Dress For The Job You Want

They say dress for the job you want, not the job you have, so I dress like a faerie whenever I can.

I think one of the hardest parts of transitioning from amateur to pro is investing in good, professional costuming. Although it's more important to be a highly skilled dancer with great performance skills, audiences and clients are still going to expect you to look the part as well, and that means retiring your student recital clothes and dressing up a bit more.

It's especially hard for a Tribal Fusion dancer to know what to buy. The internet has plenty of advice for Egyptian-style dancers looking to start restaurant gigs -- buy a silver or gold bedlah and a couple different colored skirts, then as you make more money buy a second bedlah, now you have tons of mix and match options -- but Tribal costuming is a little less straight-forward. You have to find something that fits your style of dance, your personality, and your budget.

This costume by Anaya Tribal is a pretty good example of a good investment for a pro just starting out. I can wear the bra/belt set and skirt together, or I can pair the set with a green skirt or pants, put them over a 25 yard skirt to go old school, wear them with a bustle for steampunk, or throw on those wings and be a faerie. Likewise, since the skirt is a nice neutral brown, I could wear it with various green tops, or something in ivory or turquoise.

So here's my hard-earned tips, from one budding pro to those who come after me:

1. Quality over quantity. I have piles and piles of cheap bangles and huge earrings. If I had saved that money instead, I could invest in some gorgeous Taureg jewelry. Once you decide to go pro, stop buying the cheap stuff and set your dollars aside to buy something nice at the next festival.

2. But you don't have to buy the most expensive thing. One of the things that I wanted when I went to Tribal Fest was a spiky bracelet that actually fit. There were gorgeous antique real-silver ones for hundreds and hundreds of dollars... and a cheap white metal one that fit perfectly and was only $30something. Guess what? Most people in the audience won't know the difference. Someday when I'm a big shot I'll invest in the real thing, but this one will serve me well for now.

3. Before you buy something, think of what it will go with. Do you already have something at home that it will match? Does it fit in with the mental image of the next costume you want to make? It doesn't matter how awesome a pair of dance pants is if you have nothing to wear them with (I'm hoping this one will sink in for me eventually).

4. Make whatever you can. I already know how to make bras and belts and I'm learning to sew with an actual machine now, too. Doing your own sewing will save you some money and also allow you to have more customization in your look.

5. Look for luxurious and awesome materials. Velvet and lace are elegant. Metallics are hot right now. Vintage pieces and things that look vintage automatically make you look fancier. Put out the word that you want peoples' old costume jewelry. You'll got a lot of junk but also a lot of nifty stuff that can be repurposed. Necklaces can easily become belly-drapes. Brooches can be pinned onto a bra or belt. Cut things up for their beads. Speaking of cutting things up, you can cut up tacky old dresses and use the beaded fabric for decorating your bras. Go forth and hit the thrift stores.

6. Buy versatile basics. While we may not be able to fall back on a metallic bedleh and colorful chiffon skirts, we can buy good basics that can be accessorized for different looks. For instance, I bought a pair of velvet and lace pants in teal and emerald. Depending on how I accessorize them, they can either be plain ol' Tribal Fusion-y, faeriesque or mermaidish. A basic black skirt could go vampy, Victorian Goth, elegant and modern, or serve as the base for bright colors.

7. Get a second opinion. Sometimes it's good to consult with your teacher/mentor, or a dance friend, or a random person who's in the booth with you. They can give you an idea of how flattering, practical, or awesome something is before you buy.

8. Watch out for dated looks. Fringe belts and yarn dreads are mostly out. Almost no one performs in Melos and a crop-top anymore. Like all fashion, bellydance styles come and go, and while an audience of the General Public might not know the difference, the audience at a bellydance festival will.

Do you have any other tips you'd like to share for building a good Tribal Fusion wardrobe? Share it in the comments!

Coming soon: Follow Your Dreams Interview Series

Well, I asked around on Facebook and not only were people interested in the idea of a series of interviews with people who had followed their dreams, but I've even already got one interview lined up and some other people in mind! So here's how this is going to work:

• I'm going to interview people who have accomplished their goals, people who are in the process, and maybe people who are just about to set out.
• I will not just be interviewing dancers; I think it will be more interesting to see all sorts of dreams and different ways of achieving them.
• I'll ask some generic questions, and some questions about their specific dream, so every one will be different!
• Interviews will ideally be posted once or twice a month.

Not quite sure what to expect? Here's a mini-interview with... me!

It was easy for me to sit down for an interview with Sophia Ravenna, because, you know, she's my alter ego so we live in the same head. Here's what she had to say about herself:

Me: Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your dream.

