Sophia Ravenna – Sophia Ravenna

The Big LVBDI14 Recap Post!

September 9, 2014Sophia Ravenna

I am home from LVBDI! That’s a bigger deal than you might realize, because I was driving home yesterday, dodging the flood-bringing rainstorms that hit NV and AZ. I’m not sure about the numbers for Nevada, but Phoenix and Tucson both had some record-breaking rainfalls from what I heard. Luckily I managed to time my drive just right to avoid the worst of it but I almost got stranded in Vegas.

Anyway, the LVBDI was a lot of fun. I didn’t spend as much time at the festival as I did last year, because I was also in Vegas for the wedding of two sweet friends, but that was also fun! I’m really glad that I was able to attend both events, and really, what could be better for ones mood than an inspiring weekend of dance AND attending a romantic, funny, awesome wedding?

On Friday I arrived late enough that I completely missed the chance to check out the vending and the festival stage, but I did get to attend the Friday night pro show. I think the pro shows are one of the best things about LVBDI, because they’re a really great mix of talent in a nice theater with great seating, good lighting and good sound quality. Plus you get the fun of voting in the So You Think You Can Belly Dance competition! I was really inspired by Friday’s show.

Saturday I got up nice and early so I could get a little shopping and visiting in before my workshop! One of my favorite things about attending a dance festival is getting to catch up with and hug all my vendor buddies who I only get to see once or twice a year. Same for fellow performers and students. There are so many people that I know from Facebook and Twitter that I get to hang out with in person at festivals. It’s the best! So anyway, after a bit of socializing I got my sword and it was time to study with Silvia Salamanca!

Silvia’s workshop was a lot of fun. I learned a lot of good pointers (ha ha!) for handling and dancing with my sword, and some moves that work well with swords, and some floorwork turns. Although the carpet sucked for some things, one nice thing about a carpeted workshop is you can drop your sword and not really worry as much about damaging it. And I did drop my sword a couple of times! Whenever somebody drops their sword in her workshop Silvia likes for people to yell OPA! which makes it more fun. After all, it’s good to drop your sword in a workshop because it helps you learn the limits of what you can do before your sword falls off, and it helps you learn that if your sword does drop, it’s not the end of the world.

I definitely recommend studying with Silvia if you get the chance. I adore her Spanish accent and I love how open she is about the fact that maybe she’ll say something silly, and maybe you won’t understand her, and it’s OK to raise your hand and ask her to repeat herself. Her attitude is that you’re paying for the workshop, of course you should LEARN while you’re there, so never hesitate to ask for clarification, whether it’s because you couldn’t understand her words or you just need something broken down a bit more.

During the workshop, the fire alarm went off, which from what I’ve heard seems to happen a lot at LVBDI. I don’t know if they have really sensitive alarms or a lot of pranksters around, but it was pretty annoying. Because the alarm was so loud we couldn’t really talk or hear music, Silvia gave us extra time at the end, which was only possible because her workshop was right before the lunch break so we didn’t have to clear out to make room for the next teacher. This was really the only event-related snag I came across the entire weekend.

After that I got ready for my performance. I gave myself plenty of time to do my makeup, and it was nice to not feel rushed. I also appreciated the fact that my bathroom at the Flamingo had a huuuuuge counter with room for my makeup. I did not appreciate the awful florescent lighting in the bathroom. Who does that? Luckily I’ve been doing my makeup long enough that I have a good feel for how much product I need to apply, so the bad lighting didn’t throw me off.

Just like last year, I was really pleased with how nice and professional everyone involved in the performance experience was. From checking in to perform to getting my video and photos, I didn’t have a single problem. My fellow dancers backstage were sweet and encouraging, too. This event just really seems to attract the best people.

I’ll share my feelings about my performance itself tomorrow, since I have a lot to say and I don’t want this post to be a novel!

Saturday night I got to grab a bite with Mahin from the Daily Bellydance Quickies. It’s always fun to hang out with her and we talked about our experience at the event so far, general dance stuff, and makeup among other things. Due to a mess-up on my part we ended up a bit late to the Saturday night show so we sadly missed a couple of the acts, but what we did see was AMAZING! Lots of great talent on stage again. And we got to vote for the winner of the contest. The dancer that I voted for won, hooray! I think I was even more inspired by Saturday’s show than Friday’s.

