MiamiDancer

Do you think it makes professional dancers look unprofessional to have their videos posted on YouTube?

I am the webmaster for a dance studio as well as a belly dancer and am wondering if I should strictly put the videos on the studio website or add them to YouTube as well for additional exposure.

Any advice you can give would be appreciated!! Thanks ladies

firshania

It depends of the video, but there's a lot of professionnal bellydancer who post their video on youtube. I don't think it's unprofessionnal. Just be sure to post good qualities video.

jenc

I would really like to see how a teacher dances so I can see if her style an mine have anything in common. although I understand that the best dancer is not always the best teacher

Salome

I have used youtube quite a bit to check out the quality of a dancer. For example, when someone recommeds so and so for an interview, or dancer X want's to do an article with OrientalDancer.net, or I'm asked to help promote an event of a dancer etc. It's just super convenient to go to youtube and instantly find a video clip instead of wading through search engine results to find their website, if they have one and clips, if they have them...

Amira_116

I think it's fine to post videos, but really suggest making sure they look good. The more professional the video, the better it reflects on you.

Amira

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Jana Beeman "Amira" http://www.howtobellydance.com

da Sage

If you dance in public, someone will eventually post pirated video of you anyway (it happened to me!).

So it's in your best interest to put up some clear video of you dancing well, and put your name (dance or real) on it. That way if someone says, "I saw you on You-Tube!", you can ask if it was your official video. If it is, then great! If not, hopefully they'll go looking, and see your "good" clips, too.

Someone put up a really crappy video of me dancing poorly, but I was still recognized and called out for it - in front of other dancers. I should really take my own advice, here...

Tarik Sultan

I've gotten some of my best dance jobs because of my youtube videos. Its an excellent way to advertise your business. In addition to that, it also helps me to educate the general public about aspects of the dance and culture they ordinarily wouldn't encounter. Youtube is what you want to make it. So if I were you, I'd do it. Let potential customers know what to expect and the quality of your work.

Amira_116

I totally agree with Tarik. If all the video seen on youtube is beginners and bad performances, that's what the public expects dance to be, and makes people unwilling to pay for good performers. As teachers and leaders in our craft, I think we owe it to ourselves as business people (for those of us who perform professionally) to show people what they CAN get. The internet gives us a medium to set the bar higher for pro dancers, so our audience gets a show worth the money.

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Jana Beeman "Amira" http://www.howtobellydance.com

Maria_Aya

There are some practical subjects also that makes video's on youtube more easy to have in your professional site.
Right now we are finishing the site of my school and its much more cheap and easy and accesable to all to keep the video's on youtube than at site format, special when you have more than 10 video's.

Maria Aya

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... www.orientalexpression.gr

Caroline_afifi

Used in the correct way, Youtube clips are fantastic.
They have certainly enabled some discussions on this forum and I have had a chance to see some great footage I would never have seen or had access to.