A WEEKEND IN THE LIFE OF A TRAVELING DANCER

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  So many people- friends, family members, aspiring dancers and even  random strangers sitting next to me on airplanes- are always very curious about what it's like being a traveling professional dancer. My standard answer is usually something along the lines of :

"It's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work!"

 But that doesn't really begin to scratch the surface.

 There are indescribable highs, like getting paid to travel the world doing something you adore, seeing fabulous sights and meeting wonderful new people. There are extreme lows, too, like working when you're absolutely exhausted and riddled with jet lag or working while injured. Both of these are constants, no matter how young, flexible or healthy you are, no matter how well you eat or how much you try to take care of yourself. Often, your injuries don't have time to heal because a) you need to work constantly and b) you never get enough sleep-ever! Homesickness can be an issue too. Even if  you love to travel, when you're doing it all the time,  you miss your loved ones.

 Unless you've "been there", you really can't imagine what being on the road is really like. But here's a blow-by-blow approximation of one of my typical weekend trips,which I do two to four weekends a month-unless I'm on an actual tour...enjoy!

FRIDAY

7:00- 7:15 AM

 Wake up, hit snooze on the alarm, prepare strong coffee and a green smoothie. Drink both while rinsing off  your face,  popping in contact lenses, feeding and petting the kitties. Get dressed in sweats and sneakers.

7:15-8:20 AM

 Swift 20 minute walk. Shower, apply body lotion and moisturizer. Put on the clothes you’ll wear to the airport and apply just enough make up- eyebrow power, mascara, lip gloss and a touch of blush- so that the general public won’t scream and run when they catch sight of your sleep-deprived, puffy face.

8:20-9:00 AM

Cut up some veggies to take on the plane while scarfing down an apple mixed with Greek yoghurt and cinnamon...which you use liberally because of it's anti-inflammatory properties. Drink another cup of coffee while paying for your checked bag online and printing out your boarding pass. Stuff your Tempur-Pedic pillow into the bag of teaching clothes and merch you’re checking through to your final destination. Go through your cosmetic bag to make sure all liquids and gels have been removed and placed in the TSA Approved quart-size plastic bag that will live in your purse. Do a “dummy check”, making double sure you have every piece of the two costumes that are already sitting in your carry-on bag.

9:00 AM-10: 30 AM

 Open the Uber app,  request a car and bring both suitcases outside. Say goodbye to your boyfriend and the cats. Load your bags into the car when it arrives, ride through gridlock Los Angeles rush hour traffic to LAX.

10:30-11:15 AM

 Arrive at the airport, check your bag curbside. Get in line to go through Airport Security, trying not to become disgusted with the idiots who haven’t obeyed the “3-1-1’ quart baggie rule and are holding up the line. Find your departure gate. Purchase a hideously overpriced liter of water. Discover (yet again) that the notoriously bad Free Wi-Fi at LAX isn’t working well enough for you to log onto Facebook. Buy a tabloid and read it until your flight starts boarding.

11:50 AM

Your flight finishes boarding and takes off. Go through the notes for the workshops you’re teaching, even though you’ve taught them many times. Glance at the schedule for the weekend;  happily you don’t have to judge a competition, only  teach and perform. Finish the tabloid and donate it to the flight attendants. Eat your veggies, trying not to cave in to the salted peanuts being passed out, because if you eat them, you'll arrive looking like The Elephant Man. Idly browse though the airline magazine tucked in the pocket of the seat in front of you while trying to ignore the loudly whining child whose repeatedly kicking  the back of your seat.

4:40- 6:45 PM CST

 You’re now on Central Standard Time, laying over at ORD, aka Chicago O’Hare Airport. Take the shuttle between terminals to your next departure gate.  Text your sponsor to let her know your plane seems to be taking off on time. Rejoice in the fact that the ORD free Wi-Fi actually has a strong signal. Do some administrative work during remaining hour before your next flight, returning emails about an up-coming class series, sending workshop descriptions to a potential sponsor for next year and photos to producer designing a poster for a show you’re doing in five months. Buy a salad at an airport kiosk. Text your sponsor again, letting her know that due to stormy weather, your flight has been delayed for a half hour.  Board the next plane, eat your salad and try to discreetly stretch in the aisle near the galley and restrooms while the rest of the passengers doze.

