Kyria's journal

 Saturday was our Sense of Bellydance photoshoot. It's remarkable how much a SoB meeting resembles the activity of herding cats. AS usual, things happened last minute, irritation was felt and everything came out okay in the end. So let me start....

We arranged for everyone to be tehre at twelve ó clock. I finished my costume that morning and even had some hours to spare for drinking tea and playing with Eliza. Those peaceful hours were interrupted by a frantci Facebook Meesenger discussion about G.'s 6 year old daughter who wanted to be in the shoot.

I am already annoyed that we're abusing Facebook messengare for group discussion. Hate the tool, hate the interface, hate it that I have to scroll through 20+ pages to find the information I was looking for. But, soit, such is life. G. posted pictures of her 6 year old daughter, mentioned that she wanted to join and if we mind. Ofcourse R replyd that she's sort of part of the group and yes, ofcourse she's welcome!

*facepalm*. We had a group meeting three weeks ago to discuss the shoot. G didn't mention her daughter during that meeting. We could have addressed it in a timely manner. but no! Last minute decision making! I added that I didn't think it was a good idea to have her there because A we we're going o be there for 5 hours and her attention span is not that long (not sure if my attention span could make it, for that matter). and B we prepared this as a group shoot and I looked forward to doing it with them. Having her daughter around would certainly changed the focus of the shoot.

Her husband ended up bringing her daughter around 16.30, she quickly changed and we took a group picture. Crisis averted, everyone happy. I will get back to this in a later post though. Back to the shoot!

I got there around 12.15 and walked into a double garage with an upstairs place to sit and change. It's nice! We had a meeting to discuss what we wanted (I sort of managed that part, by showing them prints of poses we liked and discussing options). Leoniek started on setting the lights and doing a bit of product photography of our doumbeks and zills while we got ready. Gluing of eyelashes ensued. I did the eye make-up of four group members, we all got dressed and started with the group pictures at 14.00.

That was a lot of fun! We started with small groups that could be edited into a bigger group picture. We joked around and have fun, it was a nice way to start the shoot and get used to being photographed. we procedded in building a pyramid shape composition. No real pyramids were hurt during this part, and we used cushions and stepping stools to get a bit of height difference. I think it'll work well and create an image that shows all of us, without being the standard 'sit in a row' look.

It was 15.00 by then and we proceeded with the individual shoot. Each of us got 5-8 minutes in front of the camera. I hope it results in a nice image to use for my website, but we'll see. I think that amount of time is probably not enough to get a really nice solo picture, but who knows. The photographer was awesome, Leoniek takes pictures for our praty in Zeist for the past couple of years so she knew what she got erself into.

I was rather happy with how my evening gown with gold ornaments came out, though I sensed that R was a bit sad for being frumpy and short and not looking as glam as she would have liked (she adjusted an existing Egyptisn style bra and belt with long lushious fringe that looked totally gorgeous on her). We all wore a different shade of purple and different styles of dresses but as an overall look it worked great. 

Wearing cntrol underwear to smooth out bumps also helped to create a smoother line. I am still suprised with how big I look but that's just the way it is right now. Around 16.00 we got really, really tired. We coached each other during the solo shoots, and talked and danced a bit to stay warm. For me, the shoot should have been over at 16.00 but we had to wait for G.'s husband and daughter who came in around 16.30. Because they had to go to the Sinterklaas intocht and other activities as well that day.

*doubleface palm*

Not only did she throw in her daughter and complicate our day, she also made her husband, son and daughter's day super complicated! All I could think of was:ýou could have said no'. No honey, you can't be in this photoshoot. Maybe next time. Maybe we do a seperate shoot. But no, you can't come today'

Seriously. I try to refrain from opinions on parenting but in this case twelve people had to deal with the consequences and it sucked for us. I'm glad that we have a nice picture with her as well, but I'm not sure if it was worth the anxiety and frustration.

Around 17.00 we wrapped thing up , got undressed, wiped our make-up off and went home. I am glad that after three years I finally did a photoshoot and have some new images to use for my promotion. It is different to do a group shoot compared to a solo shoot, that's for sure! We;ll see the results in a couple of weeks.

