Thread: Mini lesson = mini integrity?

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

Seriously, I'm asking the dancers who do a lot of these gigs--other than the fact that you get paid for them, can you quantify the benefit? Philosophically speaking, why don't we as a dance community keep track of such information?

There are many, many posts in this thread where posters have given you a plethora of reasons they do these gigs besides "I get paid for it."

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

(BTW, if there is a legitimate belly dancer teaching Zumba, why is she teaching belly dance in a Zumba class anyway? That's not fair to either discipline.)

Because the guy who invented Zumba used bellydance moves like hip drops and snake arms for slow songs when he wanted people to catch their breath, that's why. Is it actually "bellydance"? No. Nor are some of the Latin dance moves that are "taught" in Zumba. Do you do a cha-cha step in Zumba? Yes. Could you translate it to ballroom dance? I suppose you could, but you'd look pretty stupid, because it's only the bones of the cha-cha basic, not the full movement.

Zumba also has hip-hop inspired moves. Undoubtedly people who actually perform hip-hop dance are a bit taken aback when a Zumba student says "Oh, we do hip hop in our class all the time!"

I guess my argument is that in any group of people, some of them are going to think they just "learned" something when all they did was "try" something. Let's say that's 5% of a given group. I don't see why the smarter 95% should be deprived of a "taster" experience because of the dumber 5%.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

I think it's quite weird to teach something from a foreign language you don't speak.

Then I guess I should stop telling my students what the titles of ME songs are in English, and what the meanings behind the songs are when I'm lucky enough to have that information. Because I don't speak Arabic, I shouldn't share the knowledge that I *do* have? ..c::

How about this - at my next class, if someone asks "What does Enta Omri mean?" I'll just say, "I dunno, just shake your ass to it and don't worry about it." Is that better?

Originally Posted by aamel_MirahAmmal

There have been a lot of excellent points made here (and as I also approach these in a way similar to what Samira et al described, have never walked away feeling like the party goers thought they now "knew how to dance," have garnered students and/or more serious presentations from such events, and think that when done well, they can be generally a good and social thing. I also join some of the others in being somewhat put off by the implication that I'm somehow lacking in integrity or demeaning my art form by doing these types of gigs, but I guess that's my problem....)

Given how well others have put things, I don't really have a lot new to add and don't want to rehash all that's already been said except to say this:

Tourbeau, I respect your opinion thought process, and definitely think as an art and an industry, we need to discuss things on which we won't always agree. I admit I find myself feeling a little curious about just where your vigorous argument is coming from on this one. If your aim was to play devil's advocate and/or rile people up and get a heated exchange going, you've succeeded. If you honestly do feel this way, you're certainly entitled to your opinion, and my advice would be...just don't do these kinds of gigs yourself then. I don't think you're exactly the tip of an iceburg of opinion nor very likely to turn many to your way of thinking on this, but you certainly don't have to do any kind of gig you don't want to do. :)

Exactly this.

...I guess I wasn't quite done yet, afterall :)

Just adding that, in some ways, I think I almost *prefer* these kinds of parties to, say, the ones where I'm hired to dance for 20 minutes at a birthday party or dinner party for a non-ME audience precisely *because* I have the opportunity to teach the party goers a little something. When you just do a 20 min show, you are just the sparkling, silent moving entertainment and your audience will apply to you whatever images, stereotypes or ideas (good or bad) they may have about the artform with little opportunity for you to influence them.

In these women's parties/minilessons, they learn something about the culture, about how to appreciate the artform, even something about themselves as women in an environment that's fun, supportive, and educational. So often as I talk with the women during the booking and at the end, I find out things about the guests, about the booker herself, etc that are...kind of touching. This dance was originally for women, by women, so why not share it among women.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy performing for other gigs too, but I'm just saying I've pretty much never walked out of a women's party feeling yucky about the atmosphere. I can't say the same about some other gigs.

I think quantifiable data is going to be difficult to get. I'm not sure how willingly people do surveys, especially if there's no monetary incentive.

What would you want for data? Number of people whose opinion of belly dance went up? People who enrolled in classes?

Originally Posted by laura 2

How about this - at my next class, if someone asks "What does Enta Omri mean?" I'll just say, "I dunno, just shake your ass to it and don't worry about it." Is that better?

