What is Shimmy Mob Bellydance Flash Mob?

 Some of my readers and students have heard me mention Shimmy Mob - but what is it? 

 Shimmy Mob is an annual bellydance performance group raising awareness about domestic abuse through the medium of dance. I am the Team Leader for West Covina, CA, and I am honored to have been chosen as one of the 2021 International Choreographers for Shimmy Mob (bonus dances)! That means that if you were a registered participant in 2021, you could learn my choreography along with people across the globe!

 Shimmy Mob is the largest bellydance flash mob in the world, on World Bellydance Day (the second Saturday of May). You have to register on the Shimmy Mob website, and you will get a t-shirt, access to online dance tutorials, free rehearsals/dance lessons, performance opportunities, plus bonus dances to learn throughout the year..  Registration is typically January 1 - March 31.  There is an annual event in May, and a second event in September, for Emotional Abuse Signs Awareness (EASA).  Shimmy Mob is open to everyone, dancers, drummers, non-dancers, and supporters!  

It's a great way to dance for a good cause!  This year, I learned and broke down the choreography and taught it online on zoom to my Team (plus anyone registered for Shimmy Mob, across the country and globe could learn with me).  I taught the main dance, the finale, and the bonus finale.  I will start teaching my bonus dance in November as well. 

 

We performed in a park and recorded our dances for my YouTube channel.  Next year I hope to have a full hafla (dance party) show, including the Shimmy Mob dances and other soloists and group dances from my classes.  We couldn't do it this way in 2021 due to the pandemic, but we still performed in a park with masks and online with both Team Virtual and my own Team recorded on Zoom as well.

Sound fun?  Stay tuned for next year's registration, some time around late December or early January and join me by registering for Team West Covina, CA on the Shimmy Mob website for $36 (plus s&h), that's less than the price of a workshop, and you get so much out of it! I have participated in Shimmy Mob since 2018, I am thrilled Team Leader for West Covina, CA.

Midsummer Night's Madness - wrapping up Summer and starting Fall

Fall has arrived and we are in full Halloween prep mode, mid-October. There's still a pandemic, my kids are still too young to be vaccinated, school is in-person with masks, but no live dance shows have really been feasible this year.  I had booked several shows in October/December, but the October ones were cancelled (not by me), and my dancers are still not comfortable appearing in-person anyhow in a closed space with live audience, so I am guessing the November/December plans will end up being online as well. 

Recovery from my surgery was very long and drawn out, so that was a personal struggle. I had pre-recorded 8 weeks of material for my students while I was out, and one of my dear dance friends also pitched in and taught classes for me, which was a life saver.  2021 has not really been super kind to me, nor a lot of my friends/family.

My classes online resumed in August, although I know people are feeling the zoom fatigue.  I started prepping new dances in August, for the students to learn and hopefully perform, but somehow we are still recording our dances late this year for our online Halloween haflas (compared to last year, thanks, FB memories), and I hope they end up looking good.  I wanted to use routines with original music to avoid any issues with music copyright, but my dancers preferred to use actual Halloween music, so we ended up switching gears there.  I still have to figure out how to "design a set" for outdoors and then film and edit in a very quick turn around (literally a day).  I'm hoping some tips from one of my FB friends helps me out.

 I was hoping by now that my in-person classes would resume.  I have been working on getting them back since August.  Things have gotten in the way though, including high turn over at the recreation center where my classes took place, new rules through the city that are requirements for instructors, and a lot of back & forth emails. It's been left in their hands to figure out, and that has not happened yet. 

I also launched a new website for my dancing, at www.JessikahBellydance.com My old website is still active (for now) but I won't be updating it.  

I was honored to be invited to perform at an 80's cartoon fandom online convention in September, during their Saturday night dance party.  This convention was definitely a highlight of the year.  I created two new costumes based on looks of the main character (one is a deep cut, only super fans would probably recognize), the other was a variation of her main dress/outfit.  I had a store-bought costume I used for the main villain, as well as using my 2020 cosplay-winning costume (the main character), an existing bellydance costume which had been inspired by the villain of the show, and using my own wardrobe to create the looks of a few other characters.  I took the most "bellydance"-esque location/plot from one of the episodes and used it as a mashup fantasy idea for the video.  One of the staff mixed songs from the show into bellydance beats for me, and it was to a song I had danced to way back with Raqs Euphoria, so I used that choreography, added it to a section of my own choreography and the dance was born!  

