Connection Within the Virtual World As SharQui instructors, we can get caught up learning or creating choreography, choosing music, cueing and all that jazz. While all these are important, we can’t lose sight of the overall picture and sometimes miss the opportunity to connect with your people. Think about the reasons why people choose to work […]

  Rinse & Repeat Back in the day of my early teaching days, I had this fear of my students getting bored. And believe me, my students would let me know.  New Yawwkas…need I say more?! So every week I always created a new routine.  I worked hard on it spending several hours, and to […]

  Your Success Is Our Mission What’s keeping bellydance teachers up at night? I asked loads of professional dancers on social media groups and conversations at dance festivals and the message was unanimous: how can I get more people in my classes? Yes. I feel you. Offering classes WITHOUT having a system for filling your […]

  The Truth About Feedback Feedback is extremely valuable. It’s how you grow and reach your goals. But sometimes it can really sting! How do you grow through feedback without hurting your feelings? My best advice is to regularly ask for feedback from trusted instructors and mentors so you can process it in a safe […]

  Positive Cueing for Multi Levels – The Right Words Matter So, we talked about timing when it comes to cueing. Now let’s talk about cueing to different levels. The instructor’s ability to cue to a group of people made up of different dance and fitness levels can make or break a class. Am I […]

Timing Is Everything So, let’s tawwwk… Have you ever experienced a class that was just REMARKABLY easy to follow? Didn’t that make it more fun? You got a memorable workout, yeah? How about a class that was difficult to follow? Was there something about the instruction that just made it super frustrating? I know that […]

  Are you a silent fan? I am. I have dancers, writers, and business peeps who I follow. I’m a fanatic about their work, and I sometimes buy their stuff too! I gush about their work to colleagues and friends but I rarely “comment” publicly on their blogs or social media posts. Why? Dunno. Commenting just isn’t my […]

  It’s Pretty Simple Getting what you want in life might not be easy, but it’s surprisingly simple.  How? With a simple concept…consistency. Consistency builds trust. Think about any type of relationship you’ve had. When the other person is consistent with support and communication, trust is built. True? Now consider your current students. When they’re consistent […]

  Are You Bridging The Gap? There’s a unique skill set needed to be a great Bellydance teacher. And there’s a unique skill set needed to be a great SharQui instructor. It’s interesting to see where they overlap and where they don’t. If you want to build a robust SharQui business that appeals to a […]

  Thanks To SharQui – Joanne’s Story   My name is Joanne Domenici, and I have been involved in the Belly Dance world since 1974, although I did not start teaching until 2006. Always interested in fitness as well as dance, I began teaching Belly Dance at the gym I belonged to, and wanted desperately […]

      Challenging Moments   I want to talk to you about mistakes, member challenges and embarrassing moments, and how they’re great for growth. I’ve had situations where I’ve fallen in class, had urgent bathrooms calls, forgot the moves, forgot the music, and even those days where I didn’t feel like teaching. But if […]

    Belly dancer in a Ballroom World “So, how long have you been dancing? Do you have a specialty?” Jim asked, while leading her onto the dance floor. “I teach SharQui – The Bellydance Workout”, Charissa answered, as she stepped confidently into his tango frame. “So you’re a bellydancer? Hmm. That seems like an […]

  Beyond The Craft – Charissa’s Story   Dance and physical fitness have always gone hand in hand. A joyful, energetic dancer is a true delight and wonder to behold. A part of this wonder is appreciation for the dancer’s athleticism and generosity of spirit. With the state of the economy and the reemergence of […]

  Plant, Water, Grow   I was at a fitness conference this past weekend in Philly. Saw a lot of old NYC faces that came down for the event and met new ones as well. I sat down over coffee (love my cawfeee) with my past fitness director from Gold’s Gym NYC and she shared with […]

      Subbing And Going All In! Sofia first heard of SharQui when Oreet started teaching class in the Greater Philadelphia area. She had been taking belly dance classes on and off since 2008, and thought SharQui would be a nice way of combining traditional belly dance moves with the pace of an aerobics […]

  My Loving Rant   Hey there instructor,   I need to be real with you for a moment. So I’ll be totally saying it like it is, ok?   The only way to make this SharQui thing a reality is to go ALL IN.   To fully commit.   That means making choices that […]

  Top 3 Facts That Successful Instructors Do   This is part 2 of what successful instructors do to become or stay successful. If you haven’t read part 1 one yet, read here.   Last month it was all about mindset. This month it’s practical advice and putting it to action.   Here are my […]

    No Tricks…Just Quality “The quality of movement is so much more important to me than a huge bag of tricks”, Marisa states. All too often she’s seen people progress too quickly, which leads to sloppy dancing – mainly due to an unconditioned body or more likely lack of patience for the process of […]

    The Mindset of Successful Instructors    Have you ever looked at another instructor and been a tad bit jealous?   Or you thought, “Why is that instructor doing better than me?”   I bet we all have at some point. I definitely have.   It’s easy to assume they’re successful simply because of […]