Sunday morning was my friends’ wedding which was so sweet! They managed to bring in a lot of disparate elements from their life and somehow make them into a cohesive whole for their ceremony, then we adjourned to the buffet for the reception, where I ate way too much food and got to know some of the bride’s friends who I was sitting with.

After that I had to get back over to the festival for my other workshop, which was Delving into the Dark with Belladonna. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from it, and I am still not sure how I feel about it? Because it was the last slot on Sunday, she decided to offer a talky workshop, which was nice. I like getting to sit around and learn and talk. And I liked some of the things she had to say about channeling our “darker” emotions or experiences, either by using them directly for a dance or drawing on their opposite. I wasn’t as into the guided meditation because that’s not my thing. However, what I really appreciated was that she was open and honest about the fact that some of what she said and suggested might not be for everyone and if you didn’t like it, that was OK. So I decided to be open in turn and consider everything she said and examine if I thought it would work for me, rather than discarding things outright.

Honestly, I think the workshop would have worked better if it was at least 2 hours long instead of 1.5. That would have given us more time to apply some of the concepts she discussed to movement. We did one movement exercise but then got distracted by discussing another concept and didn’t get to move anymore. Now granted, I was tired, and sore from all those drops and floorwork in Silvia’s class, and too full of buffet food, so I am not saying I disliked the chance to sit and talk! I just think more time was needed for the workshop.

Sunday night I got to stay for the It’s a Wrap Cocktail party/hafla, which was a nice chance to munch some snacks, have a drink, chat with friends, and see some more dance. I really enjoyed how this party was structured, alternating between a few performances and then live music and open dance. The music didn’t drown out the conversation, so if you weren’t dancing, you could keep socializing, and there were plenty of tables and chairs. I got to hang out with my friends Kristen from CA and Pasha from CO, who I just adore.

I’d say my only real regrets about the LVBDI is that I didn’t get into town earlier, take more workshops and spend more time watching the community stage. I spent the 20 minutes before my time slot watching other dancers, and caught a few here and there while wandering the vendors, but I know I missed a ton of great performances.

And my only complaint about the LVBDI is that… I really kind of hate Vegas and the Flamingo can be kind of dumpy. I am not even kidding, on Sunday there was pepperoni on the floor in the hallway of my floor ALL DAY. How gross is that? And the bro dudes and lady bros in the rooms surrounding mine convinced me that if I do return to the LVBDI, I will try to find a quiet place off the strip to stay, where I won’t be awoken at 2am on Friday to people chanting “Do! More! Shots!” in the hallway. Vegas is so not my kind of town, but there’s no denying that the LVBDI is a great event, and easy to get to from AZ. I’ll just have to re-evaluate how I attend it in the future.

This week will be LVBDI-themed, so keep checking back for more posts about my performance and my purchases!

Letting Go!

September 2, 2014Sophia Ravenna

This weekend I was working on trying to put costumes away, and it turned into a bit of a closet purge as well, as I realized that there was a lot of stuff in there that I hadn’t worn for a couple of years and couldn’t see myself wearing any time soon. Things that I had passed over during my prep for the belly dance swap meet earlier this year, but hadn’t worn or thought about since.

And yet, for each piece that I took out and thought about selling, I found myself thinking “But I love this thing! I wore it for that one performance and it was great and I was so happy.” Almost everything left in my closet (since I had already purged all of the “I’ve never even worn this and I’ve had it for three years” stuff earlier in the year) had some sort of sentimental attachment.

It’s hard to let things go when they’re tied to milestones in your dance career. And yet, the cute things that worked for me when I was a baby dancer don’t really work for me now that I’m performing at nicer events. Not to mention that as I’m finding my own voice, I’m also finding my own sense of style. That means that some styles I flirted with in the past have fallen by the wayside, and those few costume pieces leftover from that stage of my career don’t actually GO with anything that I currently wear.

So I’m slowly selling off the things I don’t wear anymore. It’s hard, but I know that I’m making money and room in my closet for new costumes that will inspire new memories, and that’s a happy thought.

Flash cards!

September 1, 2014Sophia Ravenna

Of course they're green. — Of course they’re green.

For someone who does basically everything on the computer, I have an inordinate fondness for fun stationary products. As such, when I was in the school supplies section of Target and saw these cute mini index cards that come on a binder ring, I knew I had to have them. One of the suggested uses was as flash cards, so I figured I could find a way to use them for dance practice.

