Performing for those who know zip about belly dance

[Chani]

Hi Dancing Sisters and Brothers,

I have a little performance coming up. I will be dancing for my Godmother at her 90th birthday party in her back yard. I'm very pleased she was interested in me dancing for her and her party and she has decided to keep me dancing a surprise from her guests.

The younger guests will be middle aged and many will be much older, all Anglo Australians, all mainstream and while they have heard of belly dance as far as I know none have ever seen it or know what it really is. Some of them know I belly dance and have been interested asking me questions like does my teacher show me how to shimmy and commenting that it must be good for your tummy muscles.

My dance is an intro of Egyptian with veil, a little sword piece in the middle ending with a bit more dancing so they get a little bit of a few bd things.

So, my question is how I might approach my costuming and music for such an audience.

I think for an outfit I won't want my professional Egyptian costume - it seems a bit much for a backyard and I look very busty in it (great for stage but I don't want anybody having a heart attack). I am thinking about a full skirt with a hip scarf and a bare midriff but covered arms and not too much cleavage our of respect for their age. Lots of jewelery and exotic hair pieces.

I'm a bit stuck on music. Contrary to what I would normally go for I think some kind of cheesy arabic pop music would be something they would understand and perfer.

I am looing for 1 min of something suitable for veil - something that has a neat place to cut the music at around 1 minute - then I have got the sword part for the middle covered - then I need another cheesy pop song for the last 1-2 minutes. Something energetic that (hopefully) will have them clapping their hands and tapping their feet that I can fade out after 2 minutes.

Any suggestions or ideas? Anybody had a similar audience?

p.s. This is not my first solo but the first time dancing all on my own and I really like my Godmother, she's so groovy, so I am excited and hope they like it.

 

[Yshka]

Dear Chani,

I'd say you have the music part covered. You could even get people up to dance when the popsong kicks in, it's a great ending of your show.

About costuming I disagree. You say they don't know much about bellydancing, and you'd not want to wear your professional costume for it.
I'd say please DO wear your professional costume, even if it's a bit backyard'y in this case. I think you should see this as another performance, and dress appropriately, especially since most of the people there are family audience and they will probably like seeing the beautiful dancer as well

If you want them to see you as a bellydancer, you should be dressed like one IMO, very much so since you are probably the first bellydancer they will see, and right there you have a chance to prove that this dance is classy, beautiful, fun and a true form of art. Costumes are a part of that too you know !! Besides, if your godmother asked you to dance, she probably knows what to expect and she wants you there like that.
To me, dressing like one would in a student hafla would... sort of take away the magic.

Btw, I performed at an outdoors 85th birthday party last week with all people above at least 60, and they particularly LOVED the bling and shinyness and actually seeing... a bellydancer!

Go for it dear, dress up, do your hair and make up and kick some ass!!:dance:

 

[~Diana~]

My dance is an intro of Egyptian with veil, a little sword piece in the middle ending with a bit more dancing so they get a little bit of a few bd things.

Sounds good to me.

I think for an outfit I won't want my professional Egyptian costume - it seems a bit much for a backyard and I look very busty in it (great for stage but I don't want anybody having a heart attack). I am thinking about a full skirt with a hip scarf and a bare midriff but covered arms and not too much cleavage our of respect for their age. Lots of jewelery and exotic hair pieces

Actually you be surprised but people love to see all costumes. True if one is very busty it is great on stage but I tone it down with a different costume that is not so much for in person because they are much closer to you. However do always wear some sort of professional costuming.

I'm a bit stuck on music. Contrary to what I would normally go for I think some kind of cheesy arabic pop music would be something they would understand and perfer.

oh please don't change music because you don't think the audience will understand or like it. I dance in a place were pretty much every audience has no clue as to what bellydance is. We don't change our music at all and the audience loves it.

Anybody had a similar audience?

As I stated above I always have an audience like that pretty much every time I dance. You might be surprised at how they actually react to dance and sometimes how much they already know about bellydance.

 

[da Sage]

As I stated above I always have an audience like that pretty much every time I dance. You might be surprised at how they actually react to dance and sometimes how much they already know about bellydance.

I agree with Cheart - the older they are, the more likely they've run into bellydancing at some point in their lives - in a restaurant, on stage, in the movies - so they might be better educated than you expect! I would actually be more inclined to pull out older music (George Abdo, maybe?) than pop, and do a retro sort of set. I think you're correct on your instinct to wear lots of jewelry and hair doodads, but I also think you should wear the glitteriest costume you have. If you want to wear a tie top or sleeves, great, but I think this group will really appreciate a bedlah or sparkly modern Egyptian set more than a choli.

This sounds like a great performance! Have fun!

 

[Greek Bonfire]

Dear Chani,

I'd say you have the music part covered. You could even get people up to dance when the popsong kicks in, it's a great ending of your show.

About costuming I disagree. You say they don't know much about bellydancing, and you'd not want to wear your professional costume for it.
I'd say please DO wear your professional costume, even if it's a bit backyard'y in this case. I think you should see this as another performance, and dress appropriately, especially since most of the people there are family audience and they will probably like seeing the beautiful dancer as well

If you want them to see you as a bellydancer, you should be dressed like one IMO, very much so since you are probably the first bellydancer they will see, and right there you have a chance to prove that this dance is classy, beautiful, fun and a true form of art. Costumes are a part of that too you know !! Besides, if your godmother asked you to dance, she probably knows what to expect and she wants you there like that.
To me, dressing like one would in a student hafla would... sort of take away the magic.

