I have barely told anyone this, but here goes...

Here in Seattle, we are "COVID-19 Ground Zero" in the US. Due to social distancing--and later by the governor having been shut down as non-essential--my dance studio has been out of regular business for weeks now with no end in sight. But, we still have to pay rent and all utilities as expected. We fall through every crack imaginable for assistance--I don't employ anyone, so grants for small businesses employing X# of employees aren't available to me. Chris makes too much money for us to qualify for any artists/small business program assistance programs I have come across. The stock market is in the ditch, and with our other house project under way (and also completely frozen due to work stoppages), we have debt tied up in it, and don't have enough liquidity to prop up the business for any length of time and still pay our current living expenses (talk about the worst timing ever). Unemployment doesn't apply to me. Some of my renters are trying to pay in a little bit to help so the roof stays over their head to return to, but they are mostly out of work as well, so it doesn't even cover a tiny portion of the total lease/costs on the space. Looking at arts grants, and there is hot competition for very small amounts of funds; and since they given in small doses to spread as far as they can, most of them wouldn't even cover a portion of one month of our rent. I would have to win out on multiple grants every month to cover our losses. Impossible.

Our mayor did put into place a 30 day moratorium on both residential AND commercial evictions, but we haven't heard if it will be extended. Even if it were, it isn't debt forgiveness, so it means when this is all over we would need to come up with all the back-rent. My credit union is giving a small interest free loan to every member who applies, but it would cover a little less than a month of rent (not expenses), and then I am under that debt, too, with just more months ahead of me without a plan.

Hard fact for me: my lease term is up this July. I only just got started--my studio has been over a decade in the planning, but only 3 years in the fruition of it. It was going beautifully, and I was going to re-up for another 3 years, but now I have to wonder if my dream is about to die ignominiously in this pandemic.

I am mentally composing the mail to my landlord to see what options he may have for me, if any. He owns many properties and is a good landlord. I am sure he has a lot of renters in the same boat, and is fielding a lot of similar messages right now. I don't know what his financial position is and how much wiggle room he has. For instance, I know for a fact a chunk of his portfolio is closed restaurants, and the business I share the building with is a nail salon which has been closed for weeks, with a minimum of another month of closure ahead (and we all know more than that). ALL of us won't be able to pay our rents--where does that put us; where does that put him? He certainly won't want us all moving out en-masse and have to look for new renters, but the financial and legal conundrum it puts him in is no small potatoes, either. I am empathy for the position he is in, as well.

One fun thing about my studio is that I get to play with automation, aka Smart Home Stuff, a lot. My goal from the beginning was to make things run as smoothly as possible even when I am not there to troubleshoot. Yeah, sometimes technology just complicates things (and I've had my share of hiccups already), but hopefully in the long run it will make the studio a more comfortable and enjoyable place for everyone with minimal regular intervention in some areas.

Case in point: The Warehouse came with a very dumb thermostat--like, I haven't seen one like it since I was a kid. Also, it is a VERY big room, and this winter I learned that in colder months, it costs a lot to maintain a palatable temperature, and it takes several hours to raise the temperature even a few degrees. We're working on better insulation to help with these issues, but in the meantime, I was having to show up two to three hours prior to my classes to turn the heat on. I was trying to figure out how to deal with that when other people rent the room, so I don't have to go down and turn the heat on for them, or expect them to arrive that early.

So far I have a two part solution; pardon me while I geek out a bit:

First, Chris gifted me a Nest. I wasn't going to splurge quite that much on a smart thermostat, but the pricing has come down on their lower end model, and it's a familiar ecosystem for me since we have one in our home. This allowed me to set schedules by day of the week, so I was able to stop coming in so early so often, and this worked well for other regular weekly renters as well. However, there is no app currently available for scheduling by date (why is that?! this is a no-brainer!). So I had to wonder, what about a one-time rental? Was I going to have to set myself reminders for every event, make sure I was near my phone or computer to turn the heat on personally for every renter? That was not going to fly...

