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Excellent
Belly Dance Resources:
www.gildedserpent.com
The Gilded Serpent is an excellent on-line belly dance e-zine offering
articles from dancers, writers, and dancer-writers.
www.bhuz.com
Bhuz is a great bulletin board site consisting of a community of belly
dancers from all over the world. This is a great place to meet people,
and to ask and answer belly dance-related questions.
www.shira.net
Shira's is a fabulous resource for belly dancers of every level. You'll
find music and video reviews, insightful articles, lyric translations,
music clips, everything. It's the bom!
www.zilltech.com/
This is the website of Aziza Said, a wonderful performer and teacher.
She offers great articles, reviews, free e-postcards (belly dance-related,
of course!), and even some shopping.
www.bellydance.org/
IAMED (International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance) is an outstanding
organization by and for belly dancers. They host top-notch shows and
workshops with the biggest names in belly dance, and offer many of the
highest quality belly dance videos available. You can't go wrong with
IAMED.
www.mecda.org
MECDA (Middle Eastern Dance and Culture Association), to quote their
website, "proposes to develop unity to provide educational sources
for the community of Middle Eastern Dance through close communication,
sponsorship of workshops, dance parties and other events that ensure
continuity of these arts." I've been a member for many years.
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| Dancers
Who Raks!:
www.faizeh.com
Faizeh and I go waaaay back. Really! We belonged to our first troupe
together and everything. Faizeh is a lovely and talented Middle Eastern
dance artist (easy to say, but so true) who is dedicated to her art
form, both in performance and in teaching. She directs not one but two
dance troupes: The adult troupe Rashidah Sabaa, and the young girls
troupe Ants In Your Pants Belly Dance. Faizeh and I have performed together
often in a troupe setting and also as a duet. I am proud to be her friend
and occasional dance partner.
Katia and Lella
No website for these ladies yet, but they still deserve special attention.
I've danced, worked, and played with these two women for years, and
I'm here to tell you they are wonderful people. Katia is also a gifted
costumer specializing in flattering bedlah for every figure, and Lella
is an up-and-coming choreographer. I'm so grateful for their friendship
and support.
www.princessfarhana.com
Whew! That's the first thing that you think of after watching a performance
by the outrageous and outrageously talented Farhana. She's not your
daddy's bellydancer!. Farhana is the house dancer for Hollywood's Moun
of Tunis restaurant. Along with being a kick-butt dancer with the
most incredible flutters and ab work I've ever seen, she is also a teacher
with several instructional videos to her name.
www.raks-sharki.com
I have to give credit to Sandra even though I have yet to meet her in
person. She has been very gracious and generous with advice about various
dance matters, including promotional photos and website insight. I have
seen her perform on stage, and it is really a treat to watch her show.
I wish her much continued success.
www.arabicdance.net
Michelle Joyce is a well-known performer in the Northern California area, and one of Sandra's (above) regular dancer partners.
Like Sandra, Michelle is very generous in sharing her knowledge and extensive experience, and is a darn excellent dancer to boot!
We may soon see her touring with the Belly Dance Super Stars--we'll keep you updated!
www.zahra.com
Zahra Zuhair is a spectacular dancer and a talented teacher. She specializes
in the popular and elegant Egyptian style of belly dance, and no one
does it like her. She has traveled the world to gain a better understanding
of her dance form, and her students benefit from her dedication. If
you ever get the chance to see her perform, don't miss it!
www.mandalatribal.com
Ms. Sharon is a multifaceted performer based in Seattle (lucky for Seattle!).
By day she's a wild-mannered old-skool tribal babe; costuming, troupe-directing (www.infusiontribal.com),
and selling her tribal wares like nobody's busness. By night she's a
hot-blooded burlesque dolly, heatin' up the stage with her sexy, classy
antics.
www.blackseatradingco.com
Krisha ranks as my most influential
teacher. She broke me from a dependency on choreography, and guided
me in the ways of dancing from the heart. I would not be the dancer
I am today without her instruction. Thank you, Krisha. Today Krisha and her hubby are the proud owners/operators of
the Black Sea Trading Company dance and martial art studio in Lancaster, CA, where I teach!
