A fabulous performance picture can do wonders for a belly dancer's career.  Put it on a business card, or add it to your web site, to get more high quality bookings or new students.  Add it to social media, and get invites to top class events.  Even though its just a moment in time, it shows off your dancing, performing and entertainment abilities.... or does it?

Just like every entertainer, we excel at the art of illusion.  We ask the viewer to see what we want them to see....Only we know the diamonds are paste..... our shimmies are not an expression of our emotions, so much as a reflection of the hours we drilled them infront of the mirror... And our photo was not actually caught mid performance...

For years I wanted an amazing on-stage, performance picture.  Yet all I got was photos like the one above on the left.  I look like a six eyed monster trying to lasso the audience.  Then I found out the secret - those performance photos of the stars.... all is not what it seems.

Because I am all about sharing the good news, here are four ways to get a fabulous performance photo ! (clue - they are all cheats!)

Tiny Tips:

• Find your light - not all areas of the stage are lit equally.  Check out the light pattern on the floor to work out where to stand to get the best light.  You are most likely to be lit from above on a stage, so be aware that your nose, chest and tummy may cause shadow.  "Bathe" in your light, so all your best parts catch the glow!
• Never ask your photographer to use flash photography during a performance.  The flash can blind you.  Equally don't use a flash at the side of the stage.  The audience will be able to see it.
• "Behind the scenes" photos should always be done with the permission of everyone in the room.  Just as you shouldn't take photos in the restroom, don't take photos in changing rooms or any area that people may be changing.  Be aware of mirrors and accidentally including others in your backstage photos.
• Check out the background before you plan your photos.  A rip in the backdrop, or fire exit can spoil the shot.  Take a minute to look around and check for minor problems that you can fix before the photo is taken.
• Use Photoshop wisely !  Editing software is great for adjusting the light, picking out the colors in your costume, and removing the gum from the floor..... however, performance shots can loose their appeal if you brush up everything.  Softening your skin, enhancing your curves, and elongating your lines are all great in more glamorous stills, where you are aiming for a dream like quality.
• In performance you will naturally pull faces,  your hair will fall out of place and your costume will create creases.  All of these can add character to your photos.  When picking out your top five, keep one or two that are not traditionally perfect, but that reflect who you really are.

My dear friends Dawn Devine and Alisha Westerfeld are starting to build a reputation for sneaking a selfie onto the stage.  This performance was a comedy number at a light-hearted event.  It was the perfect punchline for this occasion.  Usually, selfies are not a suitable way to get get an on stage performance photo......

I hope you enjoyed a look behind the scenes of some of our performance photo shoots ! - feel free to add your own "Performance" photos to the comments and let us know how you got the shot !

If you like this blog, go back to the blog page, for others you might like including:
Holiday Music for Class
Dealing with Difficult StudentsTeacher Knows Best
Are you Ready Teach Belly Dance ?
Or check out these Hub Blogs including:

"Your First Belly Dance Workshop"
The Top Ten Belly Dance Tunes for Performance"
"Finding a Great Belly Dance Teacher"
​

You never get a second chance at a first impression, and the MC just blew that for you.  What you needed was a postcard with your bio, ready and prepared ahead of time.  Here is my advice : Every time you burn a CD or set up a play list, add your bio to your bag or the CD case.  Write it today, and update it annually, but keep it in your kit bag, ready for every performance.

What should you write ?
There are two essentials that you must add to every bio:

• Who are you?
• Why are you here?

The answer to these questions should be easy - "Sara Shrapnell is a belly dancer"

(You may prefer "Turkish belly dancer" or "Fusion belly dancer".  If your audience is the general public, belly dancer will do.  If your audience are mostly other belly dancers, add more details to your description such as "Sara Shrapnell is inspired by belly dancers of the golden age of Egyptian belly dance.")

"Sara Shrapnell is a belly dancer" is a little on the simple side.  Yep, they got my name and why I am entering the stage, but I don't sound very exciting...  As we have time right now, lets try and turn that intro into three or four fascinating sentences.

This is a good moment to focus on perfecting the "elevator pitch".  Its a couple of sentences that tell others all about you or your project.  Do you teach, love to perform, are you the youngest, oldest, world record holding, award winning or new in town?  What makes you memorable or stand out from the crowd?  

I like to use the triple threat "Writer, Teacher, Performer."
 
"Award winning" is always good, but remember, you should be able to back up all your claims.  If you are "award winning", what is your award?  Do you have the award at home? Can they google the competition ? If you hold a record, be prepared to share a link to the web site.  Much better to pick a phrase that doesn't need proof, like "Enchanting", "Captivating" or "Beautiful".  From a marketing point of view alliteration is always appealing (wink) - "Bella the Beautiful Belly Dancer!"  Have a try and see what works best with your name.  

