Honestly, I can think of a handful of people who seem to have this type of attitude- an inflated sense of their own influence and "power," as it were. (I call them narcissists.)

I used to let it upset me, but now I just ignore it. The bellydance community is big enough for everyone. On the rare occasions when someone tells me taht I "can't" do something a certain way, because it doesn't fit into "their" personal perameteres of bellydance, sometimes it bugs me....but I always do my own thing anyway.

There are so many dancers out there, especially if you live near a large city, that no one dancer's influence seems to extend as far as they THINK it should. lol.

With my first instructor I wouldn't say that she needs to hand over the reins...but sheltering her students from ANYONE else in the area isn't a technique that works very well. They find out about other instructors and styles eventually. From the get-go I realized I was treated like a troublemaker, I was (at the time) the only one going to workshops and really exploring what the community had to offer. I would get the 'tsk tsk...you have so much to learn about the community' lecture whenever I'd bring up a performance/event/instructor. After a while I decided that I was going to get the challenge I needed elsewhere and left.

This past spring after hosting workshops and a show it gets back to me that other people in the community were being told not to come to this event. It makes me want to break out the big WTF stick and start swingin'. There is room for everyone, all styles and *gasp* we could actually work together and create a cohesive community.

I'm so glad that I'm finding out for myself who I want to be around and its a pretty varied group, Goth, Tribal Fusion, ATS, Cabaret, and I absolutely love it.

This is the attitude of a insecure controlling person who see the star in you and wants to have it anyway they can. Killl them with kindness but don't play in there sandbox you will get fleas. There are other places/venue/events where you can perform. plus other troups & teachers. don't let one monkey stop your show
stand out with love is my motto

"How do you deal with people like that?"

You can try to understand them, to see where they are coming from....once you do that, you have the choice of how to deal with it.

As in every aspect of life, you make the choices of what and who you want in your life.

Some people love Burger King, some Micky D's... Others think outside the box and go to "The Bell"

The bottom line is that if there is someone who you don't "click" with, that's okay, because there is someone out there you do "click" with, you just have to look around and find them, you know your "clickers"....

I'm pretty new to the belly dance community (only been dancing since September '07) but I've picked up on the drama that's part of the territory in belly dancing already. The woman I take lessons from and the troupe I dance with (not perform with yet) don't really do choreography and do mostly - if not entirely - improvisation, pulling from a collectively known dance vocabulary, so we're a little different from the other belly dance groups out here in Fort Collins. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting anyone face-to-face who's all "I AM TRIBAL/CABARET/EGYPTIAN BELLYDANCE!!" but I've definitely heard about it.

I HAVE experienced that weirdness between people who do different styles, though. I personally don't get it; cabaret and tribal have most of the same moves, or at least the same basic ones, and the real difference for me is just in the presentation of those moves as well as the costuming... and even within *that*, nobody does the moves the exact same way.

Everything is individual in belly dancing, which is what drew me to it in the first place. Hell, even the Superstars don't all do shimmies the same way - they all do it a little differently. People need to let go of the "this is such and such style, NOT blah blah blah" and embrace the fact that belly dancing is about being unique and beautiful in your own way, NOT about adhering strictly to one style and only one style. The moment you restrict what you're willing to learn and understand, you cut yourself off from developing and growing as an artist.

Okay. My spiel is over!!
-Amy