I wrote about the costumes that A. gave to me and this is the post where I can actually show you what they look like. First I will rant a little about the quality of my mobile phone camera. I am going through my archives and I am going to use a lot of the pictures that I took in the past decade with my fance schmanzy SLR camera (which is by today's standards, is very low at pixels with 6 million). Those pictures are great quality. I can cut and edit to my hearts content. The iphone pictures? Nope, often a bit blurry, doesn't work well with bad light, can't edit much because of the file format. In the past year I took most of my pictures with my phone, but I don't want to use blurry pictures on my websites and in my printed photo albums (oldfashioned, I am). But soooo convenient and easy to carry with me. I have to find a way to combine the two.
( using a cut because of lots of costume pictures )

I realized that I don't have a golden era costume for the hafla on the 19th so I was going through my stuff wondering if I'd be able to make something in time. But...

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Some of you might remember that I custom ordered a Bella while I was in istanbul in August. I just received word that the costume is coming my way, shipped from their store in Gent!

Short story: Ozma and I went to see madame Bella, who decided having her 20+ cats in her costume shop was too much. We didn't see the famous cats: instead we went int the appartment and turned right to the show room. Ozma was lucky and found a gorgeous lace costume in moss green and champagne. It only needed shortening of the skirt and she looked like a moss covered goddess rising from the depths of the ocean. Totally hot, awesome costume, as you have seen on her lj/fb. I turned out to be too tall and too big in te hips to fit into off the rack but it didn't stop me from trying all the costumes 

*insert hyperbole and a half reference:*


OMFG it was amazing to be there and try stuff on.

I spotted an amazing costume, mainly warm gold beading and multi color sequins. The bra was a perfect fit, but the skirt with attached belt didn't work for me. I ordered a matching seperate belt, skirt and accesoiries. It has a ton of cut-outs, mesh netting and swarovski crystals. It's also over the top Turkish in the sense that it's one big cut-out. I plan on wearing it for my performance on the 14th of December, maybe also with the live band on October 21th.

Just to share you what type of communication Bella uses in her email, I will copy/paste her full email to me:

subject: re

 I've been offline yesterday because I went on an a road trip with Isandria and Hadyr to Bella. And I know you guys are dying to know what the Bella store looks like and if we bought something once you'd know about the road trip, so I've been keeping it quiet. I've only been to Bella once, with RakkasahBarbara, three or four years ago and have never bought a new Bella. Click on the link for the really long story! 

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I won an ebay auction with this sewing project


"The former owner cut off the red chiffon on the bottm because it was way too long on her. I received the dress and the cut-off chiffon and spend most of my sunday on trying to make it work. WiIl update later this week if I'm sucesful! It was a great deal, the beading is well done and contains holographic sequins, high glitter factor!

I bought this Bella from a fellow Dutch dancer a coupl eof months ago, but it ended up being on the short side. I bought sequined fabric on the fabricmarket yesterday, laid the skirt out, cut an underskirt and stitched it to the belt ont he inside. tadaa!
( cut for pics )

I'm catching up on bhuz after a week without time to surf, and the swapmeet is temtping me. For instance:

I love this red dress.It's my size and only 265 usd, but I already have several red costumes (the fringy set, the metal mirror/coins set). But I like dresses because they look hawt on me and they sort of cover the extra tummy bit. Then again, performances have been slow lately so I really don't need more costumes. I need to sell a couple of costumes before thinking about getting something new.

This diva range bella is awsome. And way too expensive, though still cheaper then going to Ghent and buy one in the Bella store. Lucky for me, it's on hold!

Light blue eman with pharaonic feel to it. Light blue wouldn't work for me,  this design is detailed and flattering.Love the ruching!

Other dance news: I handwashed the blue baladi dress yesterday. Was a bit worried about the sequins bleading on the fabric or losing color, but after dipping it in lukewarm water, rinsing with cold water and laying it out to dry on a towel, the dress looks perfect. The white cotton towel has blue smudges all over. Oops!

I'm trying to organize my costumes and bellydance stuff, trying to determine what to sell. Since I don't teach, ten belly dance canes in my closet are a bit too much. But selling them would be a hassle. I already sold my gold isis wings. I tried to get into the goddessy mood and did isis wings a couple of times for general public, but I can't help but feel like I'm flapping around instead of dancing.  Then on to the costumes: R. might ask me to cover for a couple of restaurant performances during the summer, but I'm not counting on it. However, now is not the best time to sell. I'm expecting the economy to slightly recover during the year, maybe people will have a bit more money to spend during november/december. At work we expect the worst: unemployment will rise frorm 5% to 11%, mainly people with higher education. I have nothing to fear, fortunately.