Indy's Favorite Singing Telegram Ccompany

"If you want to party just give us a call;.Party Time Telegrams. And we guarantee you that you'll have a ball; Party Time Telegrams. How about a clown for the special birthday? Party Time Telegrams." And the song goes on to sing about chickens, belly dancers and gorillas.

Party Time Telegrams started in 1983 as an off shoot to Navel Maneuvers. Helena Zahara had started the belly dance business when she felt stressed out from her job. She was working for a chain of cemeteries and her job was doing perpetual trust funds and burial books. Helena says that was a strange business because people kept changing their mind on which plot the wanted to be buried in. People who bury body parts or decide to disinter a relative and take him with the when they moved. Very strange.

Helena had been dancing in Night Clubs on the east cost before moving to Indianapolis. There are still is no such ethnic night club in Indianapolis. But, soon her new friends were asking her to dance for birthday parties and other events. So, Helena set off to belly dance for a living. He boss at Memory Gardens actually gave her the idea for the business name. Helena was born in a Naval Hospital, so that name seemed to fit.

Helena began teaching belly dance a Free University. She said she is surprised how many of her students have gone on to dance professionally. She said her instruction includes costume design and make-up lessons. She said she offend helps book students with the first dance jobs to helps them get the confidence and get started. If is really rewarding to see her students blossom and knows that the dance will help everyone gain self confidence.

When asked what her plans are for New Year Eve, she sights she plans on dancing at Zorba's Restaurant in Zionsville with members of Troupe Jamileh Malika : Safiya bint Davud and Parvaneh Ravan. The will be sharing the evening with Il Troubadore: a 16th Century Rock Band and Carenza's Caravan from Muncie. Helena said her favorite way to ring in the New Year is ringing her finger cymbals.

Party Time actually started with customers making speical requests. They would call and ask for things like Playboy Bunnies or French Maids. Helena would come up with a routine and a costume. At on point in the early 1990's she had a troupe of male dancers because they were so popular, but she hasn't gotten any calls for that in long a while. Her repertoire grew to include Singing Sweet Hearts, Cupid, Mr .and Mrs. Santas, Bag Lady, Police Woman, Pumpkin, Turkey, Easter Bunny, Leprechaun, Mae West, Snowman, Dolly Partytime, Hula Dancers, Elmira, Patsy Cline, Marilyn, and she has even been Tina Turner. What she can do often depends on how much planning time she has. For instance, to do Tina she has to have a tan.

Helena says she would get requests and then try to figure out how to do the act. She got a request to be a Dallas Cowgirl Cheer Leader, so she made a costume and frond a Colts Cheer leader to take some cheering lessons from. "I was to deliver a Mercedes and a copy of the movie Middle Age Crazy. It was fun. " She said another memorable job was doing Mae West for a girl's Bat Mitzvah.

People don't realize how much work can go into a 15 minuted show. You have to have directions and maps, and supplies that go with the gig. And the there are usually bits of information you need to know to roast the "victim" as she calls the recipient., Then there is the costuming. Costumes are very expensive. They are not something you just buy from a Halloween shop, they have to be quality made and able to hold up to years of wear and travel. Yes, Traveling around down in a Banana suit lead it to look too bruised to use, but she does plan to replace that costume soon because it is one that always makes people laugh.

Most of her calls lately have been to teach belly dancing and hula dance at parties. The are usually bookings for teenage birthday parties, or Bat Mitzphas, or young women having bridal showers. Last month she danced at a party that was catered my El Morocco Restaurant. (The party was supposed to be at the restaurant but the had a fire.) The girls mother had go to great effort to really crate the atmosphere. It was delightful.

Helena said that she has danced for many celebrities in town during her career at one time or another. She said some include Mayor Bill Hudnut, Senator Evan Bayh, She has been on Reid Duffy, Dick Woofsie and Fox News for Cody the Weatherman. Helena said it is kind of fun being a minor celebrity in town, but some times when out of costume people don't recognize her. " That's a good thing."

Helena is in the process of planning her dance classes and workshops for the year. She said she expects she will get last minute calls for New Year's Eve Parties because she always does. She laughs and jokes "it's a great job for s schizophrenic, because you don't know who you are going to be when you wake up in the morning." The she laughs again. For bookings or information call: 317--357-8858.