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With this time of sheltering in our homes, a lot of us, teachers and students alike, are turning to online classes as a way to connect to our community and to continue our education even though we can’t physically attend a class. But with all the distractions at home, how can we really get the most out of an online class when we can barely get through our own practice each week? 1. Turn your camera on Just like your in-person class, the teacher will be guiding you in what movements to do. But unlike when you go to a...

When you are stuck at home, on your own (or even with your family), it can be difficult to stay focused and in touch with your regular daily life. So I thought I would share with you a few ideas about how you can stay strong in your dance and mental health while we are living through these crazy times. “Travel” to the studio Many of us are now utilising spaces within our homes as our dance studio. It could be our lounge room with the chairs pushed back, the kitchen or a bedroom. We are also finding it easier...

As a part of the belly dance hack posts, you’ve seen what’s in my gig bag, but that’s not the only bag that is important to me. Just as important is what is in the bag(s) I take when I teach a class. 1. Dance Props Some things may come and go, but something I will generally always carry is some of my dancing props. Like my finger cymbals (never far from my side ever) and veil. Sometimes fan veils may make an appearance if we’re looking into those during class time. 2. Hip Scarves What belly dance class is...

First Run Stage. All heart. No frills. But what does that mean? Why a blog post on an event? And why should you even care? Well, let me give you some details and see if we can puzzle this out together. What is a “First Run Stage”? At its core, First Run Stage is an opportunity for belly dancers, and dancers from other styles, to have a welcoming, fun, and relaxed stage experience to have their first performances experience in, or to trial a new choreography at, to try improvisation on. The audience is made up of the other performers...

Have you forgiven yourself recently? Don’t look surprised at the question, nor your answer. As women, and as dancers, we rarely give ourselves a break. We sometimes will take some time out, some “me time”, but that’s not the same as forgiving yourself for not being “enough”. What is forgiving? Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness. It doesn’t generate good feelings towards the person or group but it does provide an avenue for...

We’ve all seen the clickbait headlines “10 things you need to do to be a great dancer!” and “Top 5 stretching trends you must do now!”. We are already doing so many things, that I think it’s time for a new list. That’s why this blog entry is all about taking a look at what you need to give up to be a successful dancer. 1. Negative Self Talk Starting out with the big guns here! Negative self talk only breeds bad habits. Do you really think Sir Edmund Hillary ever told himself he couldn’t make it to the top...

You may find it hard to believe, but I’m not a dancer who lives to perform. I can and I do, but that’s not where my passion for dance lies. Unbelievable right? A belly dancer whose goal isn’t to perform, who hasn’t retired or disappeared into the miasma where dancers who aren’t performing go to live out their days. There is an asumption I’ve noticed in the belly dance world that if you’re not performing you must not be a good teacher, or you aren’t interested in teaching. Also that the only reason you would want to dance is to...

There’s a particular excitement that happens when performing on a stage. From getting ready, all the rehearsals and planning and selecting your costume, getting nervous. Plus culminating when your music starts and you set foot on the stage. My first solo performance was in 2010. It should have been a fully choreographed drum solo that my teacher taught us all. But nerves took over and part of it “fell” out of my head. And something interesting happened to me… I didn’t freeze. I didn’t stop. I improvised. I still have little recollection of what I actually did in that time....

As 2019 comes to a close and a new year starts, many of us will start considering what we want to do in 2020. Resolutions, plans, plotting, become the go-to for the forlorn dancer who wants to do better but isn’t sure where to start. But how do you really work out what you really want to do? Now, I’m no expert in this field, but I’ve got some great tips and ideas that might help you get closer to staying on track in the new year. 1. Find your bigger picture for the new year. Do you remember the...

You may remember, we touched on some of the myths about belly dance in an earlier blog post. We’re back today to cover a few more, so lets jump right on in with… Belly dancing is about dancing with your stomach/belly. You’d think by the name that this was true, but when you think about all the dancers you’ve come across… is this really the case? The name “belly dance” is a bit of a misnomer in terms of what we actually do. The term “belly dance” is a western/English name for it, but in Egypt where the dance originates...

