SETTING DANCE GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR

 With 2015 looming on the horizon, most of us are in a flurry of wrapping up our un-finished business of the past year, while at the same time making New Years Resolutions. Setting goals, and putting them down on paper- or on your computer screen- is definitely a way of making them real.

Take a few minutes to sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk with yourself, deciding upon exactly what you want to accomplish in the next year- and how to go about getting it!  What you want is clarity in your desires, permission to achieve them, and allowing the time to make them real.

 Here’s a few ideas I’ve used when making dance-oriented…or any kind… of New Year’s Resolutions.

 Take A Personal Inventory

Have a stroll down Memory Lane, and   see what you accomplished. Seeing what has worked for you in past year. Did you accomplish everything that you wanted to?

 If not, why not?

 Looking at what you did in 2014 will help you to define and refine what you want to do in the coming year. Avoid making the same mistakes!

Write It Down, Say It Out Loud

Once you decide on what goals you’d like to work on, say it out loud-to yourself and others, and write them down!

  These former thoughts are now no longer just free-floating ideas in your head…and that’s a good thing!

 But remember, now that they’re tangible, there needs to be follow-through, and that’s where most of us hit stumbling blocks: the goals aren’t going to manifest themselves- you have to help them along their path to becoming reality!

  Take Baby Steps

 Break up all of your long-term goals into specific, shorter, bite-sized tasks, so they won’t be as daunting.

Were your goals and resolutions from last year a little too gung-ho, or maybe a tad lofty?

 Dreaming big has always been a personal mantra of mine… but then I have to step back and remind myself that if I’m reaching for the stars, I’m the one who needs to build the spaceship!

There are many ways of building your personal rocket to the stars- it starts with an idea, the idea gets fleshed out, and then put into action.   Know that any stage of this process might have to go back to the drawing board. Taking baby steps is the key here, and so is giving yourself some wiggle room- allow yourself the kindness of putting your dreams into action without abandoning your plans if they don’t go exactly the way you wanted them to. You can always re-evaluate your goals and go to Plan B- or Plan S, if need be!

On a personal note, writing The Belly Dance Handbook was actually a New Year’s Resolution that I made in 2007, for the New Year of 2008… and, of course it didn’t come out that year!  The idea had been floating around in my head already for years, but that’s all it was until I put it into action, and took the appropriate baby steps  to get it done.  2008 was the year I started this blog, and it was all about testing the waters and laying the frame work  for actually writing- and finishing- my book.  The book took a good six and a half years  to finish,  but I kept adding it onto my resolutions for the next step, the next phase, the next year. As of  January 11,  2015, it’s been out for a year!

 Get Specific

 Were your resolutions too vague? “Practice more” is a great goal, but it’s kinda broad. Setting a more specific goal– and allowing yourself to re-consider and re-set it as needed might be easier to make that goal a reality.

 For instance, instead of “Practice More”, you might want to decide to drill on your own for at least fifteen minutes a day…only for the month of January. Put this into your calendar, and just do it. It’s only thirty-one days, after all.  If this idea is working well   for you at the end of January, then by all means continue it through February…and if it works well in February, continue it through March.

  Some things work better on paper than they do in real life. If your goal is not working for you, don’t beat yourself up, just re-define it. Don’t abandon it, amend it! Pick something do-able, something that will work with your schedule.  You’re not going to get penalized for being unable to commit to your original goal, you simply want to make it something you can do!

  Maybe your goal needs to become “Practice Fifteen Minutes A Day, Three Times A Week” or “Home Drilling Sunday Mornings, 10am-11am”.  Perhaps   an every day practice won’t work with your life- it was a good idea, but many of us are not full time dancers; we’re college students, moms, or career women in addition to being dancers.  In order to fulfill your goals on practice, make those sessions something special, not   drudgery, cause you’ll only wind up putting it off. Make your practice like a hot date…with yourself! Soon, you’ll find out that your “relationship” with dance is blooming, because it was allowed to grow naturally, over a period of time.

 Reward Yourself

 I’m a damn champion at holding personal contests (with prizes, of course) or dangling a carrot in front of myself so I can get a reward for something I wasn’t all that crazy about doing.  Maybe I’m easily duped, but it seems to work every time!  That’s how I finished   The Belly Dance Handbook.   I’d give myself a small reward every time I completed a chapter…or an entire book edit.

 I make “deals” with myself constantly on a smaller level to help stick to my every day goals as well.  Sometimes they’re pretty crazy, but that’s how I move forward.  My life is constantly all about small challenges and rewards.  I’m always   holding self-imposed   mini-challenges like “If I sew all the elastic onto these ten sets of finger cymbals for my class, then I can get that new MAC lipstick!”  Or  “ If I walk twenty minutes a day, every day, after three months, I’m allowed to not walk for a week!” But the thing is, by the time I had walked every day for three months, it was a habit, not a burden… and if I didn’t walk for a day, I actually missed it!

Believe In Yourself

 New Years Resolutions and goals in general are about figuring out- with your mind, body and soul- what is best for you as a dancer.  They’re optimistic and they often seem far-fetched.  But, as they say, if you’re gonna dream, dream big!

