Hanging out in Sicksville

Sorry about the lack of a Beauty Blogging for Bellydancers column today, or really, any blog content at all this week. I came down with a cold after ballet class on Monday night and I have not felt particularly clear-headed all week. Any attempt to write a blog post would have ended up reading something like "Colds are dumb and so are undercutters. BAM!"

Anyway, I am feeling mostly better but I also have a raging case of what I call "sick face." You know how it is... nose all red and chapped, skin somewhat lackluster, maybe some dark circles under the eyes. It would take a whole lot of concealer to make me feel comfortable showing my face on the internet today! I really hope that I am looking better tomorrow since I will be performing with Skirt Full of Fire and Fire & Gold at the Fall Plaza Intensive Show!

Sickness aside, I am getting pretty excited for the Autumn months! There's a lot coming up... Vegas next week, then I go finally get my tattoo completed, then in October we have Tucson Meet Yourself and I have two weddings and (hopefully) a Beats Antique concert to go to! November will round things out with the All Souls Procession and Desert Shakedown. And that's just the stuff that I already know about. There's sure to be more great things in store.

New lip products from Urban Decay

 Please forgive the less than awesome nature of this photo, I should really allow myself more than 15 minutes to do my makeup before class. Anyway: fuchsia lipstick!

I figured I should try the new color-coordinated Revolution Lipstick and 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil from Urban Decay, because I do love things to match and it's so frustrating sometimes to find pencils and lipsticks that work perfectly together. You'd think that every company would make perfectly complimenting colors, but I have not found that to be the case.

I chose Jilted, a fuchsia-pink shade. The lipstick has a cool blue shift, which I thought was nifty and also probably a good way to tone down any yellowness in ones teeth. The liner does not have blue shimmer, but it does otherwise match perfectly, as you can see in this hand swatch:

What a nice color! I do feel like it's a bit intense for my skin tone, I definitely would never do it for day-wear and I felt like I should have done more with my eyes to balance it out... That said, it's also kind of fun to wear ridiculous fuchsia with blue shimmer lipstick. If I ever go to an 80s or glam-rock themed party, you KNOW this is what I am breaking out!

Both the liner and the lipstick went on pretty smoothly and delivered intense color. The lipstick is not very sticky and didn't leave a bunch of color on my water bottle during dance class. It stayed in place pretty well for an hour of drilling, so that's pretty good! However, my lips also felt pretty dry while using it, so definitely make sure you're well-moisturized before applying it. I like the formula enough that I might pick it up in other colors too! I think this will be a good one for dancers. There are a lot of shades in this collection that are intense enough to really pop on the big stage, and having perfectly-matching liners makes it easy to fill out your lips if needed.

Raising Funds for Vegas

 It's just two weeks until I take off for the Las Vegas Bellydance Intensive! Because I'll be performing, I'm investing in video and photos, which is leaving me with less money for shopping. So here's the thing: I have an Etsy shop. If you happen to like handmade one of a kind jewelry, and supporting artists and helping a dancer buy more costumes, then you can go buy some things! In fact, to sweeten the deal I currently have a sale going on: use code BUYALLTHETHINGS for 30% off any purchase of $20 or more. This is a steeper discount than I usually offer, but hey, all of this beautiful jewelry isn't doing me any good since I don't wear my stock!

I try not to use this blog to promote my jewelry too often, but there's so many good vendors to go shop with at Vegas! I hope you'll pardon this moment of shameless self-promotion and come back tomorrow for more dance-related blogging.

More Ballet!

Alison Lee, [stage name Helene Lineva and star of the Original Ballet Russe, 1939-1940, posing in the studio and dancing on the roof of Dupain studio] photographed by Max Dupain.

It's hard to believe, but I've actually been taking ballet classes for 4 weeks now. I go once or twice a week depending on how brave and motivated I'm feeling. And sometimes... I actually have fun! I'm still struggling with a lot of the material and I'm sure I will for a long time, but slowly I'm becoming more comfortable. It helps that the teachers at BreakOut are really nice and encouraging.

