Spiffy New Costumes!
So…I kind of broke my budgett a bit this time around. What’s new? It’s tax return season. The budget always goes to hell. Why should I be surprised about this? This time, it’s on building my business. Out of this year’s tax money, aside from my midwife services for the month, I also got two new tribal belly dance costumes, a ticket to a full weekend workshop, a marketing toolkit designed for belly dancers, and a year’s service through the server I’m hosting my website with. Yes, you heard me, website. I’m going to be putting up a website for my belly dance business.
The real exciting thing is the costumes. While the rest of it is spiffy, it’s been quite a while since I’ve actually bought a new costume, and I’ve never bought something that could be considered a complete costume before. This is a new thing for me. I’ve normally bought costumes in pieces and stuff or I make the pieces myself. Now I’ve gotten two complete costumes! Granted, they’d be better with a bra to go with them, or a jingle or tassel belt, but they’re functional complete costumes. I just need some jewlery and a hair piece to go with each of them and I’ll be good!
The first costume is from Fat Chance Belly Dance. I’m thrilled! I’ve wanted to get a costume from them for quite some time. It’s nothing terribly special. The hip shawl is one of their low end ones. It’s pretty, but low end. None of it is really anything special, except for the skirt. It’s tissue cotton, so it’s really light and fluffy. That will be nice. I’m also getting two more of the tribal workshop DVDs! There’s only two left to purchase! That and there’s a DVD for costuming and make-up and one for zils.
That reminds me, I’m learning to play zils while I dance! Granted, it’s a simple rhythm. It’s just right-left-right-pause-right-left-right-pause. That’s nothing terribly tallented or complex. Unfortunately, I’m not so good with playing zils while dancing. To be perfectly honest, I suck. I’ve decided I’ve got to work on it something fierce. Tomorrow I get to start practicing with the first Fat Chance DVD that I finally got back! I’m going to bust my butt so I can learn to play zils while dancing. I’m hoping to get my Fat Chance Belly Dance General Skills Certification and complete the Teacher Training. If I’m going to do either or both of those things, I’m going to need to learn how to play zils and dance at the same time. I’m going to need to work my butt off when it comes to ATS. That’s okay, though. I love ATS. I just may need to get some earplugs so the zils don’t make me deaf!
The other costume isn’t due to ship until May 28th! That’s some wait! One would imagine it would be quicker than that. However, it’s for a good reason. I’m getting a custom skirt. It’s the colors I’ve chosen in a lovely silk. That means it needs to be made for me. Isn’t that awesome? And the price was pretty reasonable too, at least for an ATS skirt. She said she’d try and have it all out earlier if she could manage, but she promised it would ship no later than the 28th. I’m really impressed with her communication. She’s been incredible! I’m already thinking I’d love to order from her again and the product isn’t even here yet! I’m really impressed with how wonderful she’s been with all of this! That’s also a complete costume, which is really nice for me. Her stuff is incredible. As soon as I can put another costume on the budget, I’m getting a bright red sweetheart choli from them, a bright red 25 yard skirt, either a spinning skirt or a rayon tiered skirt, and another belt from them. I may also pick up some jewelry while I’m at it. I’ve also been eyeing one of their tribal bras. We’ll see how the final product comes out. From the reviews I’ve heard from them before, I’m expecting it to be every bit as lovely as I think it will be! Besides, I think they’re the people who make the skirt and choli I’m getting from Fat Chance Belly Dance. Isn’t that ironic? As much as I love supporting Fat Chance, I think next time I’m likely to skip the middle man and go directly to the source. That’s what I did with my zils. Granted, they’re not the one with the Fat Chance logo and all of that on them but who’s actually going to see that anyway? Still, I’m glad I was daring and decided to go through Flying Skirts.
In other news, I’m going to be getting off my tail and crafting again. I’ve dug out the other pieces I’ve had to make another Waldorf baby doll. Poor thing has been sitting in chopped up parts, unsewn, unstuffed, and unloved! That stuff should be a doll, not a bunch of cut out pieces! I’m going to put together the doll over the next few days. Then when I’m done, I’m making another doll for Beekee. He doesn’t play with the one he’s got at all, so I don’t know why I’m bothering, but I want him to have a big kid doll because he is becoming a big kid now. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the baby doll. I may dress it and give it to my friend’s son. Or I may fall in love with it and give it to Corde or Aris instead. We’ll see what happens with that.
Finally, I’m also getting back into costuming again. The white costume is kind of on hold for now. I think I need something less ambitious. I’m thinking about busting out my teal fabric for my pantaloons and finishing them up this weekend. It’s a quick project and should take me no time to do. Besides, I could always use another set of pantaloons. They’re satin, so a little warm for summer wear, but I’ll still have them for when it gets cooler and classes or performances in air conditioned buildings. I’m hoping to bust out some of my muslin to make a mock-up of a choli. I have to modify it all to hell in order to get it to fit right, but I’m going to give it a go at some point. I’ve got to figure out what to do with the seams to avoid the pointy breasts thing. I’ve also got to take tucks in a number of places to get it to lay flat across my chest. I’m not sure how long that project will take to get to. It’s a lot of work, so I may pass it up for something easier. Simplicity also has a pattern for a stretch choli. That would work really well with my changing size. I could whip up a couple of those with a couple different sleeve options and that would be an easy solution to my lack of costuming. They also have a pattern for a tiered skirt, pantaloons, and a couple belts. It would be a great easy pattern to rely on for some easy costuming options. Anything that gets me into the swing of costuming again would be great about now.
From the looks of
it, I’m not going to be making any money on my dancing this year. I’m probably going to be breaking even. However, with a little luck, I’ll be collecting enough in costuming that I won’t have to buy or make any more costumes for the next couple years at least! I’ll have enough of a start that I can simply buy or make costume pieces as I have money and time, or if I see one of those have to have kinds of things. I’ll be able to focus my dance career in the direction of marketing and bringing in both customers and students. I’ll be able to turn my business around and start making something out of it. Right now, I’m focusing on what I can. Marketing and expanding my business isn’t going to be easy while I’m pregnant. Maybe I’ll get students, but I’ll have a hard time getting performance gigs at anywhere other than the Shisha Lounge. Very rarely do people want pregnant dancers at parties, weddings, and events. That’s not going to stop me from trying! I’m putting up a website! I’m going to be working on fliers and business cards! I’m still going to be marketing myself! However, I’m not going to be trying to market myself too seriously (paying for ads and things) until after I’m pregnant, and that’s if my career will support it. This year, it’s all about setting myself up with a variety of music and costumes so that I’ll have plenty of options already in the works for upcomming shows so that next year I can work on scheduling those shows. It’s so much better than marketing myself and then feeling like my costumes are getting overused and tired, yet I’m not quite making enough to get new ones yet because I’ve been focused too much on marketing. Besides, I don’t really want to be putting myself out there too much more than I already am until after the baby’s born because I don’t want to wear myself out and run myself down in pregnancy. That’s generally a bad thing.
So this is going to be an exciting year for me. It’s already an exciting summer. Two costumes and a bunch of workshops are coming my way. I’ll have to post pictures of the costumes once I’m done. I’m hopefully going to kick off some efforts in making costumes (and a couple cute Waldorf dolls…even if Oz thinks they’re creepy…), which will give me something to do. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see all my new belly dance costume pieces! I can’t wait to try putting together some simple costume pieces too! I’m already starting to get the motivation bug, even during this sleepy first trimester! If I’m starting to get this much motivation now, what about when I have so much more energy in the second trimester? I’ll be a costume making, belly dancing machine!
~*~Rave~*~