Sophia Ravenna: Hi! My name is Sophia Ravenna and my dream is to be a professional belly dancer.

Me: When did you decide to follow your dream? What pushed you to do it?

SR: I guess it was last year? I had already been bellydancing for a while and I was admittedly frustrated with how much I was spending on classes, workshops, costuming and more, while not getting any paid gigs, but for various reasons I felt like I was probably going to always be an amateur. Then my brother invited me to be part of a fire performance troupe he was forming. I went to a couple of the meetings and realized that all of the other potential members were really passionate about fire, whereas my passion was definitely belly dance. I decided that I'd rather put my focus on my dance than on something that might have made me more money in the end, but was not what I loved.

Me: How far along on your goal would you say you are?

SR: I have a three year plan and I'm about 8 or 9 months into it. I've hit some of my goals easily, and struggled with others, but I have constant forward momentum so I'd call that a win. I've even been paid to dance, but I'm not ready to call myself a true pro yet, at least, not without tongue firmly in cheek.

Me: What was the hardest part of following your dream?

SR: Definitely taking the first step. When I sent that e-mail to my teacher Jolie saying "I wanna do this, what do I need to do?" (oversimplifying, obviously), my stomach filled with butterflies and they still haven't fully gone away.

Me: What has been the biggest help in achieving your goals?

SR: My great support system. My husband, my family, my teacher, my troupemates and my dance community all encourage and inspire me. Plus since they all know what I'm trying to do, I feel like I can't slack off too much or someone will call me on it!

Me: Any parting words of advice for those who are hesitating to follow their dreams?

SR: Make a plan. Don't just say you're going to do it. Break it down into sizable chunks, set goals, get someone to help you. When you have a real plan and someone holding you accountable, you'll feel inspired to keep working even when doubt starts to creep in.

Thank you, me, for helping me illustrate to my readers the format that I'll be using!

Busy week

Unless something crops up at the last minute, the party on the 8th was my last gig this month -- three performances in the space of a week and then none for the rest of the month, not an unusual turn of events. But the lack of gigs doesn't mean a lack of work. There's always something going on behind the scenes! Here's what I've been working on lately:

1. Classes and troupe practice! We're back to a regular schedule which means I am in class 4-5 hours a week. Troupe practice got moved to Weds nights and it feels really weird to have my Mondays free! Will I fill them with something else? Time will tell.

2. Getting ready for TRIBAL FEST!!!! I bought my plane ticket to SFO. I can't wait! I'll be rooming with my friend Fonda, who is excited to be with me for my first ever TF. It's going to be so awesome to take so many workshops, see so many friends, make new friends, shop, and dance dance dance.

3. Furthering my career. I just had a great private lesson with Jolie where we worked on some of my goals. She always gives such insightful, useful feedback.

4. Preparing for future performances. I may not have anything else this month, but March's Open Stage is right around the corner and I have a few other shows I'm looking forward to.

5. Getting into shape. Now that the weather is warming up (well, it was, until it decided to SNOW all day yesterday), my husband and I have started jogging again. I want to get a lot of jogs in now before it gets too hot in the Summer! Plus classes this week have been pretty hard and heavy, so I am feeling it in my muscles and I like the way it feels.

6. Making jewelry. Part of my Tribal Fest funding strategy involves sharing a booth with my brother at Wild Wild West Con next month. My steampunk jewelry selection is looking pretty skimpy, so I've been making new things right and left.

7. Blogging! Ok, not as much as I normally blog, but I'm trying. Check back tomorrow for another cosmetics review!

Fan veil performance!

Last Friday I had a big pile of firsts happen all at once... My first private party gig, my first time doing a full 10 minute set by myself, my first fan veil solo and my first time getting tips (and thus my first time making money dancing as a soloist. I've done paid/tipped gigs with troupes, but the money has always gone back into troupe expenses). WHEW! Oh, it was also my first time wearing those pants. I've owned them for something like two years and never had the right occasion.

Let me tell you, getting ready for this gig was really nerve-wracking. There's a big difference between being at an open stage, or doing a show with a troupe, and being solely responsible for entertaining people for ten whole minutes (ok, more like 9). Not only that, but I was going for a vintage-inspired look, which meant doing new things with my hair and makeup. Oh yes, and debuting a new-to-me prop. But everything worked out! The attendees of Kate's gem show party were entertained, they were entranced by the fan veils, and my hair stayed in place.

Also performing at this party was my friend and new Fire & Gold troupemate Sandy Tiss, who performs a more traditional Egyptian style bellydance. She wowed the guests with a veil entrance, zill playing, and a wonderfully sparkly turquoise and gold costume. She's a true professional and I was honored to share the "stage" with her. We even joined forces at the end for a little audience participatio.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video of my very first fan veil performance, and look forward to more in the future!

