Inspire Belly Dance: Julie Eason

Now, Julie is a business woman, marketing, PR & copywriter, so obviously before I started the story I was relating deeply to her plight. Of course, she also used to be a ballet dancer, and I've been known to tell a story or two about screaming bloody murder as my mom tried to put 5 year old me in a pair of pink tights. It's why as soon as I could, I moved to jazz (no tights required! Huzzah!).

But the statement of Julie's that made me cue the waterworks was about how puberty, something you know that's inevitable and pretty much out of our control, ruined her dream of becoming a prima ballerina.

"I became a teenager, sprouted hips and boobs, and was 'released' from my dance company," Julie said. "After dieting like crazy to lose my hips and a painful surgery to 'fix' my feet, I tried to continue dancing ballet. But my body just wasn't the right shape anymore."
~Julie Eason, From Ballet Refugee to Belly Dance Business Guru

That paragraph alone has three boo-hoo-hoo moments for me:

1. She was released from her dance company. What horrible human beings. How can anyone do that to another person, let alone a teenager? As if we don't have enough problems as teen girls, let's add, "Oh by the way, your body is wrong. All wrong. You can no longer be a ballet dancer. Thanks for playing in this week's puberty-roulette."
2. Try to 'fix' one's body. Ok, this is why I lovelovelove belly dance. There's no 'fixing' anything. Those hips you think are too big? Great. Actually, go out and get some more of that. Your stomach isn't flat enough? All the more to roll, honey. And yeah, it's supposed to shake like that. 
3. That she kept trying! She loved dance so much, she would do anything to get back on the dance floor.

Well Julie, I am glad you are a belly dancer now. I really enjoyed your answers, and good luck in the contest!

Inspire Belly Dance: The Beginning

Helping Dilara run contests and promotions highlighting the awesome stories of belly dance is probably one of the most fulfilling parts of my job (other than rifling through boxes of new clothing and, you know, getting to hang out with belly dancers all day).

But this Inspire Belly Dance contest? It has been tears-city for this girl, right here.

First of all, I have this really bad habit of relating to every single sad or rough statement in the questionnaires the nominees must answer, making it difficult to make it through a Q&A without a box of tissues (thanks go to OfficeGoddessJen for always keeping the office stocked with tissues).

Second of all, I was tasked with writing these inspire pieces, and heaven knows I've never written anything without feeling it deeper than I do the bottom of a Ben and Jerry's Pint (ok, it's getting past my bedtime and the metaphors are stretched. Sorry)

Third of all, hormones.

So over the next couple of days, I'm going to make you feel my pain by highlighting each of the Inspire Belly Dance nominees and the section of their story that made me make elephant noises into my tear-tissues. Thank me later.

Things I Thought I Already Explained

For a while, my close friend and I have been discussing her entry into belly dance. As in, I want her to, and she's dragging her feet. Actually, I've been dragging a lot of friends kicking and screaming toward the art form, but that's because it'll be good for them. All they have to do, is listen to me!

So here's the reasons I want her to dance:
1. She loves yoga
2. She's grace-impaired, like myself
3. She has knee problems so she can't run
4. She's secure in her own body, she just wants to tone up a little
5. She's a total free spirit who plays by her own rules

Sound familiar?

I mean, clearly she's a dancer in the making!

I thought I had her on board with the belly dance train, and she recently mentioned a desire to lose a few pounds, but she's low on cash. I suggested maybe she try out some beginner DVD's  to get hooked, and then drop in on a class with Dilara (who, in case you didn't know, is a fantastic teacher).

All of a sudden she says, "I don't know. Can I really use belly dancing as a workout?"



Sigh. I'll let you picture my face.

The Diva In Us All

Last night, I had the pleasure of working as a cigarette girl for a 1940's Fashion Show, hosted by a local museum. I was asked to dress as closely to the period as possible, and they would provide me with gloves, a hat, and a cigarette box.

Now, if you don't know me in person, you won't know that I rarely change my hair. I'm a "if my hair can't be done in 5 minutes, I'm not doing it" person. I wear my hair pretty much the same way every day, but it's low maintenance hair so it works for me.

To prepare for the event, I started researching the 1940's online and discovered that, due to the war restrictions, clothing had to last from the 1930's, so fashion remained the same. Women used more and more elaborate hairstyles to make up for the fact that they were essentially wearing last seasons clothing.

Great! I thought to myself. But I found a really fantastic blogger who had pretty low maintenance hairstyle tips from the 1940's. So unfortunately my HipMix.net officemates had to put up with me wearing weird hairstyles for awhile.

