OCTOBER NEWS 2011:

The highlight of the month for me was being able to host for the first time since we moved to Atlanta some of my students from the Mid West for a weekend of fun, laughter and sisterhood. Kim Brooks and Lori George came from Omaha NE to spend the weekend of the 16-18 with us and joined us for the Suhaila Salimpour workshop.  Sadly Susie could, at the last moment, not make it for health reasons and she knows she was sorely missed the whole weekend with all the texting and phoning that took place.

Our weekend started with a surprise 40^th birthday hafla for Liezel on the Friday night.  With a good team effort with JB, the children and the Atlanta students, Liezel had no idea until she arrived dressed for a normal Friday class and found us all sitting in the “Hookah Tea room” waiting for her fully costumed with a drink and a cheer. Some Moroccan food, good music and high spirits it turned into a real fun party.

Back to the workshop…… I knew that we were in for hours of hard work but did not anticipate the extent of stretch the Salimpour format of dance demands. I was so proud that they all persevered with the technique routines and drills and did better than most.  We stayed in town for the show on the Saturday night and enjoyed the overall experience.  Suhaila was a blast and is a very nice and helpful instructor… even when she kicks ….s!

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Omaha World-Herald (NE)

May 2, 2009
Section: Community Connection
Edition: Iowa;Nebraska;Sunrise Central Metro;Sunrise Northwest Metro;Sunrise South Central Metro;Sunrise South Metro;Sunrise West Metro
Page: 01k

Her belly dancing helps women blossom
"Age and figure do not matter," the instructor says.

Carol Bicak WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER  

South African Sanet Halck has lived in Omaha less than a year, but already she hopes to make a difference among women in her adopted home. Her plan: Teach the ancient art of Egyptian belly dancing.

Americans have a misconception about what belly dancing is, Halck said. If done correctly and in keeping with its long history, the music and the stories it tells, the dance is never sleazy. It isn't meant to titillate.

Rather, it's private and discreet, she said. "And age and figure do not matter!"

It helps women discover who they are, Halck said, and as an added bonus, it's great exercise.

"I've seen women blossom as they learn," she said.

Halck has studied the dance in depth, training with some of the best teachers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In South Africa, she had a successful dance school, but she is finding it difficult to get started here.

"I miss it," she said.

Her dance school isn't all she has missed since arriving in Omaha last June. South African food, the ocean and people's more worldly attitude rank high. She regrets the loss of the mild, California-like climate in Duban, on the Indian Ocean coast.

"Snow was a major adjustment for me," she said.

Halck moved to Omaha to be close to her daughter and grandchildren. She was at a crossroads in her life because a job had ended and South Africa was going through a difficult and troubled transition, she said.

She began dancing: ballet, tap, jazz and ballroom: at age 3, she said. But she found her passion, Egyptian belly dancing, at age 38.

In South Africa, Halck, 56, worked as a human resources specialist for 38 years. She soon will start as human resources director for a summer program at Goodwill Industries. About 450 young people will get jobs through the program, which was made possible by President Barack Obama's stimulus bill, she said.

She is a member of Benu, an Improvisational Tribal Style belly dance troupe that is based in Lincoln and which performs around the world.

She also teaches private lessons in a downstairs studio in the northwest Omaha home she shares with her daughter and grandchildren. Summer classes start next week.

Halck would like to join forces with high schools or with organizations that work with girls. Her classes build self-esteem as well as body movement, she said.

She entertains at women-only events such as private parties, book groups and showers. She even cooks the food and provides costumes for dancing.

Halck, who enjoys playing tennis, has been divorced twice.

"I'm very independent and headstrong," she said with a laugh, adding: "I'm still friends with my husbands."

The discussion never wanders far from her dancing, her love of it and her desire to get other women interested.

It's difficult to put what she hopes to accomplish in words, she said. Halck wants to help women to feel good about themselves and their bodies.

"I'm very passionate about it," she said. "I really feel I have something to offer."

 
Healing through Movement

Published in Dance Directory – 2007

www.dancedirectory.co.za
The Mystery, the Magic and Misconception of Belly Dance

The Mystery

Belly dance, as we know it today, has its origins in dance which was once part of celebration concerning fertility, rites of passage and religious ritual.  Historians have found evidence of this ancient time line extending to as early as 4000BC.

“Raqs Sharki” ( The Egyptian term which means Oriental Dance and Belly Dance in the Western world) according to Wendy Buonarentura, author of “Serpents of the Nile”, a book about woman and dance in the Arab world is older than the 14^th Century.  Documented findings date back to the 14^th century.  However it is believed that from the change of Paganism to Catholicism, Islamic and Christian religions’ documentation and recording of this ancient form of dance had been destroyed and dancers executed.  From the findings thus far there is therefore evidence that this dance form is in fact much older.

In the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries all claim that Belly dance originated with them.  There is also a claim that it started with the Celtics.  It is further believed that the Romany Trail was made up of gypsies or Rom, of all lands that share a common origin in India and that somewhere around the 11^th century the first Rom migrated west through Afghanistan and Persia and onto the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Here their ways divided.  Some continued, via Turkey into Europe while others went south via Egypt following the Southern coastline of the Mediterranean.  As ‘outsiders’ (the Egyptian word is Ghawazee) who refuse to conform to society, Rom have always met hostility in the countries where they have settled.  When they did settle they adopted the local traditions, made the traditions their own and for hundreds of years used this crosspollination of culture as they went about making their living as public performers.  They have no written history, as their story has been kept alive and transmitted from generation to generation by means of music, song and dance. Due to the unending upheavals of history and its peoples, it is not always possible to ascertain which stylistic elements are indigenous to a particular dance and which are the influence of migrant groups.  It is interesting to note how a similar use of the body in two otherwise differing dance forms has allowed certain movement to enrich the repertoire of both. For example;

·         Sinuous arms and side-to-side sliding of the head are common movements of Indian, Persian, Turkish and Arabic dance.