Perhaps for 2015, your first Resolution should believe in yourself as a dancer. If you give yourself permission to do that, then everything else you decide to achieve will fall into place easily.  

 I believe in you…you can do it!

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 Get a signed copy of The Belly Dance Handbook: A Companion For The Serious Dancer here: www.princessfarhana.com/shop.htm

 

Photo & Graphics: Maharet Hughes

DAMN YOU AUTOCORRECT...BELLY DANCE STYLE

I adore my iPhone, even though I’m… ahem… of the age where I can recall all too clearly thinking that FAX machines were sheer magic. In fact,  when I got my phone, my teenage niece had to set my phone up for me, and I’m reasonably sure I’m only using it to a tiny fraction of it’s potential. There are many wonderful apps and tricks to be learned and used.

 We all know that spell check and autocorrect is of the best – and worst- features on smart phones.  There are the funny, odd word substitutions that autocorrect makes as a matter of course; for instance, a friend recently texted me asking if she could borrow my  “oink” veil… and I instinctively knew she meant my pink one!  And since I often use a lot of “colorful language” in my texts, my phone decides to substitute words like ducking instead of the he rhyming oath I’m attempting to type!

 But I think really there needs to be a special  Damn You Autocorrect site for belly dancers only.

  If my  own phone is any indication, many words that are “indigenous” to belly dancers – including common Arabic terms and casually used dancers slang- magically start appearing instead of the “every day” English words I’m trying to use.  

 I can’t be the only one with this problem, right?

 For instance, when I was texting to a neighbor about our parking situation, the word “garage” became Ghawazee.  She had absolutely no clue what I was writing about!

   If I  discuss grabbing a cab, “taxi” always  turns into taxim,  “have to” magically becomes hafla and when I attempt to write  “ I said”, the word Saidi appears.

When I tried typing “infinite” autocorrect decided I was really trying to say infidel;  “being” immediately becomes bling-bling and the word “because” routinely turns into beledi.  

  When texting about  a dish I was bringing to a  ( non belly dance) pot-luck party, “make some”  became maksoum;   the word  “easy”  it  always  becomes  Egypt ,  “purchase”  comes up as Persia and when I  give directions  to my house, “turn ”  morphs into Turkey.  The words "still" or "silly" become zills and  whenever I write the word "about", it turns into Abdou ... as in Fifi!

  Naturally, I’ve learned to live with these silly substitutions, but  they still make me- and most of the people I’m texting-laugh out loud.The one thing I cannot understand though, is that no matter how many times I write my stage name, for some reason, autocorrect never thinks it’s valid.

The general public might think  of me as Princess Farhana... but to my phone, I’ll always be Princess Farmhand!

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 Get an autographed copy of The Belly Dance Handbook  or my memoir Showgirl Confidential: My Life Onstage, Backstage And On The Road here:

http://www.princessfarhana.com/shop.htm

Photo and graphics by Maharet Hughes

FOUR MISTAKES DANCERS MAKE ON THE INTERNET

Often, there is so much administrative work that needs to be done to keep up a healthy dance career that I find myself thinking,

“ Shouldn’t I be dancing instead of sitting at a my computer?”

In a perfect world, the answer would be a big, resounding yes. But in the real world, most dancers are the stewards of their own career.

We’re our own booking agents,  public relations  staff, travel agents, and interns. Most of us  don’t have “management” to rely on,  we’re  our own bosses…and that means we also wind up doing all of the work!  For many dancers, this part of their career is something they don’t bargain for when they were dreaming of dancing professionally. But  doing  this  often tedious work  is really what enables us to be successful at what we really want to do, which is dance!

  Lately, I’ve been getting  a lot of emails  from dancers approaching me with marketing and promotion questions.  I decided to do a series on this blog answering  some of the most frequently-asked questions  I receive, so here’s  Part One:  Four Mistakes  Dancers Make  On The Internet.

1)  YOU DON’T HAVE A WEBSITE

 I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you need a professional website.

 It’s important for many reasons- it allows people to see what you look like, read your bio, access dates you’ll be performing and classes or workshops that you’re teaching, buy your products and services, and to get a feel for what you do.  The people who visit your site will be able to “see” you, to contact you, and to take you seriously, realizing that you truly are an artist and businessperson, not just a dabbler. It doesn’t need to have all the latest bells and whistles, but it does need to impart the who, what, where and why of your dance career.

“But I have a Facebook page!”  I can hear you cry, “Isn’t that good enough?” No, it’s not.  Not if you’re serious about your career.

Ok, a Facebook page is better  than nothing,  but  you  still need a website!  Your website and your Facebook page should be linked.  If  for some insane reason  you  don’t have a Facebook account, this brings us to:

2)  YOU DON’T HAVE A PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is awesome in general, but it’s especially great for connecting with your fans, students, potential students and/or sponsors or for selling costumes, engaging in spirited discussions, shop talk and conversations about dance history, and for joining groups that will inform you about your area of interest.  These interactions are so important for our careers!

If you aren’t  actively involved in social  media, you’re doing your dance career a  serious disservice.