Last week, inspired by my post about trying to get thrilled about drills again, I decided it was time to start my deck of flash cards. Midway through, as I approached the white section of the cards, I was struck by inspiration. While the green cards would be for different movements and isolations, the white cards would be for modifiers to apply to them! I started with the 11 movement attributes I learned in Amanda Rose’s workshop earlier this year, but there’s 25 white cards so I need to come up with even more! So far I’ve added “With a balancing prop” and “With zills” as those are both things that can be added to almost everything in the movement section (well, I’m not about to try chaine turns with a sword on my head), and I’m sure I’ll come with a few more.

Now when I don’t know exactly what I want to drill, I can pick a green card and a few different white cards to modify it with, or a few green cards and one white card to apply to all of them, or a few of each. Every drill session can be a little different! I’m pretty excited to try them out this week.

Lipstick + Glitter = LOVE

August 29, 2014Sophia Ravenna

What's inside these little black boxes? — What’s inside these little black boxes?

It’s no secret that a lot of belly dances like sparkles, and one of the ways that we express that is with a good glitter lip! The most common is red glitter over a red lip, but it’s fun to play with different combos. In fact, one day I’m going to write a post about my favorite non-red glitter lip combos, but today we’re looking at a red one I made with two new-to-me products.

Remember when I said I visited a Sephora in NYC? Well, I purchased these two items and some eye liner. The lipstick is Mrs. Mia Wallace from the Urban Decay Pulp Fiction collection. The rest of the collection doesn’t do anything for me, but blood red lipstick caught my eye. And I was really excited about the Diamond Powder from Make Up For Ever, which my local Sephora doesn’t carry. I picked Champagne 11 which looked really nice swatched over the lipstick.

IMG_1329[1] — Mrs. Mia Wallace lipstick.

Mrs. Mia Wallace is a limited edition color of the Revolution lipstick line. It’s described as a deep blood red and while it’s not quite as deep as I would like, it is a nice blue-based bloody color and has a good creamy texture. I had some feathering trouble when I applied it, but I have been having that trouble with all of my lip products in this heat, it’s driving me crazy! Anyway, because it’s a special limited edition part of the Pulp Fiction collection, it comes in a Pulp Fiction box with a quote from the movie printed on the inside, a cute touch even if you’re not a huge fan of the movie (I like it, but it’s not my favorite). And the lipstick itself is in a slightly sparkly black and metallic purple tube. COOL! This whole product appeals to my inner Goth girl.

Champagne 11 (just “11” on the box) is described as a champagne beige shimmer, which doesn’t sound like something I would buy, but it’s so pretty! I think it’s versatile enough that I can use it as a lip accent or an eye accent. In fact, I’m betting that it will pare really nicely with the colors in my beloved Monarch Palette. Diamond Powder is a really super-fine glitter, and in fact while it swatched well over the lipstick on my hand, it kind of disappeared on my lips, so I think I’m going to have to experiment with really packing it on to get the glitter look I want. It’s definitely a product worth playing with.

You can see that when worn together, it’s more of a bright shiny red than a blood red, but I think it’s a good color on me.

Looking for that thrill.

August 27, 2014Sophia Ravenna

A couple of months ago, my mother-in-law sent me this awesome mug covered with Andy Warhol insects. I love it because of the bugs, and the fact that it holds a lot of tea, and along the inside of the rim it says “You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.”

Great advice for a dancer, right? Especially once you’ve got a few years of dance under your coin belt. I mean, back when I started, every little thing was a thrill. A new move learned, a new way to move my body, aches in muscles I didn’t even know I had. Every new dancer I watched was the coolest ever, every new costume was the prettiest (except for Jillina’s snake costume, even baby dancer Sophia thought that was ridiculous).

Right now though, it seems like I only get a thrill out of going to festivals where I can take workshops and see top-tier professionals on the stage. Oh, that’s not to say that I never have a good time practicing at home or never see a really great performance from a local dancer, it’s just that sometimes it’s hard to overcome a sense of ennui.

I’ve reached that point where I don’t get to learn new things often (except in ballet class, since I’m a total newbie in that field), and any progress I make is slow improvements on what I can already do. As such, practice is often, well, boring. Ho hum, let’s drill some mayas and chest lifts to make sure they don’t get rusty, let’s run this solo I’m going to do at Open Stage, and now some chaines across the living room. Just another day.

