"When Is It Ok For a Belly Dancer To Use The Word Superstar To Advertise A Show"

Tonight I was reading up on the one of the many belly dance yahoo groups and came across a very interesting topic. The topic was“ when is it ok for a belly dancer to use the word Superstar to advertise their shows.” A group of dancers used this title in one of their flyers and a couple dancers nailed their butts for using this term. I was reading the remarks and was totally amazed at the judgmental attitudes of some of the women “offended” by the group of dancers audacity to use the term “Superstars”.

So I thought I would write about my thoughts on the subject. First of all “Leave the dancers Alone!!!!!!!!” Who is anyone to judge another!!! Who are any of us to judge when a dancer has made it or not made it. What’s making it? And when you’ve made it even though you may not know you’ve made it, how would you know that you can use the word “Superstar”. Have I made? Hell if I know. I guess you’ve made it when you get a lot of workshops and everyone bows down to you. Or you’ve made it when you use the word “Superstar” and nobody says anything. To add to my chagrin this one dancer commented that she doesn’t dance from “ego” therefore she doesn’t use the term “Superstar” for herself. Give me a break!!!!

The fact she had a cow over the girls using the term “Superstar” tells all of us right there that her ego got bruised or as she put it “offended”. Than the comment was made that the “community” wouldn’t appreciate the girls advertising falsely and that how could they expect the “community” to support them. What community?????!!!! Whose community????!!! The community that is blasting the girls for using an eye catching term? Who the Hell would want to be apart of that community? I wouldn’t and I would tell the gals offended to get a grip. This dance is about the self and the self has ego in it. What does this mean? It means that no matter how you explain your dance, ego is there because ego is the one that gets offended, ego is the one that is competitive, ego is the one that wants to be the star and ego is the one that doesn’t want to share the glory.

Everyone wants to make it in this business and be a success. And if someone else is doing something that might make them successful, than you better believe that there are women out there who will be jealous of others success. Let’s look at the community aspect of our dance world. There are so many different communities and if you don’t belong to a specific one than you are an outsider. And than the little clicks get created and that’s the dance world we live in. So lets be realistic, we all want to be a “Superstar”. If I’m working my butt off on my dance and I am the one getting on stage and I’m the one entertaining the people than you better believe I’m a “Superstar” at least to myself. Because if you don’t have the attitude of a “Superstar” in this dance than you won’t make it. A “Superstar” is someone who believes in herself, her dancing and her talent.

So my question to those of you reading this, is how can any of us get ahead when we are so busy judging each other. Dance is an interpretation of the soul. And the soul is beyond definition. So live and let live.

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