Hello Gang,
Just wanted to touch base with all of my friends, family, fans, and followers and say:
Happy Holidays!!!
Over the past two months, I’ve been putting in long hours working on a tremendous new book project, “Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage.” Sara Shrapnell, author of “Teaching Belly Dance,”photographer Alisha Westerfeld, international professional belly dancer Poppy Maya and myself, have teamed up to create a text book for the art of belly dance.This isn’t a book about how to dance, but rather, it’s a book about how to manage all of the processes that go into crafting a good performance.
Over the past two months, I’ve been putting in long hours working on a tremendous new book project, “Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage.” Sara Shrapnell, author of “Teaching Belly Dance,” photographer Alisha Westerfeld, international professional belly dancer Poppy Maya and myself, have teamed up to create a text book for the art of belly dance. This isn’t a book about how to dance, but rather, it’s a book about how to manage all of the processes that go into crafting a good performance.
This was a big week for our team. After nearly a year of work, we reached an important milestone. Our very first proof arrived!
Although we are a few months away from being finished, we decided that it was time to get the manuscript printed to ensure that we are moving forward on a good trajectory. At this stage of the game, we are looking to identify which photographs need improving, either by adjusting the brightness and contrast, or by going back to the original color shot and adjusting the tonal qualities of the various colors. Sometimes, something that looks very spectacular in color, like a pink and blue costume for instance, can turn muddy when converted to black and white. Especially if the blue and the pink tones convert to the exact same shade of gray!
As we massage the text, work the photos, and play with the layout, the book is finally taking shape. I’ll follow up with more details of what info is included in this book in future posts. But in the meantime, I’m just so very happy to be able to share this spectacular moment!
Happy Holidays Indeed!!
Yours in Dance and Costuming,
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Dec. 9, 2015
