Feel free to post your own comments and any further questions here on the blog.
First of all, there was a 50/50 split between people who wanted to know more about belly dance moves and those who wanted to know about Belly Dancing origins.
While I would love to eventually create instructional material, this particular package is for the latter.
Q.1. What does "Oriental Dance: Discovering the Art of Belly Dancing" cover?
Ans: I wrote the book to help Belly Dance enthusiasts like myself learn about the history, origins, styles, costumes and music of belly dancing. It was a complete voyage of discovery for me that I can barely touch upon in the Belly Dancing Secrets' newsletter.
There is also a whole chapter on Male Belly Dancing, which is something few people know much about but is a vital aspect of the dance's history.
Oh, and it's illustrated throughout with some fab color photos!
Q.2. Why a package and not just the book?
Ans: Simple Answer? I got carried away!
When I started this project at the end of 2005, I had no idea how detailed this would become, and how carried away I would be by it. Belly dancing is addictive! Not just the dancing of it, but learning about its past and customs...and talking to other Belly Dancers about it.
The book led onto other things like audio interviews, creating a good resource guide, and recording the book into an audio version.
Q.3. Why have you chosen 12th October to launch it. Is it significant?
Ans: Two reasons.
First of all, I have been working on this project for 10 months now and needed to set a date to release it, otherwise it might never have happened! I could have worked on this for the next 10 years, but what's the point if nobody ever sees it?
Secondly, the date is significant because it's my birthday! I thought, what better way to celebrate my birthday than to release the project that has taken up most of my last year? And it gives me a good excuse to add some great gifts to the package so you can celebrate with me.
I am even going to set the launch time to coincide with approximately the time I appeared in this world XX years ago! That means the launch will officially be at 5pm (UK time) which is Midday (EDT), 9am (PDT), 6pm (Egyptian time) and 3am (of the 13th in the Solomon Islands - OK, now I'm getting silly).
Q.4. Why have you provided "Oriental Dance: Discovering the Art of Belly Dancing" in both written and audio format?
Ans: I chose to do it this way because both versions can offer something different.
The eBook format is ideal for including fab color pictures of belly dancers, musical instruments and costumes, and it means that I can include "clickable" links to related websites - especially useful in the Resource Section.
I am a voice artist by profession, so recording an audio version was always at the back of my mind. Many people don't like reading and prefer to listen to narrated books instead (which are also easy to download to an mp3 player or "burn" to a CD to listen to "on the move").
Plus, you can't put music in an eBook. I have found some lovely pieces of music to add to the audio version and it would be a shame if you missed out on them (especially a piece that illustrates the use of the most common instruments used in traditional belly dancing music).
That's all for now. Post any further comments and questions below. I'll have more for you in the next few days.
Bring our your inner goddess!
Lisa
P.S. If you haven't signed up for the launch emails and the chance to win some great Belly Dancing goodies, head over to:
http://www.bellydancingsecrets.com/prenotification.html
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