GreenZ Journeys: 2023

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Funny Story...

Funny Story. Today I was looking for my blog to update so I was searching my name on Google. I came across this blog link that shares 200+ Famous Deaf people. I found my name on that list! So funny story I found out I'm famous!

You can check out the full list here: https://blog.ongig.com/diversity-and-inclusion/famous-deaf-people/

CD: Screenshot of ONGIG, text to follow:
Here’s a list of famous deaf performers and deaf dancers:

Lexine Brooks — deaf dancer
Antoine Hunter — deaf performer and dancer
Zahna Simon — deaf Bay Area-based dancer
Heather Whitestone — dancer and first deaf Miss America titleholder
Annemarie Timling — deaf dancer
Samantha Figgins — famous deaf dancer
Antoine Hunter — deaf jazz dancer
Shaheem Sanchez — deaf dancer and Tik Tok star
Simone Botha Welgemoed — deaf dancer and former beauty queen

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Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 31—

Leaving 2020 like what the heck was that? Hello 2021!

Thank you for following my journey with me and here’s to positive horizons ahead of us. Happy New Year!

#2020Selfreflection #hello2021 #goodbye2020 #happynewyear2021

ID: [Picture of Zahna wearing a blue with gray trim leotard, white tutu, black tennis shoes and green mask. Her hair is in a ponytail with it around her shoulder. She shrugs her shoulders and has her arms and hands in a “what”. Background behind her is a forest.]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 28, 29, 30—

On one of my walks this year I came across this mural and it touched me the second I saw it. “There is no liberation without Black Trans Queer and Disabled People.”

As we close the year, it’s important to recognize and not forget the Black Lives Matter movement...Black Lives still Matter.

It honestly hurt as an active ally to see my family and friends in pain, to see the empty repetitive black lives matter empty statements—“where were you before?” and this is not a fad. This is equity long overdue. The movement does not undermine other humans but show where there are still gaps of inequality.

It’s okay to not understand but it’s not okay to dismiss, minimize, gaslight or provoke something because you don’t understand. To challenge is different, you can challenge in a way that is not dismissive or demeaning.

There’s no quick fix in equity, access and inclusion and you can’t just throw money at it.  It requires a physical, emotional and attentive investment from everyone to unpack their own privileges and apply themselves to be a part of the solution. I am doing my best to be a part of the solution- Will you/we work to be a part of the solution?

#2020Selfreflection #blacklivesmatter #blackdisabledlivesmatter #blackdeaflivesmatter #blacktranslivesmatter

ID: [Picture of the mural with a black background, a portrait of an African American presenting Woman wearing a black shirt. Quote on the left side “There is no Liberation without Black Trans Queer and Disabled People” Below is 2 symbols for Instagram and Venmo @gabriellamomah. Bottom left corner are artist credits in emoji: picture by @Clara.rice.photo, painting by @wesleycabralart]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 26, 27—

This one is dedicated to my director @thegreatdancerah, one of my close friends and family. Even when no one else is there…he is. He always supports me, watches out for me, always listens even through his busy schedule (I coordinate it so I know how busy he is). It’s not just me but he’s there for any of his dancers, his staff and volunteers, the artists we work with, the interpreters we work with and of course his family all without a self serving agenda.  His kindness is often misinterpreted or misunderstood.

After working with him for 6 years now, I have seen so much. People always look for an excuse to not support a Black Deaf man, over criticize and/or teach how to run his business. For 7 years before he started the first Deaf dance festival, he asked for support but people would not support him. Finally he went ahead and started the festival anyway completely out of his pocket for the first 3 years.

It’s be humbling to witness someone who deals with racism, Audism and ableism on a daily basis but still has a smile and a big open heart. He inspires me to do better, be better with a smile on my face.

#2020Selfreflection #urbanjazzdancecompany #antoinehunter

ID: [ Dynamic picture of Zahna Simon and Antoine Hunter performing on stage in Russia. Both are in arabesque. Zahna is wearing a blue dress, Mr Hunter is wearing black pants and blue shirt. The top right corner has the Russian festival logo.]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 25—

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Spread love, kindness and happiness everywhere and please stay safe and healthy.

