If it wasn’t for the glitz and glamour, would you be doing this?

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

Stephanie, I hear you. Performing can be really exhausting emotionally and psychologically. Dancing for performance is no longer about YOU and what you want -- you have to take the audience into consideration ya know?

I do know a few people who only go to workshops so they can dance in the show. I'm usually on the other side of the fence, asking the organizer if I can just sit this show out and be an audience member

Does anybody really actually ENJOY drilling or "working out" with dance? I have found (especially lately, when it's my only time to be baby-free) that my "dance time" is more happily spent when I can pop in a DVD and do a dance workout, or just get focused on the sheer physicality of one of Suhaila's classes. There is something really energizing about just practicing, somehow, with no "art" involved. lol. Am I weird that way?

 

[Zorba]

Does anybody really actually ENJOY drilling or "working out" with dance? I have found (especially lately, when it's my only time to be baby-free) that my "dance time" is more happily spent when I can pop in a DVD and do a dance workout, or just get focused on the sheer physicality of one of Suhaila's classes. There is something really energizing about just practicing, somehow, with no "art" involved. lol. Am I weird that way?

I like to drill in class and be worked hard. Drills are good.

 

[Duvet]

I like to drill in class and be worked hard. Drills are good.

If I haven't worked hard in a class, I don't feel I've had a class!

My OP was a serious one. If you don't want the glamour, then you can dance happily without it. But I know dancers who do love the glitz and attention, and stay around for it. I know non-performers for whom the image and dressing up is a major part of why they go to parties. I know of dancers who will only go to a hafla if they are performing, and don't want to be just a member of the audience. But I also know people who are put off bellydancing exactly because of the glitzy image, and some of the best dancers I've seen were ones in the plainest attire doing the simplest of moves, but showing the greatest enjoyment, which made me wonder what all the glitzy costume dancers were about.

Whatever you get out of bellydancing is individual. We all invest our money and time in whatever we do in order to gain something out of it – what we gain is no one’s business to judge. I just wondered how much the sparklies were the attraction. Judging by what I see at festivals (the stall holders and the buyers) it runs pretty high on the must have agenda for many people who have the budget. And the attention can be very flattering and addictive, and even good for you.

Yet judging by some of the answers, some people feel it is a burden, rather than a pleasure. Which begs the extra question, are you having to submit to market forces? Is it a necessary evil of the job/hobby? Fulfilling the client/audience image and expectations, rather than the one you'd really want?

I didn’t come to bellydance for the glamour and performance. If you’d told me I was going to be performing in front of an audience, I’d have laughed at you and then promptly run away (I have done that!). But I've definately grown to like at least some of the attention I get from doing it. But I spend the minimum on costume, and use no jewelry or make-up if I can get away with it. I don’t like platitudes – honest criticism I’d rather have, even if it initially upsets me. I’m not particularly attracted to the culture or the history due to the dancing.

I came to bellydance to try something new, and found I liked the moves and the music. I stayed because I had teachers who were very good at matching the two together, and getting students to connect to both and their own bodies/emotions. I love the way I feel when I dance, and I enjoy sharing what I do. I perform because I'm happy when I see others happy.

But if there were no performances and no glitz, and no one ever noticed I was there, I would still be doing this, because the dance alone makes me feel good.

 

[Shanazel]

Yet judging by some of the answers, some people feel it is a burden, rather than a pleasure. Which begs the extra question, are you having to submit to market forces? Is it a necessary evil of the job/hobby? Fulfilling the client/audience image and expectations, rather than the one you'd really want?

Yes. Yes/No. Yes.

Can you imagine an audience's reaction to Giselle in sweat pants and a death metal tee shirt? Hmm. Actually, I kind of like that idea. How about Swan Lake with everyone dressed like Big Bird? HA! I like that idea even better. Waltz of the Flowers with everyone dressed like stinkweed. Copellia with everyone dressed in Circ de soleil costumes. The fight scene in Romeo and Juliet with the opponents dressed in Victorian drag. :think:

 

[Jane]

If I haven't worked hard in a class, I don't feel I've had a class!

Depends on what you mean by worked hard. I'd rather learn new movements and concepts than just break a sweat doing a physical activity and boring drilling. I can do that on my own. I pay a teacher for their information and expertise, not a workout.

... are you having to submit to market forces? Is it a necessary evil of the job/hobby? Fulfilling the client/audience image and expectations, rather than the one you'd really want?

