PS

I don't have any real exercise clothing so I wear an exercise bra and a pair of pull on knit shorts. I am doing this early in the morning and my feeling is if anyone looks in my window that time of day they deserve to see me in an exercise bra LOL. DM

Shimmies take a while to get...but you will be able to do them after a while no problem! The key with a lot of bellydance moves that can be done at different speeds, is that the faster you do it, the smaller the actual movement becomes. When you do shoulder shimmies in slower motion, you do the shoulder "punches" but when you speed it up the movements are smaller-not going as far forward and back, and smoother-you do them more loosely. Hip shimmies are the same way...when you speed them up, you stay loose, and do not bend/straighten you legs so much-smaller movement, and quicker.
Last week in class we did Chiftatelli rhythm...this week in class we are taking all of our basic moves we have learned thus far and putting them together into a small piece. It will be very basic, but it should be fun. I am really enjoying it all so much...most of my female friends are "online" or long distance-communicating through snail mail, email, and telephone-and it feels great to be making some new friends with a similar interest-as well as doing something that makes me feel beautiful and feel better about my body. :)
Mauvais-since you dabble in sewing a little, I found a resource for a great wrap half top-very easy to make, and it can be used for class or performance, it is at www.darkthreads.com and she has a pattern for an easy wrap top...there is no cutting of a paper pattern! The shapes are very simple, and you just use a sewing marking pencil to draw the shapes right on the fabric with a ruler...pinning the pattern the the fabric is the part I dislike most about sewing anyway...it really cuts that step! It can be altered to fit all sizes...a lot of girls in my school use this pattern, and so far it looks great on everyone!
Well, I need to get going...gotta get the dishes finished and hit the sack...
Aphil
ps-Daisy, I feel exactly the same way...Jason gets mad at me for leaving the blinds open a lot when I exercise, or walk through in a robe-I am not nude, but if someone is windowpeeking-they won't be doing it again after seeing me! :lol:

HI!
Thanks for the helpful comments on the shimmies, I'll try to stay lose.
I must really like belly dancing, I was at work for a couple hours today and I had the radio on pretty loud (good thing I was the only one there), well I was standing up reading and realized I was doing small circles with my hips LOL (very glad I was the only one there). DM

Hi everyone!
I was practicing with my zils/finger cymbals this weekend when the kids were around, and my son (who isn't even 2) later started doing motions with his hands that looked like zil playing when he heard some music on television...it was so cute! :lol:
Daisy, I can totally relate to the dancing when inappropriate...I am also guilty of listening to the radio and picking out songs that are "modern" that would be good to bellydance to-so far I think Hellagood by No Doubt would make a great Tribal fusion dance number...it just has that beat, you know.
I have a new favorite cd...it is called Bellydance Breakbeats-the artists name is Oojami. It is a cd of Middle Eastern and various tribal styled music, pumped up with a techno/raver music type remixes-it is awesome, and makes me think of fire eaters and other exotic things...
Aphil

DaisyMaisy-:lol: too funny about the early morning peekers!

I do the same thing with music. I will be sitting with friends in an Indian restaurant waiting for our food to arrive and listening to the music the Indian music over the pa system and I suddenly find my shoulders shimmying in time to the music and think "Hey this would be great to belly dance to!" :lol: My friends think I am nuts :dizzy:

Aphil- I do the same thing with modern music too! I love the song " I can't stand the rain" by Missy Elliot and belly dance to it! That and Prince's "Seven". Some of the Tea Party's music has a middle eastern flavor to it too and I even managed to do some moves to a Nine Inch Nails song :cool: I have a fun cd called Arabic DJ #10 that I dance to a lot - it has dance remixes of middle eastern and club music.

