As we begin the new millennium, it is time to set a New Year's resolution for higher standards in the business of belly dance. With the influx of new dancers on the market, there is not always adequate guidance in professionalism, and often times stiff competition results in questionable ethics. I offer you suggestions in various areas, including self-promotion, employment opportunities, working conditions, professionalism, education and promoting a positive image of the dance.
Let us first discuss some generalities about self-promotion as a teacher and/or a performer. Promote yourself with strictly legitimate means. Use magazine, newspaper, internet and yellow pages. Focus on the positive, never the negative. Emphasize your strengths and your resume' rather than talk negatively about another. Do not call a nightclub or dance studio or seminar sponsor in an attempt to talk them out of hiring your competition. It really only makes your look jealous. And teachers, putting your business card or flyer in the studio where your competitor is teaching is a NO-NO. If the other teacher has cultivated a location for herself, then you should respect that fact and not try to steal her students away by slipping in your own flyer in the hall where her students enter. Stand on your own two feet! If you are good enough, the 'grapevine' will know who you are and your own reputation will bring you the students.
There must be a conscious effort to expand employment opportunities. Competition is intense. Both the domain of the dance and its pay scale are restricted by outmoded attitudes toward the dance. Resisting the poor pay scale would be a good start. Unfortunately, the club owner tends to put quantity (of money) before quality (of performer). It is a sad reality that in the year 2000, the pay is the same or worse than it was back in the 1970's! The only time a dancer should dance for FREE is at a charitable event or at special events such as the wedding of a friend. Free performances otherwise devalue the dance for other performers. If you cannot get a job other than by undercutting the price of another or offering to do it for free, then perhaps you should not be performing at all.
Working conditions do not always allow the dancer to take pride in her work, such as, the requirement of mingling with customers in order to encourage them to buy drinks, sleeping with the owner in order to secure your job, and dealing with audiences that are merely looking for a 'girly' show. Rampant discrimination is evident for black dancers, Jewish dancers, and even for those dancers who bring their husbands to the club. Also, there is discrimination against dancers who are not of Middle Eastern descent. Performers must refuse to accept substandard conditions. Personally, I have found nightclubs to hold very little promise for me as an artist. Dancing with my own troupe and performing at concerts and seminar shows provides far more scope for doing the kind of artistic dancing that I prefer under conditions I prefer, and by doing so I create new work for belly dancers rather than cutting into the supply of nightclub/restaurant spots.
Belly dancers need to grow in professionalism. They must learn to compete constructively rather than destructively, so that the field as a whole is built up. This applies to support activities, such as merchandising products and publishing as well as performing. La Meri stated that there are "6 basic attributes in the fine artist: 1) the pure desire towards artistry; 2) talent; 3) hard work; 4) a sense of values; 5) dynamic core; and 6) now thyself." Not all dancers need to be artists, but there should be more of a thrust in that direction. You are not considered a true professional just because you once danced for pay. What defines a professional is the attitude, commitment and skill level of the dancer. A professional always strives to perfect her art.
Education of dancers about oriental dance and in related areas that help to put the dance in context is of prime importance. Education in belly dance appreciation is also important, expecially for dancers in other fields who now hold an elitist attitude toward the dance. Education is a lifelong process. Find the best teacher you can, ask for her credentials and observe her class. Check out as many teachers as you can find, and compare to determine who is more professional and artistic and who you can connect with the best. Don't be satisfied only with learning technique. Delve into the history of the dance, the sociology of the Middle East, folkloric costuming and dances, and Arabic music including an understanding of the instruments and the rhythms. Learn about anatomy to protect yourself from injury and to explain to your students how movements are performed. Dispel the myths that support a false image of the dance as seen by the outside world. We have an image problem. Do all that you can to promote the good in oriental dance. For example, Arabic dance will offer the trained dancer a different view of the world, a trip inside her senses, a wisdom, understanding and reflection of her own life. It offers ethnic diversity, cultural riches. It will pit muscles against the mind. It nurtures discipline and physical training. It balances the body through natural rhythms. The music can have a healing effect. Remember to always in every way support the dance as being SENSUAL, not sexual.
You must maintain high standards for yourself. There is a difference between belly dancing for recreation and as a professional. A talented, attractive beginner dancer can move an uncritical, ignorant audience after eight easy lessons, and this is why so many dancers do not other to perfect their technique much beyond that level. In belly dancing there is no formal boards to establish detailed standards to which dancers must adhere, and I am not suggesting that there be one. There is one sure way of establishing standards: strive for your personal best and don't accept less. As each individual dancer seeks a higher crest of dancing and sees other around her doing the same, two things will happen: 1) we will become stronger as an artistic group; and 2) a dancer will have to be good to be recognized as such among her peers.
We all dance for different reasons, but the bottom line should be that you dance to belong totally and completely to yourself, to be yourself and transcend yourself for the joy of it all. Every dancer should feel she is a unique individual who compares to no other and whose choreography follows her own path of life. Her dance is her symbol, the trademark of her personality.
Now go forth and conquer the new millennium!
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©2000 Jasmin Jahal