T: You came from Russia - did you ever experience bellydancing in Moscow?

N: The popularity of bellydancing in Russia is a very recent phenomenon.  The bellydance scene - the culture of commercial performance and instruction - started developing there only within the last 10 years and so far it is mostly emulation of the Egyptian Raks Sharki, with not much interest in “fusion” styles that combine bellydance with Western dance arts.  Before that the closest things to bellydance in Russia were gypsy dance and the ethnic dances of Central Asia and the Caucasus.  Russian gypsy dance is focused on footwork, dramatic turns, chest shimmies, and not as much hip work as in what Western dancers and audiences call “bellydance.”  In the US, along with “ethnic” bellydance styles - Turkish or Egyptian (taught along with cultural information and performed to Turkish or Middle Eastern music) bellydance has also existed for decades as a non-specifically-ethnic, faux-Oriental cabaret entertainment genre, the so-called “American Bellydance.” 

As a result, the US bellydance scene is much less attached to any ethnic roots.  This phenomenon of cultural assimilation of bellydance has not occurred in Russia.  And because Russia, unlike the US, is itself an ethnic society, people in Russia focus more on ethnicity.  This may explain why Russian dancers are interested in emulating the Egyptian dance form exactly as it is, and quite wary of modifying it.  In the US “Gypsy dance” is taught in bellydance studios and audiences accept and enjoy Gypsy flavor in commercial performances.  In Russia, because of the strong presence and the historically important cultural role of the actual, authentic Gypsy, as well as Central Asian and Caucasian cultures, there is no way I could go out -  looking totally Russian and blonde - and perform Gypsy, or Uzbeki, or Georgian dance for commercial gigs.  It’s all about expectations regarding cultural and ethnic authenticity.  When I am in Moscow,  as a member of the public, I want to see real Gypsies do their magic, I want to believe that they learned it in their family, not in a studio, that it’s the real thing.  When I am in the US,  fusion dancers who perform Gypsy-flavoured bellydance are just as “real” to me, an audience member, as the actual Gypsies in their native context. 

T: How did you get into bellydancing?

N: I got interested in bellydance as an alternative fitness discipline.  By nature, I enjoy beautiful things of the mind much more than the benefits of having a sleek body. It has always been clear to me that I must practice rigorous self-management to stay in shape.  I used to force myself to run two miles a day, swim daily, exercise in the gym, etc., but I was desperately bored by these activities and, except for swimming, never enjoyed any fitness routine.  In the ocean,  I can swim kilometers without stopping, but in the swimming pool I felt like a goldfish in a bowl.  I completely lost the motivation to work out.  Then I discovered dance as fitness. 

I had always danced, but I had never before truly worked to master a dance style.  Consistently learning the bellydance vocabulary of artistic movement  gave me a chance to engage my mind, and the artist in me instantly expanded to this new creative territory, craving to make it my own.  I was captivated by the music of the Middle East and Turkey, by the rhythms and the sophistication of ancient cultures that imparted their essence to bellydance, but my main motivation in committing to it as a career and as my preferred form of artistic self-expression was not fascination with the cultures that gave birth to Middle Eastern dance.  It was and remains the use of the bellydance movement vocabulary - gorgeous, natural and incredibly versatile -  to create expression of my own, unrestricted by and not necessarily inspired by traditional, ethnic content. 

T: You publish a lot of bellydance DVDs - which are the most popular?

N: My most popular DVDs are the beginner instructional and fitness bellydance programs.  As world music played in clubs and on TV gets more diversified and involves more and more elements exotic to the Western ear, women are interested in learning dance moves to go with that music.  I am very much into teaching bellydance as a social dance skill.  Ethnically “exotic” movement and music open minds, help people from all races and ethnic groups find a common language on and off the dance floor.  As a social dancer you don’t have to speak this dance language in its fulness, and you don’t need to learn any particular dialect  -  it’s easy and fun because a lot of the bellydance movement is already in your body, in its natural curves and dynamics, you just need to unlock it.  I came up with a “crash course in bellydance” DVD “Instant Bellydancer,” (a 2-DVD series) based on a simplified fast-learning system I created for social dancers.  It is one of my most popular products.  The DVD shows dance movements as trajectories following simple geometric shapes.

Many bellydance instructors here in the US have adopted this system with its graphic diagrams and “shortcut” breakdown of bellydance movements to teach beginner bellydance to aspiring professionals as well.  Most DVDs produced by my video publishing company, “WorldDance New York,” have been released in Russia in Russian language, and also in China (Beijing), voiced in Mandarin and Cantonese.

T: What inspired you to set up “The Hip Circle” ?

