photo from sundeyahgo.pixnet.net/blog/post/22918710When I travel aboard, particularly encountering with people from bellydance circle, they always ask me:“how's bellydance at Taiwan?” Well, it is a big question and it is not easy to answer in just few sentences.
In general, it was very big one time and now it is still hot, just not that big.
As an island with so many colonial experiences in the past – Holland, Portugal, Spain, Japan, immigrants from Mainland China after 1949…, we have such open-minded and welcome attitude toward anything new and exotic and we are also easily to be attracted by something much newer and different. In sum, it is a fast cycle of consuming: we find something new, we take it, and then it is done: we give it away for other things.
I still remember there was time when Portugal custard tart was first introduced to local consumers. All of sudden everyone was talking about this tart and the Portugal custard tart shop was everywhere. People even waited in long line for hours just for a dozen of tarts! It was such irrational fever. Few months later, people got crazy about other stuff and now we did not have many Portugal custard tart shops anymore. People didn’t mention it anymore and they don’t want to taste it anymore. It just totally disappears from our life.
When people learn that I am a bellydancer and I teach bellyadnce (I teach ATS), four from five people will say that someone they know also learn bellydance or involve with bellydance – it could be their family members, relatives, colleagues, classmates, friends, girlfriends…. Almost all who told me someone they know are learning bellydance or learned bellydance before said that those bellydance learners are so contented with their learning. I personally meet with some bellydance students and they project the same reaction: they first giggle and then smile shyly saying that they just really enjoy the bellydance class even though the class sometime is very challenging, regardless of their occupations, education or social status.
I am quite amazed at such high hitting rate. By statistics, it probably implies a huge consumer base of bellydance learning.
In the meanwhile, the local bellydance community gradually develops to reach its mature period in the past few years. It is consisted by bellydancer, bellydance instructors, and bellydance fans. I will say it is a quite tight-associated target group, almost like a secret underground cult. We only meet with each other like bats flying out of dark cave, at certain occasions: master workshops, local dance troupe recitals or foreigner bellydancers’ shows like BDSS.
There is a huge gap between the huge bellydance learning population and much-committed bellydancer community, in terms of knowledge and capacity of technique, concepts and information of bellydance.
It is very neutral. From my training of fine art marketing in the States, the whole market is like a pyramid (Pyramid means a lot to bellydancer!): the bottom section is much general and diversified while the top section is always more focus and targeted. What I refer to as “targeted,” is the fact that they are willing to spend a lot of money for classes and workshops, especially those certification workshops. We really love certification and there are many interesting facts behind this trend. (I should write another article just for this topic sometime!)
Tide comes and goes. Portugal custard tart is gone. Donuts are gone. So many stuffs passed. I definitely do not wish that someday my beloved bellydance would face a similar fate, totally disappearing from our life.
Somehow, bellydance, this art form of age old, has its own charm. It stays with us in a way we didn’t expect. Perhaps the fact that bellydance is a dance for women of all ages, sizes and live experiences, is also applied to this Confucius-dominant society.
In general, it was very big one time and now it is still hot, just not that big.
As an island with so many colonial experiences in the past – Holland, Portugal, Spain, Japan, immigrants from Mainland China after 1949…, we have such open-minded and welcome attitude toward anything new and exotic and we are also easily to be attracted by something much newer and different. In sum, it is a fast cycle of consuming: we find something new, we take it, and then it is done: we give it away for other things.
I still remember there was time when Portugal custard tart was first introduced to local consumers. All of sudden everyone was talking about this tart and the Portugal custard tart shop was everywhere. People even waited in long line for hours just for a dozen of tarts! It was such irrational fever. Few months later, people got crazy about other stuff and now we did not have many Portugal custard tart shops anymore. People didn’t mention it anymore and they don’t want to taste it anymore. It just totally disappears from our life.
When people learn that I am a bellydancer and I teach bellyadnce (I teach ATS), four from five people will say that someone they know also learn bellydance or involve with bellydance – it could be their family members, relatives, colleagues, classmates, friends, girlfriends…. Almost all who told me someone they know are learning bellydance or learned bellydance before said that those bellydance learners are so contented with their learning. I personally meet with some bellydance students and they project the same reaction: they first giggle and then smile shyly saying that they just really enjoy the bellydance class even though the class sometime is very challenging, regardless of their occupations, education or social status.
I am quite amazed at such high hitting rate. By statistics, it probably implies a huge consumer base of bellydance learning.
In the meanwhile, the local bellydance community gradually develops to reach its mature period in the past few years. It is consisted by bellydancer, bellydance instructors, and bellydance fans. I will say it is a quite tight-associated target group, almost like a secret underground cult. We only meet with each other like bats flying out of dark cave, at certain occasions: master workshops, local dance troupe recitals or foreigner bellydancers’ shows like BDSS.
There is a huge gap between the huge bellydance learning population and much-committed bellydancer community, in terms of knowledge and capacity of technique, concepts and information of bellydance.
It is very neutral. From my training of fine art marketing in the States, the whole market is like a pyramid (Pyramid means a lot to bellydancer!): the bottom section is much general and diversified while the top section is always more focus and targeted. What I refer to as “targeted,” is the fact that they are willing to spend a lot of money for classes and workshops, especially those certification workshops. We really love certification and there are many interesting facts behind this trend. (I should write another article just for this topic sometime!)
Tide comes and goes. Portugal custard tart is gone. Donuts are gone. So many stuffs passed. I definitely do not wish that someday my beloved bellydance would face a similar fate, totally disappearing from our life.
Somehow, bellydance, this art form of age old, has its own charm. It stays with us in a way we didn’t expect. Perhaps the fact that bellydance is a dance for women of all ages, sizes and live experiences, is also applied to this Confucius-dominant society.
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