Happy Holidays
from Studio Davina 

Hello my friends!  As the year draws to a close, I finishing up the year with a lot of links to resources that you might find helpful today, and into the New Year.  If you don't have the bandwidth to even scroll down this newsletter, hey, I understand.  2020 has been the biggest and most intense rollercoaster, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, and fight for survival year in my lifetime. 

I too have let some projects slide, have focussed on health and family, and mourned the loss of dance events, public performance, and hugs!  Reach out to your friends, family, and co-workers - with a kind check-in this season.  It's the little gestures that can have a significant impact in these more isolated times.

If this is all the bandwidth you have today - thank you for joining me for this ongoing dialog with the history of dance.  Happy Holidays to you and yours!  

However, if you are like me, you might be craving some high quality curated content.  If the answer is YES, join me for a scroll down this newsletter to find some crit useful information, some interesting upcoming events, and some fun and informative links around the web. 

This December newsletter is so big that I've had to create a little Index

• Part 1 - December History Slide-Talks with Davina
• Part 2 - Dance Teachers - Resources for Moving, Surviving, and Thriving, Online
• Part 3 - For Dancers - Ways to Invest In You and Your Dance 2021
• Part 4 - Around the Web - Curated Links to interesting Information around the Web. 

So without further ado - let the info begin!  ~ Dawn

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Part 1 - December History Slide-Talks

"A Journey Down
the Nile in 1910"
Live History Slide-Talk
Wed. Dec. 30, 2020, at 6:00 pm (PT)
Reserve your space for $20
hosted by Sara Shrapnell 
Belly Dance Business Academy

A Journey Down the Nile in 1910 is an hour-long history slide-talk that will present travel to Egypt in 1910 from the tourist’s perspective.  During this image-rich presentation, we will be looking at historic images from books and travel guides, amateur and professional photographs, paintings, illustrations, postcards, and travel ephemera.  

Because of my love for belly dance, finger cymbals, and assiut cloth, this talk has lots of this kind of visual information.

This hour-long slide-talk will be followed by a live Q&A session for attendees during the live Zoom talk.  If you want to catch this talk, but can't make that date and time, the video will be available to watch at your convenience after January 1, 2020. Click here to reserve your space.

5 Lecture Replays on Sale by Mahin

Mahin is having a Holiday Sale on Lecture Replays - She's included several of mine in her offering and I'm really excited to be sharing this opportunity.  If you missed these talks and would like to enjoy one - click here to sign up. 
I've written a blog post that includes descriptions of each slide-talk.  

Did you Catch my First, Last & Only Performance of 2020

Check out my first, last and only performance of 2020 here on YouTube - and if you click through - be sure to like and subscribe - my goal is to reach 1000 subscribers before the end of 2021!

This was a tough year for many of us, and I felt so grateful and fortunate to have the opportunity to safely meet up with friends in a park to celebrate the holidays!   Did you see the photo at the top of the newsletter?  That was from this show!  I look forward to performing more and sharing videos of informal dance performances in 2021. 

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Part 2 - Dance Teachers - Resources for Moving, Surviving, and Thriving, Online

Are you thinking about teaching online?  

I’ve spoken to many of my friends who have already made the leap to teaching online and some who are stuck with too many options and choices. If you are, like most of us, in transition with your business I have a few recommendations for resources for you. 

Teaching Dance? Join the Belly Dance Business Academy Coaching Circle

There are literally hundreds of free and low-cost digital classes on how to study and teach belly dance.  I’ve found the Coaching Circle to be one of the valuable courses I’ve taken as a professional belly dance teacher.  During the transition to digital teaching, the collected knowledge provides so much insight, specific tasks, and are happy to answer questions, brainstorm and share their solutions to problems we all face as professional instructors.  Even if you’re just thinking of starting a belly dance teaching business, this Coaching Circle will help you lay a strong foundation.
Wanna try one of my free classes at the Academy?  Check out “Flyer Design with Canva” or “5 Layers of Bellydance Appearance” 

Going OnLine?  Take a Class or full course with Sahira 

For many years, I've watched Sahira of Houston build her online teaching business. I first found Sahira many years ago when she was teaching on PowHow, a now-defunct teaching platform.  Over the past few months, she’s put together a series of courses where she lifts the veil and shares the behind-the-scenes, nuts-and-bolts of her success.  These classes include solutions for technology, presentation, music rights, setting up filming space, content development, basically, everything from A to Z.  If you are looking for an easy-to-follow, step-by-step road map, consider taking a single class or the full 7 part course. following this link. 

But Dawn, I need help,
but I’m operating on a shoe-string budget! 

You and me both!  So I found some free, but highly informative, videos over on YouTube to check out: 

• Dana Wilson - Master hip-hop teacher on teaching via zoom. SO much good advice specifically for dance instructors. Watch Now
• Feisworld Media -  Here’s a video on improving your sound while using zoom for teaching movement classes. Watch Now  
• Dance Geek + Dance Habit - Discussion of what a teacher or studio can do with zoom. Includes lots of screengrabs to help you set up and use the software. Watch Now
• Susan Dublin - Although geared to Yoga teachers, this is a very informative webinar replay that is handy for other movement disciplines. Watch Now

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Part 3 - For Dancers - Ways to Invest In  Your Dance 2021

As a performing dancer who feels the lonely grind of dancing at home alone, here are my five top tips for injecting the communal vibe in the era of social distancing.  Photo Right: My co-author Sara Shrapnell strikes a pose in a socially distanced garden setting. Photo by Alisha Westerfeld. 

• Dance with friends in a park - Put together a playlist, send out some notes to your favorite dance buddies, grab your blue-tooth speakers, and head to a park. Be the planner and make it happen.  
• Start a Private Dance Friends Facebook Group - Anyone can start a FB group, so team up with your closest dance buddies to form a Facebook Group to create an informal dance practice group to help generate new ideas, to share moves, and egg each other on.  
• Invite a few friends to all to take the same digital class - One of the things that I miss is having people to share and talk to about what I'm learning. Team up with a group of friends to take the same digital class and be students together and form a study & practice team. 
• Watch some YouTube - Dancers have been putting up a lot of content on the web this year.  There are videos available from this past year and before.  Play "follow the leader" with your favorite performances and challenge to learn. 

Yallah Raqs Podcast Presents:
"Struggle to Strength"

The (not) competition designed to keep you accountable to your New Year’s Goals - Without any of the bullshit.

This is a first of its kind study program that gives dancers all the things they love in a competition, like a targeted goal to work towards and feedback from talented industry leaders. Without the things they don’t like, competing against friends and comparing yourself to others. 

While we’re all at home working in our living spaces, it’s nice to find a way to get that critical feedback on our technique to drive future growth.  Love this lineup of “Non-Judges” and more to come soon.  Follow this link for more information.​

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Part 4 - Curated Links to interesting Information around the Web.