A FEW WORDS ABOUT HOLIDAY GLITTER

Happy Holidays,  everyone!

This is a re-post from 2011,  but according to my blog stats, it’s one of my most popular posts ever!  Enjoy…

Ah, glitter! Where would we dancers be without it? No doubt you've heard this saying  before:

"Glitter Is The Herpes Of The Art World"

I'm not sure who originally said this, but like Herpes, glitter is certainly the gift that keeps on giving-it gets all over everything, and stays embedded no matter how much you try to get rid of it. It sticks to you, your significant other, your pets, your furniture. In fact, I don't even think comparing it to Herpes drives home the point of how much glitter pollutes everything it gets near.

I prefer this saying, which I made up myself:

"Glitter Has More Of A Half-Life Than Uranium!"

What was once the sole domain of pre-teens and strippers, glitter is now a performance mainstay for all types of dancers...as well as gymnasts, cheerleaders and gals who like to sparkle on the dance floor during a night on the town.

And now that the Holidays are upon us, glitter is EVERYWHERE.

Glitter looks lovely under stage lights, it will highlight your every movement and make you look like a fairy dusted fantasy. It can be applied to the skin , and even on top of the stockings on your legs - or body stockings, if you wear them. There are many types of commercial body glitters available; they come in sprays, oils, and in little solid waxy bars as well as in the “sprinkle on” type. However, I prefer to make my own body glitter mix; it looks much better with my coloring, and it also saves money!

On your face and especially around your eyes, you must wear cosmetic glitter. In the old days glitter was made of metal flakes. Now, glitter is usually made of some type of copolymer plastic. The individual cosmetic glitter flakes are laser cut, in shapes that are are oval and/or rounded, not square or octagonal the way most craft glitter is cut. When used on your face, this will reduce (but not prevent!) any injury, should the glitter get into your eyes. Also, some craft glitter is still made of metal.

How do I know this? I am so glitter-obsessed that I actually have a friend who was a biology student at Berkeley look at many types of body glitter, craft glitter and cosmetic grade glitter under her microscope! I sent her lots of unlabeled glitter samples, and she told me what shape they were and what they were made of…it was extremely educational!

But back to making your own body glitter and saving money by doing it- since you will not risk potential injury by using craft glitter on your body, there is no need for you to buy expensive, pre-made body glitter.

Buy a few different colors of regular, inexpensive craft glitter, the kind in the big shakers, then mix them up in a jar and pop it into your gig bag, along with a small container of hand lotion or body cream. When you want to glitter up, just mix the two products in the palm of your hand and apply it liberally to your skin.

For my own body glitter mix, since I am fair-skinned, I use equal parts of lavender, opalescent pink, iridescent white, gold and silver. If you have skin that is darker, you might want to also mix in shades of bronze, orange, opalescent yellow and copper.

Deeper colors of glitter such as dark reds, purples, black, blues or greens tend to look ashy and strange onstage, so stick to a mix of shades that enhance your natural skin tone.

Insane as this may sound, I also think glitter is a great exfoliant! When you wash it off in the shower, it totally helps to slough off any rough or dead skin cells.

A word to the wise: though glitter looks great in motion ( such as in performance, on film or videotape) but in still photos, but it can appear gritty and make your skin look bumpy, unless you are photographed from very close up, so think about doing some promo shots without it, then adding on the sparkles... or just saving it for performances.

Oh, and be prepared to sleep in a bed full of pixie dust, because that’s exactly what you’ll be doing post-show, even if you showered the moment you got home!

I’ll say it one more time: do not use craft glitter on your face!

Now get on out there and SPARKLE!

 #

If you’d like to purchase latest book, Showgirl Confidential: My Life Onstage, Backstage And On The Road  and have me sign it for you, or for a gift, click here:  http://www.princessfarhana.com/book_showgirl.htm

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM BEYOND

In 1999, during the days leading up to The New Millennium, like many people, I began reflecting on life: historical events I had witnessed, personal goals that I had achieved and all the things I had accomplished.

But what seemed to really dominate my thoughts were the many significant relationships I had with family and friends. I was blessed with so much love, nurture and support. I thought of the many special people who were there for me not matter what… friends and relatives who shared their lives with me, gave me affection, support and influenced my creative and artistic endeavors.

One of these individuals was my friend and belly dance mentor, the late Zein Abdul Al Malik.

Zein was a male dancer of prodigious talent. Well over six feet tall and lanky, he had piercing green eyes and performed draped in luxurious folkloric garb, wrapped in antique Egyptian Assuit, a traditional mesh fabric that has small strips of silver hammered into it to form designs.   Zein looked imposing and exotic balancing a huge brass tray with a full tea set and candles upon his regal head.