N: For a couple years I produced and hosted a weekly 30-min. cable TV show here in NYC - “WorldDance New York.”  It featured performances by local professional bellydancers, student showcases, performances at street fairs, festivals, dancers I filmed overseas, etc.  The show was apparently very popular.  Even now, 2 years after I ran out of steam and dropped it, I get approached by strangers in the shops or on subway asking me what happened to the show.  Occasionally I did interviews with dancers, and it occurred to me that the verbal content — the way dancers talk about their lives as artists, about their creativity, their social and cultural challenges, current trends —was as important as the footage of the dance performences.  The Hip Circle magazine is just that:  Verbal content of interest to bellydance fans, friends, students and professionals.  This content is much more unique than, say, video footage of bellydance performances, because anyone in NYC can go out and see spectacular bellydance performances by many stars of the dance who live and work here, but nobody except for a very narrow circle of fellow professionals and devoted students gets to hear dancers speak or to ask them questions.  In the West, bellydance is a subculture, still outside of the cultural mainstream.  The mainstream media are not interested in the creative processes, evolution of dance trends, the human interest aspects of bellydance work, so The Hip Circle is helping to meet the demand for this content.  Bellydancers have a lot to say.  We are mostly strong, intellectual and often opinionated people who lead very interesting lives.

T: What are your hopes for it?

N:  My hopes for The Hip Circle are already fulfilled!  Only one month after our official launch the publication is clearly a hit with our readers, it is serving  our dance community as intended, and the most amazing artists from all over are contributing articles, interviews and other content.  We gratefully accept contributions from our community members and we also implement a strong editorial direction, actively soliciting articles on particular subjects.  The goal of the magazine is to let representatives of all bellydance styles and generations educate our community and the public about their work, in their own words, in one place, freely accessible instantly to anyone anywhere in the world.  TheHipCircle.com has many interactive features, for instance, readers can comment on the articles, and see their comments instantly published, blog-style.  Our readers have the option to create a “Profile” on the website, provide links to their own web content, and give us a “Profile Interview” telling the reading community about their dance interests, business, and artistic projects.  I am totally hooked on reading our members’ interviews and visiting their websites.  The wealth of talent, intellect and creativity is striking.  And it’s global.

T: You are based in New York.  What's the bellydance scene like there? How's business?

N: Business is fine here thanks to the current popularity of bellydance.  Here in the US it is now taught not only in dance studios but also in many gyms.  The old ethnic - Arab, Turkish, and Greek -  night clubs where bellydancers made their living for decades have mostly died out, but new performance venues emerged, such as gigs at hot mainstream dance clubs, plus various theater and film opportunitites.  It is not easy for a bellydancer to make a living by dance here in NYC, but it is possible.

T: You emphasise the fitness aspect of the art - is that the key to the widespread interest in bellydancing?

N: I see two factors that drive the current wave of interest in bellydance.  The first is the popularity of “world music” or ethnically-flavored music in dance clubs, plus the popularity of the music videos showing bellydance and bellydance-inspired dancing.  The second factor is as you suggest, the evolving weight loss and fitness trend that brought about the fusion of fitness and entertainment.  It is proven that to be effective for weight loss, the workout doesn’t have to be strenuous, but it should be diverse in the forms of movement used and it must be sustained for long periods of time.  Dance makes it easier to beat fatigue and persist in exercise because it offers an additional motivation of learning the skill that will result in immediate social and personal benefits:  You will move in a more fluid, confident and graceful way, you will wow friends and strangers on the dancefloor, and you will emerge as a more worldly individual.

T: What is your all-time favourite music for bellydancing?

N: In the US, like everywhere else, commercial bellydance gigs are still mostly evoke the Oriental fantasy.  When I dance in Arabian- or Turkish-theme restaurants I use classical Egyptian or modern Arab and Turkish pop music.  But if the venue is not an Oriental-themed place, I always go for either interesting techno tracks or rich “world music” pieces based on electronic grooves with sophisticated effects and lyrics in English.  I  enjoy immersing myself musically  in the Arab or Turkish world, but the heart of my art belongs to the West.  I adore the simple emotiveness of folkloric songs and the sophistication of classical Egyptian music, and the sparkling fun nature of modern Arab and Turkish pop, but deep inside I do not identify with these musical genres.  They get me up and dancing every time I hear them, but when I start looking for my dance from silence, I look for something other than mono-cultural music.  I am not interested in telling my tales through the songs about a village guy loving-and-losing a village girl.  Neither am I personally into the esoteric, “goddess” themes that are popular right now.  I need a modern and complex emotive texture in the music to bring the best out of me as a dancer.

T: Bellydancing is a profession that rises and falls in the public's esteem.  Do you feel you get the recognition and prestige you deserve?