9:45PM- 12:20 PM EST

 Arrive on the East Coast, wait twenty minutes for your checked luggage to appear, drag both suitcases out to the curb to meet your sponsor. Sponsor arrives, greets you with a hug, helps you load luggage, and you both chat while she drives you to your hotel and you check in. Bring luggage up to the room, call boyfriend to tell him you are safe at your destination. Go out in search of food. Most places are closed at this hour; drive around for nearly thirty minutes, winding up at TGI Friday’s perusing the menu for something healthy to eat. Have a glass of wine with sponsor, eat, giggle. Return to hotel room.

12:20-2:10 AM

Turn on the television; cruise through the channels until you find a suitably riveting reality show. Unpack; hang up costumes, iron skirts and veils for tomorrow evening’s show. Move dance togs and merchandise into your carry-on bag to bring to the workshop in the morning. Remove make up, wash face, brush teeth, set alarm for 6:45 am, and try desperately to fall asleep. Finally, you do.

SATURDAY

 6:45 AM

 Wake up, hit the snooze button  repeatedly on your phone. Toddle down to the lobby in the clothes you wore on the plane, make a “to go” plate of the only things you can eat at the breakfast buffet- hardboiled eggs, a banana, an apple. Pour a huge Styrofoam cup of super-weak hotel coffee. Go back up to the room. Dump a pack of Starbuck’s Via instant coffee into the hotel coffee, find another reality show, watch it while guzzling the doctored-up coffee and eating your breakfast, to which you’ve added a one of the nutrition bars you packed in your checked luggage. Get in the shower.

7:45-8:37 AM

Dress in your teaching clothes, apply make up so as to look as though you are  actually a member of the human race. Remember that students will want selfies with you, so apply a little more eye shadow and a brighter lipstick so that you will vaguely resemble the promo photos for the event that are plastered all over Facebook. Sponsor texts you saying there will not be time to return to the hotel after the workshops and before the show, and that she will arrive in fifteen minutes to bring you to the studio.  Madly dash around the hotel room, packing your costumes and cosmetic bag into the suitcase with the merch…so much for the ironing you did last night! Take elevator to the lobby, wait outside for the sponsor.  She pulls up, helps you get your bag in the trunk and hands you a tall latte with an extra shot of espresso. Hear angels singing as you sip the coffee, trying not to spill it as the sponsor races to the studio.

9:00Am-1: 29 PM

Arrive at the dance studio, set up your merch, greet students and make small talk. Class begins ten minutes late due to stragglers. Teach for an hour and a half, take a break and sell some merch, pose for photos with students. Resume teaching.  The workshop is supposed to end at noon, but everyone wants more photos. Chat with students while they are taken. Lunch is supposed to be from 12:30 to 1:30, but since you’re being mobbed, the sponsor has thoughtfully sent out a volunteer to get you a salad.  Eat the salad sitting on the floor in the studio while returning emails.  Call your boyfriend and leave a message. Check Instagram and Twitter. Students trickle in to the studio, chat with them and take more selfies.

1:30-4:49 PM

Teach your second workshop, sign a few DVD covers and sell more merch during the break. Three dancers you’ve taught several times before in two different states greet you and there are hugs all around.  They’ve driven for four and a half hours to come to this event. One of them gives you a gorgeous necklace; the others confide that they have a bottle of champagne for later.  Pose for a class shot with the sponsor and all the students; pack up your merch.  Drag luggage to the car, put it in the trunk.

5:15 PM

 Arrive at theater; claim a corner in the dressing room, lay out costumes, and hang up veils. Do a tech check for sound and lights.  Go to men’s room to apply Stage Face undisturbed, since the venue is overrun with female dancers, and the lighting in the dressing room blows for make up application. Eat some grapes  somebody's sharing with a nutrition bar and call it dinner. Guzzle a sport-sized bottle of water mixed with powdered green juice mix.

