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.