One reason why I'm taking ballet, even though I'm currently bad at it, is that when I get things right, I feel beautiful. I have long legs and arms, which sometimes makes me feel awkward in bellydance class (I always pull my arms in when I turn, for fear of hitting somebody), like I'm taking up too much space. But when I relax and allow myself to take all the room I need, and when I can do a full extension and just reach with my arms and legs, I feel lean and elegant. Ballet class is helping me develop proper form, strength, and flexibility to add those moments to my belly dance. 

Did I strike gold with Maybelline?

It's funny, because I'm reviewing gold eye shadow. WOW is that really gold.

 Following up on last week's affordable e.l.f. palette, I thought I'd review another drugstore line that I'd heard pretty good things about... Maybelline's Color Tattoo eye shadows. I picked up two different styles... the new Pure Pigments in Forest Fatale (it's as if they marketed it directly at me!), and the 24 Hour Metal in Gold Rush.

Besides sounding like a music festival, Color Tattoo 24 Hour Metal is a gel shadow. I was hoping that Gold Rush would go on thick and give me an insane pop of gold, but instead it was like crackled gold leaf. It's very pretty, and I think it would be great for an Ancient Egypt-themed look, paired with cobalt and black eyeliner. It's also nice for a magical faerie look. But it doesn't necessarily have enough impact for the big stage -- you'd be better off with gold glitter. Save this one for the restaurants and other small stages.

Pure Pigments are your typical loose pigments. It went on nicely and stayed on well but when I did find a ton of fall-out on my counter from when I was applying it! I applied it dry with a nice fluffy brush. It would probably be more intense if applied wet. This is another one that is definitely more suited for when you're going to be up close with your audience.

 As always, I applied these colors over UD's Primer Potion and then used a couple spritzes of setting spray to keep it in place through two hours of dance class. Surprisingly, even though it was a hot muggy night and we worked really hard, I didn't have any color loss. I thought about leaving it on overnight to see if 24 Hour Metal lived up to its name, but I didn't want to chance getting mascara smudges on my pillowcase.

Bonus nail polish review! Maybelline's Color Show line of nail polish seems to have a few trendy options. Mystic Green is part of the holographic collection and is one of those awesome color-shift iridescent colors. It shifts through gold, green and blue and is GORGEOUS! This is two coats with a base and top coat. I've been wearing it for a couple of days and it's held up well -- except for the weird marks where I fell asleep on top of my hand. It turns out that those drying drops will still leave your polish soft for at least an hour or so. Whoops. Anyway, I think these holographic colors are great for performances, and they have a pinky-purply one for those of you who don't wear green costumes every time you perform. And at around $3/bottle it's a lot more affordable than similar colors from other brands.

Not getting enough cosmetics reviews? Go like my fan page on Facebook. I've started posting bonus mini-reviews throughout the week as I try things that don't quite fit in the blog.

Annoying Dance Sayings Pt 2

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to disagree with Martha Graham. That would be stupid. Obviously she knew way, way, WAY more about dancing than I ever will, and that is why there's a ton of quotes from her on Pinterest and absolutely zero by me.

The problem with this quote isn't the quote itself, its in how people interpret it. People see this quote and they think "Well, I'm passionate about dance so that means I'm great! I'm gonna sit on the couch and watch a movie instead of drilling my arm work because I'm already awesome. Thanks, Martha Graham!"

I've fallen into this trap before. I'm a passionate dancer. I go to class several times a week. I emote all over the stage. I can talk about dance until I'm blue in the face. As such, there have been times where I've gone to a show and thought "Oh sure, she has great technique, but she's not showing a lot of passion in her dance. I'm sooooo much better than here." Well, that's just plain wrong. Great dancers have technique and passion. I can't just coast along on my passion and ignore the fact that my footwork is sloppy.

