The 4th Wall

It's defined as: The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre. (paraphrased)  The idea was explicit by Denis Diderot

As belly dancers we don't always get to experience the 4th wall, in the same way that performers in traditional theatre comapnies, get to experience it.

For them, it is a pretty real thing... well as real as air can be.  But, to them, it is very real and tangible.
That blackness that is beyond the footlights of the stage creating a barrier between the peering eyes of the audience and themselves.

More often than not, our audiences are right there, for us to see all of their expressions.   If we dance in a restaurant, we can find severs and costumers alike wandering through our space to get to places that are around us.  That dance space can sometimes be invaded my the small child who has the very unashamed exuberance to come and dance with us.


It can be hard for us to actually have the experience of the 4th wall without a theater. 

But, we actually do create them.
You begin to create the fourth wall as you perform, by perfecting the "Thousand Yard Stare"...  Where you look over the heads of the audience, when you look down at the floor, toward back stage....  any where but into the eyes of the audience.

But, that is not the only time we create it.
For some of us we begin building this wall during our performance preparations, for some, it could go much farther back....  to the moment where you have chosen a "stage name"..  Separated by some degree or completely from your real name.
The security of the stage name has a pretty rich history...  Many performers have done this to create a semblance of anonymity/mystery or to disguise their nationality...  (example: Lady Gaga is really....... Martin Sheen's real name is.............), it was also done to give a performer some privacy from the lime light as well as a safe haven from Fanatics (more commonly known as Fans.

Now, not everyone takes a stage name.  That is a matter of personal choice and not one made lightly. Since as belly dancers we tend to take on a name from a culture that we are not always from.  The selection of a name can take some careful planning.  You have spelling variances to consider, this that can connect you to a region.. the meanings of the names and maybe even learning how to pronounce them correctly.  (after all, a mispronunciation can take you from being "beautiful eyes" to "dog faced elephant" very quickly)

There's one building block for some and the foundation of the wall for others.

After the name, the creation of the 4th wall is much more tangible.  It begins as we physically prepare ourselves for the show. 
For me, personally.  It starts when I begin putting on my make up, this marks the point where I am becoming Fajera. 
(Now, to the dancers who are backstage with me...  You see the real ME more than the audience does. Of course, it is hard to be my stage self... when you have seen me in my spanx and have held up a veil or been a peeper blocker backstage.)
The audience, who know my stage me and whom have never talked to me post show.  Have no idea that I snort when I giggle hard enough or that my nose gets numb after a couple glasses of wine.






Some dancers are fantastic about maintaining that 4th wall and some insist on it staying there. They will not shimmy chase a server across the carpet, shoulder shimmy the 80 year old man who's out for birthday dinner.  I'm leaving out the kid, because no one can really ignore the cute 3 year old shaking their diaper. (or bigger... either way, all kids have carte blanche for stealing the show, just for being cute... )But, they will accept the praise from the audience.
They are NOT going to invite them to be familiar and join us all as we take ourselves out for post-show breakfast.

Other dancers, don't mind being accessible to the audience. For them, it's kind of a half of the 4th wall.  They don't mind looking out and engaging the audience, encouraging them to clap in 4/4 time to a 9/8 song, flirting with the same 80 year old man or anything else that may take us to their level, only because we engaged them.
Again, this kind of dancer will always be gracious to the audience, but, no post show Toasties...

Then, there are the dancers who are totally comfortable with complete familiarity.  I personally, do not know anyone like this.  I am sure they are there...

The 4th wall, even for us, is there even if we don't have the blackness beyond the footlights.