Zein began his career in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid 1970’s, dancing with one of the mothers of contemporary belly dance, Jamilla Salimpour.  He went on to live in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, where he resided in one of the royal palaces, thanks to his Saudi prince lover.  Zein lived and breathed Oriental Dance, performing, teaching and doing research.

After we met in 1990, he took me under his wing- me, a beginning baby belly dancer with barely any skills- but somehow he saw my potential and nurtured me. Zein would have me over to his apartment- a wonderful, mysterious enclave of inlaid North African furniture, luxurious plants and relics from the Middle East.

He’d make me fresh mint tea in a silver Moroccan teapot and we’d spend hours together while he showed me steps and technique, discussed belly dance traditions, and watched vintage clips that he’d taped from the television in Saudi Arabia, featuring 1940’s and ‘50’s Golden Age Egyptian movies which starred famous dancers like Naima Akef, Samia Gamal, and Tahiya Carioca.

 Zein also helped me select costumes, heartily encouraged my dancing, and got me my very first dance job at Hollywood’s Moun Of Tunis Restaurant, where he worked.  More than two decades later, whenever I am in Los Angeles, I still perform there.

Appropriate music for Middle Eastern dance was hard to find in America back in those days, and Zein made me many Arabic mix tapes- remember, there were no CD’s back then- with the cassettes featuring everything from classic live Om Kalthoum performances to the latest in Egyptian pop and Algerian Rai music.

 Every cassette Zein made me also had a special cover that he thoughtfully put together by hand. Some featured Middle Eastern clip art others  photocopies of vintage Turkish cigarette boxes and pictures of famous belly dancers like Nagwa Fouad and Soheir Zaki.

Tragically, Zein died about five years after I met him. By that time, we were close friends and because of his encouragement, we were also gigging together regularly. I was absolutely devastated. I remember speaking-or rather blubbering through a speech- at his memorial, my face wet with flowing tears, but I don’t remember a thing I said.

I thought of him often, so many things reminded me of him. At gigs when I felt pre-show jitters, I would think of the way he used to calm my nerves through  his twisted humor right before we  both went on. Wrapped in a turban and wearing a brocade galibiya, shimmying to warm up, with an ever-present Marlboro in his mouth, Zein would sense my anxiety, catch my eye, make an exaggerated coquettish gesture then and whisper in a feminine falsetto,

“How’s my hair?”

Somehow, our private joke never got old, and always made me laugh. Whenever he did that, I had a great show, entering the stage with a huge grin on my face. Even though Zein has been departed for years, I always think of him just before I go on.

So…fast forward to New Year’s Eve 1999, at five minutes of midnight. Of course I was at a belly dance gig, in a dressing room, wearing a brand new costume- my first costume for the New Millennium.

The dancer I was working with that evening asked what music I was planning to dance to for my first dance set of the century.

“I don’t know, “ I said, pawing through my CD binder, “I’m so sick of all my music!”

My gig bag was full of the usual belly dance accoutrements: stray finger cymbals, perfume, hair accessories, mis-matched sequin armbands, loose aspirin tablets, safety pins.

Suddenly, something fell into my hands, a small plastic case. Though my suitcase was always chaotic, there was a method to my madness, and it was always re-packed before every show. The little plastic box was decidely an unfamiliar object that I didn’t remember packing. Recognizing what it was in the dim dressing room lighting by the feel of it alone, I wondered how it got there.

“Hey, no way, there’s a cassette in my dance bag!” I cried, kind of amazed.

“You still use cassettes?” the other dancer asked incredulously.

“Well, no, not for years”, I answered, dumbfounded,

“I have no idea what it’s doing in here!”

“Well, maybe we can dance to it,” she said, “What is it?”

I glanced at the clock- it was now one minute before midnight. Thinking we’d better figure our music out, I turned the mystery cassette case over in my hands. 

The cover featured a black and white drawing of a 1920’s flapper lounging in a champagne glass.

In hand-lettered Art Deco font, it read:

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!  LOVE, ZEIN”.

As the clock struck midnight and the new century began, I got chills.

HOLIDAY DAZZLE...A FEW WORDS ABOUT GLITTER

Ah,glitter! Where would we dancers be without it? No doubt you've seen this before:

"Glitter Is The Herpes Of The Art World"

...I'm not sure who originally said this, but like Herpes, glitter is certainly "the gift that keeps on giving"-it gets all over everything, and stays embedded no matter how much you try to get rid of it. It sticks to you, your significant other, your pets, your furniture. In fact, I don't even think comparing it to Herpes drives home the point of how much glitter pollutes....everything it gets near.

