Carrara Nour
Belly Dancer for Weddings and Events in Orlando

This post is a companion to my recent “how-to,” The Connoisseur’s Guide to Hiring a Belly Dancer. Unless you own a Moroccan restaurant or you actually were a belly dancer at one point in your life, hiring a belly dancer is probably new to you. That’s why I’m here to demystify your entertainment booking and make life a little bit easier for you! In The Connoisseur’s Guide, we focused on a few star qualities to look for in a belly dance performer – professionalism, experience, slick professional costuming, and a willingness to collaborate.

In this post, we’re going to shift our focus to dispelling some of the key myths and misconceptions that may stand in the way of …

Picture this. You’re having a Casablanca-themed Holiday celebration - and naturally, you want your big party to be the one that everybody raves about! You’ve arranged for a giant, extravagantly decorated tent. You’ve selected a caterer known for their exotic Mediterranean cuisine. You’ve spared no expenses on a photographer to preserve the memories. And, of course, no Mid-East celebration is complete without a belly dancer! But where do we begin?

When booking a special event, your entertainment is just as significant of an investment as your DJ, photographer, caterer or other major vendor. A belly dancer can dramatically set the tone of your wedding or party – for better OR for worse. There are a lot of professional belly …

Every creative freelancer has one of “those” weeks where the price shoppers, the undercutters and all other earthly manifestations of the Wal-Mart Mentality come out to haunt you. I’ll spare you all the editorial, but last week was definitely one of them.

Happily, I’ve cooled down and collected my thoughts since then. But in so doing, I have also discovered the dance equivalent to The Meaning of Life: that is, “never give away your work.” Just to clarify, “giving away” your work doesn’t necessarily mean dancing for free. It means throwing in the towel. Giving it only 50%. Settling for less. Lowering the bar. You get the picture.

How do I know when I’m giving away my work? Let’s get …

King Louis XIV once said that fashion itself is a mirror to history. Though I live in jeans and Polos when I’m not collecting exotic dance couture, I love to follow the whimsical world of fashion because it can be so revealing.

As with mainstream fashion, belly dance costuming is not immune to cultural macro- and micro-trends, either. For any “civilian” audiences reading this (and for any dancer who’s been living under a rock for the past 10 years), belly dance fashion has been stuck in a minimalist phase for quite some time now, thanks to the recent popularity of the simplistic Egyptian style. As Cairo is considered the Hollywood of the Middle East, Western belly dancers have slowly backed …

I know, I know. One of these days, I’ll get off my lazy tuckus and make a couple of tutorials of my own! ‘Til then, I wanted to share an awesome channel I found on YouTube. Tons of Arabic looks, inspired by Haifa, Elissa and other Lebanese pop divas:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MakeupAdikt#play/user/390A09C6A1034089

Notice how most of the Arabic looks involve an ultra-dark eye paired with a soft nude lip. This is such a refreshing alternative to the common (yet not always flattering) dark eyes/dark lip combo so many of us dancers wear for shows.

Enjoy!…