| #21 Most Common Belly Dance Questions
Q. When should a dancer start teaching belly dance?
A. When she has studied a broad range of sources and can break the moves down . . .
A teacher must be able to correctly demonstrate basic alignment for all moves. She must be able to see into the body and correctly interpret where a movement is originating from. This isn't easy. Some people have a gift for it. Until this is understood, one should not be teaching. A teacher should be able to break a movement down into its isolated basic components. A teacher should have paid her dues, too. She should have traveled and have knowledge about festivals and the community at large.
While a teacher doesn't necessarily have to have professional performing experience, there can really be a dimension missing when they do not. Ideally, a teacher will have read a lot on the subject so she is knowledgeable about the cultures and historic precedents. If so, she can be clear about diverging from traditional paths. I think teachers should study from different sources. Even if in the end she pays alliance to only one source of study, a teacher is seasoned and gains valuable perspective and wisdom from exposure to, and study of, a variety of sources.
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