On the day of the event, I found myself in a predicament. I don't have a curling iron, and my schedule did not allow for me curling my hair at the event. I would need to be mostly ready before I stepped foot in the venue. Since my hair is naturally curly, I thought to myself, maybe if I create my own ringlets, the effect will be the same. So after I stepped out of the shower, I parted my hair, combed it out with a wide tooth comb, and then hand created ringlets, squeezing out the excess water as I went. I did this all around my head, making larger ringlets at the back, and then I went back and put mousse all in my hair for hold and de-frizzing effects.

The effect worked! I had perfect little ringlets. Well, at least on one side of my head. The other side I towel dried first, thinking it would still work. It didn't, by the way. So don't do that. No towels!

At work, we've been preparing our Diva week, which was getting me pretty hyped up for the fashion show. I kept thinking to myself that all I wanted to do was get home and put makeup on! I don't think I've ever felt that way.

This is probably the first time that I really got what Dilara means when she talks about putting on her belly dance costume. There's something in the effort, the consideration, that makes you feel like a different person. I mean, I'm still me - just a different version. It was exhilarating to say the least. The compliments didn't hurt, either.

After the fashion show, I was feeling like more people needed to see all my effort. So I took the show on the road.

Next time? I'm researching period language and I'm only going to use period speech when in costume.

Before I leave you, here's an awesome makeup artist with great tutorials: http://www.kandeej.com/
And don't forget to enter our Diva contest! http://HipMix.net/share.php

Still a Newbie After Everything

This week marks one year since I became inducted into the world of belly dance. I say inducted because even though it is categorized as a hobby, belly dance is more of a lifestyle, a club even.

After being in the world for what feels like forever, I am still reminded every now and again that for the time being I am only a visitor to the world of belly dance. I don't take regular lessons, I don't own a costume, and I still haven't set goals to my life in dance. While I'm passionate about the art form, I haven't been bitten by the bug, so to speak. Even so, I'm constantly inspired by the women and men of belly dance.

Today, my lesson came in the form of a new word: tribaret. Clearly I can discern what it means, but I guess it took me off guard that I'd never heard or considered such a term. Maybe because it seems repetitive - isn't tribal already derived from cabaret? The performance labeled as such is what appears to be a relatively traditional cabaret dance, only performed to a modern song (Amy Winehouse, in this case).

Here's the video:

What do you guys think?

Arguing with Idiots

I know I shouldn't argue with idiots. They simply aren't worth the effort. My time can be better spent some place else. While I work with and love belly dance, sometimes it's hard to translate for someone who doesn't get it. Someone who can't get past the bare belly. Someone who has to say, "Oh I took pole dancing once." You know this someone.

Unfortunately, this weekend those idiots will be family members.

That sounds harsh. I LOVE my family members, but sometimes it's hard to make a logical argument to blood. No matter what you say, they are still picturing you as that kid who threw sand and loved to sing random Disney songs in Wal-Mart. Not that any of that is from personal experience...

Anyways, I could really use some pointers. How do you argue with someone who really doesn't "get" belly dance, especially someone who shares your last name?

The Skinny Curse

Wow! It's been awhile since I've last posted. It would be an understatement to say that life has been crazy at the HipMix.net office, what with Dilara being in a national magazine, our new shopping experience, as well as several to-be-mentioned-later initiatives (that I'm super excited about!!).

I recently received a comment (or ok, let's be real, saw that someone had commented on one of the random times I check my blog to see if I've become super popular) and it was someone who felt a little offended about my rant on skinny women being models and how they generally freak me out.

I'm kidding, of course. Skinny people don't really freak me out.

I guess when I view a skinny person, I transpose my personal experiences with weight loss on them. We tend to view the world through a lens created by our own history, and therefore see things with a bias. I've struggled with body image my whole life, and thus have to find fuller figured women to look up to in order to combat my own personal issues with weight.

In the search to provide people with "healthy" role models, we often overlook those women who struggle with their weight in a different way - struggle to GAIN as opposed to lose.

It's an interesting idea, and hopefully one Dilara will tackle for me soon (PLEASE?).

In any case, she closed with a remark that's stuck with me since I read it: that belly dancers are not supportive of skinny dancers. Wowzers - anyone see that trend?

Building the Community: Promoting the Modern Belly Dancer

Ok, I'm one of those people who gets an idea and pounds it into the ground. The idea I've been irritating all my coworkers with lately is "building the community of belly dance."

It's my own personal crusade, made possible by Dilara, because for some reason she believes I know what I'm doing.

