Brain-ella - The Belly Dancing Brain

Brain-ella – The Belly Dancing Brain

Recently I was reminded of one of the times I was the MC for a belly dance event. During the 1990s I was the MC for a monthly showcase in Studio City at The Marrakesh restaurant and sometimes would MC other events.

I unexpectedly ran into Anisa earlier this month at a non-belly dance show in North Hollywood.  Anisa produces the dinner show King Tut Returns every October. This year marks her 18^th anniversary of the show. Incredible!  Time flies by too fast.

I was the MC for the show the first couple of years. The first year I MCed as Elvis and second year I was myself except that the show started off with my friend Brain-ella.  Yes, Brain-ella.  She was yet another of my crazy creations, this one especially for Halloween.

I found a high quality rubber-like brain at a store - not one of those cheap plastic kind of brains. Since brains are brains and have no limbs or a torso; the only way I could give her a belly dance costume was wrapping a silver sequins belt around her middle. I then sat her on a stool on the stage.

The script for the show is either lost or stuck in a box in storage somewhere but basically it went like this:

“Hello, I am Brain-ella; the belly dancing brain. Yes, I know I don’t have legs and arms to dance, but I do have great rhythm, I can even shimmy if I try real hard.  Don’t you love my costume?  I designed it myself.

Brain-ella is not my real name. It’s my dance name. We belly dancers always have a dance name. I did consider other dance names such as:  Sarah-Bellum, Thala-mus, and my favorite: Medulla Oblongata.  

Please do enjoy the show.”

I bet the belly dancers that happen to also be brain surgeons reading this are just doubled over in laughter right now.

Unfortunately I don’t think I have any pictures of Brain-ella, but I do have some great memories.  Have a great Halloween! 

Brain-ella looked something like this, but more awesome...with a very nice sequin belt.

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Be Easy To Work With

Speaking as a presenter and producer it is important for you as a performer and teacher to be easy to work with.  

If you have reached the point in your belly dance career that you are now being hired for teaching and/or performing it's extremely important to act like a professional and one of the hallmarks of a pro is to be easy to work with. What does that mean?

No drama
Be prepared
Don't constantly call the employer and bug them
Don't be demanding
Roll with the punches
Offer to help
Send a thank you note
Be nice and friendly to everyone at the event
Don't bug the employer/presenter at the event about little things. 
(I really hate this! Belly dancers who bug me about small stuff when I'm already under stress at an event and dealing with staff and 50 dancers and last minute stuff and then they start pulling on me about how they can't find their shoe or something stupid like that... sorry, got carried away.)

If you do the above you will likely be hired back again.  
If you don't do the above you will likely not hired again.  And the presenter may tell others you were hard to work with.  You don't want that. 

This applies to stars and those that want to be stars. We as presenters of events have long memories. And trust me, we remember the easy people and the difficult people.

Be easy!  (to work with that is...)

Suzy Evans
BellyDance.org

Here's a photo of Sadie.  Sadie is easy to work with.
Be like Sadie!

Developing Great Stage Presence

Developing great stage presence mostly comes with years of experience performing in front of an audience. 

As I will say here and a million more times practice is what will give you confidence and confidence leads to a great stage persona. 

One of the best things you can do to develop stage presence is to watch and study belly dancers that exude stage presence. Here are some to watch: Delilah, Dalia Carella, Amaya, Katia and Alexandra King.  

You'll notice that they can make the most simple moves so amazingly interesting!  You'll also notice it is their personality shining through their performance.  

And this is one exercise you can work on... get your personality to show up in your performance. 

Practice "moods" for performances.  Dynamic, shy, silly, seductive, aloof, charming, outrageous,,, you get the idea.  Be sure to practice in front of a mirror or tape yourself.  Often times you can practice a mood and find out it's not translating to what you thing it is. You don't want your audience to misinterpret your mood. 

Be careful about that sexy or seductive look, often it just looks like you are pissed off.  Practice that look in a mirror. 

In all performances - smile!  Unless of course you're doing a specific theater piece where it would break character.  You can't beat your million dollar smile!

I would highly recommend Star Power with Amaya DVD to help with your stage presence.  Click Here to check it out. 


I'll write more about stage presence, as it is one of main factors to becoming a star in belly dance. 

Delilah defines great stage presence
Photo from the 2nd Awards of Belly Dance

Top 3 Tips for Belly Dancers

This month's top 3 tips for belly dancers:
1.  Practice free style dance for 15 minutes 3 times a week.  Dance alone and dance purely to the music.    You want to get the music into your head and into your body. 
2. Try a different hair style this month.  It doesn't have to be dramatically different, just take some time and play with your hair.  Add extensions, put a little curl, use a hair decoration, highlights,, you get the idea. 
3. Your feet:  Are your feet noticeable in your dance?  Your feet are what grounds you in the dance but they should not draw attention. Practice this a few times this month: Think about how your movements are drawn up from the ground into your feet and then travel up threw your body.  
Suzy Evans
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Beautiful Photo of Mia
by Michael Baxter

