Joining
Are you interested in becoming a member here? We have three different levels of membership:
- Community Level Membership (no annual fee): This membership entitles you to access the pages here and to contribute to most of them. We will also link to your site from our links page. You will also receive a profile page that can be customized as you desire, as often as you desire. Any contributions you make to the community site will refer back to this profile page. As a Community Member, you may also post one event at any given time, either a class, performance or workshop. Community Members do not have their own "Schedule" page accessible from the sidebar on every page, though Community Members that are regularly scheduled performers for a venue will still appear on the venue's schedule page. You also can post up to twenty pictures in the Photo Gallery. Additionally, you can choose to receive the Belly News, a monthly round-up of events, and you can chose to become a part of the Web Ring. Community Members can be anyone associated with the dance community in Maryland, including friends and fans.
- Professional Level Membership ($50 annual fee): This membership is open to those performers and related businesses in the area. You receive all the benefits of the Community Membership, in addition to the following. You can post a limitless amount of events on the schedule, as well as a limitless amount of pictures in the Photo Gallery. You also get a "Schedule" page accessible from the sidebar on every page. Your name, picture and short bio will appear on the front page with a link to your home page. You can participate in all the features shown to Community Members. You can post videos and upload multimedia files for use on other pages, such as My Space or Blogger. You can also have access to our Feedback Forms, where you can give performance feedback to others or request feedback yourself. (Please note: this feedback would not be anonymous.) Professional Members here will also benefit from paid internet advertising, business referrals, and invitations to perform at events sponsored by this group for outreach to the community-at-large. Professionals can include performers and teachers of both dancing and music.
- Apprentice Level Membership ($25 annual fee): This membership includes many of the same benefits as the Professional, except in a more limited form. This level is perfect for those advanced students who are serious about their craft and are interested in presenting themselves in preparation of their actual professional career. Apprentice Members will only be allowed to post twenty pictures, five multimedia files, and one event. Although Apprentice Members will not be posted on the front page and will not receive referrals, they will receive performance invitations and will especially benefit from the Feedback Forms. Apprentices can include performers and teachers of both dancing and music.
- Business Membership ($25 annual fee; coming soon): This membership is for the vendors, venues, photographers and other businesses that make our art form possible in this community. This membership gives front page exposure, newsletter, webring, and limited access to posting a schedule or multimedia files, as in a standard Community Membership.
We also have other services that may interest you:
- Venue Scheduling (no annual fee): Community Members who make the monthly schedule for venues may apply here for the Scheduling Package. Here, you will be able to create a mailing list for patrons and dancers, post pictures of the dancers, check for scheduling conflicts and post the completed schedule for the month.
- Site Hosting ($150 design fee; $50 annual fee): Performers and related businesses may chose to have their home site hosted here. A Hosting Package includes any of the following pages: home, gallery, booking, shopping, schedule, reviews, and links. These pages are created to your desires and are mostly updatable through your hosting account; the handling of pictures on some pages is the only exception. The Hosting Package is separate from the paid Memberships (either Professional or Apprentice). Since hosted sites are linked to the group site, any additions made to your home site's schedule or photo gallery are made to the group's schedule and gallery. To aid in mutual advertising, the Hosting Package also includes one business card design sample.
- Web Ring (coming soon): This is available to all Community Members that would like to participate. Participating members can attach a piece of code to their home site that will link to other members' sites. This creates additional incoming links for you and is an easy way for surfers to navigate through similar sites.
- Newsletter: Affectionately know as the "Bellynews," this monthly emailing is available to all Community Members who would like to receive it. It will comprise a listing of links to upcoming events, a list of what's new on the site, and an occasional article.
