.things of recently.

• There were shows and adventures. Now I'm tired.

• I have found a new source for some of my perfume bottling, and it costs me less which means I'll be able to lower my prices a bit! Yay!

•Dealing with some health issues - hopefully I will find definitive answers soon. But it has led me to making myself watch "Enterprise" - possibly the worst pile of Bantha Doo Doo ever created. At first I wasn't sure how it could be the worst Star Trek, because that was Voyager, right? But now I totally understand why it's the worst of the Star Trek, in which they took everything that was wrong with every previous Star Trek Series and lumped it together with a whole mess of new awfulness which doesn't even touch on What The Eff Is Up With This Title Song?
Amazing.

• I am heading into a month or two of Event insanity - the most exciting of which is Teaching at Warrior Weekend on May 5th. If you ever missed my Stage Presence workshop you can take it now! All for the low low price of 25$. That's cheap - especially with the really really long worksheet I'm bringing for all class takers. Other teachers include various favorites of mine - Ami Amore, Brittney L. Banaei and Azadeah. Awesome show on Saturday evening too!

Register for classes here!

afterwards

Not much to say - awesome day at Warrior Weekend - my students were great and it was wonderful to see all of my dance friends. A shame that I couldn't make it out to the show, but schedules are hairy these days.
Speaking of which - I'm in Nashville all this next week!

And two pictures of yesterday - one with a sneak preview of what will be going up in the etsy shop soon!

Thanks Mary LadyVertigo Ashbury for taking them!

May the 4th be with you!

Troupe Duende hosts an annual workshop weekend entitled Warrior Weekend - choke full of classes to whip you into shape and make you delightfully sore and achey the next day. Once again I've been invited to teach, and this year the class is Ring Around the Rosies - technique for spins and floorwork.
You can register for classes here!

Come and see me!!!

.spirit of the muse.

I have an opening tonight in St. Louis!
Truthfully it's Ami Amoré's opening that I have a piece in, but still...
If you're in the area - or can be, or just want to be - pop over to the Mad Art Gallery. The opening reception is from 7 to 9pm and knowing Ami as I do, it will be spectacular - art and dancing and live music.

In conjunction with the show is Angels and Absinthe next weekend - a full day of wonderful workshops with a really spectacular show in the evening - Ami, Tempest, Celeste and more.

I'm personally going to miss the opening tonight (I have to work tomorrow) and the classes but I will be at the show next Saturday night - dancing and vending, a perfect opportunity to come and smell my smells if you haven't already.

...and then it was Wednesday.

Last week, immediately after getting back from Waking Persephone (which I still have not fully processed yet), I spent two joyful days fretting about my taxes getting done on time.
And then three more days fretfully preparing for both Raqs Bohéme on Friday night, and Warrior Weekend all day Saturday (at which I was both teaching and performing). Somehow I got through both, and managed to completely forget to take any pictures (though I did record a video of me putting on my stage makeup Saturday, which I'm in the process of editing).
Mugur Photography took this picture though:

Really good example of lighting washing out makeup right there.

And I thought I was going to have Sunday off, to relax and recharge and play video games, but Friday I'd gotten word that the new gallery wanted me to hang work today, Wednesday, so I've spent the last 3 days working furiously on that.
In theory I should now have a few calm days - to reflect, relax, and maybe start working on one of those new costume ideas I had. But given recent trends, something's bound to rise up and smoosh that thought as well.

Cheers!

.performance.and.your.face.

Last night was the first Raqs Boheme, a monthly third Friday bellydance show I'm now running. My friend Bellatrix - hair and makeup genius - came out and after the show we got to talking about the importance of stage makeup, and pondering as to why more dancers, especially in the Midwest, didn't get it.

It's an odd phenomenon; and while it's not universal, it's common enough to be noticed. A fear of too much. And here's the thing - it's very hard to wear too much, especially for a bellydance performance; particularly when it comes to a bellydance performance on a stage. And there are two key factors in this.

#1 - Your audience is not right up on you. There's usually a good amount of distance when your elevated on a stage, which automatically makes facial features a little fuzzy.

#2 - Stage lights WASH YOU OUT.

A great example, below is a video of my performance at Gothic Prom in St. Louis this past January. You'll notice that while you can see my face - eyes nose, mouth - it's not overblown and overdramatic. 