They also offer music, dvds, costumes, and all types of neccessary dance products.
www.jessicadances.com
Jessica is my very own "Star Lady". I've watched her perform for years, and her innovative
Neo-Egyptian dance style is a joy to watch. Simultaneously earthy and elegant, Jessica makes
the dance stage a better place.
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| Music:
www.eventidemusicproductions.com/
This is the home of Jeremiah Soto's Solace, an American belly dance
musician. Originally Solace was Jeremiah alone, but lately he's been
doing a lot of collaborations with other talented musicians as well.
The result is a unique sound much favored by American Style Tribal belly
dancers as well as cabaret style belly dancers. Solace's Ahsas album
is listed on the list of My Favorite Music Albums (and not just because
I have the honor to be on it!).
www.radiobastet.com/
Vintage belly dance over the internet-a blast from the past! Portland,
Oregon's Marisa Young plays a show compiled of her collection of belly
dance LPs from the 50's to the 90's in streaming RealAudio format, with
all possible album information easily accessible. It's a true jewel
of the internet, and goes to show you what our Moms, Grandma's, etc.,
would have, could have, and possibly did dance to "back in the
day"!
www.hollywoodmusiccenter.com/
Also known as Peko Records, this company is very active in the California
belly dance community. Hollywood Music Center produces many fine belly
dance albums, and Peko Music sells those albums, as well as those of
many other artists. It's a professionally-run family business that really
knows and understands the belly dancer's music needs.
www.maqam.com/
Maqam is another good music-buying site with music clips. On the occasions
I have purchased from them, they have been very professional and fast.
You just can't beat a well-run music e-business that offers sound clips!
Costuming
Resources:
www.costumegoddess.com/
Dina Lydia as the Costume Goddess is a wonderful help to dancers in
the throes of making their first costume, or their hundredth costume.
She offers a myriad of hints and how-to's to start, correct, and embellish
the all-important outfit. She also sells really good costume books,
a wealth of useful information at a very reasonable price. I own several
of these books.
www.bellydancegear.com
OK, not *exactly* a costume, the Blume Bauer high-quality exersize clothing line is just what you need to get from home to dance class
and beyond. Cute bellydance-oriented graphics advertise our dance form to the world. Super comfortable and
dressy enough to wear outside of dance class, this line of clothing was designed by Blume Bauer expressly with the needs of the belly dance community
in mind. When you can't wear your costume, wear these!
www.magpieshoard.com
Tribal Fusionistas! Auntie Magpie offers an incredible selection of shiney coin jinglies, dreaded wool falls,
and the coolest cowrie tassels. I highly recommend her items. More than being a fabulous artists and business owner,
she's a super neat-o lady.
Books:
www.snakehips.com
OK, one book for now: Snake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True
Love by Anne Thomas Soffee. This is absolutely a great book for
belly dancers of any level. I literally laughed out loud at several
points, and I could honestly identify with so many parts of the story,
I had no idea that studying Middle Eastern dance and all that goes with
it could be such a universal experience. It's an honest, humorous autobiographical
tale that I highly recommend. I could hardly put it down. |
| My
Favorite Music Albums:
On my colleague's Sandra's website,
she mentions her wish that more dancers would list their favorite music,
to make it easier for dancers to collect good albums, and for musicians
to get the credit (and sales!) they deserve. I have to agree with this.
I have spent vast sums of money (to me!) on music that ends up being
bad and/or unusable for shows, for teaching, sometimes even for listening.
The good music, while becoming more common, can still be hard to find
while navigating through the desert of "Throw Something Together
With A Bad Synth And A Moderately Middle-Eastern Looking Cover"
albums. Great albums are even harder to locate.
Something
to keep in mind is that music that is great for one type of show, for
example, a Jordanian wedding, may not be the same music one would want
to use for an Egyptian-style performance, or for a restaurant show with
a primarily American audience, or an American Tribal troupe show, etc.
My collection ranges far and wide to support the variety of styles I
perform, as well as the different events I've danced at regularly.
It's
always difficult to pick just a few albums from my ridiculously large
collection, but these are my go-to selections when pulling together
any show. I'm sure that later on I'll remember albums that surely also
deserve their own place on this list. Realize that "Best Of"
lists are subjective, especially when dealing with music, but the following
are my current personal favorites, in alphabetical order (and how can
you tell they're my current favorites? I had to go to my bedside table
to gather them up!).
