Belly Dancing: From Student To... What?

by Shira

I hear it all the time: "I've been belly dancing for one year. Now I'd like to start performing in restaurants and maybe even teach!"

While it's really great that these students are enthusiastic about the dance form, they often don't realize that it takes more than a year of once-a-week classes to develop the kind of knowledge and skill needed by a professional dancer. Often, what these students REALLY mean is that they want to become more deeply involved in the dance, and they assume that performing professionally is the next logical step. Here are some ideas on how to grow and develop as a dancer, to prepare you for the future time when you really are ready for the professional scene.

Watch Professional Shows Frequently

Patronize the restaurants and nightclubs in your community that offer performances by local professionals. If possible, try to see a variety of different dancers, so you can see how different people approach their dance styles, relationships to the bands, use of props, choice of costuming, and approaches to audience interaction.

In your own mind, compare the different dancers you see. Draw conclusions about what you like and what you don't like.

PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California, 2000.

Shira Performing Double Veil At Menara In San Jose

Organize Student Recitals

If your teacher doesn't create opportunities for you to perform at least a couple of times a year, band together with your classmates and set up your own recitals. Even if your teacher doesn't have time to arrange recitals, she might support your efforts if you and your classmates do most of the work. Find a place to hold it, create promotional flyers, decorate the facility, and bring in the necessary sound equipment.

Try to do some choreographed numbers as a group (maybe you can persuade your teacher to provide some choreography in class), and also do some solos.

Invite friends, family, and coworkers, and urge all your classmates to do the same.

Organize A Student Troupe

If your teacher doesn't already have a troupe of her students, organize one yourself. Your teacher might not have time to organize and lead a troupe, but she may be willing to help you by providing choreography and suggestions.

You and your classmates can share the responsibility for hosting rehearsals at your homes, setting up places to perform, making the cassette tapes with the songs all in the right order, etc.

Student performances are usually welcomed as "public service" gigs such as schools, nursing homes, hospitals, retirement communities, and similar settings. These can be very rewarding because audiences are usually delighted to have you, and they show it. Older women often love to see the glittery fabrics up close, and feel them between their fingers. Children frequently find the strange music and bright costumes to be fascinating.

Most communities have some kind of annual festival that showcases local amateur talent, and this could be a good place for your troupe to appear. Don't limit your thinking to the town you live in--look into dancing in neighboring towns, too. County fairs are another possibility.

Non-profit organizations in your community may have fund-raisers where local amateur performances might be welcome.

In these shows, try to have some group performances that are choreographed, and some solo appearances by individual group members.

Belly Dance Events

Some communities have several belly dance teachers, some of whom organize events for everyone. These could include festivals, seminar shows, or haflas (parties). Try to perform as a group or as a soloist at each such event, if possible.

If your community doesn't have any such events, check into whether the belly dancing teachers in neighboring communities have anything like that. They might.

If there is a dearth of belly dance events in your community, then start your own! Organize a party. Invite attendees to bring potluck snacks and drinks to share. Invite each of the belly dance teachers in your community to perform, and take the opportunity to perform yourself. Offer performance opportunity to others who may wish to bring a costume and dance. Try holding one of these parties every 3 months. Put on some "open dance" songs in which everyone gets to have a turn to get up and dance.

Or, set up a monthly "student night" program. Each month, feature the students of a different teacher in your own community or a neighboring one. Each of that teacher's students gets to dance, and then the teacher herself closes the show with a performance of her own. Create flyers for these teachers to distribute to their own students and the families of their students.

Attend Workshops

Polish your performing skills by attending workshops featuring big-name dancers. Even if you have to drive a few hours to another city, these offer tremendous opportunities to build your overall dance skill. The corresponding shows will give you an opportunity to see performances by a variety of skilled dancers.

Consider attending a weeklong belly dancing retreat. This total immersion for an entire week will really develop your dance skill.

Most workshops are followed by a show featuring appearances by local dancers plus the featured instructors. Don't miss these opportunities to see a variety of dance styles!

Escort Your Teacher To Gigs

Ask if you may accompany your teacher to as many of her paid gigs as possible. Help her out: carry her boom box and props, help her get dressed, take charge of cueing up her music and starting it for her, and hand her props when she is ready to use them. Distribute her business cards when her show is over.

Most teachers will appreciate this kind of help. Many also appreciate the fact that having an escort is good for personal safety.

While the show is in progress, pay close attention to everything. Notice what kind of music she uses. Watch how she interacts with the audience, and notice how they respond to her. Observe what seems to light their enthusiasm the most. If a blooper happens, pay attention to how she recovers from it. Learn how she handles hecklers. All this observation will help you prepare yourself mentally for how to handle this type of show in the future, once your skill has developed enough to do it yourself.

Over time, as your teacher gets into the habit of having you with her, perhaps she'll agree to let you do a little 5-minute cameo as part of her shows. This could lead eventually to her inviting you to take gigs that she's not available to do herself.

Assemble A Music Collection

Start building a collection of music that brings out your best. Once you start performing, you'll find you need a variety of songs to inspire you and keep your performances fresh and interesting.

Assemble A Costume Collection

Plan ahead for the day when you'll be dancing regularly, and start assembling costumes now. Some gigs such as restaurants and certain private parties expect two shows in the evening with a costume change in between. Ongoing gigs, such as restaurants and nightclubs, will expect variety in your costumes -- they won't want to see the same outfit every night.

Start Small

Once your teacher and you agree that you're good enough to start doing paid solo performances on your own, start small. An intermediate dancer may have the skill to keep a 5-10 minute bellygram exciting, but not have the skill to remain interesting for a full half-hour nightclub show. Know your limits. It's better to do short performances in which the audience is enthusiastic the whole time than it is to do a longer show and make them wish you would stop.

Join Internet Clubs

One of the best ways to learn is to talk with other dancers. The Internet gives us a great way to discuss our art form with fellow dancers all over the world!

Use these forums to get advice, learn more about the history of the dance, get ideas for ways to develop new performance venues in your community, and feel involved with the greater dance community. Read what has been talked about in existing discussions, and add your own questions or comments. Initiate a discussion about a new topic that interests you.

Subscribe To A Magazine

There are several belly dance magazines out there. Subscribe to one or more. These will bring you a regular dose of how-to information, news, and product reviews, and they'll help you feel more involved in the dance community. You'll find out who's who, and discover ads for intriguing vendors.

In Conclusion

Before you actually try to take on performing professionally or teaching, get some experience dancing in a wide variety of situations for a wide variety of audiences.

There are many ways to participate in the dance without becoming a "pro". In fact, many talented dancers never do become involved in the "professional" circuit. Some would rather spend their evenings at home with their families instead of arguing with club owners over pay. Others don't fall into the age group or body type that restaurants and bellygram agencies are willing to hire. Usually, there's only a tiny number of professional dance jobs in any given community, and a large number of dancers competing for them.

So look for ways you can find joy in the dance and grow your skill. It'll be rewarding, and when the time comes that you truly are good enough to teach or get the paying job, you'll have more experiences and knowledge to share with students of your own.