Why Belly Dance is Waning in the UK?

[Bellydance Oz]

I've been in England for six months and have been doing a fair bit of touring around various towns, as we try to decide where/if we want to settle longer-term.

What strikes me is that if I wasn't already a belly dancer, I would think belly dance didn't exist anywhere in England! It's possible to find belly dance classes in English towns, but only by getting on Google or Facebook and actively searching. You won't find a single poster or flyer or postcard anywhere in any cafes or shop windows or community noticeboards. I went to some classes and one hafla by three different schools - and in each case, even the venues themselves didn't have any posters on their noticeboards about the school concerned!

I posted about this on Facebook and got three basic answers from teachers - either "I've got enough students already", or "flyers are too expensive and don't translate to new students anyway", or "Everything's on Facebook now so why bother?"

I can't help worrying that's being too complacent. OK so they have enough students now, but surely if belly dance has NO profile in the community, there's no way to attract new students and that's got to be a bad thing for the future of bd?

 

[Darshiva]

They probably have found that with the increased accessibility of the internet it's not worth their time or money to do physical media. Word of mouth can be far more effective than physical advertising and I know that when I'm looking for something I always look online for it first. Most people I know do that too. Maybe they did their research and found that physical media advertising just wasn't cost-effective.

 

[Shanazel]

Fliers and posters have proved to be more trouble and expense than they're worth. In all the years I produced fliers/posters, I don't recall getting a single student or workshop attendee via the same.

Finding space for posters is a problem, let alone getting people to read and respond to those posters. Some local venues simply do not accept posters anymore and those that do are overwhelmed with offerings. College programs alone send out several dozen a month. I've quit giving community board space in my museum to advertisers unless the subject relates to wildlife, Wyoming outdoor life, or museums within our consortium. I'll occasionally post a special musical or art event at the college but that's all.

 

[Bellydance Oz]

They probably have found that with the increased accessibility of the internet it's not worth their time or money to do physical media.

I know, but the point I'm making is that women have to KNOW they want to belly dance before they will search for it. The result is that women who aren't aware of belly dance as an option, are now very unlikely to ever come across it accidentally. So surely that means the potential pool of students is steadily shrinking.

I'm contrasting it to Sydney, where if someone is running a class in a hall, they will at least have information available on the hall noticeboard, and probably in the local cafe - and if they're running a hafla, they'll send a press release to their local paper and put a poster up at the venue. Here, it's like belly dance is completely invisible unless you're "in the know".

 

[Duvet]

In my area (Somerset) there are classes advertised in the local papers, free magazines, notices on community boards, in libraries, shop windows, restaurants, etc. But that takes a lot of time and can be expensive. I think most teachers get new students from word of mouth via existing students, or by performing out and being physically seen in person. I also find that when people approach you about bellydance classes/events, they might take the proffered flyer but still ask "Do you have a web-page?" or "Are you on youtube/facebook?" Internet is now the automatic search tool.

But I know what you mean - if they don't know what there is out there, then how are they going to know about joining in? I think the best way to do that is what happens now - to encourage students to talk about belly dance to their friends and colleagues, and to dance out at festivals, fetes, or local shows. People usually walk past notice boards and (as Shanazel said) most places won't advertise it anyway if it doesn't fit their remit, and a 'business' can be deemed as unfit for display on a community board (and if you're not a charity, you're a business). Also, notices, whether you paid for them or not, are often taken down after a fortnight to make room for new ones.

Just out of curiosity, which parts of the country did you visit? If you've been to a large number of areas in 6 months, perhaps you just weren't in any one place long enough to find the adverts, or not there at the right time of year to experience the adverts being put up - Summer holidays when the kids are off, or in the dead of Winter when Christmas competes and village halls can be quite chilly, are low points for advertising weekly classes. If you're in Somerset - let me know!

 

[Bellydance Oz]

I also find that when people approach you about bellydance classes/events, they might take the proffered flyer but still ask "Do you have a web-page?" or "Are you on youtube/facebook?" Internet is now the automatic search tool.

