Last Thursday I had the chance to create a whole new belly dance show for a repeat client. He is retiring from the LAPD and wanted me to come perform a Cop themed belly dance show. I always love the chance to flex my creative brain muscles and think of ways to tailor my show to fit a specific theme and I was ready to get to work on a cops themed belly dance costume and show. Also side note, I love weekday shows. They are always so fun because I can put all my focus on the show without having to worry about racing from one gig to another.
The client and I brain stormed different costume ideas- I showed him my royal blue and white costume options but after seeing my different options, he really wanted me to wear a cop hat and something more "cop-like". So I went on Amazon and found this adorable cops halloween costume and using a photo editing app, I was able to design a cop-themed costume based on combining the halloween costume with an existing belly dance costume. He loved the design so I went to work on it right away.
Luckily, thanks to my @corinadesigns jewelry line, I already had several rhinestones in the colors that I needed ready on hand. First, I began by adding black rhinestones on the brim of the cop hat and royal blue rhinestones to the tie. I added some teardrop rhinestones to the skirt and then added some more blue rhinestones all over the top and skirt. I even added rhinestones to the garter belt and fishnets. The sparklier the better! I also wanted the badges on the hat and shirt to be a metallic gold so I took a can of gold spray paint, sprayed some paint into a cup and then took a tiny paintbrush and hand painted the badges with the metallic gold spray paint. Several hours later, I had a shiny, sparkly cops themed belly dance costume.
For the show itself, I asked my client if he and his comrades had an anthem or song that they all loved. He didn't have one off the top of his head but a few days later, he responded with the song "Bad Boys" the theme song of the 90's TV show "Cops". I was a little confused at first how I would bellydance to this song but after some practice, I started to get inspired and decided to belly dance to this song with my sword prop.
A week prior to the event, my client had attended my bellydance class where I had a live drummer perform drums during class. She loved the live drums and decided to hire the drummer to play the drums during my belly dance show. Having the live drums during the bellydance show really adds a lots of great energy and excitement. Everyone had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed the unique and special show.
It was such a fun opportunity to create a customized belly dance show and have the live drums enhance the party as well! As an artist, having the chance to do something different breathes new life into my performances and I felt inspired and energized!