Thread: Beware of stereotyping yourself!

Vasha Hatal posted a great message on the props thread that I thought was so important it deserved to spawn a thread of its own. She said:

My father breeds exotic snakes so ive always had them as pets. I have only danced with them a few times ever and used them in pictures. I used them at a big party at a club once and suddenly ALL people wanted me to do was dance with the frikkin' snakes! I no longer dance with my snakes because I want to be known for my dancing, not my props.

Over the years, I've known dancers who excelled at a certain technique or prop, and suddenly that's all people wanted to see them do, and that in turn led to people believing that was all they could do!

For example, have you ever heard an audience member say, "Oh, I see Dancer X is performing tonight. I'll bet she'll do sword - she always does sword!"

Have you ever heard a dancer say, "Although I like teaching this specialty, people are starting to think it's the only thing I know. I try to ask my sponsors to let me teach something else, but they keep asking for this all the time."?

Have you found yourself at risk of becoming a stereotype?

I have a dance friend who does wings, and she a) does them well and b) looks really great doing them, and she gets REALLY frustrated that people keep asking her to do wings at events, because they are not the only thing she's into or good at!

Luckily she does have opportunity to do other things and is strong enough to say no, BUT wings are still relatively uncommon round these parts - in fact, she might have been the first person to do them here - and her wings piece does look stunning, so very often if you mention her to a BDer people will go "oh her Isis wings are SOOOO great!"

I couldn't agree more. My first love is classical Egyptian, but after I'd been dancing for a few years I came to a point where I felt that at every haflah I was doing the same dance, just using different music. Since then I've flirted with ATS and Tribal fusion and learned how to do double veil, sword dancing and candles with tray balancing. I like a challenge and enjoy using the props. But I feel that I'm now regarded in my community as a sort of "Jack-of-all trades, master of none". You know, quite entertaining with props but can't actually dance.

Good point, Shira. I'm known for my Saidi cane and finger cymbals and sometimes think I've become stereotyped. I love doing and teaching both and don't really mind being stereotyped doing something I love. However, I do occasional "strictly" Egyptian raqs sharqi numbers which surprises the heck out of some people! What I often do is combine all of them in one piece:
cane dance Saidi entrance
veil or taqsim
raqs sharqi with cymbals

I´m not known for anything yet-
except losing my hairpieces on stage!:D

I realize that bellydancers I enjoy watching don´t have to use a lot of different props or be able to do many styles,
as long they have a dedication to be good and feel comfortable in one schtick!

As many compete for gigs;they have many styles to use in a program-I enjoy going to haflas and festivals and watch the one-trick-dogs because I often love them!

I think this is an excellent point and I have heard many remarks to that effect about other dancers.

I have a dance friend who does wings, and she a) does them well and b) looks really great doing them, and she gets REALLY frustrated that people keep asking her to do wings at events, because they are not the only thing she's into or good at!

I performed with wings once before and the exact same thing has happened to me. I my immediate dance community I seem to have already be known as the 'one with the wings' and I have had several people ask me to perform with them since.

Don't get me wrong, performance opportunities are always good and I very much enjoy dancing with wings but after my next performance, which will be a super-cheesy Christmas themed event, the wings are going back in the cupboard for a bit while I work on my 'hands free' dancing.

If im known as anything I want it to be 'a great dancer'. Im doing my best to make that my stereotype ;).

I do agree with Vasha's point. When I began performing, most of my solo pieces were tribal fusion and, after a while, I noticed that people expected tribal fusion from me. Now, that's not awful, as I had studied and worked hard at my craft, but I had been training in "cabaret" even longer and I wanted to show that I was a versatile dancer. I've made it my business to try to be much more diverse in what I present to audiences now. I want to become known as a good, well-rounded dancer.

Watching youtube videos of other dancers, there was one that had ten videos, all drum solos. Perhaps her next performance will be...drum roll please...a drum solo. Sigh.

Same dance different costume is an unfortunate rut for any dancer. I think I'm guilty of it a fee times. .w.:

Beth

Originally Posted by Vasha_Hatal

If im known as anything I want it to be 'a great dancer'. Im doing my best to make that my stereotype ;).

You have Vasha : )

We have a very petite young and beautiful dancer in our troupe who is known for dancing with monster size snakes. I cant begin to tell you how much attention she gets because of it. It is amazing to watch, but I think she could have grown faster as a dancer had she not had a snake.

At one point, I was ready to bill myself as "The Sword and Najma" in exasperation, because people requested my sword dance at every single show. I finally decided that enough is enough, and took a break from that particular prop!