A Comparison of Live and Videotaped Belly Dance Competition

Competition is a great way to push the limits of your ability, expand creativity, get unbiased feedback on what you are doing well and not so well, get recognition for your talent, and get support from a community of people who are interested in the same thing. With the rise of technology, it’s no wonder [...]

Don’t Compete With Others. Compete With Yourself.

The theme of the week for me seems to be competition. Twice while vending, I was greeted by other vendors with hostility, rolled eyes, and competitive remarks. It seems that those people haven’t learned that other people are not their competition. Their business doesn’t succeed or fail based on what someone else does or knows. [...]

Five Tips for Making the Most Out of Your Contest Appearance

The two most frequently given reasons for entering a contest is to 1) become a better dancer by working towards a goal and getting feedback from professional judges, and 2) to obtain credentials to launch or bolster a teaching or performing career. Entering a contest is certainly one way to achieve both those objectives, so [...]

Taaj Sweeps the Competition by Little Suhaila

Q: Well Taaj, 2005 is looking like an incredible year for you. Your students have swept the east coast competition world. You must be very proud. You had two students in Shakira’s Personal Best Competition in Columbus, Ohio win the Silver and Gold categories. Then your students won first place in every category except Troupe [...]

Dancing for a Judge

Dancing for a contest is different from dancing for a restaurant audience, a theater event, or for yourself. When you are dancing for a judge, you are dancing for points. You need to meet the criteria that you are being judged upon. If you don’t do that, you won’t score highly no matter how lovely [...]

Hill and Veil Win for Reema

Hill and Veil is a student belly dance troupe from Virginia Tech. They made their first contest appearance at the East Coast Classic in 2006. They were first-time competitors who went into it with an attitude of, “Let’s have some fun.” The founding member of Hill and Veil competed the year before as a soloist, [...]

Belly Dance Contests Aren’t for Everyone

I was so impressed with judging my first belly dance competition and then sponsoring the East Coast Classic that I used to recommended that everyone try a contest. With a bit of experience behind me, I realize now that belly dance contests aren’t for everyone. I used to think that contests were not for goddess [...]