Solving a bellydance teacher problem…
The Bellydance Quickies started out as a simple fix to common problem bellydance teachers have. Not everything Middle Eastern dance students need can be taken care of in the studio during class time.
Mahin wanted to share extra information with her students. For example videos of key dancers that illustrated different bellydance eras and styles or folkloric dances being done by the cultures of origin. It didn’t make sense to use class time to show them, but she wanted to make sure they would have access to them – so a little email list exclusively for her class students was born way back in the summer of 2009.
Then the requests came…
A few of Mahin’s students asked to share some the emails with their bellydancing friends that lived in other areas – some were shared with other instructors. Several of these bellydance teachers liked the emails so much, they contacted Mahin directly and asked to be added to the private list.
The Bellydance Quickies email is born…
Within a few months, in January of 2010, the Bellydance Quickies email list was opened up so that any bellydance student, enthusiast or instructor could subscribe and get a steady flow of interesting things to read, practice and enjoy!
Since then, thousands of bellydancers around the world have taken advantage of this valuable resource for inspiration, practice and ideas in Middle Eastern dance.
A Bellydance Community grows…
The BDQ subscribers have become the threads of a worldwide bellydance community. To step back and reevaluate how to better support that growing community, Mahin put the BDQ on a short sabbatical in October of 2018.
The Bellydance Quickies returned in the spring of 2019 with this new dedicated site and a plan for expanded resources to serve the BDQ’s growing worldwide community of curious and bellydancers – always looking to continue their dance education and skills.
As the larger online bellydance community has evolved, so have the Bellydance Quickies. In February of 2022, the BDQ transformed to a bi-weekly email with belly dance tutorial videos, articles of interest and inspiring videos, published and delivered to you every other Friday.
Have you subscribed to the BDQ yet?
More exciting new features are coming to this site – stay tuned – and grow and dance with us!