full time work V bellydance

[taheya]

Hello all, this is a question for everyone who works full time as well as performs bellydance. Do most people feel it fits well around f/t work? Or do you think to be a truly good dancer you need to devote more of your time to the dance and therefore have a job which is dance related i.e b.d teacher.

I work full time and find it is sometimes hard fitting in the practice around my job, it gets in the way i feel! If only i didnt have to work!

 

[Alaya]

Hi Taheya, welcome to the forum. I am a student, I am working after my school and I am dancing as well so I know whot you fell. It is realy tiering. I dometimes don't want to go for the dance classes becaus I am so tiered but when I am there I amrealy happy that I decided to come and practice.I would like to do it more often but whot can you do. Bellydance is not so popular in Poland that I could teach and live as the dancer and I am not so good anywey. Oh wll maybe some day. Love, Alaya

 

[Aaeesha]

It depends on what your goals are I think. If you aspire to become a professional dancer or if you dance for the fun and experience. About a year ago, I had a full time job, I took two classes per week, and I taught four classes per week, AND I have a very young daughter. So, my time was in the red so to speak and I was constantly exhausted. I made the decision to quit my job and aggressively build my studio, which has been *very* hard work, but very rewarding because I get to control my time and do what I love for a living.

Other factors for considering teaching come into play such as the market in your area ie. is it saturated with instructors or would you be teaching and establishing a dance community. Teaching in general takes a tremendous amount of time and effort when you think of everything that goes into it (lesson plans, answering emails, returning phone calls, event planning, choreographies, and on and on). With the number of hours I invest as an instructor each week, it is far greater than just the regular 40 hour work week, but again, it doesn't feel like "work".

If you aspire to become a professional dancer on a national level, then I think that having a full time job AND dancing would be extremely difficult. Aziza posted on Bhuz once that (don't quote me here) she works out for 2-3 hours daily then invests 4-5 hours of dance daily. To be one of the "greats" it was determined that that amount of dedication is not only helpful, but essential. For the average local hobbyist, I think you can be a "great" dancer while working full time. It would depend on how much of your free time you would be willing to dedicate to practicing and additional classes, etc. Obviously, the more dedicated you are to your own education, the stronger dancer you will become. If you are truely unhappy with working and wish to pursue dancing as a "job" then those are some things you need to consider, but it's worth it if you can pull it off. You would need to evalute your own skills to determine if you are ready to teach which would require lengthy dance experience and the ability in general to teach others. Good luck

 

[Maria_Aya]

Still at full time job but planing on taking pension next year
Teaching 3-4 hours per day.
Practising 2 alone.
Having a 17 year old daughter, family, friends.
Well I'm lucky cause I dont like sleeping lol

Plus oriental dance is my life passion, cant live without it

Maria Aya

 

[Safran]

I work full-time and do a million other things besides dancing, and for me dancing is the balancing factor in my life... Of course, I always feel that I should spend more time on dancing, but then again - maybe this way it would become more of a duty than something I really want to do. We'll see what time brings