I prefer this saying,which i made up myself:

"Glitter Has More Of A Half-Life Than Uranium!"

What was once the sole domain of pre-teens and strippers, glitter is now a performance mainstay for all types of dancers...as well as gymnasts, cheerleaders and gals who like to sparkle on the dance floor during a night on the town.

And now that the Holidays are upon us, glitter is EVERYWHERE.

Glitter looks lovely under stage lights, it will highlight your every movement and make you look like a fairy dusted fantasy. It can be applied to the skin , and even on top of the stockings on your legs - or body stockings, if you wear them. There are many types of commercial body glitters available;they come in sprays, oils, and in little solid waxy bars as well as in the “sprinkle on” type. However, I prefer to make my own body glitter mix; it looks much better with my coloring, and it also saves money!

On your face and especially around your eyes, you must wear cosmetic glitter. In the old days glitter was made of metal flakes. Now, glitter is usually made of some type of copolymer plastic. The individual cosmetic glitter flakes are laser cut, in shapes that are are oval and/or rounded, not square or octagonal the way most craft glitter is cut. When used on your face, this will reduce (but not prevent!) any injury, should the glitter get into your eyes. Also, some craft glitter is still made of metal.

How do I know this? I am so glitter-obsessed that I actually have a friend who was a biology student at Berkeley look at many types of body glitter, craft glitter and cosmetic grade glitter under her microscope! I sent her lots of unlabeled glitter samples, and she told me what shape they were and what they were made of…it was extremely educational!

But back to making your own body glitter and saving money by doing it- since you will not risk potential injury by using craft glitter on your body, there is no need for you to buy expensive, pre-made body glitter.

Buy a few different colors of regular, inexpensive craft glitter, the kind in the big shakers, then mix them up in a jar and pop it into your gig bag, along with a small container of hand lotion or body cream. When you want to glitter up, just mix the two products in the palm of your hand and apply it liberally to your skin.

For my own body glitter mix, since I am fair-skinned, I use equal parts of lavender, opalescent pink, iridescent white, gold and silver. If you have skin that is darker, you might want to also mix in shades of bronze, orange, opalescent yellow and copper.

Deeper colors of glitter such as dark reds, purples, black, blues or greens tend to look ashy and strange onstage, so stick to a mix of shades that enhance your natural skin tone.

Insane as this may sound, I also think glitter is a great exfoliant! When you wash it off in the shower, it totally helps to slough off any rough or dead skin cells.

A word to the wise: though glitter looks great in motion ( such as in performance, on film or videotape) but in still photos, but it can appear gritty and make your skin look bumpy, unless you are photographed from very close up, so think about doing some promo shots without it, then adding on the sparkles... or just saving it for performances.

Oh, and be prepared to sleep in a bed full of pixie dust, because that’s exactly what you’ll be doing post-show, even if you showered the moment you got home!

I’ll say it one more time: do not use craft glitter on your face!

Now get on out there and SPARKLE!


#

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THE HOLIDAYS: A DANCER'S SURVIVAL GUIDE

The holiday season is wonderful and amazing; with all the beautiful holiday decorations sparkling everywhere, we dancers can’t help but feel as though we are totally in our element.

But as we all know, the holidays can also be stressful time, and not just because of the frantic pace at the malls. As usual, many of us are juggling our gigs, classes and rehearsal schedules with day jobs and family obligations…but in some cases the family situation itself may not be optimal, and during the holidays especially, this adds into the mix and creates stress.

During the holidays, more than at any other time, temptation abounds- scrumptious food and alcoholic beverages are everywhere, enticing us to fall of whatever wagon we may be on with a resounding thud. The urge to make unhealthy choices is always heightened by a hectic schedule, lack of sleep, underlying anxiety and keeping late hours.

Over the years, I experimented with a number of ways to keep my holidays “safe and sane”... and one of them is re-thinking my holiday gigs.

For many dancers, the holiday season is a usually huge moneymaker. There are oodles of private gigs for Christmas, Hannukah and New Year’s Eve parties. There are also many corporate gigs, office Christmas parties, and charity events going on. Clubs and restaurants are more crowded and want more live entertainment that during other times of the year, and patrons customarily tips more generously, too.

I don’t have to tell you that the bad economy has affected everybody- we can all feel it. This is probably having an influence on the amount of holiday gigs-and rate of pay- you are being offered this year. The standard rate for New Year’s Eve gigs used to be triple what you’d normally receive, but with money being tight everywhere, this sadly isn’t the case so much anymore.

Still, though there is an opportunity to make bank, this year, especially may be an opportunity to think of what you are forfeiting by doing those shows. Since we dance so often on holidays no matter what time of year, they usually don’t seem like a day off for dancers.