Seriously. So I guess if I had a friend who unknowingly chose to dance to that "I Hate Israel" sha'abi song, I'm in no place to correct them because I'm not fluent in Arabic?

I don't speak Arabic fluently, but I never perform any song without looking up a translation first. There IS a middle ground between being a scholar of the Arabic language and being a total ignoramus.

I took a college-level Arabic course and all I learned in one semester was how to write half of the alphabet. Unfortunately, not all of us have unlimited time and resources to master Arabic on a conversational level. Not to mention, many parts of the country probably don't even offer Arabic coursework for those who are interested. Some of us have to get by with Rosetta Stone, or Googling translations, or asking our Arab friends for help. But it's better than nothing.

Originally Posted by tigerb

I don't see why the smarter 95% should be deprived of a "taster" experience because of the dumber 5%.

Right on! ..g.:

Originally Posted by indigostars

I think quantifiable data is going to be difficult to get. I'm not sure how willingly people do surveys, especially if there's no monetary incentive.

What would you want for data? Number of people whose opinion of belly dance went up? People who enrolled in classes?

If I wanted to quantify everything I do down to the tiniest data point, I'd have stayed in marketing and IT instead of ditching that life to pursue dance full time.

Originally Posted by aamel_MirahAmmal

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy performing for other gigs too, but I'm just saying I've pretty much never walked out of a women's party feeling yucky about the atmosphere. I can't say the same about some other gigs.

100% agreement with you on this.

Originally Posted by aamel_MirahAmmal

...I guess I wasn't quite done yet, afterall :)

Just adding that, in some ways, I think I almost *prefer* these kinds of parties to, say, the ones where I'm hired to dance for 20 minutes at a birthday party or dinner party for a non-ME audience precisely *because* I have the opportunity to teach the party goers a little something. When you just do a 20 min show, you are just the sparkling, silent moving entertainment and your audience will apply to you whatever images, stereotypes or ideas (good or bad) they may have about the artform with little opportunity for you to influence them.

In these women's parties/minilessons, they learn something about the culture, about how to appreciate the artform, even something about themselves as women in an environment that's fun, supportive, and educational. So often as I talk with the women during the booking and at the end, I find out things about the guests, about the booker herself, etc that are...kind of touching. This dance was originally for women, by women, so why not share it among women.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy performing for other gigs too, but I'm just saying I've pretty much never walked out of a women's party feeling yucky about the atmosphere. I can't say the same about some other gigs.

This.

Data, okay. "Do we get more students in class wanting to start over and learn in a formal setting after them?" Yes, most commonly if the social/educational/misguided/whatever-you-want-to-call-it event takes place at a university or health care facility or combination thereof.

"Do these parties result in more referral, high-quality performance gigs?" Yes, oddly enough. The participants in these events are the ones who are most likely to call us when their professional club / association has a gala / convention.

"How many students walk away from the party experience discouraged from ever taking a class or with some other negative experience?" One that we know of for sure. It was a bachlorette party. The bride was horrified, the bachlorettes had a great time. Whee!

"What percentage of the participants dismiss the event with no substantial improvement in their perception of us?" Us? No way, we are FAB-U-LOUS and a revelation and just totally unexpectedly aweome.

"And do we accidentally create a few unqualified monsters along the way?" I believe a cook at a restaurant got fired because she wouldn't stop watching Ruric on the monitor.. she was trying to learn moves to take to the goth club that night... does that count? Otherwise, if we helped start someone off on a life of low value dance crime, we are unaware of it.. and we keep good track of what is going on.

We need to hurry up and settle this because Ruric has three parties coming up in the next week, ha ha. To say nothing of three restaurant gigs and a concert.

PS If you wanted data, all you had to do was ask. Data first, THEN theory!

Originally Posted by Ainsley

Tourbeau, I think your posts and comparisons to other disciplines assume that belly dance in North America should ideally be exclusively a performance art, whereas I agree with Maurazebra that there's no reason we as performers can't also acknowledge the dance's social applications.
So I don't understand why we can't entertain multiple options for educating people on our dance: performing for them so that they can see what Oriental dance looks like as a performance art or teaching a taster lesson to give them an idea of how they might use related movements in a social context, just like people do in the Middle East.
To take Lauren's "Pampered Chef" example, you can either hire a chef to cook for you, because they're a professional and you want a great eating experience, or you can hire a chef to teach you and your friends to make a dish you might not be able to make on your own, because we're all cooks in our daily lives. Chefs just take a skill all of us use every day to a higher level.

