Teacher & Performer Directory:

Frequently-Asked Questions
About Being Listed

On Policies

On Waiting to Be Added or Updated

1. What is the current status of the backlog of "Update" requests to existing entries?
2. What is the status of processing "Add New Entry" requests?
3. I submitted my "add new entry" request a long time ago. Should I resubmit it?
4. Why is there such a large backlog of "add new entry" requests waiting to be processed?

On Being Added

1. Who is eligible?
2. What is the fee to be listed?
3. How do I submit my request to be added?
4. I provided my web link when I submitted my request to be added to the directory, but my entry was added without including my web site. Why?

On Updating or Deleting Existing Entry

1. My information is out of date. How do I update it?
2. I provided my web link when I submitted my request to be added to the directory, but my entry was added without including my web site. Why?

On Including Web Sites In Entries

1. What requirements must a web site meet to be included?
2. I provided my web link when I submitted my request to be added to the directory, but my entry was added without including my web site. Why?
3. Why are profiles on social networks such as facebook, myspace, etc. not accepted as "web sites" for purposes of entries in the Shira.net Teacher & Performer Directory?

On Changes Made to the Format in September 2008

1. What changes were made and why?
2. Why are troupe names, studio names, retail business names, and other organizational names no longer accepted as listing names?

General-Interest Questions

1. How many people are listed in the Teacher & Performer directory?

Summary of Directory Policies

• This directory is solely for Middle Eastern and North African dance forms. Other dance forms will not be included.
• This directory lists solely professional performers and teachers.
• You must provide your name as an individual, not the name of your studio, shop, troupe, or other business. (Either your real name or a stage name is acceptable.)
• You must be age 21 or older in order to be included in the directory.
• You agree to provide only information that you want publicly displayed on the Internet.
• Only web sites that already have working links to http://www.shira.net may be included as part of your directory entry.
• Social network profile pages (such as myspace, facebook, etc.) are not accepted as "web sites" for purposes of inclusion in directory entries.

On Waiting to Be Added or Updated

Question:

What is the current status of the backlog of "Update" requests to existing entries?

Answer:

As of May 31, 2009, 100% of all "update" requests for existing directory entries were processed. The backlog was reduced to zero!

Question:

What is the status of processing "Add New Entry" requests?

Answer:

From February 1, 2009 through May 31, 2009, Shira processed about 450 requests to be added to the Shira.net directory. As of May 31, 2009, all requests of both types have been processed.

On Being Added

Question:

Who is eligible to be added to the teacher & performer directory?

Answer:

This directory is only for skilled professional belly dancing performers and teachers. Its purpose is to help the public hire professional performers and qualified teachers. Only working professionals and teachers of belly dancing are eligible to be included.

The directory does not list musicians, clubs, magazines, event sponsors, or non-profit organizations. Troupes are no longer accepted as stand-alone entries; isntead, the Artistic Director's name should be listed as an individual, and the box for "Troupe Director" checked. In the future, such entities that were added before the policy change will be removed.

Only individuals age 21 and older are eligible to be included. This is because of many laws around the world that protect minors from being publicly exploited.

Question:

What is the fee to be listed?

Answer:

There is no charge.

Question:

How do I submit my request to be added?

Answer:

Follow this link and complete the online form.

On Updating or Deleting Existing Entry

Question:

I'm already in the directory but my information is out of date. How do I update it?

Answer:

Follow this link and complete the online form.

Question:

I provided my web link when I submitted my request to be added to the directory, but my entry was added without including my web site. Why?

Answer:

This is answered below in the section titled, "On Including Web Sites in Entries."

On Including Web Sites In Entries

Question:

What requirements must a web site meet in order to be included in the directory?

Answer:

1. It must be operational. Shira visits all web sites that people want added to their directory entries. If the web site doesn't work when visited, it won't be added.
2. The site must not look as though it is still "under construction". In other words, the choices on it should not lead to pages that say, "coming soon".
3. It must contain a working link to http://www.shira.net . Shira checks all sites for this link before adding them to directory entries. The link needs to work - if clicked on, it must actually go to Shira's web site. Do you need instructions on how to link to Shira.net? Visit this page for instructions and some graphic link buttons you can use to link.
4. Shira must be able to find the link to http://www.shira.net within the first 15 seconds of visiting the site. If it can't be found within that time, it is assumed to not be there and the web site is rejected.
5. Only "real" web sites are eligible for inclusion in directory entries.
   • Profile pages on myspace are not eligible.
   • Profile pages on facebook are not eligible.
   • Profile pages on tribe.net are not eligible.
   • Yahoo groups or profile pages are not eligible.
   • MSN groups or profile pages are not eligible.
   • Blog pages are not eligible.
6. The web site must not contain pornography, illegal activity, or hate speech.
7. The web site must contain information about your services as a professional performer or teacher of belly dancing.

Question:

I provided my web link when I submitted my request to be added to the directory, but my entry was added without including my web site. Why?

Answer:

There are several possible reasons:

1. The web site might not meet the criteria that Shira requires for link eligibility.
2. The web site may have generated an error message when Shira tried to visit it. If it doesn't work, Shira doesn't include it in the directory.
3. Shira couldn't find a links page with a link to Shira.net on it. Only web sites that link to Shira.net are eligible to be included in directory entries. It's possible that you had a link that Shira couldn't find quickly, so please take care when submitting your update request to describe precisely which choice to pick from the top menu to find the page with the link and where to look on that page. If you didn't provide this information, Shira doesn't hunt for the link because she assumes it's not there - usually when this information is not provided, there is no link, so it's not worth the time & effort to look.
4. Shira clicked on the link to Shira.net on your links page, but it didn't work. Sometimes people don't test the links on their links pages, and they don't work. Shira tests whether the link works, and if it doesn't, she doesn't include your web site in the directory.

