Bringing Middle Eastern Dance
To Your Community

by Shira

I frequently receive e-mails from dancers that say something like this:

"I've just moved to a new city, and I'm trying to establish myself as a professional dancer here, but there is no dance scene to plug into! There are no Middle Eastern restaurants, and no other dancers organizing events. How can I re-launch my dance career in my new home?"
"I'd love to dance professionally, but another dancer has taken all the gigs in this city for herself. There's no place left for me to dance. What can I do?"
"The people in my town believe that belly dancing has something to do with stripping, and they think there must be something indecent about it. So no one wants to hire me."

So, you're eager to perform for someone, but people aren't calling you up to fill your calendar with gigs. What are you doing wrong?

Names Have Power

First things first: if you live in a community without a local Middle Eastern dance scene, your first move should be to erase the term "belly dance" from your vocabulary. This term often triggers fears of something "dirty", especially in communities with conservative religious views. An event promoter in the 1890's coined the term in hopes of stirring up a scandal that would stimulate ticket sales. He succeeded. Over a century later, the term "belly dance" is still tainted with an undeserved scandalous reputation.

If you want to avoid the whole stripper misunderstanding, then call it "Near Eastern dance," "Middle Eastern dance", "Biblical dance," or "Oriental dance," but don't call it "belly dance". See my article A Dance By Any Other Name here on this web site for the detailed explanation behind this advice. I have never heard a member of The General Public ask, "Does that have something to do with stripping?" when I tell them I do "traditional dance forms from the Middle East". Think about it!

Some dancers firmly embrace the term "belly dancing" because they're trying to reclaim it, transform it into a term of power, and apply it to the divine feminine. I don't have a quarrel with these people, and in fact, I hope they're successful! But, most of these dancers live in communities where many people are already familiar with Oriental dance and have friends or family members who have tried it. These people can afford to call the dance whatever they like, because they're not risking as much when they do.

However, if most people in your community associate the term "belly dancing" with something "dirty", then maybe you need to abandon the "powerful woman" politics and call the dance something less inflammatory. Consider your local environment, and decide which is more important to you: using the terminology you like best, or building local acceptance of your art form. Sometimes you can't have both.

Don't Be So Lazy!

You might not like it, but someone needs to tell you this: "Don't wait for someone else to create a place for you to dance! Get out there and start your own dance scene!"

Many dancers are inherently lazy. We prefer to let someone else go find a place that welcomes dancers, and then we come knocking on the door to ask if we can dance there, too.

If people aren't coming to you to beg you to perform for them, then you'll need to invest some effort into developing local interest in what you have to offer. No one else is going to think it's important to help you find an outlet for your yearning to perform. It's harsh reality.

Gear up your Public Relations engine. You have a significant amount of work ahead of you:

Collect Names.Find out the names of local organizations who might be willing to provide performance opportunities (see next section below for suggestions). Call those organizations and ask, "I'd like to send a letter to your entertainment director. Can you please tell me who that would be?" Build a list of prospect names. This cold-calling is basic sales technique.
Brainstorm. Think creatively about what types of events might provide an opportunity to perform. See below for suggestions you might not have thought of.
Publicity Photos. Hire a photographer to shoot some professional-quality photos of yourself in costume for use on flyers, business cards, and other promotional pieces. If your community is immersed in religious conservatism, choose midriff-covering dresses and folkloric costumes for these photos. You can always return to your beloved bra/belt/skirt set after you've gained the trust and friendship of local promoters.
Build Technical Skills For Self-Promotion. Learn how to use software tools on your computer for creating graphics, a web site, and flyers.
Begin Selling. Send a letter introducing yourself to everyone whose names you collected. Enclose a photo business card with the letter. Promote the benefits of what you can do for them, and invite them to contact you for more information. Do not include pricing in this initial letter. About a week later, phone everyone to follow up. Be pleasant and cheerful. If they say they don't have time right now, ask when would be a better time to call.

All of this may seem tedious, but if you don't invest the energy in promoting you, who will?

Places To Dance

Think creatively here. Middle Eastern restaurants aren't the only place to dance!

There are two basic types of performance: community service and professional. Community service performances usually pay very little (or even nothing at all). When booking one of those, be sure to ask what the pay will be -- sometimes these places do have a budget to pay you a small amount but they won't offer it if you don't ask. In contrast, you should expect to be paid for performing in professional settings.

Community Service Opportunities

Many professional dancers hesitate to accept these gigs because they offer no pay. If you decide to do one of these, bring an assistant to distribute flyers or business cards for you while you dance. Remember, the "publicity" is worthless if the audience doesn't know who you are or how to contact you.

