'Ello Ziva. I personally am not a older dancer but know plenty of them and I don't think that there should be "competition" between older dancers and younger ones.. I don't think its even fair an older dancer has (generally) more experience but with age and experiance comes other things (I don;t think I have to name these...) But an older woman has grace and a self assurance that younger woman dont have! I know in this day and age we are bombarded by youth and thin bodies (almost to the point of aneroxia *ick) but I don't think thats a fair portrayal of "women" as a woman should be. Some of the most beautiful graceful dancers are older women like say Dahlena, Helena Vhlahos, Jamilla Salimpour. These women are highly sought after by other dancers for workshops and performances... My adopted mother will be 60 in August and still dancing strong. I know that she feels self concious (I cant spell today!) but she compensates by doing things to make her more confidant, like because she had 4 c-sections and a partial then full hysterectomy she has a deep vertical scar and she just always wears a lace or net body suit to cover it up. So I know I'm rambling but here's the point.. It's all about confidence in yourself and your dance, belly dance is one of the few dances for women of all shapes sizes and ages! Don't ever feel "passed over"! Men are the ones who pass over and this is a womans dance! *Rambling again...*

Good job Octavia.. Thats basically what I was trying to say but I guess I would have never been good at the game describe this in 20 words or less.. And I forgot to add my mother-in-law is in her 50's and when she is her age (not to say she can't be youthful but age appropriate) people love to see her dance and yet when she tries to act like the younger girls it gets lost in translation and people just see an older woman trying to look like an younger one. So basically it's as with anything else wear what makes you feel good about you and don't worry about it.......

Well I don't have a problem with this cause I'm only twenty. But this is exactly the reason why my bellydance instructor went from cabaret to tribal. After she had her baby, she gained a fair bit of weight and she got a lot of "you really should think about retiring" from people and had a hard time finding gigs. So she turned to tribal fusion, where the comunity was much more accepting women from all different stages in their lives.

Ziva, I am 35 and I would be delighted to have your body shape! From your profile picture you are beautiful!

Absofuckinglutely, but that's how the world goes round. It's one thing dancing at a festival or hafla where there is a lot of love of the dance and sisterhood support, and another thing entirely, performing at a paying gig for total strangers who don't know you from Adam or Eve and are expecting to be entertained by something pretty-pretty, not having their preconceptions challenged.

The student troupe I'm in was pulled out of a gig at a retirement home by our teacher when the booker made a comment about how she hoped there weren't overweight dancers in our troupe, because the previous group that danced there had some women that must have weighed over 200 lbs (!) and that just wasn't acceptable. I recently met a woman who used to dance with one of the Fat Chance student troupes, who drifted away from that scene because of ageist/racist/looksist attitudes among the audience at paying gigs. And I've seen it when a teacher consistently pulls younger, prettier members from class for her own troupe, even though there's an older, plainer student who has much more experience and ATS certification to boot. This has a lot to do with my own decision not to perform at private/restaurant gigs unless there's a very large group dancing, and save it for the festivals where the audience has an appreciation for the dance form; I don't need to set myself up for the judgment of strangers any more than I already do just walking out of my front door every day.

Fortunately, I dance because I love it, and not from a need for others to give me approval. And thank god for Tribal, which, at least internally, is so much more welcoming.