Blog Hiatus and New Move

I have taken a long break from this blog as I have not been performing recently, awaiting the new baby. Well, she's here now! And, since my long break, Google has made this blog even more annoying for me to access.  So, I will be slowly integrating the content into my other, teaching blog. You can find it here: http://amiaditri.wordpress.com/.

Happy dancing, and see you online soon.

~Amia

Pictures: Candles

The beauty of flames and shadows.

  

Pictures: Ashley Lopez Show

Hosted by Belly Dance Tucson

November 12, 2011

Easy Embellishments

I love the costume styles from Egypt over the past few years—a sleek skirt and a smooth top with a few big embellishments.  Not only is this comfortable to wear, easy to wash, and simply stunning, but this style is simple to replicate at home.

            There are already many tutorials and patterns available to aid you in making a skirt and top.  I would like to focus on all my secrets for finding the perfect embellishments at a great price.

Some Shopping Tips

Tip One:  Teen stores are your friend

Relive the glories of your high school days.  Or finally make the ones you wish you had.  Teen stores like Claire’s, Icings, and Charming Charlies have great selections of costume jewelry at teen-allowance prices.   Recall your teen dance schedule to know when the stores will be stocking up—home coming, winter dance, and prom are key times.  However, be sure to note the stores' return policies.  For example, Claire’s and Icings will not allow you to return rhinestone items (apologetic sales clerks explained to me that, otherwise, girls try to return them after Prom). Charming Charlies has a limited return policy as well.  

Tip Two: Shop holiday sales

I try to not purchase items without an actual costume in mind.  Otherwise, I never get around to using them.  So, I keep in mind when stores are likely to have sales and plan costume-making around those times (as an added bonus, I’m likely to have some days off around the holiday to get sewing).  You can find great deals at the mall on sparkly jewelry around Christmas.  Fabric stores have big sales in anticipation of Halloween (and this is also a great time to stock up on fake lakes and nails at drug stores).

Tip Three:  Sign up for coupons.

Jo-Anne’s Fabrics sends out at least one 40% coupon a month, along with a flyer announcing the month's sales. With a costume taking three to five yards, and rhinestone trim at $20 a yard, this comes in quite handy.  Most boutiques also have an accessories section, so sign up for coupons at any place you usually shop.  And, finally, sign up for coupons from your favorite lingerie store so you can buy costume bras at great prices.

What to Get

Of course, you can always hunt around online for “real” items to order.  But I like to be able to actually see the item, and, without many couture sewing places in town, this is how I make great finds.

Necklaces

These work great as-is for belly drapes, dangled over the top of a bra, or swagged off a belt.  But, you can think outside the box as well.  Look at how Eman Zaki swings a few chunky beaded strands around the hips of her costumes.  You can easily recreate that look.  Also, look at the beads themselves—a necklace too hideous to use as-is may have a great assortment of matched beads at much lower prices than a bead store.  For example, I bought several hideous red necklaces from a Macy’s Christmas sale and pulled them all apart to hang from a bra and belt.

Bracelets

Everything for necklaces also works for bracelets.  You can hook several together to make them longer.  They also make great decorations for bras as two will usually perfectly decorate the top of two cups.  Another idea that I’ve seen (and have planned for my next costume) is to cover a wide bangle with fabric to make a matching cuff for your costume.

Earrings

Cut from their hangers, these are fabulous as accent pieces.  Or, if you want the option of also wearing it as an earring at some point, you can sometimes push the earring back through your costume fabric to hang it in place.

Rings

The current trend of big, elastic rings is a belly dancer’s best friend.  The elastic can be snipped off to free the embellishment, which can then be sewed on to your costume as a focal-piece.  Look at Sahar Okasha for some ideas.

Hair flowers

These, too, can be sewed on or clipped into place as focal pieces and coordinated hair accents.  I have also found some at teen stores that have pins already sewed on.

Hair pins and clips

I have used hair clips to double as hip wrap fasteners.  I pin the hip scarf into place to ensure that it will stay through my dancing, then clip the hair clip around it.  When my favorite embellished hair pins broke, I cut the bobby pin off and sewed the rhinestone flower onto my costume.

Buttons

Fabric stores have large rhinestone and pearl buttons that, once sewed on, look like glued-on stones with the advantage that you can move them around as your costume tastes change.  A friend also puts a dramatic button on the back of her bra to cover any unsightly hooks.

