people within Wolof, and it was a good clue to find out more.

The majority of the Wolof people are Muslims, as the Senegalese Sufi Muslim brotherhoods appeared in Wolof communities in the 19th century, and grew tremendously in the 20th.

The Bayefall (Baay Faal in Wolof) is a sub-group of the Mouride brotherhood, a Sufi Muslim order largely believed in Senegal and the Gambia. The Mouride brotherhood was founded in 1883 in Senegal by Shaykh Aḥmadu Bàmba Mbàkke, commonly known as Amadou Bamba (1850-1927). As he is buried in Touba, Senagal, it's the holy city and headquarters for the Mourides (the followers).

The Bayefall was founded by Ibra Fall, a famous disciple of Bamba, known for his dedication to God, and considered work as a form of adoration. Bamba finally decided that Ibra Fall should show his dedication to God purely through manual labor.
Many of Bayefall substitute hard labor and dedication to their marabout (spiritual leader and teacher) for the usual Muslim pieties like prayer and fasting.

Bamba and Ibra Fall are the important cultural icons for many Wolof people. People painted their figures from portraits to the walls and signs, just like street art and they look very pop. As you can see on the second photo, Bamba is on the left and Ibra on the right, and in between them there is the holy Touba.

The members of the Bayefall dress in colorful ragged/patchworked clothes, wear their hair in dreadlocks which are called ndiange or 'strong hair', carry clubs, and act as security guards in the annual Grand Magal pilgrimages to Touba. Long time ago, as they kept wearing same clothes, it got worn out. So they patchworked the different fabrics to mend. Now they wear patchwork clothes as style and keep the tradition. I find it very interesting, and it reminds me of Japanese Sashiko embroidery technique to sustain one garment longer. The photos towards the top is more traditional Bayefall outfit.

In modern times the hard labor is often replaced by members roaming the streets asking for financial donations for their marabout. Some Bayefalls are talented musicians. As long as they have religious heart, anyone can be a Bayefall, and this create the international networks of Senegalese music, dance, art and poetry culture. The photo on the bottom is the recent young Bayefall outfit, not so much patchwork anymore but tie-dye fabric and badges feature their (I think?) marabout. It also seems like there is a bit of American Hip-Hop fashion influence, as they layer many garments and its looseness. I really like how they mix the tradition, religion, craft, street culture and other imported western elements into a style!

It's so exciting when a new rhythm and move bring me the meaning and history behind it. It totally expands my inner world and stimulates the motivation to do and make things! and the best part is that it makes me feel SO optimistic towards the human activity on the earth. I know it sounds so generic and too broad, but it really lets me realize the world is such a interesting place, and worth taking time and energy to find out more.

Senegal (and West Africa), is in my top 3 places (along with Tibet/Himalayas and Alaska!) I want to visit. By the time I visit there, I really hope my dance skill will be a A LOT better than now!

The Solar System Necklace

Wonder Wonder's The Solar System Necklace has been blogged here by Jenny, a designer of her lovely clothing line, Wiksten-made. I love her styling with a white Mociun dress with a great pattern on it! Jenny herself and her line are so adorable.. Thank you Jenny! Now I'm busy filling the orders for my store!

The Queens World Traveling

Roaming around in the ethnically diverse areas in Queens has became a weekend ritual for my husband and I. It started because of my husband's Indian cooking addiction, and we also love exploring. We started going to Jackson Heights, which some people also call a little India. Now we explore (and get delicious and cheap brunch/lunch of course) in Woodside and Flushing too, where Chinese, Taiwanese, Tibetan, Himalayan, Korean, Filipino, Thai, Indian, Bangladesh, Central/South American (and so on!) immigrants are all mixed and making a interesting life activity. As about a half of population in Queens are immigrants, if you look at the entire Queens, it would look like a world map.

Yesterday we had a delicious lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant called Sri Pra Phai in Woodside, then visited a Himalayan corner grocery store where things they sell really reflects people living near there. It was owned by a Tibetan family, (as I see Dalai Lama picture displayed) they sell Tibetan, Central American, Indian, North and South asian products. Then we got some spices at Thai grocer and walked to Jackson Heights. On the way, we found a lovely yellow storefront called Tawa Food, a indian bread store. We went in, and we saw the indian ladies wearing beautiful Sari working to make indian breads in the back, and the interior was decorated in pastel color with blue flower wall paper. We bought The handmade Paratha. When we arrived to the main street of Jackson Heights, it was raining and nicely decorated by the lights and flags, as the community was celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights.

I love seeing and knowing the life activity from people from different culture. If it's more close to "their everyday life activity" I get more excited. That's why I prefer Jackson Heights than Murrey Hill (Curry Hill), Flushing than Manhattan China Town. Since immigrants live and form communities in Queens, I think Queens carry more authentiticy than the city, and the signs of how their culture mixed with others are more honest and interesting than the touristy commercial place. I'm not only seeking the authentic experience, but I'm interested in how one culture become mixed into others.

I have been learning many way to live and work from people from different background, and seeking a way to output the things I learned in a special way I can make or do. For example, inspired by African patchwork pants and making a necklace as Wonder Wonder, etc. But I really not meant to rip off the other cultures or only profit myself. I really want to give back something to where I learned from. That motivates me to let Wonder Wonder grow and that is something I really need to take seriously.

Every time we visit Queens, we are always filled with bright imagery of life activity. All the visual expression like graphics on sign and product packaging, its color and pattern, smell of food and spices, sound of people talking and music they play, taste of food they sell communicate and show me many culture and history behind it. I don't have money to travel all the countries at this point, but if I take $4.50 round trip on subway, which I think it's not that cheap though, I feel like I'm world traveling.

