Spring 2026

 I see I have not updated the blog in quite awhile.  The Fall ended up being pretty busy, as you probably guessed by the lack of updates.  We did produce two Halloween themed dance films again, one for Scaretacular and one for Amustela's Spooktacular, and this past year we had to find a suitable location because our old location was not available.

We went with a plague theme for one and the other was a mystical good vs evil type theme.  For the plague theme I was able to incorporate footage we had shot at the Renaissance festival where we had a guild so that was nice.  

Our annual Haflaween show took place after that where we reprised a couple of those routines to perform them in person (rather than via cinematic / music video style).  I was invited to solo at a restaurant showcase by Marjhani in early November and then I danced both a solo to live music (improvisation) and a troupe set for Marjhani's Claremont show Re-Emergence.

Normally I take off the month of December for a break but this past December I decided to keep teaching and then I ended up doing a show in January so it was good that I had a class going because we used my intermediate class to prepare for that show at the Fairplex.  It was a collaboration with some long time friends and it was a great success.  

Following January's show, I took time to take a bunch of classes to improve my own technique while I was also teaching.  I was happy I had the time to do so, because a lot of times I'm just too busy to work on my own skills and that is hard for me.  I feel like being a life long student is an important thing and learning with different teachers is also very valuable.

Now here we are in Spring and things are winding up again to be the busiest season of all, shows in May and June.  We have Shimmy Mob, then the LA Fair, followed by Cairo ShimmyQuake festival, I'll be dancing at the famous Moun of Tunis restaurant, and then Rhaqsira Festival Gala Show.  We might do SAMEDA again in August, but we will have to see about that one.

I have a lot of preparation to do for myself and my troupe as well as costuming and photoshoots.  I submitted most of my music for these shows already but I'm still working on a lot of stuff behind the scenes.

Moving Into Fall 2025

 After my last post, I had attended two bellydance festivals, SAMEDA and Rhaqsira, where I performed and took classes.  My reviewing Teel Technique for 3 months paid off for my Gala show performance, because I was able to do my more advanced routine and it went really great!

My troupe also shot our Scaretacular dance film, it's for a bigger story line, we are just a "short story" inside a bigger tale.  I am really proud of our piece, I'm hoping it fits in well and is a great overall show.  That will debut in October.

This weekend is EASA for Shimmy Mob, which concludes the 2025 Shimmy Mob events, and then we need to film our next dance video for Amustela in October.  I'm doing a solo at a showcase but I don't really have staging information so I'm hoping it goes OK.  She gave us 5-10 minutes so I made a 10 minute set and I hope that's OK.

November looks to be very busy with at least 3 shows, perhaps 4 happening that month and many elements to those shows including solos and group pieces.

2025 Summer Thoughts

 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.

Expansion of Classes and General Updates

 Hi Readers!  It's been a while since I updated my costuming and personal blog here, so I'm going to recap a few things that have changed since I last did a post.

I am now teaching two classes a week in person, in San Dimas, and sometimes a third online, in addition to my Shimmy Mob team.  We have upcoming Shimmy Mob event in September, which is called EASA (Emotional Abuse Signs Awareness event), where annually we learn a short dance to perform in any day in September and the purpose is to raise awareness about emotional abuse signs because emotional abuse often leads to physical abuse, which we want to stop.  EASA has been around since at least 2018 which was the year I first joined Shimmy Mob, although less people seem to do that event than the May one.

 Registration for Shimmy Mob is usually open around late December and the two events are in May (second Saturday of the month, World Bellydance Day) and September if you wish to join this great cause.  www.ShimmyMob.com is the web address and next year we celebrate 15 years of Shimmy Mob in 2025.

Unfortunately, more restaurants and venues have closed which used to support bellydancers, such as Babouch Restaurant in San Pedro, and upcoming, Bruce's Prime Rib in Whittier (OC world showcase just moved there).

My classes are going really well and I'm grateful for the support of my amazing students and my student troupe, who, this year, performed a full 30 minute set at the LA County Fair and did Cairo ShimmyQuake festival together again.  We took a performance break this summer, due to all the work we had done with those mentioned shows, plus new dance films we created (Wild West Bellydance 2 versions, Toxic 2 versions, Magic on the Ritz), my two dance films (fan veils & the Mysterious Violin), and doing live performances at the Upland quarterly hangar shows.