7:00 PM 

The doors in the venue are open.  Warm up and stretch in a hallway backstage along with a few other performers while listening to your set on your iPod. Socialize in the dressing room and have half a plastic cup of the champagne your friends are passing around.  Change into your first costume.

8:30 PM

The show has started. Shimmy non-stop backstage and try to stay somewhat quiet as more selfies-this time with crazy faces- are taken.  Text the BF at home; he answers back that the cats are all good. Watch bits and pieces of the show from the wings of the stage…many good dancers are performing tonight.

9:15 PM

 Intermission. Much of the cast is in the lobby mingling with friends and family. Pack up your first costume; change into the second one. Put your hair up in pin curls and stage-proof the wig that goes over them. Change your lipstick color to a darker, retro shade. Touch up your eye make up. Warm up...again.

10:00 PM

The show went great, the curtain call was fun, and the cast has given you flowers. Pack up  your stuff  while socializing amidst a dressing room full of shrieking dancers  all still high on stage  adrenalin.  Give gentle critique to the dancers who (inevitably) ask for it. Go to the lobby, pick up your merch and payment from the vending table. Pose for more  photos. Grab your suitcase from the dressing room and drag upstairs and to the street.  Throw in the  sponsor's trunk.

10:42 PM- 1:38 AM 

After party at a local restaurant. Of course your bag comes into the restaurant with you because you’re too paranoid to leave it in the car.  Drinks are served; you nurse one because you have to be on point in tomorrow’s workshops, plus you’re super-tired…and starving. The restaurant is crowded with tables full of rowdy, elated dancers. Make the rounds and chat with everyone. Take pix and post them on Facebook and Instagram. The food is taking forever; you’re ready to eat the furniture.

2:11 AM

Arrive at the hotel; try to work up the energy to scrape all the glitter and eyelash glue off your face. Turn on The Weather Channel for Storm Stories, switch to a true crime show because you’ve seen that episode before…last week, in fact…in another hotel room, in a different state.  Unpack your costumes and drape them over a chair to air out. Repack your carry on with merch and teaching clothes.  Wash your face as the killer whose being profiled on the crime show is being sentenced.

2:53 AM

Call your boyfriend to say goodnight because it’s three hours earlier in Los Angeles. Slather your sore hips with Arnica, your face with heavy-duty moisturizer, guzzle water and take vitamins. Try valiantly not to pick at the “road zit” that’s developing on your left cheek. Cover it in toothpaste, which works as a pinch-hitting astringent, replacing the Clearasil you apparently forgot to pack.  Listen to the uproarious racket of dancers having an after-after party down the hall.

3:16 AM

Turn off the television and lights, grateful that the workshops are starting at 10:30 am; as opposed to 9:00…you get to sleep in!  Pass out cold.

SUNDAY

7:32 AM

Somehow, you’re wide-awake. Lounge in bed for twenty minutes returning emails before getting up for real when your phone alarm goes off.

 8:00 AM

Stumble down to the lobby, noticing under the fluorescent lights in the buffet line that your limbs are still coated in glitter from last night’s show.  Become ridiculously happy that there’s scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast because it’s Sunday. Eat tons of food in the lobby’s café area, semi- incoherently rehashing last night’s show with a couple of dancers who are also staying at the hotel.  They admit they’re extremely hung over, but are excited about today’s workshops. Steal a couple of bananas from the buffet for later and fill a to-go cup with coffee. Stop by the front desk and print out your boarding passes for tomorrow morning’s flight.

8:36-9:59 AM

 Dump two packets of Starbuck’s via into your shitty hotel coffee, shower, make up and stretch to The Real Housewives Of New Jersey.  Return emails; one of them is from and LA dancer asking if you can sub her class the day after you get back. You accept and note it on your calendar. Another is from a sponsor asking about your music for a show that’s happening in a month and a half. You write back, saying you’ll send it when you get home the next day. Try not to notice the road zit, which is reaching massive proportions and looks like it’s going to blow like Mt. Vesuvius at any moment.