Sabar Sabar

NYC is a center of creativity and ethnic melting pot. I think these 2 reasons keep me living here. It's a wonderful place to be, especially if you are interested in learning many international performing arts in any level.

I have been learning Sabar Dance for last 3 month. After learning various West African dance for 2 years, I was ready to try something new, because most of the West African Dance from Guinea, Mali, Ivory coast are pretty much similar as they all use Djembe drums and its similar rhythms. I love the high-energy, fast Guinean dance and still wanting to continue to take classes but right now, my heart is poured into a new and fresh, (and VERY difficult) Sabar dance!

Sabar dance is a popular dance from Senegal, which is danced with Sabar drums. Sabar drums are originally used in the communication as a talking drum with different rhythms in the Senegambia region. Originally, Sabar dancing incorporates feelings of feminine sensuality and flirtatiousness, as it was danced only by women, and men as drummers. Nowadays, it's danced by both women and men, and it usually takes place for special occasions, festivals, parties including births, baby naming ceremonies, weddings, holidays and other special celebrations. According my teacher, It's half religious and half street dance.

Sabar consists of combinations that are less weighted to the ground than other styles, and incorporates lots of hip twisting, jumping, arm swinging and high knee lifting.

To me, Sabar dance is a dance that celebrates the life and its joy using all over the body. Not just Sabar, many West African dance incorporates the feminine sexuality. At first I felt weird and embarrassed doing a move like shake my hip, but I realized, why not we celebrate the simple joy of how we pass on our life to the next. Sex is the most essential element of our lives, that's how everything starts! Though being a Japanese woman, I still feel embarrassed to move my hips, but I think that I should break my taboo. In ancient Japanese Shinto mythes, the goddess dances in naked in front of gods, to wish for the harvest and celebrating the life. So why not going back to the basics!

My teacher is Babacar M'Baye. He is a Wolof Senegalese born in a Griot family in Dakar. The Griot people communicate and carry on the story and history by creating music, dance and poetry to the future generation. Babacar is an amazing dancer. When he dances, I feel the tremendous joy of human being and living from his energy. His style is very bold, dynamic yet beautiful, elegant and full of happiness. No wonder he was a member of several national ballet troupes in Senegal. (Sabar dance is called as Ballet there)
He is a great teacher, he determines the classes level each time by looking at the student's skill at warm up, and teaches every level very easy to understand. He looks at each student very well and even gives an instruction to each students.
Not only a great dancer and teacher, as he is a Griot, he passes on what he believes to remain to the future through his class. As he said in one class, "You guys really need to get this move, what if I collapse and rest in the land of Senegal? Someone have to carry on this move to the future."

The most of students in class are not Senegalese, we are international mix of people. How we carry on, is depends on how we process it and outputs it I think. In my case, I'm hoping that it will be a great inspiration and source for my creativity. But I don't know how it's going to transform within myself yet. It is already giving me a physical strength and most importantly, it keeps my everyday life happy and healthy. Either it's direct or indirect, I hope that my Sabar dance practice transforms into something special that I only can make or do.

Babacar also gives us many life lessons while he talks about the movement. This is my favorite word so far.

"The Hesitation is a biggest time waster, so don't hesitate. Just do it!"

Since each class is heavily shaped by the instructor's style and character, we are very lucky to have a wonderful teacher like him!

After 3 month, I can barely follow every move, and still don't know the names of the rhythm or meaning and history, but every time I come to class, I enjoy it with a great joy. I think that dance classes are the place I can really put my body and mind in one place. As I relax and stretch my body at warm up, my mind clears, then focuses on the very simple things - rhythm and movement. I forget about daily things that pressures me in "I need to do this and this and so on mode." I just let my body move with the drums then, the great joy comes from/to all over me. It's hard to explain, but it's like a the most simplified, pure joy of living.

Looking at other students dancing and having fun makes me more happy. Most of them are better than me, so they inspire and make me want to dance like them. As the result, everyone is smiling and having fun. At the end of the class, everyone is covered with sweat, warm and relaxed and have a good smile. In this moment, I feel "the good life" there. Then I realized that it's not just my body dances, my mind dances together, too!

Jërëjëf! (Thank you in Wolof)

Photos: top - Babacar in costume from his site, http://babacarmbaye.com/
bottom - Babacar's workshop he taught, http://spiritualbusinesscompanions.com/fareta2007/
The Video is a class tought by Babacar at Djoniba Dance and Drum Center last year before school shut down :-(

What's David Wearing?

This is my co-worker and friend, David.
David a designer and artist who makes beautiful crochet accessories as Chauncey P. Graham.
He is probably one of my favorite fashionista in my everyday life. I love coming to our work in the morning, and find out what he's wearing today. It's always a great surprise and fun to see his mix and match. He's so talented doing that.
He loves thrift store shopping in his back home in D.C., and here in NYC he mixed them into his lovely crochet creations and things he picks up in the city.

Today He was wearing his thrifted a great green jumpsuit that fits him perfectly, and a cool red scarf, then he matched them with his yellow crochet hat he made, American Apparel cardigan and H&M white flipflops. (! it wasn't that cold today, but I still admire for the choice)
Isn't it so fun and adorable? It makes me happy because I can see how much he's enjoying styling them. His color choices are so GOOD!

You can read more about his creative styling tips etc here, David's Blog: http://yesdavidishere.wordpress.com