Long May She Rain

You may not have heard, what with us Brits being notoriously reticent and reserved types, but this weekend has seen us celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of a certain lady who has some spectacular headwear, the sort that even Princess Farhana would aspire to!

All the celebrations meant it seemed the perfect time to kickstart my rather flagging performance career, so I set off with the husband, the mother-in-law and Thomas the crazy Irish setter to spend a slightly soggy Saturday at a fête in Kidderminster being held by the Irish Retriever Rescue. 
This being the UK, and it being June, and a bank holiday, it has pissed down for pretty much the whole weekend! You may imagine what happened to all the street parties and garden fêtes people had planned.... you'd be wrong. We're Brits, we put up another umbrella and poured another Pimms! Unfortunately I don't drink and had no intention of doing an umbrella/assaya fusion, so it was a bit of a trial putting together a Jubilee themed outfit that would be both visible to a crowd, and warm enough that my shimmies would not turn into shivers!

The pearl bedlah has been well documented on here, and is rapidly becoming a staple as it goes with everything. The red chiffon skirt was an eBay purchase- I love it dearly but it is completely see-through so always needs an underskirt. The blue satin pantaloons were borrowed from my teacher for a tribal performance about 11 months ago- I still haven't given them back. Very glad I had them though, as they meant I could wear leggings underneath!

Tiara was a whopping £2.50 from Claire's and stayed put throughout the day, despite best efforts of wind, weather and exuberant dogs.

The terrain was awful- a huge ring of lumpy meadow grass that had been walked on and weed on by dozens of dogs. I nearly sprained my ankle trying to do an Egyptian shimmy. My (short and sweet) set went down very well though, and it was a good experience dancing in such a different setting, and to a completely non-BD crowd.

I wasn't alone out there in the weather, as you can see from the picture below. From left to right, we have the inimitable and indomitable Rozie Hadley, who danced a cracking fusion piece to Crazy Horses (complete with tail), my troupe mate Ruth, who was in very patriotic tribal gear, my good self, quite cold by this point, and Maureen Theresa, who danced a zill tribal piece with Ruth.