Thread: candle dance tips?

I need to add a new schtick to my restaurant routine. the new place I'm dancing sometimes has me do two shows - for mostly the same audience as they don't all turn over. normally I bust out the old crowd pleasing sword, but you can't do that twice for the same people!

so, I got some glass ball type votive holders. anything I should know? anything to be careful of? if you use live flames do you put water in the bottom of the votive holder or anything? or is it a good idea to use battery votives? any tips and suggestions are most welcome. assume I don't know anything, as I've never done any candle dancing since I did a troupe routine with them about 15 years ago. :)

Are you looking to do a candle tray dance or just with the ones in your hand?
In my opinion the tray is more impressive and if you already do sword, it wouldn't take a lot of getting used to it.
Or you could do both, have two of them in your hands, dance like that for a while then put them on the tray (with more candles on it already) and then balance it.

I'm actually teaching some candle dance techniques tomorrow at the 2008 Hiptastic! Belly Dance Festival--Round Lake Beach, IL.

There are so many options and techniques for candle dancing that I really can't list them all here. A couple pointers off the top of my head:

*Use battery operated candles since you don't have to worry about them going out during your performance (of course check the batteries).
*Affix the battery operated candle to the bottom of your glass votive holder by using wax dots or other products now available for keeping candles in place.
*Don't mix water and battery operated candles (obviously!). I also don't use water with real candles. The wax generally stays inside a "ball" shaped votive while water will drip out onto you or the floor.
*Never use oil lamps.
*Instead of a glass votives, experiment with lanterns or other semi-transparent items for variety (depends on your dance style).
*Remember that you don't have to hold the candles for the entire dance. You can put them down and keep dancing or pick them up during the dance.
*Remember to maintain the illusion that the candles are real...don't flip your candles upside down. Keep candles upright--generally by keeping your palms very flat and turned upwards.
*Don't move your votives around too fast or too herky-jerky. Those types of movements would put out a regular candle.
*Use the candles to highlight your dancing or the mood you are trying to set. Don't let the candles upstage you. They get pretty boring after a couple minutes.

Have fun!

Originally Posted by elisagamal

I need to add a new schtick to my restaurant routine. the new place I'm dancing sometimes has me do two shows - for mostly the same audience as they don't all turn over. normally I bust out the old crowd pleasing sword, but you can't do that twice for the same people!

so, I got some glass ball type votive holders. anything I should know? anything to be careful of? if you use live flames do you put water in the bottom of the votive holder or anything? or is it a good idea to use battery votives? any tips and suggestions are most welcome. assume I don't know anything, as I've never done any candle dancing since I did a troupe routine with them about 15 years ago. :)

Hm. I don't care for the glass votive look, although I've seen pretty dances with them. I like the brass candle holders sold by Atlanta Belly Dance (you can google it). They ship really fast, too. Anyway, I soak cut-up tampons in lamp oil and light them for a really nice 2-4 inch flame. They look really impressive, and if you cut & stuff the tampon into the holder right, it will NOT fall out, no matter what you do to it. I've actually balanced one on my chest in a backbend & had it fall off & roll under my skirt and the flame went out (thankfully) but the tampon never fell out! (Funny thing is, I never realized it had fallen off, ha ha ha). Anyway, I've danced with these a lot of times, restaurant and stage, and people really like them.

Originally Posted by jaded

*Affix the battery operated candle to the bottom of your glass votive holder by using wax dots or other products now available for keeping candles in place.

That's a great tip, one I haven't thought of. This thread is really good since I'm thinking about working on a candle dance routine.
Patricia

You can get battery-powered votives that flicker and look pretty real on stage inside a frosted glass votive holder. You can buy them at craft stores.

okay so you all probably know already that I can do some dumb stuff, and if you don't, I'm an idiot sometimes. My dance girls and I wanted to dance with some candles so out came the votives, lit them and then danced. Got wax all over ourselves, the floor, etc. Glad there are smart people here to tell how it should be done.

Here's a photo of what the ATL candles look like in action. For this number I tucked a veil in my hips, danced for about 1.5 minutes with the candles then blew them out (they get boring fast, there's only so much you can do with your hands occupied) and went to veil....

Check with the restaurant management, some cities are really picky about open flames, you may have to use the battery candles to meet fire regulations.

A few years ago I danced at a street fest, and my troupe mate showed up with candles in beautiful holders, and the bottom of the holders balanced beautifully on our heads. The problem is, she never tried this with lit candles, and we ended up with hot wax on our heads!

I had an instructor who taught candle dance, and her advice was never to use real votives but rather to use fat dripless candles. Either saw them down or let them burn down to the right height. Most votives turn to liquid once they get good and hot.

thanks so much everybody for all of the tips! jaded, your advice was exactly what I was looking for. and thanks, too, badriya - I do have the flickering votive candles (which will now not rattle around in my glass balls since I'm going to go get those sticky dots), but if I did try real flames I probably would have used tea lights, and that probably would have been a very bad thing. ;)

I love the idea of the tampon/lamp oil deals, and I might try that some day. but the venue in question is a moroccan place with just an open area in the middle of the room to dance in (no stage) and lots of low hanging draperies everywhere. I'd hate to accidentally send the place up in flames!!

Originally Posted by elisagamal

thanks so much everybody for all of the tips! jaded, your advice was exactly what I was looking for. and thanks, too, badriya - I do have the flickering votive candles (which will now not rattle around in my glass balls since I'm going to go get those sticky dots), but if I did try real flames I probably would have used tea lights, and that probably would have been a very bad thing. ;)

I love the idea of the tampon/lamp oil deals, and I might try that some day. but the venue in question is a moroccan place with just an open area in the middle of the room to dance in (no stage) and lots of low hanging draperies everywhere. I'd hate to accidentally send the place up in flames!!

..g.: Yes, there is that ..g.: Flames are nice, but not when they engulf the building...

The lamp oil on cotton balls / tampons are a whole other scenario. Actually I got the tip using it from here (I'm forever grateful) and I like it soooo much more than the candle tray. But the flames get pretty high.
You definitely have to look at the venue with another set of eyes, because the lamp-oil stuff needs about 4 feet clearance up to the ceiling to be safe. (maybe more, not sure). However I like it more, because I don't need to worry about them blowing out, and I can light them on the stage at the beginning of my song (takes 10 seconds) whereas lighting candles always takes longer.

[QUOTE=elisagamal;247339]thanks so much everybody for all of the tips! jaded, your advice was exactly what I was looking for. [QUOTE]

Excellent! Please tell us how it went, okay? ..g.: