Life has been very busy indeed. I see that I haven't updated my blog since 2024! Oops.
My last post I talked about the expansion of classes. I'm still doing the two in San Dimas, Shimmy Mob and online classes. So I left off in that last post August 2024 talking about the January - Summer events of that year. Here's a recap of the end of 2024 to begin this post.
Last Fall we did do Scaretacular again but I did not do a solo video as I had in previous years. I think the show was more limited and only allowed for one submission last year. We decided to do a magic theme because we were a bit over the idea of doing Halloween again. It was feeling like it would be hard to top the Haunted Brides videos we made in 2023, and even my Alice in Wonderland one I did as a solo.
The Magic video turned out very cute though, it was a classic old school vibe trying to channel black & white magic films to a cane/saidi fusion dance. Last year the producers decided to do a "story" where each of us individual dance films were a sort of "act/scene" in the story. We were given an object to use as part of our video and we chose a cane.
We did do the Claremont hafla again at the end of the year, after Thanksgiving, and of course the Upland Halloween one. It was our first time dancing to Beladeedee in person since I created that dance while we were still doing most things online (our Dragon themed video for Scaretacular 2022).
The Shimmy Sirens of Zoom did a new Christmas performance, two drum solos (one with candy canes) to different versions of Jingle Bells that were Arabic versions. We danced it live online.
After the holiday break, and into 2025, we came into the new year performing at the Purple hafla, where we also reprised our "Mardi Gras" set from video (2021) in person. We filmed a transformation video for Amustela's hafla doing the theme of butterflies in a new dance film, we did it early in the year and didn't release the video until May.
The Shimmy Mob dance this year was a bit challenging, as it often is, I usually start learning it in January so I can teach it to my team. It had a 9/8 rhythm section which is definitely something unique and usually found in Turkish Romani dances. Since Xyla didn't dance with us at the hangar in June, we reprised our Shimmy Mob set there, doing that dance and the drum solo bonus.
An unexpected development this year was that I danced twice at the big festival in June and I ended up working the Renaissance Faire, which was a bucket list item of mine. The festival I have danced two and even three times at before, so that wasn't necessarily new, but it was different. I did a tribal routine with a new class I started taking on Wednesday nights and of course with my troupe.
The Renaissance Faire was fun and great for personal development but it ended up being different than I expected. I was not supposed to be dancing there, I was going to be acting. I ended up dancing more than acting. I danced many solos, some duets, some small group pieces, but it was all improvisation. I made several costumes for this because we had a "dress code" and were required to look a certain way, so I could not use most of my costuming for this event. My husband said I looked like "Queen Amidala" every time I got ready for a Faire day. Unfortunately the faire grounds have lost their lease and so I have no way of knowing what that means for the future.
I did work on many solo dance films this year because the troupe had its own challenges. We did do the Transformation piece, plus a recent Steampunk fusion piece (we actually shot two versions of this one), but other than that, I ended up submitting four solos so far this year. I did a solo for the fusion piece using the Cairo festival gothic tribal routine because I did not do that on stage, and since I learned it I wanted to use it in something. Other than that, I learned two Shimmy Mob bonus dances which I performed and submitted to online shows (Hasani's Hafla), and I relearned one of my own routines which I added zils and veils to and submitted that to Amustela's classic Raks Sharki show.
I started relearning Teel fan technique when I had the time because I really wanted to improve my skills on that. I did have to put my own learning on hold when I was preparing for the LA Fair again, because after I applied, I lost two dancers in my troupe and that was very stressful. Still, we did do the show with special guests and it was a big success.
As I mentioned, I started taking classes as a student again because I really feel like I need inspiration. I have taken a few fusion workshops too because I'm really trying to work on my own technique.
I'm absolutely devastated that JoAnn Fabric Stores have all closed. I am a life long sewer and crafter and this is terrible news. Also the company that publishes all the major patterns has declared bankruptcy after buying the pattern companies! What does this mean for sewing in the future? I don't know. Michael's craft stores did buy out JoAnn after they closed all the stores so maybe we will get fabrics again but I'm not entirely sure.
I'll be dancing at two new festivals coming up in August. Hoping those go well. One will be troupe and one is solo.
I'm planning the next video shoots for Halloween already too and I have to prep the upcoming Shimmy Mob for September.
