Adonia Renee
One day while scrolling through Facebook, I stumbled upon a post from my friend
Berna. She was putting on a theatrical belly dance show called 1001 Nights; Fractured
Fairy Tales: A Bellydance Story and needed dancers. Though I had no theatrical belly
dance experience, this was an opportunity I had always dreamed of, so I threw my hat
in the ring.
With a background in theater, I knew that auditions often come with a side of humility
and an open mind. I filled out the application, eager to contribute in any
capacity—whether as a solo act or part of a group number. I braced myself for the
possibility of a modest role and clicked "submit"; hoping for a chance to grow in my
dance career.
Time ticked by, and with each passing day I grew concerned that maybe I had not made
the cut. When Berna finally reached out, I was both relieved and excited. She offered
me a leading role as Scheherazade. My heart raced—this was one of those rare, golden
opportunities that seemed almost too good to be true. Despite my excitement, a
nagging voice of self-doubt whispered, “What if you’re not ready?” Still, I knew I couldn’t
let fear win. Saying “yes” felt like stepping onto a tightrope: thrilling and terrifying, but an
unmissable chance.
Berna also knew I wanted to dive into group choreography and included me in the group
numbers. Her trust in me was both a profound honor and a heavy responsibility. I was
excited, anxious, and filled with a determination to prove myself, knowing that this
chance might never come again.
Then the work began. We met regularly as a group on zoom where she began by
explaining the show story and her vision, later we got to the meat and potatoes of the
choreography. Berna was very organized and everything was mapped out. The
expectations were clear as to when she expected to see videos from each number.
From beginning to end she had learning blocks. Each block we would begin by getting
the background story of the piece and then we would learn the choreography. She had
an online system where she uploaded all the show music so we could download it to
practice. We could watch the zoom recording if we couldn’t make the meetings and she
also uploaded a separate video of her just doing the dance full through with the music.
This was my lifeline.
I studied those videos over and over doing my best to do it exactly how she wanted it.
Later when studying a particularly fast piece that I was struggling hard with I figured out
a trick. I downloaded it to my phone opened it in a program called VLLO and edited it to
a slower pace. I then uploaded it to our Facebook group for that piece so the whole
group could use it. This was very helpful and I wish I would have thought of it sooner.
However, I uploaded that as a private YouTube video to share with the group who let me
know that there was a feature on YouTube that allowed you to change the playback
speed of the video. Had I known, that would have saved some time but either way
slowing it down helped me learn the piece. Also, there are uses to both techniques
since sometimes you don’t necessarily want to put something on YouTube.
As someone who is an alphabet soup of neurospicyness, sometimes deadlines are
super-helpful for me and sometimes they cripple me. It really just depends. At first, it
helped to schedule out my practice sessions for each block. I quickly realized that my
brain learns best with small consistent practice that involves copious amounts of
repetition. Two hour blocks of just studying one piece would create to much and
overwhelm me, especially if I missed it or didn’t make as much progress as I thought I
should make. Even when I did do my study sessions, I often did not get the long-term
results that I wanted. This led to missing some deadlines mostly because I thought that I
had to have the piece done and polished to perfection in order to submit it. Berna is the
most kind, patient, and understanding director a dancer could ever ask for! When I
didn’t get things in on-time it was her goal to find out why and how she could help me
progress. A few things happened. One, she explained that these were progress videos.
I did not need them polished to perfection she just wanted to see where we were so that she can help us if we were struggling or even schedule more meetings if multiple people needed help. I learned that progress is more important that perfection. Two, my brain sometimes needs to check in with a person to have concrete accountability and to ask the questions that are holding me back. So, I scheduled private lessons with Berna. I felt this was important since I was not just Scheherazade but also was playing the Queen of Hearts, a peacock, a spirit, a jewel, and a mermaid. It was important to me that I do a good job on each piece. From there I changed my practice strategy. Instead
of long focused sessions I focused instead on small consistent practice. I practiced at
least five days a week with the goal of running already learned pieces once and the
newer pieces three times and if I got inspired I could always do more but if I left the
practice room only doing small manageable pieces then I felt successful and that was
important. The feeling of accomplishment leads to success which breeds more success.
