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Musings on belly dance and money
I have been teaching and performing for almost eight years now and I believe that I am now finally made enough money to cover the cost of the seven years of classes and workshops that I took before I went pro. Belly dance is not a profitable career choice for me, though I love to teach and perform.
Looking back, the most money that I made was by teaching belly dance. I love performaing but it is not a steady income option for me and I never had more than 2 performances a month, if I was lucky. I think I did a total of forty paid performance in the past eight years, and roughly sixty unpaid performances (hafla's and such).
Yet all my marketing was geared towards performance pictures and video. I used to have a shot of my student group performing to promote my classes and before that, just a picture of me. Why? Because it worked and I had full classes. Looking at the threads on bhuz, this is how belly dancers promote themself. We are a brand product, thus placing a picture of ourselves on a class flyer makes perfect sense. Fitness formats use a generic picture (photoshopped and super fit and toned, of course) to sell their product.
I am wondering:
*is there a market for generic belly dance class promo pictures?
*why do we focus so much on performing when most of the money is made by teaching?
(because we are a a performance art, and performance is what most people strife for)
*what does a good promo picture for a class look like?
(could be happy students, could be how you correct someone, could be you looking hot while teaching, could be a totally unrelated picture of your students talking after class)
*should there be a difference between a 'class for fun' and a 'class aimed at performing'?
(I say no, BD can be both at the same time. Unless you want to specialize, then use different pictures)
*I never been a big fan of outdoor promotion pictures, exept for when you do outdoor performances or for headshots. But for yoga, outside and sunsets appear to be the most common locations. If we center BD classes on wellbeing and health, maybe we should not have a white studio in the background, but a dance circle outside in the sun.
Looking back, the most money that I made was by teaching belly dance. I love performaing but it is not a steady income option for me and I never had more than 2 performances a month, if I was lucky. I think I did a total of forty paid performance in the past eight years, and roughly sixty unpaid performances (hafla's and such).
Yet all my marketing was geared towards performance pictures and video. I used to have a shot of my student group performing to promote my classes and before that, just a picture of me. Why? Because it worked and I had full classes. Looking at the threads on bhuz, this is how belly dancers promote themself. We are a brand product, thus placing a picture of ourselves on a class flyer makes perfect sense. Fitness formats use a generic picture (photoshopped and super fit and toned, of course) to sell their product.
I am wondering:
*is there a market for generic belly dance class promo pictures?
*why do we focus so much on performing when most of the money is made by teaching?
(because we are a a performance art, and performance is what most people strife for)
*what does a good promo picture for a class look like?
(could be happy students, could be how you correct someone, could be you looking hot while teaching, could be a totally unrelated picture of your students talking after class)
*should there be a difference between a 'class for fun' and a 'class aimed at performing'?
(I say no, BD can be both at the same time. Unless you want to specialize, then use different pictures)
*I never been a big fan of outdoor promotion pictures, exept for when you do outdoor performances or for headshots. But for yoga, outside and sunsets appear to be the most common locations. If we center BD classes on wellbeing and health, maybe we should not have a white studio in the background, but a dance circle outside in the sun.
no subject
*generic promo pictures: Bea, I feel the same about how I am promoting myself , thus want to use my pictures. However, it seems that rec centers and such prefer a generic picture, from what abbie and you are saying. The center that I teach is finally changing their promo picture (with the teacher from 5 years ago) to a picture of my class. Much like fitness centers use generic zumba pictures.
*performance: this is interesting. Paid performances are far and inbetween, yet unpaid performances might pay off in students who are willing to take classes with you. I do the same when it comes to choosing to participate in a hafla, except that I don't teach workshops so I usually don't get any students out of it. I just love performing.
*perfect promo picture: just like promo headshots, I try to create an extra fancy situation for promo shots. For example, I have more students come in during a trial class (so in the shot, I teach more then ten people while in reality my classes are 6-7). I prefer to ask the intermediates because their lines and skills are better, and if possible I hand out hipscarfs/veils so things look extra colorful. I like group pictures, but I like to have all types of shots for future use.
*class for fun versus for performing: I don't have students that could go pro right now, though I have students who practice, learn and create choreography on their own. That is two out of the 130 that I taught. Bea, performing is an integral part so I teach it in my classes but I don't expect all of my students to perform.
*outdoor promo pictures: Abbie, I like the stark shots with fitness/fun gear too. Wish I could do that type of shoot as it would work well with working in a fitness environment.
Bea, yoga has a different background, but the outdoors is not a natural environment for yoga either. I agree with you that health and dance can be promoted in a studio and this makes it the logic place to have pictures taken.