Second, enter IFTTT, aka If This Then That. It's an incredibly robust platform for programming specific triggers to perform actions--known as "applets"--seamlessly integrating systems which don't necessarily "talk" to each other natively. There are many technologies which partner with IFTTT, and make pre-programmed applets to perform functions, from simple to complex. In this case, I leveraged multiple applets to achieve what I was trying to accomplish. I am now able to use my Google Calendar to trigger my Nest thermostat. But my situation was unique, and I needed a trigger to happen BEFORE the event takes place. Thus I was able to use my Google Calendar, talking to my Gmail, which IFTTT then recognizes and then sends a command to my Nest. The solution wasn't immediately obvious, but here's how it works:

I have set up separate calendars for each room I rent out at the studio. This allows me to see availability at a glance when renters are inquiring about renting. Additionally, I preface every calendar entry with a room designation, like "JB - Shay Rental" for me renting the JewelBox studio, or "OR - Susie Rental" for Susie the Orange Room, WH for Warehouse, etc.

Each calendar has various settings you can tweak, and in this case, I set this calendar to e-mail me a reminder notification two hours before the start of any event added to that calendar.

Over in Gmail, I set up a filter such that any e-mail that comes in from "google-notifications@google.com", and has "Notification: WH" in the title, gets immediately labeled "Warehouse Nest Trigger" and is archived (aka skips the inbox). This is so it doesn't ping my inbox and send me push notifications every time it happens, nor do I have to go archive them all the time. This is important because I hope to have more smart thermostats in the future, all with similar automation in place, and I don't want my inbox clogging up and "ding! ding! ding!"ing me notifications constantly.

I set up an applet in IFTTT to regularly scan my Gmail for anything with the label "Warehouse Nest Trigger". If it finds a new message with this label, I instructed it to turn the Nest to 65 degrees.

Thus, two hours before an event in the Warehouse, my Google Calendar sends a message to my Gmail, which IFTTT then sees and triggers the Nest to turn up the heat. Not the most elegant solution, but it means all I have to do is enter rental times into my Google Calendar as I normally do (no change in behavior on my part from here on out), and the thermostat takes care of itself.

And to make this all a nice neat package, there was already a native applet which will trigger Nest to turn the heat back to its lower holding temperature at the end of any event. So when BillyJo's event ends at 5pm, IFTTT tells the Nest to lower the temp back down.

In related Smart Studio news, I already have some smart plugs in place which schedule lights and space heaters to go on at certain times related to when I or other renters are regularly there. In particular, I have a set of lights that go on at dusk every day and then shut off at midnight, so there are always some lights on when it's dark out, making us feel safer as we come and go. But when I visit the studio, I like to have some of those lights on even in the daytime, just for inviting pooled lighting in darker corners of the space. While tweaking my smart apps, I have finally set up some presence triggers at the studio such that when I arrive, key lights will turn on no matter what the day/time. Unfortunately, a limitation in the system is I can't do the reverse, and have them turn off when I leave. Otherwise if I leave them on for a renter and then go away...they will turn off. So I will have to remember to turn them off manually.

It is interesting to probe the logic which drives smart technology, to suss out the strengths and weaknesses. Unexpected outcomes are certain, and thinking through what a given string of triggers will accomplish is necessary to also reveal unintended consequences. I often read posts on forums by people who want to use presence sensors to unlock their front door, for instance. Sounds pretty cool, except in my personal use case with triggers at home, there were times I was driving past my house (not even on my street, but close by) and my house recognized my "presence" and triggered automations. In this case, harmless ones like turning on lights and a push notification, but if it were unlocking my front door...!!

It's been an interesting journey, studio ownership thus far, and this is just one fun facet I am working on to make Studio Deep Roots even more unique, special, and welcoming.

In a previous post, we looked at The True Cost of a Performance. In this installment, we look at the incomparable Delilah Flynn's question of:


Delilah's Answer:
"8PM show. 

I have to eat my last meal by 3:00 PM or I feel sluggish and bloated. So I have to plan my day accordingly. Open suitcase and gather costume pieces. Iron veil if necessary. Make sure I have costume, make up, zills, evening dress, shoes and stockings in the early day so incase I have to run an errand I have time. This takes about 30 minutes somewhere in my day. 

I shower at 5:30 and begin putting on makeup and doing hair at 6:00-6:45 and get dressed and load the car with costumes, sound system, props. 

Arrive at the gig to get acclimated at least 30-40 minutes in advance so I leave the house at 7:00 if local. The show is at 8:00 give or take a few . Usually shows go on a little late if the audience is still arriving . 

By 9 :00 I should be finished and need 30 minutes to cool down before stepping out in the Seattle rain. How ever the audience usually wants to meet the dancers so going out and saying hello is a professional curtesy.  So I probably am in my car at 10:00 realistically.