One of the ways HipMix.net is building the community is by reaching out to belly dancers who are doing some amazing things in their hometown.

I get a lot of my leads through local newspapers and online magazines that cater to the broader spectrum of life. As I read through them, I'm hit over and over by the need for a magazine that "gets" belly dance to cover these artists. Then we wouldn't have to spend half of our time saying, "yesss belly dance is not all about baring your midriff and shaking your assets" and "yesss belly dance is an inspiring and confidence-boosting pasttime" and "yesss the women who dance are your mothers, sisters, daughters, neighbors, coworkers."

Don't get me wrong: I love when the media covers belly dance in such a light. But for dancers, you hear it all the time. You'd rather dive in deeper. Instead of hearing about a dancer doing sword dances (yawn yes ok we know that happens) you want to hear about how they keep their dances entertaining, how they avoid letting their prop become a crutch, etc.

That's why we want to promote the modern belly dancer and her struggles. What is she/he worried about? What does she/he carry in her practice bag? Where is she/he dancing?

We're not talking about the stars, the famous dancers, the ones most belly dancers are buying DVDs from and taking workshops with. We are talking about the extraordinary women and men who make up the majority of the belly dance world.

Are you a modern belly dancer? Do you know a modern belly dancer? Let me know and there's a chance we'll cover you in one of our profiles!

HipMix.net Soap Opera Ep. 1: OfficeJen and Supplex

Today, OfficeJen is stealing some HipMix.net merchandise to try on at home (a story about that some other time).

She's walking out of the office, ranting about how she's a fabric snob, and because she needs such-n-such fabric to "hold everything in".

Being a sarcastic little me, I said, "Wait, what fabric is that?"

She says, "Supplex."

To which I reply, "Yes! I need me some of that to use on my mouth."

She said she's getting bandaids instead.

Sorry for the short episode. Someday I'll write the story of how I scare off visitors to the HipMix.net office.

Sarcastic Belly Dance

So things have been super hectic over here at HipMix.net.
It's our birthday (I upgraded our logo to party status).
We launched a site redesign (and I don't think it's possible that anyone's happier about it than me).
We got our own news segment (and I got to go backstage!).

But blatant self promotion aside, I was doing some thinking the other day.
One thing I love about dance is that a person's personality can really come across while they are dancing. It's really interesting to see.

And then I thought... so if I were a better dancer, would my dance style be sarcastic?
What would a sarcastic belly dance even look like?

Hope you guys are having great lives out there!

Things You Can Generally Expect at the HipMix Office

When you arrive, you can pretty much expect these things:

1. Dilara walks in with a Diet Rock Star in hand, bags covering every inch of her body
2. Christina rolls in late with sunglasses on, pretending she's a rock star herself, with a story about either falling down while getting ready or how she spilled coffee on herself
3. Haley is in place, ready with a pack of gum, to tell Dilara about the craziest belly dance news of the day
4. Kaitlyn has texted everyone about three times to see what we want at Sonic Happy Hour (swear they know us by name and order)

During the day, you are guaranteed one of these things happen:

1. Dilara yells, "Oh my God!" because she has now read that crazy thing Haley was telling her about
2. Haley's cell phone goes off and everyone mimics it
3. Christina dances because she can't handle her life
4. Kaitlyn giggles in the most adorable way ever
5. We all have a pow-wow over anything from clothing styles, latest controversies, HipMix business, or where to find the new Rock Star flavor

And if you're lucky, you may experience:

1. Christina yelling at the Better Business Bureau rep who comes to the door
2. Haley having a freak out because she gets to be a part of a Mardi Gras float
3. Amelia bringing in a new clothing item that the whole team tries to rip out of her hands
4. Dilara having a taste test of her new Almond Champagne
5. Kaitlyn turning beet red at the mention of Conan O'Brien
6. Jen sharing her lunch with you because you forgot yours

It's a good life in the Belly Dance Office!

Belly Dancing for Tax-Funded Events, Do or Don't?

Maybe some of you remember that whole Philadelphia Housing Authority story, where tax-payers ended up footing the bill for a diversity party that included belly dancers.

I don't want to go into the whole controversy (you can check out Dilara's feedback here), but one of the dancers involved in the performance has finally had her say.

To give you some context for this article, here's my paraphrase:

Belly dancers (plus various other acts) performed at a party for an agency. The director of said agency is considered very corrupt, and is facing heat regarding mismanaged funds. This controversy has been referenced in many articles, mostly focusing on the belly dancers as opposed to the other performers. Having been featured (in picture) on many of these articles without credit or permission, one of the dancers in the troupe has commented on an Examiner.com article. The author of that article (Aaron Proctor) responds in an article of his own.

