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own reasoned opinion, with which folks might
disagree. By writing this, I am not claiming to
be some kind of Authority. I highly recommend
reading other people's articles, such as the ones
I link to from here.
and advice about professionalism in Raks Sharki. I highly recommend reading any and all of these
pieces, particularly if you are a dancer just beginning a professional career.
Professionalism is good for the dance community as whole:
- strengthens relationships between dancers
- improves the reputation of Raks Sharki and Raks Sharki performers
- leads outsiders to more reasonable expectations about prices, scheduling commitments, and the
lack of sleaziness.
Professionalism is good for each dancer as an individual as well. Behaving with professionalism helps
an individual dancer:
- avoid feuds with other dancers
- avoid being caught in exploitive, sleazy, or otherwise unpleasant situations
- generate more business through referrals and testimonials
- and most importantly of all, maintain her self-respect.
not only will professionalism help you in the practical business of being a dancer, it's something you morally should do in any
case. I have written a separate and slightly technical article, here, about ethics in general, and how ethics applies to the
question of whether there is a moral requirement to behave with professionalism in Raks Sharki.
desperate to fill up space to reach a word quota; 2. thinks the audience has no common sense idea about x; or 3. intends to
analyze x from a microscopically pedantic perspective.
But I do appreciate essays that begin by specifying what the author means by the key topic in discussion. Here, it's necessary
to specify that I'm using the word "professionalism" in the common-sense usage: conduct and qualities that meet decent
standards within a particular job. If you have a fair command of English, you know what we're talking about, and that we're
talking about the same thing. Now that we're sure of that, we can work out a functional definition of "professionalism" by
specifying what particular behaviors are professional.
starting out, or because she has learned crummy habits from her teacher. The latter case is extremely common, so much so
that I want to flag "teaching unprofessional habits to students" as an unprofessional habit in itself. So:
1. Teachers, teach your students to behave with professionalism. You can do this explicitly, or simply by leading through
example. If your students don't notice your good example, that's unfortunate, but you've got to try.
2. Avoid sleaziness. This point is so huge I'm going to further subdivide it (I love these little nested bullets):
- Wear a costume that adequately covers the bumps and plumbing, including both buttocks (do I have to draw a
diagram?). Accidentally flashing the audience through ignorance or costume malfunction counts as being
unprofessional. I suspect that's happened to us all at some point; everybody makes mistakes; you learn your lesson and
make sure it doesn't happen again. But intentionally flashing the audience is severely unprofessional.
- When preparing to do a backbend, face a wall, the back of the room, or anyplace else where there are no people. If
there is no such safe spot, don't do the backbend. If you do a backbend with your front facing somebody who is
relatively far away, it's somewhat tacky. If you do a backbend with your front facing somebody who is close to you,
it's sleazy. If you do a backbend while on the floor with your front facing someone close by, it's downright obscene.
It's obscene in westernized consideration, and even more so to an Arabic audience - remember that floorwork itself was
banned in Egypt.
- Avoid most contact with audience members. This mostly applies to accepting tips, a subject on which there are varying
opinions. I think we can all agree that a man thrusting a tip - and hand - deep into a bra cup is not acceptable, but I've
seen dancers allow this kind of behavior. Some limited contact is acceptable - I agree with Shira's list, which includes
contact such as leading someone by hand to the dance floor. Interestingly, in the county that I live in (Montgomery
County, MD), it's actually illegal for an audience member to touch the dancer at all. I'm not a lawyer, but I assume this
means dancers can't touch the audience members either.
- Avoid sleazy gestures and body movements. This includes obviously sexual gestures such as lip-licking with eyerolls,
repeated pelvic thrusts aimed at a specific audience member, and rubbing your body. Movements such as high kicks or
doing a split, while acceptable in various other dances, are acceptable for bellydancers only while dancing a fusion piece
for an insider audience of dancers who will not misinterpret what they are seeing. Certain Turkish moves, such as
some strong upward pelvic thrusts, are acceptable to a Turkish audience, but appear obscene to an Arabic audience.
To some Arabs, repeatedly touching your own body means that access to your various body parts is available for the
right price.
- Do not shimmy while your legs are spread apart. Your feet should not be further out than shoulder width. Yes, I know
this point should have been included within the previous point, but it's a point so often violated it deserves an entire
website dedicated to it, let alone a bullet point. Shimmying with spread legs is unacceptable throughout the Middle
East. If no one in your audience is middle eastern, you won't offend anyone by doing this move. But you will spread
the bad habit to other dancers, one of whom will eventually offend someone.
- Never sit in a man's lap. Especially, do not sit in the club owner or manager's lap, no matter how much you want the
job.