I estimate it takes me 30 minutes pre-plan during the day then 5pm-10:15 pm is my time investment for 1 nightly gig. So around 5 1/2 hours including driving and parking. If I have to set up sound lights or rehearse and do a sound and light check, then it could be all day long! If the show has 2 sets or is a theater show it could be all night too! 

The time it took to procure costumes, music, equipment, design and print business cards is another time investment and is why we don't work by the hour but by the gig. When dancers get $60-$100 for a gig it's not star wages or anything near! 

So even the lowest dancer on the totem pole should get paid I think. If the club or gig is resistant then perhaps you are deluding yourself as to your worth as a performer. This is where the stuff gets so sticky. "But I want to dance!" Yup...I know. Find a hafla, festival or recital show. So if the club is at least paying 1 dancer is it different? Maybe. How much are they paying her I suppose would be the next consideration. How many tables are in the room. Has business increased because of the show? Is the club owner advertising the show or is he just figuring your friends will come in. Ugh! Are the other dancers announced as students with a professional representation of belly dance getting paid. Maybe thats fine. have you spent all this time getting ready for your gig and there is still no audience. If the club owner has no investment in the show he won't advertise or get the word out (believe me restraunt owners are exhausted). He will rely on YOU. So then it's even more of your time! "

Over on Bhuz, they have some regularly featured blog posts that are fun to poke around at from time to time. This particular post I saw today made me want to cheer for all the articulate and thoughtful consideration that went into the topic: a breakdown of what it really costs to be a dancer, and why our rates are set as they are.  Many thanks to Jennifer for her post! A snippet appears below, and a link to the full article is HERE.

"Here is the whole breakdown of why I and other belly dancers in my area, charge what we do. After examining this list it should become very apparent why this is a specialty type of service and the key differentiators between a professional such as myself and non-professionals. The dancing you see in a performance is the fun part, but the behind the scenes work that is put into producing a show is quite a different story:

• Gas- It just keeps going higher doesn’t it?
• Car Maintenance- My car is one of my most important assets, if it is not up to shape I cannot drive anywhere! As a belly dancer I put in about 24,000 miles a year driving to all my venues and events.
• Tolls- Those get higher every year as well.
•  “Renting” Costumes- All my costumes are high end Turkish designer duds or from my self-made line. All in all, that leads to big $$$$ being spent to make a big impression. Every wear of a costume depreciates its resale value (like a car). In fact we are  "renting” a costume every time we use it.
• “Renting” Props- the same basic idea goes for props as it does costumes.
• Custom Music Edits- Hello software! Music editing software costs money and so does every single song we must buy that is not easily available on popular music sites such as I-tunes. Many of the most amazing songs I use have taken months of research to find, and are in languages not familiar to me, so that is a part-time job in and of itself....(continued)"

Read the rest of the list at http://bellydancebyjennifer.com/blog.html

Web design has been at the forefront of my work this past week. With the dissolution of my troupe, and the lengthy hiatus from my dance over this summer, this fall is an opportunity for a little reinvention. Nothing too drastic mind you, but definitely a re-branding is in order before the Tribal Dreams Festival in November, and Tribal Revolution next year. Taking down the old websites will be hard, but cathartic perhaps.

The tricky part to my dance as a business over the years was compartmentalizing the different dominant aspects of my experience. I was a teacher, but was a director of a troupe which was shared with another person. Technically our troupe was born before I was teaching, so when I began to teach was when the roads diverged strangely. When we taught workshops, sometimes it was as "Shay" and sometimes it was as "inFusion", and more often than not the person hiring didn't understand the difference. When I sold merchandise, some was mine, some was the troupe's, and people would have to write two different checks if they bought items from each. This was very confusing for students and promoters. After all, when you take a workshop with Carolena, you don't wonder if you're getting a workshop from her or from FatChance. It's not either Paulette or Gypsy Caravan. It's understood that these two entities are inexorably entwined. Not so with me and it was a source of tension for many years.

Now I am given the opportunity to re-structure my dance as a business, and it's been hard to get excited about. Because committing to it means finally closing the door, once and for all, on a period of time that was so fulfilling and blessed. The ending was hard, and continues to be, but the years prior were the stuff of dreams. To write The End on that page is...character building, let's say. What I have to keep telling myself is that just because what has come before was incredible beyond my imagination doesn't mean the best is already behind me. There could be more ahead I can't imagine, too!

So designing a new web page is a fun creative venture that can be a tiny step toward these changes. I need to embrace the future, whatever it will be. And frankly, learn to enjoy the process of change as I experience it today.