I'm visible, but I don't look like a scary Elvira.

And here's a photo, closer up, shortly after with friend and Genius Photog Carrie Meyer. You can see a little better how much makeup I was actually wearing, and in all honesty I should have been wearing more.

So very crudely and simply - no, you're not wearing too much makeup. That's a really hard thing to do. Really hard. You can put it on strangely, or sloppily, or bizarrely...or just wrong - but too much?
No. Not likely.

So if you're in the Midwest, or willing to travel to Kansas City - you had really ought to take Bella's makeup class at Warrior Weekend on April 21st. It's an amazing informative class full of great technique and advice for the novice as well as the expert. And it's only 18 dollars.

Coincidentally, I'm teaching the same day, later in the afternoon - Modus Operandi, which I quickly described last night as "Practice technique and emotional whodoo."

That's right. Emotional Whodoo.

And now back to our regularly scheduled corned beef and green beer...

.exploding.

I'm excited.

I'm really really excited.

And eventually the excitement is going to wear off and the nervous nausea is going to kick in, but for the moment...

I found out today that I'll be teaching as Waking Persephone, a super incredible looking workshop extravaganza in Providence, Rhode Island, hosted by the ever inspiring Tempest. Hopefully while I'm there I'll be able to take a workshop with my host, since I can't take the workshop she's teaching in St. Louis in January for scheduling conflicts. Other instructors include Anaar, Celeste, Asharah, and Ami Amore.

But for now, it's time to go and practice...

.semi.expansion.

Was I going to expand on this weekend?
Maybe.

It was amazingly fun. I met some truly wonderful ladies, and reconnected with people I really wish I could see more often. I wish I could have seen more the show show Saturday night - there were a few performances I missed that I really really wanted to see. But this happens, and hopefully YouTube can catch me up on some of what I missed.
I also discovered, despite the frequency of my trips to St. Louis, that I hate driving in St. Louis - I'm fairly certain the highway system was designed by a roller coaster engineer. The city looks normal on a map - but driving around is just....wow. So much so that, rather than stopping to finally see the Arch on our way out on Sunday morning, I vetoed the plan; it was much easier to get on the highway and get out of the city. So, I still have not seen the Arch, or stopped at it. It's hard to miss if you're just driving around, but still...

On the way home Mitti and I found many treasures at one of the antique malls we stopped at - hopefully I can integrate some of them into jewelry projects soon.

I also finished my Baby Jelly painting. Yet to be titled, and only a blurry photo at the moment...

It might go on the "Not to be Sold" list - though I have nowhere to hang it.

.east.meets.west.

 

this is what 6:30am looks like

 

classes and vending at Lotus Arts Studio

 

Sunset over St. Louis

 

the St. Louis Arch, and Ami Amore dancing at the Urban Cabaret

 

note to the hotel staff...

 

foreward of a book we found at an Antique Mall on the way home...

Elaborations, paintings, and video to come later....

Also!

If you're going to be anywhere near the St. Louis area tomorrow - I'll be teaching an arms focused bellydance workshop for Exotic Rhythms Bellydance, alongside Ami Amore teaching "Meat & Potatoes". The classes start at 10:30am, so you can snooze in a bit, and I believe there might be one or two class spots left. Or, if you're less dance inclined but still in the mood for voyeurism, come to the show in the evening. I'll be performing along with a few darling St. Louis locals - and the show line up looks to be excellent.

Information is here. 

And show information is here!

Hips Noir 6

(the short barely photo-blogged version)

 Talking to my mom while attempting to leave Kansas City for the third time.

(I actually left on the forth attempt.)

It was dark while I was driving.

You can't see it, but the sign for the Golden Coral says "It's Flowing Chocolate Up In Here."

Welcome Dinner!

The workshop, during Naima's class.

 I was vending...

And then there was dancing!

Coffee and breakfast with Mouse and Melissa (not pictured) and Melissa's mom (not pictured) the morning after.

A neat lake/river/swamp area under a bridge I crossed on my way home, when I could see, because it wasn't dark.

The other side of the bridge...

My cranky face from having to drive when there's nothing good on the radio...
Thank goodness for my iPod - Thankyou Steve Jobs!!!