So I need to find a way to be thrilled with drills. I need to remember to combine things in weird ways, or just enjoy the fact that I’ve got a body and it works pretty well. I need to find beautiful new music that makes me happy while I’m doing hip drops. I need to spend more time on YouTube looking for inspiring dancers.

After I tackle that, maybe I can find a way to be thrilled by housework and running errands. If I’m going to dream, I might as well dream big.

Happy National Dog Day!

August 26, 2014August 26, 2014Sophia Ravenna

It’s National Dog Day! What does that have to do with belly dance? Absolutely nothing. But it seems like lately this blog has been pretty heavy on the opinions and rantiness and pretty light on the fun stuff, so I feel like talking about dogs.

I love dogs! We always had them when I was growing up, usually Australian Shepherds and then whatever random mutts had found their way to us “until we can find them a good home” before inevitably admitting that the good home was ours. As an adult, I went a few years without any dogs of my own, due to living in apartments that only allowed one or two pets, a quota already filled by my cats. During that time I made do by house sitting for a friend who had two great dogs, or going over to my parents’ house to see their dogs.

Once we bought a house, I barely waited for us to be settled in before I started looking for a dog! Although the plan was to get just one dog, when I found a pair of corgi sisters available at a rescue in NM, I half-jokingly asked my husband if we could get them, and he said yes. So we put in an application, answered lots of questions, took the rescuers on a virtual tour of our house, and then took a long weekend journey to bring them home.

Daisy knows the importance of stretching.

We’ve had our girls for a few years now and they bring such joy to my life. Oh sure, they get dog hair all over my super bootie skirts, and they like to plop down in the middle of the floor while I’m trying to chaine across the living room, and they cannot resist an unrolled yoga mat, but those are small inconveniences compared to the happiness I get when I sit down on the couch and one or both jumps into my lap, or when they greet me with enthusiasm whether I’ve been gone for a week at Tribal Fest or ten minutes to run to the store. As I write this post, they’re both crammed under my desk because there’s a big, scary thunderstorm and it’s a well-known fact that the only way to be safe from thunder is to sit on a human’s feet.

Of course, having my own dogs has not stopped me from wanting to hang out with my friends’ dogs. If anything, having dogs of my own has made me just love dogs even more and I want to meet everyone’s dogs and play with them and even set up playdates. Yesterday, I went to my friend MZ’s house because I wanted to participate in the “Kissed by a Pit” challenge, but there was no way Daisy could disguise herself as a pitbull, so I figured I would have to borrow one.

I love pitbulls and probably would have adopted one by now if we didn’t have a strict “no more pets than we have hands to pet them” rule. The first pitty I ever knew belonged to our neighbors when I was a teenager. They had found her in the desert, clearly abused, whether to try to turn her into a fighting dog or out of plain cruelty, we’ll never know. Despite what she’d been through, she was a sweet and happy dog. She was also an escape artist, and it wasn’t unusual to find her at our doorstep because she’d gotten bored in her own yard and wanted to come hang out with us and our dogs. Since I’ve already established that my family is full of animal lovers, it will come as no surprise to you that we’d bring Spooky in, shower her with love, and walk her next door when our neighbors got home.

Since then, every pitbull I’ve known has won me over, from the random young male who decided to walk around my neighborhood with me one day (prompting someone who had seen him wandering around to ask if he was mine), to the dogs I’ve walked at animal control holiday volunteer drives. And MZ’s dog Khaleesi is just one more to add to the list. Though she has the bark of a dog twice her size, she’s sweet, friendly, and tried to share her chew bone with me. She took treats gently from my hand, and gave the lightest kisses with her big tongue. And just look at those beautiful eyes!

So yeah, dogs are awesome! Enjoy National Dog Day. Shower the dogs in your life with extra affection and consider donating to a local charity that helps dogs. And if you can do something about this thunderstorm, Daisy and Maggie would really appreciate it.

Narcissism vs. Self-Esteem

August 25, 2014Sophia Ravenna

Oh no! I like this picture of myself, I must be... narcissistic! — Oh no! I like this picture of myself, I must be… narcissistic!

I am really tired of narcissism as a buzzword/armchair diagnosis. It’s not that I don’t think that there are people who are genuinely narcissistic and completely self-centered, it’s just that I think the bar for narcissism has been lowered too far, especially when it comes to us dreaded members of The Millennial Generation.

Note: I’ve touched on this subject before in a previous blog post, In Defense of the Selfie.

