Bigots Against Belly Dancing

Free speech advocates planned to protest the cancellation of a belly dancing class at a public library, saying it amounted to censorship.

cbs13.com - Free Speech Advocates Protest Public Library

Another sad case of the "powers that be" misunderstanding belly dancing as an art, as well as its popularity.

The Board Chairman Ray Simon, said

"We would have to give equal opportunities for snake charmers and sword swallowers."

which just goes to show the bigotry that surrounds belly dancing just because it originated in the middle east. I hope that sense and open-mindedness win over in the end.

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly+dancing, banning+belly+dancing, bigotry, bellydancing, misunderstanding

Favorite Instructional Belly Dancing DVDs

I'd love to know your favorite instructional belly dancing dvds. I have always felt quite let down by the ones I have bought or rented in the past.

Molly just emailed me and recommended The Goddess Workout with Dolphina (Goddess Life) so I will be checking that one out. I have also just put in an order for a couple of the new dvds from Jillina who is chief choreographer and dancer for the Belly Dance Superstars. I interviewed her recently and not only is she a great dancer she is also an incredibly nice person who chatted with me even though she hadn't eaten yet and was famished!

Post your favorites below by clicking on comments.

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly+dancing, bellydancing, belly+dance, instructional+video, belly+dancing+video, goddess+workout, bellydance+superstars, jillina

Turkish Belly Dancing at Turkish Fest

This year’s Turkish Fest will also include traditional folk dance and belly dance performances. The Turkish market along the riverside will be serving the best Turkish food and drink as well as spices, textiles, arts and crafts, and music to promote Turkey abroad.

English

If you are in London on the 15th and 16th of July, you might want to visit Turkish Fest for some traditional Turkish Belly Dancing.

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly+dancing, belly+dance, bellydancing, turkish+dance, turkish+belly+dancing, turkish+fest, turkish+festival, London

Belly Dancing Tribute to Princess Leia

Sa'id created a special belly dance as a tribute to Leia, which she recently performed in a costume contest where she won first place.

Wired News: The Cult of Leia's Metal Bikini

As a kid I always thought Princess Leia was pretty cool and was happy to be her whenever we played Star Wars (while my brothers argued over who was going to be Luke and who would be Han). It seems I'm not the only one who was and still is a fan...but maybe some people take it a little far. This video is both cool and amusing at the same time!

Enjoy!

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly+dancing, princess+leia, belly+dance, bellydance, tribute, star+wars

American Belly Dance

"American belly dance is used to describe someone who's taken Oriental dance style and changes it. I'm very different. There are two types of belly dancing -- Oriental and Tribal. I've … used influences from both. My arms are very ballet and flamenco -- because the Oriental style is mostly done below the waist, you would not see any arm movements. "

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060618/SCENE05/606180315

An interesting interview here with a young belly dancer about her style of dance and why she moved away from performing a traditional style.


Lisa x

My New Website

If you just can't get enough information on belly dancing, check out my new website and sign up for my newsletter at: http://www.bellydancingsecrets.com.

You can find out loads of stuff on Belly Dancing as well as hear interviews and watch free videos.

Look forward to seeing you there,

Lisa

technorati tags:belly+dancing, belly+dance, bellydance, website, interviews, videos

Another Belly Dancing blog

Also, she's a prefect example of an excellent skinny belly-dancer. Another common question that I was always asked is, do I need to have a bit of a belly to belly dance? The answer is totally, no! You don't have to. There is no specific body type to belly dance. You can be skinny, you can be curvy, pear shaped, apple shaped, ruler shaped, whatever.

a passion for belly dancing: Rachel Brice and body issues.

Here is another blog that I like to read from a belly dancer in Malaysia - I love her insights into belly dancing. And she's right - belly dancing is about celebrating being a woman, whatever shape you are.

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly+dancing, bellydancing, malaysia, blog, body+shape

Nelly Furtado Belly Dancing?

There has been some discussion about Nelly Furtado belly dancing in her new video Promiscuous Girl with Timbaland. I have to say that when I saw the video there was a little hip shaking but nothing I would consider recognisable as belly dancing technique.

In this video on Youtube there is a bit more evidence of an attempt to belly dance near the end. Perhaps she's trying to jump on the Shakira bandwagon?

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly+dancing, nelly+furtado, bellydancing, promiscuous+girl, timbaland

More Shakira and Belly Dancing

"I've been belly-dancing since I was four years old," Shakira, 25, was saying from Miami in an exclusive Canadian newspaper interview with The Sun."And nobody taught me how to do it. So it's something that's in my DNA, that I inherited. But I never got the opportunity to show my skills as a belly-dancer because I never did songs with this kind of Arabic element involved before. It seems that people really felt curious about that aspect."

CANOE -- JAM! Music - Artists - Shakira: Road trip ... she's driving

Further to previous posts about Shakira and her belly dancing roots, I found this interview she did. It still doesn't explain all the influences in her dancing but she does suggest that belly dancing just came naturally.

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly, dancing, bellydance, belly+dance, belly+dancing, shakira

Belly Dance Finger Cymbals or Zills

Today, many fewer dancers use finger cymbals. Teachers start teaching finger cymbals later in class, or skip them entirely. Finger cymbal work is becoming more and more rare -- and really good finger cymbal work is even more scarce. But finger cymbals are not to be feared!

Want to Learn Something 80 Percent of Today's Belly Dance Teachers Don't Even Teach?

