Brag it up! Tell us what's working for you!

[Samira_dncr]

I think it would be nice to have a thread here to talk about accomplishements and what is working for you in you belly dance business, whether you are a performer, teacher, vendor, or organizer.

That, and, I wanted a place to tell you exciting stuff that I'm doing too. Feel free to add your own stories.

 

[Samira_dncr]

My Website is #1

I just discovered that the Las Vegas Bellydance Intensive's website is #1 on Google for "belly dance events". I'm super excited. I've worked hard to make it happen. And I just wanted to share this accomplishment with everyone. Doing the happy dance....:dance::dance::dance:

Now tell me what you are doing too so I can celebrate your wins as well.

:clap::clap::clap:

 

[Mosaic]

Just wanted to congratulate you, not easy getting to # 1 on any search site so good on you:clap::clap::dance:

I don't have any great and wonderful things to list right now
~Mosaic

 

[Gia al Qamar]

I am working on a Zar mini workshop for my Advanced class...very exciting and lots of details in making it a safe introduction for my dancers...
Also working on a new quartet choreography for a few members of my performing troupe...
AND...
Working a Romany/Oriental style dance for my next solo show...
Oh yea...and I have a costume on my work table that's starting to take shape!!!

 

[dreamkitaro]

Congrats Samira. You been working your butt off promoting it. Glad it's getting great recognition :dance:

 

[Samira_dncr]

I am working on a Zar mini workshop for my Advanced class...very exciting and lots of details in making it a safe introduction for my dancers...
Also working on a new quartet choreography for a few members of my performing troupe...
AND...
Working a Romany/Oriental style dance for my next solo show...
Oh yea...and I have a costume on my work table that's starting to take shape!!!

A Zar workshops sounds fabulous. Gracious you sound busy. Very exciting stuff though.

 

[Samira_dncr]

Mosaic and DreamKitaro, thanks for the congrats. I've spent years working on the site, so I'm glad to see it's rankings doing well. We are #2 for "belly dance festivals...right behind Rakkasah.

 

[maylynn]

I feel as though this is a success:

I built my own website from scratch a few years ago. I changed web addresses recently and have now (finally, after resolving technical issues) realigned my web hosting to my new web address - so I am back online!!!

I'm at Bellydance with Maylynn in London, UK: Performances, shows and classes with bellydancer Maylynn in cabaret, Egyptian, North African, and fusion styles. Belly dance with fresh moves and deep roots for the urban amazon. now. I thought, given my migratory nature, that it would be better to build up a website under an international address than keep moving from national domain names... I've been .ca, .co.uk, etc.

Now I want to redo the entire site, but for now am pretty happy to just to be back online again and with a great new address that I won't have to change next time I move countries!

 

[Samira_dncr]

Congrats Maylynn. Maintaining a website can be a tremendous amount of work. I'm glad you are back online.

 

[Caroline_afifi]

I guess one of my ongoing and biggest achievments is the Liverpool Arabic Arts festival which started off as a small meeting back in 1999 with a group of five people looking at how we could promote Arabic culture in a positive way.

We now have an award winning festival which employs a team of people to work all year round on the programme.

We have had artists like Marcel Khalife, Cheb Khaled and Mohammed Mounir as well as countless other classical musicians from all over the Arab world.

We also have a BBC Arabic arts radio programme, and this years festival was filmed by two ME satelitte channels.

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2010

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival Wins Major Award | Liverpool Art and Culture Blog

The dancer in the photo is the fabulous Nawarra!

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival wins prestigious national award | Arts Council

and Shafeek.

 

[Emma_Williams]

I just passed my first year of my counselling and I am now on my diploma

Also on Friday I got signed to the fabuolous Taste of Cairo belly dance agency Welcome - Taste Of Cairo which I feel is a big achievement. I have miles and miles to go...tons of more teaching, workshops, egypt trips, costumes etc but this stepping stone is exciting for me

 

[lizaj]

I guess one of my ongoing and biggest achievments is the Liverpool Arabic Arts festival which started off as a small meeting back in 1999 with a group of five people looking at how we could promote Arabic culture in a positive way.

We now have an award winning festival which employs a team of people to work all year round on the programme.

We have had artists like Marcel Khalife, Cheb Khaled and Mohammed Mounir as well as countless other classical musicians from all over the Arab world.

We also have a BBC Arabic arts radio programme, and this years festival was filmed by two ME satelitte channels.

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2010

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival Wins Major Award | Liverpool Art and Culture Blog

The dancer in the photo is the fabulous Nawarra!

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival wins prestigious national award | Arts Council

and Shafeek.