Its always hard to write nice things about yourself.  If you are having a problem with finding the right words, ask your teacher, classmates or fans for feedback.  Do they think you are the queen of shimmies, or are they amazed by your back bends.  Ask others to point out your strengths and see how you can work them into your bio.

Ask yourself what you want the audience to do, now they know who you are.  Perhaps you want them to sign up to your classes, or come back to the venue next week.  If you are at a belly dance event, do you want the audience to buy your book, visit you at your booth, attend your workshop....

 "Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.  She is inspired by belly dancers of the golden age of Egyptian belly dance.  Find her books on belly dance at her booth by the rest rooms."

 "Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.  She is teaching a workshop later this afternoon on improvisation and adding emotion to your dance.  You can sign up on the door for just $15."

​"Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.  She has taught over 5,000 belly dance classes, and her new beginner course starts next Wednesday."

If you are in the business of belly dance, don't be afraid of a little self promotion!

​If you like this blog, go back to my blog page and check out some others like:

I'm Perfect for Belly Dance (and so are you)
Why Belly Dancers need to Walk the Line
Teaching Belly Dance: Making Corrections
Being Part of the Solution

Or these Hubposts:
​"Your First Belly Dance Workshop"
The Top Ten Belly Dance Tunes for Performance"
"Finding a Great Belly Dance Teacher"

If you regularly read my blog, you will know I have a love/hate relationship with publishing my work.  I would much rather dance infront of 1,000 people, or teach a room full of strangers than share my writing.  I mean, you have read my novel, right?  Oh no, only about 20 people have ever read my novel, because I'm terrified of sharing it !! (It has rude bits!)  

However, I do love writing.  That feeling of loosing yourself for 5,6,7 hours as the words come tumbling out and the pages grow like knitting, forming themselves into ideas, concepts and dreams.  Its addictive.  For the last five years I have mostly written about belly dance, and so my two passions have collided.  But the problem with writing all day, every day, is that at some point you have to share your words with the world.  I am hugely blessed to have lots of great people in my life who can read and assess my writing.  Poppy Maya (The Awesome Poppy Maya as she is known), is always ready to review the quality of my work.  I can turn to Dawn Devine for resources, research and validation, plus she understands sentance structure and can turn my words from a C minus to an A plus.  Alisha Westerfeld thinks in images, and helps bring my ideas to life, and I have a team of pro and not so pro editors who tidy up the chaos I produce.

Excuse me if I blush and hide for a couple of days.  I'll just be here, at the computer, for the next five hours.... writing something that people might someday read !

 If you like this blog, go back to my blog page and check out some others like:

I'm Perfect for Belly Dance (and so are you)
Why Belly Dancers need to Walk the Line
Teaching Belly Dance: Making Corrections
Being Part of the Solution

Or these Hubposts:
​"Your First Belly Dance Workshop"
The Top Ten Belly Dance Tunes for Performance"
"Finding a Great Belly Dance Teacher"

If you like this blog, go back to my blog page and check out some others like:

Teacher Knows Best
Dealing with Difficult Students
I'm Perfect for Belly Dance (and so are you)
Why Belly Dancers need to Walk the Line
Teaching Belly Dance: Making Corrections
Being Part of the Solution

Or check out my Hub Blogs including:

"Your First Belly Dance Workshop"
The Top Ten Belly Dance Tunes for Performance"
"Finding a Great Belly Dance Teacher"

Dawn Devine has a huge range of wonderful books available on Amazon.  Check out the full range here:

There are three big on-line belly dance stores that I regularly shop,  Dahlal, Miss BellyDance and BellyDance.com.  Between them they cover almost all a belly dancer could desire !

DVDs and videos ! - There are way too many to mention, but these are the ones that I have LOVED this year :

• Full on with 3/4 shimmies by Mahin
• Delicious Pauses by Rosa Noreen
• Belly Dance Travel Steps by Autumn Ward
• BellyDance Artistry by Tempest

While I might not be performing as much as I once did, I am still in the habit of keeping a case packed and ready to go at a moments notice.  Partly its a storage solution - why unpack and store my performance kit,when I can store it in the suitcase?  But it is also a matter of being ready to perform should the need arise.

So what is packed in my bag?  I start out by dividing it into two shoe boxes.  The first one will hold whatever costume I am planning to wear, and the second holds my "kits".  I use small purses, draw-string bags and even zip lock plastic bags to hold my kits - I have a small sewing kit, a "touch up" make up kit, a cords and chargers kit, a back up jewelry kit, a hair care kit and a toiletries kit.  By storing them all in a shoe box I can find them quickly, but also throw the odd item into the box as I am packing up and know I will be able to find it again later.