 I'm currently working on some cosplay ideas for an upcoming convention I will be attending, so I have to keep in mind - packing needs (small), comfort (hot weather, shoes), ease of creation, and how authentic/close to the "real" look I can make my cosplays. 

I'm also planning for Fall events, we have several video ideas and in person shows to prep for coming up in the next few months. 

GXVE Beauty has also discontinued the Ambassador program and they are not selling on their own website anymore, which was a sad ending to a few years of creative fun with them.  

Costuming - Spotlight on 3 Costume Creations

 I haven't done a costuming post in awhile so I'm going to highlight a few costumes I created from scratch and re-tooled/re-worked from purchased costumes.  Some of these projects are not recent but I never actually blogged about them so I'm doing that now.

The first costume was inspired by fabric I found at JoAnn's.  Sometimes I love a fabric but it takes awhile to get the actual inspiration to finish it.  That was the case here.  I found this aqua brown and white fabric I liked but I had no ideas how I was going to tie it together.  I made the skirt first, and didn't get to the bra for awhile.

I wanted godets in my mermaid skirt, so I had to figure out a way to make those, as it was my first time and I was hacking my own mermaid skirt pattern from Sparkly Belly which I created using Mao's tutorial.  This would give the skirt extra sparkle and volume when turning on stage.  I also wanted a more see-through look for the godets since my main fabric was opaque.

I covered a bra and then played with the fabrics and appliqués to make a design. I added a strip of the fabric from the skirt to tie it together.  I made arm bands too because I always think that gives the costume  a more finished look.  I recycled the blue velvet from another costume's leftover stash fabric, and used it to make the belt and cover the bra.

This was the finished look!  I wore it for my first ever solo at a big festival in 2017.  

The next costume I'm highlighting is a red costume which I originally created for the 2020 holiday themed dance film, Dance of the Snow Dragons, which we did during the pandemic.  At the time I was thinner, so I have since had to fix the bra to fit me because as women, our bodies are constantly changing.

I found some beautiful red velvet and I already had red fringe, rhinestones, and appliqués, so it wasn't too hard to put together a nice holiday outfit.  I wanted it to not be too "holiday" so it could be worn at other times too.

I covered a bra, which this past December I had to fix because it was too small, and added appliqués, sequins and fringe.

The part which really made it holiday-themed was a cute shrug I made out of red and trimmed in white feathers.

This next costume I created the skirt to match a copper bra and belt, but later decided to make a bra and belt to match instead.  I used a modified mermaid/straight skirt pattern that is different from the Sparkly Belly one.

The bra and belt I decided to make in a steam punk style because I had a bunch of steampunk accessories which I never used on a costume.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the finished product.  I have not worn it to dance ever.  I wore it once for a photoshoot.  The color is a bit dull to me and the bra and belt feel really busy.  

Here is the finished look.

2024 - Happy New Year - Recaps & Starting Fresh

 Happy New Year!  It's been awhile since I did a blog post, so I'm here doing some catch up!

2023 was a successful year as far as returning to dance.  I taught in West Covina and San Dimas and had a number of new students and returning students join me.  I was able to take my student troupe to Cairo ShimmyQuake festival in June, where we did a 7 minute troupe set of two routines, swords and fan veils (Swordplay & Gravity Egyptian Queen).  We created several dance films as well, my favorites that we have done thus far, including Fortune & Glory (an Indiana Jones inspired dance), Discolicious, a fusion disco and bellydance New Year's Eve celebration, and our spooky Haunted Mansion-inspired dance films for Halloween, the Haunted Brides and the Haunted Hearts, and an Egyptian inspired wing routine.  I also created a fun Alice in Wonderland solo video which turned out great.

We also danced a 20 minute set at the West Covina Centennial celebration which was a great start to the year.  Other in person dance events included the Wild West inspired hafla, and an end of year class showcase for my students.  We ended the year with a performance at a hafla in Claremont.  I also got to dance solo at the famous and beautiful Babouch restaurant before it closed down forever.

 I'm excited to start the new year and see what it brings.

My year of being a GXVE Ambassador was really wonderful but things have changed there, so we will have to see how that plays out now. 