Assisting (Busiest Weekend Part 2)

One of my jobs as a troupe assistant was to snap a quick backstage photo of Skirt Full of Fire before their second set :)

For the most part, my job was to be chauffeur, go-fer, and holder of things. I was also on hand in case there were any problems with the DJ mid-set, so no one would have to jump off-stage and try to fix a bad music situation, but that didn't happen, thankfully. Being an assistant is not particularly glamorous but it is actually pretty fun. I enjoyed my behind-the-scenes look at being a professional and performing at a medium-sized, non-dance-community event.

I learned a lot about communicating with event organizers and clients, both from watching Jolie during the pre-show tour of the venue and from talking about the gig on the way home Sunday night. I also saw how gigging dancers have to be able to adapt on the fly to an unexpected stage layout or other small hitches in an event.

A lot of blogs and articles recommend ride-alongs like this as part of a would-be-pro dancer's education and I totally see why now. Why stumble your way through the world of professional gigs when you could get some hands-on experience beforehand? Since I didn't have the stress of getting ready and performing, I was able to observe everything from the outside, and then later pick Jolie's brain. It definitely helps to have a mentor who has experience in a lot of different arenas -- performing as a soloist, as part of a troupe, as a troupe director, with live bands, etc etc.

I'm looking forward to doing more assistant work throughout the year. Not only is it great for my dance career, but any chance to spend more time with Jolie, Brandye and Rachel is good in my book! Thanks ladies for letting me work with you this weekend.

Busiest Weekend

Those are sculptures of straight jackets hanging from the ceiling of the restaurant where I was having dinner after Club Bellydance... with the five members of Bellydance Superstars who are part of the tour, along with their road crew, Ava Fleming (who hosted the Phoenix Club Bellydance show), some of the other local performers, and a couple other audience members. And that is one reason why the busiest weekend was also the awesomest weekend.

(Side note: I had to steal this picture from Jolie's FB, because I left my phone in the car and couldn't take my own straight jacket sculpture pictures)

My weekend of busy awesomeness was not originally going to be anything too spectacular. I was going to vend at Yasmina's Bellydance Swap Meet, take a fan veil workshop, maybe have some dinner, and then go home. But a month or so ago Jolie asked if I would like to assist Skirt Full Of Fire at a gig up in Phoenix that night, because I had expressed some interest in doing some ride-alongs to learn more about the business side of dance. Since I was already going to be up there for the swap meet, this was perfect! So my plan became swap meet, workshop, assist at gig, maybe sleep over, then go home.

Then Club Bellydance was going to be in town on the 20th and I was torn on whether to go or not. After all, did I want to spend the entire weekend in Phoenix? But when the local performers were announced, I knew I had to go. Not only was Jolie performing, but so were my former teachers Anaya Tribal, so I really had to go make some noise for the ladies who have shaped my dance career (plus the rest of the line-up was pretty impressive). This meant that my plan was now swap meet, workshop, assist at gig, sleep over, Club Bellydance, maybe a quick late dinner after, go home.

I'll write separate posts about the swap meet and the pro gig, as each needs some things said about it and I don't want this to turn into a disjointed novel, but they were both good experiences for their own reasons, and I had a really good time on Saturday.

If you haven't been to a Club Bellydance show before, it's split into two parts. The first half consists of local performers who auditioned to be part of the show. This time around the judges had chosen a really great mix of soloists and troupes, tribal and cabaret. A really great mix of styles. Since it's pick-your-own-seating, I grabbed front and center, because why not? Besides, Fonda and I sat in the front row at my first Club Bellydance show, so I'd like to make it a tradition. I enjoyed the heck out of the first half of the show and was really glad that I went. It was incredibly inspiring and really a good time.

So during intermission I'm posting on  FB about how great the event is, when Jolie texts me from backstage and asks me if I want to go do dinner after with Sabah and the others. I played it cool in my response with a simple "Love to!" and meanwhile texted my husband going "Omgomgomgomg." I was going to get to hang out with the cool kids!

And that was about when I started thinking about the importance of making good decisions in life. If I hadn't decided to ask Jolie for the opportunity to help out with some pro gigs, and if I hadn't decided to spend the entire weekend up in Phoenix so I could see Club Bellydance, I would not have been in the position to get asked to the post-show dinner. By stepping out of my comfort zone with working to go pro, I had set myself up to go down a path that would lead to hanging out with a lot of dancers who I really admire. I think this is good inspiration to keep pushing myself!

