I got the fabric for this earlier in the week. I was inspired by the Sew Weekly Circle Skirt challenge a little while back. I mean, what could be simpler? A circle of material, an elastic waist. That's it! I'm not even hemming it, because it's a t-shirting/knit material, so it's not going to fray.

It's nothing to do with dancing, but I love it! And it's one for the Make Something Every Month for May. And it's something of a break from the unremmitting pink!

On the journey to Peterborough yesterday, I got to HALFWAY on my fringing.

Actually, it's technically only halfway on *this length* of fringing, because there will be a short section where it's going to be longer, but I'll have to work that bit direct onto the belt, rather than doing it on a ribbon.

But still... HALFWAY!!!

And today there's a load more train time.

I've had a lovely evening at Shisha Lounge. I was dancing well. It was great to see the fragrant & delightful evil_spice and diva_c, together with ES's students, especially as we're all going to be going to Cairo together!

I danced two very familiar pieces, Leila's Min Hobbi Fik Ya Gari/Taht il Shebbak, as a baladi set and then Akteb Aleik as an Oriental piece. Both were well received, I think. I enjoyed dancing them, I felt good. I think I was smiling for most of the Min Hobbi/Taht il Shebbak, and for Akteb Aleik I was emoting like Billy-o.

I received the gift from the Inspiration Fairy, who made me listen to El Hantour, and this is now the Next Term piece. Quite possibly with optional sagat.

I need to find a piece of music to choreograph for the Improver/Intermediates, next term. I will have a bunch of Beginners moving up (I hope), so I will be making it an easy term, particularly as I've taught some pretty complex and demanding routines in the last couple of years. And I've got to get them performance ready by the end of November for Hipnotic.

I'm waiting to hear that piece of music that will sing to me! But I fear that the music that sings to me is the complicated interesting music, not the music that you can do an easy routine to.

Will-power. I haz it not.

Went to buy thread. Ended up buying more fabric. Even though I'd promised myself I wouldn't.

But this minty green lycra was just too too pretty to let go.

I got 2½ metres of it, which is enough for a costume made with a mermaid skirt, which is my favourite kind of skirt. I'm possibly seeing it with silver and AB crystals (proper Swarovskis, not the acrylics), which would be beautiful and elegant, but possibly a bit insipid for my skin tones. OR possibly with a navy blue, possibly that iridescent navy, for the beading, which would be much more flattering for me. But I've probably got *years* till I have to make that decision!

And I found the perfect lining for the Pink Confetti. This is darling!



I have also bought the makings for an everyday summer skirt. This is in the fond hope that we'll actually have a summer.

I was trying to persuade the Guildford group last night to think about performing (at Hipnotic) and I think I've sold them on it. ellariaal is going to squeeze them in sometime soon, and I now have to think of a name for them!

What FUN!!!

Criteria: It's got to be a name that everyone can pronounce. It's got to avoid all those clichés like Princesses of the Nile/Rubies of the Desert. Also no Pharaonic clichés.

I will try to avoid using Arabic, on account of the first criterion. I might be able to get away with something that *is* Arabic, but is readily pronounceable by even the densest of MCs.

I've got two possibles already: Basboussa and Ya Albi. Suggestions welcome, but don't go expecting me to like them all!

The bra beading is finished. Hooray!



Time to get working on the belt. I still need to finish the edge beading for that.

And the fringe is now 17". I was working on it on the train, and the little girl in the seat in front was fascinated by it.

1. The pink fringe is up to 14" now, I was doing it while "watching" football in the pub.

2. My students & I danced at Hipnotic tonight and it was good. Not perfect, and that was down to *me* not the students, but now I know what I need to fix for next time.

3. The Gentleman Friend came with me to Hipnotic, and he enjoyed it enough that he's coming along to the next one. Yay!

I may expand on these items, or not. Depends.

The fringing has gone up by another 2 inches, making a grand total of 12"- hooray! I had to stop as I was leaning forward too much and I was starting to feel a bit sick.

The other side of the bra has been confetti'd up a fair way. It's taken longer, because the right side had the letters, which take up quite a bit of space. I'm happy with the way it's all looking, and it's quite a lot like how I imagined it, which is a relief! Also, it *feels* lovely. I can be quite a tactile person and this beading is good to touch!

I'm also happy with the progress rate. This isn't going to be a quickie, but it's going to be a goodie, I think.



I've started putting some of the big things on the belt. I still have a way to go with the rope edging, but again, I'm not too worried about how long this one takes.

Today may be a fringing day.

I still need to make a ton of fringe, and I'm not quick at it. If I planned do an inch per day, it would still take me over a month to do the belt fringe. I don't even know how much I want to do for the bra (probably only an inch and a half or so for a centre drop, I suspect, this isn't supposed to be a fringe monster). So I really do need to get going on this, with greater vigour.

However, the confetti-ing is more fun!

