Following the Night Circus (and a very entertaining impromptu photoshoot in the car park, pics to follow), I fell into bed and dreamed of fire breathers and running away to the circus.
Saturday morning saw me fairly leap out of bed and head for the station (London three times in a week, it felt most odd after six months of barely seeing the inside of a train!) to meet the lovely Hannah for lunch and (squeee, squeee, SQUEEEEE…) Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty.
Look how close to the stage we were!!
As you’ll know if you’re a regular reader, I love all types of dance, but ballet has always held a special place in my heart… and when I rediscovered the fact that I can in fact stand en pointeI nearly melted with excitement.
So when Hannah told me she’d managed to secure tickets, I squealed out loud! Pity whoever was in hearing distance at the time – H was clever enough to break the news via text!
So off we went – we had tickets in the stalls for the matinee, which started at 2.30, giving us time for a gentle amble around Wimbledon first. Only I was too excited to focus on anything (even TK Maxx… lol) so we had lunch and then went in.
Here’s the trailer, to give you an idea of the gorgeousness of it all…
I don’t really have words for how magical it was – Kate said it was ‘astonishing’ and that she had tears of joy… and I think that’s probably the best description I’ve heard. I just adored every single second… and didn’t want to step out of the theatre and back into real life.*
After tea and cake…
…we then made our way to Southbank in the rain and had dinner at Strada, before heading our separate ways home (after walking in entirely the wrong direction to Waterloo – yippee, I’m officially a tourist again, with no sense of direction!) and lovely Hannah is coming to stay for a bit later this week. So we can wax lyrical about the ballet all over again.
It was her first ballet – I can’t decide if I’m wildly envious that her first experience was a Bourne, or whether it’ll make future ballets seem, not dull, but perhaps less colourful, by comparison…
And of course, a duck came with me, as one does everywhere… he was eyeing up the teapots, and then I told him that three really was quite enough…
Oh, and just to top off my excitement, Matthew Bourne favourited one of my tweets about it!
*Disclaimer – It must be said that I absolutely love my real life at the moment, but the weekend was host to two of the most magical events of my life so far. So you’ll forgive me for wanting to stay in them. Expect similar behaviour after the Fling – it happens every time!
So I’ve blogged the overview of my new home, here are some of the details. More will emerge in the coming weeks and months – as is probably obvious, I seem to have a ridiculous amount of stuff!
Kitchen and conservatory details:
Wall art and my amazing route 66 clock. The Pepsi sign is actual vintage and has the rust to prove it, the Marmite one much newer.
Fridge with my 2013 things list on it (and it’s magnetic, which for some reason is a massive novelty)
The cakes I made last night and iced this morning with my very exciting housewarming gift from my lovely family, and the mixer itself – squee!!
I love dance in all its forms, and one of my favourite ways of spending money is to browse the many dance outfitters in Covent Garden, or flip through the pages of catalogues on the train. So I was delighted when Move Dancewear contacted me to ask if they could guest post on Ducking Fabulous. They have a gorgeous selection, in a decent range of sizes (for those of us not built like traditional ballerinas, this is important!) and I always get my burlesque essentials (dancers fishnets, practice shoes, etc) from them.
So without further ado, here is the post they wrote for me – I hope you enjoy 🙂
Finding dancewear for your favourite dance craze can be a challenge. It all depends on the dance type, and if you’re ahead of the craze; which often results in stock not being available yet.
However, folks at Move Dancewear cater for dancers and dance enthusiasts of many different styles. So, if you are a dancer, or are looking for a new hobby, here’s some dancewear to inspire you:
Flamenco:
You can go for the classic black frill skirt or the traditional spotted frill skirt. It all depends on your mood. Don’t forget the great Flamenco accessories:
You can choose between red or black flamenco shoes, as both have 2 inch heels and Rivets on toe and heel.
Ballet
Many people are put off by ballet as a hobby, as it’s often regarded as a very professional dance, but you can start any time. Move Dancewear offer start kits for children and adults, which include a leotard, ballet shoes and tights. So, you can give it a go, and see if you like it, before moving on to adding some ballet accessories to your gear:
Tutus and tutu skirts can easily be added to your leotard, and will be essential for when you go forth into the performing world. Even if it’s just a small performance in your local community to raise money for charity, it’s still good to look the part.
Jazz
The first perception of Jazz may be that you’ll have less choice regarding dancewear, but this is by no means the case. There are many different styles of Jazz suits:
You can also opt to just going for the jazz trousers and shoes:
With Jazz, it is very important to have the right footwear, as Jazz shoes give the flexibility to move swiftly, elegantly and precisely.
You can also find books, DVDs and CDs all about dance. For more information on dancewear, as well as ballet and character shoes, visit the Move Dancewear website.
And remember that when it comes to dance, the possibilities are endless.
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Disclaimer: I am not paid or otherwise compensated for guest posts. I only accept those which I feel fit my interests and therefore those of this blog. The content of guest posts does not necessarily reflect my own views or opinions. All images provided by guest blogger.
I have a boudoir photoshoot coming up in a couple of weeks, and as one of the things I’ve always wanted is a photo of me on pointe, I decided this would be a good opportunity.
However, none of my corsets are ballet pink. So I embarked upon a project (see how I get craft into everything?!)