Where possible I try to put together my kits with spares and sample sizes.  My make up kit is really only for last minute touch ups, as I prefer to put on full stage make up at home.  As I run short of a product in my "at home" make up kit, I purchase a new one, move the almost empty one into my performance kit bag, and bin its predecessor, which is probably ready to expire. I keep jewelry that matches my costume in the box with that costume, but I also keep a back up set in my suitcase.  My back up jewelry kits are light weight, cheap and a mix of gold and silver.  Sometimes the jewelry that matches my costumes looks a little sparse, or a clasp might go as I am walking onto the stage.  This back up jewelry kit is there to fill in the gaps.

In addition I always have a neutral veil - that is, one that goes with all of my costumes.  In the world of belly dance we can count rainbows and animal prints as neutrals in addition to white,black, gold and silver.  I also pack a cover up, shoes and a second costume.  My second costume is usually a dress in a fabulous fabric - I want something that will pack up small and goes with my dance style, just in case someone else arrives with a similar costume to my favorite, I spill food down myself or bust a seam.  

I use the front pocket of my suitcase to store business cards, flyers, copies of my bio and spare CDs.  Those are all things that organizers ask for as you walk in the door, and I don't want to have to open up my suitcase in the lobby to find them !

After an event I remove my costume from the suitcase to air and refresh in the sunshine.  I might replace it with a different costume, or pack it back into the suitcase at the end of the day.  I open up my kit box, make sure everything is put away, and make a list to replace or repair.  Finally I label the music CDs so that I know what is on them, should I want to use them for an impromptu performance in the future.  While "Rakkasah 2016" might make sense to me now, in the future "Raks Musri, veil, opening 2.30 - Tabla solo, long shimmy, 3.30 - Sunshine, upbeat fun to join in, 3.30 - total 9.30 burnt as one track" is a gift to the future me, who is rushing to find a fun set under ten minutes.

Finally, one golden rule for me is that my suitcase should always be light enough for me to carry.  At my age, I can't afford to hurt myself taking my suitcase in and out of a venue.

I recently applied to perform at an all day event, but I missed out on getting a performances slot.  As I left the house to go and see the show I put my kit bag in the trunk "just in case".  Mid morning one of the performers rang the hostess to say she couldn't make it, and suddenly I had a performance slot !  I sat in the car and topped up my make up from my make up kit bag, added my "back up" jewelry, selected a CD from the pocket and got my chance to shine on stage.  Last minute performances like that have the added bonus of no pre-gig nerves!

So next time you are unpacking your bags after a gig, ask yourself, could you be using the opportunity to set up your bag for your next performance?

​Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.

She has taught more than 4,000 belly dance classes, both in the UK and US.  She now teaches in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore in the SF bay area, as well as workshops world wide and on-line via the Belly Dance Business Academy.  Her classes are known for their humor, detailed breakdowns and cultural context.    Students who have studied with Sara have gone on to teach and perform in all styles of belly dance and many have made their living through performance or teaching.

Sara’s first book “Teaching Belly Dance” is available on Amazon.  Her second "Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage", co- written with Dawn Devine, Alisha Westerfeld and Poppy Maya, is available in 2016 .
 

Updated 12/13/16

​First lets start with a little truth: a correction is only worth mentioning, if the improvement can be made.  When faced with a total beginner, who has been asked to perform a figure 8, the teacher will see dozens of problems:

This list could go on and on, but if the teacher points each of these issues out to the beginner student, he or she will become overwhelmed and unable to make any improvements.  Instead the teacher must take her time and improve the dancers movements one step at a time.

Where to start ?  Firstly, make sure you have talked to each student about their existing fitness and injuries.  If they have a problem with any part of their body, be sure to encourage safe posture in that area first.  Cover posture at the start of every lesson, and focus your initial corrections on postural problems.  If their whole posture is off, and they don't complain of a particular issue, I tend to start with hips, back and shoulders.

Make it your mission in life to observe posture.  Watch people walk, stand, sit and dance.  Look for clues to pain, such as favoring one leg, or a dip of the shoulders.  Understand how our muscles and skeleton work together to make belly dance movements.  When observing your students, first look at them from a distance, watch their whole body movements.  Then walk closer to them, so you can see the mechanics in action and observe the root of problems.

I like to offer up personal corrections only when I am standing close enough that the other students can not hear.  Usually I will set up an exercise and then walk the room, observing and critiquing each dancer in turn. One correction per exercise is usually enough, unless their posture is particularly bad. I use the "critique sandwich" technique: that is I place my correction between two positive statements, such as:
"I see you have been practicing!  Watch that you don't roll onto the outside of your right foot, keep your weight centered and strong.  Your arms are looking much better this week."