- Would you believe that Shira includes the following on her list of sleazy behaviors: "Never place your breasts on either
side of a bald man's head and then shake them." I am tempted to make a joke that if a dancer is that clueless, I will also
give her the following sage advice: Never drop your pants on stage and moon the audience. But I've met Shira, and I
know that if she thinks it necessary to mention the bald-guy-breast thing, it's probably a frighteningly common
phenomenon. So, if you were in doubt about the bald-guy-breast maneuver, you may now rest assured: it's
unprofessional.
separate article to discuss the matter. Suffice it to say: professionalism entails maintaining (or if possible improving) the wage
standards of one's profession. Yes, dancing is fun. But if you have paid for classes to become proficient, you have incurred an
obligation to your teachers, your peers, and yourself to charge the going rate.
There are some venues at which performing for free is acceptable: charity performances for nursing homes, at benefits to raise
charity money, haflas, and at student recitals. An audition performance at a restaurant is typically free, but you should
schedule it in such a way that you are not replacing the regular dancer.
I have had many discussions on this topic with professional performers in many fields of dance and music, and I recognize
there is some room for disagreement on topics such as shows for non-profits, educational institutions, and friends.
Be aware: large non-profit organizations and educational institutions generally have a budget for special events. This means that
dancing at benefit or awareness events for a cause counts as a charity performance, but if you are dancing at a non-profit
organization's yearly dinner celebration, a University's culture night, or similar events, you should expect to be paid the going
rate.
My own feeling about dancing for free at a friend's party is this: you can volunteer to do so. Generally, I would only volunteer
to perform if it's the kind of party where you give gifts to the host; e.g., a wedding, a special birthday party, etc. Otherwise, if
a friend asks me to perform at their party for free, I tell them I will dance a little, but not in costume (and if other non-costumed
people are also dancing, of course I'll dance longer - because I enjoy dancing). In other words, it's alright as long as it's clearly
not a show, which would constitute a professional service rendered. If the person presses me, I explain that I have professional
obligations. If the person persists past this point, it means they do not respect my status as a professional performer.
can list her as one of your teachers. You can, of course, explicitly state that you've taken one or more workshops from
so-and-so. But phrases like "studied with" and "teachers include" imply that you've taken a number of classes and/or
workshops from a teacher. Once again, different professionals disagree about the exact criteria, but I suggest at least 6 weeks
of regular weekly classes as a rule of thumb.
Some individuals seem to think that the more famous a dancer is, the less time you need to spend with her before you can
claim her as a teacher. So if you spend 5 minutes in the same bathroom as Nagwa Fouad, you can put on your resume
"studied intensely with Nagwa Fouad." This is tremendously unfair to Nagwa's real students, whose bragging rights are
watered down. This is unfair to people who may be considering hiring you or taking classes from you, since they may end up
hiring you expecting Nagwa's style. Lastly but certain not least, this is unfair to Nagwa, because people who have seen *you*
dance will expect a similar style from Nagwa.
- If you have only been studying Raks Sharki for one year, chances are you are not ready to teach Raks Sharki to others.
There is not a magic number of years required to begin teaching, but let's be reasonable. Would you pay for guitar
lessons from someone who has only been playing guitar for one year?
- Do not teach moves which will cause injury to students. This used to be a very common phenomenon. For example,
don't teach students that some moves are always done on the right, and the muscles on the right side of the body should
be more developed than those on the left. If you aren't sure of the proper technique for a certain move - such as the
Turkish drop - don't teach it.
- As a teacher, it's okay to answer questions with "I don't know." Raks Sharki encompasses a huge number of moves
and styles from a huge number of places, and nobody can know it all. Don't make stuff up and pass it off as
"authentic". Teaching fusion, your own style, and your own innovations is perfectly fine, as long as your students are
clearly aware that that is what you are teaching. There is a lot of misinformation out there. As a teacher, you have an
obligation to try to provide the most accurate information possible. By the way, this doesn't mean that you need to
know everything there is to know about a certain topic before teaching or performing it. Be honest about the limits of
your knowledge, and willing to learn.
- Do not undermine your students. Gross violations of professionalism include: teachers afraid for their own gigs trying
to discourage students from going pro; undermining students' self-confidence with needless criticisms; and deliberately
teaching wrong information, for example to protect the teacher's own gigs.
individual dancers, for all the dancers in the community, and for the reputation of Raks Sharki to outsiders. Spreading rumors
can unfairly malign a dancer who isn't present to defend herself.
An example of respect applies to performers at a hafla, student recital, or other venue at which multiple artists will perform.
When not on stage, wear a cover-up. Otherwise, your costume distracts the audience from the performer who is on stage.
you are in costume or not. You know how little kids think that classroom teachers live in the school? Similarly, people tend to
think that if you are a dancer, your entire life has mystique, elegance, and charm. That's a nice image. If people see a
boisterous drunk or a slob, the slob doesn't match the image, so the slob can't be a very good dancer.
send me an email with any comments:
I'm in no way an Authority on this subject, I just felt the need to get some information and my opinion out there.