2001 Nights by Said Mrad
This album is a clubby, modern remix of Middle Eastern classics. My
Turkish friends go nuts over this music! It's very well executed although
just a few of the songs are a bit too "club techno" for some
performances. However, you won't be able to sit still when this is on.
Ahsas
by Solace
This is Solace's third album, and most versatile, in my mind. It works
for both tribal and cabaret--no mean feat (although some songs will
of course work better for one than the other). While the majority of
the songs are instrumental, four feature the haunting vocal talents
of Harry Saroyan and Lydia Fortner (individually). Ahsas offers a range
of American music from theatrically dramatic to village chants.
Bellydance
Superstars Vol. 1
A great party-time cd! This mostly upbeat collection was put together
as favorite dance music of the Bellydance Superstars, and it definitely
works. Anytime you're stumped when pulling together a show, chances
are this collection of modern Arabic pop and classic belly dance tunes
will fix you right up.
Big
Drum: Small World by Dhol Foundation
I stumbled across this cd years ago while investigating Natacha Atlas
and the Trans-Global Underground's music. Uncharacteristically, I bought
it sound-unheard, just on the virtue of the album name and the group's
link to the aforementioned artists (and the fact I could get it very
inexpensively off www.half.com). Luckily for me, it's a winner!
The Dhol Foundation is a Punjabi group named after the large drums they
are famous for playing so well, the dhol. If you like drum music, you'll
enjoy this album, with it's modern techno Punjabi influences.
Dances
of Port Said, Music of the Middle East Vol. 5 by Mohammed el-Bakkar
Mohammed el-Bakkar was a very prolific actor, director, producer, and
musician from the 1920's to the 1950's. Despite the racy (even by today's
standards) cover art of the curvaceous, pastie-twirling dancer, this
is good old-fashioned, fun orchestral Arabic dance music. Just don't
leave it out when your mother comes to visit, or you'll get the rolling-eye
treatment for sure.
Halim
and Ayeshteni, both by Natacha
Atlas
These are my two favorite Natacha Atlas albums from her body of solo
work. The songs are largely upbeat, although some are intense (I especially
enjoy performing sloooowwllly to Kidda on Halim: "Why, why like
this? One day my heart will have the justice it deserves…").
All the songs are pop-techno oriented, and can be used for tribal as
well as for cabaret style dance.
Layali
Zaman produced by Sahra Kent
This is the first classical Egyptian album I really fell in love with.
Produced by Sahra Kent, quite possibly America's best Egyptian-style
belly dancer, you know this is very "authentic" music. Sahra
presents a variety of songs with a fresh interpretation and-woohoo-liner
notes (a rare inclusion, even among very good Middle Eastern music albums)!
Millenium
by Amir Sofi & Orchestra El Masaya
This is the latest and most modern classical Egyptian album I've fallen
in love with. It seems rather rare to find a full album of orchestral
Egyptian dance music recorded less than 10 years ago, but here is the
marvelous exception. It's elegant and still fun to dance to-not an easy
combination to find.
Shake
Me Ya Gamal, Hot Tabla Solos produced by Hollywood Music Center
Here's a true story about this album: In the autumn of 2002 I had the
good fortune to spend a week in the south of Spain, Andalusia. My favorite
town was Granada, where my hotel was within the grounds of the Alhambra!
I also spend a good deal of time in the Albaicín, or the old
Arabic quarter. While in a shop there I heard some excellent Arabic
music, and I asked the shopkeeper to sell me the cd (I thought he was
selling it in the store). Turns out this was a home-made collection,
which he absolutely would not sell. Seeing as he had excellent taste
in music, I asked him to recommend some albums to me. He picked up "Shake
Me Ya Gamal", and said, "Every belly dancer should have this
album!" To which I replied, "I already have that one!"
It was a true cross-cultural bonding moment. Anyways, about the music,
it is just as the title suggests: Hot Tabla Solos. It's very enjoyable
drum music, lively and entertaining. The first song, Sahra Saidi, is
a particular favorite with many dancers.
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