10:02 AM

 Sponsor -fully made up but looking half asleep- arrives  to pick you up from the lobby. She suggests stopping for espresso at a local coffee drive through and you practically jump on her in gratitude.

10:30 AM- 12:30 PM

 Teach your first workshop, which gets off to an awfully slow start because everyone’s bushed from the show and parties the evening before. Pose for photos, sell merch. Take a call from your boyfriend, the kitties are good. You miss them terribly and feel guilty about leaving them.

12:40 PM-1: 25 PM

 Lunch at a Mexican joint near the studio with lots of dancers. Shovel a tostada salad into your mouth, wishing it was enchiladas... and that you could have a margarita and nap after you licked the plate clean.

1:30 PM-3: 30 PM

The second workshop actually starts on time; the dancers pick up technique quickly, and it’s a blast.  Take a class photo, sign some books. Dancers who are leaving the event come up and say their goodbyes, take more photos with them.

4:00 PM-6: 7:17 PM

 Three private lessons in the studio, two single lessons and one small group who wants pointers on choreography in progress. They show up in full make up and costume, running there number-which looks great-like a well-oiled machine.

7: 20 PM 

Return to the hotel to drop off your suitcase, change and freshen up for dinner. Call the BF, no answer. Return emails from the lobby while waiting for the sponsor to arrive.

7:45 Am -9:50 PM

The sponsor and her troupe members bring you to dinner at lovely local restaurant. Everyone is exhausted but happy, dinner and cocktails are ordered.  Hear about some local dance drama during appetizers. Share dessert with everyone and call it a night.

10: 14 PM- 1:44 AM

 Arrive back at the hotel; listen to Scared Straight on television while packing your suitcases. The checked bag is considerably lighter because most of your merch was sold. Yay. Talk to your boyfriend and your sister.  Facebook chat with a European sponsor ( it's morning over there) about an upcoming workshop weekend. Write a cursory entry in the journal you didn’t have time for all weekend long. Start working on a new blog post while listening to some  creepy paranormal documentary on Nat Geo.  Get ready for bed. Pass out.

MONDAY

6:45 AM

Wake up, shower, and grab breakfast in the lobby while trying to write another journal entry. Slip an apple and a hardboiled egg into your purse to eat on the plane. Take the elevator back up to your room, pack up your toiletries, do a dummy check, and leave some change for the maid. The Do Not Disturb sign has been up on your door all weekend and the bathroom in particular is a horror show, full of wet towels covered in glitter and body make up plus  an overflowing trash can.

7:57 AM-9: 02 AM

 Sponsor meets you in the lobby to check you out and pay you. Sit on a floral couch under a gaily-colored over-sized  annoying "corporate art"  painting while going over the finances for the event.  She pays you and asks you back for the year after next. You accept. Load the suitcases into the car, drive to the airport.

9:30 AM

  Sponsor drops you off, you hug. It was a fabulous event. Thank the Universe silently for TSA Pre-Check as you whiz through the long Monday morning security line. Find your gate; buy a liter of electrolite water and a copy of Allure to read on the plane. Board the plane, silently surround your row with White Light, praying that no one will join you and you can stretch out. Your prayers don't work, but you congratulate yourself on being anal about always booking an aisle seat.

11:30 AM CST

 Change planes at ORD, thankful that the sky looks clear because it seems like every time you go through this damn airport there’s a  severe weather delay.  Find your gate, read about the new anti-aging techniques that are being developed.  Feel a slightly depressed because  now you not only have wrinkles, your face is puffy from far too few hours of sleep and the road zit is now the size of South America.  Board your second plane and heave a sigh of relief because this time the White Light trick actually worked! Spread out. Eat lots of tiny packets of salted peanuts...who cares if you look like The Elephant Man  when you're on your way home?

