The trials and tribulations of being a belly dance teacher - part one

One of the trickiest situations I have to deal with is picking dancers to dance in my troupe.  Ideally I would include all of my students at every event I get asked to.  I try to provide opportunities for everyone to dance, such as the college open day, Wombourne Carnival and haflas because I know that all my students should get the opportunity to perform in public.  However I do get asked to provide a troupe for events where a more professional level is expected.  When people are paying for dancers they expect a professional standard and so I have a troupe - the fabulous Shikidim.  The troupe consists of 5 of my best students, they work hard at learning the routines, practise at home, spend a lot of money on costumes, present themselves well and are punctual.  I am very proud of them.  Occasionally a place becomes available in my troupe and finding a replacement always causes problems.  I know that quite a lot of my students are disgruntled because they do not get invited to join my troupe, and I hate disappointing them, however I cannot include ladies who do not know the routines, who turn up late for events, scowl through dances and make no effort with costumes.

I would just like to say to the disgruntled students being in the troupe is not all sparkle and applause.  We invariably do not get well paid, usually have to change in the loo's/broom cupboard/tent (yes we have changed in a tent), always have to hang around as the organisers never have us dancing at the time agreed.  We spend quite a lot on costumes/make up and travelling to events so make very little money from it so ladies don't be jealous of the troupe.

I would be interested to hear from other teachers as to how to deal with this problem as I know it causes resentment.

Giving Thanks

This blog is a thank you to the awesome people in the belly dance world who have taught and inspired me. Firstly I must thank Chris Elwell who introduced me to belly dance almost 30 years ago, prior to that I had done Ballroom, Latin and Jazz but discovering Belly Dance was like coming home - it felt so right for my body.  In my twenties I was too busy getting married, and having children to devote myself to dance however I did do some classes in Salsa and Mambo.  I got back into BD when Maureen Pemberton started teaching monthly workshops, I was amazed by how much had changed since I had Belly Danced before - but have come to realise that Belly Dance constantly evolves.  I then found a weekly class with Linda Spittle, Linda was an inspiration to me because she neither thin or young but she was fabulous and I thought "if she can do it so can I" Heidi Scott took over her class and invited me to dance in her troupe Turkish Delight.  I learnt a lot from Heidi and am very sad that she is no longer teaching, she was an a fabulous dancer, teacher and friend.  At this point I started teaching (I took over Heidi's class when she got pregnant).  My life quickly changed, I started with just one class then 3 then 5, I achieved the JWAAD foundation certificate and the City and Guilds teaching certificate and I formed my troupe Shikidim.


Sadly I no longer had time to attend weekly classes plus it was hard to find good teachers within easy reach so I started attending workshops and I would like to say a thank you to the following fabulous teachers for helping me develop as a dancer.  They are in no order but I will start with Pauline Qu and her husband Asif (drumming)who taught me how to tackle a drum solo (still have not yet had the courage to dance to a live drum in public but I will one day) JULIANA BRUSTIK-Baladi veil, NAWARRA-Shaabi and Khaleegy,LOPA SARKAR-Bollywood, KATIE HOLLAND-Bollywood, TAMALLYN DALLAL-Double veil, ISHTAR-dancing in shoes, FULYA-Burlesque, HAZEL KEYES-Latin fusion, WARDA, TINA HOBIN-Egyptian Cabaret,LORRAINE FREW-choreography, OSLAN-Turkish Cabaret, JANE VASS-Ghawazee, NICOLA FAIREY-Choreography, DAWN O'BRIEN-ATS, VASHTI-North African,JO WISE-choreography SEMRA-choreography, TRACEY JONES-zills, TRACEY GIBBS-Shimmies, GALIT MERSAND-choreography and jazz fusion, KHALED- choreography,AMAL TAFSOUT-Andalusian scarf dance, CHRISTING EMERY-performance skills, HEATHER BURBY-choreography, GWEN BOOTH-Classical Egyptian style, HELEN ROBERTS-Choreography, NIKKI LIVERMORE-ATS, Gypsy, Ghawazee, DI COX-Saiidi, VAL RAINBOW-veils, DEIDRE MC.DONALD-ATS and Bollywood, ANN ASHCROFT-Baladi, DONNA GARDNER-ATS and choreography,AMY SIGIL (UNMATA)-Tribal Fusion, JAN PIGGOT-Haghalla GENEVA BYBEE-Tribal Fusion, WENDY MARLETT-ATS, Flamenco fusion, ROSE HARDEN (ULTRA GYPSY)-Tribal Fusion, KIMBERLEY MC. COY-Tribal Fusion RAHEESHA-Gypsy, YASMIN ASER-Gypsy, RANDA KAMAL-Egyptian Cabaret, SHAFEEK-Egyptian Cabaret, , KISMET-ATS, ANGELA WOOI-Bollywood, EVA GREEN - Choreography, CAROLE HOWARD-steampunk, MARHARET-Dark Cabaret,  MIHRIMAH - Indian Dance, HARRIET GERVASIO-Melaya Lef, SIRI (NORWAY)-Khaleegy SERKAN TUTAR-choreography The UZUME-Tribal Fusion, JILLINA-choreography, AMAR GAMAL-Travelling combinations, SONIA/ISSAM-drum solo and Odissi temple dancing, RACHEL BRICE-Tribal Fusion, SHARON KIHARA-Tribal Fusion, SAMANTHA EMANUEL-Tribal Fusion and zills, MANCA PAVLI-Tribal Fusion, MORIA-Tribal Fusion and stage make-up, KAMI LIDDLE-Tribal Fusion and classical Indian, SUHAILA SAMUILPOUR-Tribal Fusion, BEX PRIEST- attended a term in her Tribal Fusion classes, ANSUYA-Bollywood, WENDY BONAVENTURA-Tango and arms, Gypsy and Tribal Fusion and OZGEN -Romany Gypsy (3 times), Drum Solo and Turkish Cabaret choreography, AMIRA SHAZADI - Latin Belly Dance, HER ROYAL HELLNESS LUCRETIA - Vamp it up, AJSA SAMIA - Balkan Triba Fusion, Daphne Pena - Beat the Belly Dance Backache.  The diversity of my personal dancing style is a reflection of the diversity of the aforementioned teachers and I feel I should acknowledge the contribution they have made to my career.


