Sunday 31 October 2010

The zombies attack!

...although this time, it was only the profiteroles that were in danger.


*I think the zombie makeup rotted my brain, because I can't get this picture the right way up!
The foundations of this costume were originally intended as a spooktacular bellydance fusion piece involving  burlesque prom queens and fake spiders, but sadly the Halloween hafla was cancelled, and I was all set to put the zombie makeup away for another year. Happily, a fellow dancer threw me a social lifeline in the form of an invite to her own Halloween party, so I dug out some of my old workwear from the dark days of telemarketing, and lurched along as a corporate zombie.

The blood is a mix of golden syrup, red food colouring and washing up liquid. It's quite viscous, so no good for dripping gore, but perfect for someone who's been dead for a while. The makeup is just a combination of the grungiest colours my local shopping centre had to offer, and the suit had an unfortunate encounter with a stanley knife (as did my hand).

All in all, a wicked night was had by all.

I'm spending the actual night of Halloween eating venison stew, showing my husband our latest choreography, and generally just enjoying what is one of my favourite times of year. Happy Halloween and a Spooky Samhain to all those who celebrate it.

xx Lilith

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Rehearsals

Last night saw me over at the home of a fellow Woman of Mass Distraction, attempting to put the finishing touches on a choreography. Its first performance will be 11th November, and we'll also be debuting another piece (that I haven't actually started working on yet), so you can tell we like to live dangerously.

Despite writing the choreography, I still had to get the other two to break certain bits down for me, as they were fitting moves to slightly different rhythms, which I couldn't hear. My brain does not compute anything that is not 4/4 time! They'd also had a mini rehearsal last week while I was enjoying a bout of flu, so I had some new moves to learn as well. 'Sixties Go-Go Girl Arms' being the most notable.

The original piece was themed around zombie prom queens dancing burlesque fusion (I did tell you about the not being a traditionalist bit, didn't I? Just checking), but as the halloween event that was designed for was then cancelled, we started moving away from the horror theme and towards a more 'straight' burlesque (I use the term loosely, 'cos we're actually performing it at an LGBT event, Shout Rocks).

As it happens, the theme for that is Visibility and Invisibility, and my partner in crime Charlotte has suggested a slightly creepy look involving doll style makeup, which, if we can carry it off, will be unspeakably awesome. And, as it happens, totally cribbed from an act we saw at Gothla 2010 but the concept was just too good to pass up.

I'm not wholly sure whether it will pan out though, as we're still waiting to find out how the night will be organised. At present, it seems there are only two acts on the bill, and we are expected to perform a full set of about 15-20 minutes. Leaving aside the fact we don't have a single, cohesive set, but rather three separate songs (with their own costumes and 'feel), I'm also concerned that frankly, people are going to find it boring. Heck, I get slightly twitchy during a long cabaret set, and that's me as a dedicated dancer, watching a professional, rather than Joe Public watching a fat chick gyrating around to Marilyn Manson.

If we can score three smaller performances, that would be ideal. Five minutes is short enough that people won't get too bored, and we can get a costume change in each time. And I am all about the costumes!

Sunday 24 October 2010

Tidying Up

Because I am only a part time belly dancer, and a full-time minute-taker, housekeeper, wife and creator of mess extraordinaire, my costume room is also my crochet room, my sewing room, a spare bedroom, a laundry room, the computer room and a receptacle for stuff that doesn't have a home.

At present, it also contains a farily large chunk of kitchen cupboards and fitments, because I was foolish enough to believe my husband when he told me the refit would only take a few weeks... 12 months ago. The contents of the cupboards ended up on the spare bed, and because I am allergic to the concept of putting stuff away, so did everything else. The George Foreman grill hobnobbed with the silk veils, the skein of cashmere yarn mated with a coin belt, the specially modified black lace choli sneaked off into a corner and caused me hours of panic before my last performance...

Incredibly, this is partway through the cleaning up process. Costume items are slowly accreting on the chair, fabric on the table in front of my beloved sewing machine Fritz. Drying clothes have been evicted to make the most of the sunshine, drying Irish setter is regarding me mournfully, just out of shot (he objected to being forcefully removed from his comfy nest in a 22 yard skirt.

Part of the reason for posting this is in the hope of embarrassing myself enough that I will never let it get this messy again, but it's also to remind me of what I actually want to do with this room once it's clear of crap. It's been years since I (a public-sector-employed devotee of all things stretchy and non-iron) merited more than two hangers in the wardrobe I share with my husband (international business man of mystery), so obviously this needs to actually house my dance wear, and in slightly more elegant form than jute shopping bags and the dreaded 'dump it on a chair' school of hanging up.

Ideally, I want a marriage of this...
Ikea expedit storage unit
and this...
Moroccan boudoir
Scandinavian storage, practicality and price, but with a hint of exoticism. A belly dancer can dream, right?

Saturday 23 October 2010

Welcome

Welcome to my sparkly little corner of the internet, dear reader.

I am a very late jumper onto the bandwagon of blogging, having clung on to my beloved livejournal right until the bitter end (the full page ads that spread out over what I was reading were the final straws that broke this belly dancer's back).

This blog is intended to be predominantly about bellydancing, but there will undoubtedly be a smattering of burlesque in there too. And by belly dancing, I mean everything from sequins, beaded fringe, rhinestones and Shik Shak Shok, to dressing up like a dead prom queen and moonwalking to Marilyn Manson.

If that bothers you, this may not be the right place for you. Go visit the inimitable and invaluable Shira instead. In fact, visit her anyway, because no one can know too much about 'traditional' (i.e. not fusion) belly dance, and Shira is the undisputed (web)mistress of bellydance knowledge.

You're staying? Lovely. Yalla habibi, pull up a sequinned cushion and make yourself comfortable.