What Do You Think?

 THEN.......

NOW...... one new head and skin later.

It's Coming! - I'm Not Sure It's Coming!

 

I don't know, I just don't know.  Trying to put this show together has taken 4 years and we are so close to the end of the finish line that I started advertising for it.  But since this past April things have been coming up in the real world that has halted production in it's tracks.  Real life comes first, always.

In order for this show to work, everyone who signed up for it HAS to be able to do every single show.  If ONE person has to call out the show has to be canceled.  That's because we are doing two stages and performing 14 songs in one hour.

At a normal show there is usually a filler song which is a song that's played while the next dance is being set up.  With the Sins & Virtues show, there won't be a filler song.  They will be back to back with the only "filler" is the introduction that Aryanna gives for the next set.  And that's how you get 14 dances back to back in the same time it would take do do a normal show which is 6 - 8 sets and takes about an hour.

So I told the crew that if we don't have the Sins & Virtues show ready to go by our 9th anniversary, I'm going to throw in the towel and show the dances we did have completed on our regular stage.  

But all is not lost! We are still trying to make this work and I hope we accomplish it because we'd be the first dance team to ever do a show like this.  Fingers crossed!

Why Karen Why?

People friend me all of the time.  They send one message and the next thing I know they are offering friendship.  Then I'd go back later and remove them when they are offline as not to "offend" them because you all know how that goes.  😭😭

 So like many others - because I get conferences all of the time - I decided to use my friends list and make an advertisement list for the teams upcoming shows.  In the past six months I've sent conferences for three shows, and I do it two times for each one - one for the premiere and the other for the encore.

Now yesterday I sent this message out like I always do with links to our program info as well as the LM to our theater.  And then this bitch responds:

She could have just closed out the conference, like I do but she decided to respond and plug the theater where she is performing instead.  

I have a deep respect for other teams and would NEVER do something like this in a public chat.  If you are tired of seeing these conferences from me, then REMOVE ME FROM YOUR FRIENDS LIST and be done with it, I won't be offended I promise.  I took the liberty of removing her since she has a finger problem and can't use the remove button herself.  I mean if you aren't interested in what I am doing, why keep me on your "friends" list?  

Karen, it wasn't cool, show some respect for the hard work that other directors do to entertain, it's not a competition.  

Dancing With The Star!

 

Thought a cute background would be nice.  😍 

The "Spot On Costume Assistant."  (Purchase Here)  A marvelously wonderful gadget that takes dance to the next level by using RLV to perform a specific function.  (What is RLV?)  Don't see the "#RLV" folder?  Then you have to make one: Inventory → Create New Folder → Rename → #RLV → Save.  This should create a system folder in your main inventory.  And it's this folder you will create folders with items you will need to put into it for a directors dance.  

Inventory windows may vary. ☺

The "CA" as we call it is a hud you wear on your screen.  It contains a "! Configuration" notecard with information needed for the hud to work properly.  The director may have you make changes to it - such as changing the channel number or adding their name to the bottom of the card.  Our team uses the default 44 channel but there may be circumstances where your RLV folders differ from other dancers and your costume needs to change at a different time - so different channel.  For my team we have a configuration card that just replaces the one in under the "Contents tab" for your hud.  I keep a copy of it at the bottom of all of our meeting minutes so that first time users don't have to worry about setting it up.  Here's the notecard.  👇👇👇

When you save costumes for dances make sure this is included! →⭐←  If the director ever needs to change the channel in this hud, make a copy of the hud, its modifiable!

If the →⭐←is red you do not have RLV enabled in your viewer.  Preferences → Firestorm → First Option. Turns it on.  A silver →⭐← means the hud is loading.  

And to conclude, this a command being used to control whatever objects are being changed in your costume: 👇👇👇

💃🕺💃🕺Score = 💯 out of 💯 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Thank you for playing!!    🏆

 

   

It's Coming!

