Great Ideas for the belly Dancer
1. Make a good color wheel. Use it to choose makeup and fabrics and work up all aspects of theatre art. Apply the same principles of design to Belly Dance that you do to any other art form : color, line , rhytym , form, pattern ect.
2. Seriously study and do hatha yoga . It will prevent ageing, give you real grace, prevent joint damage, releive stress and delay retirement by 10 years. You will be flexible. You will have breath control . All are essential in becomeing a really good dancer.
3. Design the bedla with a large french curve one with big 'S' shape
4. Buy only Czech beads which are fired, or high quality Japanese delica beads( Fire Mountain ). Fired, Silver lined square hole beads will not tarnish like inexpencsive silver tube beads. Fired metal lined beads not tarnish or fade with time and can be re-used decades from now!
5. Zill elastic can be tinted to match your skin simply by applying your foundation to it. Invisible straps can also be made in the same way.
6. Buy a subscription to Prevention magazine and learn how to eat for nutrition and health so that your body will be beautiful and healthy throughout your life . Make a commitment to yourself to be healthy .
7. Study salesmanship. It's not that hard, but it is essential to makeing any kind of money in this business . See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar. The cure for baby bedwetting is also in this book . All the classics like Dale Carnegie are also very useful when you are promoting.
8.Take figure drawing to increase your powers of visualisation . This will aid you tremendously in actual performance and in correography. It develops visual memory.
9. Learn self hypnosis . Useful in these ways: pain control, unlearning bad postural habits, or any bad habits you wish to stop, memorisation of terminology, stress management, deep relaxation, childbirth, Getting through med school, foreign language aquisition , memorisation of the music. To name but a few!
10. when useing dye always use Procion or W. Cushings , never use any grocery store dye like Rit because the colors will not be attractive. They are not washable at all. Buy dye from Dharma Trading or W.Cushings has great colors. Cushings has a product called DYELON which will dye nylon , synthetics and fake pearls even .
11. Learn to use interlibrary loan to get books that you want. Save your money for other stuff and only buy the truely worthwhile books, namely Great Art books like Morrocan Interiors.
12. Never send any costume to the dry cleaners. Only the skirts and veils which have no trims. Never anything with beads or sequins . The sequins being plastic will melt in the solvents and loose their color coatings. Plastic beads and pearls will melt in the Perclorodiethlene(called PERK )Perk is carcinogenic, toxic to the invironment. Never send antique fabrics or textiles to the dry cleaners either . They WILL destroy them!
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13.Powder your underarms with face powder before shows
14. Dont use tropical snakes. They are breeding in the wild in Florida. They are a direct threat to all warm blooded creatures that walk or fly . They eat all the bird eggs and all the baby mammels . They decimated the entire bird population in Hawaii. Leave those boas in the Amazon! Enough of them have escaped into the swamps of Florida to find each other and breed . Arabs and indeed all mid eastern people hate snakes . I think they smell very bad, truely disgusting .Do you really want to live with an animal that eats baby mice?
15. A good look at an anatomical chart will help you train the major muscle groups in your body. It will make you conscious internally of what you are doing. Body consciousness is very important in haveing a powerful performance with good projection and stage prescence. This is a visualisation tool.
16. Take really good care of your hands .Allways use rubber gloves for dishes and cleaning. The hands are an important part of the belly dance . Facial expression is first, hands are second . Never touch or breathe clorine. It damages the endocrine hormonal system, dehydrates your body, ages the skin and is the main suspect in breast cancer (see organoclorines)Wear rubber gloves when you are useing household chemicals. The endocrine system produces sex hormones and they are responsible for skin beauty,libido, flexible joints, appetite control, brain's mood chemicals . How poisionous is clorine? VERY POISONOUS.
17. The most important thing any woman can do to preserve her youth & beauty is to stay out of the sun . Shop at night. Gardening after sunset on cloudy days . Beach 1 time a year. hat, sunscreen, long sleeves. When you are 50 you will still look good.
18. Read Are You The One For Me? by Barbara De Angelis. Bad men will wreck your wonderful life not to mention your hobby /career as a belly dancer! Bad men have certain charcteristics this book tells you how to spot them before they spot you!
19. For real logevity and rejuvenation take up Taoist esoteric yoga, start with the begining book > Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao by Mantak Chia 1-888-432-5826. It does work, Mantak is 65 and he looks 35. I used it to remove the pain of a whiplash injury . Most people guess my age 15 years younger than my actual age. Microcosmic orbit, Chi Kung. http://www.HealingDao.com. If you can do so learn tai chi , which is an element of Chi kung.
20 . When you are takeing pictures always notice what objects are in the background around your dancer . If you are posing the same applies . Locate yourself where there are no lines. Move anything which can be moved. Fearlessly critique every photo you take . What's in the background?
21. All frosted nail polish will cause the nails to peel . So give yourself 2 coats of base coat if you are useing frosted polish.
22. Never put alchohol on your skin . It breaks down the skin and causes cellular damage, possibly mutagenic . Same thing goes for lotions containing alchohol as a primary ingredient such as Vaseline Intensive Care . It feels cool and soothing when you put it on - but it dries the skin causeing you to put more on . The more you use the more you buy, the more money they make ! Corporations are shameless. Alchohol is very bad for skin so do read labels on products.
