Don't know what to do next in this process...

[Kashmir]

When I start to search for a new teacher (and I realize there's a sticky somewhere about picking a teacher) do you think it would be worth my time explaining my background to them and that I am interested in learning the culture and customs associated? Or does that come across as egotistical?

No, not egotiscal - but I doubt if a teacher will change her course goals for one student. Far better to find a teacher who already teaches aspects of this and encourage her to expand. For instance by asking questions and looking interested (because there may be others in the class who are not interested and after a few months of eye rolling and disinterest the teacher might just give up and go back to teaching hip drops - but one person showing obvious interst could encourage her).

[bomu samba]

It's interesting to see how many people reach this point (or some variation of it) in our dance journeys. After two years of learning Suhaila format and "dancing as exercise" I've come to realise that there is so much more to belly dance.

I'll keep going to my current classes as I really enjoy them but I'll be supplementing them with other study. When I first started, I remember feeling soooooooo smug and educated for even knowing the terms "ATS", "Fusion" and "Egyptian"*. Now I know that I've barely even scratched the surface!

I'd echo what others have said about this site, Bhuz and Shira.net boing invaluable resources. And thanks to the fantastic advice in this thread I now own (and listen to) ME music! I've even started signing up for workshops.

Yes, it's a new phase in my journey but I think BigJim sums it up perfectly:

you can work at it for a lifetime and still find motivation, challenge and satisfaction every time you put on the dance togs... you can find something new to learn and conquer every day... what's not great about this

* I couldn't have told you what they mean though!

[ana_bat]

I'd echo what others have said about this site, Bhuz and Shira.net boing invaluable resources. And thanks to the fantastic advice in this thread I now own (and listen to) ME music! I've even started signing up for workshops.

Wow what a gem of a thread! Thank you for sharing

[MizzNaaa]

I don't really have anything to add anything to what all the wonderful ladies of the forum told you already Ana.

I can't even say I'm an expert on BD culture, but I've grown up with it since I am Egyptian, so if I can help in anyway, let me know. I'll try my hardest to answer any questions you have.

One more thing I would suggest, (this is very purely Egyptian centered though, as this is my style/culture) watch old Egyptian movies. Almost 99% of them are available with English subtitles. It's not really about the movie itself, but keep an eye out for the performances by the dancers.

I've been dancing since I was a tiny 5 year old with barely any hips to speak of, and I've never taken professional classes, yet -if I may say so myself- I'm quite capable of expressing myself through the music. My education came from those dancers; back then there were no DVDs, so all I could do was fire up those movies and watch how the dancers danced and what they did.

It helps a lot, they are the mistresses of this art. And through the movie and what's happening you'll find that after a while you grow to have an understanding of why and what makes belly dance belly dance