The Path to Performing

by Sedonia Sipes © 2004, 2006, 20008

Many students of Middle Eastern dance eventually wish to present their dancing to other people in one kind of situation or another. Dancers may choose a range of applications of this dance to their lives including: not dancing for anyone other than herself, dancing socially, dancing at amateur and charity events, or dancing professionally at public venues. Your choice as to which of these is right for you may change over time. Here are some important ideas to help guide you in these decisions, especially the decision to dance professionally.

Belly dancing is fun, ergonomic to the body, and can be enjoyed by women (and men) of all ages and body types. You can start having fun and performing socially or at amateur venues after a relatively short amount of training. Even beginning-level skills can impress your family and friends who have never seen belly dancing. For all of these reasons, belly dance is appealing.

However, it is important to understand that, as a professional art, this dance requires years of hard work just like the professional levels of ballet, jazz, flamenco, or any other dance genre. All too often, people will convince themselves that they are ready for professional performance with insufficient training. A dance student may rationalize the decision because they are fast learners, or because they have a background in western dance forms, or by telling themselves they live in a small or uncultured town and no one will know the difference. I write this essay so that more people can understand what is truly involved in becoming a performer of Middle Eastern dance.

Preparation for Professional Performing
If you are interested in performing publicly in a professional realm, think carefully and honestly about your level of preparation. You will be representing another culture – are you ready? Do you have a solidly developed Middle Eastern “dance aesthetic” ? Are you good enough yet to fulfill the public’s expectations of a professional entertainer? Have you put in the practice and study hours? Have you gone the extra mile to polish your skills? Do you know what your dancing looks like, and how do you know? Do you understand the cultural framework of the dance, such that you can be a respectful representative of the cultures from which the dance originates? Whether the answer is "yes!" or "no, not yet", it is important that you find an experienced professional dancer to serve as a mentor as you either prepare further or embark into professional performing.

Don’t put the cart before the horse!
Too many dancers rush to be "performers". Every person is different, but typically dancers must study seriously under professional tutelage for an average of five years before venturing into professional, public performance. Not every person will be near a professional level after five years, or even ten years. I studied seriously for five years before dancing professionally, and I consider myself a fast learner. “Serious study” does not mean a once-weekly class and hit-or-miss practice. Serious study means that the student is utilizing educational opportunities in addition to a regular ongoing weekly class with a qualified teacher – such as regional workshops, private lessons/coaching, video study, personal practice, literature research, practice sessions with dance friends, studying with multiple teachers, participation in an amateur dance troupe, etc. The dancer will be using videography of herself dancing in order to critique herself or have others critique her performance. Optimally, a dancer will enter the professional realm under the guidance and coaching of a trusted instructor or mentor.

Cross-training in other dance forms (e.g. ballet, jazz, flamenco) can be an asset but does not replace training in Middle Eastern dance; Eastern movement and musical interpretation are just too different – it takes time to learn, even for those with natural talent. The serious student will also be taking every opportunity to see live dance performances by local and regional dancers. And last but not least, the serious student will be preparing for public, professional performance by gaining performance experience at amateur venues: student recitals, dance haflas, and possibly some charity work such as dancing at schools or nursing homes. All this must come before presenting oneself as a professional dancer!

What it takes to present oneself as a pro
All in all, the serious student dancer should be acquiring these skills before going pro, including:

• Technical skill and posture – from fingertips to toes, the dancer must be polished and confident.
• Choreographic and improvisational skills that allow her to compose her own dance routines, within the appropriate cultural parameters and dance aesthetic.
• Development of stage presence and dynamics.
• Knowledge of appropriate performance makeup and hair styling for different venues. (office hair and makeup don’t cut it!!)
• Ability to choose music that is appropriate for a particular style of dance.
• Ability to recognize Middle Eastern instruments and rhythms, and interpret these with her dance.
• Ability to recognize music of different genres, e.g. Egyptian vs. Lebanese vs. Turkish vs. American music, and dance appropriately to each.
• Proficiency in one or more traditional props (finger cymbals, veil, cane).
• Professional ethics and business savvy to appropriately price her services, write and negotiate contracts, advertise, and promote herself.
  

The serious student will also be acquiring, as she prepares for pro performance, materials including:

• A decent Middle Eastern music collection (that she listens to all the time, at the near exclusion of everything else). I own 150+ Middle Eastern music albums and my collection is still growing.
• At least one professional-quality costume that fits well and is flattering (expect to pay $300-800).
• A decent collection of performance videos for personal study.
• Necessary electronic equipment such as a good quality boom box, computer and software for editing/burning music.
• Professional-quality photos, business cards, web presence, etc.

