Becoming a Professional Dancer (Age Related)

[Amulya]

Letti I think it's just coincidence you're the oldest, most professional dancers are in their 30's if I'm right. That's an average I based on what I read on forums. I might be wrong. But I asume you're 28 now and that's young. I don't think age is the reason for difference for picking dance up slower. It totally depends on the person, previous dance experience, flexibility, feel for rythm and more. No need to worry, plus you have plenty of time to develop as a dancer (life long actually! That's the good part of this dance )

35+ and 40+ dancers seniors? :lol::lol::lol: that's rediculous! There shouldn't be age categories, only for kids and teens I guess. It's more about dance style categories which is important.

 

[Avariel]

Letti, remember there are professional dancers closing on 40 that are probably some of the best in the world (Rachel Brice comes to mind)

 

[Shanazel]

SOme time ago I overheard a couple of my younger students discussing my advanced age and supposed decrepitude(I may've been fifty at the time). I put one of my longer more vigorous pieces of music and the seniors in the class danced those dear little girls to their knees. :lol: They were wonderfully good sports about it and we all had a great laugh at the end.

 

[Letti]

If you don't mind me asking, where are you from? Where I'm located I have always been the youngest person in my class since I started belly dancing when I was 20, now almost 5 years later I am still usually the youngest in my class. My friends who are closer to 30 are also among the young ones.

I got the impression that this was the case in a lot of the US, so I'd be really surprised if they had a "senior" category starting at 35! I could see that happening in other countries where people typically start belly dancing at a younger age, though.

I'm from Hungary. One other thing coming to my mind was that my teacher is doing quite modern things and classes are rather challenging and fast paced, that is might be popular among younger dancers.

Letti, remember there are professional dancers closing on 40 that are probably some of the best in the world (Rachel Brice comes to mind)

Thanks for the encouragement I was also considering switching to tribal completely because the tribal community here is somewhat older

Every life stage has its beauty and that has a big influence on dance. If i'm thinking about the past 2 years in my life, there have been huge changes on a mental level, that have also triggered my dance development on a different level than technical.

It might be that women that are closing on 40 (and above of course) are reaching a higher level of matureness plus they are still young in the body to realize their ideas.

 

[Avariel]

Thanks for the encouragement I was also considering switching to tribal completely because the tribal community here is somewhat older

Every life stage has its beauty and that has a big influence on dance. If i'm thinking about the past 2 years in my life, there have been huge changes on a mental level, that have also triggered my dance development on a different level than technical.

It might be that women that are closing on 40 (and above of course) are reaching a higher level of matureness plus they are still young in the body to realize their ideas.

Great thoughts! I totally agree. I do not think the difference in styles lends itself to this, but I do think that serious cabaret dancers have to deal with not-very-serious, new (and sometimes very young) dancers who are more attracted to shaking their butts for an audience in a glittery outfit than they are learning about the art form. And it seems like the cabaret teachers have to suffer with it more so than the tribal teachers in my town. I'm not sure if the aesthetic and bearing and general attitude of tribal dance is different and thus attracts different types of people to it, and by all means, we have our share of silliness. (and how.) But I can see how the "shininess" of cabaret dance lends itself to attracting those types of people more so than tribal's more earthy components would; if someone is concerned about being "seen" then being in a group improv where you're all dressed in earthy tones that flatter each other wouldn't really be conducive to individual glory as much as doing a solo in sparkly beads to loud music.

Again, not everyone fits into a box, and not every community is like this, but I definitely found a more "serious" following of dancers who were dedicated to really becoming artists when I moved from cabaret to tribal. This wasn't to say that cabaret dancers are not serious, and we do have some very dedicated cabaret dancers in my town, but when I was a new cabaret student, a lot of the younger new cabaret students were way more concerned with sequined bedlahs and how their costumes fit, than they were over proper execution of movement When I transitioned a few years later and became a new ATS student, it was a completely different world with different types of women. BUT… I was also older, and so were they. I don't know if youth has anything to do with it, or what; but that's my experience in my town with it so far. I'm 100% positive it could be different elsewhere.