Similarly, bellydance can be a performance art or something average people do a little of for fun at parties, and I think part of the reason mini-lesson events are so well-received in North America is because many people lack any kind of social dancing framework and it's nice to be able to do something on the dance floor other than rock back and forth on your feet.

Frankly, I think part of the problem with the way bellydance is taught in North America is that we overemphasize the possibility of performance, creating students for whom that is the primary goal, when the dance can be just as satisfying used exclusively for social purposes, or for exercise, or what-have-you. That's the flip side of this debate. Why not encourage an understanding that the dance has both performance and social possibilities? These types of gigs are a way to do that.

Right on again.
OK, now I'm gonna say something controversial RE: Tourbeau: why teach something if you don't speak the language: People from the Middle East do not OWN dance & music that originated in those areas of the world. I have "Turkish blood". Am I more qualified to do Turkish dance? Isn't that kind of ridiculous? Dance can be studied, taught, enjoyed by anyone. The cultural factor is irrelevant on a certain plane of an emotional response to beauty.
It can be performed socially or professionally beautifully, or tacky and sh**ty. Are only Americans "allowed" to enjoy jazz music, study, play, teach it? That is not a perfect analogy, but on the same track. I believe in appreciating other cultures, being respectful of differences, learning from each other. I am sincerely a global village type of person. My heart is as equal to appreciate Om Khoulthom or Amr Diab as my professor from Egypt or my mentor from Algeria, & I believe they agree. However some Algerians have told me that the Egyptians think that Algerians cannot appreciate Egyptian culture...hmmm

Originally Posted by LiesaB.

Dance can be studied, taught, enjoyed by anyone.

if we helped start someone off on a life of low value dance crime, we are unaware of it..

..l;,..l;,..l;, and ..l;,

Originally Posted by aamel_MirahAmmal

If your aim was to play devil's advocate and/or rile people up and get a heated exchange going, you've succeeded. If you honestly do feel this way, you're certainly entitled to your opinion, and my advice would be...just don't do these kinds of gigs yourself then.

I don't do these gigs, nor will I do gigs intended to embarrass the guest of honor, or gigs where the dancers are little more than sexy scenery. I'm not trying to be the top dancer in my area, and I'm fortunate enough that I can be selective about the performance opportunities I do take. Think of it as more work for the ones who want it. Yes, I sincerely hold these opinions, and I don't mind that others disagree with me. I've spent the better part of the day discussing this subject, and if all I wanted was to rile up people online, there are far more efficient and abrasive ways of doing it than this.

Originally Posted by laura 2

Then I guess I should stop telling my students what the titles of ME songs are in English, and what the meanings behind the songs are when I'm lucky enough to have that information. Because I don't speak Arabic, I shouldn't share the knowledge that I *do* have?

There is a difference between asking someone to intentionally copy your non-native (and probably somewhat incorrect) pronunciation and reading a translation in English. The lyrics are a only problem if you are trying to pass off someone else's transliteration/translation work as your own, or if you are otherwise misleading your students about your true level of fluency.

Originally Posted by laura 2

Seriously, I'm asking the dancers who do a lot of these gigs--other than the fact that you get paid for them, can you quantify the benefit? Philosophically speaking, why don't we as a dance community keep track of such information?

There are many, many posts in this thread where posters have given you a plethora of reasons they do these gigs besides "I get paid for it."

I'm not arguing that people don't get good bounce from these gigs. I'm asking for actual numbers to quantify what that bounce is--not "a lot," not "I know it happens all the time," not "these gigs work out really well for me, and I enjoy doing them." I'm asking the dancers in this thread, "As a small business owner, do you keep data to track the effectiveness of this particular customer interaction? How does doing a mini-lesson compare to doing a straight performance gig under similar circumstances? Do you know where your referrals are coming from?" I'm looking for someone to come back with something like, "I did eight of these gigs in the last six months, with an audience of roughly 15 people each. I handed out 105 business cards. From those gigs, I received five new students, two of which continued after the initial series of classes. I booked two corporate events and a wedding as a result, and I was offered a retirement party that I had to turn down because of another engagement. In the same time period, I also worked four women-only, performance-only parties, with similar audience size...[list of other statistics]." If you don't want to post raw data, then percentages are fine, but I don't believe anyone has come forward any numerics yet.