This kind of correction is easy for the dancer to focus on and usually the correction can be made within a few moments. If you feel that your whole group has a problem, or that an issue needs to be addressed, wait until after the exercise and aim your critique at the whole group, like this:
"I noticed that lots of you were having trouble with the weight shift.  Make sure that you are passing your weight through your center, and only pushing out as far as you are comfortable.  If you feel like your weight is on the outer edge of your foot, or if you start to feel pressure in your ankles, shrink your hip move, so that it is putting less strain on your lower body."

​While you shouldn't under estimate your students, it is also worth remembering that some of them will be unable to perform some moves that you can do. Give your students achievable goals and cheer them on to the finish line.  Most belly dance students come to class for fun, and while corrections are not a whole lot of fun, improving is the best feeling in the world.  Make sure every correction is a step forward that they can take towards being a better dancer.

​Gradual, achievable corrections, given regularly and mixed in with praise, will help your students improve their dance skills and make your job as a belly dance teacher so much easie

​If you like this blog, go back to the blog page, for others you might like including:

Or check out these Hub Blogs including:

"Your First Belly Dance Workshop"
The Top Ten Belly Dance Tunes for Performance"
"Finding a Great Belly Dance Teacher"
​

Updated 4/22/19

Lets start with a little bit of negativity for a change : belly dancers moan.  They moan about the lack of good teachers, the lack of good students, about gigs, no gigs, cheap gigs, they moan about changing rooms, running orders, costume prices, musicians and dirty floors.  I am pretty sure its not a belly dancer thing - everyone moans.  I bet the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker all do just as much moaning.  Belly dancers want to see better belly dance, done to a professional level at professional venues for professional pay - but most don't know how to make that dream a reality.

We have some other issues in the belly dance "industry" that we struggle to deal with that increase the problem:

• We have the "nice factor", where most of us believe that everyone should be allowed to belly dance and that all art is valuable.  No one wants the be the one who spoils the enjoyment of the majority of belly dancers who are hobbyists looking for something fun to do at the weekend.
• We have a respect for our elders, even when they are not our betters.  In fact we tend to have a seesaw of skills in our industry - young dancers have the energy, then they develop skills..... as they hit their 30's and 40's their stagecraft improves but their energy drops.... and then the 50's and 60's is a time when the passion, storytelling and emotion is growing, but the technique and skills are fading.... Of course not everyone follows this seesaw, but many of us wish we could have the energy of a 19 year old and the wisdom of someone in their 70's.  Every "age" of belly dancer values a slightly different set of skills, and can become jealous of the skills they see in others. Older dancers, and those who have been in the industry for many years, set the tone and expected norms for younger dancers coming in.  If they have always eaten fried chicken in the changing rooms, new dancers are expected to accept grease stains on their costumes as a badge of honor.
• We are a young industry.  While there have been belly dancers in the USA since the days of Vaudeville, it is still a "Clan" society.  Many dancers only mix with dancers within their own city or dance style and will exclude and undervalue "outsiders" from discussions.  If we want to raise the standards within the belly dance world, we have to pull everyone together and learn to work towards common aims.
• We have a money loop.  There is very little money coming into our industry, but plenty moving around in the loop.  What is the money loop ? - Dancer A buys a lesson from Dancer B, who buys a costume from Dancer C, who pays to see a show by Dancer D, who goes to a workshop by Dancer E, who buys a CD from Dancer A - and so the same $20 travels around the business of belly dance and everyone gets what they want, as long as they don't want to get rich.

​When I first heard about the Belly Dance Business Academy I saw a parallel in our aims.  The BDBA wants to provide tools for those in the business of belly dance to help them make the most of their skills and talents.  They want to take the best practice and share it with others, provide motivation, support and practical advice to help teachers, event organizers and touring artists.  I was hugely honored to be asked to join their teaching team.

The first class I produced for them is already live ' Event Hosts: Setting up expectations of changing room ethics" - its a free class and includes the flyer that I put up at events to explain the "rules" that I expect.  Something as simple as putting up changing room rules can help prevent event drama and elevate the standards of expected behavior in a community.

I see The Belly Dance Business Academy as the perfect way for me to reach a wider world of belly dancers and continue with my passion - helping others to enjoy belly dance !

​Finally, here are a few ideas on how to be a positive force in the belly dance industry:

• Be upbeat, friendly and positive in all that you do.  Smile at everyone, thank everyone, support everyone. Remember that there is a difference between being a nice person and being part of the "nice factor" problem. If you build a reputation as a person who is invested in the business of belly dance, others will take your suggestions about improvements as helpful hints.
• When you wear a "leader" badge, do so with pride.  If you are a teacher, event host, blogger or touring artist, step up to that leadership role and don't be afraid to set up expectations and boundaries.
• Mix with dancers who are outside your "clan".  Even if you can't attend the big events, follow the blogs, webinars, podcasts, buy books and magazines.  Make friends with strangers and be open to new ideas.
• Promote others to help them make money.  Even if you can't go to an event or afford the class/DVD/book... promote it to your class mates and social media contacts.  If there is a fun show happening, ask around to see if any of your friends and family would like to join you.  You don't have to be a full time sales person for belly dance Inc - but be aware of the money loop and help support your local and not so local community.
• Finally, every time you feel that moan coming on, be that in person or on social media, think about how you can turn it around into a positive call to action.  Not enough students in your class? - Can you do a promotion, post a cool photo, ask your students to hand out flyers ?   Whatever your problem, there is always a solution, we just have to look for them.