It was the title of the press release that caught my attention, and it's true, very few teachers I have come across teach this aspect of belly dancing.

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly, dancing, bellydance, finger, cymbals, zills, sagat

Belly Dancing and Pregnancy

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the practice of belly dancing may benefit women preparing for childbirth, as the movements strengthen and tone the pelvic floor muscles and the woman becomes more familiar with the way her muscles work. The hip-circling movements used in the dance may relieve some of the common discomforts of labor.

Belly dance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The idea of belly dancing helping in preparation for pregnancy absolutely fascinates me, but not ever having been pregnant I don't know how good it is!

A great blog to read if this interests you too is: Belly of the Goddess at

http://bellyofthegoddess.blogspot.com/2005/03/belly-dance-as-birth-dance.html

Bring out your inner goddess!

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly, dancing, pregnancy, belly, dance, bellydancing

International Belly Dancing Competition - A Different Perspective

More than 1200 contestants from around the globe came to Cairo this week, where they competed for the golden crown in Egypt's International Belly Dancing competition. Because of the event's official rules, not a single participant was Egyptian. However according to 'Dina', a famed Egyptian belly dancer, the rule was decided out of fairness: "Belly dance is our dance," she said, "When we compete with foreigners we win. It's not fair."

KABOBfest: Belly Dancing Gets Competitive (and Commercial)

I love this blog post on the International Belly Dancing Competition taking place in Egypt at the moment. It is a great commentary packed with humour.

Lisa x

technorati tags:Belly, Dancing, International, Competition, Egypt

Blogged with Flock

Belly Dancing and Spirituality

Robling sees belly-dancing as "a balance of mind, body and spirit." She admits that it is an excellent workout, but that she discourages women from using the technique with only weight loss in mind. To her, its main purposes are spirituality and embracing femininity.

Belly-dancing - "The outside world just stops when you walk into the studio." : Local : Evansville Courier Press

The more belly dancers I speak with the more I hear them praise the mental and spiritual benefits of belly dancing, as well as the physical.

Lisa x

Oriental Belly Dancing Festival

It has been revealed that Najwa will be giving away the same belly dancing outfit she wore during her performance in 1974 in the presence of the late American Foreign Minister Henry Kissinger to the first place winner in the festival.

albawaba.com middle east news information::Oriental Belly Dancing Festival launched

Wow, some dancer is going to receive a real piece of belly dancing history. It's good to see that this festival is still going ahead, when we hear so many stories of Belly Dancing being banned or frowned upon.

Lisa x

technorati tags:belly, dancing, dance, festival, oriental, dance, najwa

UK's First Inter-University Bellydance Festival

WARWICK UNIVERSITY is ready to wobble as bus loads of belly dancers head for Coventry.Students from around the UK will converge on the campus, in Coventry, for the UK's first inter-university Bellydance Festival next Tuesday night.

icCoventry - Bus loads of bellies...

Take a look at this great story about the first ever inter-university belly dance festival in the UK. This was held just a short drive from where I grew up - unfortunately I now live over 200 miles away.

It's great to see the UK is finally catching up with the rest of the belly dancing world!

Lisa x

technorati tags:bellydance, belly, dance, dancing, festival

I'm back

I know I've been a bit slack lately with my blog, but now I'm back with a vengeance, so keep me bookmarked for loads of great belly dancing information from around the world.

I have been really busy working on a new belly dancing project which I will tell you more about shortly. Watch this space!

Lisa x

Other Cultures Who "Belly Dance"

One of the things the Belly Dance Superstars drew attention to was how other cultures created similar traditional dances to belly dancing, without any knowledge of what other cultures were doing.

The one they specified and included in their program was Polynesian dancing but I am sure there are many others. Certainly, I know the Melanesians have a similar dance (but still different) to the Polynesians which I was taught when I was in the Solomon Islands. They even gave me my own grass skirt (I'll see if I can dig out a photo sometime).

I'd be interested to find out how many cultures have a traditional dance that has similarities to belly dancing. If you know of any, post them here.

Lisa x

Belly Dancing for All Ages

While I was packing away my recording equipment, Jillina said something I wish I'd got on tape (or minidisc as it is these days).

She said that Belly Dancing was wonderful exercise for all ages because it is so low impact and, unlike other dance styles such as ballet, you can start at any age and still excel in it. She said she loves taking classes and seeing women there from teens to their 90s - all enjoying themselves and getting a good workout.

Mardi Love backed up some of what Jillina said. She told me she had been a dance-kid-dropout (you know, someone who is sent to dance classes as a kid but hates going and eventually persuades their parents to let them give up). It wasn't until she was in her early 20s that she saw belly dancing and it really captured her imagination. Now, in ballet, tap or jazz it would be virtually impossible to start training in your 20s and become good enough to perform as a professional, but as Mardi proves it is not the same for belly dancing.

Lisa x

Bellydance Superstars Part II

I had a fantastic night at the Bellydance Superstars last night. The show was an eclectic mix of styles - not just belly dancing styles, but also included ballet, Latin American, Flamenco, Polynesian, Hip Hop... I also had the opportunity to conduct an audio interview with the chief choreographer and one of the performers, Jillina.

I'll be talking more about various aspects of the show in future posts but in the meantime, here is a picture of me with American Tribal Belly Dancer Mardi Love.



Lisa x

Bellydance Superstars

I'm starting to get really excited. I'm off to see the Bellydance Superstars on Monday in Yeovil. I'm amazed they are coming to my part of the world!

Anyone else had a chance to see them?

Lisa x