As for the dinner itself, it was a lot of fun. I was between Sabrina and Ava. I spent most of the dinner being my usual shy, quiet self, just soaking up the conversation, but when Sabrina busted out her phone to show pictures of her cat and snakes, I came out of my shell a bit. I can always talk pets with everyone (thank goodness photographs no longer set off my snake phobia!). And I talked restaurants with Ava, who had picked the super-cool AZ88 as a place that could accommodate 17 hungry dancers and dance-related people at 10:30 on a Sunday night.

It was really, really awesome to meet all of the dancers and see how sweet and funny they are off-stage, and it was also nice to be reminded that while superstars may be far better dancers than I am, just like me they miss their pets when they travel.

Oh, and next time Club Bellydance comes through? I'm going to audition. Talk about pushing myself!

Goals for 2013

What does a mask have to do with my goals? Well, as soon as my Mom gave me this handmade polymer clay raven mask last night, I knew that I wanted to find the perfect situation to wear it for a dance performance. It's really awesome!

Anyway, now that I am not quite as hyper as yesterday, let's see if I can focus on writing down a few goals.

1. I am going to Tribal Fest and I am going to make the most of it! I need to develop some good note-taking habits so I can really get the best out of the workshops I'll be taking. I will also try to be smart about my shopping and buy things that will really round out my costume wardrobe, and not just every awesome green thing I see (note to self: you do not need another green tribal belt).

2. I am going to get back to healthy practice habits. I have been a real slacker lately. If I want to grow as a dancer and be a professional, I need to put the work into it, and not just go to classes and then practice choreos furiously in the days leading up to a show. I need to drill my basics. I need to challenge myself with new things. And I need to work on my strength and flexibility, no matter how much it sucks.

3. I am going to take full advantage of my Datura Online subscription. It will not languish unused like so many of my bellydance DVDs.

4. I am going to play. I tend to get focused on drilling and preparing performances, and I rarely let myself just have fun. My practice needs to include just dancing to music for the heck of it. I need to set aside time to play with my makeup when I'm not rushing to get ready for a gig. I need to work on costumes just because I have an idea, not because I need a bra for a troupe costume.

5. I am going to be nice to myself. Jolie says I am too hard on myself, and even in this post you can see that I am talking about all of the things that I do wrong and need to do better. I am going to remember the things I do well, and tell myself about them, and occasionally tell the world, too.

6. I am going to learn to sew. I keep saying that. I need to actually do it.

7. I am going to be a professional. Even if I am not getting a lot of paid gigs, I will act like a professional. I will be on-time to my gigs. I will wear the best costumes available to me. I will be well-made-up. I will be friendly and courteous with the organizer, the audience, my fellow dancers.

8. I am going to continue to be a good troupe-mate. I will practice my choreographies. I will help my fellow dancers with costuming needs, extra practices, and encouraging words. I will promote the events that we are dancing at, share the videos of us performing, and continue to speak well of all we do, because I am proud of my troupe.

9. I am going to keep a dance journal. I will record my progress and my deep thoughts, I will say nice things about myself and I will occasionally gripe. At the same time, I am going to work to make this blog less about the minutia of my practice, and more about upcoming gigs, performance videos, vendor recommendations, product reviews and other fun things.

10. I am going to cross-train. Yoga. Jogging. Other styles of dance. Whatever I can do to improve my health and my dance instead of staying so focused on bellydance. I will get out there and do it.

2013 is going to be awesome!

I've got a website!

Part of transitioning from an amateur dancer to semi-pro status is acquiring the trappings of a pro. So this weekend I built my own website! SophiaDances.com

It's not much, but I did it myself with WordPress templates! I've never used WP before but I found it to be not too difficult to figure out. I won't lie, there were some snags along the way, and I have a lot more work to do, but at least I have something for people to go to if they want to learn more about me.

Of course I will still be blogging here! It's just that "Sophia dances dot com" is a lot easier for an emcee to say and a person to remember than "dance pants addict dot blogspot dot com." Plus once I get more comfortable with site building, I can add a gallery of photos, a biography page, and other professional-looking stuff.

I also ordered some business cards! Now when people ask me where I dance, I can give them a card and they can come here or to my website and see the list of my upcoming gigs (which is currently empty, but that's soon to change. Things are a-brewing).

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Sorry about the long silence, after the Shakedown, I had less than a week to get ready before flying off to NY for Thanksgiving with my in-laws! I didn't dance at all while I was there, because it was a crazy trip. Now I am home, and I went to class on Sunday and it was great... then I woke up sick yesterday. *sigh* So I am using my time wisely to work on the business side of things, and also to make a new bra. More on that later!