My Faire Lady, Version 5.1

Alrighty, here are a buttload more photos from the faire!

Enjoy!

And I'm SO proud to announce that we had our first MALE dancer this year and several gypsy men!!! YAY!! 

The mermaids came back again!

Not even trying to be funny. I think this is my natural eating face.

Pro Pics by Scott Johnson Photography:

The lady to my left is a 60 year old grandmother. She's a fabulous belly dancer in the Gems of Cairo belly dance troupe in the Shreveport, LA.
HOT! Now I know what I wanna be when I grow up! A sexy belly dancing granny!

THE END!!

My Faire Lady, Version 5.0

Soooooo.... yeah!

Here I am as  Daniella Noir the Gypsy Queen at the 5th Annual Texarkana Renaissance Faire this weekend.

You remember that faire I used to own, yeah that one. Hee hee.

Now that I'm just assistant director I was free to do pretty much whatever I wanted.

I didn't have to walk miles and miles back and forth to collect money from the ticket booth.

I didn't have to answer a single phone call from confused merchant about where their booth is supposed to be set up.

I didn't have to calm angry patrons.

I didn't have to pay entertainment fees and utility bills.

I got to do what I've always wanted to do:

PERFORM AT A RENAISSANCE FAIRE!

Last year I tried to dance a little bit but I was so out of shape, I could barely make it through a whole song. On top of that I was already having to run back and forth to do important "owner things" so I was pretty darn worn down.

I started working on getting into better shape and building my dance endurance several months ago and it paid off big time. It was hot as Hades (in the mid-90s) and a few of my gypsies had to leave early from heat exhaustion (and other cast members as well) but I made it!

I danced in the heat with ease but the face sweating made me pretty miserable. Under my fuchsia headscarf is a bandanna that's been folded several times to catch sweat but that did nothing for my temples, nose and upper lip though. I was dripping sweat all dang day. I kept having to reapply my eyebrows and I had an allergic reaction to all my jewelry.

But I still had fun!

I wasn't really able to do any fancy Russian style skirt dancing like I practiced because of the over-skirt and belt pouches so I belly danced and threw in a few Romani dance moves I've picked up form the internet. 

And here are my babies! Finally old enough to join mommy in the gypsy camp. YAY!

Well anywho, I am burnt out and exhausted. I've been on the computer editing and uploaded faire photos to Facebook aaaaaaaall day long and I need to go start dinner. And by start dinner I mean microwave something, sit on the couch and watch Netflix until my husband gets home. I'll share more faire pics and stop by your bloggies in a couple days.

LATERZ. Here's a four second video of me dancing I found.

Oh, hello there!

It's October and I'm back as promised!!

Not only am I back but I'm back with a few photos from the faire!

The faire was last weekend, September 26 & 27and in case you're new to this shindig - I'm the owner/director lady and most recently - Daniella Noir the Gypsy Queen!

This year the faire went smoothly enough that I was able to finally contribute to the entertainment. But because of the heat and many many layers of clothing I only danced about four times - but that's still four times more than I ever have in the past!

After getting myself a concussion last month I was unable to continue practicing Russian style gypsy dance. When I recovered from that I pulled something in my back that landed me in the ER (they did nothing to help). So after healing up from that - I had about a week to loosen up enough to wing it (yoga helped!).

At the faire I just tapped into memories of past dance experience, all my belly dance knowledge and all the YouTube videos of authentic gypsy dance I've ever seen.

 Below is my "Gypsy Court" well some of them - featuring beautiful dancers from Little Goddess Trybal belly dance troupe from Dallas and a few local volunteers who also dance, drum or act.

Under my pavilion my "throne" was made of a dining chair, pvc pipe, two folding TV trays, bed sheets, old saris and table cloths. The wind blew everything out of place during this shot but I think it still looks ok yeah?

This year, I wore no hoops, no crinoline, no corset, no girdle... I was all natural under there and I felt great!  I could move! The edges of the velvet ghawazee coat kept rolling in on itself (right under the ties) - I predicted it would happen and intended on sewing the front closed but darn it, the night before the faire, I was just too plumb exhausted to care about preventing wardrobe malfunctions. 

It wasn't until I saw the photos that I realized I was a perfect rainbow from top to bottom! 

Outfit details:

Headdress - handmade by me last year with added 99 cent scarf and $2 necklace from eBay,

Purple Tunic - my own

Blue velvet ghawazee coat - Tribal Bazaar

Green over skirt - Etsy $5

25 yard skirt - eBay bought with Swagbucks

White hip scarf, yarn belt, beaded belt - old

Most jewelry - dirt cheap eBay finds.

Trying my hand at sword balancing! It's tricky! I'd like to get my own sword and practice a bit.

And back where I belong! I love drumming soooo much. The man who taught me how to drum boasts that I am one of the best drummers in Texarkana (high praise indeed but there's only like four drummers in town.) I haven't got to drum in ages but when I picked up the drum everything all came back to me. It  was like riding a bicycle... a bicycle that will make your fingers swell so bad you won't be able to remove your rings that night but... a bicycle indeed! 

Stay tuned for more photos!!

I've still got tons to do to wrap up all this faire stuff so I probably wont have time to visit your blogs until next week. 

Until then, see you all laters!!!

you know... pirate stuff

 Okie dokie. I'm in a hurry. I want to finish this post as fast as possible so I can go eat another donut and take a nap. 

I'm SO tired I wanna cry. 

Last night me and my crew hosted our 2nd Annual Pirate's Ball (a fundraiser for my renaissance faire) and it was GREAT! We had a great turn out and over half of our attendants drove a couple hundred miles (from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area) just to come to the event. Crazy! I saw a few unfamiliar faces which is supreme good news. That means two things: people in Texarkana are starting to not be so afraid of our "outrageous" events AND I'm doing good on marketing.

I was pretty lazy with my costuming this time. It's so gross and humid due to the incessant raining and heat so I decided to skip on the skirts and bodice and even let the jiggle belly go un-girdled.

I'm wearing a tunic from Lotus Traders, a pashmina scarf to vest thingy, some stretch lounge pants, faux-suede boots, a beaded Indian belt, some cheap bohemian-esque jewelry from eBay and a fake nose ring. Effortless gypsy pirate.

So anywho, here are some random photos I took throughout the night. Time to get a scrolling-finger work out because I'm too darn sleepy to collage these pics. Soooo.... ENJOY!

 

  

Costume contest!

 Hosted and judged by Jack Sparrow!

 The costume contest winners got Jolly Roger flags.

That's all!!

If you wanna see more photos from the ball feel free to visit our album on Facebook.

Ya'll have fun!