 

"I hear the train a comin'..."

AnnaHelle's Great Escape

 I am not kidding when I say that AnnaHelle ran out my front door when I opened it.  I wish I had a pic of that!  Then she ran completely around my wrap around porch, went down the steps and off into the yard.  Luckily, the KittyCats go home on their own which is one of the things I love about them.  I have five cats and that's the first time I've ever seen one of them do that.  😂😂

The steps she escaped from.  ☝☝

Under the porch.

Look at her panting!  😂😂

Get yerself a KittyCat!!

For Dancers: Organizing Your Dance Folders

In addition to saving your outfits to your Appearance Folder (see previous post) it's very important to keep them organized in your inventory.  We perform our dances more than once and by keeping your costumes organized you minimize the risk of losing that costume, especially if you have a large inventory and are struggling to keep it organized.   In the photo below it shows how I've organized my folders.  My main folder is called "Directors Dances."  I have folders for each director, and under their names are folders with every song I danced in.  I keep everything needed for that particular costume in this folder.  I didn't screenshot my entire folder but it's set up like this:

Dance 

    Directors Dances

        Aryanna Draken

            Everybody Wants to Rule The World  (entire costume in this folder)  

!BODY COPY is the folder I talked about in my last post.  

Keeping your dance stuff together will be very beneficial to you in the long run.  😃

So You Wanna Be A Dancer!

 

"Tonight, and the Rest of my Life - Nina Gordon."
Premiered with DX on 4/21/18

I have been dancing in SL for 9 years now, and directed almost as long.  I keep what I do anally organized and I want to share with you some of the things I do to make things easier for me when preparing to build a dance, and keeping costumes organized for upcoming shows.  If  you're new to the world of dance I hope the things I share moving forward will be helpful to you.

One of the things a director relies on is the ability of the dancer to accessorize their costuming, and to do split second costume changes at show time.  So being organized is essentially important.  

I keep all of my costumes for dances in my appearance folder.  If you don't know what this is, right click around your toolbar and go into the toolbar buttons.  Look for this....

Once you've found it, drag it to one of the edges of your monitor and drop it.  Now you have easy access to all of your saved outfits!

Appearance may look different in other skins.

When I put a costume together I don't use the same head/body I use for every day wear.  I make a copy of them and put them in their own special folder - that way I have a blank copy of Dejaye when putting my costumes together.  I can change up her makeup, make body alterations when needed, and by saving the outfit I always have it because we run a dance more than one time.  

In my folder I have the things that I want Dejaye to have with each costume:

My "Dance Body" folder.
This is Dejaye naked with no hair.

So this folder has everything I want Dejaye to wear for each of her dances.  Every time I have a new costume to put together I make a copy of this folder and paste it in the main folder for the dance.  Doing it this way is so much easier when putting a costume together.

So once you've completed your ensemble, save it to your appearance and forget about it.  If the dance is on the schedule again you don't have to do anything to prepare for it unless you want to upgrade your looks which you can do via the appearance folder with the button "Save Changes."

Easy peasy!  If you want to minimize the amount of outfits in your appearance folder and want to save the costume, simply go into your Inventory and find the Outfits folder, open another inventory window and look for the folder with the costume for that dance, then just drag it over.  You can always drag it back when doing the dance again.  

Feel free to contact me in world if you have any questions, I'm more than happy to help! 😁👍

Fresh Faced Dejaye!

I 😍😍😍  Dejaye's looks.  I've had a CATWA head for five years, and three of those years she wore the same skin.  Why mess with perfection right?? 😂

Everything was going great until the BOM heads came out with attached ears and amazing earrings that were compatible.  My Pumec mesh ears just weren't gonna work for me anymore.  

Dejaye before cosmetic surgery.

 

Fur Kids of the Hidey Hole

 For those animal lovers.... if you like to RP owning animals but don't want animal avatars, here are some nice alternatives.  