An ill-advised cup of coffee tonight has meant I'm not in the least bit sleepy, so I've got a load more beading done.



And in slightly more detail



I need to work on the belt more, I'm doing the edge rope beading, that encloses the confetti beading. The confetti at least has the benefit of requiring some creative thought in how I put the beads together. The edge beading is just plain ole boring!

And I need to work more on the fringing of course.

To be honest, I really ought to work on my baladi dress for Sunday. It needs sequins on the sleeves and hem. If I don't do it, it's not exactly disastrous, but it would be nice to finish it!

Whoooee! This is going to take a while!

I started on the tiny little patch of beading on the neckstrap, to get a feel of it, and see how my supplies will go (because I'd no idea at all of how many backgroundy pearls and beads I'd be needing). Looks like I'll be buying a stack more of the pink pearls.





I'm loving the look! Now all I have to do is keep that consistent for the whole of the bedlah!

I got the neckstraps on the bra, so there was no excuse... I had to start sticking some bling on it!

I'm working on the bra for now. It's a smaller area to cover. The big stuff goes on first, and then I'll be filling with small beads. Photos will follow in due course (I'm having trouble uploading them to scrapbook).

And now I have to get a wiggle on with that fringing!

PS - I mean doing the decorating is scary. Not that the decorations are going to be scary!

Mirage had a dress rehearsal for the Hipnotic piece.

And it's looking bloomin' ACE!

I decided to get going on the Pink Confetti again, after the hiatus of the last few weeks.

I've got the fringing up to 10" (yay for me!)
I've remade the medallion as a larger diamond-on-its-side shape.
I've pinned the pink lycra to all the belt & bra neckstraps, all ready to sew on tonight on the train.

I'm hoping to get the neckstraps covered and sewn onto the cups, and get the belt covered and the medallion attached tonight.

ETA1 - So far the belt is covered and assembled, and both neckstraps covered. I'm leaving the attachment of neckstraps to the cups till tomorrow, as I'm a bit tired, and will be going to bed now.

ETA2 - I've just realised I put the medallion on the "wrong" end. It's not a biggie, I can turn the thing upside down, without it making any difference. But it's one of those minor annoying mistakes that you make when you're tired.

My assistant curriculum manager has emailed to say they want to put on a show at the end of June, featuring all the dance classes. It sounds like a good idea, and I've said I'm definitely interested in getting my students to participate. I don't know how feasible that will be, but I think it may be less scary for them than doing a GP sort of show in that there London.

The main difficulty I can see is that she's talking about a 2-3 minute piece. Our class piece is 5½ minutes.

It may be a case of making up a tiny weeny short Veil choreo, just for that event. Decisions, decisions...

ETA
I remembered I've got a Veil choreo to Batwannis Bik, which I could cut off just as the intro ends, before the singing starts. It's a bit rubbish to only be using the intro, but it would just about fit, timewise.
OR
I could choreo something for Aziza, using an edited down version.

I think it was unfortunate that a lot of people had pulled out of performing. Including me- I still feel guilty about this, given how the show turned out. This presumably was the reason why there were a lot of not-at-all-Vintage performances.

diva_c did a lovely Sahar Hamdi, but sadly the information about Sahar didn't get read out before the actual performance, so I suspect the audience didn't have the chance to understand and appreciate it, or indeed enjoy its unrestrained charms!

I think the Vintage Night worked last year, because Natalie had been quite specific about who was doing what. Also, she'd planned her teaching around it, and had a couple of student numbers choreographed for the show. This time, she was presumably in the hands of volunteer dancers, and she wasn't able to tell them/ask them to work on a particular dancer. This is how you end up with FOUR "Suhair Zaki" numbers, THREE of which are using the same piece of music!

wooglethealien's Suhair was hands down the best, she was the only one who had bothered to tailor her dance style by way of impersonation, and the only one who'd actually done her costume/make up like Suhair. Of the two "house dancers", Firuza made no effort at all to look like Suhair, nor to dance like her. Which is unusual, she is often the dancer who makes the most effort to tie in with the theme of the month. As for Amy, I do think she'd tried to get her dancing to include some Suhair moves, but her own personal style is so far removed from Suhair's own, that it just looked a bit "bolted on", and didn't actually look anything like.

And that was pretty much it. The other performers either didn't bother to go Vintage or if they were trying, it was only half-hearted and ineffectual.

If it were control-freak me in charge of the programming of this show, I'd have insisted on knowing who was doing what and I'd have said to everyone to submit music details at least a month earlier, so that I could be sure of there being no use of the same music, and sure of there not being any clash of who people were doing. Although, if there were people dropping out, and Natalie was having to recruit dancers at fairly short notice, she didn't have much of a choice or much control. But really, she should have told the Resident dancers who to do- she does have some element of control over them. Firuza could have reprised/updated her Nagua Fouad number from last year- it would have been much closer to her own performing style.