Review the above requirements that a web site must meet in order to be included with a directory entry. Make sure your web site meets those requirements.

Do you need instructions on how to link to Shira.net? Visit this page for instructions and some graphic link buttons you can use to link.

Test your link to Shira.net by actually clicking on it to make sure it works. Submit a new "update" request and take care to describe precisely where Shira should look in order to find the link to http://www.shira.net .

Question:

Why are profiles on social networks such as facebook, myspace, etc. not accepted as "web sites" for purposes of entries in the Shira.net Teacher & Performer Directory?

Answer:

There are several reasons for this decision.

• As of September 2008, when this decision was made, the use of social networks for dance-related business and promotion was still in its early stages.
• Many of these sites require a visitor to have a logon to the sites in order to see the profiles, which creates problems for members of the public who attempt to follow the links.
• Dancers were inexperienced with the technology, and the pages they created for themselves (particularly on myspace) were confusing and chaotic. Such pages make the dancer look unprofessional.
• Many dancer profiles mixed their personal affairs (vacation photos, blogs about partying, etc.) with their dance-related business information. This made the dancers look unprofessional.

In summary, the dance community generally understands that a web site or business card promoting one's dance business needs to convey a certain professional image. However, dancers were not taking a similar level of care with the image they conveyed on social networking sites.

Shira will periodically review this policy. As social networking technology matures and dancers become more savvy about treating these sites as business tools rather than as personal playgrounds, this policy will be correspondingly updated.

On the Changes Made in September 2008

Question:

What changes were made and why?

Answer:

The changes made in September 2008 were made for the following reasons:

1. Reduce the amount of time Shira needs to spend on making updates.
2. Focus on the core purpose of the directory: to help would-be belly dance students find teachers, and to help the public find performers to hire for paid engagements.
3. Eliminate unnecessary information.
4. Establish more professional standards for directory inclusion.

These changes included:

1. Require the name of the individual teacher, not the name of the studio, vending business, troupe, etc. Teachers change studios often, which generates time-consuming update requests for Shira. See the next question below for more details.
2. Eliminate postal addresses. This changed frequently and generated many update requests. It proved to be unnecessary labor to include this, because members of the public seeking to find a class or hire a performer don't send their inquiries through the postal service.
3. Eliminate dance involvement listings not specifically related to teaching classes and performing professionally. This entailed removing statuses of vendor, event sponsor, musician, costume-making, choreographer, magazine publisher, video producer, and others.
4. Eliminate listings for troupes. Teachers abused this by listing all their non-professional student troupes. Now only the troupe director is eligible to be listed, and must be listed under her/his name as an individual. See below for more detail on this policy.
5. Eliminate all specialties not related to belly dancing, including hula, flamenco, yoga, sword-swallowing, hula hooping, poi spinning, etc. This is a directory for people to find belly dancing teachers and professional performers, not a catalog of hobbies.
6. Discontinue accepting social network profile pages (myspace, facebook, tribe.net, etc.) for the "web site" link.
7. Discontinue identifying whether a dancer is a troupe member. This changed frequently and generated many update requests. People seeking to hire a dancer or take classes rarely care about troupe affiliation, so there was no reason to continue including it.

Question:

Why are troupe names, studio names, retail business names, and other organizational names no longer accepted as listing names?

Answer:

There were several reasons for this policy change, including:

1. Stability. Troupes don't have much stability.  Many teachers create them for a year or two, then discontinue them.  Shira found she was being overwhelmed with "add my troupe", followed by six months later, "remove my troupe" requests. Studios also lack stability. Although some studios have stayed in business several years, they experience turnover in teachers. The yoga studio who offers belly dancing one year might not a year later. Shira finds that it works best to list the individual dancer/teacher, rather than listing the name of a business entity.
2. Professional Listings Only. The scope of the directory is to list professional performers and teachers only. The overwhelming majority of troupes consist of students performing student-level material, wearing inexpensive student-level costumes, with student-level skills in dance technique, stage presence, etc. Only a small minority of the troupes consist of truly professional dancers dedicating several hours per week to rehearsing and polishing material, and investing in truly professional costumes.  Student / hobbyist troupes are socially rewarding for their members, but they don't fit the purpose of this directory. 
3. Abuse. Some teachers were abusing the directory by listing as many as 4 or 5 troupes, some of which consisted of beginners.  This created a large amount of duplication in the directory, as well as violating the intent of assisting the public in locating professional performers.

Shira invites troupe directors to list their own names as individuals in the directory. For studios, Shira invites each individual who teaches at a studio to submit an individual entry.

General-Interest Questions

Question:

How many people are listed in the Teacher & Performer directory?

Answer:

As of September 1, 2000, there were more than 575 people listed in the directory.

Copyright Notice

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Academic papers for school purposes may use information from this site only if the paper properly identifies the original article on Shira.net using appropriate citations (footnotes, end notes, etc.) and bibliography. Consult your instructor for instructions on how to do this.

If you wish to translate articles from Shira.net into a language other than English, Shira will be happy to post your translation here on Shira.net along with a note identifying you as the translator. This could include your photo and biography if you want it to. Contact Shira for more information. You may not post translations of Shira's articles on anybody else's web site, not even your own.

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