Thread: Escaping Klingons

tonight, a loop of loose thread on my veil hem caught around a large sequin on my skirt in the middle of the song, in the middle of the restaurant! i couldn't see that small kling-on loop that was clinging on to my veil. mercifully a waitress helped me get untangled and took the offending veil off stage as we both wagged a finger at it. we were able to turn it into a joke and make the audience laugh. thank goodness for her help!

have you ever had costume pieces stick together mid-performance and how did you escape the kling-ons?

silk veils and velvet don't go together well for me (cling on to each other), and since I'm a star trek fan I just had to see your post.

I got a veil caught in my earring once, when I was doing double veil. In the end I had to yank it. Earring hit the floor along with the veil.

I also conjured up a a scene in my head of a bellydancer running from Klingons at a convention :)
I think turning it into a joke was brilliant!
I've had an earing catch onto my bra strap strap, I did some quick turns while frantically pulling at it, probably not as refined as your tactic LOL.

I thought you were being attacked by a troll

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

tonight, a loop of loose thread on my veil hem caught around a large sequin on my skirt in the middle of the song, in the middle of the restaurant! i couldn't see that small kling-on loop that was clinging on to my veil. mercifully a waitress helped me get untangled and took the offending veil off stage as we both wagged a finger at it. we were able to turn it into a joke and make the audience laugh. thank goodness for her help!

have you ever had costume pieces stick together mid-performance and how did you escape the kling-ons?

There's a great piece of footage somewhere on DVD, can't remember the name of it BellyDance Babylon or one of those doing the circuit, with a male dancer who gets his hand ornament caught on his costume. It's hilarious. He desperately tries to extricate himself whilst maintaining dignity. Classic.

Zills and chunky fringe on my belts. Not good. . .

{{{HUGS}}}

I have veils catch on rhinestones on my costume all the time. I just try to untangle it as quickly as possible while continuing to dance, I always hope no one sees!

I made the grievous error once of not doing a dress rehearsal with a new costume. The bra had very chunky stones, and the top was asymmetrical with a net sleeve. I discovered on stage that the net sleeve had a bad tendency to catch on a couple of the stones near the sides of the bra. I would up several times with my right arm connected to the side of my bra, and trying to surreptitiously release it over and over again. A friend of mine was in the audience, and she said it looked like I had a very itchy armpit.

I got a zil caught in my hair (teased, half-up) once, and couldn't get it untangled, so I took it off my finger and left it in there! After a minute or two, it worked itself loose, so I caught it and put it back on. I'm not sure if anyone noticed...

I've snagged my zil on looped fringe once or twice too.

I had an Ultimate Klingon at my very first ever restaurant gig.

I was wearing one of those fabulous Pharonics pleated skirts with all the sequins all over it. I was making a pass around the dining room and a thread from my skirt got stuck to a CHAIR!! I was dancing and suddenly felt this tug on my skirt. I looked down and the chair was following me! So I stood still and danced and, thank goodness, a troupemate came over and freed me while I did standing isolations.

I've gone through whole sets with my skirt hem stuck to my shoe buckle.

I think when it's really bad, you're best of to take the full moment to just extricate yourself, dancing be damned, and then get back to it. It's nice if you can still be 'present' with your audience, make a cute eye-rolling face, hold up your 'just a minute' finger, bob your head in time to the music, whatever seems appropriate.

Originally Posted by jmdruadh

so I caught it and put it back on.

now THAT'S skill.

Veil (why is it always the veil???) caught up in the snake upper arm band (the metal kind). Tried pulling at it a bit, but not able to pull it out. Had a large group of friends in attendance that evening. Went to one of the men and asked him to work on it. (Why ask a man and not go straight to a woman? Men tend to have better spatial perception than women and therefore might be able to extricate it a bit more easily and quickly). Finally got it untangled, with me in a backbend hip lift the whole time. I bowed, led the clapping acknowledgment for my friend and continued the show.

What if we couldn't get me unhooked? .w.: I guess I woulda ripped that *!#& armband off and thrown it out the front door!

I just wanna know, why does this stuff happen in shows? It never happens in rehearsal!

Deborah

Originally Posted by casbahdance

I just wanna know, why does this stuff happen in shows? It never happens in rehearsal!

so true!
omg these are so funny. to bad we don't have footage of all these. we could make an awesome bloopers dvd ..l;,

Originally Posted by laura 2

I discovered on stage that the net sleeve had a bad tendency to catch on a couple of the stones near the sides of the bra.

i had one of those too. spent half a song with my arm stuck to the side of my bra

Originally Posted by jmdruadh

so I caught it and put it back on.

totally impressive!

anyone else?..g.:

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

i had one of those too. spent half a song with my arm stuck to the side of my bra

My solution (after the fact) was to coat the problem stones with about 10 layers of clear nail polish. Never had a problem with it since.

I saw a dancer during a performance who when she removed her wings, her bra halter strap came undone too. My instructor & I were guess dancers with her and standing in the wings. We didn't notice at first - she kept dancing with her hands behind her head (trying to reattach her strap). We finally realized what was happening and were discussing whether we should jump in to help her when she finally got it reattached. No one in the audience even noticed! I was so impressed she handled it so well!

All my veils are silk, and all my gauntlets are velvet. Need I say more?,r:;

Well you really haven't lived unless you've had costume drama. Over the last 20 + years:

1. Stepped on skirt while stepping up on stage, fell to my knees. It was a competition and I won 2nd place.

2. Stepped on skirt and kept tripping over it. Thankfully, it was pinned to belt and didn't fall over. This has happened numerous times.

