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Do you use an assumed name as a dancer? I have recently been encouraged to do that by a few people because my name is associated with what I do for a living as a voice actor. I can understand the reasoning behind wanting to use another name as a dancer, I can also understand it because it keeps someone a little more anonymous. I'm just curious which of you do this, and if you do it...what have you chosen? I couldn't think of a name for myself...I tried too, but they all sounded so darn cheesy in my head.
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Tue, June 30, 2009 - 8:59 PMFreya is my stage name. I also use it on the web for anonymity. -Freya
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Tue, June 30, 2009 - 10:04 PMWhile I'm not a pro yet, I've been wanting a stage name as well. After mulling through a lot of names that I liked but they didn't seem to fit me, I gave up for a while. Then one day I was vacuuming and I started thinking about my great-grandmother and my kinship with her when all of a sudden, I felt this weird sensation that she was giving me her blessing to take her name.
(That's why I have the "aka Saxon" in my name thing here. :D)
Let the name look for you. It will come and jump in your lap when you least expect it to (much like a cat) -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Tue, June 30, 2009 - 10:16 PMWay back when I was in college, during my very first semester, I took a class in Italian. The professor had a claim to fame stating that by the end of the first week of school, he could memorize and connect the name with the face of each of his students (in ALL of his classes). The first time he took a roll call, it took him about 15 minutes to get through the list. He'd read the name and then stare at each of us making a mental connection.
Fast forward to the actual class material, since language classes are very interactive, he pointed at me and asked me something in Italian, expecting me to respond. He said "Sasha....blah, blah, blah, blah." I turned and looked behind me. Nobody. I pointed to myself and said "you mean me? My name isn't Sasha it's Sxxxxx." He apologized and repeated the question, again referring to me as Sasha.
I was Sasha for the rest of the semester. AND the semester following that, since I took Italian 2.
So, my name sort of chose me.
I searched for a meaning and couldn't find anything. A local instructor found a hit... she said "Sasha" is actually a Russian male name and it means "defender." I like that!!!!!
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 6:54 AM...if ME names don't seem to *fit* - go to other languages, look up baby names. My dance (and Internet) name "Etana" is from the Swahili language and means "strength" (as in determination). I chose it because it's easy to pronounce and spell ;-)
It also sounds much more "dancer-ish" than my street name.
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 9:11 AMMy name is Tanya, in all walks of life. I'm too much of a bubble head to remember another name. To be honest I couldn't even try, I may take a fake last name eventually , like when I get super famous and everyone wants to know who I am :P But if that day never comes Tanya suits me fine.
My favorite name associate is when I danced and two Egyptian men approached me and asked my name, I told them Tanya and they looked at me funny. One said to me "you are not Egyptian?" When I told them I was Italian they laughed and the other one said "An Italian girl with a Russian name who dances like an Egyptian, we will remember you." -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 9:52 AMI love that story, Tanya!
I chose my dance name after coming across one that just appealed to me. The meaning has some childhood connection, so there's a degree of personal nostalgia to it. The main reason I use it is to create a separation between my everyday office-worker identity and my dance identity. It helps mentally AND helps to keep a degree of anonymity from the general public.
However, there are some downsides.
I live in a fairly small town where many people already know me by my real name, so until I start using "Ayperi" more and more and more it can be a slight hindrance to marketing. That said, when I've been out flyering, people have started to say, Oh I've seen that name before. Getting there...
Also, when I get phone calls people usually say, "Hello.... uh, belly dance?". Pronunciation/unfamiliarity is definitely an issue and I wonder if that discomfort is a little off-putting to the general pubic (smart Etana!).
Ah, well... I'm sticking with it! :)
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 11:40 AMMy boyfriend felt pretty strongly that I should not use my real name, though I had already started dancing under my real name. So I just decided to use an alternate spelling of my name. I know several dancers who do this.
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 12:08 PMMaha Zura - Wild cow / evening star (Venus) - Arabic
I'm a taurus so cows and venus match up. I'm a dork. Another girl in my group has a name that is Elvish.