N: I personally do and I’ve never experienced anything but admiration and encouragaement from audiences, from my own circle and from strangers who come to know me as a bellydancer.  It is, indeed, a low-status profession in the lands of its origin, and in the West it is often mistaken lumped together with exotic dancing (stripping) and viewed condescendingly.  But I am fortunate to live in the most cosmopolitan city in the world, to socialize in circles that nurture me creatively and to have all my time dedicated to my artistic work.  I don’t need to be treated like a star to know that I am appreciated and needed.  I’ve danced in the top clubs, and in many humble New York venues, unlit, unannounced and facing “unrefined” audiences:  I do not remember a single performance where I wasn’t able to bring those who watched me into my realm, onto my own turf of intense and sophisticated fantasy.  I enjoy tremendously this transformation:  Stepping onstage from the dark and proceeding to reap the hearts and the minds and take both the willing and the reluctant to the palace I built for them.  I’m a generous princess disguised as a beggar.  The marginal status of bellydance as an art is due to the fact that while it is a “mainstream” art in the countries of its origin, in the US and elsewhere in the West it is a subculture.  The wave that can make it “cross over” has not yet arrived. 

It’s out there, in the ever-evolving cultural ocean, but it’s not strong enough yet.  Subcultural status means that the general public is not trained to react to bellydance as art.  Bellydance artists have to prove their creative legitimacy anew in every singe show, from scratch.  They grow defensive.  They interpret the public’s  ignorance as disrespect.  They are often in denial about the impact their image, movement vocabulary, and costuming on the Western audiences.  This doesn’t help.  Another aspect of the Western bellydance subculture is a strong imitative, dependent strain within it.  In Egypt, Lebanon, etc. where bellydance is part of the mainstream, artists feel free to develop tradition freely, to break the rules and experiment.  Modern Egyptian and Lebanese bellydance is massively infused with ballet, modern dance, jazz and ballroom moves.  ‘Old school’ bellydancing is admired but the prevalent trend is toward modernization, pushing bellydance further and further into what the Westerners call “fusion.”  Modern stars of Egyptian Raks Sharki are “fusion” artists, yet, unlike their Western imitators, they don’t need to distringuish between the real thing and the amalgamation of a number of styles that we call ‘fusion.’  Imitative art has to set boundaries of authenticity to claim its territory, and this slows down its assimilation into the mainstream culture.

T: Are you ever frustrated that bellydance doesn't seem to get taken seriously? Why do you think that is?

N: Bellydance is not perceived as high art.  It is viewed as an ephemeral form of entertainment with the focus on the beauty of the body rather than on artistry and skill.  And this is frustrating to many artists.  There are so many other things, however, to make one fulfilled and gratified in bellydance, that I feel we dancers should be beyond complaining about this dance form’s marginal status.  Its educational and emotionally elevating impact is apparent wherever a skilled dancer performs.  The reactions of  audiences are wholly positive everywhere.  So many people benefit from its therapeutic physical and psychological effects that the numbers of new students coming to learn bellydance are growing enormously every year.  I feel it’s time to shake off the compulsive urge many of us have to defend the art from the infidels, to be cultural ambassadors of the Middle East, to educate, enlighten, etc.  I say “Relax and have fun!”   

T: Have you traveled to the Arab world? If so, what did you feel about the bellydancing you saw there?

N: I’ve traveled to the Middle East quite a number of times, to Dubai, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Turkey.  I have been to all kinds of bellydance shows in these regions, at weddings, at 5-star hotels, at small clubs.  I admire star-grade dancers and I appreciate the work of unsophisticated performers, and I am not upset by unskilled and uninspired dancing, which exists there too, and like here has its role to play.  When I travel to the Middle East I always seek opportunities to dance socially.  I’ve learned a lot from social dancing that I didn’t pick up in the course of my formal dance training.  I can read and write in Arabic although I have let my conversational ability lapse.  When I accompany my boyfriend on his business trips to the Middle East, we make certain that nobody knows I am a professional dancer: The “low status” problem would get in the way of the business context of his travel.  But I don’t mind this at all.  There is so much beauty in these traditional cultures, and of course the Arab welcome is world-renowned.  Dancing is just a fraction of the gigantic cultural treasure accessible to us there.

T: Have you seen the Bellydance Superstars? What do you think of what they are doing?

N: I have never seen them live, but I have seen them on DVD.  The Bellydance Superstars are a spectacular dance company, hard-working, innovative, and making the best of the resources and talent available to them.  It’s undeniable that at this point their work and success are really important to the future of bellydance.  Their shows are cleverly designed to support the legitimacy of bellydance-as-art through involving other established dance and creative movement forms, developing the powerful theatrical potential of bellydance and further adapting it to the world of high-end Western entertainment.  The Bellydance Superstars troupe definitely contributes a lot to help bellydance advance toward the mainstream.  If this transition ever occurs, in my opinion, it will be driven by bellydance establishing itself in the West as a social dancing style, not by bellydance theater and performance.  But people need to be inundated with the images of fantastic, performance-grade dancing to start emulating this on the level of social dance.  So for this reason I believe as artists we all should support The Bellydance Superstars and other dance theater companies committed to excellence and to the expansion of this dance form.

T: What makes a good bellydancer?

N:  A cultivated and playful mind, a passionate emotional build, courage to give without reservation, and rigour in learning. 

editor@thehipcircle.com
http://www.thehipcircle.com
The Hip Circle magazine :: all things bellydance