Author: Davina

Davina ~ Dawn Devine is a belly dance costume designer, dance instructor and author of more than a dozen publications on Middle Eastern dance.

General

Cairo Trend Report by Princess Farhana

Post author By Davina
Post date August 4, 2011

Hello Gang,

I love to read everything that Princess Farhana of Hollywood writes. She’s witty, has a point of view and is willing to share it. She’s also a FANTASTIC performer and I highly recommend her! (As you can tell, there is absolutely total bias going on here – but I have nothing to gain from the sales of her videos or your hiring her to be a workshop leader at your next event!) She’s a total pro in every sense of the word.

Today she published an excellent post to her blog on Cairo Costuming Trends. Not only does she address the stylistic elements that are most current, but, she also does a house-by-house run down of the current fashion leaders in belly dance costume design. This is a must-read article for belly dance costume designers and dancers who want to be on the leading edge of fashion! Until I can get to Cairo myself, I’m going to live vicariously through articles like these. Enjoy!

~ Dawn

Cairo Costume Trends by Princess Farhana on her Blog

Princess Farhana website

Follow The Princess on Face Book (That’s what I do!)

Publications

News & Notes for Mid July

Post author By Davina
Post date July 16, 2011

: Bedlah, Baubles & Beads is now available here on and Amazon.com.

Hello Gang,

I’m going to take a few moments to tell you about the exciting things that have happened in the past two weeks. The first is that I’ve been down in San Diego visiting friends, family and attending two events. The first event, SAMEDA Faire is hosted by the belly dance club here in San Diego. The event is tomorrow (as of this posting date) and it promises to be a great show. I’m planning on covering the event for Gilded Serpent as part of my ongoing “Trend Report” series of articles. If you live in Southern California, especially in the San Diego region, I highly recommend joining SAMEDA! Check out their website for more information about their events, find teachers, places to see dancing, receive a great monthly newsletter, and more! http://www.sdsameda.com/ The other event I’m attending is Comic-Con International. It’s amazingly huge and a ton-of-fun.

I’m pleased to announce that while I’ve been in San Diego, that the newly renovated Bedlah, Baubles and Beads is now available both here on my website and on Amazon.com. The new cover is gorgeous! A talented young graphic designer, Kristina Rheinholds, based out of San Francisco transformed the old black-and-white art work into a gorgeous new cover. If you visit her portfolio page – be sure to “appreciate” her work. You know that I do! Our next project together is the upcoming Belly Dance Costumes to Color book in .pdf. The illustrations are drawn, the tentative layout looks great, and the text is in editing. Be sure to subscribe to my mailing list to receive a link to a free copy when it’s done.

Ziti-Web — Belly Dance Costumes to Color - Sample Page in Progress - 20 page downloadble .pdf - Coming Late August. Free for newsletter subscribers or in the no-strings-attached version for $3.95.

Belly Dance Publications

Belly Dance Magazines, Newsletters & Blogs

Post author By Davina
Post date June 25, 2011

Belly Dance Magazines, Newsletters & Blogs – Belly Dance Information in the Information Age.

Do you subscribe to a belly dance magazine? I must admit, I do! I find it enjoyable to read articles written by dancers in far-flung areas with different perspectives, views and ideals. I learn things, live vicariously through travelogs that document exotic trips, and am frequently amused by the warmth and humor that pours forth from our community. There are dozens of magazines to choose from in print and eMag format, and at the end of this article, I’ve a not-quite exhaustive list of readily available print publications.

But in this era of the internet, there is much-much more information available. Today, social networking has taken the world by storm, and thousands of dancers are logging on to FaceBook, starting Yahoo Groups or are blogging away about their unique experiences. There are monthly newsletters, quarterly magazines, daily email missives available on a myriad of topics. There is truly a mind-boggling array of resources to choose from.

Digital Magazines
Print magazines have not yet been replaced, but rather, have been enhanced by the development of the digital magazine. Unlike a print magazine, they take up no space on the shelf, allow you to access large archives, and because they are limited only by the size of their site, they can publish as many articles and authors as the choose. The web’s oldest and largest digital belly dance magazines is The Gilded Serpent – with 1000’s of articles in their ever growing archives it would take an age to read them all www.gildedserpent.com. Other digital magazines include, The Hip Circle www.thehipcircle.com and iShimmy www.ishimmy.com. Several print publications are beginning to offer digital version of their print magazines at reduced costs and are a greener alternative. One magazine, Fuse, a tribal/fusion themed mag now offers a digital version www.fusetribalmag.com. I recently switched, and I love that I can easily store the issues on my computer saving both money and space.

