Thread: What do you call yourself?

I'm not talking stage names here, rather I mean whether your call yourself a 'belly dancer' a 'belly dance artist' a 'professional belly dancer' or even a 'middle eastern dancer' or any other variations you can think of.

I'm curious about what the pluses and minuses of different terminology are from a business perspective.

For example, is using one term better if you are marketing yourself as a performer and another better if you are promoting your classes?

I call myself a bellydancer, and usually amend it to "student" or amateur depending on the situation.

I refer to myself as a Middle Eastern Dance Performer most of the time. Let me explain why... I live in a small farming community where they are ignorant and if you say bellydancer they get an image of a scantily clad woman shaking her money maker in a very stripper like manner ..g.:. By calling it Middle Eastern dance it pays homage to the roots of the dance and makes it sound less scary to them. Besides I really like the folkloric dances as well and my dance is more Egyptian Cab than anything else, so the Middle Eastern dance fits best. Plus I am a college professor and many times my students ask why I am out of town so much or what I do in my other life and I tell them I am a Middle Eastern dance performer and instructor. Then when they ask if that is bellydance I can tell them yes and explain what it is fully and can correct much of their ignorance without all the "ooooooh my prof is a bellydancer.....that's hot!" kinda nonsense. This dance is so much more than just the belly. I want to teach people more about it as a cultural treasure.

I call myself a "belly dancer" and when the situation requires it, will explain that I'm an "amateur" rather than a "professional," meaning that I dance for the love of dancing, don't receive money for most performances and make my living doing something else.
Rosette

I say "professional bellydancer". I do classic AmCab stuff - I don't want to use the term "Middle Eastern" in my title because much of what I do is very Americanized. I can go folkloric if you want me to, but that's not my normal schtick.

I teach belly dance and I have a belly dance troupe. I have stopped agonizing over it.

I'm happy that here I noticed I can say "baladi" for the GP in general they would know what I am talking about.
Amongst the ME dance community here, however, there is a distinction between danse orientale and baladi.

[here = Montréal]

In the States I had to say "professional ME dancer" and when the puzzled look came across the face I'd have to follow up with "professional belly dancer."

I wish I could say Oriental dancer in the States but that just conjures up too much confusion, esp. when they look at me (Asian) and think something else.

I, too, stopped agonizing over it. It's how I control my reaction, right, not theirs.

As far as marketing self to GP for gigs, use whatever nomenclature you feel is appropriate and support it with images to get the full idea across of what it is you do. Get in the heads of those who may hire you and decide how they would receive your information.

For potential students, I would do pretty much the same.

For me, it is situation based. I call myself a bellydancer.... but if I'm in a setting where that might have a negative reaction (meeting a boyfriend's family, or my boss, etc) I usually say "Middle Easten Dance."

But I love the term bellydancer.

"Professional Belly Dancer"

Deborah

Bellydancer

I think adding "professional" is redundant and (forgive my opinion, not aimed at anyone, yada yada) smacks of being desperate to be taken seriously.

"professional teacher"
"professional doctor"
"professional attorney"

Originally Posted by Halima-Dances

Bellydancer

I think adding "professional" is redundant and (forgive my opinion, not aimed at anyone, yada yada) smacks of being desperate to be taken seriously.

"professional teacher"
"professional doctor"
"professional attorney"

Yeah...well...that's because there aren't amateur doctors and amateur lawyers running around. In the belly world, there is an abundance of amateur dancers. I've heard "professional" placed in front of artistic professions as it does give it a status upgrade. There are painters...and then there are Professional Painters. If you make a living at an art...it says something about you.

I usually say I'm Belly Dance performer and instructor.

Originally Posted by Halima-Dances

Bellydancer

I think adding "professional" is redundant and (forgive my opinion, not aimed at anyone, yada yada) smacks of being desperate to be taken seriously.

"professional teacher"
"professional doctor"
"professional attorney"

I agree with Samira_dncr.
Compare these terms by themselves with "belly dancer":

teacher
doctor
attorney

bellydancer

Teacher, doctor, attorney already connote a certain amount of education and required licensing/certification in order to call oneself one of these w/o the "professional" redundancy.

Bellydancer, on the other hand, w/o the qualifier could mean student, hobbyist, enthusiast, wanna be, or someone who does it for a living.

