Studio stuff
I got a question regarding my home studio mirrors, and I am posting the answer here just in case other people has been wondering about the same stuff.
The mirrors are 5′3”x7′3” total. I bought them as one piece, and then asked to cut them so they fit into the trunk of my car. There are 3 pieces in total, two pieces of 3′1”x5′3” and one piece of 1′x5′3”. The mirror starts 13” from the floor. It works well for dancing, however if you do floorwork or workout on the floor and you need to see yourself in the mirror then you might want to hang them lower.
Home studio
20 Nov 2009 Sophie 0 comments
On Friday afternoon after the class I headed straight to Bella’s shop at Şişli Bella is known for her high-end dance costumes and for this reason bargaining there is futile. Credit cards are also useless in her shop, because she accepts only cash! For 3 days in a row I was traveling around Istanbul with a ridiculous amount of cash and I was very relieved to off-load the money and finally get my costumes, that are by the way fitted perfectly adding a 3D effect to my shiny-rosy self. Happy and giddy I unloaded the costumes at the hostel and headed straight to Pera Museum for the Pirosmani exhibition. I must confess that normally I hate museums, in most cases finding myself wandering around with no clear purpose and a rather obvious lack of joy, but this one really got to me. It’s small – only 5 floors with 2 halls on each floor. The top floor featured the works of students of Yıldız Technical University Faculty of Art and Design which I didn’t dig at all. The fourth had the most amazing collection of Pirosmani’s paintings crowned with my favorite “Bear in the Moon Light”. Next is a very pleasant surprise at the third floor: 
My day starts with a class with Reyhan Tuzsus. Reyhan and one of her daughters meet me at the Gaziosmanpaşa Kültür Merkezi square. Lovingly yet firmly Reyhan grabs my arm and leads me through the noisy streets untill we reach the outskirts of the neighborhood. Following her into a narrow passage we descend into the mahalle. The slums go all the way down the steep hill and up on the other side of the valley. Thousands of houses marked with poverty and decay. Garbage and rubble everywhere.
So let me tell you about Bari Simon. Most of you probably haven’t heard of her, but she was one of the most famous and controversial Israeli belly dancers in the 80ies. In the early 90ies Bari exchanged her bedlahs [a two-piece belly dance costume] for a head cover, bought up all of her dance videos and opened a bridal boutique in Bnei Brak [a city east of Tel Aviv, populated by orthodox Jews]. Needless to say since then Bari does not perform in public, however she does tour the country with seminars for women only. This January Bari was one of the guest instructors at the Oriental Dance festival in Eilat. She taught one workshop and gave one lecture followed by a short performance.