Thank you for listening to my "moan".  With a little positivity and a whole lot of working together we can enjoy watching our industry continue to go from strength to strength.

If you like this blog, go back to the blog page, for others you might like including: 

• 10 Simple Steps to Writing a Choreography
  
  
• The History of Belly Dance - Where to Start


• Preparing a Bio Ahead of Time​

​​Being Part of the Solution

I'm Perfect for Belly Dance (and so are you)

​
​Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.

She has taught more than 5,000 belly dance classes, both in the UK and US.  She now teaches in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore in the SF bay area, as well as workshops world wide and on-line via the Belly Dance Business Academy.  Her classes are known for their humor, detailed breakdowns and cultural context.    Students who have studied with Sara have gone on to teach and perform in all styles of belly dance and many have made their living through performance or teaching.

Sara has written two books:  “Teaching Belly Dance” "Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage", co- written with Dawn Devine, Alisha Westerfeld and Poppy Maya.  Both are available through Amazon.

Hello -

So hopefully that got your attention !

I've had this site for a few years now, but I have been finding it hard to write about writing.  Four or five times I have logged on, stated typing and then my post has turned into a dance post.  Somehow I think its easier to talk about my dance rather than my writing.  Maybe cos I have been dancing for 24 years or maybe its because my mission in life is to share dance with others.  

I know some of you have been following the course of my third book for the last two years...random Tweets and FB posts with number counts and other frustrations.   

Writing is actually hard.  No one tells you that.  People say "I'd like to write a book" and now I look at those people just the same as the people who say "I have a belly" when you tell them you belly dance.  There is only one way to write a book.  You have to sit in front of the keyboard and write stuff.  Lots of stuff.  Almost every day.  And spend every other hour thinking of stuff to write.  Then you get to read your stuff and its rubbish so you bin it and start again.  Every month you have to spell check. You may notice spelling is not my thing - oh and I grew up spelling in English and now write in American (You don't think its a big deal until you try and translate).   And spell checking and formatting is boring.  And you discover you start every sentence with And.  And you get to the point where you cant spell.  Or construct a sentence. Or anything.

So, what many people don't know is that I have a novel that I am sitting on.  Every year I read it, make some changes and then put it away to work on more dance writing.  My first few readers (friends and family) have told me to keep on it, that it is nearly ready, that it could be good.  But I'm not ready to share with the wider world.  Its not perfect.  It is too raw and too close to me.

When I first started dancing I was very self conscious.  I couldn't stand dancing in front of others, their eyes on me, watching the bounce of fat or the ugly dance moves.  I took a course in "Stripping without the stripping" from the famous Jo King.  It changed my life.  I understood what others see when they look at me.  How I move and flow.  I also saw how lucky I was to get to wear a costume, no matter how tiny.  Jo can ( and does) control a whole room of drunken men even when naked, she reads who is getting out of hand and who to focus on to get the others on her side.  And if she can do it, so can I.  When I dance I know that I own the room, that my movements are beautiful and that I am elegant and sensual and admired.

People who have read my books say that they hear it with my voice.  I guess that is no surprise.  While my novel is a work of fiction it is also a glance into my inner dreams, hopes and fantasies.  And yes it has rude bits.  I didn't write it for others to read.  I wrote it because the story kept getting bigger and bigger and I wanted to know the end.  I fell in love with the characters and I wanted to know more about them.  I wanted to follow them down the street and ask them why they did what they did, why they loved the unlovable or slept with the wrong people.  I wanted to watch them drink coffee.  But its not a book unless others read it.  Its not a story unless its told.  Just in the same way as I put a lot of emotion into my dancing, but its not a performance unless someone is watching.  And so at some point other people will have to read my novel.  Every now and then I remember this, pull my jumper up over my head and blush.

In my  book “Teaching Belly Dance” I gathered a huge selection of advice for the new belly dance teacher.  The first question for the advanced student, the team leader, or budding workshop host who wants to move into teaching is "am I ready".  Many of us fall into teaching - perhaps when our own teacher moves away or needs someone to cover her classes during a vacation.  Maybe you have moved to a new area where no one teaches your style of belly dance, or maybe you want to make enough money to cover your own belly dance expenses.  Whatever your motivation, here is a check list to help you make sure that you are ready to teach belly dance.