I can see where you're coming from, tho...

yeah, exactly - anyone can say they are a bellydancer, not anyone can say they are a doctor! You need to qualify bellydancer to differentiate yourself from the hobbyists.

"Middle Eastern dancer," as I feel it's the most accurate and accessible description of what I do (mostly Egyptian Oriental and folk). Like Azhia, in some cases I would prefer to use the expression "Oriental dancer," but that term just tends to be a source of further confusion to the GP unless you have adequate time to explain it.

My classes are billed as Middle Eastern dance, which I think helpfully reflects the fact that they introduce not only Oriental-style movement but also Middle Eastern music and relevant cultural background. If I were ever to teach a fitness- rather than technique-oriented class, I might use the term "belly dance" to convey that it would be a fun, lighthearted approach to exercise.

Belly dancer. I'm hybrid.

But if I am talking about ME dance in general I tend to refer to it as "oriental dance" as opposed to the new hip-hop/jazz/anything and everything thing that is called belly dance. Only in conversation, though.

I have taken to saying that "I study Middle Eastern Dance". Because that's what I do; I study it. It's not a hobby - it's evolved far beyond a once-a-week class for fun with some of my chums - but I'm also not a professional performer (right on the cusp, though!).

I'm not against the "B-word". I'm not offended when other people use it. Nor am I apologetic about what I do because here is absolutely no reason to be. But in the past, when I have said I was going to a belly dance class, the intelligent, mature, well-cultured people in the circles I travel in immediately equated my belly dance lessons with "strippersize".* ..c:: And I hate having to correct them and say, "Uh, no."

So I say that I "study Middle Eastern dance" which typically gets a vague "oh, yeah..." as in, I heard what you just told me but I won't admit that I don't understand what that is. Which is fine. Because a few seconds later I end up saying... "So, belly dance."

And having framed it in the context of academic pursuit of a foreign culture's dance, their brains have switched enough into a "I don't understand" mode that when I say the "B-word", they realize that their perception of belly dance is perhaps limited or downright wrong. That's when the conversation typically goes to how good it is for the body, how the other person wants to try it, or how someone else they know does it. It's a much smoother conversation than "Oh! Like strippersize!" -- "uh. No." -- "oh. Sorry."

And it's funny - when I met my new Arab neighbors the other day and I told them I studied Raks Sharki, they said, "Belly dance?" And I said, "yeah." Which cracked me up. ..l;,

* - I have nothing against strippersize. I've never done it. And I would imagine that true exotic dancers who study their art and work hard to perfect it might even be nonplussed if someone were to equate their craft with "strippersize" which I understand to be little more than aerobics with suggestive overtones.

My business materials read:

"Deborah the Belly Dancer"

Deb
(the BDer)

Varies a little by situation. Most often I say Middle Eastern dancer/performer/teacher/dance artist/whatevertheheck...but when there's room/time to expound, I mention that I teach belly dance and folkloric dances.

But, under some situations it's definitely clearer/more to the point to just say belly dancer.

I agree with Samira and Azhia on the "professional" point. It sometimes feels a little silly to write/say it, but where I live there are scads of avocational and student dancers who call themselves "belly dancers" but have never made a dime performing or teaching it. I, on the other hand, pay the bills with it.... Not that there aren't some dancers out in the world getting paid who aren't that good or who calling themselves pros when they really do maybe one paid gig a year, but it at least narrows the field a little and separates us from the students/pure amateurs.

"Male Belly Dancer". I've thought from time-to-time of dropping the "Male" portion as that's kinda obvious!

My web site has the term "belly dancing" all over the place because, of course, I want searches on the term "belly dancing" to lead to my site.

My business card says, "Middle Eastern Dance Arts", and it has a photo of me in bedleh.

I advertise my classes as "belly dancing" classes.

When I perform in local arts environments (ie, shows that also include tango, salsa, modern dance, flamenco, etc.) I use the term "Egyptian dance", wear one of my dresses, and perform Egyptian-style. Of course, when I say the term "Egyptian dance" nobody knows what that means, which is exactly the way I want it. This way, when they ask what that is, I can talk about what I do without having the baggage of misconceptions to overcome. Eventually, the term "belly dance" comes up, and when it does I comment that yes, that's the term many people would use to describe Egyptian Oriental, but that I don't use it because the term is burdened with so much misunderstanding.