 

I performed the dance 5 times in full, wearing different costumes, plus added extra shots in character, lip- syncing some of the lyrics (broll), I used a little bit of green screen and some effects, and the video was completed!  The live stream to youtube blinked out right before my performance video, but the people on zoom did get to see it.

September was also Shimmy Mob EASA month.  This is Shimmy Mob's second event of the year, it involves dancing to support victims of Emotional Abuse Signs Awareness.  Emotional abuse is often the precursor to physical abuse and during the pandemic, this is definitely a problem.  We were a smaller group than my May "big" Shimmy Mob team, but I was joined by three of my dancers from my Team West Covina, CA, to perform in a park, socially-distanced, and filmed our video to put up on my YouTube.

 

Next up, is our Halloween string of performances.  We did send last year's Haunted Fairytale to several online shows which required videos early this month, including The Conicle Cat Online Hafla hosted by Kindred Sisters, and Full Moon Dreams - Autumn Equinox Hafla, and I also did solos at these shows as well. Coming up we will perform at a "Scary Good Time" - Night in the Global Village and a Taste of BellyFest produced by Spokane BellyFest.  I also have a second performance for the folks who organized the cartoon convention, they are doing a fundraiser and asked me to do another performance video for them!  

5 qualities of a great belly dancer

 

The five qualities of a great dancer are:

1. Stage Presence - Being able to "own" the stage - whether it's in a restaurant, community event, or a huge theatre stage. This is when people can't take their eyes off the dancer. Confidence is a MUST for stage presence to come through to the audience.
2. Emotion - Connecting to the music you are dancing to, becoming like another instrument in the band, a visual interpretation of the music by the dancer. Connecting to the audience is also very important. Making eye contact and communicating your dance to everyone watching you.
3. Technique - Practice, practice, practice. The only way to get "good," is to set aside the time to practice your technique, whether it is choreography or improvisation, you still need to practice.
4. Attention to Details - Are you wearing make up? Make up is a part of your "costume." Do you point your toe when you lift your foot? Do you have energy in your hands all the way to your fingertips? We dance with our whole bodies, from the eyes to the toes. These are the little things which make a performance better.
5. Commitment to the dance, the history and the culture - Some of the commitment is in your practice, but it should also be commitment to learning about the culture, heritage, and history of the dance and the dancers who came before us.
    
    

How I discovered the joys of dancing

 

I am a life-long dancer. I started dancing when I was 4. My Mom put me in ballet to help with my feet and posture. While those are practical reasons for dancing, something about moving to music would continue to appeal to me all my life.

When I started getting into pop and rock music, I wanted to move. It was something I had to do. I continued with ballet, but added jazz and tap, as well as some hula to my dance life. Jazz was especially appealing to me, and I would later learn that it helped me tremendously with my Raks Sharki (belly dance) because of the isolated movements we did in our bodies. Some of the same lines of movement, and moves themselves also translate over to raks sharki, such as arabesque, chassé, chaîne turns, and graceful arm positions.

I initially was interested in belly dance via the amazing costumes. Having a background in theatre and dance, that was already something that interested me. Beyond costuming, though, I enjoyed the soft movements and how belly dance really was for every person, not just "ballet" bodies. The moves are more gentle than ballet but you can still incorporate the fierceness from jazz.

The styles I have studied the most are traditional Raks Sharki (Egyptian) belly dance and American Cabaret (AmCab) style. I have also studied Fat Chance Belly Dance Style (formerly ATS), which is an improvisational style, but I prefer raks sharki and AmCab. I love the Golden Era of American Cabaret the most, but I also have incorporated some jazz and street/pop style fusion into some of my choreography work.

 

Rising from the Ashes?

Will things be returning to "normal" any time soon? For now, we have the rise of the dance film and continuation of online classes.

Things have started improving from the pandemic, but now we are in the middle of a new surge from Covid's next incarnation, Delta variant.  This is the one which ravaged India and is spreading faster than the first problematic version.  Unfortunately, this has stalled our "Rising from the Ashes" return to normal life.

