Thread: Bellydance is a ??? $ business

For a research paper, I am trying to figure out how big of a "business" bellydance is. (In case somebody is wondering - this is really, honestly is not a case of "have to write a term paper in the last 3 days and now others can do my work". I swear on my Akai skirts ;-)

What is the size of the bellydance business? What numbers can I confidently assume? I am looking for pretty much anything - especially headcounts/estimates for large events.

Thanks so much!

I think it depends on what you include in your paper. Are you only including the section of the market for events and in-person classes? Are vendors included? Are you accounting for purchases by the DVD for fitness or instant expert diva-ness groups (both of whom are very different)?

The focus is on events, classes and to some degree vending and merchandising (I have a friend who has been in the field for many years, I got costumes covered). I'd like to mention domestic and foreign markets. The fitness and lifestyle business is not part of what I plan to consider.

And, of course I am painfully aware that this is terribly vague, so any and all data points will be useful.

I imagine it varies from area to area. I think teachers and studios retain lists of who's attending for legal purposes; IIRC, one of my teachers needed to have one in case ASCAP comes knocking at her door. I bet workshop hosts have the same.

i'm not sure exactly what kind of figures you are looking for?

You may want to contact Michelle DeVine who runs Spring Caravan for event numbers.

Also try and contact Blume Bauer at MECDA (host of Cairo Caravan). mecda.org

I am serving as prez of our AZ MECDA chapter. Contact me privately and I'll share our info on our annual Fall Festival here in AZ.

Good luck,

Mahin

Are you wanting to know info of people who perform largely for non-belly dance community? Or are you focusing more on belly dance community income?

I understand what you're looking for.

We see those figures all the time, like "Pet care is a $50 billion industry" (made that up). Usually you don't know what's included -- food? shots? vets? pet snuggis? -- but it's some global, inclusive figure.

I guess those numbers usually come from some kind of industry association and involve a lot of speculation. I wouldn't have any idea how to calculate such a thing for bellydance.

I'm sure, the way those numbers are usually put together, it would include everything. Costuming, hip scarves, body glitter, classes, haflas, workshops. Pros and hobbyists and people who watch Shimmy on fit TV would all be part of the 'industry,' and it would be a worldwide figure.

Interesting question!

OMG, Somebody please pay me to do that research ^^. It would be so fun.

Seems like for event planning you would want to come up with an average gross total for different types of events. Multi-day festival, weekend workshops, competition. Then take a look of the # of these events and do the math. Yes? It's all just estimates.

Time to hit the phones/email and contact organisers and get them to tell you roughly what changes hands at their events, add 'em up and do a median.

This would be very valuable information actually. It would unfortunately be valuable information on a competitive business level as well, which would make some operators reluctant to talk. But I would love to see some figures. We know this is an industry, we know a fair bit of money changes hands, but *how much*?

You might also want to look at associated industries - how much do BD events generate for air travel, accommodation, food spend, discretionary spend...