Great dancers are great because of their passion, but it's because a passion for dance drives you to be great. When you have a passion for dance, it's not enough to go to class on Wednesday night and then maybe practice once or twice between classes. Passion means you take all of the classes you can afford and you practice every day (when you can overcome your natural laziness, I'm talking to myself here, can you tell?). Passion means when you're the only one in class who can't do something, you ask your teacher for advice and then you go home, and you practice it in the mirror, and you cry and yell and stomp around the house when you can't get it right, because sometimes passion is a little sad and angry, instead of beautiful and lovey-dovey. Passion means sitting on the yoga mat cursing like a sailor because you're 30 seconds into a 2 minute stretch and your glute is cramping like a mofo, but you've got to work on your splits so you tough it out.

Passion means sometimes you go weeks or months without being able to really socialize with the non-dance people in your life, because you have class on weeknights and performances or workshops on weekends. Passion means sometimes you tell your spouse you'd rather stay home with a DVD than go to the movies, because you've got to work on your new costume. Passion means that you go to class in cheap Target yoga pants but perform in custom-made velvet skirts. Passion means that you give up an international vacation so you can save your money to study with great dancers. Passion means wearing pants and long skirts all summer because your knees are always covered in bruises from floorwork. For some dance forms, passion means you never wear sandals again because your toes scare small children.

Passion does not mean "Oh, I really like dancing and I'm SO emotional on stage."

Don't agree with me? Here's another quote from Martha Graham that you probably won't see on Pinterest:

"[When I stopped dancing] I had lost my will to live. I stayed home alone, ate very little, and drank too much and brooded. My face was ruined, and people say I looked odd, which I agreed with. Finally my system just gave in. I was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma."

That's passion.

Annoying Dance Sayings Pt 1

I found a meme picture with a cute dog to soften my annoyance.

 

We've all seen and heard this one a lot, right? It's sometimes attached to a few other things, like living like there's no tomorrow and loving like you've never been hurt, etc etc. This can all be great and inspiring for normal life, but as a dancer I get so sick of seeing "Dance like nobody's watching."

 

Now don't get me wrong. There are times when it IS appropriate to dance like no one's watching. They include:

 

1. When you're a newbie in class and you're super nervous and you have to just tell yourself no one else is watching you.

 

2. When you have a new song you want to dance to, and you want to just FEEL it and see what movements work with it, before sitting down to really formalize your choreography or structured improv.

 

3. When you've got some emotions you need to work out, and you just turn on some music and dance so freakin' hard until you've danced it all out.

 

4. When you're at a party or a club and you want to just get down (but even then you have to be careful, because if you've told people you're a bellydancer, you don't want them to say "Oh, she claims she's a dancer but did you see what she was doing with her arms at Aunt Jane's wedding?").

 

However, there is a place where you should not "dance like no one's watching" and that is on stage. Once you've made the decision to be a performer, whether as an eternal amateur or a someday pro, you have made a commitment to always be "on" when you're dancing for other people. You've chosen to perform, so that means you have to perform. That means acknowledging the audience. That means that if you DON'T acknowledge the audience, it's because of a deliberate artistic choice*, not because you just felt like dancing for yourself. That means that if you're terrified of making real eye contact with the audience, you learn the tricks of faking eye contact.

If you get up on stage and dance like nobody's watching, you'll likely find that they aren't watching. Because if you don't dance for the audience, then they don't feel engaged. Likewise, if you're not dancing for the audience, you're probably not thinking about proper angles, and taking up space, and moving around the room/stage so that everyone gets a chance to see you in your full glory.

When you dance like nobody's watching, you do both yourself and the audience a great disservice. So if you've decided to dance for other people, then dance for other people! Acknowledge the audience. Share with them. To sum up the concept that I've heard from numerous great teachers, your dance doesn't have to shout "look at me!" but it should say "Hey, I know you're watching."

*Also if you're presenting a form of spiritual dance that isn't normally a performance art, and acknowledging the audience would be inauthentic, you should obviously make the authentic choice.