 

[Jane]

Great thoughts! I totally agree. I do not think the difference in styles lends itself to this, but I do think that serious cabaret dancers have to deal with not-very-serious, new (and sometimes very young) dancers who are more attracted to shaking their butts for an audience in a glittery outfit than they are learning about the art form. And it seems like the cabaret teachers have to suffer with it more so than the tribal teachers in my town. I'm not sure if the aesthetic and bearing and general attitude of tribal dance is different and thus attracts different types of people to it, and by all means, we have our share of silliness. (and how.) But I can see how the "shininess" of cabaret dance lends itself to attracting those types of people more so than tribal's more earthy components would; if someone is concerned about being "seen" then being in a group improv where you're all dressed in earthy tones that flatter each other wouldn't really be conducive to individual glory as much as doing a solo in sparkly beads to loud music.

Again, not everyone fits into a box, and not every community is like this, but I definitely found a more "serious" following of dancers who were dedicated to really becoming artists when I moved from cabaret to tribal. This wasn't to say that cabaret dancers are not serious, and we do have some very dedicated cabaret dancers in my town, but when I was a new cabaret student, a lot of the younger new cabaret students were way more concerned with sequined bedlahs and how their costumes fit, than they were over proper execution of movement When I transitioned a few years later and became a new ATS student, it was a completely different world with different types of women. BUT… I was also older, and so were they. I don't know if youth has anything to do with it, or what; but that's my experience in my town with it so far. I'm 100% positive it could be different elsewhere.

My experience has been the opposite! The Tribal style groups in my area are more interested in free form self expression to whatever music moves them and feminine togetherness dynamic than a serious interest in learning belly dancing. Here it's the Oriental (I dislike the name cabaret) dancers that are the serious students. Age doesn't seem to be a factor.

 

[Yame]

I'm from Hungary. One other thing coming to my mind was that my teacher is doing quite modern things and classes are rather challenging and fast paced, that is might be popular among younger dancers.

Oh, Hungary. Well, that explains it. I do get the impression that in most of Eastern Europe, belly dancers start at a much younger age, with other dance experience, and the bar is set very high.

Still, try not to compare yourself with other people. We each go through our own, individual journey.

 

[Amulya]

Yame, I have the same impression, but more with Russia and Ukrania, there are even belly dance contests for kids (I do not agree with those!) and it seems their dancers often are of higher standard than the average dancer in other countries. Not to insult anyone from other countries of course, I just admire the amazing dancing skills of these dancers, their technique is total perfection. I suspect a lot of them started out with ballet at a very young age as I think belly dance wasn't yet popular there when they (the adult ones) were children.

 

[Habibi L'amour]

But, even when you have a nice figure, it does seem like there is still the age stigma in the mainstream media, although many of the big name "hot" female celebrities are starting to be a lot older and everyone is always talking about "30 is the new 20" and "40 is the new 30." lol...

My teacher lies about her age on the internet! I have been told that she is past 50 by a big-mouthed classmate who will also remain nameless here, but on a web page it said she was 40 (or 39, I don't exactly remember). But...she easily gets away with it, I could not believe how old she really is when I was told because she actually does look as young as she says she is, and has a great body too (better than a lot of 40 year olds). She gives me hope for my future

 

[Amulya]

I few days ago I sent a video clip of Morocco (the dancer) to my mother and she was very impressed, she looked at Morocco's site and it said on there that she was born in 1932, so she is 80 next year! I thought early 70's but she looks much younger. She's the inspiration for all dancers

Habibi L'amour, most dancers don't mention their age on their site and why would they, it's not important. I do however get irritated by people who advertise themselves with pictures that are 20 years old. That happens quite often. I know a dancer who still uses the same studio shots from 15 years ago and maybe they were already old back then. Or some use extremely Photoshopped ones.