Things change. We belly roll with the punches

The last entry was October? Wow! And now it's February. Sorry for the radio silence, all ye lurking readers.

In the last episode I excitedly described my new project for a black bedleh with leopard skirt and gauntlets. I explained it was for my drum solo duet with a troupe mate.

Well, since then, things have changed. Our troupe director was sketching the lineup for the show and realized she had too many drum solos and not enough up-beat, clap-along Arabic pop numbers. So she asked us to find a different song. Good thing, too - we probably weren't ready to choreograph a complicated drum solo and to be honest, I had been feeling anxious about it. It's been a few months now and we've finished the choreography. We successfully auditioned the piece for our director on Monday. Whew!

The Black and Gold Leopard Costume - Introduction

A troupemate of mine and I will be chorographing and performing a duet at our student showcase in May. The song we've chosen is a drum solo - something rather complicated and upbeat - and the name of the song, loosely translated, means "Feline Predator". We've decided that leopard print costumes would be appropriate.

Trouble is, I don't own a leopard print costume.

Now, as much as I'd love to order a beautiful Turkish leopard-print Bella, I just can't afford $900 for a costume right now. As a student dancer, this costume will likely get used once or twice a year, at most.

I can, however, order a leopard-print skirt and gauntlets, and then wear a black bedleh with it - affordable, versatile and classic.

I don't own a black bedleh, either. So that's where we begin.