Btw, I performed at an outdoors 85th birthday party last week with all people above at least 60, and they particularly LOVED the bling and shinyness and actually seeing... a bellydancer!

Go for it dear, dress up, do your hair and make up and kick some ass!!:dance:

Exactly - word for word. They really do want to see all that bling! And the music you have chosen is very appropriate for this event too.

 

[lizaj]

Re music I danced for seniors in a large residential home last week and played mostly classics and one Egyptian pop. For last number I asked what they'd prefer and they said more of the classics so out came Tamra Henna. I think they considered it "proper" belly dance music.
Re costume: why not the real costume they deserve it but if you have a sheer wrap or shrug or vest that goes with it, you might feel less exposed for out of doors. I wore an assuit dress which might have been a surprise to them but I don't do two-pieces.

 

[Chani]

Thanks you for the replies.

Oh, you are all completely right.

I am all inspired now to wear my professional costume and go for traditional music.

After reading your posts I thought to myself if I was in my 90's I'd hope people didn't feel like they had to modify that kind of thing on my behalf and I'd want the real deal. Much more special than a watered down version adn I'm sure they've seen a cleavage before.

So, that's it, I will be the full glamorous belly dancer and they will get a dose of the real deal. Yay.

Cheers for the advice.

 

[Yshka]

Yaaaaaaay Chani!!! :yay: :yay: :yay:

Go for it, have fun, tell us how it went... and ehm.. oh yeah, post pictures!!

 

[Aniseteph]

Another YAY! Sock it to 'em!

(I like this thread, very sound advice, sometimes the inner "steady on, tone it down" voice needs shouting down. )

 

[gisela]

Great Chani! Have a good time at your performance. I agree with the costume advice above. The music question I haven't made up my mind about yet I struggle with the same issues every performance but I guess it is just a balance of knowing (or guessing as well as you can) the audience and be true to yourself and go with what kind of music moves you.

I think I will be performing at my father's 60th birthday later this year. I would love to hear how your performance turned out.
Gisela

 

[Greek Bonfire]

Re music I danced for seniors in a large residential home last week and played mostly classics and one Egyptian pop. For last number I asked what they'd prefer and they said more of the classics so out came Tamra Henna. I think they considered it "proper" belly dance music.
Re costume: why not the real costume they deserve it but if you have a sheer wrap or shrug or vest that goes with it, you might feel less exposed for out of doors. I wore an assuit dress which might have been a surprise to them but I don't do two-pieces.

I bet this worked well too - as long as it looks "costumey" which is what most people want to see anyway.

 

[lizaj]

I bet this worked well too - as long as it looks "costumey" which is what most people want to see anyway.

It's red which I thought was a good colour for a bright and breezy performance but boy was it hot and heavy!:shok:

 

[Daimona]

It's red which I thought was a good colour for a bright and breezy performance but boy was it hot and heavy!:shok:

:lol: A trick for deciding whether a color would be hot or breezy is to find the equivalent gray scale color. If it still appears dark (as red would be), the costume will we hot...

Sorry for being off topic.


And to get back on topic, I agree on using a top costume. As for choice of music, I'd go for both traditional old style music and perhaps on pop song at the end to get the lot on the dance floor. If you still haven't decided, how about asking the lady what she would want?

 

[library belly]

Howdy Chani!

All my performances are for non-bellydance audiences, as well as (usually) for middle-aged to older rural-living Australians.

I like to keep my music (like you have thought of doing), a quite quick and boppy combination of egyptian and music they find familiar.

I have found that non-bellydance audiences can lose attention quickly. I hope that is not a comment on my dance.

Anyway, I tend to go for a short beladi, and have also in the past danced to Cat Empire, Shakira, No Doubt, and They Might Be Giants.

If I do a western pop song, I always ALWAYS do an Egyptian piece of music first.

Hope it helps - sorry if I'm too late!

 

[Yshka]

Personally I'd never bring in Shakira or anything of the likes for a non-bd audience. We're being compared to that enough already... :lol:
Daimona and Liza, I love the idea of playing mostly classics for such a show!! Love how it turned out for you as well.

Today I did a performance for a high school anniversary, in which I did a modern Egyptian piece from one of Raqia Hassan's albums, a short drumsolo and a medium tempo popsong by George al Rassi. Both the huge amount of teenagers and their teachers loved it.

I think choice of music especially for non-dance audiences is highly important. The audience usually loves performances of dance and music they are not really familiar with, and it seems to me more and more that if we already suspect the audience will not like Middle Eastern music beforehand and bring them something they know (ie. Shakira), they will never get familiar with Middle Eastern dance for what it is and will always think we bop around to Arab'ish western pop in a sparkly outfit. It matters how you put it together to not let the audience get bored. Then again this is just something I've noticed lately and might differ for others. Some moments it bothers me more than others I guess, haha:lol: