PHOTO CREDIT: Above photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.

Okay, you love your lattes & red wine and really have to bleach your teeth to meet U.S. appearance standards.

How white do you go? Depends on how natural you want to look. If you go too "white" your teeth will take on a blue appearance that is very unnatural looking. The old rule of thumb for dentists is to look natural: never bleach your teeth lighter than the color of the whites of your eyes. Your sclera are not "decorator blue-white."

Photo CREDIT: Photo by Michael Baxter, Santa Clara, California.

And on tanning your face to make your teeth appear whiter: this comes up a lot, especially with young people.

First of all, you know that we keep telling you that sun damage causing skin cancer — the information is perfectly valid, but you might not care.

The other reason not to do it: on stage, darker skin is harder to make up to get enough contast to show expression well. Darker skinned women often work hard with color and subtle frosts and sheens in makeup to get stunning readable-at-a-distance-under-lights effects.

Wear sunscreen and have a slightly easier palette to work on.

Your mileage may vary.... but really, blue teeth look really unnatural.

PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by Sarah Selwood, Leeds, United Kingdom.

• Basic Makeup for Dancers of Color. By Christine Millan.
• Belly Dance Makeup to Go with Your Costume. By Saqra.

• Stage Makeup for the Porcelain Brunette. By Amartia.
• 10 Things I Wish Every Belly Dancer Knew About Makeup. By Sophia Ravenna.

Saqra (Seattle, Washington, USA) is a powerful dance artist and a master instructor. Her fluidity, grace, and technical skill is highlighted by her friendly demeanor and clear joy of the dance. She did not inherit the diva gene.

Saqra won titles in Belly Dance USA (Oregon), Belly Dancer of the Year (California), Belly Dancer of the Universe (California), Wiggles of the West (Nevada), and many other competitions. She was voted "Best Kept Secret of 2005" and "Instructor of the Year 2008" by readers of Zaghareet Magazine.

Saqra's journey in this dance form began in 1977 and has led her to study with many of the best dancers in the world, including in America, Canada, Turkey and Egypt. Saqra continues to travel and study both in the USA and abroad and prides herself on proper research for anything she teaches. Folklore, fakelore, and stage creativity: all three are valuable, and Saqra clearly presents for each what they actually are. Saqra is constantly expanding her expertise in the traditional ethnic forms of the dance, the modern stage variants, and the continuing evolving fusion techniques, all these areas combined keep her material fresh and current.

Saqra is widely known as an event promoter, musician, music and instructional video producer, and a registered hypnotherapist in the state of Washington. That is enough stuff to start explaining what she has been doing in belly dance since 1977. Visit her at www.saqra.net

PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by Michael Baxter, Santa Clara, California. In the photo, Saqra is holding her Teacher of the Year 2008 Award from Zaghareet Magazine.