I've only performed a handful of times, but for me, it somehow gives a focus to all the work- the performance itself as a goal to work towards and an offering.

and I really enjoy the push that comes with the goal (of a performance), I guess.

oh, and dressing up with all the pretty things is half the fun. I'm too level-headed to think that i'll ever be a 'rock star'

it's all for fun and confidence-building and community for me....

good topic, palika!

I must echo the other dancers . . .
I am just dipping my toe into the world of dance performance right now, but so far the best part of it for me has been getting together with other like minded women and creating something beautiful. I also love the costuming aspect of dance and the way it transforms me into another person. Preparing for a performance is very motivational and I dance twice as often when I'm rehearsing. Just practicing dance is satisfying for me because it requires focus and everything else in my mind just gets washed away. When I'm performing it's an even more difficult test of focus because I have to push everything else in my mind away and just be in the dance without getting distracted by the audience, self doubt, cars driving by, my hip scarf falling off, etc.
There is also something about putting myself out there and conquering the fear and risking humiliation that is a test of courage for me. When the adrenaline is pumping and the other dancers are putting dots of liquid eyeliner on my face and I'm drinking rescue remedy because I'm so scared to go out there, sometimes I'm thinking, 'why the hell am I doing this?'. But then the music comes up and we go out and try to make magic. Sometimes we goof and its hard to be kind to ourselves after, but no matter what the endorphin high afterwards is amazing and I feel like a real dancer. I realize that most dancers can barely make enough to pay for costuming. I am fine with the idea that I will probably always be a local community dancer, but in a way that makes it better. Of course it would be nice to make money, but the fact that we aren't making any money and yet when we are inspired to perform we give up all our free time and sacrifice so much to make something beautiful happen makes it all the more meaningful to me.
A friend once told me 'You are what you do often'. That makes me a dancer.

My response is similar to what others have already mentioned. 1) Knowing I'll be performing pushes me to practice more often and more diligently. It helps me improve my own dance technique and be the best that I can be. 2) Performing itself is fun, and if it isn't, it should be and something should change (venue, etc) to be sure that it will be next time. 3) I find the process of group preparation to be bonding/community building and also fun, both practicing the dance and costuming ourselves. 4) I spend so much of my free time dancing in closed classes and practices that it is in the context of performance that I can share what I've been doing with my friends and family and even with strangers. In this way, the joy is multiplied.

My first dance performance was in 13 years ago but before that, as an adolecent, I performed in competitions and exhibitions as a gymnast for several years. All told, I've probably performed many, many dozens of times. I don't think my motivations have ever been very different than what they are today.

Thank you for bringing up the topic, Palika. I have been performing since June of 2005, and have had a long-ish process of discovering what it means to perform and what motivates me. I agree with others here when they speak of the process whereby I transform from my "ordinary" self to the persona that presents a dance to an audience--definitely me, but a transformed me, in costume and makeup. I collect masks as a hobby, and often wonder if my costume is a sort of mask, not to hide behind, but a vehicle through which a different part of myself emerges. The internal process of learning to perform revolves around something in the realm of what Eleanor Roosevelt said about doing the thing you think you cannot do, pushing to learn and refine, to get into the heart and soul of a movement or a choreography.

Still, the performance isn't just about my willingness to push myself, to work hard at learning a choreography, internalizing it, making it the very best performance I can give. I think, too, that what keeps me going is the effect on the audience--I have seen little girls jumping up and down, dancing while they watch us, pretending they are playing finger cymbals, I have had people from Morocco come up afterwards, crying because something we did reminded them of a dance they remember from years ago, people thanking us, and then I realize I have given, in my small way, a gift to these people--that we have connected in some way, even though we all come from different walks of life and ways of moving through the world. So, performing is about my willingness to give the best gift I can to people who have often spent their hard-earned money to come watch a performance.

Since I have been performing for well over a year, I thought I would answer the other part of the quesiton--have my feelings changed about performing? I definitely have much less stage fright and more stage presence. Learning to be up in front of an audience is an ongoing process and there will always be things I can improve. I have been through a lot of mishaps (props falling over, a stage with a yawning hole in the center, big enough for a person to fall through, unbelievably slippery stages--not terribly fun when I am doing floorwork with my sword, in a fifteen-pound costume, but I managed--music suddenly going off, blinding stage lights that make me feel like I'm having a near-death experience, losing jewelry, tangling parts of my costume with another dancer), and have learned that I think fairly well on my feet in those situations--and that it's still possible to give the best performance I can give. I feel that I am in an ongoing process of simply trying to get better and better at what I do (this includes watching tapes and DVDs of my performances, which my troupe leader requires that we do as a group, so we can learn what we did well and what we need to improve upon).

I also come from a family with many members in the performing arts to varying degrees and feel comfortable with "stage life." I have gained a great deal of self-confidence, a lot of nice costume pieces, precious bonding with my troupe sisters, and an ability to improvise and keep smiling if something happens onstage!

And...I love every minute of it, too! :) Certainly not in a "rock star" way--more like a person in whom I pray expression through dance is also an expression of the deep self.

It's a little embarassing to admit this, but in the beginning I started because my troupe pushed me to perform. Truly and honestly, I dreaded it. I didn't think I was ready either. I know that is not a very good reason, but that was a blessing anyway. Something happened during those first few performances that really surprised me. I had fun, and I was blissed out on the smiles of the audience too. There was some kind of an interaction/energy exchange happening that I didn't expect. I'm still exploring that as I go on. Also, as other have said, there are the benefits of being with my tribe and participating as team member in an endevour.... and of course, getting all dressed up and sparkly. :) But mainly, I just have fun, as simplistic as that sounds. I look at pictures of myself taken during performance and it's the same look I have in the photos where I am four years old and I just got done spinning around until I fell into a heap in the grass.

The voices in my head are telling me that I want to perform so badly but I am just not trained enough yet. I know when the time is right I will go. I remember my first few classes standing in front of the mirror and then leaving class and crying for hours because I was so disgusted with my self. I did not have the self esteem to look at myself in the mirror that long. But it wasn't just my self image it was lack of skill and gracefulness. It was also my uncomfortable feelings being around women in such a setting. Slowly but surly I saw a power rising within me. I was receiving a powerful energy from the instructor Terri Walden and the other girls in the troupe. It was a strange energy I have never felt anywhere else. It was a powerful energy radiating from women --- and it honestly scared me at first.... but slowly I started to crave it and now I want to show it and share this energy with others. I think it is beginning to radiate in my daily life but only when I am dancing (and this is the first time I have danced in my life!) do I truly feel it. I have a little ways to go before I am up to performance stamina but this has become a necessity in my life-- this crazy thing called belly dance, and I will never look back.

I started performing when I was 15 and I have never been the same, I love the feel of turning hand in hand with my sisters or by myself and hearing the soft sigh of the crowd or the loud ululation if I do something amazing. But I am just as happy dancing for the pure love of it for me and my pleasure or if someone is lucky enough to be there to see me then all the better for them. Being a rock star is only a small part of the whole for me. I feel this inner light when I dance, the two women that I danced with all of the time felt the same, we were the embodiment of the goddess in her three aspects and people told us they could feel this when we danced. Amazing, we all are goddesses if you bring the joy and beauty of dance to anyone including yourself.