Finding Your Niche in the Belly Dance Community

By Michelle

Remember the trepidation you felt when you went to your first belly dance class? The moves were so different, the music was strange, and you had issues with having a belly, much less showing it! But you were soon hooked, right? There is no better feeling than that of empowerment and belly dance brings that to a woman’s life like no other activity I’ve encountered.

As your life as a belly dancer progresses, you may have days or weeks where you feel like that nervous beginner you once were. Perhaps you’ve moved into an advanced class and you’re not sure you’re ready. Perhaps you’re getting ready for your first solo and you’re thinking, “What was I thinking?” Perhaps you’ve landed a regular gig and your girlfriends are having a hard time being supportive. Perhaps you’ve joined a troupe and the dynamics of the group are still working themselves out. Either way, these little (or not so little) emotional stresses are part of any activity you love. The trick is to keep them in perspective, learn from them, and as a result, enjoy your dance even more.

First and foremost, you must enjoy yourself. If you’re not having fun in your current situation—even if that situation is simply studying videos at home—then dancing will feel too much like work and no one needs that! Remember that we are dancing one of the world’s oldest dances, developed by women to share our love of life, our bodies, and our strength.

Second, while you should feel (and be made to feel) comfortable in your dancing environment, you need to be challenged so that your dance—both physically and emotionally—continues to grow. Do you and your teachers regularly attend workshops? Do you study videos for different techniques, new ways to interpret music and costume? Do you read about what’s going on in the dance world outside of your community? Without fresh input, you may feel your dance is growing stale.

It is so important—but not necessarily easy—to avoid becoming distracted by “non-belly dance” interference. In any group, there are personality conflicts and politics on some level but that doesn’t have to affect you—stay true to the dance. When dealing with these conflicts, try to get to the root of the problem. In my experience, one dominant personality can affect an entire group of dancers, making it seem that everyone is upset, when in fact, only one person has an issue. Even if many people are having conflicts, if you respectfully discuss your goals for dancing, you’ll find more often than not that there are more similarities than differences between you and your fellow dancers.

Personality conflicts aside, it is also very easy to become distracted by things like costumes, publicity, new tricks, the latest music, and, yes, the internet. I am a costume addict, I freely admit! So I do have to keep in perspective what the costume is for; to enhance my DANCING. It’s not the other way around. You can become well known in the belly dance through marketing and getting the word out, but unless you have some substance to back up your name, your dance has nothing and you will leave your audience and yourself feeling flat if you’re all show and no heart. Where did we get music and costumes before the Internet??? But how many times do we spend our hour set aside for practicing dance instead surfing ebay for another hip scarf?

Finally, have a heart-to-heart with yourself and decide how much is enough. As with anything in life, there is always more money to be made, more jobs to acquire, more costumes, more shows, more more more of everything. But more is not always satisfying. This is perhaps the most difficult lesson to learn as we may feel we’ll let people down if we don’t keep expanding whatever it is we’re doing. Keep in mind that if you are not happy, it will show in your dance. More importantly, you won’t be happy! Don’t worry if you can’t attend every class or workshop. Who cares if you’re wearing the same costume from three years ago! Is there a smile on your face and in your heart? Then you have enough.

These are surely not all the lessons to be learned when finding your place in the fulfilling world of belly dance, but they are a start. Apply them to your classes and teachers, to your shows and jobs, to your girlfriends and troupes, to your business and hobby of belly dance. Then simply enjoy dancing. You are beautiful!

Farfesha Belly Dance © 2004