Today I read this article on Slate about a book about Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I’d like to share a few quotes that I think illustrate the key differences between actual narcissism and people who just dare to like themselves.

Patients with NPD display “pathological” traits such as grandiosity, self-centeredness, and a constant need for attention and admiration (the ego-feeding goodies known as “narcissistic supply”). Their relationships suffer as a result of impaired empathy, even as they rely heavily on others for “self-definition and self-esteem regulation.” Additional choice phrases from the DSM-5 criteria include “excessively attuned to the reactions of others,” “goal-setting is based on gaining approval from others,” and “firmly holding to the belief that one is better than others.” (For narcissists, “others” may be dullsville and inferior, but those others still end up twirling a lot of puppet strings.)

All bold emphases mine.

In order to qualify as pathological, narcissistic tendencies must impair functioning in real and painful ways.

That’s a really important one there.

What if condemning others for narcissism—for failing to give us what we need—is how we avoid facing our own insignificance? What if the word is just an accusation we hurl when we feel lonely, anonymous, unloved?

Looking at these quotes, it’s easy to see that true narcissism isn’t just about thinking you’re pretty good, it’s about thinking that you’re the best, and that no one else is really as special or as important as you. But honestly, I don’t find that to be the case in the people around me, whatever generation they were born into.

I think it’s natural for people to want to talk about ourselves, to feel like we are both seen and heard. I am, by nature, something of an introvert, shy, and socially awkward. I am bad at starting conversations, bad at filling awkward silences on road trips. But ask me about something I am passionate about and I light up. You might have trouble getting me to stop once I start talking about how much I love belly dance. I want the world to know that this is something important to me, and I was just waiting for someone to ask.

So of course, when the internet became popular and suddenly almost everyone had access to blogs and Instagram and YouTube and Facebook and Twitter and all those other things, of course we used them to talk about ourselves and post pictures of ourselves. It wasn’t that we were displaying unusual, self-centered behavior, it’s just that our natural desire to say “Hey, here I am, this is what I like!” could suddenly reach a bigger audience than our dining room table or the chatty person next to us on the bus.

But because we’re all talking about ourselves all the time, some people seem to have the mistaken opinion that we only think about and care about ourselves. That is simply not true. I may post pictures of myself because I think I look nice in them, but I also see pictures of my friends and tell them how great they look. I post about the things I am passionate about, but I also read articles that my friends post so I can understand their passions, and then I might get into a discussion about them. I post about the causes I care about, but I also pay attention to the causes that my friends care about, and donate to the ones that move me.

And just like a selfie shows that we’re happy with how we look today or we’re someplace fun (maybe with a few friends squeezed into the frame!), when we post “Oh man, I nailed my performance last night!” or “I’m so stoked that I got an A on my math final” we are not saying that we are the best dancer or the best math student. We are saying that we are happy with our accomplishments and we want a virtual high-five from our friends. Then we turn around and return the favor, complimenting the dancers who shared the stage with us last night, congratulating our friend who got a raise, squeeing along with our friend who got engaged.

In calling the denizens of the internet age self-centered, we are really ignoring how many people are out there thinking about and fighting for the rights of people who are not at all like us. Thanks to the internet, I (a thin, white, middle-class, cis-gendered, straight American woman) am able to regularly learn about current issues of sizeism, racism, classism, and LGBTQ rights and empathize with people who may not be like me in many ways, but are still human beings and deserve to be treated better. And I’m able to try to do something about it. And I see many of my friends doing the same way. If this generation truly lacks empathy, why would I really care if a gay couple can marry and adopt, or if women in India get splashed with acid? But we do have empathy, and we do care. Yes, we post selfies and record vlogs and get into fights about the casting of Batman movies, but in between all that we uplift our friends and we fight for the causes we believe in.

August Glam Bag from ipsy!

August 22, 2014August 21, 2014Sophia Ravenna

I received my August Glam Bag from ipsy last week and I’ve been having fun playing with the different products since then. I received the following items:

1. The bag! I like the shape of this one, I think it will be perfect for carrying brushes when I travel. The white with orange polka dots is really cute and cheery, too.

2. Perversion Mascara from Urban Decay. Aw yeah! I was wanting to try this, but it didn’t make sense to buy it since I already have an expensive mascara that I like and I’m not due to replace it for a few more months. Anyway, I wore this for two outdoor, hot and sweaty gigs and I am happy to say that it did give me big, bold, black lashes and didn’t run all over the place. It’s easy to apply, no bizarre complicated brushes or anything. I might pick it up in the future.