How good are your basic skills ? Its time to take a critical look at your own skill set and abilities.  Often in our rush to learn “new” moves we forget to focus on our basics.  Assess your hip rotations, hip lifts and drops and your shimmies.  Are they perfect every single time?  or have you developed bad habits?  Take a private lesson with a teacher you respect and work on the moves you plan to teach, to make sure that you don’t pass on any bad technique to your new students.

Can you teach to all the learning styles?  Teachers often teach towards the learning style that suits them best, after all that is how they learn.  Your students will have a mix of learning styles, and each individual deserves the same opportunity to learn.  Make sure you can teach the basic moves to the visual learner, the audio learner, the verbal learner, the logical learner, the physical learner and the emotional learner.  Remember that most of us learn with a mix of styles and those styles can change week to week and depending on the move we are being taught.  Teach to all learning styles, even if you are sure that your students favor one or two.

Do you understand the importance of a good warm up and cool down?  Don’t just repeat the warm up that your teacher does, but take time to understand its role in a class and how to for-fill the needs of your students.  Put your students safety first and learn good practice, so that you can adapt your warm up and cool down to suit your dancers, the room temperature and the content of the class.

Do you have enough material to teach a semester (term)?  Think about how you can make the 12th class just as much fun as the first by allocating your material throughout the semester.  Start by making a list of all the moves, concepts and ideas you want to teach and splitting them between the number of lessons you plan to teach.  This will form the basis of your semester plan.  Your lesson plans will develop out of your semester plan.

Do you have a good selection of music to keep the students interested?  Its time to catalog your music collection and purchase new music to fill any gaps.

How is your fitness?  Talking and dancing may be a new skill for you.  Make sure you can complete your own warm up and still talk immediately afterwards.

Do you have insurance?  This is essential.  You will need public liability and to check that your venue has building insurance.  If you intend to host workshops or put on shows then you will need further insurance to cover those activities.  In some areas you also need a business license and to register for tax before you can take any money.  Check with your local small business organization for clarity.

Have you picked the right venue?  is it warm and inviting? Does it have a good floor? is it handy for a car park or public transport?  Can you afford the rent?  is it available at the right time of day to suit your students?

Will you have enough students?  In the early days most businesses struggle and you will probably need another form of income for at least two or three years.  For every person who emails you or signs up on Facebook to your classes, assume that half will attend the first lesson and only 1/4 will still be there at the end of the course.  You can find new students though flyers, postcards in coffee shops and with on line advertising, but your students will be your best promoters, so make them part of your sales team; offer them a free class if they bring a friend and give them flyers to pass out or pin on their fridge. 

​Finally – Do you love belly dance enough to go out every night in the cold and the rain?  Can you teach a figure 8 100 times this year and still make it sound fresh and fun?  Can you stand back and let the dancers repeat a basic move for five more minutes when you really want to move on to something more exciting? Can you spend all your earnings on ten veils you will never use, so that your students can learn a floaty choreography ?  Are you a people person?  Are you the right person to be training the next generation of belly dancers?

If so you have taken the first steps towards a wonderful new career.  I wish you lots of happy years, filled with exciting (and profitable) belly dance classes! 

​Teaching Belly Dance – The book about setting up, planning, teaching and enjoying belly dance classes is available on Amazon

If you need help with lesson planning, Sara has a course through The Belly Dance Business Academy called "52 Lesson Plans and how to write 5,000 more".  It includes a full year of lesson plans that you can teach "as is", and instructions on how to develop your own lesson plans.

Or check out my Hub Blogs including:

"Your First Belly Dance Workshop"
The Top Ten Belly Dance Tunes for Performance"
"Finding a Great Belly Dance Teacher"
​
​Sara Shrapnell is a belly dance writer, teacher and performer.

She has taught more than 4,000 belly dance classes, both in the UK and US.  She now teaches in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore in the SF bay area, as well as workshops world wide.  Her classes are known for their humor, detailed breakdowns and cultural context.    Students who have studied with Sara have gone on to teach and perform in all styles of belly dance and many have made their living through performance or teaching.

Sara’s first book “Teaching Belly Dance” was published in 2014.   "Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage", the stagecraft handbook co- written with Dawn Devine, Alisha Westerfeld and Poppy Maya, is also available on Amazon.

Much as I wanted to include the following in my book “Teaching Belly Dance”, I know that Facebook moves and evolves its policies almost weekly.  The information here is based on my understanding of Facebook in 2014.

When I joined Facebook in 2005 it had a nice, simple idea : Post stuff on your wall that your friends would like to see, see what they are posting in return.

It was pretty, smart, easy to use and a good step up from Tribe, Bhuz and the MED list.  Here was a new way to communicate and connect with Belly Dancers from around the world.  Little did I know....