Try this botanical : Badger Healing Balm cute little animal on the can http://www.badgerbalm.com. Nivea is also good & kiss my face
23. In the make-up kit this : Alcon tears naturale free, artificial tears in little platic vials, single use . These are very handy when mascara, sunscreen or anything gets into the eye , for driveing, When you are tired or your vision is blurry from the computer.
24. To put long hair up you need 3 inch hair pins . Go to the asian beauty supply. They should have little round balls on the tips. They are U shaped with little waves in the center . BOB pins are a different thing . Bobby pins are flat-and won't work .
How to get the hair into a Chignon (pronounce Sheen yo) : first comb the hair with a wide tooth comb out comb . Then brush with a 100% boars bristle brush , add a little JOJOBA oil if the ends are dry. Take a hand mirror and looking at your side profile decide how far up you will place the hair . Consider the balance with the nose and brows . Placement is important. The same bun that looks great up high might look very clumsy at the nape of the neck or vice a versa. Put the lipstick earings on as well. Brush the hair up, smooth it with a comb and put a band around it . Never very tight! (you will get a halo of breakage) Smooth the hair with a barber comb (small teeth on one side , tapered) and the hairline with a toothbrush. Then take the pony tail and wet the ends . Comb it smooth again. Divide into two, gathering and smoothing every stray hair. Twisting the two strands around each other, make a rope.Wet the ends a bit if its not behaveing . gel it if its wild. Give the rope an extra twist so that it kinks . Twist the rope upon itself, makeing a figure 8 - makeing a U shaped loop with the tail ends pointing up, next to the rubber band .gel the ends. Then fold it up reaching above the rubber band, and the ends and pin it going down up down . Hideing the ends and makeing a figure 8 . That's a French chignon, one of many versions (tres chic!) OR just coil it into a circle tucking the end neatly around . This can be very attractive when a small chignon is done with just the front hair and the back is left hanging . Flowers and coronets can be anchored to it without any fear of loosing them onstage. I have also seen dancers pin veils to these little chignon. Giveing a little height . That is very beautiful , leaveing the hands free, at some point dropping the veil. The veil can have two rings sewn to the edges on either end. the rings go on the finger and this allows the dancer to fully display the hands while holding the veil. The center of the veil is attached to the chignon , It stays there throughout the performance.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
25. The proper shade of lipstick for old Egyptian style is regular red blue stage lipstick. That would be a cold shade of pure scarlet red. No orange . No brown . Never wear brown shades for performance. Colors should not receed or fail to project.
26. The main purpose of belly danceing is to have fun . The moment (breathe!) you forget this you aren't going to have any! I smile all the time I'm onstage because I expect to have fun. Truth is - I am actually creating the fun as I go along! I learned how to do that.
27. Invest in a 7X magnification mirror (50$) So that eye makeup will be easy for you . This is invaluable when applying lashes and liner and shapeing the brows.
28. Never take hair advice from another dancer . I'm superstitious . I have NEVER seen it turn out anything less than a disaster for the performer. A wedge that made the person look like a dopey sheep dog, a frizzy red mess that was so bizarre the woman seemed like a mad opium addict. A competitor who was eliminated by hair advice calculated to ruin the appearance . Make your own decisions . Think about it carefully for a long time before you do it . Consider above all the artistic merits. Don't confuse fashion with art.
29. Never lend costumes . I know this sounds harsh but I have never ever gotten one back that it was not severely damaged. You can lend veils in the studio but generally if they borrow it it's as good as gone.
30. All belly Dancers traditionally have long hair. The best way to keep the head cool is to braid it and keep the rubber bands off of it. just use one on the end of the braid . When I need to get my hair off my face I tie it back with a scarf . The hair gets very little damage that way. I also recommend a hat if you are in the sun a lot but it should not be tight.
31. learn how to tune your drum !
32. In ereas where humidity is a problem storage of fabrics can be risky. I air costumes 2X a year lay them in the sun for a few hours. When you pack fabrics place a Contractors trash bag in the box to line it . This barrier with save precious fabrics from ruin .
the bags can be purchased at big hardware stores. they are very thick and also large . water cannot get into them . keeps out dust, rodents and bugs as well. .
I got leakage and the One box that was not lined became damp and moldy .All the ones in plastic bags were Ok. also with files memorabilia, books LPs
33. Sewing patterns : I use brown paper for large items like capes and circular skirts and muslin for fitted patterns. I also paper gowns from the doctor's office. They handle like cloth and you can sew & write on them. Use long pins as short ones fall out.
34. Use white as an eyeliner if your eyes are small. It takes age off the face and opens the eye . A dot of irridecent pinky-beige in the outside corner and nicely groomed brows with a jazzy lip color will take 15 years off the face . Jazzy lip colors > mexican pink, coral pink , fuschia , clear red , bubblegum pink lined red. Skip the mascara too. Lengthen the brow and wear very elegant earings that are scaled to the face . No earing bigger than your nose.
35. without any doubt dermablend makes the best concealer. I use a shade darker in the summer when I am tanned. But I try not to tan. Apply with the pinky finger. set it with powder if its very hot . Light application . befor shows This Botanical St Ives dark circle diminisher (vit K and botanic ) dont drink milk if you are allergic to it . This allergy prevents the body from absorbing vit k fromthe intestines which are inflamed from milk allergy.
36. Never tatoo your brows or lips. As you age the collagen drops and those line fall and become crooked. What a mess.
