And no shipping and handling charges!

I received a voicemail the other day that went exactly like this:

"Hi. I am having a party this Saturday and I would like to order two bellydancers. Please call me back at ....."

Um. Excuse me? You would like to order two bellydancers? You do know that bellydancers are people and you can't order a person, don't you?? You order things off of Ebay and Amazon, you do not order people.

I understand that most of the general public doesn't get that what I do is an art. I understand that, 95% of the time, I am hired as a "novelty act" to embarras the guest of honor, and not because the party host appreciates the ancient art form that is Middle Eastern Dance and wants to share that appreciation with his guests. I understand that - it comes with the territory of being a bellydancer that does "belly grams" and short party gigs.

But I would hope that potential clients, and the entire general public, at least see me as a person providing services that you HIRE, and not a good that is ordered and delivered to your party. At least understand that. You can't ORDER me, but I would be more than happy to be HIRED by you.

I didn't call this person back. Bad business move? Maybe. But it would have been a bad move for my ego if I allowed her to "order" me for her party.....

Twilight Zone (aka oversaturation)

This is something that happened to me a few months ago at a gig, and I posted about it on Bhuz.com. Someone just resurrected the post, which reminded me that I never blogged about this interesting event, so...here it is:

I was at a gig over the summer waiting to go on. It was at a big restaurant with two party rooms. I was standing outside my party room, ready to go, with my gold wings wrapped around me. I look down the hall to the other party room, and there is a bellydancer standing there, ready to go on, with her gold wings wrapped around her. My first thought was this was some cruel joke - I didn't realize there was another room and I thought the host was going to have us both come out together. Then, when I realized she was there for another party, I panicked that we were both at the right parties, that that maitre'd didn't just say to the hosts "the bellydancer is here" (not by name) and stick us in the wrong spots. We quickly introduced ourselves (she wasn't someone I knew and/or recognized - she said she was booked by an agency), and then my music started so I had to go.

But wow, in those first few seconds of seeing a bellydancer down the hall I was soooo confused. And really - is it so common to hire a bellydancer now that two out of two parties in the same place have one performing at the exact same time? I thought we were a special treat for the guests, because most people don't have much exposure to bellydance? Are we becoming trite or cliche? Have we oversaturated the market? Have we made ourselves un-special?

Anyone else have a twilight zone story to share?

Oh What a Feeling, When We're Dancin' on the Ceiling...

Well, not the ceiling, exactly. That would be kind of hard. But what about the chairs? Or the tables? Do you dance on them?

Being a born and raised American, I'm not so comfortable with the idea of dancing on the furniture (not to mention the act itself making me uncomfortable - I really loose all sense of balance when at least one foot is not firmly planted on the ground). To me, dancing on chairs and tables (and bars) has always seemed a little, well, raunchy. Exotic dancers, the Coyote Ugly girls...the list could go on, but you get what I'm saying.

But it's different will bellydancers - to some Arabs, anyway. Sometimes, they expect you to dance on their chair. And if they offer you their chair and you don't dance on it, they are actually insulted. When I used to dance with Amira Mor's company, there was a point in every gig when Amira would go around yelling for all of us to get up on the chairs - and so we did, 6 or 7 bellydancers, scattered throughout a restaurant or banquet hall, standing on chairs and shimmying their butts off. It was a sight, I'm sure. I always felt kind of weird doing it, although I have always been treated respectfully by the guests who have graciously given me their chairs.

Tonight was the first time I got on a chair since I left Amira's company. I was at a crazy 70th birthday party - so much fun, kids everywhere, adults dancing with me; it was a blast. Towards the end of the set, one of the kids (a young teenage girl) was just standing on a chair and dancing. And then one of the adults got on a chair. And then another. And then me. I jumped up there with them and they loved it. And I loved it to. It was so much fun, and I'm sure it made for some great pictures.

I think that, with the right crowd, dancing on the furniture can be a fun addition to a show. With the wrong crowd, it can be taken the wrong way, so you need to be careful reading your audience. I think I'll consider doing it more often, when I find the perfect moment, like tonight.

What do you think? Do you dance on chairs or tables? What has been your experience with the reaction of your audience? Any mishaps? Love it, hate it, tell me!

Best. Party. Ever.

Tis the season for weddings, and I've been dancing at quite a few lately. Two this weekend alone. I love dancing at weddings, but this weekend I had the opportunity to dance with the coolest guests at the best wedding ever (from a bellydancer's perspective, of course!).

I drove all the way down to Pt. Pleasant on the Jersey shore (on a Friday night - talk about a stressful situation! I was petrified that I'd get stuck in shore traffic and miss the wedding!). My husband and I decided to make a mini-vacation and spend the night on the shore. I was hoping for a good party - a rockstar party, if you will - to make the long drive worth while. What I got was better than any rockstar party I've ever danced for.

The crowd was awesome. It was a mix of Arabs and Americans, but everyone was up and dancing. The groom and all his friends were Arabic, and they did not sit down the entire show. They were up and dancing with me, singing along to all my songs (I had added some new pop songs to my set, and I'm so glad I did - they knew all the words and obviously loved them!). There was an older man (very old....) who was dancing along the sidelines, so I pulled him out to the dance floor while I danced my slow and sexy almost-taksim to Jemileh. He was getting his groove on right along with me! And then he gave me the best compliment a bellydancer could ask for....he said "Are you an Arab?" Me: "No!" Him: "You're not??? What are you??" Me: "I'm Italian!". Then he started cracking up (this is all on the dance floor during my show, mind you) and said "But you are SO GOOD! How can you be this good and not be Arab??" I melted.

I seriously felt like a guest at this party, I was having so much fun. I couldn't believe that this was my JOB - I was being paid to get out there and party with everyone else! It was truly an amazing time and I wish every party I danced at could be that awesome (although I don't know if I'd have the energy to keep up if they were ALL that crazy!). It made my trip down to the Jersey shore totally worth every minute stuck in traffic (oh yeah, and my husband and I had a nice time on our mini-vacay, which made it worth it too....;-).

Good luck to the bride and groom (and to all my brides and grooms who have really all been wonderful people). May you have a lifetime of love, happiness, and dance.