Tackling a 30 Day Instagram Challenge

This January, I’m having a bit of fun over on my Instagram feed.  Belly dancer Faizeh (handle @faizeh_raqs) posted 30-day challenge to share with our friends, fans, and followers. Her  a more intimate peek into our dance world.  She put together this easy to follow list:

 Follow this link to see lots more on Instagram – #30DaysOfDance

Prompts Challenge you to Think Differently

I am drawn to 30-day challenges because they make me think about life in a new and different way. My goal is to use the list of prompts to make me think about my view of the world and my place in it.  When doing challenges, the prompts are sometimes optional.  For instance, during #Inktober back in 2014, I created a theme of my own, creating a paper doll with a full wardrobe over the course of 31 days.  For #inktober 2016, I followed a list of “Spooky” ideas and had a lot of fun comparing my ghosts, spider webs, and other creepy subjects with friends following the same prompt list. Every challenge is different, and you get to make the choice on how you plan to tackle it.  

For this months #30DaysOfDance, I’m using Faizeh’s curated prompt list.  I’m going through my personal photo archive with a fresh perspective and pulling images that tell the story stimulated by the prompt. It’s interesting to relive happy memories and learn interesting things about myself.  For instance, after looking at a couple of hundred pictures of myself, it became clear what is REALLY #4 (Favorite Pose.)  Not something dramatic, but pretty basic, and I’ve been doing it for years!

Davina Day #4 – Favorite Pose – Left 2016, Right 1994

Start AnyTime You Like

There always seems to be a flurry of challenges that happen around in January with the start of the year, and again in August/September with “back to school.”  But you can start challenges any time you like!  If you find one in progress that appeals to you, and a large group is at the same place, you can start there and join them for the finish.  Alternately, you can start whenever and tackle the challenge for your own personal satisfaction. Choose times when your schedule is less busy, or will facilitate your participation.  I once did a 30-day photo challenge – and scheduled it to be during a month when I was traveling abroad for 15 days. If you are participating as a group, or would like feedback from others who have taken the challenge, be sure to include the official hashtag when you post.

Davina Day #1 – You – This is the picture I selected as my introduction

Be Creative when Interpreting the Prompts

Make the prompts your own. Think about what your approach or angle will be for each particular challenge.  For instance, in this #30DaysOfDance challenge, some of the entries are self-explanatory like #19 (Business Card.)  However, you can be more creative with concepts like #16 (Inspiration) or #22 (Fuel.)  When I’m working through a challenge filled with creative and open-ended ideas like these, I try to listen to my inner voice and go with my first instinct.  Try not to overthink!  This should be fast and fun!

Davina Day #2 – Favorite Costume – Head to toe assiut from 2013

Plan in Advance

One of the strategies I use to stick to a 30-day challenge is by doing some advanced planning.  When I have made the commitment to follow through with a particular challenge, I brainstorm out the images that I want to include.  This brainstorm list helps me formulate a plan of action for achieving the goals.

Pre-Create an Archive

This is especially helpful when doing biographical challenges.  If your challenge includes “Favorite Vacation” or “Best Photo.” You can find these items in your archive and have them ready to go for that day.   If you’re working on a creativity challenge where you put up a new drawing, photo, or makeup look each day, takes some time to plan ahead.  Creating a thematic to:do list, or pre-gathering the materials and supplies so that you save time every day.  Some days are busier than others, and having a plan will take out some of the stress. 

Screen shot of my Evernote entry for the #30DaysOfDance 

Keep it in the Cloud

I like to use a cloud based storage space to house my pre-created archive.  For this #30DaysOfDance challenge, I’m using Evernote to keep a list of the prompts and copies of the images I plan on using throughout the challenge.  I collect the images and make notes about what points I want to include about the pictures and how they relate to the prompts.  Cloud-based storage means that I can easily add photos to this folder from other devices. Use the one you prefer for your best results.

All-in-all, I recommend trying a challenge at least once to see if it boosts your creativity, helps you get in touch with yourself, or with other like-minded individuals. You might connect with new friends, master new skills, or develop life-long habits beginning with a month-long challenge.

Are you on Instagram?  Let’s connect!  You can check out all the other images I choose for this challenge.  Be sure to message me if you start your own challenges, I would love to check them out!

Best of luck in 2017!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
January 4, 2017

Over the weekend, we had a vending table at the Fabulous Fall Festival hosted by BABDAMA, a local Bay Area belly dance event-hosting organization.  This was the first opportunity for us to share our new book Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage.  We took a stack of pre-release copies to this event to share with the ladies and gentlemen who took the time out of their busy lives over the past two years to join us in the studio for photos for our book.  Many of these dancers we hadn’t seen in a few months, so it was great to reconnect, share the finished book, and hear about the adventures they have been having since we met for photos!

I brought my book rack,  Sara brought the books, Alisha brought her camera, Poppy brought additional awesome, and we spent the day hanging out and watching a fabulous show.  We had a great view of the stage and enjoyed watching a fun mix of students and teachers, life-stylers and pros, troupes and solos, recorded and live music.  There was something for everyone.

During the course of the day, folks came by to check out our new books.  Along with Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage, I also had copies of my new book, Zills: Music on Your Fingertips, with photos by Alisha Westerfeld and Illustrations by George Goncalves.   You can see a copy of it lying on the table next to my coffee.

We got a lot of great feedback about Becoming a Belly Dancer.  What struck me was how much time people would spend flipping through the book, nodding and smiling to themselves.  Several people mentioned how much the book resonated, and how they have lived through the phases of development that their dancing progressed through.

Another piece of very positive feedback concerned the variety of models.  We asked our friends, students, event hosts, and local professionals we work with on a regular basis to join us in this collaboration.  Our models included women and men from all walks of life, from students to pros, from young to older, from thin to curvy, from pale to deeply colored.  The belly dance world is so diverse and creative, by the time we were finished we had nearly 50 dancers had participated!

Models like Basinah above, stopped by to pick up their copies and Sara took their photos holding a book opened to one of the pages featuring their photograph.  It was pretty hard to pick just one sometimes!  Basinah came to about half a dozen photo shoots and consequently, there are dozens of images scattered throughout the book.  But she loved this dramatic pose with veil.

At the last minute, I was asked to substitute for a fellow dancer who was under the weather and couldn’t make it, so I had the opportunity to perform in their gala show.  I was so glad Sara was on the ball while I was putting on makeup and getting ready because she captured many more dancers picking up their books!

 

Thank you to all our friends and models.  If we haven’t gotten your copy of Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage, yours is waiting for you!  Also, we have two days left of our fundraising Kickstarter to help us get the final funds together to help us make that hurdle from manuscript to printed book.  If you’ve already pledged, thank you!  If you are thinking of picking up a copy of this book – now is the time – because it’s probably $10 cheaper than the final MSRP will be when it appears on Amazon.com.

What a great event – What a great weekend!
Now I’m back to processing the thousands of photos we took on our UK Belly Dance Book Tour!
More Pictures and Posts to follow.

Until then, Happy Costuming!

Dawn Devine ~ Davina
November 14, 2016

Me – hahaha. @basinahdances caught this perfect moment #BellyDance #veil #bustamove #spin #propeller#turn

A video posted by Dawn Devine (@davinadevine) on Nov 12, 2016 at 11:26pm PST