Last Saturday I had a great chance to perform at a new (at least to me!) kind of an event; a brand new club concept called Flirt, combining house music and burlesque. Instead of having the DJ re-mix one of my existing routine musics for me, I decided to make a half-improvised fan dance to new music, which proved to be an interesting journey because when looking for music, I confess I hardly ever look in this particular direction. Maybe I should, occasionally. It was great fun and I actually got very happy about where the music took the fans and the choreography - certainly nowhere I´d have landed on my own, without this triggering me for the search! Very educational, dear people, very educational. ;)
Here are some wonderful pics by the talented photographer Alexander Lazarevski - I absolutely adore how they turned out:
... in the last three pics, dearest boylesque sensation Bent Van Der Bleu and yours truly are attempting to explode some confetti bomb thingies. Now I know; apart from sucking at opening doors (I never seem to know which way to turn the knob or push or pull the door), I also can´t explode confetti bomb thingies. Hmph.
Yé yé! I am so looking forward to this; I´ve got not one, but two new solo routines in progress, and all claws & paws crossed, if all goes as planned then both of these babies will get their premier night at said party! Proud & excited, as all new parents are, I suppose. Also, I´ll be peeling in the most wonderful company ever, as you can see - it´s going to be a night to remember. Whoa. Get your tickets now! I´ll promise to be a tease and feed you with teeny tiny bits of "in progress" updates of the routines... hee hee hee.
One blog post per season, not bad, ehh...? Well, a little bad. But as usual, I´m trying to kick my own butt and do this bloggery thing more often from now on. Mm-hmm...
So what´s new? Well, it´s officially spring now - because it´s March, mainly, but also because although there´s plenty of snow left, it´s rapidly melting all the same. Makes for a rubber boots + sun glasses kind of weather. Oooh my favourite! Actually every spring weather (and there are a few, often within the same day) is my favourite. I like the change change change.
And I´ve started to take the dog out on a walk around the allotment gardens a lot lately, I notice... longingly gazing towards our (very very snowy and as of yet, quite unreachable) plot and wondering how the tulip and daffodil bulbs that I planted in autumn have survived the winter and whether any of them will be coming up or has the mole had a nice dinner of them altogether... I´ve planted at least five different black tulip sorts. ♥ And something pink-and-white striped that looked just like candy... Awww can´t. Wait. Also, I seem to have added a few garden blogs to my blog reading list, for inspiration, ahhs and ohhhs and all sorts of green-fingered plant-happy feelings.
I also got a lovely birthday present from my sis and her family - a plant (I don´t even know the name of it??!) that I´ve fallen in love with already a few years ago, and after that repeatedly asked her to give me a cutting of the plant. And now I got the whole plant! :D A bit hard to photograph in direct strong sunshine but you get the point - it´s got these funny round moist and crisp looking leaves. I´ve come to the conclusion that I like round, oval and big leaves the best. :)
I celebrated my 35th birthday in February and got this curious orange flowering thing as a birthday flower from some friends:
... I don´t know the name of that one either. And it looks like it might not be going on forever and ever more, but we´ll see. I just might change it into a bigger pot and see if something curious comes out of it anyways. I´d have to change bigger pots to most of the guys anyway... any day now.
During this darkest time of the year it´s easy to get all dreary and lethargic, it takes twice the effort to haul your ass up from the bed in the mornings. Not to mention catching all the nasty bugs and colds that are circulating around town... I have tons to do all the time and can absolutely not afford getting sick before end of February, so if I catch myself feeling a little more exhausted than is suitable, this is what happens:
INSTANT SUNSHINE SMOOTHIE (actually it´s a fruitie, as there´s no dairy included - dairy products should be avoided during flu season at any rate - but I liked the sound of that more. Heh.)
You´ll need:
1 small pineapple (mine was organic and very, very sweet) Juice of 2 oranges and 1 lime A good-sized chunk of fresh ginger 1 banana 1 tea spoon of maca powder 1 dl of unsweetened sea buckthorn juice
Mmm. Brimming with Vitamin C and lots of other goodies. Not to mention the absolutely dee-lis-hus taste.
I rather like late autumn. And I am well aware of the fact that it´s very un-hip of me to admit to liking a dreary dark wet cold season - everyone and their second cousins´aunts´cats are yearning for summer and cool drinks (with parasols and ponies) and sunshine and what-not, and complaining because this is however not the case. And it´s, apparently, quite justified to whine about the misery that is November and December, or so it seems. I just happen to think it´s rather pointless - I mean, no amount of whine and moan will a November a July make, right? And it´s also frankly rather boring to listen to - why on sweet earth do you think anyone cares what you think about the season, really? So all you eternal-summer-for-me-please peeps can stop reading here while I´ll absorb myself in the wonder that is late autumn and list all the neat stuff I like about the season:
Darkness - because I´m such a friggin´ goth. No, really. I like it dark because I like to stroll around and take sneak peeks into people´s lit living room windows and muse about their interiors and kitchens while they never guess I´m on the outside. Freaky? Maybe a little. We live on the first floor, too. Our neighbors are getting good at pretending they aren´t watching. Anyhoo, secret home-watching in the dark is nice, any home looks cosy and warm when it´s raining cats and dogs and your combat boots are leaking. It´s the same as with blogs - tiny windows from which to peek into a stranger´s life.