 How has this affected classes?  Some classes have returned in some communities, but others have not.  I continued to teach online this year, taking a short break, but I am returning to online classes simply because the place I used to teach in person is not running community classes yet.  The dance studio I taught at is unfortunately, gone.

 I stacked up many projects before my break, including all my Shimmy Mob videos for my team, another Dance Film, and a bunch of online performances for me and my troupe.  I had to plan for my time off, by pre-taping online workshops, classes, and content for my Patreon dancers.  I recorded various workshops and on demand content to fill in for the time I was off.

We incorporated the theme from a Hafla which was supposed to be on our schedule, "Mardi Gras," into a new dance film, using two of my choreographies that were brand new, which people learned online with me.  "Pirates and Parties" was the result, our best dance film so far.  The story starts in New Orleans, during a parade, for our first dance, and then transforms into a pirate's dance with swords as a bellydance prop.

 

Pirates and Parties aired on various online Haflas and shows, including Cairo ShimmyQuake festival (in a shortened form), plus our dance film was viewed at an in person hafla at Tribal Beats Studio, and segments aired on "a Thousand Wishes Show" (one dance only) produced by Full Moon Dreams Performances, and our zoom version of our dances aired on several different a Night in the Global Village online haflas.  It was also viewable on my YouTube Channel.

 I also performed solos at Cairo ShimmyQuake, a Thousand Wishes Show and a Night in the Global Village.

Shimmy Mob was a large undertaking as well, with our own multi-camera Team West Covina dance film shot in a park of all three official May dances, plus an online zoom version of the same dances, and a more expanded group of Shimmy Mob participants (from Washington state, California, Missouri, Kentucky) for a Night in the Global Village with the Shimmy Sirens of Zoom troupe.

 I was hoping my in person classes would return by late summer, but it will depend on Delta and how aggressive it ends up being.  In fact, I was in the process of rescheduling my classes to return at the community center, but then the Delta variant started spreading and everything changed. The center backtracked on having any parks & recreation classes.  Masks have returned after only being "unmasked" for a number of weeks. I was thinking, what was the last pandemic and how long did it last, and it seems like the last comparable one was in 1918 and it lasted for 2 years.

There will be a September Shimmy Mob event (maybe virtual only now?), plus there are the bonus Shimmy Mob dances, and a few shows which are tentatively scheduled for the fall, including a couple of restaurant ones and a local festival. 

 In the meantime, I revamped/redid my website and I'm hoping to launch that with the return of my classes.  I have several sewing projects that I need to get back to, plus planning for the possibility of upcoming belly dance shows (?).

photos: Alex H

Shimmy Mob Signups in January - March!

 One of my favorite events of the year is Shimmy Mob, a world-wide charity flashmob of bellydance, and the only one of its kind.  What is Shimmy Mob?  Shimmy Mob raises awareness about domestic abuse, and raises funds for shelters. Participants are from Australia, to Canada, to Europe, the Philippines to the USA.  Literally all over the world.

Visit the website and register/make an account, choose a city to dance in (there's also an option for the "virtual team" this year), and pay the $36 (plus $7.95 shipping & handling), and you are in.  Everyone is welcome, too, you don't need dance experience.  I am Team Leader for West Covina, CA, where I teach my classes.  The money goes to support victims of domestic abuse.  The point of the event is to raise awareness of domestic abuse in a fun, accessible way, through a bellydance flash mob.

 For a small registration fee, which is less than the cost of a bellydance workshop, you get a t-shirt, access to online dances which you learn (via online tutorials), plus free rehearsals/dance lessons with your team leader (such as me), bonus dances, and the opportunity to perform the dances.  There are officially two events per year (May and September), but each team can have as many events as they want after the main event, which is always the first weekend of May, on World Bellydance Day.  Last year was the 10th anniversary of Shimmy Mob, and we got a total of 9 dances to learn throughout the year!  There is always one official choreography plus a finale dance, and then you get "bonus" dances just for being a paid participant.  You may perform the dances as long as you give choreography and music credit at any event after that first May event.  For the official May event, you have to wear the Shimmy Mob t-shirt and black bottoms (there is a dress code), but for the bonus dances you may wear whatever you want.  