Ethics of Performing Professionally

“But you’re only dancing for 15 minutes!”
This is a common excuse for wanting to pay a dancer a low fee. My response: You get what you pay for; my fee directly reflects the quality of entertainment you will receive. Rest assured that from me you will receive a polished performance from a trained professional dancer that will wow and impress your guests. I will enter the party playing intricate percussive rhythms with finger cymbals, dressed in a professional, rhinestone-and-bead-encrusted costume imported from Cairo or Istanbul, with professional hair, makeup, and nails to complete the ensemble. I will perform a well-rehearsed set tailored for your event, using music that I custom edit and burn for your event. I can tailor the performance for different audiences and ethnic groups. If you find a dancer who will perform for a much cheaper rate, you will likely get something far less. Perhaps you will succeed in embarrassing your guest of honor, but you will get little else for your money. You may also put the other guests ill at ease, and possibly offend some of them.

Professional dancers deserve a wage that reflects 1) dance skills and cultural knowledge, which take many years and many hundreds of dollars to develop, 2) weekly practice time, 3) time and money it has cost to develop an understanding of Arabic music, 4) the wear and tear on ~ $500 dollar costume, 5) the time taken to custom edit and burn the music for each gig, 6) the hour it takes to fix hair, makeup, nails, jewelry, and costume, and 7) travel and waiting time to and from the gig. You can see that the tired old argument of comparing a performance fee to the hourly wage of an 8-hour a day job is completely inappropriate.

Undercutting
The professional belly dancers in the southern Illinois and surrounding Midwest area recognize and adhere to minimum appropriate pricing for various kinds of gigs. Nile Breeze’s pricing structure reflects these regional norms as well as the local economy; moreover, we maintain open communication about pricing with regional dancers. We are happy to share and explain these rates with new dancers entering the professional realm, and we hope that new dancers will help us maintain fair pay for dancers and other performers.

It is irresponsible for dancers to neglect to research local/regional fee ranges used by local performers. Once low fees have been accepted in a community, it is VERY difficult to raise them. On several occasions, we have spent time negotiating with businesses to get a higher wage for performances, only to have naive novice dancers undercut fees to far, far below the going rate. If you do not want to be paid to dance, and only want to dance “for the love of dance”, or if you are willing to dance for free because you need/want experience, then you can find ample, valuable opportunities at charity venues, recitals, haflas, or dancing for your family and close friends. Hospitals and nursing homes are full of people who would appreciate the donation of your time and art! However, to “donate” in inappropriate situations devalues performing art in general for everyone; people do not value what they can get for free.

Below are some general guidelines:

1. Do not perform for free or for cheap when it is not appropriate. And here “performing” does not refer to social dancing or informal haflas, but rather to performing in costume for an audience in a more formalized situation, where the audience members are not performing as well. What is appropriate or not is subjective, but here are some guidelines:

o Might be Appropriate: your close friend or family member’s private party, as a special gift.
o Not appropriate: a friend of a friend’s private party, because they want free entertainment and you are eager to perform.

o Might be Appropriate: event for community, charity, nursing home, school, girl scouts, etc.
o Not appropriate: festival or fair where other performers are getting paid. If there are bands that are performing, find out if they are getting paid. If so, don’t dance for free!

o Might be Appropriate: show following a dance workshop, put on by dancers for dancers. (Hopefully the sponsor at least offers a discount on the workshop for performers.)
o Not Appropriate: performing in a restaurant for a fraction of the going rates, or for free, or just for tips.

 

Do not use your skills to line someone else’s pockets with profits, when they are only offering you crumbs.

2. Do not undercut prices. Many new performers think that because they are not highly experienced, they should charge far less than more seasoned dancers. WRONG! Accepting low wages drives down the prices for everyone, including experienced dancers. Its called undercutting, its effects are long-lasting, and it will not earn you any friends in the dance community. If you are good enough to perform professionally, then you are good enough to earn a comparable wage to other dancers. If you want to give a price break for your lack of experience, subtract no more than 10-15% of what seasoned dancers charge.

3. Do not dance for free at any event where other performing artists are getting paid! And always ask event organizers directly and explicitly if others are getting paid. Do not assume that because you were not offered pay, that others were not either. It is surprising how many people think that the belly dancers should perform for free when the bands, the caterers, the DJ, the jugglers, the actors, the comedians, and dancers of other genres (ballet, jazz, ballroom) get paid.

4. If you dance for free or a reduced priced for a worthy organization, at least try to get a stipend to defray your travel costs and meals, if possible. Schools and hospitals can generally provide you a lunch or refreshments, or maybe gas money, even if they cannot pay for your performance. Another good idea is to give the organization a receipt showing that your normal fee has been waived as a donation. This helps people understand the value of our art form.

5. Think carefully about whether a particular venue is appropriate for what you do. For example, belly dancers often get requests to dance at bachelor parties. Personally I do not accept such gigs, and neither do most of the dancers I know. In general this blurs the very distinct line between raqs sharqi and exotic dancing or stripping, and could also compromise a dancer’s personal safety.

There are other important business issues to learn about before performing professionally, such as negotiating contracts, protecting your personal safety, not getting taken advantage of by venue owners, etc. Samira Shuruk has one of the most comprehensive sites for dance performers.