Named after my real life cat. All of my cats are "KittyCats" and they need to be fed or they will get sick.  They are able to interact with objects and avatars. 

Adopted from a friend - named after the DX Mascot

A "Jian" pet, doesn't need to be fed.  Only interacts with his cage.

Senior cat adopted from a friend.

These are "Teegle" horses, and they interact with each other and you.  Feeding is optional however, when I have a trough out for them all they want to do is stand around it. 😂

Rescued her from the BYB marketplace.

A gift from a friend.

These are Meeroos and need to be fed or they will run away forever and you have to pay to get them back.  Junior is 11 years old and the others are 6.  LilBit is named in honor of my dog. 

The Story of Chad

 Because that's all it is, a story.  

Adding things to the Hidey Hole at Crystal Lake

Yoga Mats for meditation and inner tubes for chillaxing.

 

New dock for the new paddle boat.  Need the paddle boat to get to the...
👇👇👇👇👇

Raft. 
The raft is in the middle of Crystal lake.  It has the perfect view
of the moon and the Northern Lights.

Awesome view whilst chilling on a hammock.

From my bedroom window.

History of The Hidey Hole

FUN FACT:

 

I bought and textured this sail boat in 2016 when I lived at Burning Embers the first time.  

Six years later and I'm back.  Glad I never changed Burning Embers on my boat.  😊 

The old home coordinates is based on what I have on the back of my boat.

Seven Sins, Seven Virtues - The Cursed Production Show

So this show has been in the works since 2018.  The goal behind this show was to create one dance for each sin and virtue and run the performance with no "filler" song between dances, which is what is done at our regular performances.  The only break between each dance will be the time used from Aryanna's introduction to the next dance.  Now what does this mean for you?  It means you're going to get double the dances in the same amount of time as our regular performances.  So about an hour as long as SL is cooperative and there are no serious lag issues.  This is definitely a show you'd have to script down for!

We  had finally gotten close to a premiere date, it was set for our 8th Anniversary on the weekend of May 20th.  Then real life reared it's ugly head and a few of us had to focus on that.  We were working on the last three sets for the show when one of the girls had to take medical leave, and I had to do the same regarding my son.  In order for this show to be successful, every director and dancer who signed up has to be present.  There were only three directors who created dances for this show and two of us couldn't commit so this is why we've postponed this show.  It wouldn't matter if I had three directors or ten, everyone who created a dance for this show would have to be present in order for the show to run correctly.  So for now we are going to shelve it until things get back to normal.  I can't wait!!

Coming Home

Dejaye's Hidey Hole

 

Home at last!!  This is the LAST home I will own in Second Life.  When it's gone, I'm gone.  This isn't just any old parcel by a landlord you never actually get to talk to, this was the very first parcel the Dance Xcetera team called home back in 2015.  And my home, "Dejaye's Hidey Hole" was on the ground underneath it.  

There came a time when I could no longer afford the quarter sim and had no idea how moving forward without a theater was going to work.  I figured I could just rent a quarter at show time, but that too was an expense I couldn't really afford at the time.  Then my RL friend Aryanna spoke to her good friend Nigel and he allowed us the use of his sim for no fee.  Our team called the Sandalphon sim home for two years until moving to the Llopango sim owned by a douche bag named Dutchess, someone who stabbed me in the back and almost cost me my team so she could have one of her own.  

Here are some pictures of my home, and the theater.  It sounds crazy but it was sentimental coming back to the Burning Embers sim, where it all started, and on the exact same parcel - I think the universe was telling me something, that this team was meant to be.  I have the best landlord ever, she's very reasonable and wants to make her residents happy.  She's also put out a sim environment and sky.  Simply lovely!  Welcome home to me!

Fishing & Jet Ski's - You can ride them off of the sim!

Gazebo

Beautiful Sunset

DX Welcome Center

DX Theater - Its summer break so no chairs.  :-)