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Saba
Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble

Information and Guidelines for Members

"In its cultural context it’s about sharing joy, happiness, celebration, love of life, the beauty that exists within and around us, and just having plain old fun! “~Tarik Sultan

Being a member of a dance troupe is a wonderful way to deepen your knowledge of the dance and form lasting friendships. You’ll work closely with other dancers, learn lots and have fun!

Saba Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble is a Dance Collective made up of Celebrations Bellydance advanced level students.

Rehearsals

Sundays 4:00 - 5:30 at Leaping Feats Studio and
Tuesdays 7:30 – 9:00 at Elijah Smith Elementary

During the summer: TBA

Responsibilities

Maintain on-going enrolment in a Celebrations Bellydance class.

Attend rehearsals. Arrive on time, with pencil & paper for taking notes and the necessary “props” at hand.

If you can't attend a rehearsal, please phone Nita or another troupe member to let us know you can't make it.

Each member is expected to provide herself with the required troupe costumes, accessories, and accruements (canes, veils, zills, candles—what you need for the dances we’re working on). Note: the hope/plan for the future is that troupe funds will be sufficient to purchase these things back from you and that they will be stored together as troupe property. In the meantime, be prepared to shoulder some financial burden as we acquire props & costumes.

We all rely on each person knowing her part. Each member is expected to know her part and spend some practice time at home learning it.

Conduct yourself in a manner that shows respect for the dance, the audience, the other troupe members and themselves (of course!)

You are encouraged to develop solo and or duet performance pieces outside of rehearsal time as a potential way to vary performance program offerings. Trial performances of works in progress can be done within troupe rehearsal time for critique when requested. Solo pieces must be polished and shown to Nita before public presentation.

The Director’s voice will be the main voice of critique during rehearsals. The goal is to create smoothness and unity in the mood/style/interpretation of each piece.

Leading a troupe is a time consuming job. Making sure that everyone has fun and that troupe remains a rewarding experience for all requires the support and cooperation of everyone! This means arriving for rehearsal on time, taking your share of tasks when the job jar is passed around, learning your part, etc.

There will be as much group consensus as possible, but the Director ultimately has final say in decisions.

No routine will be presented that is not polished and ready to be seen by the public. Dancers who have not adequately learned a routine should plan to sit out a performance until they have mastered it. This is in the interests of putting on well-rehearsed show for our audience that we can all be proud of.

New Members
New dancers coming into the troupe will join the rest in learning whatever new choreography is being worked on at that time. Over time they may learn the previous repertoire by following along and using videos. Thus, in a performance, they may dance in the choreography they have learned along with everyone else, but support the others from the sidelines, help out with the CD player or as stage hand during pieces they do not know.

Money Stuff
Studio Rent: $40/person per semester. In order to keep the financial burden spread as equally as possible, fees are payable even if you miss rehearsals. This money goes towards studio rent at Leaping Feats. The remainder of the studio rental is covered by Celebrations Bellydance. Please pay Nita at the beginning of every semester. No class fee is charged for troupe.

In 2006, Wines by Design donated the $500 deposit needed to be a user group in the public school system for our mid-week evening rehearsals. Coreen administers this.

Funds (either payment or honoraria) received for performances will be disposed of at the discretion of the director; either divided up amongst the members as paid honoraria for a performance or applied towards troupe needs/activities.

Legal Stuff
All choreographies written by the Director (Nita Collins) remain her property. You are asked to not publicly perform troupe dances outside of the troupe. This keeps our choreographies fresh for the audience. If you leave the troupe, you may not use our choreographies without written consent from the director. The choreographers of dances obtained elsewhere will be cited whenever possible. (Giving credit where credit is due).

Troupe members understand and agree that their photograph may be taken by the press, may be taken by audience members, and may also appear on Nita’s website or in other publications for publicity purposes.

Costumes
Speak to Nita for a current list of required troupe costumes and accessories, and be sure to speak to her before purchasing any troupe costume piece to ensure you do not spend money purchasing the wrong thing.

Please don’t wear troupe costumes for non-troupe performances. This keeps our costume repertoire fresh and unique to us and saves wear and tear on the outfits.

When a member leaves the troupe, it is fully expected that she will sell her costumes and accessories back to the troupe. If pieces are not purchased by members, the money will come out of the troupe fund and the pieces will become the property of the troupe.

Caftans
When not on stage the troupe wears caftans to preserve the mystery of the dance. We don’t yet have a single common “troupe” caftan, so each dancer is responsible for her own. Your caftan should not look like a housecoat! A simple pattern is available.

Footwear:
Ideally and whenever possible we will be barefoot. When safety is a concern, we will wear silver or gold slippers depending on the costume. For outdoors street dancing (so you don't ruin your leather soles): strapped summer sandals that are secure on the foot and look appropriate for the costume.

Agreement:
Participation in this performance group implies that you have read and agree to abide by these statements. J

Dance in Joy!

Updated May 2008