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.....

PSA: Mind your socks

Just a public service announcement to my fellow performing bellydancers freezing their butts off on the way to gigs this winter....

If you wear socks that will leave any sort of a mark on your leg, roll them down or take them off well before you arrive at your gig!!

Nothin' says "NOT sexy" like a tube-sock mark on your calf.

That is all.

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!

Ballet for Bellydancers is BACK!

Back by popular demand - Jennifer Alvarado will be teaching another "Ballet for Bellydancers" workshop. The last workshop was such a success (and sold out!) that we had to do it again!! Don't believe that ballet can be fun?? Read HERE to see what everyone had to say about it last time!

Here's the info:

September 21, 2008

Jennifer will be teaching a 2 hour workshop including:

~ Barre exercises and center floor excercises focusing on proper posture, proper arm and hand positioning and proper foot placement;

~ Core and lower body strengthening and conditioning;

~Traveling movements, including turns and spins

If you attended the first Ballet for Bellydancers workshop, you are of course welcome to come again! Jennifer will be doing some of the same exercises, as well as working on new things, so it will be a great experience for new and old students alike!

Registration begins at 12:30

Class begins at 1:00

Workshop will be held at Queens Dance Project

34-57 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Bayside, NY

Prepay : $30At the door:$40 (space permitting)

Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to improve your dance!!

Talk to me about your restaurant sets....

This summer, my intermediate students have been working on the elements of an American Cabaret show. We've gone over the basic parts - entrance, veil work, audience participation, prop and/or chiftetelli, drum solo, finale (of course while zilling all the while).

I know this is the old school AmCab way of doing things, but this is how I've always structured my sets, and I'm the first to admit that I'm an AmCab girl all the way (veil wrapping and all!). But what are the other ways to structure a set?

How do you do it? What style of bellydance do you do? Does your style affect your set structure? I know that the NYC scene is very AmCab with heavy turkish influence, and most of the sets I've seen follow my format, or they just do a bunch of pop songs to get the crowd up and dancing (no real "set"). But I'm curious to know what else is out there! Talk to me about your set, please!

How old is too old??

Kind of a spin off to my previous "How young is too young?" post a few months ago....



Lately, I've been getting a lot of comments on my age - good comments, ones like: "Oh, I'm so happy you are young! The last bellydancer we had was really old!" or from a DJ: "Can I have your card? I am always getting requests for bellydancers but the only dancers I know of are so old!"



So, I have two questions: First, does the general public (GP) have a different perspective of what "old" is? When they think "bellydancer" do they think 20-something hot chick with perky boobs and a golden tan? Does the GP think that anything close to 40 is old? Because, I've got to tell you - I have yet to see a website of a 70 year old woman advertising herself for bellygrams. When I think "old", I think grandma-style. And while I, as a dancer, can appreciate that bellydancers get better with age, I am aware that the GP doesn't feel the same. But I am concerned that the label "old" means something totally different for me as it does for the GP.



Which leads me to my second question - will I know when I'm too old?? As I am about the leave the realm of the 20-somethings and embark on a new decade, I worry about "aging out" of this dance, which has also become a pretty lucrative career as well. I mean, I understand that no one wants an old lady dancing at Uncle Bob's birthday party, but will I still think I'm "young enough" when others think I'm past my prime? I don't want to turn into one of those dancers that people complain to me about - the dancer who thinks she's still "got it" when everyone else snickers behind her back.

What do you think? How old is too old, and when should a dancer hang up her bedleh?