For my Dutch and German site, I went with 'belly dancer' (in Dutch/German)because that's the most common term over here.

For my English bussiness cards and site I'm experimenting with 'belly dance artist'. These are aimed at other dancers, as I hand them out at internationl events. Because in the long run I want to be known as an artist to other dancers while the main public wants a belly dancer for parties and classes and such.

I personally consider myself an Artist. I have been changing my view point that I'm more concerned now days with the presentation of the dance to reflect the music, and less concerned about being able to dance in a restaurant. I've lost that desire to dance in restaurants if I do it will be more than likely that I'm there as an Artist. So when I dance you are not going to always see that happy dancer face, but more of facial expressions in which the song entails. If its a sad song I will be expressing my sadness and not smiling.

I don't advertise for parties. but that is a different subject.

I'm more interested in large stage productions. So when I advertise my classes my slogan is, Discover Belly Dance Artistry with Angela DiCaprio. An idea that came from my Instructor...

Now, since my new Instructor does not want me to limit my dance, I especially consider myself an Artist. The professional title only comes in use with competitions....

Originally Posted by zorba

"Male Belly Dancer". I've thought from time-to-time of dropping the "Male" portion as that's kinda obvious!

Good point.

Originally Posted by AngelaDiCaprio

I personally consider myself an Artist. I have been changing my view point that I'm more concerned now days with the presentation of the dance to reflect the music, and less concerned about being able to dance in a restaurant. I've lost that desire to dance in restaurants if I do it will be more than likely that I'm there as an Artist. So when I dance you are not going to always see that happy dancer face, but more of facial expressions in which the song entails. If its a sad song I will be expressing my sadness and not smiling.

I don't advertise for parties. but that is a different subject.

I'm more interested in large stage productions. So when I advertise my classes my slogan is, Discover Belly Dance Artistry with Angela DiCaprio. An idea that came from my Instructor...

Now, since my new Instructor does not want me to limit my dance, I especially consider myself an Artist. The professional title only comes in use with competitions....

Angela,

I have been feeling the same way. I am a dancer but also an artist. While I love and appreciate *traditional* dance(whatever that might be at any particular time), I feel a need as an artist to grow and discover my own personal expression of this art form, whether it be in a more conventional sense or not. Using the term artist in the genre of Belly Dance makes more sense to me. I mean heck, if Estelle can do the robot to orchestrated Egyptian music in a bedlah in Egypt and win Belly dance Idol then surely Raks Sharki can evolve, right?

So some people call themselves a "bellydancer" when they take classes but don't perform or teach?
I didn't feet worthy of that title because I always attributed "bellydancer" to someone who bellydances beyond a classroom setting (getting "out there" kind of thing). The analogy I go by is I'm studying psychology and love to sing (when no one is around!), but I wouldn't call myself a psychologist (yet!) or a singer...?

I just tell people that "I take bellydance classes" since I'm "just" a student. To me, "bellydance student" somehow sounds like I'll eventually become professional and "bellydancer" sounds like I do more than just take classes. :)

veil dancer..i dont shimmy very well and can't do drum solos and don't have a whole lot of interest to learn how but looooove to dance with props..not sure what that label is but i usually tell people i dance with veils

Hay clueless23de

sending you a pm. Don't want to take this off topic.

I call myself a belly dancer. I think my business cards 9need to order more) say Belly Dance Artist. When I talk to the public, I do talk about the different names, the whys and wherefores. At least until their eyes glaze over. Then it's Belly Dancer.

{{{HUGS}}}

Advertising/correspondence for existing clients:

Invoice letterhead:

Picture of me
my name
Oriental dancer
instructor
choreographer

I put it like that basically because I would be invoicing for one or all of those services. Which one would be detailed in the body of the invoice and charged at the appropriate rate.

I kind of think of it like being a construction company (that is my day job industry so I often use it as my own personal benchmark) that may offer a consulting service, supply materials and do the installation... Consult, Supply and Install.

General advertising like business cards need to tap into the allure and exoticness of a "bellydancer", let people think you're going to fulfill an ideal rather than perform a simple business transaction so I go for:

My name
Middle Eastern dance artist
picture that visually says "bellydancer"

It's the most inclusive and accurate descriptor I felt comfortable with.