Social medial equals free marketing!

  Facebook, Twitter and Instagram  really are where it’s happening, they’re terrific  promotional tools which  can  link you to others who share your interests. I know it sounds trite, but it’s true.  If you don’t have accounts on these top sites,  take the time to set one up and learn how to use them. They’re fun, yes, but they’re also extremely important  to you as a professional.   Students, fans, show producers, casting directors and potential  clients  for private parties look for  dancers on social media all the time. You can get hired, get professional  advice, learn about auditions, acquire students ,new fans and buy costumes via social media.

If you’ve been holding off on this, now’s the time to explore it…which brings us to:

3) NOT USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Many dancers literally shoot themselves in the foot while using social media.

One common mistake is to set up a page on  (any) social media site, and then let it die a long, slow death by not doing anything with it.  Ok, so you set up a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page…and   you can’t see the big deal about it.  You’re not so happy with it because you have like, four followers…. and you’d much rather be playing Candy Crush Saga or Bubble Witch or whatever the hell is the new addictive time-waster.  Right?  You can’t see what’s so great about having a dance-oriented professional page, cause nothing is happening.

 But did you think  to yourself  “If I Build It They Will Come?”

Nice fantasy, but that isn’t how it works! If you’re using social media for marketing, you need to put the necessary time into your page, or…pun intended…it’s gonna go belly up really quickly.

 “But I don’t have the time!”

This is a common complaint many dancers have.

 Make the time- remember,  social medial equals free marketing!

  Do some posts and interactions with your morning coffee…  you can even set an alarm  so you don’t go over ten or fifteen  minutes and get sucked into a rabbit hole. “Like” a few pages or make some comments while you’re waiting for dance  class to start… log on from the dentist’s office, while the baby’s asleep, at a dog park, a show, the airport or in line at the grocery store …where, I daresay, you’re  probably already shimmying up a storm, practicing as your groceries are being bagged!

 In order to get an audience, you have to engage an audience. Like courtship, you have to woo people to your page.  Invite people to your page(s) and make sure there is something interesting and fun for them to enjoy…so they will be sure to check back for more updates. 

 Don’t blast out event  promotions non-stop, it will be off-putting to your followers…though you do need to be consistent with announcing a gig or a class, cause posting one time isn’t going to cut the mustard.  People visit many different pages, and their newsfeed is getting updated by the second  by all of their friends, as well as all the pages they like. 

That means your  event post will come and go in the blink of an eye, so you definitely have to post multiple times. Just don’t over-do it, and please, for the love of god, don’t tag people  who wouldn’t be interested, or whom you know won’t be able to come to your show.  Inviting people from other states or countries  won’t help your event- cause they will not be able to attend and will just get annoyed cause you’re being spammy.

  Engage with  others by  “liking” and commenting on their status posts, be personal and personable!  Make sure your social media interactions find a balance between the fun stuff and hard-core promo or people will start tuning out.  Lots of pictures are always good,  in fact,  sometimes I’m kinda shocked by how few dancers post   pictures…cause they’re pretty much like digital calling cards! If you look sparkly and appealing, others will react favorably. The phrase “Every Picture Tells A Story” comes to mind.

3) OVER-SHARING ON SOCIAL MEDIA

  Ok, so I’ve just told you to  post a lot of stuff…pictures, event announcements, videos, etc.   But if you have a  fan page or group set up just for   your dancing, please keep it “on topic”.    A really common  mistake- and one that  makes many  people actually  feel  embarrassed for you- is to “overshare”  or post TMI , the abbreviation for  “too much information”.

 If you’re running a dance oriented page, people don’t need  ( or want!) to know that you’re having your period,  fighting with your significant other,  having a rough day emotionally, fell  off the wagon, or that a relative died…or you  broke a nail.

  Your professional page should reflect your professional dance career.

  It isn’t a tell-all site, or a place to get virtual hugs.  Use your personal page for that kind of post…if, indeed you really and truly want to post all your dirty laundry on the internet.

  Presumably the reason you made a dance page  on any social media site  is because you  are in the midst of having a dance career.  It’s doubtful that you would walk into your day job and complain about any of this stuff, right?  If you want your dancing to be your day job, then you need to behave professionally when you’re online.

 There are a few exceptions  to this rule. For example, if something went horrendously wrong at a gig, but it turned out to be a funny story- something that many dancers can relate to- then go ahead and post away! Similarly, if your addiction is glitter, buying or making costumes, or   something like that- as opposed to  some sort of  illegal controlled substance- go ahead and post  about it…cause everyone will relate to it!  And if   something terrible happened, like your sprained your ankle and need to cancel  some gigs, go ahead and post  that.  It will be a way of letting everyone know  (all at once)  why you aren’t showing up for a show or shows. And in a tough situation like this, which again,  every dancer can relate to it, you will probably  be pleasantly surprised at how supportive and generous  the dance community can be!

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Watch for Part Two in this series, which will  help you find your way in navigating social media sites  to their greatest advantage.

  Purchase an autographed copy of The Belly Dance Handbook: A Companion For The Serious Dancer  here:

http://www.princessfarhana.com/shop.htm