I just read: www.gildedserpent.com/cms/200...escerts/

I wanted to say thank you. It was a breath of fresh air. Thank you for your honesty, business know how and for bringing down some of the hyped up bull that goes on. Let our dancing show our dance skill, not some paid for DVD, certificate, or dance studio connection. There are so many dancers whose work may never get seen simply because they were too busy training and working to waste their time and money on such things as "paid for credentials" and "belly dance communities" that are false in their words and products. It's nice to know your eyes are open to a dancer's skill and art over what she looks like on paper/internet.

That being said, I felt the below statement was a bit of a contradiction as I personally know of some "reputable schools" in my area alone that do not welcome all dancers as they are run by certain cliques and have student instructors so they do not appeal to more established dancers looking to continue their training.
"I have hundreds of Bellydance resumes on my desk. I never read them because 99% of their credits are meaningless and tell me nothing unless they are a credit from a reputable school where study happened over an extensive period of time."
Some areas lack good quality training. Such areas have dancers are both self taught and through mediums such as Belly Dance SuperStars DVDs…so maybe forget those silly papers altogether and look at the dancers live, in photos and through interviews to determine who passes your auditions.

Thanks again, it was a refreshing read. I’m looking forward to more BDSS Tribal DVDs, thanks for making our art so accessible and of great quality. Keep up the good work!