Lights - why of course. I´m simply a sucker for holiday lights, especially the kind that pretend they´re not holiday lights per se but just nice, colourful, cosy tiny globes of happiness and warmth. Oh yes. Fairy lights, interior balls, the traditional Yule stars, gimme gimme I want it all. Not to mention candlelight. I love to start mornings with only candlelight, makes the waking up a little less brutal. And I like those bright intense insane phototherapy lights as well; want to buy me one, to have at the studio. They are nothing short of brutal, a lot like black coffee in effect, which is exactly how I like it. Not in the morning though, but to give a serious boost to an otherwise lethargic day. And days in late autumn are short and lethargic, oh yeah...
The neighborhood-sampling-walks also turn into holiday-light-sampling-walks, and today I actually spotted a household in which somebody had decorated the windows with exactly the two fairy lights strings I myself was contemplating at Stockmann a few weeks ago. Creepy, yet in a nice way. I guess I´ll have to buy them anyway and have them, err, at the studio or something.
And some people tend lanterns in their gardens and on their porches. I live in a nice area with houses built mostly during the 1950s, lots of gardens and forest-y spots and all in all a village atmosphere.
Walks in any which weather - yes, it´s insane, but I´m both an outdoorsy person and an extremely lazy person, and will need both stick and carrot to motivate me to do anything, really. So having a dog is neat, because I can´t bloody well open the window and kick her out, I have to actually get up, get dressed and get out there three times a day. I complain, but secretly love it. Fresh air and moving about really helps with the lethargy. I should know, lethargy is my middle name, ask my ex, she´ll tell you.
... and coming home to the light and the warmth, after the wet and cold and dark, yes ohh yes. Try it, if you don´t believe me.
Glitter - why of course. This is the blessed season of glitter, when it´s not only kids, showgirls and drag queens who sparkle away, but everyone out of a sudden. It ends (for the rest of them) sometime after New Year´s, but in the meantime it´s time to stock up on wonderfully glittery, shimmery, sparkly products and accessories, not to mention the tiny sequin-covered party dresses that make me squee, and inevitably fill my wardrobe. Well, and why not, I need them, don´t I. :P I´d also need a bath, in order to spend some cash on those crazy lass grenade glitter bath balls from Lush, but alas, that is not the case. It´s not quite the same effect in a sauna...
Hot drinks - being a girl who likes her nutritional intake as liquid as possible, I´m thrilled about wintery drinks. Glühwein, mulled wine, hot mulled cider, rum toddys, tea, coffee, lots of it, hot blackcurrant juice, hot apple juice with fresh ginger to soothe a sore throat, bring it on babe.
Presents - call me a hippie, but really I don´t care for receiving them half as much as I enjoy giving them. Even though I´m always late and have a big family. No matter. Presents, yum.
And of course, waiting for the snow is a great delight in itself. Although by the end of winter it can´t disappear soon enough. Still, I want it now. Please. At least for Yule??! And, say, until the end of February. That would be quite sufficient.
Aiju and Ina both made this A to Z meme, so it seemed like a good enough blog post after such a pause (the lazy blogger tends to be a busy busy bee in the Life Outside of Internet), on a particularly calm and mellow day off from work. So off we go:
A) Age: 34. B) Bed size: The usual what-is-it, 150 cm wide futon I think? On a tatami. C) Chore that you hate: None, if I'm perky and awake, and all of them, if I'm not. D) Dogs: HillaLilla Himpukka-Simpukka Nöpö Hirmuinen, and she's in her teens now. Oh joy. :D
E) Essential start to your day: Brushing the teeth, washing the face with cold water, caffeine in some form or another. Also, breakfast. Without breakfast, things go disastrous very soon. F) Favourite Colour: To wear: black, cherry red, dark grey, dark turquoise, green. Otherwise: all of them, though I tend to lean towards intense, saturated, warm colours rather than pastels or beige. G) Gold or silver:
H) Height: 175 cm. Very short for a super model. :D I) Instruments you play: I sing and play the piano, and have had some lessons in playing acoustic guitar, charango, tin whistle, Jew's harp, kantele and natural scale flute - none of the latter are anything to boast about though. I wish I had some people to make music with, at the moment I don't have that and it's something I really miss... J) Job title: Renaissance woman. ;D Scenographer and occasional costume designer; burlesque artist & teacher; art model; occasional illustrator and art's'n'crafts worker. I make things happen.