I also was honored to be Ms. America Royalty Beauty 2023, where I danced a sword with zills routine, and my reign will come to an end soon since it's 2024.

I made a recap of the year which you can watch here.

Back to Basics

 My in person classes have been going a couple of months now, and it's nice to be feeling somewhat "normal" again, although things have changed since pre-pandemic.  I'm teaching during the week at night, which seems to be the more popular time for people to join in, versus my Saturday morning classes.  I've had to go back to basics in person because the dancers who have signed up are a mix of very new, and some experience. 

My student troupe will be performing this weekend at our third in person event, post-pandemic (is it over?).  It's at an outdoor festival, where there will be carnival rides, vendors and entertainment.

The first event we returned to was our previous favorite local event hanging at the hangar, a quarterly dance show in our area.  It was way more crowded than we anticipated, and we did have a case of jitters coming back in person.  Our rehearsal went better than our performance but I did get to do a solo and that sort of redeemed me, at least.  Happily, people were interested at the event in signing up for my classes although nothing actually came of that.

The second in person event we did was a restaurant show in Orange County, and a lot of technical problems happened, making it an "OK" event, but not really great.  The crowd was a tough one, because they were so annoyed about all the tech issues.  We did win them over by the end of our set.  I did a zill solo and we did Swordplay as a troupe.

The festival performance was great.  We did 5 songs, including finger cymbals, fan veils, swords and two dance routines without props.  

The "Real" Return of in Person Teaching!

 Hi Readers! Sorry it's been so long, I have been super busy!  I'm taking this week to reflect on 2022, but I also just finished our Star Wars-inspired bellydance film, I also edited a highlights reel for the year's end, and I have a Disco-themed shoot this weekend with my troupe.

In person classes have resumed!  I started teaching the first weekend of December, and my Saturday class is going great!  I had forgotten how much I loved teaching in person, even though I've been teaching since May of 2020 online, it is not exactly the same.  For now, the center is not very crowded, and there are reports of more surges with covid for the winter.  I hope this will not be the case, but it is still a transition getting back to what was before the pandemic.

My class learned two disco routines for an online show in January and we have been rehearsing these.  Next week my classes will resume and I will have to teach something new - possibly our next in person themed show, which is movies.  Anyone who knows me, knows I love movies.  This theme, although exciting, is a bit daunting because I have so many favorites.  Ironically we just finished our Star Wars dance, which we did in our first in person event since 2019, and it didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked, so we ended up re-dancing it and filming it in the park.

Also in January, I am starting up a Tuesday night class!  It's not through a dance studio, it's another recreation class so I hope it is good.  I am torn about what to do with my online classes.  I would like to continue them but my personal life and my career are keeping me busy so I don't know how that will go.

 It's also time to sign up for Shimmy Mob again!  I am once again leading team West Covina, CA.

Watch our highlight reel from 2022 here! Highlight Reel 2022 

In Person Classes to Return!!!

 I am thrilled to say that my in-person classes will be returning this Winter!  Things continue to improve in the pandemic (is it over?), so I have been working to get my classes back in person.  I enjoy teaching online, but it's not the same as in person.  I will continue to teach online in the meantime, and update my pages with more info when I have it all ready.

What do I offer in my classes?  My classes are fun, energetic, inclusive and a "safe place" for my students.  We work on technique, drills, combinations and building to up to choreography.  I teach through choreography so that students can feel comfortable learning musicality (how to listen and move to music), and how to put the moves together, which we learn in class, to create seamless transitions while dancing.  We also talk about stage presence, how to enter and exit on stage, various stage directions, character development, mood and themes.

My students inspire me, and I am always thrilled when some of them stick around and want to perform, hang out and dance with me.  

In Person Events Return (Partially)

 Not trying to get too excited - the pandemic continues, to a lesser degree, but some things have not fully recovered.  I did my first in person dance class (as a student) in February and March and it was followed by a small, in person, private Hafla performance.  We wore masks and danced outside, but it was wonderful.  Even though I'm a teacher, I also love being a student.  Dancing with friends is so much better than dancing alone.  I did a sword routine I choreographed and two troupe routines with friends.