The September event has an optional dance, and is during "Emotional Abuse Awareness" month.  Your team may choose to do an event for this time and purpose as well.

Last year I had the pleasure of dancing with international new friends I met through online rehearsals.  I danced with a team in Canada, and then I learned a bonus Shimmy Mob dance, choreographed by Caliana, who taught us online, she is Team Leader in Santa Cruz, CA.  

Through online rehearsals, I performed the September Shimmy Mob event (called EASA, emotional abuse signs awareness) with Caliana from Santa Cruz, and dancers from Spokane, led by Yalayna, as well as the Knoxville team led by Sandy, and other Shimmy Mob teams.  We liked dancing together so much, we formed an online bellydance troupe, the Shimmy Sirens of Zoom.  This troupe also includes Team Leaders Katerina from Missouri, and myself, Team Leader from West Covina, CA.

Want to join Shimmy Mob?  If you are one of my local students, you can join my Team!  Sign up (registration is open until March 31) at www.ShimmyMob.com

 

New Year, Still Virtual

2021 has begun, and the pandemic is still an issue.  We had a holiday surge of cases and another stay at home order.  My Patreon is going strong and I currently have a great group of students in my $10/month troupe tier, and I have also become a Team Leader for Shimmy Mob, a worldwide bellydance flash mob event that happens annually and I have participated in since 2018.  This is my first year being a Team Leader.

Usually I start the year with new choreography in my two-three in person classes.  This year I'm still teaching online, and my recreation center has recently opened as a covid-testing site, so clearly there won't be any classes there any time soon.  The dance studio I used to teach in has not reopened since the pandemic started.

This in mind, I have many projects on the horizon for this year.  I am creating new choreography keeping in mind the restrictions for teaching online, including space, and facing forward for most moves (as opposed to facing different areas of the stage), I'm planning online haflas and another park dance film shoot.

What is a dance film shoot?  I had the opportunity to film two different park socially-distanced performances with my local students, using 3-4 cameras, including short plots, character development and choreography.  It was great!  My husband was my cameraman, I directed, produced, choreographed and edited the pieces.  I love the way they turned out.  I even cut together trailers for them and they debuted on YouTube at several online haflas in the fall. 

 

I had the pleasure of dancing in a handful of online haflas (dance parties) last year as well, some live,  which sort of replicate the feeling of performing live, and some via pre-taped video.  The live shows are exciting and unpredictable, but feel like performing for live television, with tech rehearsals, and of course the challenges of live shows, like music playback issues, and video tech issues.  However, I was very impressed with a lot of the volunteers who put together the shows, particularly the Night in the Global Village crew, and how well they handled it.

The Shimmy Sirens of Zoom, an online bellydance troupe who met through Shimmy Mob (see my blog entry on Shimmy Mob), performed together at several online haflas this fall.  We started out by doing Shimmy Mob dances, but branched out into performing Halloween and Winter holiday routines to match the themes of the online haflas we performed in.  We performed five different dances in addition to two Shimmy Mob routines.

 

My online classes have taken on the feeling of live TV if you are viewing them, with me using a microphone, an audio mixer, my studio and lights.  If you take my online classes, it should still feel like my traditional classes, I'm dancing in front of a mirror with my back to you so you can follow along.  I look forward to teaching online until the pandemic is over. I have taught a total of 55 online classes in 2020, usually two a week, from May until December.

The shows I was involved in for 2020 online included: a Night in the Global Village (including Sun 'n Fun; the Stars Are Out; Holiday Joy; and Halloween); Virtual Cairo ShimmyQuake, Cafe Raqs End of 2020 Show, Hips that Go Bump in the Night; Virtual Winter CairoShimmy, the Night Before Christmas Virtual Variety Show, The BellyDance Bundle Showcase, Emerald Hips Holiday Hafla, Week of Winter Wonders, plus the Instagram challenges, 21 Days of Bellydance and 12 Days of Bellydance.

photo credit: Haunted Fairytale poster by Jessikah; Jessikah's Johara Dragons flyer (Night Before Christmas) by Lynda Reina Jenkins; Sun N Fun flyer and Shimmy Sirens of Zoom flyer by Yalayna, photo of Jessikah by Scott York photography