Being a part of the 2008 celebrations in Liverpool was one of the high points for me. Being involved in Caroline's "Casino" is somewhat taxing:lol:We are having to do a lot of research and trial and error to keep on task but I really believe that the challenge of this dance is what keeps me going as a dancer and has given me such a boost as an older woman. Otherwise I might be playing on-line bingo instead of going on BD forum.
Working with a tribal group and trying to come up with new and entertaining ideas is another one.
I get less out of teaching now (it was always a bot of a chore having been a teacher and falling into by having my arm twisted)although should the college want me again, it is nice to kick start the interest in people. I prefer working within a group.
However it's great to see those students still dancing years later and to make something of their love for it. My original High school class are nearly all still dancing, one with a wonderful group in another city. One of course have just got her chance with an agency:clap:

I also get a lot out of editing the association mag. The contact with contributoe and the chance to do something informative fo the community. Ha organising events: I do one a year only now as others have sprung up locally. I do like the opportunity for people to show off their skills. I don't always appreciate the attitude and behaviour of some. Being taken for granted and coping with petulant divas ( but then I know I can do something about it!) but on the whole fundraising by way of giving a performance platform locally is rewarding.

 

[Greek Bonfire]

I got a raise on my day job - many did not. Of course, I can't brag about it at work so I have to do it here. Thanks for indulging me! It was a lift to my spirits because for the last few months I've been "out of the dance loop" due to a neck injury. To even go to a hafla and watch the dancers was too much for me to hold my head up. So it was nice to catch a break this way.

 

[MissVega]

Congrats everybody!!! Glad to hear other people's good news

I don't really have any brag material lol. I finally finished university (BSc) and can't find a job Boooooo

But I did get some good/exciting news. Arabesque Dance Company /Studio (owned and run by Yasmina Ramzy in Toronto) Arabesque Canadian Domain Registration Registrar[/url] has asked me to come and teach a workshop in Caribbean fusion. I performed at the International Bellydance Conference of Canada this April and there was a lot of positive feedback on my performance and style. I'm quite proud of this since Arabesque has such a great reputation and they approached me. Hopefully I have good turn out

 

[Greek Bonfire]

Everybody gets :clap: from me!!

 

[Daimona]

Congratulations to all of you, finally getting paid for your hard work!

MissVega: Finishing your BSc is a great achievement, but I do understand your concerns about finding a job and hope you'll find one very soon. Congratulations on both your degree and your invitation to teach at Arabesque!


Speaking of websites etc.
I had been responsible for building up from scratch (i.e. learning basic web-design and html by myself in my spare time) and maintaining my local dance club's website for 6-7 years when I got a phone call from a telemarketer who insisted we might be interested in his products (e-marketing and buying high ranks in their search engine) and wanted to meet us to let us know what he had to offer, including a free analysis of our website. I didn't intend to meet him, but I was a bit bored the day he called and decided this could be an entertaining phone call.

We started by entering his company's search engine, and typed "orientalsk dans" (the Norwegian equivalent of "oriental dance") and the name of my town. Then we repeated the search with "magedans" (the Norwegian equivalent of "belly dance"). Both times, our website was the uppermost hit on the page.

At this point he was a bit puzzled, probably thinking this was pure luck, but we continued without the location. My club's homepage still got on the first page of the search results (i.e. top 10).

He was clearly getting frustrated as he probably realized we didn't really need his company's products. By this time, he was close to giving up and then suggested we just searched for "dance" and no locality, even though it would be rather inaccurate.

It probably felt like a small victory to him when we didn't make the first page this time (but still top 20!), but he was clearly impressed. As I probably didn't sound like a tech girl on the phone, he had to ask me:
Him: Who made this website?
Me: I did.
Him: What? :shok: Are you a pro(fessional webmaster), or something?

Guess he didn't expect an amateur like me to knock down his offer..

:lol:

 

[Makeda Maysa]

My biggest accomplishments may be a bit small by grander standards, but they're really big to me!

I am now teaching group classes! That's a very big deal as I've been working toward the point where I felt comfortable teaching beginners. I think of it as a big responsibility, so I'm excited.

My website is in the final stages of creation and will be live soon!

I taught my first workshops at the BOCAFest back in May! I taught on sha'abi and baladi and they were really well-received. I am so thankful.

I performed to "Taht Il Shibbak" at last Friday's Ahlan Cairo Nights show in Dallas, TX and Khaled Mahmoud called me "Dina" for the rest of the weekend. I can die and go to baladi heaven.:lol:

 

[Caroline_afifi]

I performed to "Taht Il Shibbak" at last Friday's Ahlan Cairo Nights show in Dallas, TX and Khaled Mahmoud called me "Dina" for the rest of the weekend. I can die and go to baladi heaven.:lol:

:dance: fantastic! Khaled really is a sweetie, and as far as i am aware, I have never heard him just randomly compliment people for the love of it... so well done!! :clap:

 

[Samira_dncr]

I love this thread.

 

[Samira_dncr]

I guess one of my ongoing and biggest achievments is the Liverpool Arabic Arts festival which started off as a small meeting back in 1999 with a group of five people looking at how we could promote Arabic culture in a positive way.

We now have an award winning festival which employs a team of people to work all year round on the programme.

We have had artists like Marcel Khalife, Cheb Khaled and Mohammed Mounir as well as countless other classical musicians from all over the Arab world.

We also have a BBC Arabic arts radio programme, and this years festival was filmed by two ME satelitte channels.

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2010

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival Wins Major Award | Liverpool Art and Culture Blog

The dancer in the photo is the fabulous Nawarra!

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival wins prestigious national award | Arts Council

and Shafeek.

I am seriously impressed with you, and hope that I can elevate my own event to such grand standards.