In May, I gathered up my Shimmy Mob Team and we danced in the park all day for World Bellydance Day, which was fun, but it was not what I imagined I would be doing.  I had planned to have my own Hafla, including Shimmy Mob dances, and solo performances.  We actually had a couple of Covid scares around that time, and so plans changed.  I was able to get the team together though to perform, so I can't complain.  Here is my Shimmy Mob playlist of songs that have been used as dances in the past.  
Jessikah's Spotify Shimmy Mob Playlist

This past weekend was the large bellydance festival, Cairo ShimmyQuake, which has been virtual the past two years.  I was happy to return to the big stage and the in person event.  I got to see friends and people I admire.  I danced on stage twice, once during an improvisation to live music and once to my own pre-recorded choreography.  It's very challenging dancing to live music, because you never know what they are going to play.  It was a fast set for a full 7-8 minutes, no slow parts.  

Although it's not obviously apparent, I've been working on trying to get my in person classes back.  It has been a struggle.  Turnovers during the pandemic have made it confusing and hard to find a contact person, promises are made and then other people somehow get in before my class can start.  So online lessons continue.

I was hoping to bring my zoom class troupe to CSQ to perform.  They were not ready.  So I did my solos and I will continue to work towards troupe in person performances.  Hopefully coning up in July.  My classes were supposed to return this summer, but only time will tell.

Creating Cosplay Bellydance Fusion Costumes for Music Video Performance

     I was honored to be invited to perform for an 80's cartoon convention, JemCon, in 2021, twice.  I was thrilled to collaborate on the performance, by working with a music mixer to remix some songs from the cartoon into bellydance beats so that I could incorporate Raks Sharki performance into the video I was going to create.  As a dance artist, and an actress, I have always been interested in costuming as well, and I have cosplayed characters I enjoy since I was a kid.  This gave me an opportunity to play not only the main character from the cartoon, but represent the various bands in the show and characters I have not been able to cosplay previously.

    To start, I wanted to make a bellydance version of the main character's pink stage dress and silver belt.  I had an existing pink choli style top (3/4 length sleeve crop top) made by L. Rose from a prior costume, so all I needed was a skirt to match and the silver belt.  I made a mermaid skirt with slits, from my trusty Sparkly Belly Mermaid Skirt pattern, and then I had to draw the belt.  

 

I took an existing bellydance belt pattern and drew the asymmetrical point on paper.  I cut out my lining fabric and my shiny silver fabric.  I originally intended to have the belt be reversible but due to the fringe being shorter than I wanted I had to abandon this idea.  I sewed the belt together with interfacing and then I created the bright blue "wedges" which are the design on the belt out of cut sequins and felt.  I glued them on the silver side of the belt, sewed it together and then added the white fringe to the point.

 

    The second costume I wanted to create was Jem as Cleopatra, as seen in the "Perfect Match" video with the Stingers.  Jem only appears as Cleopatra quickly in a couple of shots but her costume was so pretty and the closest thing to an Egyptian costume that she wears in the series, so I knew I had to make it.  I found a blue bikini top at Target and some Egyptian accessories online, which I needed to alter to fit properly, and sewed them together.  Jem's skirt is white but I had some silver stretch material available so I made a swap to also make it more shiny.  I cut out a mermaid skirt in silver and this costume was complete.

 

    The other characters I found things in my closets I already had, for Jerrica, Minx, Rapture, and Pizzazz.  I also had previously made a bellydance costume I lovingly nicknamed Pizzazz for it's animal print and bright colors which reminded me of the Misfits.

    I had a great time cosplaying all the characters and using some green screen technology to appear together as different characters at the same time.  I filmed outside to add interest to the video.

    The second Jem-themed video I created had less costuming but more set design and I shot half the video on the green screen.  This was challenging due to the size of my screen, which was about 5 feet big.  I turned it vertical and shot in this aspect ratio so that my whole body would fit on screen, but I had to be careful to dance inside the frame and not exceed the frame for a bad illusion of being "cut off."  I also did an alternate take in my dance studio to cut in with a pretty curtain background.  The green screen shots are my favorite though, because I was able to add special effects, including a dark stormy sky, and a cauldron for Halloween.

