What was I saying about buses yesterday....! So, here I am again...wondering how this happenned...obviously haven't got enough to do...ho ho!
Anyway, two things have occurred since yesterday....Well, actually quite a few things have if you really want to be pedantic about it, but for the sake of everyone's sanity I will stick to just a couple of notable things! Firstly I realised that after boldy calling this blog 'Dairy of a Belly Dancer' I haven't talked much about Belly Dance in detail for a while, so that's overdue. And secondly, I have been watching some very inspiring stuff on YouTube and Facebook about the benefits of dance on Parkinson's Disease and Dementia. If you want to go to my Facbook site I've posted 3 clips there. But more of that in another blog as a detailed blow by blow account of Shuvani at the Wool Fair follows......
Thought I may as well report of Shuvani's latest performance at Shipston Wool Fair on the last Bank Holiday. For those of you who don't know Shuvani are my newest dance troupe, made up of some of my most experienced students, who have a special affinity to Gypsy Belly Dance. The group includes a couple of Miramar as well, so it can get a bit mad and schizophrenic for them, but otherwise we are all enjoying exploring this new-ish branch of Belly Dance. Of course Gypsy dance has been around for centuries as well, and this means we can draw on other forms of gypsy dance and weave them in with belly dance to create a smorgasboard of moves and costumes! I must admit to having a big love affair with Balkan music, so quite a few of our dances are to that type of music, but we are currently experimenting with including a few Indian/Bhangra moves, and using different styles of costumes. Our first costume was very loosely based on tudor style as our first gig was at Mary Arden's House in Stratford, and we have also made bra tops and wrap over tops for a more generic, modern 'gypsy' style. But our latest costumes are a work of art! I suggested an Indian inspired costume consisting of full gypsy tiered skirt decorated with bands of braid, a velvet choli top deocrated with braid and motifs, and a specially designed flat belt fringed with wool tassels and decorated with braid and motifs.This new costume has been a bit of a journey as we had to co-ordinate colours then some couldn't get the ones they wanted initially, then the braid ordered over the internet arrived late. etc, etc!, We also got together and had a fun filled afternoon making our own wool tassels, which we attached to the belts and decorated. I reckon there was a lot of late nights getting it all together! AND...we found two weeks before the event, that our fringed shawls practially knitted themselves onto the braid decorating the skirt, so I had to hurriedly run up some big triangles of fabric to use instead! The day of the Wool Fair dawned....and it was pouring with rain!! Almost everything was out of doors, or under canvas....and I didn't know what to do, and I wasn't sure of the costumes could stand the dousing. But I had a feeling that the girls would throw a wobbly after all the hard work they had put in so I ignored the rain and turned up as arranged. Despite the weather they were all in high spirits, and equally determind that they were going to 'bloody well perform' no matter what! What troupers! I must confess to being a bit of a diva, and grumbled a bit about getting wet, but as it turned out, just as we started our set the rain stopped and we had one of the driest spells of the day! It was hard work dancing on wet tarmac in the cold and drizzle and as most dancers know performing outside isn't always easy, but the girls were great and did me proud! And despite the gloomy weather the costumes looked so bright you almost needed sunglasses to look at them! One young 20-something lass said it looked liked great fun and she wanted to have a go, and a couple of old ladies were overheard wondering why we didn't like each other ( it's called acting, dahlings!). Lots of compliments and positive comments all helped too, and the costumes all survived intact- result! An interesting experience we're not likely to forget........
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