You Are the Ambassadors of Belly Dance

No matter what level of dance you are currently at; from taking your first lessons to a professional who has been belly dancing for many years: It is you that are the representatives; the ambassadors of belly dance.  It is you that is representing this beautiful dance form to the general public. So how can you be an ambassador to belly dance? One of the best ways is to look to one of the top belly dancers, a dancer you admire. Some great examples: Jillina, Sadie, Ava, Kaya, Aziza, Ansuya, Zahra Zuhair, Sahra, Angelika, Leyla Jouvana, or anyone you personally admire.  How does this dancer conduct herself?  They act like a professional would: friendly, helpful, humble, kind and living the golden rule. They behave and conduct themselves as if they were a public figure. Their performances lift up the art of belly dance, they do not drag it down. Their performances are either choreographed or if impromptu they are well thought out and rehearsed. When on stage or at a restaurant or nightclub they assume that there are people in the audience that are seeing belly dance for the first time and therefore give a performance that is classy and graceful, not a performance that would downgrade the publics perception of belly dance and belly dancers.  It's not just a responsibility; it is also your duty to conduct yourself this way. All of us in this art form are depending on you to come through for all of us!  For those of us that have been in the dance for many years, we can tell you how hard we fought ugly stereotypes in the early years. We don't need belly dance synonymous with stripping or pole dancing.  Is ballet or modern dance ever compared to stripping?  Don't we in belly dance deserve the same respect other forms of dance receive?   -  Suzy Evans

Leyla is a wonderful Ambassador to Belly Dance.  Are you?

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Keep it Short

"Always keep them wanting more."  
Far too often belly dancers performances are too long.  I can count on 1 hand the numbers of dancers that I can avidly watch for more than 10 minutes. Most belly dancers should keep their routines to no more than 7 minutes.  Even if you have been given a 10 or 15 minute spot on a program, that does not mean you should fill it. 


Some years ago I was offered a 15 minute performance spot.  I felt obligated to fill the entire 15 minutes.   That was a mistake.  Not only did the audience get bored during the performance, but I did too.  


Be sure to add variety, layers and changes of pace in the routine.  If you are newer to the dance, there is nothing wrong with doing a 4 or 5 minute piece.  You want to be comfortable in your routine.  


If you keep your dance short, your audience will want to see more, but don't give it to them, it may be stepping just over the line. Learn how to gauge the length of your performance. Better to dance 1 minute shorter than 1 minute too long and start losing the interest of your audience.    

Tamra Henna in Belly Dance Sensations

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Sharing is a Good Thing

If you're like me, you are on many belly dancer's email lists.  And most of us are on FaceBook, Twitter as well as other social sites.  
In this "its all about me" dance, I'd like you to think of others and share your dance sister's information with your friends on FaceBook and elsewhere.  When you get a newsletter you like in your email box, why not share it?  If everyone did this, then you too would reach many more people as your information would also be shared. What comes around goes around. I have been sharing newsletters for some time now on my own FaceBook account. And I can tell you it is appreciated. 
If you as a dancer send out your own newsletter, remember to turn on the "sharing" function, as I often get emails without it and therefore cannot share your newsletter. 
"Sharing" costs you no money but gives you tons of goodwill dividends. 
Just think of all that good Karma coming back to you!

See....kids sharing back in the good ol' days

Suzy Evans   
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Keith Drosin Belly Dance Photographs

We are looking for photographs taken by Keith Drosin.  Keith was an amazing photographer who specialized in belly dance photography.  Most of his work was in black and white but there are color photographs out there in the belly dance realm.  IAMED will be adding a gallery to the BellyDance.org website dedicated to his work which will also serve as a memorial to him. He primarily took photos in the areas he lived in - New Mexico and Los Angeles. Keith was one of my photographers at the Belly Dance Awards shows.  He did a number of shoots for me in L.A. and took photos - which have become famous - of belly dancers such as Jillina  and Ansuya.  His photos graced the front of the flyers for the Belly Dance Awards shows since the first show.

My friend Keith Drosin passed away in August 2000, coincidentally on the same day as the 4th Awards of Belly Dance.

While I have a number of his photos, I want the gallery to be as complete as possible. If you or you know of anyone who had their photo taken by Keith, please have them contact me through the BellyDance.org website.  We do not need hard copies, they can be emailed. Please share this post and get the word out.

Thank you,
Suzy Evans
BellyDance.org

Ansuya by Keith Drosin

More than 100 Belly Dancers

I was just looking at the long list of belly dancers who have been a part of IAMED.  They have either performed in one or more of our stage shows and were then on the DVD version of the show or they are teachers on one or more of our instructional DVDs.

I counted at least 117 solo belly dancers and dance companies/troupes. Some danced only once, some numerous times.  Some like Jillina and Jamileh performed both solo and with their dance company. 

117 + is an impressive number of belly dancers, but as many of them that have performed or taught, I would love too add more.....More of our previous belly dancers and more new talent.  I am always looking for new great talent.  If you think you are that new great talent, send me a link to your performance videos. 

Suzy Evans

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