leads me to strange places on the interwebs...
Currently it is 3:45 am and I am hoping to exhaust myself with laughter.

Its been a while since I tried to make a bellydance costume. I have been holding onto this awesome fabric and finally the lightening hit me. Its a "faux assuit" because the patten is printed on, whereas real assuit has silver threads hammered into the fabric. I scored it at the discount shop in Cambridge with the idea that I would make a caftan out of it, which I did, and the leftover yardage has been calling to me.

Its about 50% done at this point. The bra straps need finishing and then I get to decorate! Finally a use for all of the great coins and kuchi jewelry I have been hoarding over the years.

Have been sneaking into my studio every day for about a week and just absolutely destroying it!

Oh, wait... that was me.

Seriously, it looks like a bomb went off in here, but there's been a lot of progress. One completed doll, one new face-up, a nearly completed doll, a costume for a doll that has not arrived in the mail yet and an almost finished costume for me! The materials for each of these projects are everywhere in little pieces. I swear I am the only person who could find anything in here but there is an odd and random organization.

I have been madly trolling ebay for a professional photocube set that will allow me to take really stellar pictures. They're pretty expensive unless you catch the right auction and then they are cheap, cheap, cheap. I'm a-workin on it. For now, you will have to see everything through the eyes of my not-so-professional mini-cam:

Here is the completed doll (ok minus earrings, so not really completed):


The nearly completed doll:

I still cant believe how different she looks from when I got her...
Witchie-poo likes to borrow her costume:


The new faceup:

Which is also going to be a gothy tribal girl. I would like to make a whole tribe at some point with coordinated but not matching costumes. I think she may be the first of that series. I made her some pants from the "faux-assuit" fabric I have been using for my own costume. The pattern was too overwhelming though. Im trying to work it into another fabric as an accent now.

And my new idea which isn't a bellydancer but a ghost for Halloween. The doll itself is in the mail to me right now so I am using the dancer (she really needs a name) as a mannequin:


Now you see why the studio is such a mess? Darned ADD wont let me work on one thing from start to finish. I think my fairies have it too...
OK, back to work!

Wow, I am really terrible at this, eh? I haven't updated in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Three new dolls in various stages of almost completion (one just needs photographs) and 3/4 of a new costume. I've seriously been so hard at work in the studio that I haven't been stepping back to process any of it. Or share...

I was poking through Bhuz.com though and someone posted this youtube video. I nearly peed myself laughing. You have to stick with it to the end...

Cheers!
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A few years ago I was hired to dance at a Turkish Bar Mitzvah. There were easily 200 people at the event, over half of them young teenagers who never seemed to tire of the dance floor or the soda bar. When it was time for my show and the band announced me, the throng of adolescents rushed up to the stage to watch and left me a very small circle to dance in. This was challenging enough, but halfway through the introduction en elderly man got up and started to dance with me. Now, I do enjoy it when this happens and I do try to always have fun with my audience and encourage them to dance. I usually thank them after a few minutes and get them a round of applause, then politely dance away so that the interaction doesn’t interfere with the show. Well, the man was not giving up. No matter how many times I tried to get away he persisted, and he danced with me almost the entire show. People kept handing him dollar bills and he kept stuffing them in my bra cups (which I’m not too opposed to as long as it’s not too grabby) and a few times he held the bills in his teeth trying to get me to take them. This has happened before and I am never quite sure what they expect me to do with that but I politely wag my finger and shake my head with a wry smile that says “I aint doin it”. Thankfully no one appeared to mind his antics. In fact, they seemed to be really enjoying it, but I was a little upset with his audacity.

As I was leaving the stage the most surprising thing happened. A group of women stopped me and, with tears in their eyes, thanked me profusely for dancing with their father and encouraging him. They explained to me that he had immigrated to the US many years prior and had never really adjusted to his new life. He did not like living here and had refused to learn English, further isolating himself from his new community. This, they told me, was the first they had seen him really enjoy himself and they were so happy to see him dancing.

By this time I was tearing up and on my way out of the hall I made sure to stop and thank him. Realizing he didn’t speak English I put my hand over my heart and made a gesture to him to show that I was thankful. He was smiling from ear to ear, nodding and saying something in Turkish that I didn’t understand but it was so happy and genuine. I felt very small and sorry that I had been at all annoyed. Just goes to show ya, perspective is everything…

A while back I wrote about a Lebanese party that I danced at in Haverhill... At that party I ran into my friend Eli whom I hadn't seen in quite a while. He used to manage Layaleena in Cambridge and is very well connected in the Arabic club scene. A few weeks ago he called and asked me to dance at his friend's high school graduation party to be held in New Jersey.

I have to say, I was a bit apprehensive about the whole deal. It meant driving down the day before and staying in a stranger's home and then performing at the party and driving back the next day. Man, I am so incredibly glad that I took the job. Our trip down was so much fun. Eli and his girlfriend Amina are very sweet and we listened to lots of wonderful Lebanese music while they translated and helpe me with my limited Arabic. Im still terrible at it but I am trying. They warned me that I was going to be stuffed with amazing food for two days so I was being pretty good about not eating in the car.

Man, they weren't kidding! The moment we arrived at his friend's house the food came out. Eli's friend had been cooking all day for the party and as soon as we walked in the door we had to try everything. Such amazing food! We hung out and watched dancers on youtube and Lebanese music videos on the tv and then headed over to the party house. It is a huge house and the hosts have graciously given me my own guest room and bath. People started arriving in the evening to hang out and we had a wonderful night sitting by the pool, drinking wine and smoking arguileh.

Today I finally got some sleep and when I came down I was given an amazing breakfast of eggs scrambled with... all kinds of stuff I'm not familiar with and rice cooked with finely ground meat and little nuts. I asked what the nuts are called but, of course, I forgot the name. They are like pignolis but long and brown. Just delicious. Its 2:30 now and the party doesn't start until 4. Everyone has been bustling around like crazy and as much as I try to help, they are insistent that I be a guest. So I am sitting at the kitchen table, typing away and watching the preparations... All of the men are in the kitchen working like crazy. There is a whole lamb in the oven, Celine is madly squeezing what has to be 20 lemons into fresh lemonade, John is still working on the 40 tons of tabouleh he was making last night, the ladies are cleaning 30 heads of romaine lettuce... its just amazing. Everyone is buzzing away in Arabic (I haven't understood a single word in over an hour) and they keep looking over my shoulder to catch the opening of the soccer championship on the screen in the next room. Call me crazy but this is so much fun...

6:00 PM... this is such an ordeal and I have so much downtime that i might as well check in...

The guests have been pouring in for an hour or so. I've totally been hogging the kibbeh... The lamb came out and was gone before I even knew it was there :-( I realized that there are 200 people expected and nothing was catered... WOW.

Doing my makeup...

6:23... thought they wouldn't want me until 7ish but I've been asked to get ready. Ugh, now Im sorry I had all of that kibbeh...

9:20... I just finished my third show. Its like 95 degrees down here with about 400% humidity and my body is just done. I don't think I could twist my hips one more time if my life depended on it. Ive been dancing out on the new wet flagstones and my feet feel like raw hamburger. I am, however, having an absolutely amazing time. Every person here has danced with me, we danced 3 debkes, all of the young men know how to play doumbek and keep taking turns showing off by playing me drum solos... its just fabulous. PLUS, Ive never been able to finish a show and then take a cool shower. Awesome.

11:00... oooooh! Hot tub! Bathing suit on...

11:30... Just when I thought we were finished (because they have been plying me with red wine in the hot tub) they want to go out to a club... back into the cocktail dress. Did I mention that I LOVE my job?

1:50...Done. Bed...