Yes
Yes
Yes
Doing the parts you don't want to do is what makes it work! This is why professional dancers get paid.

 

[kaza26]

not

I dont see my self doing it for glitz and glamor..for me its all about understanding my body and learning how to move it in a better and more efficient way!

 

[Sophia Maria]

The excuse to wear pretty, glittery costumes and mega make-up; the five minutes of fame with the excuse to show off and love yourself; the applause and positive compliments no matter how you really danced; the fantasy of being a sensual (if not sexual) and adorable someone for however long you can sustain it... Of course for me these don't apply (Diva? Moi? Never!). I do it for the pure art and cultural appreciation, don'tcha know.

Of course many of us enjoy the sparkles and the glitz. Definitely, when you put on a costume and perform, with the lights, the audience, the makeup, and all that jazz, you feel different. But I for one find it to be just one of the perks of being a bellydancer.

Even if I suddenly was only able to dance/perform in baggy sweatpants and the worst bed hair of my life, I would absolutely still do it.

I'm glad you asked this question, though. I think it's important to a) poke fun at yourself, and b) ask yourself the tough questions. :yay:

 

[nightdancer]

The fight scene in Romeo and Juliet with the opponents dressed in Victorian drag. :think:

Please, please please, someone put on that show. I would actually fly out to see it.


Erik,

That was the funniest thing I have seen probably all summer. I was laughing so hard that not only is my eyeliner on my chin, but my children are looking at me like I've utterly dropped my basket. That was amazing.

For those that are not understanding why this is so funny, it's a scene from a movie, and the line "You can't handle the truth" is now famous in American cinema. Here's a video section of it, the applicable part is about the first 40 seconds.

A Few Good Man "You Can't Handle the Truth" - YouTube


Regarding the OP, I do not stay in dance because of the glitz, glamour and attention. I stay because its one of the few things in my life that are for me, where the only demands are what I, and by extension, my lovely teachers, place on me. I do love the sparkly stuff, and for my friends that frequent the more alternative side of the net, it allows me to get away with "Hell yes, I sparkle, I'm a bellydancer." But it's not what keeps me. The music doesn't keep me, which I know is going to probably cause some members to demand the revocation of my membership, lol. What keeps me is the people I meet, the lessons I learn, and constant challenge that dance brings to my life.

 

[Mahin]

I think a lot of people are initially attracted to BD for exactly this reason - but I don't think many stay ONLY for it.


I totally agree with that. The glitter is the bait!!

As for me, I dance because I have to. I mean, on really primal level, I HAVE to. I could never be truly happy without it since I found it. Audience or not, applause or not, glitz or not, I would still dance.

Mahin

 

[Erik]

Thanks, nightdancer. After posting I worried that some dancers wouldn't get it, and some that did might not think it was funny. I shortened the speech a little.

I think.....and I think because I can't really know.....that if I were a dancer there would be some degree of "look at me" going on, and I don't regard it as shameful. It was somewhat surprising to see how many dancers really don't enjoy the performance part of it.

 

[AspiringDancer]

Dancing started out as a way to spend more time with my Mom.

Then I found it was a darn good workout

Soon after, I learned it was the greatest challenge for my mind and body.

I began to become interested in the music and culture.

Now I'm at a point where I like exposing myself to things that scare me like performing and being accountable in the student troupe.

The glitz and glamour are things I'm getting used to but definitely not why I like BD!

 

[walladah]

I got over my detesting sparkling things, sequins and the rest

through regular study of oriental dance...

till then, it was normal for me to dance with other women of my community, and actually i thought it was so "not glamorous" that the first two years i was going to my dance lessons without even a non-glittering scarf, just with my everyday-office work clothes...

however, it is such an inner thing in bellydance, that only for sequins and sparkles, it is too hard a workout/too difficult a hobby to keep up for more than one week... and usually to get to dance with a sparkling costume, it takes more than 2 years!

 

[Greek Bonfire]

Getting back to the original question, I do it for the love of the dance. In fact, when I first saw it, there were two dancers at a Greek festival who were in ordinary clothes and my friend and I decided we wanted to do THAT, the Dance. While I love wearing glittering costumes, sometimes I would just love to get up and perform wearing maybe a fringe scarf instead of going through the time it takes to get ready to perform all dressed up.