Social Media & Internet Groups
There are numerous message-board based communities that have belly dance groups. A quick web search will turn up thousands of belly dance themed groups on sights such as Yahoo.com, FaceBook, Linked In, Tribe.com and LiveJournal.com to a name few. If there is a major social community group – there probably is a belly dance presence. Two of the most influential communities exclusively devoted to belly-dance are Bhuz bhuz.com and Belly Dance Forum www.bellydanceforums.net.

Clubs with Newsletters
All over the world dancers come together to form like-minded community groups that produce informal newsletters or professional publications. Many major belly dance magazines have emerged from humble roots. In order to access these newsletters, you often have to join a club or simply subscribe. Two that I personally have participated in are MECDA – www.mecda.org and San Diego based SAMEDA – www.sdsameda.com You should look around for a club near you.

Blogs, Blogs, Blogs
If you’re reading this right now, you’re probably reading my own blog, Costumer’s Notes – www.davina.us Simply use your favorite internet search tool to type in the words that best identify your belly dance style and the word blog, and you will find there are hundreds, if not thousands of blogs everywhere. Two that I’m following include. Belly Dance Diva – bellydancingdiva.com and Dilara’s Hip Mix – www.hipmix.net.

Newsletter Marketing
Practically every pro dancer now has a newsletter. Part of the brave new world of internet marketing, these newsletters vary in quality from well crafted and informational with articles and useful links, to banal listings of classes and events. I must admit, I’ve signed up for dozens of newsletters in an effort to learn more. I particularly enjoy Mahin’s BellyDance Quickies, www.shes-got-hips.com/Quickies.html and her monthly newsletter which always has cute YouTube links. Another great newsletter is the .pdf formatted Hawaii Belly Dancer Monthly Magazine www.hawaiibellydancermagazine.com

Of course, (insert shameless plug) you might be signed up to receive my own, costume-centric belly dance newsletter & digital magazine, Costumer’s Notes. I think it’s got excellent content, but I must say – I’m a big biased! (Psst – The sign-up is on the top right!)

With so many informational options, no one person can read them all. So explore and choose the ones that are best for you.

Good luck and enjoy your hunt,
Dawn Devine ~ Davina

Print Magazines Worldwide

Belly Dance Costumes to Color – Coming in August

Post author By Davina
Post date June 20, 2011

Belly Dance Costumes to Color by Dawn Devine ~ Davina - Coming in August 2011

Belly Dance Costumes to Color
new eBook coming in August

I’m so happy to announce that I’m nearing the end of the drawing phase of the coloring book I’ve been working on for the past few months. I’ve spent a lot of time at the drawing table, and have created a lot of good drawings, a lot of bad drawings, and a few that are simply lovely.

Over the past few weeks, I have been showing off the working sketches in progress. I’ve had several dancers ask questions and offer me advice about which ones to include, which to delete, and where to make changes. “What’s wrong with her nose?” “Are her hands supposed to look like that?” and “I’d wear that!” are all things I’ve heard recently. But by far the most common question is “How much will this cost?” and “Where can I buy that?”

Belly Dance Costumes to Color is going to be released as an eBook and will be available in August. For subscribers to the Costumer’s Notes Newsletter – good news – this coloring book is going to be FREE as a thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. For those who want a no-strings-attached version, it will be available as a $5 downloadable .pdf. Not everyone wants to read my newsletter and I totally understand, so I’m going to offer these two options.

Drawing pictures of belly dancers has just been a ton of fun! I’m hoping that my readers and fans will enjoy having this opportunity to get creative with these pages. I recommend colored pencil or fine-tipped marker, but if you want to use a more traditional crayon, by all means, enjoy!

Me – I’m heading back to the drawing board to see what else pops out. I think I’m in a folkloric mood today!

I’ll post a few more samples next week. Until then, Happy Costuming! ~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

Belly Dance Costuming DIY

Jean-Jinglers

Post author By Davina
Post date June 17, 2011

Jean-Jinglers ~ Fun and Versatile Costume Accessory

I adore this little crafty jewelry making project. It’s fairly easy to craft and can fit many budgets. You can use recycled materials if you have excess jewelry pieces in your collection. Versions of the jean jingler can be made in upscale rhinestones to earthy versions like this one, made from heavy tribal components.

What make this project special is the large swivel clasps on each end of the chain. These clasps allow you to hang these things from nearly anything. I like to wear them suspended from my jeans, hence the name Jean Jinglers. But I’ve worn longer versions around my neck, shorter ones as anklets, and multiples can be linked together to make custom coin belts. I’ve even constructed fusion costumes edged with chain so multiple unique jinglers can be suspended, arranged and rearranged for a myriad of looks. To make these all you need is a pair of jewelry pliers to twist open the chain loops to apply your jewelry and coins. Let your materials and supplies guide your creativity. Although this sample is symmetrical, this technique is great for charm-bracelet style accessories too.