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 4:40 PMFariha is my dance name, it means "joy/happiness" ie: how dancing makes me feel.
there is a (Swedish, i think) proverb that says "he who is called a bear is apt to act like a bear", as in a self fulfilling prophecy. so you can use a stage name as a transformative tool, just like makeup or costume, if you want.
i picked a name because it is WAY too easy to find people based from something as tiny as their real name. a patient of my dad's once found out where we lived by our name, drove past the house and it was super creepy. i was raised by a cop's son so the "never make yourself a target" thing was sortta drilled into me (only daughter)
i know a lot of people do it to protect their professional image (day job) from the ill effects of ignorant people (ie those who think bd is stripping or something like that)
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 5:36 PMAnd suddenly, it hit like a bolt of lightning. A lot of you talked about names having meaning, I'm one of those people who think names carry a meaning. A friend of mine and I were talking about this, she sent me to a site to check some names and their meaning and began to bring suggestions. The name Raya came up, and it got me. It sounds Latin American, but it's Hebrew meaning "Friend". The Spanish sounding name is a nod to my roots, and the name itself carries a good meaning for me. Even though we've been going through a bunch of names...this one seems to be "it". -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 5:55 PMYou should *always* look up a name you're thinking of using for any meanings in other languages.
A few years back, my ex and I had a friend who was of Indian descent. My ex used to refer to her by a shorter version of her 3-syllable name. Apparently, that was a faux pas since the shortened version of her name meant something unflattering (like "fat" or something of that sort). He never called her that again.
I've also heard stories where someone has taken a name that meant something that they would not want to be called in English! So always check out your name.
When I tried to search for "Sasha" I couldn't find it because I was searching lists of feminine names. That name, in Russian, is masculine. Well duh! No wonder I couldn't find it! So you might want to google both genders of name lists, just in case. -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 6:37 PMI took the name "Nageena" because I like the meaning- which is either gem or pearl. I also like the fact that my dance name is really close to my regular name. (My other choice was to go by my nickname "Jeannie" but since I get an image of Barbra Eden in a bottle and I don't dance cabaret- thought better of it.)
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 7:09 PMI *always* check on names. A friend of mine is very into names and their meanings. She had this huge long list she sent me once of all this history of my real name. It was interesting to find out where my name *really* came from! Here's something else interesting. Before settling on "Reya" we did some research.
The name Raya originated from "Reya" which is Belgian in origin and is a form of "Rayna" which is a Belgian adaptation of "Regina". "Regina" has it's origins in "late Latin" and it's meaning is "Queen". In Greek, "Raya" is a modern version of "Reya" which means "flowing".
My real name has two languages that it originates from. However, it was first found in Greek origin. My real name means "flowing queen". I just think that's a pretty cool coincidence.
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 8:22 AMi heard that "Sara" although a beautiful name in most languages, means "epilepsy" is Turkish.
also, (this is learned first had from an Egyptian) the Russian name "Niki" means "f*cker" in Arabic! so yheah, be careful ^_~ -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 3:31 PMFYI Sarah means 'Princess' in Hebrew. -Freya
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 3:13 PMThere are those famous stories of unintended silliness (or worse) like Chevy marketing the Nova in Latin America (no va... doesn't go) so... what Sasha said! :) -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 3:29 PMMy dad used to tell a joke about that, but I can't remember how it went though. He tells all sorts of Spanish jokes on American words. -Freya -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 6:36 PMin Japanese baka means idiot. but in Spanish it's cow. (ok, not too far off. but..) in Japanese "dame" (dah-may) is "no, stop, don't" and in Spanish it means "give me" someone once told me a joke using that mix up, but it really wasn't funny.
3 words to know in every language: no, bathroom, and innocent. ^_~ -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Fri, July 3, 2009 - 9:30 AMNone of my dad's jokes are funny ;-) -Freya -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Fri, July 3, 2009 - 9:34 AM'Como tu frijole caballo?' = 'How ya been hoss?' This is an example of the plethora of bad Mexican jokes my dad tells me every time I see him. And for some reason he didn't teach me how to speak real Spanish just Spanglish sort of. -Freya
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Sorry.
Wed, July 1, 2009 - 7:02 PMIn Soviet Russia, you do not choose stage name, stage name chooses YOU!
