Congratulations to all the dancers!

The belly dance show Apocalipsis was a great success! Leyla Salam interpretation of the end of time through belly dance was very innovative and interesting. They captured the audience from the opening to the last dance. Aryadh, Malak Farrah, Dana, and Afet of the Desert took the leading roles as the four horsemen. They represented sickness, violence, war, and hope, a reflection of the times we are living.

Something very shocking was the sketch of violence. Roseta Bordane and Randy Dominquez interpretation of violence against women was spine chilling. And everyone felt her pain.

There was a belly dance school that came all the way from San Jose, Costa Rica, to be part of this event. The group Noura gave the tribal belly dance touch of the night. And they were representing darkness. They incorporated sword dancing and Isis wings to their dances.

Also, the school Alondra danced in Apocalipsis as souls in hell. The dancers were so flawless and they looked to be reaching out from the fire.

The Leyla Salam troupe was amazing interpreting the different emotions need it to give Apocalipsis the mysticism it had. For some of the girls, it was their first time in belly dance and dancing in front of an audience.

Next year, a new belly dance show will be put on scene with a complete different concept from Apocalipsis. I think the name says it all: Aqua! Auditions will be in March 2010.

Belly dance and other dances can work for weight loss success. In fact, you can burn as many calories belly dancing as you can walking, swimming or riding a bike. That means you can burn from 200 to 500 calories for an hour of belly dance depending of the intensity of your moves. With a healthy diet and constant work on your belly dance technique you can really shape up your abs while having fun. Bottom line: The more you move the more calories you’ll burn.

And here is an opportunity for you to start a belly dance fitness program. Once again Projeccion Leyla Salam and Sandybell Start Your Fitness Right Studio bring you the BellyDance Cardioton. In this third version you will find out how to incorporate belly dance into your cardio routine and you will be learning the folkloric dance step Saidi Jump Jump. Saidi is a traditional dance rhythm from the south of Egypt.

The Belly Dance Cardioton will take place on Saturday May 30th at Power Club of 12 of October Avenue. For more information you can call 6683/1497, 6794/0498.

Next week we will be posting pictures of the cardioton, don’t miss it!

In last week show in La Huaca of Rasheda Arabic Dance Studio a special guess took everyone breathed away.  In an amazing display of beauty and strength the aerial dance group Gramo Dance.  Gramo Dance has been promoting art appreciation since 1997 through shows, workshops and classes.  They are actively   involved in promoting and sharing this dance form in children with economic need from Chorrillo, in Panama City, Panama, through scholarships provided with the help of Club Kiwanis and General Bank.

Ximena Eleta de Sierra was the opening act dancing in the hoop together with shadow box belly dancing, a truly lovely combination.

Later on, Raquel Arrue, former ballet dancer and belly dance instructor, solo performance in exquisite display of precision and beauty.

Finally, Bestlie Pineda performed in the hoop together with fire dancers Mitchelle Quiñones and Carol Espinosa.

Gramo Danse is the Aerial dance foundation that takes you to another dimension, breaking boundaries, full of energy and unconventional beauty of modern dance.

Las night was the annual dance show for Rasheda Arabic Dance Studio in La Huaca Theater.  It was a very good show with the girls from beginning belly dance to the advance group.  Of course, I was there dancing!

“La Danza Encendida” means “Dance on Fire” and it was the tale of how, like the Phoenix, we can reborn from the ashes after things go wrong and keep going on with our life with even more strength.  La Danza Encendida was created with a mix and fusion of rhythms with belly dance that left the public excited.  In the opening number there were candelabras and candle dances and shadow and even Aerial Dance! It was an exhilarating night for me and I’m sure it was also for all the girls participating.

We got veil dance, candle dance, Saidi, ballet dancers, African dancers, fire dancers, tribal style belly dance, Egyptian style belly dance, and even a Chinese Lion! This was truly an exotic night to remember.

But, it was a very special night for me.  It was the first time I belly dance in my own country, Panama, and it was also the first time my family saw me dancing.  I cannot have enough words to express what I felt last night.

Thanks to everyone who helped get the show going.

Belly Dance, or Dance Orientale, has very inexact origins.  As part of fertility rituals, this exotic dance was a common denominator of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and India.  During this period of time, matriarchy was practice and it was believe that women had magical powers because they could create life.  For this reason, it is believe that these dances where performed by women offering the sensual movements of their bellies and hips to gain the favor of the goddess of fertility and earth.  Today, some people in North Africa and the Middle East still practice Belly Dance during labor.

The search of new exotic cultures, customs, and landscape, in Middle Eastern and African’s countries, resulted in given Raks Sharki the name we use today: Belly Dance.  Raks Sharki or Dance Orientale is characterizing by the movement of hips, turns, and the isolation and control of head, thorax, arms, and hips.  Also, we have Raks Baladi (Folks Dance) which is a more elemental dance where there are hips movements but not much traveling steps.

Until then, Belly Dance had been performed in small places and as private affairs.  However, this change when in Cairo was open in 1926 the first party club, where performances by sensual dancers where in the repertoire.  Casino Badia or Madame Badia’s Cabaret was the center for what we know today as Belly Dance.  Badia Masabni was not only the owner of casino Badia, but she was also the creator of mixing elements from other dance forms like ballet with Dance Orientale, looking to attract an European audience. 

One tradition where this dance was known as a popular dance was elevated by Badia to a more professional level.  She also expanded the repertoire of the belly dancers and the use of the arms with more fluids movements like the snake arms; and the use of the space to dance.  The dancers became more sensual and cheerful.

As Badia Masabni gave Belly Dance today´s sensuality and eroticism, Hollywood was helping to give a bigger impact of Dance Orientale in the world with the introduction of the two pieces costume, which identify today’s belly dancers, and the use of veils in the dance.

The secret of Belly Dance is that never goes out of vogue and everyday has more fans.  Men and women equally work towards the practice of this dance and to maintain its place in the world of dance.  We never end the quest for the exotic, the sensual, and the forbidden.