Category: General

For me, December is a season full of holidays for other people.  Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule and others are all very important for my friends and loved ones.  But in my little corner of the universe, New Years is the most important celebration of the season.  It’s time to reflect on the past year and make plans for the next. I usually spend the entire month of January processing all my thoughts about what came before, and then gearing up for the next 11 months of production, relaxation, and everything in between.   2015 was an amazing year, with such tremendous highlights and wonderful achievements so I thought I would take a moment and thank you for joining me on this adventure and to share my personal triumphs.

The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut – Finished and Released

Although the official release date was October 18, 2014, we actually continued to work on edits through February 2015.  That book was such a labour of love, that culminated an arc of more than 20 years of intensive and passionate research into this exquisite book.  If you love the assiut cloth as much as I do, I hope that you will enjoy checking out my book. Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut – Available on Amazon.com  or right here on my store.

All About Assiut – Workshops and Interviews

In August I was interviewed by Mahin of Daily Belly Dance Quickies, who came through town on her California Dreaming tour.  We hung out over a weekend filled with workshops, performances, and an informal dance party.

Mahin’s Website  and  Mahin’s YouTube Channel  

I was super excited to take my show on the road and presented workshops and lectures about Assiut throughout California.  My favorite was when I took my slide show up to the De Young museum in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  I teamed up with vintage assiut collector and dealer, Nancy Hernandez to present

Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage

In early 2015, I embarked on a group project with author Sara Shrapnel of Teaching Belly Dance, my good friend and long time collaborator, photographer Alisha Westerfeld, and international dance sensation Poppy Maya.  The four of us are working on a new book entitled, Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage.  Photo Below: Second Cover Proof

This is a stagecraft handbook for dancers who are ready to share their dance technique with the world through public performances.  In this book, we take the reader step-by-step through the process of preparing to be entertaining.  At 402 pages, this is the biggest writing project I’ve ever worked on before, but it’s very exciting.

Sara Shrapnell’s Website – Book Teaching Belly Dance on Amazon.com

Last summer, when we were in the text editing phase of the book process, we took time out from our busy schedules to meet with the glamorous Mahin for an interview about the book.

Interview with Mahin 

I’m Dancing Again

One of the most exciting things for me was that I have returned to dance after recovering from back and shoulder injuries. The “dance sins” of my youth have caught up with me in the form of repetitive motion injuries. My knees are shot from over use, I had a two-year battle with a frozen shoulder, and the ligaments that hold my SI joints have simply worn out.  Aging is hard, but the alternative is much worse!

Instead of giving up, I’m working on strength building, position modifications, and building a different dance vocabulary composed of gentle movement that will not stress my joints.  Part of being a venerable dancer is learning to accept body changes that are the result of having once pushed myself to the limits. I have also learned to really listen. When my body feels discomfort, or downright pain, I just have to stop.  Gone are the days of “pushing through.”  I’m planning on dancing to the end of days. This means listening, adapting, learning new gentler methods, and becoming a better dancer through a conscious editing and and construction of my skills. 

Wanderlust

In 2915, my wanderlust created in me a desire to take to the seas. In 2015 I took two cruises, or rather, I took the same cruise twice. Since those trips, I’m now a convert to the cruising lifestyle. Moving forward with my life, I’m ready to set sail with an hours notice.  Way back in 1998, My first cruise was a belly dance intensive, with Aisha Ali and Fahtiem as headliners.  What a great trip that was!  I vividly remember the classes we took in a country themed two-step bar on a Princess ship.  I don’t even remember the name of the boat, much less the night club, but it was one of the best experiences of my life. So if you hear about any belly dance cruises, please-please put me on that mailing list!  Photo:  Bay of Cabo San Lucus, March, 2016

I’m looking forward to revealing some of my upcoming plans for 2016 and beyond in future posts, and I’ll be starting a series of new “Book Reports” on the progress of the new book, Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage.

Thanks for letting me take a moment of self-indulgent reflection on the past year.  I appreciate you joining me on this journey! 

Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Feb 6, 2015

This winter season I’m doing a lot of traveling.  I went on a family holiday cruise to Mexico in mid December and next week, I’m heading out again to Vegas to connect with friends who are attending CES – Consumer Electronics Show.  In Las Vegas, however, I’m NOT attending CES!  Instead, I’m going to be working on my new 2016 blogging project, “Makeup Mondays,” where I talk about products and techniques that will help you up your performance makeup game.  As I unpack my bags, and then repack, I thought I would share an indispensable item that permanently live in my my travel kit.  It’s not often that one little kit can make life easier and provide piece of mind.  What is it?  My customized portable pharmacy!

 

My portable and highly customized portable pharmacy is super simple to put together.  All you need is a week long pill organizer with enough capacity for three days of product. I choose my essential products, the ones that make my life more comfortable, and gather them together.  I used my handy P-Touch label maker to mark the product name and dosing directions.  I popped the labels onto the compartments and then load it up.  And it’s done!

