I am sure that one of my 3 followers has been wondering what I have been up to since my last post. Frankly I have been quite busy. I feel like I have been going non-stop for the past few months. Family visits, holidays and other commitments have been weighing me down.
Lately, during my few free moments I have felt a surge of creativity! I have started so many new projects! I hope I am able to finish them all!

I am still in training for the Trek Across Maine. I am having a blast with all aspects of this ride. I am on my way to raising my goal of 1000$. I only have 120$ to go!
My rides have increased to the 55mile range. I almost always stop for ice cream. But yesterday I stopped at Scratch Bakery. What a cool place! Unfortunately I was on my bike so I couldn't load up with goodies. I got a brownie and gobbled it up outside on their bench in the sun.
This is my favorite time of year to ride. The blossoming flowers are particularly fragrant right now. I love spotting the wild apple trees in full boom on roadsides.
Back to my surge of creativity! Lately my creative energy has been focused on work projects. Sounds boring right? The thing is, I really love my job! Especially when I have research projects to work on.
Recently I have been put in charge of expanding our sweets line-up. The things I have been working on are certainly French in background, but range from fancy to totally accessible. Recently I have been working on Parisian macarons and pop-tarts made with fantastic pate brisee. Once I have found recipes that I like, I have to multiply and simplify everything. The trick is to rewrite formulas and processes so that everyone at the bakery with some instruction will come up with the same results as me. It's a little tough, but I am inspired.

I am also working on a costume prop that I can't talk about right now. Don't you love secrets?

180 miles of cycling love!!!

We all know how important having proper breath control is to belly dance. We as dancers need to breath fluidly and fully to bring life and emotion to our performance. Without clean air and good lung health where would we be in this dance?

This year I am a participating cyclist in the American Lung Association's Trek Across Maine. In June, I will join thousands of other cyclists in a 180 mile, three day journey across Maine while raising money to fight lung disease and increase awareness about the importance of lung health.

How many people do you know who are affected by some type of lung disease?

Lung disease can take someone's breath away, leaving them unable to work, exercise or play. Growing faster than almost any other major illness, lung disease, including lung cancer, asthma and emphysema is the third leading cause of the death in the United States.

Please join me in my efforts to make a difference by making a personal or corporate tax-deductible donation.

For online donations:

http://action.lungusa.org/site/TR/BikeTrek/ALANE_New_England?px=4235321&pg=personal&fr_id=2180

You can follow my training progress at:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Erins-Trek-Across-Maine/180707735293484

Thank you in advance for you support!

Indecision...

I am not sure if I will keep it, but you may have noticed that I changed the name of my blog. I am just testing it out. I might change it back tomorrow.

Eccentric? Who, me?

Recently someone at a party who didn't know me very well called me eccentric. She said it several times. At first I was stunned. Completely! I know and regularly hang out with people who are much more eccentric and weird than I! But me, eccentric? But then, I thought about some things that might make me seem a little different.
First, I belly dance. I bare my mid-drift in public with pride!
Second, I love kitsch! Sometimes I stare longingly at vintage belly dance photos and just imagine that I can be as glamorous as the dancers from the fifties, sixties and seventies. I love it all from their handmade coin costumes to their exaggerated Cleopatra eyeliner. And those fabulous American-Cabaret routines! I swoon!
My love of all things fabulous began long before I had discovered belly dance and it's endless sparkle. I have always been a huge disco fan. For months in high school I tortured anyone who wanted a ride in my car with endless looping of the Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert soundtrack. I also always had feather boas and insanely floaty bell-bottomed pants as part of my wardrobe. I had fuchsia hair extensions added to my my bouffant for prom to match the petticoat of my dress.
As an adult, I've had to tone things down a bit. But, I live my fantastic sparkling dream through belly dance costumes and performance. One of the highlights of my belly dance career was dancing in the county fair with a gypsy cob horse named Eli, who was also in full costume.
Most recently my friend and fellow belly dancer Ananda and I opened for a drag show at a local Holiday Inn hotel. When we were asked to perform we weren't told that we were opening for a professional drag show, but I was thrilled to find out once we got there. I only wished that I had worn a full cabaret costume. I felt slouchy in my Sharifwear and L Rose costume next to those women. Wowza! They were dressed to the nines!
So, maybe I am eccentric. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Fall is almost here!

As much as I want to hang on the the last wisps of summer, I am beginning to admit that fall is on it's way. With fall comes the new season of belly dance classes! Hurrah! After a long (hot!) summer with only a few workshops to keep me going I am looking forward to teaching and taking classes.
I also have some really fun performances coming in the next weeks and months. The first is at Holly's Own Restaurant in Auburn. The very generous Annabee is hosting this event. It can't be easy to organise dancers, musicians and a busy restaurant schedule, but she does it with style and grace! I will be dancing with Josephina and I am sure it will be a blast!
Next month I am performing with the Okbari Ensemble at their bi-monthly concert at West End Yoga and Dance Studio. This is the concert where Okbari can really play traditional sets of Turkish and Arabic music. Last performance was comprised mostly of Turkish music. Personally I am hoping they play classic Arabic dance tunes, but everything they play is so wonderful I will most definitely be happy .
In the costume realm I am working on restoring a red vintage costume to wear in October when I perform with the Okbari Ensemble. I have been hanging on to this beauty for too long! It is time to get her out and dancing!
Hope to see you all soon!
Nasreen

Upcoming Performances!!

I am excited for the two performances that I have coming up in the next week! YAY!
The first is at the Bayside World Market and Fair. Jamileh, Josephina, Dorothea and I will be rocking the stage belly dance style with live music by Okbari.
For more information visit www.baysideworldmarketandfair.com

Wednesday June 16th I will be performing in Jamileh's Always Fantabulous Spring Studio Show at John Ford Auditorium in Portland High School. I can never say enough about this show! Fantabulous doesn't begin to explain how exciting, fun and moving this show is.
Go to www.mainebellydance.com for more info.

Costume Procrastination

My first goal in starting this blog is to help keep track of the half-finished costuming projects that I have in my studio. I am so attracted to new sparkly ideas that I abandon many other projects I have already started.


My first currently unfinished project is the purple costume I purchased on Bhuz a year ago. When I bought the costume I wasn't sure that I was going to like it. I was just in need of retail therapy. When I received the costume, I didn't know what to do! It was a beautiful shade of purple with pretty iris, fuschia and blue sequin accents, but the skirt had nude cut outs that I just couldn't wear in the fairly conservative area that I live in. The costume also required the normal amounts of adjustments, but I was too overwhelmed by the nudity to work on it. The costume stayed in it's box for a few months.


When I needed a purple costume, I lined the nude cut-outs with nude iridescent fabric and made the minor adjustments so I could wear it. I still felt like it wasn't quite right. I am very protective of the image that we Middle Eastern dance artists present to the general public. I don't want anyone in the audience to be more concerned that they may have seen the side of my butt cheek than a really great performance!


Since then I have hand beaded four appliques to cover the nude portions of my costume. I had no idea that beading was so much fun! It took hours but I am very happy with the results. I also made a wider and longer halter strap and beaded it to match the rest of my costume.


I am planing on wearing the purple in a few weeks at Amity's workshop showcase. I just have to make the final adjustments and practice with my music and I am ready to go!

Please pardon the cruddy photo. She is much prettier in better lighting.