Advantages of Participating in an Oriental Dance Competition

Nowadays it is pretty common for dancers to participate in bellydance competitions. If you have followed my career so far, you know I am one of those dancers. I advice every dancer who is beginning their dance path to participate in competitions, and here goes why:⁣

With the dancer and judge Dariya Mitskevich in the International Gala of Oriental Dance Weekend 2017 after winning the 1st Place in the Master Category.

1. The competition gives you a deadline and motivates you to prepare a dance piece where you give your best. Prior to the competition, you will be working as much as you can on your choreography which will lead to great evolution of your dance.⁣

2. It is a great opportunity to show your dance! Oriental Dance lovers will attend to competitions (more than Open Stages I dear to say) to support other contesters or just to enjoy the show. If they like your dance, you have gained more fans of your work.

3. You get feedback from top teachers and dancers. The judges have pointed out stuff I could improve in my dance that I was not seeing. An experienced teacher and dancer may give you just the right advice for you to become better.⁣

4. You gain more stage experience. Actually, this is the reason why I started competing: I wanted the opportunity to be alone on stage. Now that I am a professional dancer I am always on stage, but when you are an amateur you don’t have that many opportunities and for sure you shouldn’t be dancing in events (and getting paid!) to gain that experience...⁣

5. You get pictures and videos of your performances (sometimes in big festivals) which are so useful to promote your work to everybody who hasn’t been able to watch you live.

After winning the 1st Place in Professional Category in ISBF 2017, in the Netherlands.

6. Finally but definitely not the least, if you are able to get a prize, it will add so much to your evolution and CV. Whether you get money, a new costume or workshops in other festivals, they will all be useful for your evolution as a dancer. Besides, prizes (as in every other dance, art form, sport, etc.) are a reference for quality and offers credibility to the dancer. People will take you seriously if they know you are considered one of the best by the professionals of your area and the dancers will also pay more attention to dancers who have been winners. ⁣

I believe there are great advantages of participating in competitions and I advice all my students to participate in them. Nonetheless, as everything in life, there are also Disadvantages Of Competing (read this post!). Meanwhile what did you think about this one?