Yep – there’s a typo on there too!  I know that the P-Touch label tape isn’t a precious commodity, but really, I didn’t think a typo was worth fixing. (Life Lesson: Wear glasses when using the P-Touch!)  I choose to leave the Sunday compartment unlabelled so that I can include something unusual for me that might be trip specific. For the cruise, I took along some dramamine, and just popped a hand written note into that compartment with the dosing.

During my cruise, I had a little too much fun dancing, and my old creaky knees were grateful that I had everything on hand that I needed to cope with up to 6 hours of dancing every day!  This was so useful, I’ve decided to break down and make a second one to keep in my dance kit too!

Happy Travels,
Davina ~ Dawn Devine
December 28, 2015

You can get weekly pill caddies at virtually any pharmacy, grocery store, or big-box discounter.  Here are two I am considering for my dance kit: Amazon.com or
Amazon.com.  Need a P-Touch?   I use my label machine all the time, I couldn’t imagine life without it!

San Diego Sunrise on the Holland America Veendam, December 2015.

Fall is here, and there is nothing quite as satisfying as cuddling up with a cup of hot apple cider, a comfy blanket and an interesting book.  Over the summer, I’ve been collaborating on an upcoming book entitled, “Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage.”  I’ve been tasked with putting together a suggested readings list for this upcoming book.  This project involved re-reading old standards, exploring new titles, and crafting a select bibliography to get the reader started if they are planning on continuing their research and exploration of our dance art. So without further ado, let me present a few faves for lazy-day reading.

The Belly Dance Handbook: A Companion for the Serious Dancer by Princess Farhana.
If you are on a trajectory into the stratosphere as a belly dance star, or if you just want to read a really good book about belly dance, then get this book! I’ve read this book a couple of times, first casually for entertainment. Then I sat down and really savored the information in the book. It’s full of great “from the trenches” tips on how to manage a belly dance CAREER.  But this book is also an enjoyable read.  Princess Farhana is warm and generous in the text.  She doesn’t just tell you what you need to do, she tells you why.  She tells great stories that really illustrate the often not-so-glamorous behind the scenes world of the belly dance profession.  You will laugh out loud, you will find yourself saying “awwww,” and don’t be surprised if you also have a few “Ah-HA” moments as you work your way through this book.  My personal favorite section is the costuming section, but I really think the professional insights throughout this book are worth their weight in gold.

Buying this book directly from the author provides her with the biggest financial payback for her hard work! Visit her website to pick up your copy, and be sure to tell her I sent ya!
Bellydance by Keti Sharif

This is my favorite general reference guide book to the art of belly dance.  Keri Sharif did a great job in putting together this overview of belly dance.  It’s a quick read, with lots of beautiful imagery, and lots of information about what makes this dance unique.  Bellydance provides a lot of interesting background information about the history and development of the style.  But the thing that I love most about this book is the delicious full-color photos.  Sometimes it might be a little difficult to read because of the lush layering of text and imagery, but frankly, I actually enjoy that.  I’ve had this on my shelf for years, and still pick it up and casually thumb through it to look at photos.

Bellydance

The Belly Dance Reader 1 and 2 edited by Lynette Harris of Gilded Serpent Magazine
If you want to read some of the most current research, thought, and trends in dance today, check out the pair of anthologies produced by Gilded Serpent eZine.  The articles vary in topic and length and there’s a topic that will appeal to almost anyone involved in the community of belly dance. There’s information on history, culture, process, theory, costuming, and much, much more. From academic scholars to celebrity dance stars and everything in between, Lynette really searched out pieces that showcased the broad diversity within our art form.  Even if you don’t agree with every point of view, it’s great that these books present a variety of opinions.

The Belly Dance Reader 1
The Belly Dance Reader 2

 

The Art of Manipulating Fabric

For my fellow costume making junkies, be sure to get a copy of this amazing book. The two best ways to save money on costuming are:
• To do it yourself
• To use less expensive materials creatively to create visual interest, texture and contrast.

This is the best books for introducing the art and technique of fabric manipulation. It’s so good, it’s required reading for my costuming students. I’ve found this book endlessly inspirational, and go back to it again and again.

The Art of Manipulating Fabric

Bead & Sequin Embroidery Stitches
by Stanley Levy

If you’ve looked at the crusty goodness of imported belly dance costumes and thought, “maybe I could do that,” then this book is a great start. Although the author was writing with textile and fiber artists in general, the methods presented in this book provide a good foundation to use for progressing towards the more complex designs. Informative and inspirational for budding costumers, and an essential for any costume designer’s bookshelf.

Bead & Sequin Embroidery

 

I want to shout out to my collaborator Sara Shrapnell of  Teaching Belly Dance, a great book for budding dance instructors and my co-author on the upcoming Becoming a Belly Dancer.  These titles and many more are included in the suggested reading portion of our book.   Visit her website for more information on her past, current, and future projects.

To follow the development of Becoming a Belly Dancer, from Student to Stage, you can sign up for our mailing lists, and come over to FaceBook to join the conversation.

Happy Costuming and Dance!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Oct. 4, 2015