Then came show week. For three and a half days before the show we rehearsed in
person. This doesn’t sound like much but so much happened in those days before each
show both in December of last year and May of this year. Berna had a practice schedule
set and both times we had multiple practice rooms. We put together group pieces and
polished them. Some took longer than others to put together but Berna was patient but
clear in what she needed from us. Everyone worked hard. If you weren’t actively
working on a group piece with Berna in the main room groups branched off and worked
on other pieces in other rooms and still others worked on duets or solos in other rooms.
Berna was also clear that it was of the upmost importance that we take care of
ourselves. We each had a water buddy and time to eat and it was encouraged to take
food breaks during the day. We had to listen to our bodies and do what was necessary
to protect and nourish them. In the evening we had time to get to know each other,
socialize, try on costumes and sew. I learned how to put on a wig and how to change
them quickly which was important because it was important that each character I played
looked different than Scheherazade so that her storyline was clear. Many times we
would just practice wherever we could, like Berna’s home dance space and
entertainment space, hotel rooms, Air B&Bs, really anywhere we could.
Tech rehearsal came the day before the show and we got to run things on stage. We
ran the show and Berna juggled so many things like staging, lights, sound, cues, placing
tape on the stage so we were aware of where we needed to be, and what seemed like a
million other critical things to make the show go well. It was inspiring to watch her in
action. Meanwhile I had pre-prepared what I called my show plan. It had each piece set
up in order color coded by story with their run time. On that sheet I put a box around
each time I needed to be on stage with what costume and wig I was wearing along with
any props needed and a note for what side of the stage I was entering and exiting and
how much time I had to change. While I tried to memorize it the best I could it was very
helpful to me to have it printed out and one placed on each side of the stage as well as
one with Barb the stage manager to whom I could not live without. She helped me get in
and out of tricky costumes and even helped move things from one side of the stage to
another when needed on top of a million other things she was juggling for the show. I
can not put into words how much I admire and appreciate everything she did for me and
and for the show!
On show day we had done so much prep and planning and work that things went well
99.9% of the show and the small hiccups that did occur were quickly identified, dealt
with, and rectified for the next performance. Berna had insisted that we have zero safety
pins and instead use button clips or something to keep them on and in place. In the
December show I tried velcro since I was resistant to use button clips because my
weight fluctuates so much. Then it was explained to me that I only needed on in front
center and back center of my belt and it was optional on bras and accessories. I now
use the button clips for everything. They are fast and easy and more forgiving than I
originally thought they would be. They only catastrophe I had was that I was doing a
quick change into the Scheherazade costume that had a lot of pronged crystals and
ended up cutting myself and getting blood all over my white costume. Thankfully Barb
and the other stage hands came to the rescue and got the blood out and hot glued the
offending prongs so that the next show had no more injury. Blood aside actually
performing the show was so much fun. Yes, there was stress but I considered it to be
eustress, a positive form of stress that fulfills the body and mind. Behind the scenes
when we weren’t changing or prepping there was lots of silliness and fun and I enjoyed
every minute of it.
I came into the show without hands on experience in theatrical belly dance or group
choreography. In my solo piece I didn’t like what was happening in a couple sections so
I sought out help from Aziza of Montreal who helped me pivot last min and make it
something I was proud of. Its okay to pivot when things aren’t working as the should.
Trying new styles, techniques, skills, and experiences and important and help you grow.
Advocate for yourself and be able to say I don’t know this; how or where do I go to
learn. You don’t have to know everything or be comfortable or even confident to start.
As my friend Ruby says “No pressure, No diamonds” and if there is anything I’ve
learned in my time as a professional belly dancer or in life in general is do the scary
thing. You’re never gonna have it all figured out with all your ducks perfectly in a row.
You have to be willing to ask questions, never stop learning, and do the scary thing
because the pressure is what creates diamonds.
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