Absolutely, and when I advise small businesses (which I sometimes do), I tell them it's pointless even bothering with a flyer or poster if they don't have a website address to put on it. People expect any serious business to have its own website now, and they won't phone a number on a poster - they expect to go and get all the info from a website instead. But they do need to know the business exists (e.g. by seeing a flyer) in the first place, IMO.

Just out of curiosity, which parts of the country did you visit? If you've been to a large number of areas in 6 months, perhaps you just weren't in any one place long enough to find the adverts, or not there at the right time of year to experience the adverts being put up - Summer holidays when the kids are off, or in the dead of Winter when Christmas competes and village halls can be quite chilly, are low points for advertising weekly classes. If you're in Somerset - let me know!

I'm in Hampshire but have been travelling around a fair bit as we're trying to decide where to settle, if we decide to stay. You may be right, maybe it was because of the school holidays over summer. However here in Southampton, for instance, I recently came across a class in the very next suburb to me, by a teacher who has no website and no posters on the venue or anywhere in the suburb (which is where I usually shop so I've looked in most windows!). She has just recently created a Facebook page. If I'd known she existed I could've joined her class six months ago!

 

[Darshiva]

I know, but the point I'm making is that women have to KNOW they want to belly dance before they will search for it. The result is that women who aren't aware of belly dance as an option, are now very unlikely to ever come across it accidentally. So surely that means the potential pool of students is steadily shrinking.

I'm contrasting it to Sydney, where if someone is running a class in a hall, they will at least have information available on the hall noticeboard, and probably in the local cafe - and if they're running a hafla, they'll send a press release to their local paper and put a poster up at the venue. Here, it's like belly dance is completely invisible unless you're "in the know".

I disagree. Bellydance isn't some foreign term like raqs sharqi. Everyone knows what it is through music, cinema, tv shows, etc. I don't think there's anyone who is unfamiliar with the term. And the other thing I have noticed is that a search for burlesque and ballet will often return bellydance results. Sometimes people get curious. I know most of my clients are first-timers who either heard about me through a friend or came across my online presence while searching for *some* form of dance.

 

[Bellydance Oz]

I disagree. Bellydance isn't some foreign term like raqs sharqi.

I'm not saying it's an unfamiliar term, I'm saying that when the average women is looking for an exercise class, she's more likely to think of Zumba or Salsa than belly dance. If she has heard of belly dance, she may have misconceptions about it too, which a good poster could counteract.

I just tried Googling Zumba and Salsa for a few towns in the UK and no belly dance results came up, because there are enough Zumba and Salsa results to fill the front page. I can imagine people would be more likely to get bellydance results on any kind of dance search in a smaller town where there is less dance in general.

 

[Duvet]

I'm in Hampshire but have been travelling around a fair bit as we're trying to decide where to settle, if we decide to stay. You may be right, maybe it was because of the school holidays over summer. However here in Southampton, for instance, I recently came across a class in the very next suburb to me, by a teacher who has no website and no Facebook page and no posters on the venue or anywhere in the suburb (which is where I usually shop so I've looked in most windows!). If I'd known she existed I could've joined her class six months ago!

Asking this particular teacher why that is might give you some answers. I'm sure she has her own reasons and will probably be happy to share, as well as to hear your feedback.

But I will add that whilst a lack of advertising is detrimental to potential students, keeping your classes only to the word-of-mouth level might be all a teacher wants to do.

 

[Bellydance Oz]

Asking this particular teacher why that is might give you some answers. I'm sure she has her own reasons and will probably be happy to share, as well as to hear your feedback.

But I will add that whilst a lack of advertising is detrimental to potential students, keeping your classes only to the word-of-mouth level might be all a teacher wants to do.

I did ask on Facebook and got the responses I shared in my first post. That's not my point though - my point is that because everyone seems to be happy to jog along with a couple of small classes a week, belly dance has absolutely NO profile in the community and will become more and more of a minority genre.

At the same time I saw a thread here saying belly dance in the UK was dying with festivals not getting enough support, and other teachers who have given up because their classes dwindled to nothing - and they wonder why?

 

[Shanazel]

Duplicate post

 

[Shanazel]

In almost four decades of involvement in belly dance, I've watched its popularity ebb and flow time and again. Right now, rather than dying from a lack of advertising, I suspect it is suffering from overexposure after years of too many competitions and too many festivals and to much fusion and dilution. And please, don't bother arguing with me about the legitimacy of silk fans, live snakes, and death metal accompaniment- I don't care. I'm talking about belly dance with middle eastern vocabulary, middle eastern music, and respect for its middle eastern roots.