This isn't about passing judgment--it's about quantifying what's actually happening here. Who has numbers and who has handwaving? Yeah, it IS a lot of work to keep such records, but isn't that essential to running a business? Isn't it part of the job to make an attempt to measure what works and what doesn't? If you are spending a lot of time on gigs that don't pay off in terms of building your brand or if you should be making a bigger effort to get more of a particular type of gig, don't you want to know that?

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

There is a difference between asking someone to intentionally copy your non-native (and probably somewhat incorrect) pronunciation and reading a translation in English. The lyrics are a only problem if you are trying to pass off someone else's transliteration/translation work as your own, or if you are otherwise misleading your students about your true level of fluency.

They are always informed where I got the information from. Especially since I often use the caveat, "This is what I have read/was told/heard. It is true to the best of my knowledge and research, but if I find that I'm mistaken I will certainly let you know and update my materials.

I'm not arguing that people don't get good bounce from these gigs. I'm asking for actual numbers to quantify what that bounce is--not "a lot," not "I know it happens all the time," not "these gigs work out really well for me, and I enjoy doing them."

Well, you won't be getting them from me. I keep some pretty detailed records (most of my pro dancer friends think I'm hopelessly anal retentive), but I don't do tracking anywhere near the level described in your post. "These gigs work out really well for me, and I enjoy doing them" might not be a good enough reason for you, but it is for me. Not everything has to be able to be boiled down to be a quantifiable number in order for me to assign value to it. Your mileage obviously varies.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

I'm looking for someone to come back with something like, "I did eight of these gigs in the last six months, with an audience of roughly 15 people each. I handed out 105 business cards. From those gigs, I received five new students, two of which continued after the initial series of classes. I booked two corporate events and a wedding as a result, and I was offered a retirement party that I had to turn down because of another engagement. In the same time period, I also worked four women-only, performance-only parties, with similar audience size...[list of other statistics]." If you don't want to post raw data, then percentages are fine, but I don't believe anyone has come forward any numerics yet.

I consider our business metrics and understanding of our market to be proprietary and powerful information. What I post here on the board is my gift to the board. Actual metrics about ANY of our business process are not something we share with anyone. Please tell me why you feel you are entitled to demand this kind of information without providing anything in return? If in your opinion metrics ought to be kept and shared, do so. If you have no financial/mathematical metrics as reasons why you stopped / don't do these kind of events, why demand metrics of us? You have provided us with nothing but your feelings and opinions but reject them as valid currency in return. Based on the way the thread is going, I see no reason to think that IF these metrics were provided you would use them. Handwave all you like.. until you show us yours you have not proved to me that metrics have anything to do with your opinion.

And if you have resorted to this 'metrics' demand as a way to 'win an argument' based on the notion that the female of the species is spooked by math--- shame on you.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

I don't do these gigs, nor will I do gigs intended to embarrass the guest of honor, or gigs where the dancers are little more than sexy scenery. I'm not trying to be the top dancer in my area, and I'm fortunate enough that I can be selective about the performance opportunities I do take.

In this area the top performers ARE selective and don't do "embarrass Uncle Bob" gigs or "sexy wallpaper" gigs. Quite frankly they 1) don't interest me in the least and 2) aren't quality gigs- they don't PAY, they don't have the budget. The busiest dancers around here are the ones who CAN be selective about their gigs. ..g.:
When I have the opportunity to get paid well AND educate, even in a small sound bite sort of way I take it.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

...Who has numbers and who has handwaving? Yeah, it IS a lot of work to keep such records, but isn't that essential to running a business? Isn't it part of the job to make an attempt to measure what works and what doesn't? If you are spending a lot of time on gigs that don't pay off in terms of building your brand or if you should be making a bigger effort to get more of a particular type of gig, don't you want to know that?

