Carrara Nour
Belly Dancer for Weddings and Events in Orlando

My life as a dance entrepreneur has been changed by a single one-syllable word. Not faith or love or joy, but “no.” It’s short, direct and feels good rolling off the tongue!

As belly dancers and as women, we often drive ourselves cuckoo with our perpetual need to say yes to every opportunity that comes our way. Burnout, injuries, minor identity crises….it’s all par for the course when you can’t bring yourself to say no!

That was once the story of my life. As much as I hated working in restaurants and tormenting Uncle Bob for the low end of the going rate, I begrudgingly did it anyway. If I didn’t dance for those clients, who would? And how …

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 …

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 …

I absolutely can’t believe what a positive response my last post “Blue Eyed Soul” received over on my personal Facebook page. It’s good to know that you’re not alone, especially when you’ve bared a little piece of your soul on your “commercial” blog! But even after getting all this off my chest, I still have a lot to say. (Seriously, guys – you don’t want to spend a day inside my head!)

Looking back on some of my earlier classroom experiences, as well as several things I’ve learned throughout my professional career, I think it might be interesting to explore a few key items that, in my not so humble opinion, go into the ongoing process of becoming The Real …

This post has been in the making for about 4 years. I keep typing it, only to click “delete” and move on to fluffier topics. On a long, late drive home from a beautiful Turkish wedding in New Windsor, NY this past Friday, I finally figured out what to say.

Sometimes, we fear the things we want the most. For instance, somebody might avoid committed relationships because she’s been burned a few too many times and is afraid to get hurt again. Or a salesperson who grew up in a working class family may actively avoid selling to affluent prospects because he finds money to be just as intimidating as it is desirable.

As for me, I used to actively …