I suspect the learning curve required by belly dance chased some students into fusion and "self-expressive" dances. As more people broke away from more traditional forms of belly dance, the scene became a bit of a free for all. In constantly searching for something new and innovative, people lost sight of belly dance all together and now they're tiring of the watered down and often made up results.

In my small city, The Exercise Ladies tend to drive the popularity of dance and exercise classes in their never ending search to find fun and trendy activities that get them moving while allowing them to have a good time with their friends. That puts belly dance classes in direct competition for students with things like Zumba, clogging, and beginning adult ballet. Fifteen years ago, I taught beginning and continuing classes and actually had to turn students away because classes were not only full but overflowing. That lasted a few years, then students drifted on to things like Zumba and pole dancing- something new with an edge of naughtiness.

Dedicated belly dancers continue to dance but have always been a relatively small group. Belly dance has survived other downturns. It will survive this one, with or without advertising.

 

[Aniseteph]

Festival attendance is going to suffer if there aren't enough new beginners to generate new enthusiasts, but I agree with Shanazel that there are other factors involved.

I don't think belly dance being under the radar in the UK is anything new. I started over 10 years ago and before I saw an article in a local paper about new classes starting up, I had no idea it was out there. ( I am very glad I had no idea as I'd seen nothing to put me off!).

OTOH it seems daft for a teacher to be so under the radar as to make their classes invisible for students who are actively looking for belly dance classes in the area.

 

[Duvet]

Things aren't getting worse in the UK. Bellydance always was a minority genre. I don't believe there are hoards of undiscovered, unrealised bellydancer-wannabees-if-only-they-knew-it out there. I promote bellydancing quite a bit, and I frequently get the 'Oh, I tried that once' response, or alternatively a dose of mild interest with no desire to engage with it themselves.

Maybe the trouble is that bellydancing already has a profile - but one that is old-hat and out of fashion.

So how to make bellydance more fashionable? Maybe you need to think on what type of bellydance you want to see made mainstream. TV programs like 'Strictly' have made 'ballroom' dancing more popular - but the routines they perform in the show are more akin to pop-video routines than the ballroom you might attempt down the local guild-hall. Popular belly-dance will have to pander to similar sex and exercise agendas. Fusion and bolderization will need to be promoted, plus the idea that bellydance is all about free expression - which boils down to meaning "if you say its bellydance, then its bellydance whatever you are (not) doing". And I get the impression from this forum that this type of promotion is frowned upon.

Maybe bellydance festivals are failing (are they?) because they either don't want to appeal to that mass image, or because those festivals that do attract newbies are proven to show that underneath that initial razzle-dazzle of appeal, there's nothing there for the more experienced or serious dancer to progress to?

But if your main question is why don't bellydance teachers promote themselves more in their local areas - maybe you just have to ask each one individually, and consider the different areas/seasons you are in. Some places have specific demographics to consider. Some teachers just have more opportunities/experience/money/ego than others. Some areas have had so much bellydance promotion that people are just fed up with the competition (ie the teachers) or the whole idea (ie the students)!

 

[Zumarrad]

It's not 1978. Women who want an exercise class have many more options than before. Bellydance has exercise components, of course, but it's not an exercise class, not really. So women looking for something dancey and fun that's primarily exercise WILL go to zumba - which has a *cough* bellydance component incidentally along with its Latin-flavoured aerobics moves - or sometihng similar. Not bellydance and not salsa classes.

Women who want something dancey and fun that lets them feel sexy used to go to bellydance classes but now they have burlesque. And if they want to add some much harder exercise to that mix, they have pole.


Needs that used to attract women to bellydance are now being met by other things. Beginner classes were always full of people just having a go for a term, or less.

What we need to ask ourselves is, what does bellydance have to offer that those exercise and dance forms don't?

 

[BigJim]

It's the complexity and the challenge of bellydance that makes it more unique...You can take it as far as you can and you'll never learn it all. Exercise is just exercise...After you have your routine down your mind just takes a break.....Burlesque might be more about making a statement..