One of my faults is that I am a very busy and scattered creative type who works REALLY hard to be better at dance, who takes Arabic at college, who teaches although mostly performs and who is very focused and BUSY. Doing dance is my profession and it pays my bills. I know what works for me and I know what has proven to be a waste of time. It's not my personality nor do I have the TIME to COUNT and NOTATE the number of business cards I hand out at each event for goodness sakes. Financial records are enough for me to keep. I'm not OCD about these sorts of other records (although I applaud Laura 2 and others whom I know), nor do I need to be to be successful in our area.
I charge enough for these events to make sense, *regardless* of whether I get students right away.
Yes, people contact me and ask me if I teach (or they ask at the event). To be honest sometimes they are too far out of my area. I consider it a positive thing for them, for the community and for dance for me to simply refer them to a quality instructor in their area. I end up getting performance gigs from doing these sorts of events as well. Oh, the horrors. ,r:;

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

I charge enough for these events to make sense, *regardless* of whether I get students right away.

Great bumpersticker.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

This isn't about passing judgment--it's about quantifying what's actually happening here. Who has numbers and who has handwaving? Yeah, it IS a lot of work to keep such records, but isn't that essential to running a business? Isn't it part of the job to make an attempt to measure what works and what doesn't? If you are spending a lot of time on gigs that don't pay off in terms of building your brand or if you should be making a bigger effort to get more of a particular type of gig, don't you want to know that?

...how did your dislike of "minis" on principle become an economic discourse on value intent? Just askin..g.:

Fascinating, as always!

Anala-your post made me snort!

Torbeau, I enjoy your writing style but I don't envy your cynical outlook on the human condition. It must be depressing to know how dumb the general public *really* are.

Originally Posted by laura 2

If I wanted to quantify everything I do down to the tiniest data point, I'd have stayed in marketing and IT instead of ditching that life to pursue dance full time.

How many people are honestly qualified to do that/have the capital to hire someone who can get those statistics? I don't think very many can. AFAIK, marketing surveys are planned out to get the kind of data they want and knowing how to calculate useful statistics is a skill.

At the end of the day, recruiting new students isn't primarily why you all are doing this mini lessons/intro workshops, correct? Detailed statistics would probably strengthen your argument about this side benefit, but I'm not sure if it's necessarily since everyone seems to have more important reasons to do these workshops.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't teach that much material, do you? Is it about whatever you consider one intro class to be (more or less)? While I'm not sure if I'd personally like some aspects of it (party favors in general aren't my thing), but I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with having an intro where you learn some history, learn some moves, learn that there's more to belly dancing than what you're learning, and having fun. This sounds like this should happen in an intro class for a regular series of classes.

Originally Posted by maurazebra

I consider our business metrics and understanding of our market to be proprietary and powerful information. What I post here on the board is my gift to the board. Actual metrics about ANY of our business process are not something we share with anyone. Please tell me why you feel you are entitled to demand this kind of information without providing anything in return? If in your opinion metrics ought to be kept and shared, do so. If you have no financial/mathematical metrics as reasons why you stopped / don't do these kind of events, why demand metrics of us? You have provided us with nothing but your feelings and opinions but reject them as valid currency in return. Based on the way the thread is going, I see no reason to think that IF these metrics were provided you would use them. Handwave all you like.. until you show us yours you have not proved to me that metrics have anything to do with your opinion.

And if you have resorted to this 'metrics' demand as a way to 'win an argument' based on the notion that the female of the species is spooked by math--- shame on you.

Thank you for making these excellent points.

Originally Posted by LiesaB.

...how did your dislike of "minis" on principle become an economic discourse on value intent? Just askin..g.:

I've also lost track of the argument. It seems we've drifted from "mini-lessons are detrimental to our field in principle because they undermine the credibility of bellydance as a performance art" through "the way some dancers teach mini-lessons (gifting hip scarves, providing scant information on the dance, encouraging attendees to think they've covered an abundance of material in just an hour) is detrimental to our field" to "mini-lessons are detrimental to our field if the dancers who do them can't prove they get more repeat business out of them than out of private performances without mini-lessons".

Can we isolate the fundamental concern here? Are we trying to measure an intangible like public perception of bellydance based on class enrollment arising from this type of gig?

My hen party gigs are 45 mins to an hour. I do a costumed performance for ten minutes, then I teach them some simple movements.