 3:30 PM PST

 Finally home after narrowly missing LA’s Monday Rush Hour. The cats swarm you, purring. Your boyfriend has cleaned the house and it looks amazing. Put your phone on the charger, slather Clearasil on South America, and pig out on some watermelon before taking a nap.

5:45 PM

 Wake up with your phone’s alarm. You could totally  sleep waaaay longer, but then you won’t be able to sleep at all later, and you have a full day of errands- plus a Skype private and the class you agreed to sub- the next day.

6:07 PM

 Walk into the living room, open your suitcases, and a kitty jumps in. Trying not to disturb him, add in a new stack of merch: t-shirts, more DVDs, copies of your book, and a box of promotional postcards. 

 Remove your class clothes and costumes, replacing them with fresh leggings, unworn tank tops and different costumes…because you’re doing this all over again in four days.

 #

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 For some truly crazy stories about my years of travel, check out my memoir Showgirl Confidential: My Life Onstage, backstage And On The Road. Purchase an autographed copy here:

 http://www.princessfarhana.com/shop.htm

PORTABLE GLAMOUR: A DANCER'S GUIDE TO TRAVELLING IN STYLE

It's summer and the dance festival frenzy has already started...so my house is in complete chaos with a bunch of suitcases sitting around: some about to be packed, some full of stuff from my last event! My living room is like an obstacle course, there's so much crap laying around on the floor, but I just love the entire process of getting ready for dance festivals.

Since I've spent the better part of the past couple of decades jetting all over the world to perform and teach, I’ve learned to pack extremely well. Many of my sponsors have joked that I should teach a workshop on packing skills!

I used to drag “just in case” things along that never got used: extra costumes, glamorous dresses, blow-dryers, full-sized toiletries … until I wised up and realized that it wasn’t the dancing that was sending me to the chiropractor’s office, it was my heavy, unmanageable luggage!

Even if you don’t take trips at the rate that I do, packing lightly makes sense. If you are going by plane, and have your bag with you, there is zero chance of the airline losing it, and believe me, that happens way more than you would imagine! If your luggage disappears and your costume(s) and music are inside the lost bag, then you are up the creek without a paddle.

The key to a “great pack” is to determine what is absolutely necessary costume-wise, prop-wise, comfort-wise.

Usually, it’s impossible to fit everything into a carry-on bag, though I have done it pretty often! If you have multiple costume changes, are traveling with props, workshop essentials like notebooks, flyers, business cards or carrying any amount of merchandise or promo you probably WON’T fit it all into one suitcase.

In this case, make sure your essentials are in the carry-on itself; pack at least one costume, and music, so even if everything else gets lost you can still perform. You also may want to look into using door-to-door luggage services to ship an extra suitcase. These services tend to be more reliable than airlines, and guarantee delivery. They aren’t cheap, but it saves a lot of hassle and most airlines are now charging for checked bags anyway. You could also look into Fed-Exing or Priority Mailing a box of merch to yourself care of the front desk at the hotel where you will be staying. The concierge or manager at most hotel chains regularly deals with this sort of thing for their business clients.

Costumes

The first law of packing for dance events is: costumes and props take precedence over street clothes and class-wear.

We all know how insanely bulky costumes are, whether it’s a fully fringed cabaret extravaganza, a big retro evening gown or a metal-encrusted, tribal bra and belt with a zillion-yard circle skirt. Take a look at your favorite costumes and decide which ones are most portable… a few may not make the cut for use as “out of towners”.

Ideally, your travel costumes will look absolutely stunning onstage, but don’t need too much attention when pulled out of a suitcase. The newer style Egyptian and Turkish cabaret costumes perfect: they’re feather- weight, and many have built-in belts, making them less heavy, plus they’re usually made of synthetics, which are wrinkle-resistant.

Lots of costumes appropriate for burlesque or belly dance fusion are also highly packable: use bras and belts that are highly embellished, and simple pants or a flowing skirt. Tribal costumes will be more of a challenge, with the heavy jewelry and yardage involved. For traveling with these, you may want to use only your most amazing costume pieces and accessories, and concentrate on strong stage make-up and a great color palette as opposed to piling on mounds of gorgeous- but ridiculously heavy - accessories. It’s your call!