More workshops coming up as I strive to update my skills and introduce more styles to my students and develop new choreographies for my troupe..

Raqs Wombourne Show

My feet have finally touched the ground - have been on a high since last weekend.  The show went better than I could ever have hoped for.  I managed to convert the dismal stage at the Community Center into a shimmering showcase (with the help of good friends Maxine and David) - once I had the Moroccan lamps lit it looked very prety indeed.  I was so nervous on the day I thought I would be sick.  Tiredness did not help as we had been dancing at an event the previous night and it was a late night for us and then I did Ozgens workshops - 4 hours of them! which left about 30 minutes to do my make-up, load costumes in the car and go open up for the traders.

Shikidim

Ozgen

Shikidim opened the show with our veil dance and once that was out of the way I started to relax.  Following us we had Rita Williamson who did an improvised Saiidi Stick dance - this was just lovely.  Then came Balliamo who did a joyful group dance.  Holly Bowler was next - I had persuaded her to perform a Reggaeton dance which I saw her perform earlier this year - boy did the audience love this! Holly is a real pleasure to watch.  Shikidim came next performing an Egyptian cabaret dance which went well.  At this point I had to go and change costumes so I missed Maureen Pemberton, Belly Fusion Dance Collective and Pale Empress but I am reliably informed that they were all fabulous and judging from the Zaghareeting they all went down well.  My students performed next and I was enormously proud of them.  Simple costumes and great big smiles was what I asked of them and they gave me so much more.  Next on was Katherine Souter-Caddick who performed Khaleegi in a gorgeous thobe - such a pleasure to see someone perform this style - it added to the diversity of the night.  Shikidim came next with Alabina, we had a bit of a hitch with this dance.  We got on stage and realised that Izzy was not with us.  Her bra broke just before she was due to go on stage! We waited for a little while and then Jan (one of my students) ran on stage to save the day.  However we could not hear the opening bars of the song as so we messed up the beginning of the dance, we did however catch up.  Following us was Safiya who performed a lovely veil dance in a gorgous costume.  Then came Dames Du Serpent - these ladies just blew me away! such grace, elegance and timing.  I did not want their dance to end and was only consoled when Ozgen came on the stage.  What can I say about Ozgen? there are no words to sum up how brilliant this guy is.  He performed Romany Gypsy style and it was just fabulous.

My student group

During the interval nerves started to get the better of me again as my solo was the next act.  Remind me not to do a solo in my next show! I was performing one of Galit Mersands choreographies and I so wanted to do her proud.  I did ok but I forgot some steps in the middle and was not really happy with my performance.  Had to dash of for another cosume change so I missed Ushma Vaiya perfom her Bollywood dance but I am told it was a joy to behold. Also missed Banat Farhanna but again I am told they were fab.  I got back in time to see our lovely Alexis perform.  Have seen Alexis dance many times, she is always fabulous but I think she surpassed herself this time.  It was just beautiful with some lovely little quirky moves.  Next up was Shikidim doing our gypsy dance.  I always love performing this dance and it went down well with the audience.  Then came my students and again they did me proud performing a tribal style dance with zills - it was kind of hard to get so many into the dance space available but I am really pleased with how they perfomed.  Ozlem came next - she looked very lovely in her costume and performed really well.  Shkidim followed with our Tribal dance and again it went well.  Another costume change meant I missed the lovely Bedouin Shiver ladies and Amaris and Debbie Williams but I love the fact that all 3 acts were so different.  Shikidm came next with our Bellybolly fusion dance.  I personally think this was our best dance, the audience seemed to really love it.  I am glad I got to see the fabulous ATS troupe Zazu - they were full of energy and made me smile a lot although they had on the most gorgeous big swirly skirts which kept brushing against my drapes - which were very loosly hung with velcro so I spent the whole time holding my breath in case the lot came down.  Dames Du Serpent performed again and again it was a hypnotic, elegant performance.

  Ozgen closed the show, he appeared in a long black coat with a big cape like train, as he danced it swirled out (again I feared for my drapes) but it looked amazing - he really knows how to add a touch of drama to a performance.  When he removed the coat there was a cheer from every female in the room and he proceeded to captivate us all with his performance - he looked amazing on stage but when he came down to dance in the audience the atmophere was electric.  We had one last bonus performance and this was Ozgen and all the girls who came to his workshop earlier that day performing Kiss Kiss - this was such fun.  the whole of the audience got up and joined in and it was so lovely to see everyone clearly enjoying themselves.

I loved the diversity of my show, each act was different and everyone, from students to the professional dancers danced beautifully, I was so pleased with how it went.  I was very proud of Shikidim who worked incredibly hard, proud of my students and thankful to my husband for making sure the music worked.

I have started planning next years show - please pencil 24th Novmber into your diaries.  Ozgen is coming back - I could not contemplate doing a show without him!  I am looking for some more diverse acts, I have booked a much nicer venue (more car parking you will be pleased to note) and it is going to bigger and posibly even  better.