 

[Bellydance Oz]

OTOH it seems daft for a teacher to be so under the radar as to make their classes invisible for students who are actively looking for belly dance classes in the area.

#

Yes, that's the thing that is really getting me. I almost got the feeling from a couple of teachers that they don't WANT outsiders, that they've got a nice group of women together, they're all pals and don't want anyone to come in and spoil it. I contacted one teacher about an Intermediate class and was told I wouldn't like it, because the class had been established for a few years, they had an established repertoire of dances which I wouldn't know. I said I'm a fast learner and would be quite happy to noodle around at the back of the class, and wouldn't expect to perform with them, I just wanted to have an opportunity to dance. Still no.

I would be happy to accept a refusal if it was an Advanced class with an associated Troupe doing regular performances - obviously that would be invitation only. Or if it was a small hall and they were overflowing. Neither applied.

 

[Roshanna]

I'm not teaching my own classes at the moment (just moved to a new area, and not settled enough yet to start teaching weekly classes yet), but I'll give my 2p anyway...

When I was doing most of the advertising for a dance organisation in my old town, almost all of our new students came from either word of mouth, from finding our website via google (and I made sure our website was professional looking and search optimised), or occasionally from seeing listings on a local listings website. Although we did try to do regular postering/flyering, it was our most expensive and difficult form of advertising, a real pain to coordinate since all of us had full time jobs, and I only remember a single student, over several years, ever saying she'd found out about us from seeing a flyer. I feel that we got more visibility from occasionally teaching taster classes at community events, or having our students perform at local 'community dance' festivals.

Personally, I have no interest in attracting the fitness crowd these days. Since I'm resigned to the fact I'll probably always have a day job, if I put in the time to teach, I want to be teaching people who are there to learn the dance as a cultural art, and are genuinely interested in what I have to offer, not people who'd be happier in a Zumba or aerobics class, or just want to 'shake it'. If that means my classes are smaller, so be it. This doesn't mean I'll hide my light under a bushel or not try to get the word out, but it does mean my marketing will be realistic about what I'm offering, rather than trying to be all things to all people.

 

[Roshanna]

Yes, that's the thing that is really getting me. I almost got the feeling from a couple of teachers that they don't WANT outsiders, that they've got a nice group of women together, they're all pals and don't want anyone to come in and spoil it. I contacted one teacher about an Intermediate class and was told I wouldn't like it, because the class had been established for a few years, they had an established repertoire of dances which I wouldn't know. I said I'm a fast learner and would be quite happy to noodle around at the back of the class, and wouldn't expect to perform with them, I just wanted to have an opportunity to dance. Still no.

I would be happy to accept a refusal if it was an Advanced class with an associated Troupe doing regular performances - obviously that would be invitation only. Or if it was a small hall and they were overflowing. Neither applied.

Well that's a bit weird, but I'd guess it happens everywhere that you get groups who have their own little clique just doing the same choreos over and over. Some dancers I know have had similar encounters. The question is, would you really want to join that kind of 'class'?

 

[Kashmir]

Popular belly-dance will have to pander to similar sex and exercise agendas. Fusion and bolderization will need to be promoted, plus the idea that bellydance is all about free expression - which boils down to meaning "if you say its bellydance, then its bellydance whatever you are (not) doing". And I get the impression from this forum that this type of promotion is frowned upon.

Maybe bellydance festivals are failing (are they?) because they either don't want to appeal to that mass image, or because those festivals that do attract newbies are proven to show that underneath that initial razzle-dazzle of appeal, there's nothing there for the more experienced or serious dancer to progress to?

An interesting conflict actually. If you do promote your class as a free for all, then either you then teach this - and you aren't teaching belly dance - or you just use it as a hook and hope people will ignore your advertising and classes don't match.

BUT - if you go the first way and bring in the numbers promising everything to stripping for your husband (has been done in the name of "belly dance" here in NZ) to fire-poi on hilltops to celebrate Beltane - then how do you bring in the aspects of the dance that do stretch a "more experienced or serious dancer"? You are stuck in the playing around with movement and fantasy - which goes nowhere but into self indulgence.