#2020Selfreflection

ID: [6 second holiday card video of Zahna wearing a red leotard and tan tights en pointe in second position in front of a Christmas tree. Over top is text in white with black shadow background “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Spread love, kindness and happiness everywhere and please stay safe and healthy”. Bottom right is a triple red heart sticker with text below in white with black shadow background “With love From Zahna” There’s a light animation of snowflakes falling and a blue border around the picture.]

Note: Picture was taken pre-covid, please be safe.

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 24—

Merry Christmas Eve and Happy Holidays. Please stay healthy and to all a safe night.

#2020Selfreflection #sanfrancisco

ID: [26 second video of downtown San Francisco beyond the Painted Ladies at dusk with the lights showing, city hall in blue and green lights.]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 20, 21, 22, 23—

I always say there’s 4 seasons in a year for me. Grants Season, Tax Season, Festival Season and Winter Rush. Only in 2020 has THREE seasons been overlapped! Tax season, grants season and the festival (#BayAreaInternationalDeafDanceFestival). It was overwhelming, stressful and I was literally working 7 days a week from 8 AM to 11 PM, sometimes to 1 or 2 AM for a good 2 to 3 months straight. I’m so proud of my director for shifting the entire festival virtually in just a few weeks featuring 3 performances, 7 workshops, Deaf artists from several different countries and full accessibility with ASL interpreters, International sign, English voice interpretation, Spanish voice translation, captions and audio descriptions. I honestly haven’t seen another event with all these accessibility features.

Then exactly 1 week before the festival was when I got into my car accident. The positive side, I didn’t have to perform because it’s virtual and we already pre-recorded our performance. The downside, I was in so much pain the entire week (and beyond), looking back I wondered how I was able to smile and make it through, but I did it because I absolutely love doing what I do and being at home with my Deaf dance family. This picture was taken on the final day of the show with a big smile on my face.

#2020Selfreflection #baiddf2020 #urbanjazzdancecompany #accessislove

ID: [Picture of Zahna wearing a black dress with her hair down, wearing earrings from her sister, Melissa Kelley Colibri and left hand on hip smiling directly at the camera. Background of a window.]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 18, 19—

Friday December 18th was my birthday. I want to thank all of you who sent me texts, fb messages, beautiful videos, Marco polos, shout out IG stories, messages and pictures on my fb wall, emails, etc. I feel so blessed to have each and every one of you in my life and I look forward to us all writing more of our stories together.

My top choice would have been to have an in person gathering, for obvious reasons I opted for safety first. I would have loved to have a virtual gathering and invite everyone but I’m pretty zoomed/virtualed out this year. I think many of us are.

So here is my birthday wish. This has been a year of change, a year of uncomfortableness, it has brought some people closer together, it has brought some people further away.  However the year has gone for you, I hope each of us digs deep inside to nurture and grow the change as a caterpillar turns to a butterfly.

As we all become butterflies we embrace community awareness, simple kindness, acknowledgement, empathy, understanding, openness to a culture/people/difference than what you are, unpacking your privileges, fairness and a common courtesy and appreciation. While we become butterflies, do not forget where you come from, your roots, your ancestors, your history and everything that they have been fighting for. If we forget history then we risk history repeating itself and that cannot happen.

My birthday wish is for everyone to go beyond themselves to be their best human self so we get one step closer to peace, harmony, bridging bridges and understanding, accessibility, civil rights, freedom and equity across the world. I’m always actively working on myself and these goals.

Stop judging, start listening with more than just your eyes and your ears. Listen with your heart. Let’s change the world together.

#2020Selfreflection #changetheworld #equity

ID: [Picture of Zahna wearing a green leggings, black jacket, white mask, blue sneakers with her hair down on a narrow brown trail in the middle of a green forest. She’s standing on her right leg profile view, other leg in parallel attitude with her arms in second palm up. She looks straight at the camera.]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 17—

In 2020 I was in a car accident. It was not that bad—my entire back was injured, it’s taken 3+ months to recover. Of course after all this I would say its still not that bad because I have a very high endurance to pain and I have a lot to be grateful for. My discipline, my energy and my optimism keep me going. It got really difficult at times, it was exhausting to keep working, I would be wiped out building up my strength again.