Basically, because of gigs, you are spending your holiday away from loved ones, to begin with. You dance at other people’s holiday celebrations ( not to mention birthday parties, weddings, graduation ceremonies, etc.) year-round, but don’t celebrate those occasions yourself, because you are working! Also, during Christmastime through New Year’s Eve, in order to work, you’re braving bumper-to-bumper holiday traffic, long lines at police sobriety check-points, and even if you don’t imbibe at all,risking the potential hazards of others who are driving while under the influence.

I have always had a steadfast rule about my holiday gigs- especially New Year’s Eve: JUST SAY NO. It doesn’t mean that I don’t accept holiday gigs- I do, frequently. It’s just that I am ultra-choosy about which ones I accept, as well as how I schedule them.

Though it might seem crazy, throughout the years, the “Just Say No” policy has served me well. Unless I am absolutely certain I can get to and from a show (or multiple shows) on time and get paid what I am worth, I’d rather stay home. That means I won’t be spending the New Years Countdown stuck in traffic, stressing cause I’m late for a show; or shivering in a drafty backstage or lonely hallway waiting through endless techno renditions of “Auld Lang Syne” and lengthy toasts to perform a set for a bunch of revelers who are more focused on where their next glass of champers or spiked egg-nog is coming from! Choose your holiday gigs wisely, and decide for yourself it it’s worth the sacrifices you will inevitably make.

Another thing to think about is your own safety- and I don’t mean the common-sense rules that usually apply, like bringing an escort to a private gig or making sure you get a deposit in advance.

Holiday gigs present a variety of “hazards” that may not be present at other times of the year. Specifically, I’m talking about things like open flames from candles, spiky evergreen boughs, breakable glass ornaments, and clusters of snaking extension cords for holiday lighting. While these all make a home or restaurant pretty and enticing, they could be dangerous for YOU…so scope your performance space out carefully, don’t get too close to anything that could break and cut you or snag your costume – or set it on fire! And seriously, while you are performing in a smaller space, really try to get a bead on the drunks in the audience (they’re always there, but even more so at this time of year!) and practice your crowd-control skills…because you’ll need them!

If you are an animal loving dancer like me, you’ll protect your pets, too. While you’re out running around, they could potentially be in danger in your own house. Mistletoe and Poinsettias are extremely toxic to cats, and chocolate –in any form- is horrendous for cats and especially dogs. Don’t leave any of these things around where your pets can reach them. Tinsel and metallic elastic gift-wraps are like catnip for the kitties – so shiny and pretty and interesting! But they can be ingested and cause massive internal problems that require surgery, as well as being a choking hazard. Glass and glitter-covered ornaments should never be hung low on your tree for the same reason, and your electrical cords should be taped down securely or housed in a box (secured at the spot where they plug into the wall) so they don’t get chewed on, causing a short and possibly electrocuting your pet. Need I mention that you should turn all your Christmas lights off when you leave for a gig?

On a less-cautionary note, just after Christmas has passed is always a fantastic time to go shopping for your year-round costume needs. Everything you need to make fantastic costumes and accessories will be on sale, from beaded garlands to luscious fabrics and metallic ribbons, from fantasy feathers to fabric paints, sequin trim and crafting supplies…stock up while it’s cheap, and use them later in the New Year!

Though many people find it hard to stick to their New Year’s Resolutions, making resolutions you KNOW you’ll be able to keep easily is a good idea. It doesn’t have to be a grandiose plan, it could be something as small as vowing to take an extra class per month, or learning some new songs, or experimenting with a new style of dance. I always make a ritual of spending the first couple of days of the New Year going through my costumes and accessories, making sure that everything is in working order, to start things off right. I check to see if hooks need to be sewn on to costumes, or if skirts need to be hemmed, shoes re-soled, crystals replaced, that sort of thing. I also toss a lot of old make-up (especially liquids and creams) that could be contaminated with bacteria, and sew new elastic onto all my finger cymbals… and believe me, that’s a damn chore!

One last thought: give yourself a holiday gift. As dancers we spend most of the year giving: we give our time and energy all year round to students and to audiences. We are always “on”, whether we are actually onstage or not. Though we may try to rest and prepare for this, we always seem to put ourselves last on the list of recipients. It’s a wonderful thing to do, that whole external out-pouring of energy… but by the end of the year, you may develop a deficit that can sap you emotionally and mentally as well as physically.

During hectic holiday season, make sure to take some much-needed “quality time” to recharge your batteries and give back to yourself… even if it’s just a few moments of quiet each day! A massage, mani-pedi or a nice hot bath with Epsom salts are great year-round, but a necessity at this time of year, so treat yourself, because you deserve it!

Happy Holidays!