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