Good-bye, costume collection

Shanazel

Moderator
Owie, owie, owie, owie.

This is hurting more than I thought it would. Finally made time this morning to actually start sorting stuff out. I can't turn loose of the black and gold coin belt... or the purple and gold bead and coin belt (I can let the blue one go if I can find it)… but not the fifteen yard skirt and harem pants that I bought from Gia years ago... and certainly not the khalleji dress Lydia Tzigane sent me from Dubai... and I never really used the orange and navy blue scarf but it is sooooo pretty...

On the other hand, I still haven't found all my veils and there are at least couple of missing hip bands as well. I'm afraid I am going to have to tackle the dreaded Loading Dock in order to locate the rest of the stuff. The Loading Dock is our equivalent of the back of the basement or Grandma's attic. There's a woodstove, a floor loom, and a couch down there somewhere beneath the other stuff. Ohhhh, I can see my weekend turning into a major project just to find the rest of my dance stuff.
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
Owie, owie, owie, owie.

This is hurting more than I thought it would. Finally made time this morning to actually start sorting stuff out. I can't turn loose of the black and gold coin belt... or the purple and gold bead and coin belt (I can let the blue one go if I can find it)… but not the fifteen yard skirt and harem pants that I bought from Gia years ago... and certainly not the khalleji dress Lydia Tzigane sent me from Dubai... and I never really used the orange and navy blue scarf but it is sooooo pretty...

Uh-huh.

So....

When/where is your next performance? :lol:

"Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in!"
 

Daimona

Moderator
Owie, owie, owie, owie.

This is hurting more than I thought it would. Finally made time this morning to actually start sorting stuff out. I can't turn loose of the black and gold coin belt... or the purple and gold bead and coin belt (I can let the blue one go if I can find it)… but not the fifteen yard skirt and harem pants that I bought from Gia years ago... and certainly not the khalleji dress Lydia Tzigane sent me from Dubai... and I never really used the orange and navy blue scarf but it is sooooo pretty...

On the other hand, I still haven't found all my veils and there are at least couple of missing hip bands as well. I'm afraid I am going to have to tackle the dreaded Loading Dock in order to locate the rest of the stuff. The Loading Dock is our equivalent of the back of the basement or Grandma's attic. There's a woodstove, a floor loom, and a couch down there somewhere beneath the other stuff. Ohhhh, I can see my weekend turning into a major project just to find the rest of my dance stuff.

Shanazel: Some items are not meant to depart from you (at least not yet). I've started to sell some of my unused stuff with no strings attached. My favourites, on the other hand, will be kept.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I steeled myself to put the skirt and matching harem pants in the box but I'm keeping the coin belts and my khaleeji dress. Sigh. I also kept my favorite listening music and my Serena Technique book which has been my companion since I started dancing in 1978. All else goes to Melissa. I gave most of my veils to my students the night of my last class so they'd have something to remember me by. I haven't lost track of those lovely people: we're all getting together Wednesday evening for dinner.
 

Ariadne

Well-known member
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Mind you I'm not sure I could give up a coin belt either if I owned one. It's coins!
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
Um... I'm teaching a one evening debke class at the college for OLLI this spring...

Uh-huh...

EXACTLY as suspected.

Serena wrote a book?!?

What is its name? I'd like to try to find a copy. She had a certain veil "trick" that I've never quite mastered - and I only know of one dancer who knows how to do it - maybe its in the book...
 

Shanazel

Moderator
The Serena Technique of Belly Dancing by Serena and Alan Wilson. It was published in 1972. My copy is so old that I don't even see an ISBN on it. Serena was my very earliest introduction to belly dance. Someone wrote an article about belly dance for Cosmopolitan Magazine about 1968 and I believe she was the featured dancer, though I wouldn't swear to it after half a century. I do know Serena was the first post-Golden Era famous dancer I ever heard of along with Juliana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhVAiYQvLik
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
Excellent. Found a hard back edition on eBay for $10, its on its way.

Serena is a legend - I remember her passing about 10 years ago.
 

Greek Bonfire

Well-known member
I've been selling off my stuff for quite awhile. It's amazing, as you said, how much you accumulate. I'll probably keep one or two good costumes just in case a really good gig comes up or even an opportunity to be part of a decent show/hafla (although those are scarce now). Incidentally, an event is coming up in three months with a "drinking songs theme" that I just had to say NO. The thought of it made me reel! I'm not against good fusion, but seriously???
 

Shanazel

Moderator
You mean the Serena Technique book or another one?

A drinking song theme hafla. The mind reels. Can you imagine an ensemble performance to Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall?
 

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
You mean the Serena Technique book or another one?

A drinking song theme hafla. The mind reels. Can you imagine an ensemble performance to Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall?

It would never get finished... :lol:
 

Shanazel

Moderator
It's not easy to find 99 belly dancers and imagine the costuming challenges. Bock or pale ale? Three percent or O'Doul's?
 

Shanazel

Moderator
If you have enough to drink beforehand, it could be real fun. You could interpret intoxication to the strains of Jimmy Buffet:

[video]https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Let%27s+Get+Drunk+and+Screw+Song&&view=de tail&mid=7CD62D010446852E6FE07CD62D010446852E6FE0& &FORM=VRDGAR[/video]
 

Greek Bonfire

Well-known member
If you have enough to drink beforehand, it could be real fun. You could interpret intoxication to the strains of Jimmy Buffet:

[video]https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Let%27s+Get+Drunk+and+Screw+Song&&view=de tail&mid=7CD62D010446852E6FE07CD62D010446852E6FE0& &FORM=VRDGAR[/video]

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! And this hafla is being held at a bar, not even a bar-restaurant type. The host's son owns the place too so it's also a way to get business for her son as well.
 
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