[ssipes]

Hi TeenTahini:

Am I understanding correctly: you started taking classes this year and you are about to start teaching a beginning belly dance class?

If so, I guess my best tip would be --- don't do it. You've been taking lessons less than a year. I believe you when you say you're pretty good -- younger people tend to learn faster than older, and you probably have good natural ability.

But, with less than a year of formal study, you don't even know what you don't know yet. There is so much more to this dance form than being able to execute the individual steps. There are so many "teachers" that launch out with insufficient training. There is even a name for them -- "10-week wonders". Search the archives here and you'll learn about the whole phenomenon.

Most experienced, pro dancers look back at their development and acknowledge that they honestly weren't ready to teach until they had at least 5 years of serious training under their belts. And this comes from a pool of people who probably have higher than average aptitude for dance to begin with.

My advice is just enjoy being a young, beautiful dancer. Focus on practicing, taking as many classes and workshops as you can, learning from different teachers, learning all you can about Middle Eastern music, working on your performing skills, costuming yourself, and then go out and perform, perform, perform!

Teaching can come later.

Sedonia