Pack your costumes cleverly then fill in around them. Roll skirts up small and tight and call or email ahead to make sure the place you’re staying has an iron. Ditto for a blow dryer. These amenities are usually standard everywhere you go.

Headpieces or hair-flowers can be packed in Tupperware or utility boxes, cushioned by bra pads, a folded or rolled veil. Wigs or falls can go in a flat disposable casserole tray; pack earrings bracelets or necklaces in plastic bags and lay them on the bottom, before you put you hairpiece in. Encase dance or street shoes in recycled grocery bags; tuck them into the corners of your bag.

I pack my costume, and all the accessories, my performance CD, veil and zills in a two-gallon plastic freezer bag. At my destination, I know all essential parts are together, not stuck into some random compartment of my suitcase, or left out where it might be forgotten in a hotel room. Plastic bags also protect your costume. As long as your costume is clean and dry before it goes into the bag, it’ll be fine.

Once I had a suitcase sit on the tarmac at London’s Heathrow Airport for 45 minutes in a raging rainstorm. By the time it got into the terminal, the whole bag was soaked through. Boy, was I glad my costumes and regular clothes were encased in plastic bags- they were fine. As for the suitcase, it took almost two days of sitting in front of an English radiator to dry out!

Props

Air travel with props can sometimes be tricky.

If you are flying with swords, know that there’s no way in hell they’ll make it into the passenger cabin.

No amount of begging (“ But it’s only a stage-prop!”) will help get it on board with you. I arrange to borrow swords for my appearances in foreign countries, it just makes things easier.

Domestically, you will want to protect your sword by putting it in a well-padded container with “FRAGILE” marked all over the outside. I use a hard guitar-case with a padded interior for sword transport; some dancers use rifle cases. I include business cards, a bio, and photocopies of myself using the sword onstage, just in case an over-zealous TSA agent who thinks my swords are actual weapons opens the case!

Though shamadans can be usually be disassembled or collapsed (always keep a screw driver and wrench with you!) they will probably still be too large to bring on board and will have to be checked. Pack it in a well-padded box, labeled “fragile”, and if it has chains with crystals attached, wrap those in bubble wrap individually before packing the rest of the candelabrum.

Canes, Isis Wings and large Sally Rand feather fans can be brought into the cabin on a plane, but call ahead to check the dimensions for the over-head storage bins, and make sure your items fit…you definitely don’t want to check these fragile things at the last minute. Many feather fans, or fan-veils or Isis Wings will fit into a carry-on bag.

I slip all my folding hand fans and even smaller Sally Rand feather fans into hard cardboard document tubes which can be purchased at an office supply store -this will keep them from getting their staves cracked or bent. When you get to your destination, open the wings or your fan veils and steam them in a bathroom with the shower running, to let wrinkles work their way out…. of course, this is not recommended for feather fans! Larger Sally Rand feather fans will fit nicely into a long mailer tube or office-store box- but again, it will need to be checked- pad it well!

Smaller brass trays and pots or jugs for folkloric dance can fit easily into a suitcase, protect them with clothes and costume pieces.

Street Clothes, Travel Togs And Classroom Wear

Dress in layers because you can be sure that planes , airports, hotel rooms and dance festival locations are either too warm or too cold. I almost always wear a tank with a light, long sleeved t-shirt over it, and a hoodie or wrap sweater. Bring a large pashmina -type wrap, which can be worn as a scarf, evening cover-up, tied over sweats as a skirt, or used in lieu of a scuzzy airline blanket. On planes I wear Ugg boots for travel because they are comfy and practical: they slip off easily for TSA security checks; they’re perfect for those mad dashes when you’re making a connection, and they are not bulky in a suitcase! I wear the same pants for travel as I do dance classes- jeans are another item that probably won’t be worn all weekend long!

