Question:
When is a dancer "past her prime"? I’ve received a lot of calls form clients who don’t want dancers "over thirty". Some clubowners seem to feel that a dancer is in her "prime" between the ages of 21-35. I feel that the way a dancer looks--and not her age--is the important factor; but to be safe, I’ll be 28 instead of 30 on my next birthday!
Najia answers:
What is a client saying when he or she does not want dancers over thirty? He wants to be assured that the person he hires is aesthetic in appearance (more and more difficult to accomplish with the accumulation of years.) In this country, the word "youth" and "beauty" are often used synonymously and while this is often valid, one can also be burned out at twenty before reaching any prime at all. Generally, the person is saying he does not want dancer deformed by obesity, age or fate.
Many clients have bluntly asked my age and measurements on the phone. I ask in return "Are you asking me if I am a fat old bat?" Tension relief follows along with the confession that the person previously hired or saw a dancer who turned out to have been using greatly out-or-date publicity photos in the advertising.
Najia continues:
The person hiring should have the final opinion as to what is for him "past prime". Therefore, I suggest you openly avoid answering the age question with good humor. Make him judge you on more reasonable grounds, giving only current information about yourself. You should also have some sense of personal responsibility in applying for jobs which are appropriate for your body and dance ability.
Usually, dancers who have studied body movement, aesthetics of movement, and dance theory for a number of years--as I did before learning the belly dance--are adept at keeping everything in order and could fib about their ages far greater that you mentioned; who only two years--why not ten? I send a current photo of myself and do not give my age. To me, all good dancers are ageless in a sense, because one’s prime is determined by one’s direction or goal. For example, the famous dancers and teachers I know will never be past prime as their goals change with the years in regardes to their dancing focus. A dancer should traverse many primes thoughout a career. When this ceases to be true, the career is finished and we do not have to consider this question anymore.
Finally, many dancers should anticipate growing OLDER than they are, since, as a famous Bay Area instructor, Bert Balladine, has said for years--"You haven’t got anything to dance ABOUT until you are over thirty-five anyway." I say the best dancers I know are impassioned with life in a way that extreme youth cannot grasp.
Signed, Najia Marlyz