Facebook is now my top means of communication with the outside world.  With the mobile app I can check my feed at least once an hour and keep track of thousands of friends I have never met.  When I attend belly dance events I post first to make connections, so even though I have moved around the world, I can meet up with familiar faces.  When I want to buy or sell a costume, I go to Facebook first.  If I want to send a message to my students I put it on Facebook and when I want to advertise an event…. Facebook is my first port of call.

Of course not everyone is as addicted as me, and we are seeing a split in the world of belly dance between those in the know (on Facebook) and those who avoid sharing their every moment with a faceless corporation with limited ethics.  I want to plead the case for using Facebook to promote ideas, raise your profile and get bums on seats at your events.  Please excuse me if I start with the basics :

The first thing I am going to suggest is that you separate out your “family” Facebook and your “belly dance” Facebook.  Using Facebook to advertise to belly dancers will be boring for your non dancer friends.  Split them up.  For a while Facebook worked on circles and groups, but that never worked.  Have two Facebook pages, or three or four.  Yes it breaks the rules, but it’s a small rebellion.  You may choose to have a “fan page” instead, but I find that people prefer to be your “friend” than your “fan”.  Maybe I’m just not famous enough :)

Next you need to get followers.  This takes work, is boring, but it has to be done.  Find a friend and look on her friends list for anyone else you know.  Repeat.  Hopefully people will notice you and send you friend requests too.  Its up to you who you accept, but I have rules :

• No men, except those I know well, belly dancers or well known musicians/djs/event hosts. Men who want to take class usually message me when they send a friend request.
• Only women who mention “belly dance” somewhere on their page.  If you don’t have a photo of you in a costume, get one quick.
• No one who posts too many selfies, near naked pics, poems or political statements.

I still get half a dozen friend requests every day, and probably send out 12 or more each week.



And here we start to see the problem with advertising events on Facebook.  Nine years ago most of us had 100 friends, posted twice a day and could keep up with each others news.  Now I have over 1,000 and I limit my friend list.  Many others have ten times that split between different accounts.  In order not to bring the facebook universe to a grinding hault Facebook decided to limit your feed to your top friends, and you didn’t get a say in who those people are.

Let me say that again:  "You don’t get to decide whose posts you see or who sees yours."

If for example you wanted to post “Informal Hafla at mine right now, bring a bottle”, some estimates say that 30% of your friends will see that post over the next few days.  Not too bad, but that 30% might all be three hours plus away from where you live, while the belly dancer across town who is bored tonight will never see that post.

You can influence what you see on your own feed by “liking” posts from the people you want to hear more from.  If you like or comment on your class mates baby photos, Facebook will make sure you see the second batch.

It therefore follows that if you want more people to see your posts you need to encourage them to “like” or comment on your posts.  Some people come right out and ask and that is why you see these kinds of weird fishing posts :

• "Like this post to find out about special savings available this weekend"
• “Puppies or Kittens ? – go !”
• “Like if you think all child abusers should be in jail”

These posts are all about collecting people who will see your next post.  There are companies who set up Facebook pages like “Kittens are the best”, fish for highly interactive friends by posting kitten pictures then sell the page on to a company (lets say a Onesie company).  A few weeks later they change the name of that page.  Suddenly you find that you like “Adult Onesies are the best”, they are filling up your feed with adverts and all your friends are laughing at you.  That’s a silly example, but beware, that’s how you get unexpected porn show up in your feed.

As a belly dancer you may want to fish for more likes and comments to help promote events you are working on.  For example your friends may all like a new video of Rachel Brice that you share, or a photo of you in your new costume.  Likes cause more likes.  If Facebook sees that most of the 30% of friends they showed your post to liked it, they assume it is important and show it to more.  If they also like it, then your message will spread. If your next post is about your event, Facebook sees you as an important person and sends your new post out to more of the folks on your friends list.

However if you post the same thing or something simiar, Facebook will limit its access to your followers who don’t want to see the same posts time and again.  This is a huge problem for us if we are promoting an event.  Say you posted this ;

• “New workshop with Sara Shrapnell this Saturday.  All the details are on www.LetsBellyDanceUSA.com – book today !”

Let us assume that 30% of your followers saw it.  Three people clicked like.

If you post it again, word for word, the next day it will only get seen by perhaps 10% of your followers and some of those will over lap.  This second post has no hope of reaching your prime market.  You feel like you sent it out to everyone on Facebook (twice !), where in reality just a few dozen saw it.  We need to do more.

The first thing you can do is set up an event on Facebook and invite people.  Facebook prefers to send people to its own pages over outside web pages.  Put everything on the events page that you would on a web page and post something slightly different to your wall :

• "New Workshop announcement ! - www.Facebook/event/SaraShrapnellWorkshop.com - are you coming ?"

(See how I'm fishing for comments and clicks !)