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 3:18 AMI have also been thinking about adopting a stage name. the one I thought was nice is so widely used though that I started to think I needed something a bit different. I think I put my finger on mine when I decided on Trynity as my tribe name. it is a different spelling from the actual word and reflects the fact that a danc er can embrace more than one style and still remain true to herself. I did have a long think about adding "devine" as my surname but I think I'll just end up sounding like a drag queen... lol
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 4:58 AMI've thought about it, but for now, I'm not going to use a stage name. My real name is Sunshine but people never believe me anyway, so it's all good. The only reason I would adopt a stage name was if I went into gothic or dark dance because Sunshine just would not fit; I don't see me doing that, though, since it's not my thing anyway. -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 7:14 PMUnless its like when people and big man "Tiny". lol
I had chosen a name based on how it sounded and what it meant. But then I found way too many dancers with the same name so I went off the beaten path of middle eastern names. I chose a Gaelic name that means ancient - Kiara. It fits me better I think because most folk think I am Irish (which I am, but only a little). -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Thu, July 2, 2009 - 10:18 PMMy grandmother's name was Irene.. and then i spent a lot of time studying slavic languages and literature.. so i use irena online and stuff.. i'll never dance professionally so i don't really need a pro name.. just a name to get into the dancing mood. -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Sat, July 4, 2009 - 8:20 AMWhen I first took bellydance lessons in 1997, the teacher said we could pick out dance names to help us get in the mood, I picked Sayari, I pretty much made it up, or so I thought, till I googled it! ( Anyway, it all goes back to the fact that I hate my given name Catherine, cause half the time people call me "Cathy" I really Fricken hate that name, & I'm the bad guy if I correct them, coworkers have actually argued about with me!) So last year I took Tribal fusion level one, & the teacher said she didn't allow her students to use a stage name, cause that's for professional bellydancers. I'd never heard of that,& I'd taken 4 different classes before hers. So I switched my tribe name from Sayari to Emma & went by that in class, to avoid the Cathy/Catherine conundrum! My boss is from India, when I first handed him my resume, he looked at the name, & said "Oh, Catherine, so I can call you Cathy," Me, interally screaming "NOOOO! aughhh! it's Catherine, what did I write down!, Aughhh!" -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Sat, July 4, 2009 - 4:24 PMmy mom's name is Teresa and sometimes people call her "terry"
it ends quickly.
^_~
my neighbor's name is Spanish and people have a hard time pronouncing it, so she got beaten down and eventually started telling people ot call her an English version. my dad asked her why she did that, and said "but that's not your name!" she started using her real, Spanish name, and she is so much happier, even if people screw it up! -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Sat, July 4, 2009 - 5:03 PM"my mom's name is Teresa and sometimes people call her "terry"
it ends quickly."
Yeah, my real name is Teresa and I am half Mexican so it is pronounced in the Spanish way, but ever since grade school I have just told people the English pronunciation, because no one seems to be able to say it right. I'm as weda (white) as can be so it isn't too far fetched. But I don't like Terry so I make it clear as soon as someone calls me that. It's not that I don't like the name, but it doesn't feel like me. So when I was about 16 I took a year and a day training to become a Wiccan Priestess and as such I took the name Freya Moraganna as my spiritual and adopted name. I love the stories of Freya riding the backs of four black cats and the fact that she is so closely linked to her twin brother really gives balance to the male and female aspects of life. And I fell in love with the painting of Morgan Le Fay aka Moraganna (amongst other things) by John William Waterhouse 1888, so it just all fit together. -Freya
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Mon, July 6, 2009 - 6:25 AMThey only call you that if you let them. People sometimes call me Sunny and if they aren't my close friends/family, I just don't answer to it.
You can always politely say, "I prefer Catherine, thanks." If you do that right away, it's not like you're being a bad person after someone's been calling you that for a year.
For the people who argue with you, if you care, you could always give them some weird analogy asking if they'd like to be called X-name.
Also, that's weird about your Tribal Fusion teacher. Clearly that's a pet-peeve of hers.
Good luck! -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Tue, July 7, 2009 - 3:14 PMMy real name is Candace, and people try to call me "Candy" all the time. I have spent my life saying "No, it's Candace". If they insist on Candy I refuse to answer them, because they are talking to someone else named "Candy".
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Sat, July 4, 2009 - 6:51 PMMine is Feydella which is Celtic for "fairy friend" ;) -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Sat, July 11, 2009 - 7:19 AMMine is from the same language as Etana and means intelligence its Zikiya though I use Zee on here for short and will quite happily answer to it as well as my street name. I danced under it for the first time at the end of June and my friend panicked when she looked on the running order as I was the only solo dancer not dancing under my street name lol
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Sun, July 26, 2009 - 3:41 PMFariha: "i know a lot of people do it to protect their professional image (day job) from the ill effects of ignorant people (ie those who think bd is stripping or something like that)"
That's why I use a dance/stage name.
I was 'named' by a Persian accquaintance several years ago over lunch while toying with a few other names but couldn't settle on any. I found Ruya has the same meaning ('dream' or 'sweet dream') & similar, but not exact, pronunciation as Roya (Persian) & Rya (Turkish). It's not a frequently heard stage name (I knew a lot of Sahara's & Zeina's at the time), and bonus that it means the same thing in 3 languages. Plus he was insistent I was 'Ruya', and as I recall, I shrugged & said Okay. And Ruya I've been ever since, lol. -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Mon, July 27, 2009 - 4:24 AMI don't dance much out in public.