First, you make sure you have all the necessary bits and pieces in one room… ballet shoes, dye, salt, sponge brush and a waterproof covering for your table. And GLOVES. Rubber gloves.
Then you mix your dye – this was the scary part, black is quite drastic…
Then stuff your shoes with newspaper or plastic bags to protect the inside and brush the dye on, being careful to cover all the folds of satin, but not to get the shoes too wet.
They should then look like this and you can leave them to dry.
What I had not foreseen (and after I threw the dye away, of course) was that the colour would soak in and lighten while drying. So now I have this rather lovely blueish grey colour pair of pointes, and I can’t decide whether to re-dye black, or leave them like this. Thoughts, please? (on the basis they’ll be paired with dark burgundy and turquoise/black striped corsets…)
Makeup trial for the wedding (done by me) – this is look one, neutral eyes with sheer-ish red lips. Shocking phone photo and my glasses obscure my eyelids, I know. More of these to come before the actual wedding. Skin’s looking clearer though – Nars illuminator is magical stuff!
Challenging myself to sew something for the Popular Crafts Union Jack swap… here’s my finished needle book 🙂 Will be posted with a treat and a cross stitched card!
Munching the cake I bought for a friend’s BBQ that was abandoned due to rain. I suspect the diet will be back on when I’m back at work, I’m maintaining weight but there’s so much yummy food involved in this week… lol! These cakes, stocked in our local Wyevale (Colchester Stanway and Braintree) are my favourite fallbacks if I don’t have time to bake, they taste homemade!
Sorting bookshelves and installing a ballet barre *cough perfect height clothes rail cough* in my living room – if I’m going to be ready for this burlesque cabaret in October, I need to strengthen my long-neglected dance muscles and improve my flexibility. Removing my glove with my foot is, as expected, somewhat trickier than it looks on stage! My intention is to try to do 10-15 mins of stretches and barre work each day even if I manage no other exercise. Combined with burlesque each week and hopefully cycling when my bike eventually arrives, plus skating which I do whenever I can but usually once a week, I should be trimmer, fitter and more flexible in no time. Yeah. I live in hope. But I’ll at least enjoy myself in the process!
Also managed to paint my toenails (my feet are not fit for photographing so here are the colours I used) and ogling the Pashley Poppy on the front of this month’s Homes and Antiques. Cannot WAIT for mine (it’s the blue, rather than the pink, version) to arrive – hopefully in a little over a month. Squee!
Footnote: I’m aware that wearing pointe shoes while not a trained dancer can damage your feet; I’m also aware mine should have ribbons attached for support. They’re mostly decorative and I intend to wear them for a photoshoot. I doubt I will ever again dance that level of ballet!
Ooh, I’m back. The last nine days have been utterly glorious – but I’m having issues with technology so there may not be as many photos as I’d like. (These issues would involve me having lost my phone charger & transfer lead. Oops.)
So last weekend, I headed up to London to meet the fabulous Hannah for a production of Swan Lake on Ice by the Imperial Ice Stars at the Royal Albert Hall.
The tubes were, as usual at weekends, completely useless, so I went up early and planned a bike ride through Hyde Park to get there instead. Here’s my first ever Boris bike.
The ride was fantastic – I can’t wait for my Pashley to arrive 🙂
Here’s me being a blogger and taking a sort-of outfit photo, before I got on the bike:
Last time I went to the Royal Albert Hall, I was performing. So it was bizarre in the extreme to be walking round the normal parts instead of sprinting round the underground connecting tunnels, half in and half out of my costume, panicking because a crystal had fallen off my hat/boot/face.
Here’s Hannah and I outside… (I’m on the right)
And Hannah and her lovely mum Sue, who also came with us:
We had Prezzo for lunch so I abandoned the diet (the dress was loose by then, woohoo) and had honeycomb smash cheesecake 😀
The performance was utterly brilliant, blending skating, ballet and trapeze seamlessly. I could happily have watched it for several more hours!
Then Sunday was a packing-for-holiday and chilling out kind of a day, punctuated by buying a ridiculous amount of snacks in Asda for the boat, and coming across (and yes, buying) this – butter with a free brownie tray. Why wouldn’t you?!
Most excitingly, I had a proper sense of achievement when I tried the dress on and found it was actually loose. So having completely stuffed myself for a week on the boat, I shall now be trying to maintain this weight for the next seven weeks until the wedding. 🙂
And I shall continue in a separate post for the pics I have of the boat trip 🙂
I'm Carla, a quirky thirtysomething with a penchant for unicorns and glitter. I believe in magic and make-believe, and the gorgeous rebellion of making your life absolutely your own. And I'm a proud multipod!
Proud to be both girly and geeky, when I’m not writing, photographing or daydreaming, you can find me dancing burlesque, riding my bicycle Bluebell, growing herbs and collecting typewriters.
2020 Things
Things I want to do in 2020. Partly from my Daydreams To Do list and also from my general goals for the year.
~ Steampunk events
~ experiment with film cameras
~ walk more
~ explore Colchester
~ beach time
~ kitty portraits
~ western riding
~ spa days
~ silversmithing
~ learn to make bath bombs
~ recreate Lush's Angel's Delight soap fragrance
~ work in sterling silver
~ build a catio
~ handwritten letters
~ photobook of the house project, the cats, Poppy & Dad
~ print my own photos
