You've decided you would like to learn how to belly dance. Now, all you need is a teacher. So you've looked in the yellow pages for your community, and found nothing listed for belly dance. Now what do you do? How do you find a local class? And if you don't find a local class, what can you do to start learning without a teacher?

Only a tiny minority of belly dance teachers actually advertise in the yellow pages. Advertising in the yellow pages has certain disadvantages--for example, most local telephone companies require you to purchase a monthly "business phone" service which costs substantially more than residential phone service in order to qualify for an ad. So the vast majority of belly dancers promote their classes through other methods.

Here are some ideas on how to find a class in your community. But first, during your search remember these key rules:

1. If you don't find something in your initial search, try again after 3-4 months. People are mobile, including belly dancing teachers. It's possible that someone may move to your area and start teaching after your initial search. Don't give up.
2. If your local community doesn't have anything, look a little further afield. Investigate the options in the communities within an hour's drive of you, if you're willing to go that far once in a while. If you live near a state border, don't forget to check the cities on the other side of the state line.
3. Look for different class titles. Belly dancing classes might masquerade under other names, such as "Oriental Dance," "Egyptian dance", "Arabic dance," "Middle Eastern dance", "Tribal dance", or "Turkish dance". If you see a class listed under one of these other names, ask questions to learn whether it is a belly dancing class, a folk dance class that concentrates on line dances, or something else.

• Through The Internet
• Adult Education Programs
• City Parks & Recreation Programs
• University Programs
• Cultural Centers And Clubs
• Ethnic Churches, Mosques, Synagogues
• Entertainment Agencies
• New Age Book Stores
• Health Clubs
• Dance Studios

• Ethnic Restaurants & Nightclubs
• Belly Dance Magazines
• Society For Creative Anachronism & Renaissance Faires
• Local Festivals
• Via E-Mail
• Can't Find A Local Instructor, Or Your Local Instructor Is Barely More Than A Beginner?

Surf the Internet looking for instructors who teach in your area. If you do this through the search engines, you'll probably feel like you're looking for a needle in a haystack! But here are some directories of dancers that appear on the Internet which will help you focus your search:

The Middle Eastern Dance Teacher & Performer Directory On The Art Of Middle Eastern Dance. This is my own site, and has nearly 800 entries. Start here! Dancers & Teachers Directory On Zaghareet! magazine's web site. About 200 entries. BellyDancersOnline Online network of dancers and dance resources. Lists dancers, instructors, vendors, musicians, and services. Dancers' Directories On the Middle Eastern Dance Resource Guide. Over 300 entries, but hasn't been updated in a few years. Belly Dance Contacts Around The World On the Belly Dance Home Page. About 140 entries, but hasn't been updated in a few years. Links This is the Links page of The Art Of Middle Eastern Dance, my own site. In particular, look in the categories for A Regional Focus On Dancers, Events, Etc. and Pages Featuring Individual Artists & Troupes.

Even if you don't find someone local to you on these web sites, you'll probably find someone who is within a 2-3 hour drive of you. If so, contact that person and ask whether she knows anyone who teaches in your particular community. Often the people who teach belly dance know their counterparts in nearby cities. It doesn't hurt to ask! While you're at it, ask whether this person has a mailing list and if so, ask to have your own name added to it. This will provide an excellent opportunity for you to learn about upcoming belly dance special events such as workshops, special shows, or festivals in your region.

Another option: join the med-dance list on the Internet. This is a group of about 800 people who talk about belly dancing through electronic mail. Once you have joined this group, you can post your own questions to the membership, such as, "Can anyone recommend a teacher in my community?" There is no charge to join med-dance. Just send an e-mail message to majordomo@world.std.com with the words subscribe med-dance in the body of the message. Within a day or so you should then start receiving e-mail generated by the list in your mailbox. Once you are a member of the list, direct your question regarding teachers in your area to med-dance@world.std.com.

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Depending on your locale, adult education programs may be offered by community colleges, the local school districts, or the city government. Such programs cater to adults who would like to take evening classes to develop a new hobby, learn a new skill, etc. Try phoning your local community colleges, school districts, and city offices and ask if they have an adult education program that includes a belly dancing class.

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Some cities have "Parks & Recreation" programs that offer hobby-oriented classes for adults. Contact yours to investigate whether they offer a belly dancing class.

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Some universities offer not-for-academic-credit classes that are open to the general public, even if you're not a student in a degree program. Contact your local university to ask whether they have "adult education", "continuing education", or "community education" programs. If they do, ask whether they offer belly dancing.