3. Dr. Brandt Pores No More Pore Refiner. Not a fan of this one, it smells mediciney. I wore it under my makeup and it did give a smooth, mattifying effect, but I would rather buy a different product with a pleasant scent. I might use the rest of the sample if I really want a matte look, but I would not buy it.

4. Jersey Shore Mongongo Lip Conditioner in Mandarin Green Orange Ginger. This is a perfectly fine lip balm with a nice flavor, but it makes a point of saying it’s non-GMO and I’m in favor of genetic engineering, so I would not buy it. I’ll probably throw it in a gig bag or a purse for dry lip emergencies but it definitely won’t replace my favorite Sugar lip balm.

5. J. Cat Beauty Flying Solo eye shadow in Half Naked. This is not a color I would have chosen to buy, but it looks surprisingly nice on me! Goes on as kind of a soft champagne. For one of my outdoor gigs I just wore this, two colors of eye liner, and the Perversion mascara. When applied over a primer, it held up all night, even when I had to sit outside in the 90 degree temps for almost an hour when I got a flat tire! It does not last as well without a primer, but I almost always do primer anyway. Oh, and it has a cute container with a tiny built-in mirror and sponge applicator for makeup emergencies.

6. Klorane Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk. I’ve already used this product a couple of times, for when I don’t want to go to dance class with greasy hair, but it would be silly to shower before hand and then shower again when I come home. This is an easy to use formula that you spray on, leave for two mins, and brush out. It has a pretty clean, neutral scent. This is another case where I already have a product I like that does the same thing, but I wouldn’t object to buying this one in the future.

This look uses the Pore Refiner, J. Cat shadow and Perversion mascara!

In general, I feel like this month’s bag was a better set of products than last month. I’ll end up using everything except for the Dr. Brandt Refiner, and I might even use that in a pinch. I might buy more J. Cat shadows if they have some colors that catch my eye, and I’m really excited about the mascara. I can’t wait to see what I get for October… is it too much to hope for a Halloween theme?

My work has value, yours does not.

August 21, 2014August 21, 2014Sophia Ravenna

Ok, this post has been a long time coming. I’ve said some of these things in various on-line conversations and now it’s all coming together in a blog post.

I see a disturbing trend in this world, where we value our own work and feel like we deserve to make more than we do, while devaluing the work of others and expecting them to work for cheap or even free. And I’m not even talking like some big divide like “I’m a neurosurgeon, I save lives, I deserve to be wealthy, but you just draw pretty pictures, what does that matter?” I’m talking about almost everyone devaluing almost everyone else.

Perhaps you’ve seen some of these examples?

1. The band who is getting paid for a gig and wants dancers to come along and perform for free.

2. The semi-pro photographer who comes to the hafla where dancers are performing for free and wants to be paid for their photos or videos*.

3. The fellow vendor at an art and craft festival who comes into your booth and subtly or outright says that you’re charging too much, when their own prices clearly mean they’re giving themselves a fair wage.

4. The professional dancer who decries undercutters and then blatantly copies a costume designer’s work.

5. The event organizer who is getting paid, and is paying the caterer, and the DJ, but expects you to dance for free.

6. The family member who has a regular day job where they regularly ask for a raise, but thinks you should perform for free because “art’s all about the love, man.”

It’s frustrating, right? There you are, pouring your heart and soul, and hours of your time, and lots of money into whatever you do (for the purposes of this blog, we’re going to assume it’s dance because I write about dancing), and everyone expects you to just work for next to nothing, or nothing, or even to pay to perform. It drains your soul after a while! You work and work and work with the idea that eventually you’ll be a professional and you’ll start to make enough to cover your classes and costuming, and maybe some extra to chip in to the household expenses, and if you’re really good, enough to possibly support yourself. And instead, you find that there’s always someone with their hand out, expecting you to pay for something else, while no one ever seems to be paying you.

I try very hard to value the work of those around me. I would never ask a band to come play a free gig for me. When I see a costume piece with a big price tag, I don’t say “Oh, it’s too expensive, I’ll just make it myself!” I say “It’s beautiful, but I can’t afford it right now. Maybe someday when I’m a pro I can have something this nice.” I treat myself to handmade art now and then. I buy as much costuming as I can from US designers instead of getting cheap imports off of eBay. I’ll take advantage of a sale, but I’ll never ask for a special discount. I buy my music legitimately instead of looking for illegal downloads. I hire professional photographers when I need new pictures for my website.