Happy New Year - 2020, Two

 The holiday season roared by in a flash, and we are still in a pandemic.  It's no surprise that I hoped we would be beyond it by now, I started planning for my in person classes to resume in November, then things changed, and they are back on hold again, not happening.

    I did teach my Shimmy Mob bonus routine from 2021, which was selected among all the international entries, and my online friends and some members of my own Shimmy Mob team performed it for the holidays on a Night in the Global Village.  It was an honor to teach it to a great group of people, and to have been chosen as one of the bonus choreographers.

     As for a year in review, some of the things I'm proud of from 2021 are our Mardi Gras film, Pirates and Parties, leading my first Shimmy Mob team, and the short films I created for solo performances in the Fall, including the virtual convention appearance, and a special Halloween solo project, where I created the choreography, the set design and played several characters.  I also was happy to create a short Halloween- themed dance film with my online troupe which aired in the Spokane Taste of Bellydance Festival.  There were other performances and workshops in between, which were also memorable.

    Shimmy Mob registrations are currently open for 2022, and I'm leading up my West Covina, CA team again.  Early bird registration will end January 15.  Due to Omicron, I'm not sure if we will be able to do a full on Shimmy Mob or an in person hafla, we might need to do another dance film in the park as we did last year.  Most of my team has re-joined me, which is fantastic.  I also plan to rehearse with the Shimmy Sirens of Zoom as we did the past two years.

    Plans for 2022 will be in line with what happened in 2020 and 2021, meaning, we will plan for shows and classes but will have to be flexible because we just don't know what will be safe and what will not be safe.  I never thought I would be continuing with my online classes, but here we are again.

    Some themes for possible shows coming up are Latin, Hot Tropical Nights, Vintage Cinema and others.

    Here's hoping for good news in 2020, two.  Wishing you peace, health and happiness.

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

Basic Sewing Tips for the Beginning Student

Last night I met with my lovely troupe via Zoom and we chatted about bellydance stuff, and the questions that came up the most were about costuming.  I feel that learning basic sewing is important to being a bellydancer, because even if you don't sew your own costumes, you do need to know how to repair them and sometimes you do need a custom fit costume.

What do you need if you are a beginning sewing student?

--A basic sewing machine (you don't need anything fancy) - plus bobbins and the accessories that come with your machine

--A basic sewing "kit" of hand needles, snaps, elastic, various thread (different colors, some for machine sewing and some for hand sewing), sewing-only scissors (do NOT use a sewing scissors on paper, it will dull the blades), a thimble, measuring tape, pins, and a pin cushion

--I save those "breath mint boxes" and I use them for needles/pins, snaps and random sequins/beads

The easiest fabric to do a starter costume with is stretch velvet.  I like the Glitterbug stretch velvets from JoAnn's fabrics because they are pretty, easy to sew, low-cost, and come in a variety of colors.  I have made many skirts in this fabric.

 I have used the mermaid skirt pattern a lot from Mao's Sparkly Belly page, but I have also used her DIY 10 minute no-sew ruffle skirt pattern, which is an easier first-time sewing pattern.  It basically is to hold up about 1 meter (1 yard) of fabric and find a way to wrap it around your bottom so it looks good and then you either pin it or you can sew it down on a zigzag stitch about 4-5 inches.

I'm excited to try Mao's new 1 hour challenge to make a costume in an hour, she just put up part one of her tutorial here.  Usually it takes me longer than that to cover a bra, but That's because I cover the straps and cups or replace the straps.  

As far as decorating the costume, I use glue to attach my rhinestones, but I do not like glue guns.  I prefer Fabric-tec, Gemtac, or E6000.  If you use E6000, you MUST do it outside and wear a mask/gloves.  E6000 is nasty.  The other glues are not quite as bad, but you should still be in a well-ventilated place before gluing on stones, as the fumes from these glues can be toxic.  Follow all directions on the labels and BE SAFE!

I was in a professional troupe where we were tasked with covering our own bras and belts and then decorating them.  We used a base swimsuit top in the same color, covered it with very small scraps of fabric (we had only enough to cover the cups) in non-stretch fabric, then outlined the cups with trim (we used the same fabric and trim on the belts), then we glued bling and sewed tassels and fringe on them.  They came out beautiful, and were a really gorgeous color on stage.