Thread: Professional Behavior

Since the "bellydance elitism" thread derailed from its original intent of examining professional behavior in teaching bellydance, I'd like to revisit that subject in a new thread.

In my experiences (over approximately 10yrs) of attending workshops with well-respected instructors and in reading articles written by respected instructors, I've come to the conclusion that many of us need reminded of how to present ourselves with a measure of professional grace.

My personal attitude is that my dancing speaks for itself. My behavior speaks for my professionalism (or lack there of).

Do you think professional behavior is a matter of action and not "reaction"?

Originally Posted by tantzyebatb

In my experiences (over approximately 10yrs) of attending workshops with well-respected instructors and in reading articles written by respected instructors, I've come to the conclusion that many of us need reminded of how to present ourselves with a measure of professional grace.

I wouldn't say "reminded" as much as "taught and expected at the student level." We don't have a curriculum that emphasizes a stringent code of professional conduct. We have no system of sanctions and appeals. Public shaming punishes the messenger. When you have no direct consequences for bad behavior, only the most inherently ethical people will rise to the challenge, and even some of them will be unable to resist the temptation to backslide into "I may as well--everybody else is doing it and nobody seems to care" over time.

My personal attitude is that my dancing speaks for itself. My behavior speaks for my professionalism (or lack there of).

Your technique is your technique, and your ethics are your ethics. The problem is that true professionalism requires both competence and exemplary behavior. If you can't dance, then no matter how honorable, mature, considerate, and responsible you are, it's unprofessional to teach or take paying gigs, because you are misrepresenting yourself. If you're the best dancer in the world but a rotten-to-the-core human being, and you can't control your base urges enough to behave in a way that doesn't make everyone want to kill you, that's not professionalism, either. In both cases, you can always find at least a few people who will want your good enough to overlook your bad, but you're not meeting all of the requirements.

Professionalism demands that you uplift the reputation of your field by your good example. Unfortunately, human nature consistently demonstrates in practice that individuals' good examples are what they call "necessary, but not sufficient" in a logical proof. That's why most professional organizations have standards to prove you're worthy to get in and governing boards to kick you out when you don't live up to them.

Does anyone have any suggested reading regarding "professional behavior"? What has helped develop your awareness of public expectations of how an instructor should carry his/herself?
If an instructor behaves inappropriately in some manner, do you continue to patronize their events or purchase their merchandise?

Originally Posted by tantzyebatb

I've come to the conclusion that many of us need reminded of how to present ourselves with a measure of professional grace.

Yep.

Originally Posted by tantzyebatb

My personal attitude is that my dancing speaks for itself. My behavior speaks for my professionalism (or lack there of).

I have mixed feelings about this. Yes, behavior speaks for professionalism. Dancing speaks for itself in some ways, but there is a possibility that unprofessional people can dance well. Great for them, and many shimmies, but I'd be leery of hiring them or working on project with them because the result would be degraded due to the lack of professionalism (or the result might not be worth the process).

Originally Posted by tantzyebatb

Do you think professional behavior is a matter of action and not "reaction"?

Interesting. I think there are elements of both reaction and action. I think a professional does act, i.e., prepare ahead, 'cover ones bases', etc., partly to avoid the need for continual repeated reactions.

There's handling a bad situation well, and there's doing some preliminary work to help prevent a bad situation. Both are important professional skills.

Originally Posted by tantzyebatb

Does anyone have any suggested reading regarding "professional behavior"? What has helped develop your awareness of public expectations of how an instructor should carry his/herself?
If an instructor behaves inappropriately in some manner, do you continue to patronize their events or purchase their merchandise?

Honestly, some of the best stuff is presented/linked on Samira Shuruk's page Resources | Samira Shuruk | Belly Dancer in Baltimore & Washington, DC, and Carrara Nour also has great blog posts Blog | Carrara Nour | Belly Dancer for Weddings and Events in Orlando. Both sites make me feel happy and more intelligent after reading, and I'm probably going to humiliate myself if/when I meet those two ladies IRL.

What has shaped my expectations: working with both good and bad teachers, dancers, people. I try to learn from every interaction. Instead of writing a bad one off as bad and leaving it there, I identify what was bad and think about ways to avoid it.

There was a Bhuz post semi-recently about boycotting unethical teachers. Personally, I have to be very sure about the story's accuracy before I boycott, and I place good dancing above personal characteristics (separating characteristics from ethics, in the sense of things like 'meanness' versus, say, racist actions).

Originally Posted by tantzyebatb

My personal attitude is that my dancing speaks for itself. My behavior speaks for my professionalism (or lack there of).

I don't care how loudly someone's dancing shouts, "I AM WONDERFUL," if they're going to be a pain in the neck for me to deal with, then they're not worth my time/effort/stress. There are lots of people who are the complete package - both excellent dancers AND professional to deal with - and they're the ones I'll invest my energy into sponsoring or studying with. With so many fine dancers to choose from who are also solid professionals, I see no need to waste energy on people who I find annoying.

It's not a question of "boycotting," for me, just voting with my dollars and my time/effort. I have limited funds and time for dance events, so I invest them where I know the complete experience will be pleasant on ALL levels. Ie, I choose to support the best, and just ignore the rest.

Originally Posted by tantzyebatb

If an instructor behaves inappropriately in some manner, do you continue to patronize their events or purchase their merchandise?

If an instructor can teach (not all can - even those who are great dancers) and if their lapse is not in the area of student interaction - then yes, I would still attend their workshops and buy their merchandise (and I have). However, I would probably think twice before sponsoring a workshop with them.

ETA: Also keep in mind that what is appropriate behaviour varies between cultures. For instance, what is acceptable to discuss in one culture may be taboo in an other (money, sex, poltics, religion all spring to mind).

How you express yourself is also variable. I think Aunty Rocky occasionally has problems with non-NYers who prefer a more circumspect way of talking for instance. And I know what is considered standard vocab in NZ is considered offensive by many in the States (Both from my time over there and remembering the fuss on a board with the abreviation WTF - here it would only be abbreviated to save typing - most people would be happy to say it in full; what many in the US would consider blasphemy is often on the lips of my elderly mother (although I haven't heard "the F-word"))

There are definately cross cultural issues, methods and approaches.

It is a bit tricky to distinguish between some of these grey areas.

Honestly, some of the best stuff is presented/linked on Samira Shuruk's page Resources | Samira Shuruk | Belly Dancer in Baltimore & Washington, DC, and Carrara Nour also has great blog posts Blog | Carrara Nour | Belly Dancer for Weddings and Events in Orlando. Both sites make me feel happy and more intelligent after reading, and I'm probably going to humiliate myself if/when I meet those two ladies IRL.

Thanks! I look forward to exploring these sites.

For non-dance specific materials, I humbly suggest reading books by Thich Nhat Hanh, a vietnamese buddhist monk.

Do any of you have outside sources you find worthy of sharing? Thank you again,

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