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

Find out where the light is shining in your stage area and go there.

Do not come to the front of your stage area unless it is lit. Usually it is not. I know it "feels" right, but it looks wrong.

Exception: If you are coming all the way out into the audience, then anything goes with the lighting. However, remember not everyone can see you in the audience, so keep moving around the room as much as possible.

PHOTO CREDIT: Photo by Denise Mannion.

On stage and at gigs, the music rises in a dramatic moment. What should you do?

Immediately blind yourself!!!!

Face so you can see your audience (possibly for the last time), and look straight into that light! Eyes open! No squinting!!! (Unless you are already making an eyes-half-closed dramatic expression...)

This makes your face pop with what appears to be a dramatic inner glow.

This also helps with stage fright because you can't see anything for a few minutes after that.

This works not only on a stage, but also when performing in restaurants, at parties, on personal videos, and in selfies. Find a strong light and look at it.

Look into a strong light source and your face will be best lit. Simple as that. 

Your mileage may vary, but this one is very straightforward.

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

• Lighting Tips for Photos and Videos. Keep these in mind when recording performances or practice sessions, making instructional videos, taking in-costume photos at events, or otherwise preserving your dance memories. By Saqra.

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.