Today’s post is inspired by the Daily Dance Tip I shared on my Facebook fan page. So before I get down to blogging, let me shamelessly plug myself: Monday through Friday I post a little daily tip about something dance related. Not only do I think my tips are handy (otherwise I wouldn’t share them), but they often start a conversation where other dancers share related tips or anecdotes. It’s fun and informative! So go like Sophia Ravenna on Facebook and keep an eye out for forthcoming tips.
Anyway, today I suggested that dancers should take advantage of Pinterest’s great potential as a dance tool. If you don’t already use Pinterest, you might have this idea that it’s just full of dubious DIY projects and nail art pictures, but it’s a lot more than that. For instance, there’s zillions of great pictures of bellydancers ranging from icons of the Golden Age to the latest up-and-coming dancers. So whether you’re feeling down and you want to swoon over pics of Mardi Love all day, or you’re trying to find a picture of Samia Gamal in a specific costume, Pinterest has probably got your back.
But beyond that, there are a few great, specific ways you can use Pinterest as a belly dancer.
1. Collect all of your favorite dance stuff. In addition to pinning pictures, you can also pin YouTube videos, and a lot of websites and blogs have “Pin It” buttons, so you can save your favorite posts, too. Sure, you could just bookmark things, but Pinning is great if you have more of a visual way of remembering things. For instance, if you have 10 bra tutorials bookmarked and you know there was an awesome tip in “that one where she was making a pretty blue bra”, you could go through your list of bookmarks, or you could go to Pinterest and see the picture with the blue bra and know that’s the one you wanted.
2. Create visual wishlists. Pin all of the costumes you’d like to buy, so that when you have some money to spend (or someone says “What do you want for your birthday?”), you have a really easy visual guide to refer to.
3. Makeup and hair tutorials! Pinterest is overflowing with beauty ideas, and while you have to be wary of some of the DIY tips, you can find great looks based on the latest eye shadow palettes, or new styles for your hair.
4. Inspiration boards. In addition to my general “Belly Dance Inpsiration” board chock-full of beautiful pics and favorite videos, I like to make specific boards for specific performances. On these boards I’ll collect makeup and hair looks that I want to try, costumes similar to what I’m considering making, and images that just evoke the feeling I want to convey with my performance. Depending on whether you want to give your fans a tease or surprise them, you can make your inspiration boards public or secret.
5. Troupe boards. You can set up a secret board that all of your troupemates can view and pin to. This is a great way to share ideas for new costumes and choreography, makeup ideas, and more. If you have a troupe that periodically adds members, having a pin board that shows photos of all your current costumes and the sort of hair and makeup you do will make it a lot easier for them to catch up. You can even pin your practice videos if you want.
6. Pinterest as a promotional tool. If people are going to pin pictures of you anyway, you might as well have some control over it, right? Make a board specifically for your pictures, videos and blog posts. Don’t go overboard with it, because no one likes spam on any social networking tool, but try to make sure you have a good variety of pins available. Although people can edit the information you provide, at least you know your photos will go out into the world with your name, the photographer’s name, and any other information you want to share (where it was taken? who made the costume? what style of dance you were performing?), and you can make sure it links back to your website, blog, or whatever.
To get an idea of how I use Pinterest, check out my profile and browse my boards. If you have any Pinterest tips and ideas of your own, please share them in the comments!