With an event page you have the chance to invite people directly.  I suggest you start a “hit list”.  As you connect with people on Facebook make a note of who they are, where they live and how you intend to market to them.  It is no different to keeping an address book.  I have a list of people who live within an hour of me, who I invite to events I organize.  My second list is of people who have shown an interest in starting classes, and I send them an event invite each time a new course starts up.  My final list is of people who may host a workshop with me when I travel.  For a local event I am going to invite everyone on that first hit list.

Event invites go straight to notifications and have a higher chance of being seen.  However, so many people send out blanket invites (to everyone on their friends list) that many of us skip over those notifications assuming that they are out of area.  Please don’t do this – it spoils the effect for the rest of us !  It also helps if the name of your event includes a location :

• “Sara Shrapnell in San Jose !”

The next way you can enhance the views of posts about your event is to tag people.  Tagging promotes your post with both your friends and the friends of the person you tag.  For example, before I taught in Bristol last month I tagged the host, Sasha, in many of my posts:

• “So excited to see @Sasha and all her students in Bristol next week for my new workshop!”

Her students and other dancers in the Bristol area where more likely to see that post because she was tagged in it, and it may have helped bookings.  It also helps promote her as a community leader and workshop host.  She did a great job, and I want other people to know that.

Some people are very open to the idea of tagging each other in posts, but limit it to people you are working with on a project.  You can’t just tag the most famous belly dancer you know and expect her friends to like you too.  Have you seen the posts where a costume designers puts up pictures of new costumes and tags every belly dancer in the universe?  You don’t have to help promote their work if you don’t want to.  However you should be open to helping out friends by using the tag option.  Adjust your setting so that you have to approve any tags others might put on photos or posts.  That way you can control how your name is being used, while still promoting events and products you support.

Please feel free to share, tag me and comment on any posts about this blog, or about my book !  If you interact with my post it will reach more of my fiends and maybe some of yours might like to know more about me :) 

Personally I am a big fan of advertising on Facebook.  Adverts appear in the main body or side bar of the feed of the people you target.  The great thing with Facebook ads is the targeting.  For example, before a new semester in Pleasanton I advertise to women over 20 who live in Pleasanton, like dance and are not already connected to me.  Over this weekend I advertised to people in the UK,USA, Canada and Noway who like belly dance.  That advert helped me find 40 people who liked my book, and 4 people bought it.  It cost me $5.  I think that is money well spent.

Facebook users say they hate adverts, but I think many are more interested in seeing targeted ads. Be honest - you clicked that advert with the pretty yoga pants....

Make sure that all your promotional work links back to one place (most likely your main web site) and remember that people hate to click more than once.  If you are promoting an event make sure that when they click on your post or advert they get to a place with all the information they could possibley want.

Finally remember to work as part of a community.  By sharing other peoples events you help that event information reach more people and position yourself as a “gatekeeper” informing other belly dancers of what is happening.  Gatekeepers get more attention and are more customer friendly than those that fish.  Your increased popularity in turn increases interest in you, your events and those whose information you share.  The more of a community we can build the faster we can get information to people who want it.  Post often but keep it fresh and mix up your topics, providing new information and topical news in amoungst your continued promotion of yourself and your events.  Too little and you wont be heard, too much and you turn your market against you.

Here are my top tips for marketing your event at belly dancers  via Facebook:

1, Set up a web page with all the information laid out clearly

2, Set up an event and invite your “hit list” to attend.  Make the location clear.

3, Post your event on your wall every few days.  Say the same thing with different words, add pictures and make each post new and different.  Dont always include the same web site link in the main text:

• “Sign up now for Sara’s workshop: www.LetsBellyDanceUSA.com”
• “Confirmed performers for the show include : Sara, Poppy and Sasha (tag) – find out more at www.LetsBellyDanceUSA.com:
• “Here are pictures of the confirmed performers at the Hafla:” (put web site in comments)
• “Special offer on workshop tickets ! talk to (tag workshop host) for more details”
• “Just three days til our workshop and Hafla – www.LetsBellyDanceUSA.com”

4, Fish for likes and comments:

• “Who is coming to our fancy dress Hafla ? – what are you wearing?”
• “Which costume do you prefer ? the Red or Blue ?”

5, Advertise on Facebook but target your ads at your prime customers.

6, Ask your friends to share your post.  Share other peoples posts.

7, Tag your friends (but ask them first):

• “Just having coffee with @Poppy – we are both so excited about the Hafla in San Jose next week ! – www.LetsBellyDanceUSA.com

8, Don’t limit your focus on Facebook – make a web site, email the local teachers, send out flyers and talk to people over the phone.

Good luck with your event, and feel free to share this post, tag me, and buy my book !!

http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Belly-Dance-Sara-Shrapnell/dp/0615980848/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395867094&sr=8-1&keywords=teaching+belly+dance


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