And it’s not just about artists. I also favor raising the minimum wage, and I tip generously when I eat out. I think we all deserve to make a fair wage for the work we do. I think that “But you love what you do, why should you have to get paid for it?” is a stupid thing to say, because there are lots of people who love their “normal” day job and we don’t say “Oh, you love being a dental hygienist? Can I have this cleaning for free?” The jobs that we hate are not the only ones that we should get paid for. Can you imagine how miserable this world would be if everyone had to do something they didn’t like in order to make money? We NEED people who enjoy their work, otherwise everyone would be angry all the time.

As artists, we need to band together and take a stand. We need to stop letting people ask us to work for unfair wages, and we have to stop asking our fellow artists in other media to work for unfair wages. We need to stand up for ourselves and for each other. And we definitely, definitely, need to say NO to pay-to-play situations. Are you with me?

*Not to be confused with the professional photographers and videographers who work an entire three-day festival capturing every performance in high-quality image and videos. Those people I will happily pay, because they’re working the entire weekend while I only danced for 5 minutes, and they provide promo-quality work.

Anatomy of a Costume, Hafla-Con Edition

August 20, 2014August 19, 2014Sophia Ravenna

Once again, I managed to put together a fabulous costume in which I didn’t make a single part of it. I have got to get busy on the costuming! But until then, I thought I’d do another Anatomy of a Costume post where I talk about the inspiration behind this costume and all of the wonderful vendors who I shopped from to put it together.

I knew I wanted a steampunk aesthetic for this costume, since the performance involved a certain amount of clockwork-inspired ticking, and I was going to incorporate gears into my makeup. But instead of going for the traditional steampunk brown, or my usual “STEAMPUNK SHOULD HAVE COLOR!!!!!” palette of whatever greens and teals I pull out of my closet, I decided to go for more of a metallic palette that would call to mind brass gears and brushed steel. This was largely inspired by the fact that I had purchased a stunning metallic belt from Snake Church and the pretty black and gold lace skirt from Geisha Moth. I really love how they looked together and wanted the excuse to wear these Tribal Fest goodies, so I had to build the rest of the costume around them.

Eventually I want to build a gorgeous bra to match that belt, but I want to really take the time to collect special materials, so instead of rushing myself, I opted to wear the very nice lace choli top I bought from Kathleen Crowley at TF13. I then dressed up my top half with a really ridiculous statement necklace from Charming Charlie. As a jewelry designer I hate myself a little bit every time I buy cheap mall jewelry, but I really love the stupid plastic fake opals they’ve been using lately and I can’t help myself.

There were three things that I bought to complete this costume, although they’re all things I’ll be able to wear and use outside of being a fembot. The first was my new set of fan veils. Side note: my original plan was to use two fan veils and have them tied around my arms, but then I realized that if both hands were full I couldn’t untie myself. Ooops! Anyway, I ordered these ethereal ecru and silver veils from Silks by Sahariah. While I chose the colors to go with this costume, I also chose them with the idea that they’ll be a nice neutral to go with my red and black troupe costume or any olivey green costumes that didn’t go with the jewel tones of my peacock fan veils.

The next was the gear hair pin by EJPCreations. I’ve had my eye on that Etsy shop for years so this was the perfect excuse to finally treat myself. It’s a very well-made piece, and comfortable to wear so I know I’ll break it out again for Wild Wild West Con and any other steampunk events I do.

Lastly, I needed a pair of pantaloons. For my audition video I just wore the plain black cotton pair I wear with my troupe costume, and they would have done in a pinch, but I wanted something that had the same level of luxury as the rest of the costume. I figured maybe I could find some nice fabric at SAS and sew my own, but then when I was down in Bisbee I found this gorgeous pair from Magpie Urban Designs. There’s all kind of pleating and these built-in tassels that fly out when you spin. They’re AMAZING and the price was really fair and they fit perfectly right off the rack. It was meant to be. I have a feeling they’ll become a staple of my wardrobe as a soloist.

Oh, and topping off my look, hair flowers by two of my very favorite people, The Bold Oracle and Mermaiden Creations. These two ladies are fabulous and I wear their work ALL THE TIME!

So there you have it. A small army of awesome vendors that you should definitely check out for your own costuming needs.