3. Halter bra, sewed in the middle of the neck had seam come undone. Left the stage 3 times before another dancer helped me pin and sew it together. Good news: Made $150 in tips BEFORE the incident. And had audience attention every after.

4. Stepped on darn skirt again.

5. Had front closure bra, come undone during a turkish drop. Luckily drape of fringe kept me modest. Even more lucky was I had a 2nd costume with me so I ran off stage and did a quick change.

6. During a cane dance at a party, my cane whipped my hairpiece right off my head!

7. During a party where I unwisely got on a table that tipped, a patron grabbed my hairpiece to prevent himself from falling. I narrowly escaped having it yanked from my head.

8. Minor issues: veil sequins sticking to hair, fringe from headpiece sticking to lip gloss, eyeliner dripping down face, cuts on feet from broken glass beads leaving trails of blood on the stage...

6. During a cane dance at a party, my cane whipped my hairpiece right off my head!

You lived after that?? My worst drag queen nightmare!

Originally Posted by norma

cuts on feet from broken glass beads leaving trails of blood on the stage...

oh that's the worst! nothing like putting the barefoot dancer on right after the plate throwing and ouzo dance glass breakage! or even your own shed glass beads.

well, i tempted fate and wore the same costume tonight (different venue) and my right sleeve attached itself to my right bra cup 3 times! but not once last night. hmm we should be careful what we say. apparently the costumes can hear us ..c::

question: for those of you who've lost a hair piece mid- performance, what did you do? keep going? run off stage? cover head with veil?
can't even imagine!

Fun thread!

Kling-ons:
1. silk veil and velvet skirt. 'nuff said
2. crocheted overskirt and big-ass standing coat hanger (dragged it for a few cm, then it tipped, caught it with my hand just in time but was covered in jackets and shawls)
3. on stage: beaded upper-arm sleeve and earring.. Pose!

Kling-off:
At a show last year I was doing some jillina-style bounces at the end of a drum solo while wearing a brand-new clip-on ponytail. Bad!!! Luckily I was able to grab it mid-bounce and managed to clip it right back on before the finale.

Originally Posted by anala

6. During a cane dance at a party, my cane whipped my hairpiece right off my head!

You lived after that?? My worst drag queen nightmare!

Truly one of my life's most embarrassing moments. I put it back on and finished the show but I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die. The band thought it was hilarious.

Back when my hair was uber-short and spikey, I lost a whole WIG at a party once. Oh the shame. It was a BIG party, too, and what had been a loud, festive rollicking good time became a communal indrawn breath and silence (except for the music).

What could I do? I ruffled up my fuzz and put my wig on the birthday boy (it was his 70th) and we did a little jitterbug. Everyone laughed, and luckily the party was nearly over then anyway.

*whew*

I thought I handled it as well as I could've, but the singing telegram agency who booked me for that -- and loaned me the wig, most of their characters wear some kind of wigs -- never called me for another gig after that.

Hmmmmm....

My beaded trumpet skirts like to grab chairs. I've gotten pretty good at rhythmically scolding inanimate objects once I am free. Finger shimmies, dismissive hip bumps.

But my biggest issue with Klingons thus far has come in the guise of a restaurant owner. I shoulda known by the facial hair...old style Klingon

too many....

1. most embarrassing: my favorite lycra/heavy beaded costume exposing my undies...twice...at big shows....on tape :( (solved that now with the sewn-in boy shorts...thank you Bhuz!)
2. most comical: during a troupe number, while spinning in a circle, my sequined edge skirt and a troupe member's linked and we spiraled into one another and <clunked>, then sort of scrambled into the final pose. It took about 10 minutes to untangle us
3. most painful: catching my hair in a sequined wrist band while moving my arm over my head....and having to rip it out of my hair (along with a bunch of my hair)....on a raised stage in front of about 700 people....and no wincing!!!

I have a gauntlet with looped fringe that came with a costume that has straight bra fringe, and they get tangled often, pinning my arms to my sides. My worst Klingon problem though (besides the local Star Trek convention) was while I was sub-hostessing the Moun showcase when the Princess was out. I wore a new clip-on hairpiece, and I made the mistake of lifting my hair while I still had on my zills. The zills got caught, of course, in the super-curly fall, and I had to dance for half a minute or so with my hands in my hair while I freed them...and all the tugging loosened the pony so I had to fix it before it fell off completely. eeergh.

I had a veil catch on the beads on one of my bra straps and I could not get it undone, so I threw the veil around my neck and danced until I could duck out of sight and detach it.

Originally Posted by jmdruadh

I got a zil caught in my hair (teased, half-up) once, and couldn't get it untangled, so I took it off my finger and left it in there!

I had the same thing happen (I have Medusa hair - my husband fears it) BUT

I trusted my hair too much. When I went into a spin, the hairzil took flight and skidded to a halt on rocky pavement below the stage. :Aohmy:

Oh oh I remember another one! My veil got caught in my (back)skirt zipper once so I tugged at it and managed to free myself after a short struggle..
But in the process the veil had ripped ,f:: *and* the zipper unzipped.. .w.: Nice. Glad I wore my matching undies that day!

Originally Posted by anala

6. During a cane dance at a party, my cane whipped my hairpiece right off my head!

You lived after that?? My worst drag queen nightmare!

Me too! I'm so afraid of this!! ..l;,