  Do It   A few years ago I decided that I needed to participate in a business mastermind so that I could network and bounce ideas around with smart people, and learn how to bring SharQui and my teaching biz to the next level. I also had a business coach. I took private lessons […]

      You Can Do Hard Things   So in the past year I’ve had quite a few emails sent from newly certified instructors.  In order to help all of you, I have included the questions and my answers below.  Those of you who’ve been certfied for a while, this may help as well. […]

  When It’s “Not So Great”   On your teaching path there are going to be highs and lows. Classes where you feel like you crushed it and others, not so much.   Then these negative thoughts begin to pop up in your head that just get you all crazy about whether your teaching skills are […]

  Who Me? – Sandra’s Story   In 1986 I started bellydance lessons at my local community center in Sunnyvale, CA. I wasn’t very graceful but I was having fun and my teacher Cathy was very encouraging. I stuck with it and performed at student nights and eventually took classes with the amazing Dunia until […]

Seriously?   Hey there teaching pro. So, I’m going to keep this short and sweet (or not so sweet).   It’s important as an instructor to focus on the positive and do the RIGHT things. However, it’s also important to understand what NOT to do.   In my teaching career, I’ve seen and heard it […]

Refresh   When you’re too figgin tired, pissed off, or whatever, to teach — don’t walk into the studio right away. Even if it will make you a minute late. Even if it will frustrate your students. Take it from someone who’s made that mistake too many times. You sound different. You come off cold, […]

  How To Teach Your First Class   You earned the certification or received the blessing to begin teaching, but for whatever reason, you couldn’t. You’ve practiced the cueing, the movement, the breakdown and the routine (with a few blips), but still couldn’t get your ass in gear to teach an official class.   Well […]

How Are You Standing Out?   Question…Are you truly bringing in BIG energy to inspire your current students and have new students coming in?   If you want big things to change, you’ve got to bring big action!   Here are 3 truth smacks you should focus on right away:   Truth Smack #1: Focus […]

    Taking SharQui Out Of The Class When the SharQui format was introduced to her in November 2015, by the late SharQui instructor (may she rest in peace), Joanne Domenici, she was amazed and excited. Years prior she had resolved to teach bellydance to women as a way to heal by how we relate […]

No One Showed Up!   It’s the moment that terrorizes instructors more than anything else.   You know the moment. It’s this one:   It’s 10 minutes past and no one f**ing showed up!   Teaching is an emotional rollercoaster ride. It’s easy to get swept up. At times you think wow this is great, […]

  The Beauty of Screwing Up   One of the most powerful things we can do is share.   Our mistakes. Our victories. Our demons. Our two-cents. Our meals. Our stories. It creates a doorway for others to walk through and shout, “Hey, me too!” The result is not only feeling less alone, but also […]

  Keeping Students Happy   Is there a secret to keeping students happy?   The answer is “YES!”   And it all boils down to one simple idea…   Write this down. Or even better…Share it or Tweet it.   Dude, you can’t make everyone happy. When teaching, focus on making the right people happy. […]

  Leader Doesn’t = Schmuck   So you want to be seen as an expert in your field, right?…but you also want to be real.   You also want to get paid what you’re worth…but you also want to be accessible…yeah?   And you also want people to respect you…but you also want to be […]

  The One Thing That Could be Holding You Back   Spring is here…YAS! Happy Spring to you. For me, spring brings new growth. As I continue to learn and grow both professionally and personally, I would love to distill down the wisdom and lessons that I learned on my own path. And this is […]

    My Body Loves This Dance Before Carol Tandava stepped into Oreet’s SharQuí class back in 2004, she had struggled for years with severe abdominal and back injuries as well as painful internal scarring from surgeries. Though she had loved to dance since childhood, she was quickly body-shamed out of ballet when her pre-teenaged […]

Dealing With Haters   As instructors there will come a time where someone says something about your class, your teaching, heck, even take a jab at you on the Internet! I know, it’s disappointing.   The life of an instructor and dancer can be a full-contact sport – as elbows, hooks and bloody noses are […]

  How To Teach Without Over Thinking   Recently, I got an email from a SharQui instructor telling me that she struggles with “perfectionism” and “over thinking” whenever she’s practicing a routine. Every time she attempts to finish a routine, her brain swirls with something like this:   “Yay! I’m almost finished with my new, […]

    Anyone Can Join Her Class SharQuí has influenced her life in so many ways. When her thyroid gave out and weight control became a big issue, SharQuí has been there to get her up off her butt and move. When she prepares for a performance, teaching SharQuí classes gives her the fitness level […]

Don’t Be The Best   Being the best feels pretty damn good. It’s fun to be the smartest in the room. The brightest in your field. The savvy instructor with all the answers. The most flexible yogi in class. But when you’re always the best in the room, it gets pretty boring. Because you’re not […]