I had a friend who performs sword swallowing. He tells people before he puts the sword in his mouth that he does this to get rid of the butterflies in his stomach before he performs. Now, this might be a stretch for most of us. Especially those of us who can’t swallow a sword to help get rid of the butterflies. But it raises an interesting question. How do you deal with nerves? Performance anxiety. Stage fright. Stage Fright / Performance Anxiety definition:“nervousness before or during an appearance before an audience.”“extreme nervousness experienced before or during participation in an activity...

I have a confession. I love playing finger cymbals (zills, sagat, hellspawn carried on the fingers, whatever you wish to call them). They can be considered a very noisy instrument, but if played well, they are musical and a great addition to a dancer’s tool (prop) kit. As a dancer and my body is a visualisation of what the musicians are playing. Or more correctly, how I am interpreting what I hear them playing. By playing finger cymbals with my movements, I am also being a part of the band – part of the percussion section specifically. What I play...

Being a belly dancer can sometimes seem like all hard work and shaking jingly stuff at customers… but there are some magical moments too. Read on for the top 10 best moments, both large and small, in every belly dancers’ dancing life. 1. Getting off stage after your first solo performance. 2. Nailing a difficult combo the first time you try it. 3. Receiving payment for your first paid gig. 4. Fixing up a move you’ve been doing wrong before the teacher noticed. 5. Realising that your balance prop is actually staying where you put it. 6. Finding the ultimate...

Continuing our belly dance hacks posts (see all the posts here), in every group of dancers, there’s always the one who has a huge bag filled with everything all the others have forgotten… hairpins, safety pins, bandaids, make up setting powder. So today, I thought I’d open up my dance bag and show you guys what makes my list of essential items I take to any gig or workshop. Let’s open up my wheely-case and see what’s inside… 1. Makeup kit. This may seem like a bit of a no brainer, but in every bag I take places, there is...

Feels a little like an oxymoron right? Doing less with more. We are continually encouraged to do more – buy more, be more, see more, do more, but how often do you read something telling you take your more and do less with it? Welcome to today’s blog entry! When was the last time you saw a dancer and went “wow that was a lot of dancing”. I don’t mean – they danced for 30 minutes, I mean they danced for 5 minutes and made you feel exhausted at the end of it. On the same token, when was the...

I don’t know about you, but my favourite performances change over time. I look at what I had saved in my YouTube playlists from 4 years ago and it’s a world of difference to what I’m saving today. But today, I’m here to share a few of my favourites with you, but I don’t want to just share the video, I want to also give you a little context about what it is that I enjoy about the video I’m sharing too. Going back to the golden era First up, I’d like to share this amazing clip featuring Soheir Zaki...

We have talked previously about how important your eyes are in dance. We scratched the surface on a topic I feel strongly about – how we look at ourselves. How we see ourselves is often not the same reflection that looks back at us in the mirror. Dance class provides an amazing space where we can exist within our bodies. We can feel beautiful, capable and sometimes also a bit awkward. We will look in the mirror to check the shape and size of the movement that we are doing. This is when the change can happen. This is when...

It is said that your eyes are the gateway to your soul. That you see everything (not that we can always remember what we see), and that by looking into another person’s eyes you can get to know them. We hate not feeling seen and a caught glance between strangers can make someone feel amazing. In life and dance, your eyes play a much bigger role than you think! An eye for an eye? Your eye is a sphere made up of several parts. You can think of it as a bit of a visual microphone. Before we get into...

Suhaila Salimpour is Director of the Salimpour School of Belly Dance in San Francisco(1). Daughter to Jamila Salimpour (often considered the ’mother of Tribal bellydance’), she began her dance tuition at the age of two, began teaching at the age of fourteen and has been a professional performer and master teacher ever since. She spent ten years in the Middle East as a featured performer in top nightclubs and five-star hotels. This, coupled with her extensive dance training in ballet, jazz and tap, inspired her to create an educational program for bellydancers that values both technique and cultural knowledge. Her five-Ievel...

Have you ever found yourself wondering why you can’t get things done? Why it seems like such a big issue to get in and practise? It could be because you have too many options on what to practise. But it could equally be that you don’t have the mental space to work because of your physical space. Time to take a good hard look at your dance space! What does your dance space look like? Not everyone is blessed with having a room in their house that they can dedicate to their dance practice. Or a separate room like the...