Teaching

I love belly dancing. I love performing. I am good at both. I LOVE teaching belly dance!   I think I am pretty damn good at it too.

During the pandemic, I couldn’t teach or dance with my dance sisters for almost a year. I kept up with my technique; as a matter of fact, my technique got better because I wasn’t dancing; I was drilling over and over. Dancing alone sucks.

Our belly dance style is called…stay with me now, because its name keeps changing to make everyone happy. Fat Chance Belly Dance Style Global Group Improvisation Dance. Whew! When I started belly dancing 18 years ago, it was simply called American Tribal Style Belly Dance or ATS.®️

Whatever you want to call it, our style of dance is group improv, meaning we don’t choreograph anything, not even for performances. Our students learn moves, cues, and transitions. There is one leader and the rest of the dancers play follow the leader, then switch leaders. Sometimes we dance so tightly people can’t believe it is improv. That’s the magic and beauty of our dance form. 

I’ve found over the last 17 years of teaching that everyone learns at their own pace. Some with a dance background pick it up quickly, while others with no dance background can learn and move up in their own time. 

Some people are dedicated, practice, take and make corrections, while others get discouraged if they can’t get it right away. Some think they are better than they are and want to move up quicker than they are ready. Some dancers don’t get the whole group improv thing. They let their egos and diva-like personalities get in the way of learning and becoming a dance sister. None of those people were around for too long; don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. 

Last night Kathleen and I worked with two of our students Maria & Trish. Maria has written about her 4-year long belly dance journey on her own blog Full Moon Fiber Art. I love reading each blog post and how she evolved. 

Maria came to class after being in the audience of one of our fundraiser shows. After the show, she decided she wanted to do “that.” The “that” was not only learning to dance but have confidence and an “attitude” like we had on stage. Most of all, she saw that we were having a blast.

Maria’s first class was a big step for her outside of her comfort zone. It was courageous to show up, not knowing what to expect with zero dance experience. For me, she was a blank canvas ready for us to teach the right way from day one. 

Maria came week after week and slowly but surely got better each week. In the beginning, Maria could not step on the beat, it seemed she had no rhythm, but she did; she just never used it before. I kept telling her every week, “Don’t worry, it will come when it gets into your muscle memory.”

Trish started classes with all of the New Years’ resolution folks who come to the first class of the new year like bats out of hell. The 22 new students dwindled each week. It’s much harder than it looks, and people get impatient and don’t like when they can’t “get it.” They get super pissy and annoyed. It’s week one, for fucks sake; give it a chance. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Trish had balancing issues and didn’t know how to ground herself, let alone do turns. Week after week, like Maria, Trish slowly improved and moved up.

Last night was like light bulbs going off all of the place for the two of them. Kathleen and I can say the same thing about a move repeatedly for years, but one day it suddenly makes sense. 

Maria and Trish both commented on one of the things that we were working on that, “I never heard that before” or “I never realized that’s what your hands, feet, arms or legs are doing!” Kathleen echoed what we have told them both for years, “We’ve said it before; you just weren’t ready to hear it before.” Ah…they get it. 

These ladies worked hard on their technique and last night showed the biggest improvements ever. With each move of the week we teach, we start breaking it down with feet, legs, hips, chest and arms, hands and chin, finally looking up with a pleasant look on your face. Smiling is a tough one to get people to do. It isn’t hard for hams like Kathleen and me. Resting bitch face is not a good look when you are belly dancing. Lol!

Last night we also worked on musicality and the energy that comes out of you when you are dancing. We worked on their zilling and what they needed to do to improve. In Maria’s case, she needs to buy new finger cymbals or zills. The ones she has been using are fine for beginners just learning, but it’s time for her to upgrade to an “instrument” if she wanted her zilling to sound like ours. She tried mine on and heard the difference herself. ☺️

My face hurt from smiling because they got it, all of what we have been saying. There was so much excitement in the air. I was like a proud fucking peacock with both of their accomplishments they achieved in a couple of hours.

The thing about teaching, it makes us better dancers too. We have to do things correctly all the time. There is no laziness or excuses. We ourselves become students from teaching our students. We always say that all of us are students…everyone has things they need to work on and improve. It’s never-ending grasshopper…

Yes, I love to dance, but teaching is so fulfilling, like watching a seed that you plant grow into a beautiful flower. I really can’t tell you how much I loved seeing the smiles on their faces after class and how wonderful all the hard work on our part as teaches pays off! Yip! 

Hopefully, soon we will be able to open our classes up to the public again. Having brand new students not only adds new energy to the dance space but also makes our current students better dancers because they are examples and big sisters to the “newbies.” Yip!

Great job last night ladies…I can’t wait until next weeks classes. 🙂