I made a big mistake on Saturday morning by going into Virgin megastore. You know how the music stores have a display unit of World music and somewhere in there is the Arabic ?, and sometimes Tarken and Hossam Ramsey get a divider, but mostly its just mixed in with the flamenco ? Well in this store World music was as big as Virgin in Basingstoke, with Arabic music having a huge display all to itself. I could have doubled my music collection in one shopping trip, and those who have seen my music collection will know thats a big buy. – I have four shoe boxes of CDs in paper cases – its a good job Zaks feet keep growning. I limited myself to four. I had a selection of 2006 arabic hits, cos the 2002 one I have is very valuable and I’m always aware that by the time we get the compilation CDs they are often out of date, so now classes can be trendy again (says she who is 37 and feels it today). I also got Hossam Ramsy’s new Beouin Tribal dance, which has been on my wish list and I felt the US price was probably pretty good – and you know how it is once its in your hand….Evolution is a selection of Tribal Fusion music including some nice Solace. And finally I picked up Woman of Egypt 1924-1931 (Pioneers of stardom and fame) – this is a compilation of the contemporys of Umm Kulthum, stars of theatre and an inspiration to generations of female singers. I do have a thing about really emotional songs sung by women, so while I’m not sure how many of these will get played in class I can see myself settling down with a glass of wine for a good cry now and then. The liner notes are also very detailed – I can see a workshop developing once I have time to really study some of these charactors and try to understand their styles.
While I’m emptying out my shopping bags I should say that I did buy far too much Mac – Gayle highly recommends Mac products, for their strength of colour and lastability and now I’ve tried them I do understand. I bought a liner that is good for 24 hours (which was handy for the long flight home !) and gave me a “made up look” in just a minutes application. I need to do some price checking, but I think I may be a convert. Washed out colours just don’t work for bellydance, and actually you grow confident with your stage make up helping you feel more normal in more glam make up for everyday. – I’m now one of those odd ladies who either wear full glam make up or nothing at all and often can’t remember what I’m wearing, so thats why I turn up at the school gates in bright red lippy.
I also got 3 new DVDs and a book. One thing I noticed in all the classes was the amount of conditioning, and thats had a huge impact on my body. I don’t think I can add 45 minutes of floor stretches to any of the classes, but would like to do some for myself. I am going to have to start Pilates, but I also got the Woman Power workout by FCBD, which I’m hoping will contain some of the great stuff we did in SF – or maybe some adaptations that could be used in class. I got vol 7 of FCBD tribal basics – the other 6 have been great value, so it was on my wish list. Finally I bought Bellydance Underworld a performance video of Gothic and Tribal Fusion. The book was also from FCBD – and I’m afraid I havn’t had time to look at it yet, so will report back in a few days. I have a paragraph of the latest “No.1 ladies dective agency” series to finish first, but I couldn’t focus last night in bed….