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Communities with either a college, a university, or a large local ethnic population may have a cultural center or ethnic club dedicated to making ethnic people feel at home. Investigate whether there is one in your community that serves Middle Eastern populations, whether Jewish, Egyptian, Turkish, or another ethnic group.

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Alternatively, check whether there is a church, synagogue, or mosque in your community that serves an ethnic population: Armenian, Greek Orthodox, etc. Such churches often host cultural events related to the interests of their ethnic population, and may be able to steer you to belly dance classes.

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Look under "Entertainment" in the yellow pages. Some of the entertainment agencies, particularly those who offer singing telegrams, may book belly dancers. Tell the agency you are looking for instruction in belly dancing, and ask if they can put you in contact with one of their messengers so you can inquire about class opportunities. They may be reluctant to give you a dancer's actual phone number, but if you're willing to give them your phone number, they may be willing to pass along a message for you. Even if a dancer you contact this way doesn't offer classes herself, she may be able to direct you to someone who does.

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Often, New Age bookstores will have a bulletin board where local psychics or other people with relevant services can post their flyers or business cards. If you have such a bookstore, check whether any belly dancers are advertising class schedules. Note that if you find a belly dance teacher this way, she probably subscribes to a New Age belief system and might incorporate that into her teaching style. If you would dislike that, ask questions before you decide to hand over your money for classes.

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Many health clubs have bulletin boards on where personal trainers, aerobics instructors, masseuses, and other fitness professionals advertise their work. Check your local health clubs for ads by belly dance teachers on such bulletin boards. Don't forget to investigate your local YWCA if you have one. Also check whether any of the local health clubs offer belly dancing classes as part of their normal services. Obviously, belly dance classes won't be nearly as common as aerobics classes, but you may get lucky and find a class this way.

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Call the local dance studios in your community, and ask whether they offer belly dance instruction. There are two kinds of dance studios: the type that teach theatrical dance (tap dance, ballet, modern dance, etc.) and the type that teach ballroom dance. Check both types. Often, belly dance teachers will rent classroom space from such studios, so even if the studio owner doesn't offer belly dance classes, she might rent space to someone who does.

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If your community has a restaurant or nightclub centered on a Middle Eastern theme, contact the business and ask whether they can give you information on how to contact any local belly dancers. Even if the restaurant or club does not offer belly dancing as entertainment, they may have a stack of business cards from belly dancers who have called on them hoping to get a dance job. Try to get the restaurant to give you information on how to contact one of these dancers.

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There are several magazines that cater to belly dancers. You could contact one of them to order a copy of the most recent back issue, or even subscribe for a full year. These magazines typically feature a Teacher/Performer Directory which lists dancers from all over the country, or even the world. These are typically paid advertisements.

Subscribe to all the belly dance magazines you can afford. Although there's a limit to how much you can learn about movement from a printed medium, they will offer you useful advice, historical background about the dance, costuming ideas, advertisements for vendors, reviews of videos, announcements about upcoming workshops and festivals that may be in your area, and more. Even once you've found a great local teacher, magazines will broaden your horizons when it comes to learning more than just how to move. Here is contact information for some to get you started:

U.S. Magazines

Habibi P.O. Box 90936 Santa Barbara, CA 93190-0936 U.S.A. Phone/Fax: (+1) (805) 962-9639 Email: HabibiPub@aol.com Aims for the mass market (general public) with a casual interest in belly dancing.	Zaghareet! P.O. Box 1809 Elizabeth City, NC 27906-1809 U.S.A. Phone: (+1) (252)-330-2284 Fax: (+1) (252)-330-4328 Web Site: www.zaghareet.freeservers.com A good all-around magazine about belly dancing, with advice, tips, dancer news, etc.
Jareeda P.O. Box 680 Sutherlin, OR 97479 U.S.A. Phone: (+1) (541) 459-3115 Web Site: www.jareeda.com Published 8 times a year. A good all-around magazine about belly dancing, with advice, tips, dancer news, etc.	The Chronicles P.O. Box 210787 Bedford, TX 76021 U.S.A. Phone (+1) (888) 918-4747 Web Site: www.isisandthestardancers.com Members of MECDA receive this automatically with a special insert of ads and events calendar, other subscribers receive a non-MECDA version.
The Caravan The Caravan magazine has ceased publication due to Shalimar Serene's health.	Wiggle Hips Wiggle Hips ceased publication in 2004.

Outside The U.S.