I explain that belly dance is a social dance in the ME that men and women of all ages do, but often in gender segregated environments. I explain that professional belly dancers are admired as good dancers, if they are, and the best ones are hired for weddings and special occasions unless people are extremely religious, but that most people would not want their daughter to be a pro dancer as she is seen as a bad person. I acknowledge that dichotomy. I tell them that belly dancers are commonly hired to entertain at weddings, and that the belly dancer leads in the bride and groom. I tell them that in some countries and at some times a dancer did special movements called shikatt that were supposed to give the bride and groom an idea of what to do on their wedding night (it's a hen party after all). And if I decide to teach them to zaghreet I'll tell them that it is a sound western belly dancers use to acknowledge another dancer's performance, but that in the ME it is really used for celebrations - especially things like engagements. So from my perspective a zaghreet is *entirely appropriate*.

I don't give them a hip scarf. I'd have no damn profit if I gave them a free hip scarf! I have been known to show them how to tuck a veil to create a filmy overtop that is easy to remove, but I don't generally do that any more (I might if the group was drunk and bawdy, I confess.)

My hen parties have generally been for nice middle class Kiwi girls in nice upper middle class homes (some Veeerry nice ones!), and there's always at least one person who has travelled to the ME before.

*delete*

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

Unlike hula (which has been an interesting study in how to reclaim your respect from a misinformed public), salsa, and the other dances you mentioned upthread, we have baggage they don't.

To return to the principles of the matter, I'd like to discuss the baggage you've mentioned. I can think offhand of three types of baggage that weigh down public perception of the dance (although I will point out that I disagree that hula and salsa don't continue to share one or more of them):

1) It doesn't take much skill.

You've already identified as one of your concerns that the "everyone can do this dance" mentality will result in mini-lesson attendees who think they've learned everything they need to know about bellydance. I agree that whenever the "everyone can dance" concept arises teachers need to be clear about the differences between "it's appropriate for anyone to do the basic movements of this dance socially", "people of most body types can potentially become highly skilled in this dance with enough effort", and "everyone can (or should) pursue the dance professionally or perform it", that last statement of course being inaccurate for a variety of reasons.

A teacher who is clear about these distinctions in the classroom can be clear about them in a mini-lesson. So my response to this concern boils down to the common wisdom that good teachers should teach and bad teachers shouldn't. Some people will run mini-lessons poorly, while you've already acknowledged that descriptions like Mahsati's prove that some people run them well and account for this issue.

2) It's all about the sex.

To my mind, promoting the information that bellydance is rooted in social dancing done by people of various ages and both sexes can only help us to overcome this misconception. When the GP is exposed exclusively to performance, usually by women in midriff-baring costumes, they have no reason to question the idea that the dance is primarily sexual in intent regardless of the quality of the dancing. Learning about how the dance can be used in a social setting can deflate the stereotype of the individual dancer as sexually motivated.

3) It's the dance of the enemy.

I've never encountered this opinion myself. Again, I think that dancing in a social context is more conducive to shaking up negative feelings about the Middle East than is watching an individual dancer perform because participation requires complicity. The wall between audience and performer in a performance setting does not necessarily overcome cross-cultural distrust as well.

What is wrong with a henparty minilesson and performance in and of itself? They are my favourite performance jobs. The amazing high paid high class performance gigs that Torbeau obviously has lots of don't exist here. I would actually say the hen party is the new private gig.

I would rather go out there and know that ten women had fun and saw and learned something about what belly dance really is, using ME music, in their own living room, than sit home and go "I am sorry I am above these gigs/these gigs do not generate enough repeat business for me to sully myself with them."

I've definitely piqued interest in BD classes and have probably been instrumental in bringing a student or two to my old school or to other dancers' classes. But in truth, I like it better that I can be reasonably confident that those women will say "yes, I've seen a bellydancer! She was really good! We had a lesson afterwards and it was really hard! She could do it and talk at the same time!". And that one or two of them will remember some of the things I told them about BD. There's all manner of crap out there being touted as BD and with me, it might have been very average on the world scale but it was well in the ballpark.

Our Western society offers no comparable avenue for women to celebrate their femininity together with music and dance. It's such a joy to see some of these women, most of whom would never venture to take a bellydancing class - smiling and laughing with their friends, and experiencing pleasure and pride (with a bit of embarrassment and a lot of fun) while moving their bodies in ways they never have before.

I think there is a great deal of integrity in being willing to introduce all women to the joy of this liberating, beautiful and dignified dance form, whether or not they choose to someday take it to the next level.

-Devora

[Please note that this comment is not meant to negate that men are certainly also performers of this dance.]