I'm going to skip most of the post, because really, I don't live in the area, and since I'm not a performer, I can't fully understand where she is coming from , but what I do love in her post are these words:

"However, one's job before a show is not arguing politics with your dance director. It's to arrive on time with costume, makeup and props in good order, making sure you're on stage fully in character, and performing to the best of your ability. It seems that I held up my end of the bargain."

Continue reading on Examiner.com

 

She makes a really good point. Dancers aren't responsible for the actions of the venues they perform at, nor should they expect to be held as part of an example for bad behavior when really, they did the job they were paid for. Why should they apologize when they couldn't have known where the money came from?

 

The author of the article makes a good point: "It would be the same thing as if Mayor Nutter had a $5,000 party on your dime and then we all blamed the DJ who was hired." (Thank you, Mr. Proctor, for finally writing that the focus of this issue shouldn't be the belly dancers, but the mismanaged funds).

With that being said, I wanted to ask if any dancers have performed at state/federal agency events before. Would you stop to ask if your payment was tax-funded before performing? Or does that matter?

Since I'm not a performer myself, I really don't have an opinion on the matter. What's yours?

Drinking the Koolaid

So, for a few months now I've been meaning to "get back" to belly dance class.

Ok in the spirit of honesty, I have only taken a few classes.

Ah! I know! I know, I work for HipMix and I've taken one class. I'm a horrible person. Somehow, between watching belly dance, reading about belly dance, and interacting with belly dancers, I thought I was one. Not true. I feel like a band groupie. I'm in with the crowd, but I can't really relate, you know?

They talk about shimmies, hip drops, performances, and the troubles of breaking the stereotype. I'm the eager puppy, nodding my head and pretending to understand. They just sort of smile and pat me on the shoulder. "As if you know..."

But belly dancers are a lot nicer than that. They've been very helpful. And what have I done? I'm mixing the koolaid but I don't drink it*.

Well, I am finally giving back to the community. Not only am I FINALLY taking a belly dance class tomorrow, I've recruited two partners in crime: my coworkers Kaitlyn and Haley!

Plus by putting this in writing, they can't back out. Hear that? YOU CAN'T BACK OUT!

More details coming soon!

*no belly dancers were poisoned in the making of this blog post

Haunting Photos of Too-Thin Models

Taking a break from my regularly scheduled sitcom to bring you this message:

Guys, this photo really haunts me.

From Huffington Post Article

Look at the girl to the right's shoulder bones. You can see her back ribs, her vertebrae. How is this ok?

Move along to the girl on the left. See her prominent clavicle. I'm not saying these girls are unattractive, or that they aren't "naturally" skinny. But you can't airbrush a rib out of a runway walk. So why is this acceptable?

I understand the fashion industry's need for using small models. I've written about it before, and I'll probably write about it again. It makes it easier for displaying clothes on any model around the world with minimal alterations needed. I get it. I still think you need to make your base sample a size 2 or 4, but that's me.

Shouldn't we celebrate the curves of a woman, instead of placing clothes on tall, angular, alien-like creatures who look as if they could fall over at any moment?

Like this belly dancer, doesn't she look so much happier and healthier than the girls above?

Madeline Bingham, Awesome Belly Dancer

 I mean, obviously she is smiling. That's a start. But she looks like she could wear any of the clothes from that runway show and still make them look fantastic.

On a side note, if you know her, let her know she's awesome! She designs the most amazing belly dance costumes, like a wonder woman costume, and some others.

Ok, off my soap box. Hope to bring you the story of how I scare off visitors to our office!

A HipMix.net Life: The Sitcom Begins

I have a bad habit of wanting to explain everything.

I don't know where this idea embedded in my brain that anyone might actually care, but I can't help myself. If you meet me out, I'll probably tell you my life story, embarrassing details & all, in about 5 minutes.

In the spirit of telling more than is natural, I'd like to start a series on "Life at HipMix.net" to show what's it's like working in a small office full of people passionate about Belly Dance. I'm gonna write it like a sitcom because, well, I want to.

Meet the Characters:

What Does a Belly Dancer Look Like?

Dilara has a great blog on "what an American looks like". I'd like to expand that further and talk about... what does a belly dancer look like?
I test drove some cars this past weekend while I debated taking my current vehicle off life support (it made it through the night and should live to see a few more thousand miles).

When I told the car salesman I worked for HipMix.net, he said, "Oh I sold a car to a belly dancer a few weeks ago. But she wasn't what I expected a belly dancer to look like."