Shhhh! Make-Up Secret

As I primped and prepped for another performance, I thought of how long it has been since I last posted anything for you.  So, it penance for my long absence, I decided to share my Number One top secret performance make-up tip:  Anti-persperant, rubbed all around your hairline.  It does wonders!

Zill Cleaning: Fast, Cheap, and Easy

Gave my zills a nice cleaning for tonight's performance.  For those who haven't tried polishing their brass zills, it's so fast, cheap, and easy.  Are you ready to write all this down?

1)  Mix lemon juice with either salt or baking soda to make a paste.

2) Start scrubbing.

What could be easier?

Actually, to make it even easier, I leave the next zill to be cleaned submerged in a little dish of lemon juice.  That can take off the worst of the tarnish without even needing to do anything.

On some online advice, I rubbed a very light layer of olive oil onto the brass when I was done, as a preventive layer from further tarnishing.  I'll let you know if it helps (I had to wipe so much off to make sure that it would not leave an oil stain on my costumes that I'm not sure if it will).

Set List Drama and Dilemmas

Ah, the Making of the Set List!  A task fraught with joys and terror.  So many songs that I love... but will the audience?  Will the restaurant owner?  Can I do it justice?  Have I already done it to death?  Then there's trying to pick enough songs that appeal to my aesthetics while trying to keep enough general pop songs to please everyone, and add in the pressure of the impending performance, and the time crunch on rehearsal time.   Let's not even start on shopping through I-Tunes.  What is a dancer to do?!

Here are a few tips I've found to make the task a bit more manageable:

Set Framework
Having a basic method to the madness helps me.  I keep the general American cabaret set format in mind.  I do an entrance piece (complete with dramatic intro section that I let play before entering).  I like to have my entrance more or less planned out, so I go to old favorites for this that I know well.  Then, I like to indulge myself with a "Me" song that I love so I can take a moment to settle in and enjoy the music.  Then, I bring the energy back up with an "everybody dance" song, something fun and easy to improv to.  A drum solo or something percussive comes next, and then a finale piece. Since the audience best remembers the entrance and exit, I try to leave on an upbeat but dramatic note, so I usually go to a pop song with some passion.  Somewhere in there is a prop piece--usually my solo piece (sword, tray, veil) or dancing song (cane, rope).   Of course, I may switch things around, but at least I have a general idea of what to plug in where.

Preparing
I have attempted to alleviate the time-pressure problem by creating several sets in advance and dancing to them occasionally.  This is far from a perfect solution.  I inevitably end up changing half the set at the last moment anyway as the songs I loved to dance to last month may not move me this month. But, at least it gives me a foundation to build on.

Sorting songs
Any time I input a new song in I-Tunes, I make sure that its genre is set to "Belly Dance" instead of I-Tune's generic "World". Then, I can listen to my entire belly dance genre while driving, cleaning, etc. and familiarize myself with my collection.

Play Lists
Since I also enjoy dancing to non-belly dance songs, I have set up a Play List of "Dance" for the same reason as above ( I attempted in the past to make play lists like "Dance-Fast" or "Dance-Traditional", but it was too cumbersome to keep them updated.).

Rating my music.
I never remember to remember a song that I've enjoyed.  So, I make sure to rate things that I enjoy as soon as I hear them.

Utilizing View Options
If you select "View" in I-Tunes, a list of View Options comes up.  I select Rating and Time of a song.  Then, if I go into my Dance list or view the Belly Dance genre (Select "All My Music"and then type in "Belly Dance" in the search box), I can then sort by Top Rated to go through the songs that I know I love.  Or, if I'm a bit short on a set (say I want a short drum solo), I can sort by Time to find the perfect two minute song.

Adding Comments 

I have not done this yet, but it is next on my To-Do list.  Select "Comments" under "View Options" and you can add notes to a song, like "Entrance piece" or "Finale" or "Dance Song."  My thought is to make notes in songs that I think are great for various parts of a set.  I think trying to go through my entire collection is too much to hope for, but at least I could make notes on songs as I create dancing sets.

Well, off to do some minor costume repairs (do they ever end?!) for tonight's performance and the test on how good these new sets are.

Please comment on your favorite ways to put your sets together.