Thread: List important (or even funny) things you've said to your students :)

Here's some of mine I've said over the years, lol

"you can never get any worse than you were in your first class"

"If you only learn a folk step in this class, you have moved ahead in your learning. You can't go backwards"

"If you lose confidence, draw from mine...but sometimes that may be a bad thing because even I lose confidence at times and you may draw from mine at the wrong time and completely lose it. Then you're a goner!" (that gets them laughing!)

"If you only ever do anything in your life once, you can say you have done it. And you can say it with honesty and integrity"

"Don't fall of the stage. That's worse than forgetting a choreography!"

"Always wear underwear, somewhere there might be an ambulance with your name on it"

"Unfortunately I am a perfectionist. I'll use it later"

You and your sense of humour, Samiya! ..l;,

"Don't fall of the stage. That's worse than forgetting a choreography!"

Brilliant! Truly, nothing could be worse than falling off the stage.

Slight Hi-jack here, but my old boss had a really funny story about falling off a stage and how to handle it. She was a jazz singer and was singing with the Houston Pops Orchestra and had walked the stage before the show so she knew where the edges were (cause as we know, sometimes the lights are so bright you can't see ANYTHING).

So she is doing her show, walks to stage right and promptly dissapears from the audiences sight. Her daughter was in the audience and knew that was not right. Turns out the other "orchestra pit" was lowered below stage level even though it was not supposed to be. Joyce had fallen about 5 feet, twisting her ankle a bit but amazingly otherwise unhurt (and it was during a pause in her singing!) The stage director realized what had happened and raised the pit and Joyce comes rising up into the spotlight singing. No-one but her daughter and the stage director knew it was an accident!

Always, always wear harem pants under your circle/tribal skirts when performing outdoors.

Forcefully hammered home when one of our girls "forgot" to wear hers.
Scenario - Dancing at a festival held at a mock castle when all of a sudden a huge gust of wind blows into the courtyard, an horrendous shriek issues from behind Samiya and myself, we keep dancing while trying to take a quick peek to see what's happened, almost peed ourselves laughing as here's said girl(who'd been told numerous times before about harems) desperately trying to get her circle skirt down. The wind had completely swirled her skirt up and over her head and each time she pushed one side down the other side went up in the air.

The really strange thing was she was the only one who's skirt was up around her ears.

Moral of this story.....if you don't believe it will never happen to you then make sure that you're wearing something more substantial than a g-string with a postage stamp front under your circle skirt.

On improvising: "Always have an 'Oh bugger!' move available, for when you've got no idea what to do."

Also on improvising: "It's perfectly legitimate to 'get inspiration' from those around you. I.e. copy your neighbour if she's doing something you like."

And finally, when they are playing me up: "My teacher told us, you get the students you deserve. What did I ever do to deserve you lot?"

Evidently some of my students think my "Air in the armpits" is memorable - ..l;,

"It's okay to touch yourself in my class" <--- meaning, put your hands on your hips or belly to feel the muscles working. They always giggle at that.

"What's the worst thing that can happen when you're dancing? That you're not having fun."

if you're only going to be good at one thing in bellydance, be good at keeping safe posture. if you're only going to be good at two things, keep safe posture and feel/interpret the music!

no, your hips are down here ::adjusts student's hip scarf::

I told students who were being taught to move in a circle facing out for a choreo that they were like a dessert revolving tray. They all stopped and protested, I replied that it was better than telling them the were the horses on a marry go round! They still laugh about it! BUT they all did look delicous!..g.:

"You must shoot the beams of light from your fingertips!" - said in a total hippy dippy voice. ..g.: I always say this when we are talking about extending our arms for snake arms...it cracks them up but gets the point across.

"Scrape the chocolate from the bottom of the bowl". In the first class I taught, we were working on hip circles and one of my students had an "a ha!" moment and said out loud, "its like you are scraping the chocolate from the bottom of the bowl when you are making brownies!". The whole class fell out from laughing so hard, but a few other people had lightbulb moments as a result of the visual. Amazing how women get all fluid and sensual over chocolate. LOL So now I use that every time I teach the move.

"If you trip and fall during a solo...do floorwork".
"If you forget choreography during a troupe number...tah dah...congratulations...you're a soloist."

I got it from another bhuzzer, and I love it:

There are no mistakes in bellydance, only spontaneous opportunities for improv!

In getting women from all walks of life comfortable with how the stuff we're taught shouldn't wiggle/jiggle can let loose during a shimmy: "If it doesn't jiggle, it doesn't jingle..shake it"

Similar to Gia's....before a performance I always tell my students, "remember, there are no mistakes, just little solos." That does usually make them relax a bit.

On technique:
"Make friends with your jiggle"
"Well, it's not really a shoulder shimmy. You are moving your ribcage... and everything that's attached... some of you are going to have a distinct advantage."

On performing:
"You are not a Diva Queen *gracing* the audience with your presence. Egyptian dancer X gets away with the Diva Queen thing because she knows a queen is NOTHING without her subjects."
"The audience WANTS you to succeed."
"Joy is contagious. Just go out there and have fun."

i always start a class with wiggling and shaking everything out. tell them to get as limp as soggy noodles and start shaking. many are embarrassed at first but after the initial inhibitions, everything loosens up and it is easier for them to jiggle and shake what they are supposed to.

the other crucial piece of advice i offer my students before a performance...always wipe down your armpits before a performance...there is nothing worse than a dancer in a beautiful costume with deodorant stains on her pits...or worse yet...black lint fuzzies....yuck.

Originally Posted by Zobeida

the other crucial piece of advice i offer my students before a performance...always wipe down your armpits before a performance...there is nothing worse than a dancer in a beautiful costume with deodorant stains on her pits...or worse yet...black lint fuzzies....yuck.

lol, I always say this one too. ..g.:

When trying to get my students not to giggle, lose it or show to the audience that they have made a mistake I say " do it twice so they think you meant to do it that way" or " fake it till you make it" seems to be popular.

I start sessions doing a yoga lion face (open mouth, tongue out, wide eyes and go AHHHH). Then I tell them we did that for three reasons:
1) Loose jaws mean loose hips. It's weird, but it's true.
2) Our bodies each produced a unique tone for our "roar" and each move will look a little different on us and that's ok
3) We've all done something weird together so nothing can stop us!

I like your three reasons QueenCJ!

Originally Posted by aziyade

"It's okay to touch yourself in my class" <--- meaning, put your hands on your hips or belly to feel the muscles working. They always giggle at that.

Mine is similar to this: Don't practice - go home and play with yourself in front of your mirror.

not a teacher, but i totally love reading these...lol.

Something I picked up a long time ago to remind students to be mindful of what they practice: "Practice makes permanent."

Originally Posted by queencj

I start sessions doing a yoga lion face (open mouth, tongue out, wide eyes and go AHHHH). Then I tell them we did that for three reasons:
1) Loose jaws mean loose hips. It's weird, but it's true.
2) Our bodies each produced a unique tone for our "roar" and each move will look a little different on us and that's ok
3) We've all done something weird together so nothing can stop us!

..l;,
LOVE IT!