iBellyDance
New member
Dear belly dancers,
I had a difficult situation in my belly dance class last Thursday night, and I would like to know, if I am overreacting...
I am Beginner/Intermediate level, love my teacher and fellow students, hardly miss any class since I started it (about 18 m ago). In December we began preparation for our first perfomance and everyone was excited. We were looking for no-pressure first stage experience place and local hafla on March 3 was the date/place the teacher mentioned. There are 5 students in our class now - three very nice, very beautiful, college age girls with long dark hair, about the same height, and me - in my 40th, blond, a little bit taller. Teacher is planning to be on stage with us too. The dance we are working on is not classic style, something in-between tribal and bd, very fun. The costumes are going to be leggins with bra, belt and scarf - so, it is very modern. I feel that I am a bit of an odd piece in our group, but I really like to dance and trying something out of my comfort zone or usual character is ok with me. I also know that I need to work harder on my technique than other girls, but I got some DVDs, planed to attend workshop on 25, and practiced at home as well as in class. So far, so good... I was a little concern that costumes are not ordered yet and we are only half way in our choreography, but relied on our teacher to lead us.
Well... On Thursday, when we lined up in class, teacher told me that she was invited to perform in one of the local universities and she invited the three other students "to help her, as she could had only three dancers there and it is on campus, in college environment", so they are going to practice a lot after regular class for their performance and I can participate to this practices... And yes, they are going to work on the same dance we were all learning in a last few months... After class was over at 9 pm, we started practicing and teacher kept changing our spots and seemed not sure how she wants us to line up...I thought that my presence was a problem (if there are only 4 dancers who are going to perform and they are all the same heigh), so I just said that since i was not aware of the possibility of this post-class practice, I really needed be home and would live in 10 minutes... The teacher suddenly said that they should probably stop practicing anyway, because she did not make the studio management aware about class occupation after 9pm and that would be a violation of rent policies... We quit practicing around 9:20 and I drove home feeling really sad...
I understand that show will benefit from all the belly dancers being the same age and look, and the girls seem to learn movements faster than i do... and it is very modern style of belly dance, not quite fitting to my personality, i guess... Do you think I am overreacting? What really upsets me, that teacher did not say anything about all our class perfuming together at certain point, like "I will perform with 3 girls at University event, but you still need to learn this dance and work hard because we will all perform together at ABC time/place".... Was I so bad at this dance, that it is just an excuse to get rid of me? But is not belly dancing is almost only kind of dance, that can be danced at any age and size? I am 5'7, 145lb...
What do you think I should do? Suck it up, work harder, hope I will dance some other dance later? Talk to my teacher in person/email to clarify the situation (main question - am I performing at all this spring)? Find another teacher?
BTW, sorry for possible grammar mistakes, Russian is my native language.
Thank you in advance to everybody, who had the patience to read and who will give me her opinion!
I had a difficult situation in my belly dance class last Thursday night, and I would like to know, if I am overreacting...
I am Beginner/Intermediate level, love my teacher and fellow students, hardly miss any class since I started it (about 18 m ago). In December we began preparation for our first perfomance and everyone was excited. We were looking for no-pressure first stage experience place and local hafla on March 3 was the date/place the teacher mentioned. There are 5 students in our class now - three very nice, very beautiful, college age girls with long dark hair, about the same height, and me - in my 40th, blond, a little bit taller. Teacher is planning to be on stage with us too. The dance we are working on is not classic style, something in-between tribal and bd, very fun. The costumes are going to be leggins with bra, belt and scarf - so, it is very modern. I feel that I am a bit of an odd piece in our group, but I really like to dance and trying something out of my comfort zone or usual character is ok with me. I also know that I need to work harder on my technique than other girls, but I got some DVDs, planed to attend workshop on 25, and practiced at home as well as in class. So far, so good... I was a little concern that costumes are not ordered yet and we are only half way in our choreography, but relied on our teacher to lead us.
Well... On Thursday, when we lined up in class, teacher told me that she was invited to perform in one of the local universities and she invited the three other students "to help her, as she could had only three dancers there and it is on campus, in college environment", so they are going to practice a lot after regular class for their performance and I can participate to this practices... And yes, they are going to work on the same dance we were all learning in a last few months... After class was over at 9 pm, we started practicing and teacher kept changing our spots and seemed not sure how she wants us to line up...I thought that my presence was a problem (if there are only 4 dancers who are going to perform and they are all the same heigh), so I just said that since i was not aware of the possibility of this post-class practice, I really needed be home and would live in 10 minutes... The teacher suddenly said that they should probably stop practicing anyway, because she did not make the studio management aware about class occupation after 9pm and that would be a violation of rent policies... We quit practicing around 9:20 and I drove home feeling really sad...
I understand that show will benefit from all the belly dancers being the same age and look, and the girls seem to learn movements faster than i do... and it is very modern style of belly dance, not quite fitting to my personality, i guess... Do you think I am overreacting? What really upsets me, that teacher did not say anything about all our class perfuming together at certain point, like "I will perform with 3 girls at University event, but you still need to learn this dance and work hard because we will all perform together at ABC time/place".... Was I so bad at this dance, that it is just an excuse to get rid of me? But is not belly dancing is almost only kind of dance, that can be danced at any age and size? I am 5'7, 145lb...
What do you think I should do? Suck it up, work harder, hope I will dance some other dance later? Talk to my teacher in person/email to clarify the situation (main question - am I performing at all this spring)? Find another teacher?
BTW, sorry for possible grammar mistakes, Russian is my native language.
Thank you in advance to everybody, who had the patience to read and who will give me her opinion!