Archive | February, 2012
Aside

Happy Domo Day To You!

27 Feb

Today as Redditors say, it’s my cake day!

My friend Omar (from the 6th of October City- Cario, Egypt) gave me one of the best things for my “Domo Day”… a New avatar. I like to call it my “domo day”- because the one thing that can away cheer me up… is a hug from a domo. What is a domo you say?

LOOK AT HIS CUTE STUBBY LEGS! XD

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/index.html   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domo_(NHK)

Domo is the mascot for the Japanese Television station NHK, kind of like CBS has an Eye or NBC has a Peacock. He’s featured in 30 second shorts, usually about TV or causing trouble. He also makes me think of Pokemon or Chobits as he only says his name “DOMO” to the other characters (Rabbits, Bats, Ferret, Foxes, Etc)- they seem to understand him completely. I’m not quite sure why I appreciate this screaming boxy brown shark (as my mom calls him), but he always cheers me when I have a bad day. I’m not quite sure when my obsession with domo came about, when I was in Japan 2.5 years ago I remember wanting to buy “ALL THE THINGS” related to domo (and Totoro- haha!). But years ago when I was a freshman in college- my friends Sam & Ty in college were looking to buy Domo Hoddies, and that is when I came to know the domo. Sounds like a cult!

From Intervention 2011 

Intervention (Internet + Convention) is a convention held in the Baltimore/DC area usually held in September. We were invited as guests and did panels on “Steampunk Pasteries”, “Cosplay 101”, “Super Mario Belly Dance World”, and “Internet Meme’s”. For Internet Meme’s we all dressed as different viral videos/ meme’s and, you guessed it, belly danced to meme music. Numa Numa, Female Night Elf from WOW, This is Sparta, Taking the Hobbits to Isenguard, Harry Potter Puppet Pals… maybe even a Rick Roll.

I was lucky and got to dress not in one, but TWO domo costumes. Sadly, this is the best picture of my Domo costume that I have (his eyes are missing by this point and replaced by FSM!). I’ll add another one when I see my photographer friend in a few weeks!

In the mean time, you can look at what my sister gave me for my “domo day” last year…

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Ayla

                           

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FireFly Bellydance

26 Feb

Recently Tempest listed a Turquoise-Floral-Turkish-Vest, in a “Serenity” pattern. As soon as I saw it & heard the coincidence name, I immediately thought about Kaylee from Firefly/Serenity. After purchasing hte vest (Shiny!), it cause again the spark to do a Firefly/Serenity inspired BellyDance. Originally I discussed with a friend to do Inara, but I just had to go with this “Shiny” insparation. (Maybe Inara will make a guest appearance with Zoe and River!)

Kaylee’s “uniform” usually consist of coveralls & bright colored floral/Asian inspired shirt. In the pilot (see picture) Kaylee wears her signature turquoise/ Chinese floral jacket, flip flops, and  parasol.

In the TV show, Kaylee sometimes times ties her coveralls around her waist- making a hip belt. I actually already own a cosplay costume of Kaylee- parasol, coveralls, and all- yet the ones I own don’t have sleeves. This means there is not really a way to tie the top half around my waist- and I’m missing something for my hip accents.

Next idea- I searched Bhuz.com’s swap meet (where dancers sell their new/used costumes) for any inspiration. No dice- but I did see some choli’s that were kind of close to Kaylee’s patterns from sharifwear. I went to sharifwear.com and had some luck; found a pink/purple oriental floral choli, and army green tribal fusion pants (both on sale!).

The next (or last) step for the costume is adding Kaylee’s signature patches & Kanji writing either to the pants OR make a hip bell. The exact bear patch is sold on ebay, as well as I can standard turquoise flowers, and large red hearts- but do I want to make a belt and order a few extra? If I put the patches in their normal areas- only the bear one could be correct- it’s also huge and might make the pants lie on my leg awkward. :/

I also need to find what songs would I dance to? Of course the opening theme, but that’s only 52 seconds. There are a few other songs that I have in mind, but they will be a surprise 😉 I’m taking suggestions!

Thanks for for your time.

Cheers,

Ayla

*note I don’t own Firefly, Serenity, or the picture… but I do suggested that you watch the Joss Whedon Series! It’s for sale on DVD and now Blu-ray!

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Rakkasah Spring Caravan

25 Feb

With living in Upstate NY it’s hard to find other belly dancers in the areas- compared to say NYC. Trying to look for Workshops, and Hafla’s to meet other dancers while going through the Internet, Calling around, Bhuz websites… and once you find them it’s not so easy to hear back (still waiting for Club Bellydance and a few other possibilities 1-2hours away). I’d  like to find some one that can help me expand my dance talents, as well as maybe join a semi or professional troupe- I’m tempted to start taking monthly classes in NYC- that’s only a 2.5 hour train ride to Manhattan.

I enjoy performing at anime/ sci-fi/ gaming cons, but that’s a different story for a different blog entry 😉

One performance (and  set of workshops) that are always fun, is Rakkasah Spring Caravan.  It is the largest belly dance convention on the East coast. http://www.rakkasah.com/spring/

Rakkasah Spring Caravan had their call in for live music was today, tomorrow is call in for CD music. I offered to help the Penn State Belly Dance call in for them (even though I have no clue what they’d be dancing). I also voluntold Domo to help out too, haha.

Antipode will be performing 5:24pm Saturday evening- we will be doing a surprise! 😀 Deals with a pop-culture set of books and movies, reaching a wide audience. Last year we did Super Mario Belly Dance World.

I’m super excited for all the workshops. Anasma & Sera (whom I’ve taken workshops  before) will be there and many other new instructors! I really enjoy last Rakkasah’s workshop from Anasma- Wu Shu Belly Dance Fusion. Yes, it actually worked well. It put even more inspiration for me to do a Red XIII’s Theme fusion (Final Fantasy VII). I was going to do sword dancing, and add Tribal fusion elements- but I’d like to learn more & have more experience in tribal fusion. I’m more of a cabaret & folkloric dancer, but I’m still learning!

Thanks for your time.

Cheers,

Ayla

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Hello world!

24 Feb

Howdy!

Ayla here, and welcome to my new Blog & Website! With my habit of moving every few months/years (that’s what college, internships, & new jobs will do to you!) I thought it would be an ideal way to keep in touch with my fellow dancers, cosplayers, bento-box lovers, con-goers, and geeky friends around the globe.

Leave me a comment- I’m always interested in hearing new Geeky Belly Dance show ideas (Final Fantasy or Sonic Belly Dance? Oh Snap!), or cons/Hafla’s to apply to!!

Thank you for your time…

Cheers,

Ayla