Just back from class, and after a rather bizarre incident involving an electric meter key, a stoned locksmith and some wildly inappropriate attire, I have settled down on the sofa with my laptop and a delicious jar of Nutella. Don’t let anyone tell you that Nutella should be eaten on toast, it should be eaten out of the jar with a spoon, the way god intended.
Its been a little while sinced I posted so I’ll try and update you on all the exciting happenings. The first (and most exciting) happening is that this Saturday I will be taking a workshop on ‘Hands, Arms and Poses’ with Aziza, or, as I like to call her, God. If you need proof of her godliness, you will find it in the video below…
See. See? GOD. There’s something very hypnotic and powerful about her movements, but she is also incredibly playful with the audience – and they are spellbound!. She wrinkles her nose and grins like a cheeky little cat, and all of a sudden its like you’re sharing a joke, and then rainbows fall out of the sky, the clouds rain Opal Fruits and its the dawning of the age of aquarius all over again. Here’s another wonderful Aziza video. I particularly enjoy the guy in the audience who is looking at her like she is a delicious pie that he was about to eat which then surprised him by performing an amusing trick. He’s at about 2:10.
So, enough about Aziza. I’ll review the workshop after the weekend. Let us now discuss costume making.
Costumes have proved a bit of an issue for my class. A big chunk of us (myself included) can’t sew, some are students or just a bit hard up, some are big, some are small, some dark, some fair. That doesn’t make costuming an easy task. So far we all have a black chiffon skirt and veil which we can pair up with pretty much anything. All of us have (or should have) a silver bedlah for when we’re performing as a troupe, and ideally we should each have another skirt and veil in a colour of our choice. I have a sort of bright purple skirt and veil set, which is a gorgeous colour, but as far as I can tell the veil is made of the tormented souls of the damned (or possibly georgette). Whatever, it feels like wire wool and gets stuck to my head at any given moment, leaving me to scrabble out like a cat stuck in a duvet cover. Mysterious, it is not. We have our costumes for Tike Tike which consist of harem pants with a contrasting overskirt and halter top, and I am in the process of making a choli top and belt from some stretchy velour for the drum solo. Well actually, I’m not making anything, I leave that to a very dear and talented friend of mine. But I make the tea, and sometimes I even wash the cups up afterwards. I really do need to learn to sew as nothing EVER fits me properly because I am such an odd shape, but I lack patience and delicacy. My darling friend who I shall simply call ‘Michelle from La Resistance’ has both of these qualities in abundance.
The spring hafla is now only a week and a half away and as far as I can see we are woefully underprepared. My costumes aren’t finished, and the drum solo is still sloppy and uncoordinated. This cannot be! Even if I’m not professional I like to pretend I am, and ragged hemlines and lazy omis do not a professional make. Rah.
I’m falling asleep. Was there something else I was going to say? Oh yes. We had the first Scheherazade rehearsal a few weeks ago and I think it went rather well. Very excited as I got the part I hoped for – Dinazade! Despite buggering the audition right up.
Right, sleep is needed. Adieu my pretty ones.
starmouth 