Papyrus 5 Des Mélèzes Katevale Quebec J0B IW0 Canada A French-language magazine. I've never seen a copy, so I can't provide further detail.	MID Bits 1423A Yonge Street #8 Toronto, Ontario M4T 1Y7 Canada Informative articles on variety of dance-related issues.
El Raks El Sharki Ahmed Diaa Elden 117 Mohamad Ali St. Cairo, Egypt Phone/Fax: 2023912006 or 2023549255 Published in Egypt, in the English language, intended for international audience. However, I wouldn't recommend this one--I've discovered too many factual errors in it. The publishers don't try very hard for accuracy.	Ya Noori E-Mail: hilaryedis@hotmail.com Based in the United Kingdom. I've never seen a copy, so I can't provide further detail.
Taqasim Afra Al-Kahira P.O. Box 72 Bideford, Devon, EX39 1FA United Kingdom Focuses on Southwest England. I've never seen a copy, so I can't provide further detail.	Mosaic Diana Green 2 Comfrey Close Littleover, Derby, DE23 7UF United Kingdom Based in the United Kingdom. Published 4 times per year for members of Mosaic Arabic Dance Network. I've never seen a copy, so I can't provide further detail.
The Palace Amera 83 Enmore Road Newtown NSW 2042 Australia Phone: (+61) 2-9519-4793 Fax: (+61) 2-9519-3969 Based in Australia. Published twice per year. I've never seen a copy, so I can't provide further detail.	Bellydance Oasis Bellydance Oasis 14 Anstie Way Bullcreek, Perth 6149 Australia Phone: (+61) 9314 5055 Based in Australia. I've never seen a copy, so I can't provide further detail.
Rakas PO Box 1768 Queanbeyan NSW 2620 Australia Phone: 0419 833 839 Web Site: www.rakas.org I've never seen a copy, so I can't provide further detail.

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Check whether the Society For Creative Anachronism has a local chapter in your community. This is an organization whose purpose is to re-create the Middle Ages through role-playing. The SCA originally focused on re-creating the society of Medieval Europe. However, over the years in some communities the idea of portraying people from the Middle East has become popular. See if you can locate a local SCA chapter in your community, and if you can, try to find out whether there is anyone with a Middle Eastern persona who knows how to belly dance and teaches it.

If you yourself find the past fascinating, you may want to join the SCA yourself. But even if you don't feel any urge to spend the occasional weekend living in a tent wearing garb representative of 400 years ago, the SCA may be able to lead you to someone who can teach you belly dancing.

Many Renaissance Faires around the country feature belly dancers as part of the entertainment. Attend your local Faire, and scrutinize the program in search of belly dancing performers. If you manage to find some, ask them after their show whether they can steer you to someone who teaches classes in your community.

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Every community has its local festivals and special events. Some are sponsored by the local Chamber Of Commerce, and others by local churches, service groups such as the Lions, or social clubs. These events attract belly dancers, who are always out looking for a place to perform in public. Try to find out whether anyone will be belly dancing at the festivals occurring within your own community. If they are, watch their performance. Afterward, hunt them down and ask if they can steer you to local classes.

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If you have access to electronic mail, you can join the "Med-Dance List" on the Internet. The med-dance List employs an Internet technology known as a "listserver" that lets you exchange e-mail messages regarding Middle Eastern dance with hundreds of other people who share your interest in it. The way it works is that any subscriber can send in an e-mail message containing a question, opinion, response to something someone else posted, or other message. A moderator reviews every message, and forwards all those that are suitable for the list's topic of Middle Eastern Dance. Thanks to her efforts, "The List" is free of commercial solicitations (known as spam) and other messages that are unrelated to the topic of Middle Eastern Dance. You receive all the messages in your e-mail box, to process at your convenience.

People on Med-Dance discuss just about every topic of interest to belly dancers, and it's a gold mine of resource information about the history of the dance, current trends, costuming, performance tips, upcoming belly dance events, and many other dance topics. You can either "lurk" (read the messages without posting any of your own) or take an active role yourself in posting messages, as you see fit. This is a great place to ask The List whether any members know of teachers who are local to you. There are usually 30-40 messages per day.

There is no cost to subscribe. Just send a message to majordomo@world.std.com in which the ONLY text appearing in the message is:

subscribe med-dance

You'll get a message back asking you to confirm whether you want to be on the list. Follow the instructions in it. Then you'll be wired and talking to hundreds of other dancers--hundreds of people who may know of a teacher near you!

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If you can't find a local instructor, or the only instructor you could find is barely more than a beginner, what can you do? There are a number of ways to grow in the dance, even if you can't find someone suitable.

Another article on this web site offers assistance with this situation. Take a look at Learning To Belly Dance: What If There's No Local Teacher, Or You Need More Than Your Local Teacher Can Give?

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