Before you started belly dancing, what did you think a belly dancer should look like?

What is your opinion now?

Capture the Details: Still-Life Photography and Belly Dance

Oh hi, did you forget about me?

It's been a bit of a delay since I posted last. With holidays, and shopping, and trying to get a load of work done before my week-long holiday (woohoo!), I haven't had a lot of time to chronicle my journey into belly dance.

So instead, I thought I'd do one of those fun photo posts where I tell a bit of a story. Mostly I want to tell you 4 things I learned during my attempts at being a still life photographer for HipMix.

Belly Dance Has Changed My World

Last night, at a belly dance workshop, I had a surreal moment. I gave a 15 minute pitch for the clothes and services the company I work for, HipMix.net, offers. After the talk, the dancers had only a few minutes to ask questions before the workshop began, and one dancer came over and asked me:

"How do I do, what you do?"

It was one of those moments where, as an outsider to this belly dance world, I felt confused. What did I do? I stood and awkwardly talked about clothes I happened to be wearing (and liked). I was concise, personable (hah, one of my few personable moments. I've found anyone can stomach me for at least 15 minutes, I think or hope). But what did I really do?

And then I realized, this is a passion of hers. A hobby. How many of us desperately want to be able to make our hobbies our living? It wasn't that I gave a great pitch (well, I mean I DID but that's not the point). She wanted to be able to have belly dance be a part of her career.

Then I felt really blessed. Here I was, a stumbler into the world of belly dance, and I have yet to see how large and wild it all is. I've been lucky to fall into a career that makes the best of my strengths. And more than that, I work in female-dominated environment that celebrates all types and sizes and strengths of women.

So despite the fact I was wearing a choli top and harem pants in low 40 degree weather, I felt warm inside. Belly dance has changed my world, like so many others.

How has it changed yours? Share your story at HipMix.net/share.

Don't Look Like Santa After Thanksgiving

It's more bad news for women everywhere! According to RealAge.com, the average woman gains 1-5 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's! Hooray as in, "Thanks for the pants, Grandma, but I'm going to need you to get me a bigger size."

Yes, in an already stressful time, now we have to watch our diets when everyone around us is chowing down on turkey, cakes, and other holiday goodies.

Well, hopefully you're feeling Hip+Fit, and have gotten a little trimmer.

I have to admit that I cheated. I got a flu bug over the weekend and swear I've lost an inch everywhere, including my appetite.

But not everyone gets nature's diet (haha) this time of the year. So I am going to let you in on a secret my mom always told me:

"Put less on your plate than you think you can eat."

If you're still hungry, go back for more, but you'd be surprised how little we actually need to fill us up.

As Dilara says, "Moderation is key!"

I've got a lot on my plate with work, and then holidays... but I'll be sure to post when I'm back to work after the holidays. Hopefully not plus 5 pounds :)

The Boyfriend and the Belly Dancer

Saturday night, I begged and begged my boyfriend to take me to the local hookah bar and watch some belly dancers. After all, I've only taken one class, and I haven't seen any belly dancers live since that time an Australian belly dancer showed me a hole in her shoes (interesting night).

So we finally went. I bought us hookah and paid the cover charge (my bribe for getting him to get outside his comfort zone). We settled down and waited.

I'm not sure when the dancing was scheduled to begin, but we apparently got there too early. As such, we got to watch the hookah bar slowly fill up. Having been to the bar on non-belly dance nights, it was incredible to see how much traffic the belly dancing brought to the business.

In fact, the bar was so crowded we were asked to share our large couch area with a group of strangers. They were very nice, so I didn't mind.

Then the dancing began.

It was really interesting to see the moves I could put names to, as well as the moves I couldn't. It made me feel like I still had a lot to learn (after one lesson? wow!). My boyfriend loved, I mean LOVED, the music. He thinks that because we have Rock Band, he can drum. But it was pretty adorable to watch him play the music on his leg.

While surrounded by newcomers to belly dance, I was heartened to see their response. Many of the girls were impressed, "I could never do that!" I wanted to tell them they could.

Only one guy near me made leering remarks. "Bow chicka wow wow," he kept saying.

After all was said and done, I felt very impressed by the caliber, diversity, and enthusiasm of the dancers. Some of them looked so happy, I wanted to join. I could see people around me dancing in their seats. The last belly dancer even brought people out of the audience to dance!

Somewhere near the end of the show, my boyfriend put his arm around me and said, "Best $5 you've ever spent on me."

Another person converted to the love of belly dance!