I really hope Natalie does another Vintage Night, because it's a great theme. I just hope at the same time that there's a better variety of Vintage Goodness, and a greater commitment by the dancers doing it. (And I hope I can do another Fifi number!)

In the interests of getting diva_c in her Sahar zone for tonight's Vintage Night, we are watching the lovely, sweet-faced and yet ever-so-naughty Sahar Hamdi. She is delightfully doing EVERYTHING you aren't supposed to do, doing a TON of stuff that's "not Egyptian".

Bliss!

And you can see a perfect line of descendancy from Sahar to Dandesh to Camellia. All doing their own personal brand of crazy, but somehow it all links together.

And now I want to dance to Ana Fintizarak, which I think is woefully underused.

I've been working with my Farnham Improver/Intermediates class on Improvisation, using Akteb Aleik, for the last few weeks. They have at last reached the dizzying heights of Not Being Nice English Ladies. Hooray!!! Some of them are really very emotive and communicative dancers.

So as this week was the last time we work on Akteb at this level of intensity, I hit them with the Improv Performance for each other. I didn't give them any warning, just sprung it on them. They were mildly shocked at the idea, but they did it. Some better than others, of course, but they all did it, and threw themselves into it. I'm so proud of them.

And the Beginners are doing well too. I hit a slight hiccup, in that two out of the three new students this term have decided my classes aren't for them. I think they were expecting something more along the lines of Zumba- lots of movement and no coaching. Well, fine, if it's Zumba you want, go to a Zumba class, but that ain't Bellydancing. If you'd read the Course Description, you'd have seen I aim to teach Technique, Choreography and Safe Dance Practice. I'm actually employed to "teach". But the third newcomer is very enthusiastic, and loving the course so far, so that's all good!

Project Make Something Every Month is still go.

I have made another costume bag. To be honest, I think I'm getting near to the stage of having enough, and I will have to work out something else that I can make quickly if the end of the month is looming and I haven't finished something that's more ongoing.

So this bag was constructed on the premise that I can sew zips in a straight line (although I'm rubbish as sewing zips round corners). So I could sew the zip to a straight piece of fabric, and then gather the other side of that piece of fabric at the middle, to make it into a semi-circle.

I hope that this photo makes sense of that last sentence:


The rest of the bag is basically a box, with a semi-circular base and plain straight sides.



If nothing else, this Make Something Every Month personal challenge is making me quite creative in the use of white 70cm zips. Of which I still have LOTS! Honestly, if anyone of my flisties can use white 70cm zips, just let me know and I can send you loads!

The accessories bag is surprisingly finished. I had thought I hadn't got a suitable drawstring for it. But then I remembered I'd saved the ribbon from one of the bouquets of flowers I got last week. So now this bag has a nice little Mum memento too, which makes it kind of special.

I've just tried to unsubscribe myself, quietly and unobtrusively. He has made that impossible, because he doesn't email you direct, he emails to himself and bcc's you. So when you want to unsubscribe, it thinks you are him, so your email address doesn't match the "safeunsubscribe" address and it just tells you to tell your friend to stop copying you in.

I have emailed him to make him unsubscribe me, and confirm that he has done so.

I was trying to get to sleep last night and was trying to work out the size of the costume bag I'm going to try & make, using Pi (because it's going to be semi-circular), doing the maths in my head. I think I got it, and it did eventually go the trick of getting me to sleep. However, I will double check with a calculator before I actually do any cutting.

The Pink Confetti is under way, but has been somewhat hijacked by sadness, this month. I will be getting back to it shortly, I know. But that's nowhere near being my Make Something for April.

So it may well have to be another costume bag. I've got a new idea for construction, but I need to work out whether it's feasible. Maybe I'll be able to have a go at it on Sunday night.

I need to get my act together for this, and effectively I've got four days for it. Because it's my Mum's funeral tomorrow, and Gentleman Friend time over the weekend.

Sunday night is going to be srs research night, when I watch this particular clip over and over and over. Monday will be shopping day, as I'll have to go & get the materials for making the outfit.

And somehow I will have to fit in a shedload of practising...

I take a lot of photos of my costume-makes, and although I post many of them in the updates, I upload a whole lot more to my Scrapbook. So, for those who care, here's a link to the various scrapbook albums for my various sewing projects:

The Very Shiny Pink Trouser Suit - http://pics.livejournal.com/beafarhana/gallery/0000g3fq
The White Baladi - http://pics.livejournal.com/beafarhana/gallery/0000h8cd
The Raspberry Sorbet - http://pics.livejournal.com/beafarhana/gallery/0000q66z
The Turquoise with Flowers - http://pics.livejournal.com/beafarhana/gallery/0000rdy1
The Hyacinth Lace - http://pics.livejournal.com/beafarhana/gallery/0000tdtk

And the current project:
The Pink Confetti - http://pics.livejournal.com/beafarhana/gallery/00011tzd