In your dance classes, no one is going to notice or care if you wear the same pair of dance pants, and you can tuck in a spare pair of stretchy leggings, they can pinch-hit as pajama bottoms, and look great under dresses or skirts. Add in a couple of tanks or crop-tops, and you’ll be good to go for your workshops.

If you need a veil and zills, or gloves, stockings or heels for your classes, use the same ones you’ll be using for your performance. A lightweight cover-up will get you to and from the stage when you are performing, and doubles as a robe in your hotel room. Bring a pair of flip-flops to use for street wear, bedroom slippers or protecting your feet backstage.

Want to look pretty for evening? Think “little black dress” preferably in a jersey or synthetic knit. They roll up small and won’t wrinkle. Add earrings, a hair flower and heels and it actually looks like you made an effort!

Before You Go

I have a special “out of town” gig checklist on my computer, with all my travel necessities, costumes and props listed on it. Make one for yourself and refer to it, checking each item off as you pack it.

A day or two before a trip, I sort through my make-up bag, whittling it down to as few items as possible. I keep all my dry items like powder shadows and pencils, false eyelashes, brushes, etc., in the make-up case and fill a snack-sized baggie with lipsticks, gloss, eyeliner, eyelash glue, mascara- any of the “no-no” TSA items. That smaller bag goes into my allotted quart baggie- along with travel-sized toothpaste, contact lens solution, and moisturizer. Body glitter and a couple of extra sets of false eyelashes go into the bag holding my costumes.

Do a “dummy check” and make sure once again that you have everything essential for your trip, then edit mercilessly.

Pack a couple of snack-baggies full of raw nuts, dried fruit, or trail mix- and a protein bar or two. The stuff available at airports, or the “food for purchase” on planes is usually over-priced not to mention salty…can you say “bloated”?

Try to get as much sleep as possible before you leave, because you probably won’t get it at your event!

Make sure to fill a pocket of your bag with travel-sized trouble –shooters: make-up remover wipes, pain relief tables, band-aids, safety pins, a small sewing kit, a set of bra pads and feminine protection.

In Transit

Obey the “quart baggie” rule- it will get you through the airport security lines much faster. On the plane, I put the liquid items I placed into the quart baggie back into my cosmetic bag where they belong.

Before entering the airport, remove any metal objects from your person- including sunglasses, belt-buckles, and jewelry or hair accessories with metal clips and put them in your carry-on. This will save you from walking through the metal detector more than once. Keep your ID and boarding pass out so you won’t have to dig for it.

Buy a couple of bottles of water after passing through security- one to drink while you’re in the air, one for when you land. Yeah, they're expensive, but flying dehydrates you- this will keep you feeling refreshed and it’s good for you! Last but not least: fly with a clean, moisturized face, and before landing, freshen up and add a little bit of blush, mascara and lip gloss.

Special Destinations

Attending a dance retreat on a tropical island? Performing somewhere very cold? Off to a festival in Las Vegas or Egypt?

Check weather reports for your destination the night before and the morning you are leaving. Look at the ten-day forecast and see what the weather will be like. Bring along appropriate articles, like coats, waterproof boots, your bikini, bug spray or an umbrella.

If you going to Egypt or any other Muslim country, bring modest clothes that pack well and will keep you cool, but will also cover you up. I have found that long cotton Indian wrap skirts are great, paper-thin, loose, long sleeved T-shirts or gauze shirts to layer over tanks, and a lightweight, non-form-fitting jacket should serve you well.

Bring sneakers or comfy walking shoes, you might feel dorky wearing them, but you'll need them.

When going to Egypt, Turkey or any exotic belly dance land of origin, do what seasoned dancers do- check an empty or almost- empty suitcase to use for bringing back costumes and souvenirs. On the way back, put as many of the costumes you bought as you can fit in your carry-on, and pack your street-clothes in the checked bag.That way, if something gets lost or stolen (this happens way more than anyone would like to think!) it will be your easily replaceable street clothes, not a custom-made stunner from Eman Zaki, Bella or Hannan!

With efficient packing, you can look amazing wherever you go…both on-and off-stage!

** This post originally appeared on June 16, 2009