I accidentaly bought some fabric this weekend :rolleyes: I went shopping after class on Saturday with my dance teacher and another student since there was a big sale on at one of the local stores. Sigh....I haven't even started making my veil with the last lot of fabric I bought. But I did get a beautiful shimmery silver gauze fabric with tiny embroidered vines and leaves on it for $3.74/metre which was originally $18.99/metre so I could not pass it up- and it will go with my purple and silver coin belt :) not that I am sitting here trying to justify my purchases or anything :lol:

I have the Prince cd with Seven on it...I remember the video having belydancers in it, and it having a bit of zils in the music...I also have the old Tina Turner version of "I Can't Stand The Rain" and it would be good to dance to as well...and we must be on the same wavelength-I dance to NIN too! :o Woa...
The dance troupe has added one more costume that I will need to sew...we are getting the patterns in the mail in a few days-and I believe we are going shopping for fabric and notions this weekend so I can get started.
Mauvais-I have to jusitify my purchases all of the time when I go to the fabric store...I have stuff for bellydance wear, costumes, regular clothes, stuff to make for the kids, quilting stuff...I actually have organizers separating all of my patterns by number like in the store! :lol:
Class is tonight-I will let you all know how it goes!
Aphil

Yeah, well now I have big plans to recover my boring old plain white lampshades with a gauzy fabric and feather boas to make some totally sexy lamps-umm....yeah in my copious amounts of free time :lol:

mauvais-I don't seem to have free time in quantity either-it is mostly in small 15 minute or half an hour increments-so most of my sewing and crafting is done in short spurts...unless I am on a deadline, and that is when I stay up late at night for many nights in a row. I was actually awake the entire night before the costume contest at CII-finishing the last of the long beaded strands on my Amidala headress...and using Aqua Net and a comb to get the hair at the top to stiffen up into the "fan shpe" (Well that's it, I just let one of my secrets out! :lol: When I worked in the salon business, I preached about how bad Aqua Net was for anyone's hair...what I should have done is do a presentation with that headress..."See, if it can make a sideways mowhawk that lasts for hours without budging once...how good can that be for your REAL hair?" :lol:
Class went great this past week-we are learning class choregoraphy, and it has veilwork in the first part...then we throw them off and really get going. Very fun. Love veilwork.
Aphil

:lol: Aquanet-makes you feel like you can break off a piece of your hair, doesn't it?

I used to have a rockabilly type "do" in the 80's and used Joico Ice Mist to keep it up. We used to call it liquid cement - your hair would stay up for 3 days straight!

That is some heavy stuff!!! :lol:

Hi,
Although I was in college in the middle 80's I mostly did the curlie perms that made me look like I had poodle hair. I don't do perms anymore but if I can't do it with a blow dryed I don't do it... DM

I remember those perms :rolleyes: I actually had one too!

I am trying to grow my hair out so it looks better with my dance outfit -:lol: how lame is that??? My life is starting to revolve around my bellydancing :dizzy: oh, well, there are worse things I could be addicted too :D

Okay I have tons and tons of fabric taking over my house now...we went to the fabric store, and decided on different fabric. We are still doing the same style-straight skirts with side slits, hip sashes, and the srap tops with the split sleeves. Here is the color scheme:
2 girls-tops and sashes-dark brown with metallic gold vine print
skirts and sleeve linings-gold liquid lame
2 girls-tops and sashes-black with silver metallic vine print
skirts and sleeve linings-liquid silver lame
2 girls-tops and sashes-white with silver metallic vine print
skirts and sleeve linings-metallic white liquid lame
I cut the sashes last night, and will hem them all today...then start on the harder stuff. These are going to look great!
Mauvais...my hair is short-like Jamie Lee Curtis or Halle Berry short, and I can't stand it long-so for fancy costumes I am going to rely on turbans for tribal, fancy hair kerchiefs dressed up with beads or coins for cabaret, or those min turban style headbands that come with some costumes....
Aphil
ps-another pound down to 179...I just kissed the 180's goodbye!

Aphil- those fabrics sound gorgeous- I bet those costumes turn out amazing! Post some pics when you can, I would love to see the finished products :)

My hair never gets past shoulder length although I used to dream of having waist length hair. I gave up on that long ago. My hair just gets ratty looking if it gets past my shoulders and I get mad and cut it off :lol: I have had really short hair before too and it suited me as well. I love that Halle Berry look!

Well, I'm off to practice my dancing now that hubby is out of the house for the evening. I never get any peace to practice when he is around :lol:

Hi! I'm new to bellydancing, have 'the twins' videos--and I'm loving it! I never thought I could like my belly so much!:lol:

I really wanted to chime in about the short hair. Mine is ultra short and it doesn't quite look right with my dancing togs--so I always do up some kind of turban affair. Just goes with the costume better!

And I'm guilty of unconscious dancing too. There are worse things! I'm really enjoying this thread and am ready to come out of lurkdom. Great information!