·         Finger gestures which have particular significance are a characteristic of Indian, Algerian and Moroccan dancing.

·         In Andalusia we find flamenco and there are also elements within flamenco which appear to come directly from India.

·         Spanish gypsies performed a women’s dance which incorporates similar hip movements to those of the Arabic dance.

From the harems of the Ottoman Empire, where the “adorned ones” kept oriental dance alive to the traditions of the prostitute-dancer of the Ouled Nail in the Sahara Desert, it is a mystery as to how and why Middle Eastern and North African women (as opposed to all those other areas) retained the old fertility dance and made the sophisticated art form which we see today. The dance form was introduced to the west as travelers from the European countries and America travelled to the Arab countries discovered and documented Belly dancers in their poems, journals and novels. At the time of the prosecution of dancers in the Arab countries many dancers exiled to the Americas and European countries, hence the westernization of Raks-al-sharki into Belly Dance.

The Magic

The body -This beautiful dance is done with the whole body, not just the “belly”.  The dance is usually done as a solo dance with using all the body muscles to create the vision of undulations, gyrations, rolls and shakes, whilst the feet move in syncopated rhythm. The actual movements are isolations and articulations, circles, muscle contractions using all abdomen muscles, hips, arms, hands, shoulders and the torso back and front. Accents to the music are magnified with various body parts throughout the dance. As the art form has become more and more popular amongst women of all ages and figure shapes, the dance form has evolved to accommodate group participation through choreography and fusion. Props such as “Zills” (finger cymbals), canes, swords, baskets, veils and candelabra are often used by proficient and professional dancers to create the dramatic aspect of the dance. A good belly dancer can be assessed by how well she moves her shoulders and not her pelvis.  The emphasis of every movement is an internalization of what the dancer feels and how she interprets the music.

It is a dance of the people, of expression and feeling from “the inside out” rather than high leg extensions or of high leaps across a stage. The dance is classically an abstract visual representation of the music, which includes its emotional timbre, Improvisation and feeling for the music are highly valued and the dancer represents the musical ornaments and extended improvisations of the musicians with her interpretation and personal expression.

The benefit – Like anything else in life – you get out of it what you put into it.  The beauty of this form of dance is that it a dance that women created for women.  The movements compliment the female form and do wonders both internally and externally for the beautiful beings that women are.  You do not need to be Miss Body Beautiful, neither do you need prior dance experience or be physically fit.  You just need to be a woman and be proud of it. Belly dancing is a good stress reducer, energy increaser, strength improver, Muscle tone and helps with coordination if practiced regularly.  It has been said that it heals strengthens and balances the body, mind and spirit all at once. As not every person enjoys exercising at a gym or feel uncomfortable because of age body or personal insecurity. Belly Dancing gives women the opportunity to get regular exercise, in an all female environment where many find things in common and bonds of friendship and sisterhood are formed. Because its roots are in the Middle Eastern family celebrations where everyone dance together Belly Dance classes are run in a similar fashion (depending on the teacher) to give the feeling of togetherness and sharing of joy and fun.

Dancing regularly can also burn as many calories as walking or riding a bike and like those activities you will be in better shape if you practice 2 or 3 times a week.  Belly Dance is a low impact aerobic exercise with high results – plus it is fun, sensual and you are given the opportunity to regain any lost self-esteem and confidence in a fun filled way with others that are the same as you.  Today Belly Dance is being enjoyed, learned and shared all over the world. Thanks and tribute to Middle Eastern stars such as Mahmoud Reda – the pioneer of theatre dance in Egypt, Samya Gamal, Little Egypt and Naima Akefl who were all stars in Egypt that helped to write the dance history of the 20^th century. Not to ignore American Stars like Ibrahim Farrah (Bobby)  who founded the Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group in 1974 and who performed all over the US until he died in 1998. Other American stars have travelled to the Middle East and brought their talent back for all to benefit from.

The Misconception

When Little Egypt was introduced to America at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, Raks Sharki was marketed as “belly dance” the most salacious possible of the French “danse du ventre” or dance of the stomach. This was the Victorian Era when women wore corsets and exposed ankles were risqué.  Imagine the uproar exposed midriffs created.  The show was enclosed in a tent advertised as too shocking for women, only appropriate for men’s viewing.  The show was a success but the dance’s reputation was slandered.  

Still today people through nothing other than ignorance still have the belief that belly dance is about stripping and nightclubs and more recently pole dancing.  Probably the greatest misconception about belly dance is that it is intended to entertain men.

Because segregation of the sexes was common in the part of the world that produced belly dancing, men often were not allowed to be present.  Arab women teach this form of dance to their daughters from an early age to help prepare and strengthen the female reproductive organs during the developing cycles of puberty as well as conception, pregnancy, labor, birth and menopause.  This ancient form of dance practiced by many successful mothers has great benefits for mothers to be.  There is nothing smutty or crude about belly dancing when danced as intended.  There is no stripping or lap dancing involved – the true Belly Dancer is confident, with self-esteem and honors herself too much for that.

As belly dance generates newer followers, non-stereotypical enthusiasts are flocking to the dance style in an attempt to capture a sense of its mysteriousness and invoke an understanding of the oriental past and the enjoyment of the associated benefits.  In many countries Belly Dance has been formalized with assessments and certification of proficiency.

The most important thing to know about this dance form is that it is a Cultural Art form with outstanding rewards and results for each and every woman.