Welcome to the latest installment of my monthly series, Professional Ambitions. Learn alongside me as I travel down the winding path to a career as a professional fusion belly dancer. Now with memes!
At some point in your dance journey, you may find yourself needing to break into a new dance community. You may, like me, just up and move. You may find that your work has you regularly traveling to the same city and you want to meet some dancers there. Or you may be a small-town dancer who has decided she wants to be part of the community in the nearest big city.
If you’re an extroverted dancer, you may find it really easy to join a new community… just Google some classes, show up, and introduce yourself to everyone. Easy-peasy!
For those of us who are more introverted, shy, or socially awkward, it can be a little harder to make connections. So here’s my guide to fitting in to a new community, The Sophia Ravenna Way ™ (not really).
- As soon as you decide you’re going to move someplace, or you’re even thinking about it, start collecting people online. Do you already have a FB friend who dances in that city? Message them and get the lay of the land. If you meet someone at an event from that area, find them on FB. Look for FB groups for dancers in that area — You may need to message the admin and say “Hi, I’m currently dancing in Smallville but I’m looking to move to Metropolis in September” so they know you’re not a spammer.
- If you get the chance to visit your new community before moving in or becoming a regular visitor, look for a class or hafla that you can drop in on. You may feel shy and just want to hang back and observe, but try to at least say hi and get to know one or two people. In a perfect world, you’d be able to attend something with one of those FB friends you already have, and have them introduce you.
- When the time gets close, start looking for events to attend. Plan to go to as many events as your schedule, budget, and mental energy will allow, and go for a variety — gala show, hafla, student showcase, fundraiser, festival, restaurant show, concert… Choose a few different things so you can meet a cross-section of the community, get an idea of who’s who, and also get a feel for the venues you might be performing in! Again, try to say hi and meet someone at each event.
- Go to classes! Drop in to a few to get a feel for each teacher’s style and to meet them and their students. Even consider some drop-ins in styles you don’t normally do, just to check it out. This also allows you to scope out studios, in case you need to rent someplace for your own practice! Message the teacher ahead of time, or show up 5-10 mins early so you can meet the teacher, let them know that you’re new to town, and hopefully they’ll introduce you to the rest of the class.
- Sign up for some performances. You don’t just want the community to get to know you as a person, you want them to get to know you as a performer so they’ll invite you to be part of their shows or troupes! I recommend starting out with something low-key, so it won’t be too stressful and you can be more relaxed when you meet your fellow dancers back-stage. Make sure that you do something a little different at each show, so people get an idea of your range, and so you can hopefully get some good videos and pics to use to promote the fact that you’re now performing in a new city.
- Look for ways to be helpful. Whether it’s dancing at a fundraiser, volunteering at a festival, or giving another dancer a ride to class, being helpful is a good way to meet people and give back to your new community.
- Don’t be in a huge rush to set up your own events. Obviously, if you’re a full-time professional, you’ll need to be quick to set up classes, secure paying gigs, or host events in order to pay the bills, and you probably already know how to do that without my advice. But for those of us who are part-timers, guided more by enthusiasm than monetary concerns, try to find your place in the community before organizing things. Look to see if there’s something special you can bring to the table, and look for a hole in the schedule where you won’t be stepping on too many toes. Personally, one of the things I was excited about for my move was the fact that so many people were running events here that I didn’t have to — two years of hosting Open Stage almost every month left me ready for a break!
Beyond that, a few little tips… Do your best to at least say “Hi” to the organizer of any event you attend. Offer some kind words to the performers. Thank your new teachers and let them know how happy you are to have found their classes. Have business cards to hand out. Accept invites to as many events as you can. Always wear something interesting (a cool piece of jewelry, a shirt from a troupe in your old hometown, a bold lippie) to spark conversations. If all else fails, talk about your cat. That seems to work well for me.
Have you ever had to settle in to a new community mid dance career? Share your experience in the comments!
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