Is Self Indulgence a Good Thing for Performers?

Add to favorites

Is self indulgence a good thing for performers? Another word for self indulgence is decadence which I think is vanity’s appetizer, enticing us, making sure she lures us in. Where is the fine line from fantasy to self indulgence and when is there a warning that we are believing too much in our dreams? Making our dreams into a reality is life’s greatest lesson and teacher, making us the women that we are but I wonder if our choices aren’t skewed in the direction of an alter ego that slowly but surely takes over our every day life.

“I am a woman who enjoys herself very much; sometimes I lose, sometimes I win.” Mata Hari     

Legendary dancers through out history had to create opportunities in dance when there weren’t any. Zoheir Zaki is a good example since she had to overcome her father’s disapproval of her dancing. The night club circuit can be daunting and she had to start from square one just like everybody else. Was it Zoheir Zaki’s shear determination that created a successful career eventually leading to a legacy every dancer reads about and follows? How much do we have to believe in what we do versus over indulging in the complexity of our image? Sometimes proving ourselves to family, friends and dancers can become a life time endeavor that becomes a way of life.

Taheya Carioca married 14 times so Elizabeth Taylor had nothing on her. The unfortunate results of an entertainer’s lifestyle can be her overindulgence in keeping her lovers as muses instead of companions. Fifi Abdou had no less than 6 managers but she is considered to this day to be an excellent business woman who knows what she wants and is willing to fight for it. Her name is connected to scandals, controversial shows and provocative behavior that seems to push the envelope in a country that is contrary to both. Nagua Fouad at the tender age of 15 ran away from home to Cairo without a penny to her name. She by far has the best rags to riches story of any dancer because she rose to the top of her profession to became one of the most renowned belly dancers in Cairo.

“Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion.” Martha Graham

When passion is mixed in with a woman’s objective to become successful, the world becomes her accomplice and witness. The end result can be a million to one shot with no guarantees. Nobody talks about the Drama Queen that is molded from the unforeseen choices that a dancer makes through out her career. Is the Drama Queen in a woman’s make-up to begin with or do we nurture this overbearing characteristic with false praise and words of encouragement that are superficial. Choices that women make in entertainment seem to create an overindulgent reaction to how the world should respond to them. We all want to be appreciated with every performance, a standing ovation but realistically the audience has their own agendas to contend with and sometimes they bring them along.

I was thinking about entertainers in general who die young like Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. What was the neurosis of their fame? Was it the “on” button that became stuck or was it an insatiable appetite to be appreciated on and off the stage 24/7? Once the stage becomes apart of any person’s career choice, normalcy just goes out the window. To be the center of attention can create double standards that become a way of life. Being on top can take a toll on the psyche of anyone expected to be in perfect form every time they perform. With the desire to succeed there is a price to pay that at the end of the day might be costlier then anyone expected. My nightclub days were everything I expected and more but what ended up happening was I became a wine-a-holic by the end of my nightclub years. After 5 years, I thought I hid it well but most alcoholics think nobody knows or can see their secret. It was obvious to everyone in my family I had a problem but me.  Sometimes hiding a problem can become more important then acknowledging the problem exists.

At the end of every performance there is a state of mind that engulfs the performer. It’s a human barometer that starts a million thoughts to overtake the mind. Comparing and deciding how a performance rated along with everyone else’s puts the performer in a constant state of  uncertainty and self doubt. Words of praise can become secondary to the applause because to many dancers the applause becomes the only reassuring response they accept as valid. I wonder if performers at high levels of success become deaf to  verbal praises because words can become empty with no sustenance other then false pretenses. When the applause is no longer enough where does a performer go from there?

Entertaining can become a lonely endeavor which is why I think belly dance is so popular. Success or failure can be shared with women and men who understand the pitfalls of this business. But I think down the line we have to look at our unrealistic views of what success is. What is success to one dancer is failure to another. It’s the same old story, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

“Most human beings today waste some 25 to 30 years of their lives before they break through the actual and conventional lies which surround them.”

Isadora Duncan

So the answer isn’t an easy one but it’s one that I think is important for us all to look at. Here’s a quote that states quite well what we do as performers.

“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads,” Erica Jong

We go as comrades into the creative unknown searching for our perfect dance that has meaning beyond the ordinary or mundane. We want to be the muses for the masses and this is where it can become hazardous. If we go down the rabbit hole we have to make sure we know our way back to where our unbiased, pure aspirations started from. Our roots matter more then we know especially when success knocks at our door. We are apart of a society that needs stimuli 24/7 and it’s easy to forget that it’s not only left up to us to entertain the masses.  Maybe that’s apart of our self indulgence as performers, we take on a hungry monster that is never satisfied.

“Going home means getting comfortable being who you are and who your soul really wants to be. There is no strain with that. The strain and tension come when we’re not being who our soul wants to be and we’re someplace where our soul doesn’t feel at home.”  Melody Beattie, “Finding Your Way Home”

Being home is remembering that it’s okay to be the average woman or man on the street. How can anyone entertain the masses if they don’t remember they are apart of society. Once a performer is comfortable and content with themselves, every performance becomes a reflection back to the audience that is a true gift; they become a living example of contented bliss.

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Albert Einstein

Belly Dance Training at Home ”Wednesday” video is now out on my membership site www.bellydancevillage.com If you want to check out Monday and Tuesday videos,  try my membership out for FREE!

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

No related posts.

Add to favorites