As a dancer, I was raised with the discipline and perseverance of training. Dance, ballet, training, rehearsals, performance comes first and the show must go on. This has made my endurance to pain high and my ability to keep going regardless of any obstacles that come in my way.

Of course please always remember that your health and safety come first. Part of a dancer’s training also instills how we take care of our bodies and ourselves to be able to endure the rigorous training and performance. The video shown was my first time dancing outside 2 months following the accident.

#2020Selfreflection

ID: [32 second video of Zahna wearing a blue leotard with gray halter, blue jean shorts, white mask and tennis shoes with her long blonde hair down. She is in a forest dancing on a unstable ground and hill. She starts by touching her hair with right hand to lightly pull it downwards while doing a deep grande plie releve in second. She then comes up brings her left leg to attitude front while in plie, brings it to second tilt and then reaches leg out down to the ground and brings her right arm across and camera view moves up to the blue sky.]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 14, 15, 16—

I got approached this year by Stance on Dance to write an essay on how I define “making it” as a dancer and an artist. I was invited to share my story and write about my journey and how I define “making it.” I’ve been published in the scientific journals and I’ve been a contributing editor for a book. This is my first published article. The editor said that it took a long time to publish because they felt it was one of the strongest “making it” essays so they saved it for the end of the series. I’m very honored.

My hope is that when people read it, they feel less alone in their struggles, feel inspired to reach their dreams, embrace differences and open their minds to new dreams and possibilities.

You can find my article here, if this inspires you please share it: http://stanceondance.com/2020/10/15/zahna-simon-making-it/

#2020Selfreflection

Photo: RJ Muna

ID: [Picture of Zahna wearing black shorts and sports bra. She is leaping into a splits in air, long blonde hair caught in candid moment.]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 11, 12, 13—

When covid first hit, I was working 60 hours a week and there was no accessible virtual dance classes. How did I keep myself sane? I did puzzles to calm and stimulate my mind. I probably did 7 in 2 months time.

What activities did you do during the stay at home orders to keep yourself calm and stimulated?

#2020Selfreflection

ID: [2 pictures: 1st Picture of Zahna wearing a blue with gray trim leotard, white tutu, black tennis shoes and green mask. Her hair is in a ponytail with it around her shoulder. She is standing on a rock with her elbows bent and hands touching each other, her head is down and looks like a contemplative calm pose . Background is a lake in a forest.

2nd Picture is a completed puzzle of Yosemite with the bridge, lake and boats in it. The puzzle has a comic cartoon theme to it.]

Dancing through life, the final 31 days of 2020. —Day 10—

Today I found out that one of my college dance professors passed away and it made me so sad. 2020 has lost so many amazing humans that brought light and happiness to their families, friends and communities. My dance professor, Israel ‘El’ Gabriel, was definitely one of a kind. He was a legend, a character, hilarious, tough and caring all at the same time. When he would very loudly call out my name, people told me that it sounded like he was saying Shana. A memory I will never forget—One day he said to me “Shana, you need to keep your pointe. You will be the principal soloist in a dance company someday.” I didn’t believe him, I thought he was exaggerating. I didn’t see how it was possible. He believed in me during a time that I didn’t. Imagine my enlightenment when I realized I am in fact a pointe soloist for a dance company and he was right. He saw the potential in me and predicted the future. Always listen to what the legends say because they are usually right.

One of my most prized treasures is a shirt that was made by Bare Bones Dance Company during college. It has the top 10 quotes by El Gabriel on the back. When I find it, I will share this priceless treasure so you can also get a glimpse of this dance legend. In honor of Israel ‘El’ Gabriel, RIP.

#2020Selfreflection

ID: [Picture of Zahna with hair down wearing a magenta leotard, flowy chiffon white dance skirt knee length in pointe. Her left foot is propped on pointe and she is leaning towards the foot with the other foot flat. Background is a park in San Francisco with a light pole, houses, the sutro tower partially visible through fog/clouds and twin peaks.]

GreenZ Journeys