I'm too lazy to find one and I'll forget it.
So I use my real name the way its spelled.
Thankfully no one can shorten it either though I had someone when I was a teen call me Eddie???
And Sunshine-I have a lady at my work who is also called Sunshine.
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Fri, July 31, 2009 - 11:56 AMi started reading this post because i was curious why other people took a dance name and how they found it. while i both teach and perform now in a small way, originally (and still today) dance was an expression of my spiritual self, my core being. I chose to take a dance name to honor that. My dance name is Kalima, which at the time is just sort of "made up" by pushing together Kali Ma, the name of one of my favorite Goddesses, who, among other things, danced upon the corpes of her defeated enemies. I never bothered to look it up to see if there was some other meaning until i read this post. So I googled it and found that in arabic it means word, speaker, lecturer, mouth piece. Hmmmmmm .. . .. .i had to chuckle a bit. The name was appropriate on more than one level . .. after all, i am an attorney by profession during the day, the ultimate "mouth piece", words are my livelihood, lol .. . . and I am the dancing goddess by night. i love it!!!!!!!!!!!
nancy a/k/a Kalima -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Fri, July 31, 2009 - 7:11 PMIsn't it interesting how a "taken" name even reflects who you are? I was so surprised when I got into the meaning of "Raya" and how it corresponded with not only me but my own name's meaning. Kind of cool. So a dance name isn't always creating a new persona. It's just creating an extension of yourself!
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Sat, August 1, 2009 - 8:12 PMVery interesting. I don't have a dance name and now that I have joined a troupe and we are dancing more and more I do wonder if I need to find one. Some of my troupe mates have picked stage names but nothing is screaming "that's it!" so I have settled on my real name (the one i use here) for now. I thought about family names and there is one I would love to use but a nearby dancer who is pretty well known has that as her dance name so I continue the search. I have resolved myself to the fact that I may never have one (outside of my joke name "La Doofa" - gues the origins of that one!) but that is okay since nothing says "me" yet. Also, I am another one who in my real life, if I don't know you/don't like you, I will not answer to "Steph" or "Stephi." I have looked up variations of my middle name but none of those work for me either. And, Sasha have you looked up "Sascha"? In German class we had to pick alternate names (I was Sybille) and a classmate picked Sascha and the teacher said she might want to re-think that... -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Sun, August 2, 2009 - 7:45 PMI use my real name. It's me and using another makes me feel pompous or something.
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Tue, September 15, 2009 - 3:01 AMI love this post and all the names are wonderful. I myself have only danced for close friends and family so far, have been looking for a persona name for the last seven years because of my involvement in the SCA. This last spring I came across a name that I like very much and feel it fits me, at least for belly dancing anyhow. 'Nuri Ramla'. Now I am as american redneck as there can be so taking a differant name is strange to me. Tell me what you all think.
Sorry Raya I"m not meaning to take your post in anyway, there just seems to be a good flow going here.smiles I couldn't help getting in on the action. -
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Tue, September 15, 2009 - 6:07 PMI just realized that I missed one letter in my dance name. Nuri Ramala. sorry.smiles
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Tue, September 15, 2009 - 10:15 AMi looked at dance names when i first started taking classes 4 years ago, and then abandoned the idea because nothing 'fit' me. but cindy seems too 'not dancer-y' to me, but many of my favorite dancers, and friends dance with their own names. but i finally found a name that said to me, "this is your dance name". so maybe your dance name does find you, like Elska said!
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Re: "Dancer's name"
Tue, September 15, 2009 - 7:50 PMI've toyed with the idea of using a dance name myself, but then I kind of figured that my real name (my first and middle names) was already pretty unique, so I decided to just stick with that (at least for now). I always wondered, though, when you use a dance name do you change your name legally, so that that's all you're known as, or is it just for dancing? Do you tell even your close friends and family that you want to be called by this new name? Like, does Zoe go by that name by everyone, or is it just other dancers who know her as that? I always wondered how far most dancers take the whole dance name thing. There are so many names I love and could use that I would have a hard time deciding. Plus, I thought about it, and I sort of felt like changing my name to something else would be almost like denying who I really was, if that makes any sense to anyone. Maybe that sounds weird, but it occurred to me. I do like dance names, though.