K) Kids: Good people should have them. I like to spoil them rotten, provided that they're someone else's. L) Live: A three-minute walk from the forest, twenty minutes from downtown Helsinki. M) Monsters name: Hui-Hui. As for myself: Tiny Fox of Horrors. N) Nicknames: Rus, Tinksu, Rusrus, Ruskis, Piiuska, Kettu... O) Overnight hospital stays: None so far *knocks wood* P) Pet peeves: Sloppy language and poor grammar all the way! I mean come on, all of us make mistakes every now and then, but that's simply no excuse to not checking something in the dictionary if you're not sure of the spelling or the correct use of a word, not to mention not knowing your own mother's tongue. It irks me daily. Q) Quote from a movie: I could describe you a particular scene from a particular movie, where the camera is located, how the light falls, the music, the set... but please don't ask me to remember the dialogue. :D R) Right or left handed: Politically left, to an extent ambidextrous i.e. I can draw and paint with both hands, and write a little too; but mostly I guess I use my right hand more. S) Siblings: The bestest sister and the bestest brother in the world. ♥ T) Time you wake up: I rarely sleep later than 9 o'clock. On occasion maybe 11-ish, and then I feel like I've been fooled and someone's stolen away my morning... U) Underwear: Oh yes, please. Sometimes it's fun to go without, in summertime, but all the same, when there's so much neat stuff you can wear, why not take advantage of the fact? :) V) Vegetable you hate: Celery. Brrrrr. W) What makes you run late: Laziness mainly; I'm only ever late if I start preparations too late. Otherwise I tend to be the impeccable and irritating Miss Time. X) X rays you’ve had: Teeth (that was fun, because I couldn't take out my tongue piercing and it shows in the pic) and knees. I wish I had my whole skellington in x-ray pics! Y) Yummy food that you make: Most of what I cook is yummy. ;) But I make a lovely mushroom risotto, and a deeliishuus Thai-style veggie soup with coconut milk and plenty of cilantro. Mmm. Also, I make my own special curry! ♥ A recipe for something can be found in this very blog, here - in Finnish though. :) Z) Zoo animal: Zoos make me both elated (great to see some animals which I otherwise would never have the chance to see) and depressed (why are the animals caged and prisoned there in the first place). So I really don't know. I know some zoos make a lot of good work to protect extinct animals and all, but still...
And suddenly it strikes me - the fact that for all my life, sometimes it´s felt like all I ever wanted was to dance, dance, dance, all the time; but even though I´ve always danced (and there´s a multitude of different styles and traditions I´ve studied I can tell you, oh boy, concentration span anyone? But I prefer to think of it as searching, and trying to sample as many goodies as I´ve possibly could.) I thought I´d "started too late" (a cliché, that) and "could never make anything of it, not really" (another way of saying this is serious, so I´m scared and need to think of an excuse to run away) and so, well, yeah.
Burlesque changed that, though.
And suddenly I find myself in a situation where I do not only practise and perform burlesque on a weekly basis, but also teach it at a local dance school, and am required and expected to attend other dance classes at said studio as well, in order to keep myself in a good dance-shape and broaden my horizons. Well, my own class starts next week´s Thursday (by the way there´s still room there, if any of you´re interested and in Helsinki on Thursday evenings; go here to find out more!), and right after that I´ll also be able to enjoy the rest of the dancing delights the school has to offer. Thrilled. Stoked. Now how am I ever going to finish that thesis now??!
I also got the opportunity to go to a course in Tribal Fusion Bellydance (hence the Manca Pavli video in the beginning, which I think you must watch on Youtube but do it, it´s worth it) by the lovely and talented Laura Luna which I´m equally thrilled about - I only found out last February that there actually are any Tribal Fusion dancers in Finland, I´ve been dancing Oriental dance of the more traditional sort for some years (with one really good, one exceptionally horrible and one rather indifferent teacher) but it´s been a good long while. And I´ve always been interested in this particular style, because of the - duh - fusion element so strongly involved; I´ve always been a fusion kinda girl meself (you didn´t guess that, did you now), appreciating the mix´n´match of all the good and neat things in the world.
So I´ve been trying to remember all those isolations and undulations for two days now... and does that feel ever so good.
By the by, should you want to see The Itty-Bitties on stage again, you should definitely re-check whether you´ve already bought the tickets to The Finnish Burlesque Gala on 15th October! Because if you haven´t, then you know, you should.
Colours. Shapes. Forms. Sounds. Scents. I´m a paint-and-ink-stained shimmy-shaker from Helsinki, Western Siberia; this is where some of my inspiration finds a written outlet. I like climbing trees, I like champagne, and I like not fitting in a box. But I fit in my own skin instead. ♥
If not otherwise stated, all images, photographic or drawn, are copyrighted to me and not meant to be used by you without a) asking or b) marking said copyright. You don´t want to steal. Stealing gives you bad karma. I kid you not.