Local Festivals and County Fairs. Your community probably has some sort of annual festival. Often, such festivals will provide talent show opportunities.
Parades. Many communities have an annual parade. Perhaps you can organize a float or walk in it.
Street Corner. If your city allows musicians, magicians, and mimes to perform on street corners or at subway stops in exchange for money offered by passers-by, check into whether this could be a fit for you.
Charity Fund-Raisers. One possibility is to persuade the charity to let you perform for the attendees. Another possibility is to donate a free 10-minute performance to the silent auction.
Arts Councils and Community Theater. Check whether your city has an arts council that organizes public exhibitions of the performing arts. If so, develop a relationship with the event coordinators. Volunteer your time and use the opportunity to suggest that they invite you to perform at future events.
Church Pageants. If your church arranges special events throughout the year, offer to do a dance as part of one of these activities. The easiest way to stir their entrance is to offer to portray a Biblical character that fits with the theme of a given day's topic. For example, if Palm Sunday is approaching and your church likes to begin the Palm Sunday service with a procession of people carrying palm fronds, offer to portray a woman dancing along with them. Or, for a Christmas pageant, you could offer to portray a shepherdess dancing with joy at the news brought by the angels. For such an occasion, you should certainly dress in a historic costume that looks convincingly Biblical, and select moves that won't be seen as too provocative by church-goers.

Opportunities That Could Be Either Community Service Or Professional

Sometimes venues in this category do pay something, but sometimes they don't. When you approach them, start with the assumption, "Of course they should pay!", but be prepared for the possibility they don't. Remember, if they don't pay anything, they should at least offer you an opportunity to make your name and contact information readily available to your audience in hopes that it will lead to future paying gigs.

Museums. Build a relationship with your local museum. Perhaps you can persuade them to hire you to entertain at an exhibit opening.
Hospitals. Hospitals often have programs to bring entertainment in to cheer up patients and their visitors.
Retirement Communities. Retirement communities are homes where still-healthy senior citizens reside. Often, these places will sponsor regular parties for their residents.
Nursing Homes. These are places where people who need more extensive medical care live. They too often try to arrange programs to keep their residents and visitors from becoming too bored.
Schools. Approach a school in your neighborhood with an offer to do a special presentation about Middle Eastern dance for their students. Depending on the size of the group and their ages, you could spend some time with a short lecture, some with a brief performance, and some with teaching them how to do some simple moves.
College Dance Programs. If you have a local university with a dance department, check on whether they ever sponsor local dance shows that might include you. Maybe they would consider inviting you to do a brief lecture / demonstration in one of their classes.

Professional Opportunities

Generally speaking, you should never do one of these shows for free. In these situations, you are helping attract business to a merchant, and that merchant should be prepared to pay for it.

Special Occasion Delivery Services. Singing telegram agencies are often interested in adding new performers to the choices they can offer their clients. Contact every local agency, and make it clear your shows are "suitable for the whole family". Send them a photo of you in a professional-looking costume that doesn't bare too much skin. Offer to come in and audition. In addition to singing telegram companies, check with agencies who deliver balloon bouquets, and even local florist shops.
Hotel Lounges. Many hotels will have live entertainment in their lounges one or more nights per week. This encourages their guests to linger in the lounge and spend more money on drinks, and it encourages locals to come spend money at the hotel. Check with hotels in your community to see if they'd like to feature you in a pilot performance. If they say yes, then work your hardest to bring in a large crowd of patrons on the night of your show.
Restaurants That Are Not Middle Eastern. There's no law that says that only restaurants featuring Middle Eastern cuisine will welcome dancers. I've seen Middle Eastern dance presented in restaurants featuring cuisine from China, Japan, Russia, and India. I even know of several pizza joints who have featured dancers!
Sponsor Your Own Show. If you're willing to work hard on publicity, consider renting a facility to put on your own show. Sometimes a restaurant will let you use its private party room for free. Or maybe a local dance studio has space you can affordably rent. Invite artists who do other forms of dance such as flamenco to appear in the program -- be sure to pick ones who already have a good local following and are good at publicity so they'll help you attract audience members. Charge a cover charge at the door.
Shopping Malls. Malls often run promotional events to tantalize people into coming to the mall. Maybe you can persuade your local mall to hire you for such an event.

In Conclusion...

If you sit around and wait for someone else to invent a place that welcomes dancers, then you won't be dancing very much. Reach out! You may need to start with a folkloric presentation to build a basic education, awareness, reputation, and trust in the community. As people become more familiar with what you do, you can expand into the glitter and glitz.

Use a few community service events to advertise your availability as a performer. At every performance, distribute flyers and business cards. Approach a variety of businesses, local government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Build relationships and trust.

It takes a lot of hard work to initiate a dance scene in a city that currently has no activity. But if you're successful, you'll feel a tremendous sense of satisfaction for your accomplishment!

Acknowledgements

This article originally appeared on the Suite101 web site, in the Middle Eastern Dance category, on April 20, 2001.

Bringing Middle Eastern Dance To Your Community