Pics during our show brought to you by our new BDSS flip camera that takes both pics and video
Ballet fusion with Serbian pop
Sabah, Victoria, Stefanya
Tribal/Cabaret Balkan fusion
My solo
Updates from sabah RSS
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pics and vid from the show
sabah
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pics from the road
sabah
Moria and I in front of Graceland
Elvis' living room
mirrors on the ceiling
Lots of fun woodwork in Elvis' furniture
Paiting of Elvis!
Elvis' costumes museum
Springfield show
My new Hallah Costume!!!!
Setting up for our Milwaukee show
Nice theater in Milwaukee
stretching before tech
Milwaukee show with Galatea
One of my best friends Rashel came to the Milwaukee show!
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Pictures and videos from tour
sabah
Videos:
Sabah Interviews Crescent Moon Dance Co in Louisville, KY
Interview after the Louisville Club Bellydance Show
Stevo
Louisville Kentucky
back stage of Louisville Kentucky
With Crescent Moon Dance
Club Bellydance Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
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Thoughts from the road
sabah
I have always loved touring Canada, it has always been a good experience and this time was no different! The drives were so beautiful to look out the window and see trees turning different colors, moutains, lakes, etc. Our last stop in Canada was Thunder Bay where since we arrived the night before, I was able to explore the town a bit and found the locals to be super friendly and welcoming. Our sponsor for Thunder Bay, Dabah, was not only a beautiful dancer as a soloist, but put together a great first act including a nice variety including many different belly dance styles and blend of solos and group choreographies.
Now we are back in the States and headed for my home town, Chicago! Friday Sept 30th, Can’t wait!!! I am really looking forward to this show as I know all the dancers lined up for Act one more personally and of course my family and friends are excited to come see what I have been up to with this new project. I also get to go sleep in my own bed for a min and do some laundry! Yay!
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Perks of Bellydance Superstars
sabah
Today after our show in Edmonton, AB the 6 of us (including Stevo!) were all given a surprise at the end of the show….. handmade belly dance sock monkeys called Raq’n Monkeys by caasi@raqabellydance.com! My first reaction was “Oh! I got the one in my favorite color!”… then… wait a minute… It looks exactly like my costume from the last BDSS photo shoot!!! Not a detail was missed!
It really has been a great tour so far. The first act dancers have been so fun and inspiring to watch… I wish to took more pictures, but hope to see them on facebook!
With every tour we are also given free products to try. This time it was Ferro Cosmetics! https://www.ferrocosmetics.com/default.aspx
I was a little nervous to try Ferro’s mineral make-up as in the past I used to love to wear Bare Minerals, but one day my face started having a horrible allergic reaction to it and I had to stop. Ever since then I had always been looking for an alternative cause I love how natural mineral make-up looks. Now I have something! As long as I put on a nice lotion before hand, the Ferro Cosmetics are great particularly for day wear and photos!
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Solo
sabah
Over the years of performing with the Bellydance Superstars, I have found that I truly prefer dancing with a group than completely on my own. I mean, I do like a nice solo or improv here or there, but I love being part of a production that includes both group and solo pieces.
For my Club Bellydance solo, I have gone thru a huge process of “what about this, no this, no this” phase and found it became so frustrating to make a decision on the “perfect piece” to present. Then it occurred to me… why do I always have to choreograph my own solo, alone…. I get rather lonely practicing and preparing solos all by myself! During my workshop weekend in Oaxaca, Mexico, I met a wonderful dancer named Carlos. I truly enjoyed his performance and found we had a lot in common as we reminisced about our different dance experiences after the show. I decided to reach out and ask Carlos if he had any interested in choreographing a solo just for me. A short time later I received a video of a choreography he said he would love to see me do. It matched exactly where I was at mentally and sparked a whole new fire of inspiration! The song is called “Ya Masafer Wahdak” which has been translated different ways but means something like “the lonely traveler” or “hey, you travel alone”… Which really speaks to me as over this past summer there has been no Bellydance Superstars tours and I have had to travel alone across the world to places like Mexico, Korea and Xi’an and Fuzhou China. I truly enjoyed my time in these travels, but it is just not the same to travel by myself verses in the company of other dancers.
Here is how Carlos describes his process in choreographing the song for me: ”To me, famous belly dancers can feel like lonely travelers, which is why the song spoke to me. In this case, when I think of Sabah dancing this song I think of her travels. She has a unique style, she doesn’t dance like Randa, she doesn’t dance like Orit, she doesn’t dance like Sonia, she dances as she is! She floats, she feels, she runs, she is sweet… as a choreographer you need to feel it as her (the dancer who will perform it), to imagine as her, to move as her, to feel yourself as Sabah, and start dancing… I saw a LOT of videos and met Sabah in Oaxaca before and I feel I have a nice connection with her dance style as I need to have that connection in order to choreograph!”
How perfect! I completely can relate to the song and his concept and am super excited! If you see my performance and fall in love with the choreography as much as I did, feel free to contact Carlos at carlitos_carmona@yahoo.com http://www.rakassah.blogspot.com. He is available for workshops!
Although I am dancing to a instrumental version of the song that can be found on Bellydance Superstars vol 1, here is a translation of the song http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/arabic-lyrics-translation/17210-arabic-translation-75.html#post320262
and here is a video of the original song by Mohamed Abdel Wahab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydY9dcjpop0&feature=player_embedded#!
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The final countdown!
sabah
Just one more weekend before we leave for tour and I am so excited, nervous, and crazy busy getting the finale preparations in order! This sure stirs up a ton of emotions! What I love about the Bellydance Superstars productions is that the company is so much larger than just me as a dancer. I truly enjoy meeting and collaborating with other dance enthusiasts. I am beyond excited for next week when I can see Sabrina, Moria, Stefanya and Victoria to make all of our visions not only come together into a cohesive show but come to life on the stage! But first, before I leave Chicago I feel that it is time to acknowledge all the people that have made my homebase preparations possible and way more enjoyable than if I were to do it alone.
First off, I must thank my parents for their love and support throughout my entire dance career that stretches way back to when I wanted to be a ballerina and has never questioned or discouraged my transition to belly dance. They have come to see so many of my shows over the years… everything from each and every ballet production (yes my father came to the shows and never complained!) to my first belly dance performances at small restaurants of Chicago like A LA Turka to night clubs like Barbra Yianni’s and Layalena… Later as I started to travel more and more, they even traveled to Egypt to watch my production on the Nile Pharonah and came to as many Bellydance Superstars productions they could including Morocco for the Bellydance Superstars exciting trip to North Africa! My mom in particular loves to help sparkle things up, find interesting jewelry that I would not think to wear and help me experiment with different hairstyles.
I am also going to truly miss my students and fellow dancers of Chicago. I just adore teaching and working with dancers of all different styles. I especially want to thank Rita Pensa for sharing with me her concept of dancing with 9 yards of material…. Its way more material than I would have thought one person could handle! The more I watched Rita’s own choreographies unfold, the more I started thinking about how cool it would be with more dancers using these extra large fabrics with different tucks into the costume and various layers of material folding and unfolding with every move. For the last 2 months I have enjoyed collaborating with Rita and learning her method of the larger than life veil. To me, veil is such a staple of American Belly dance that I love the fact that it will be a part of our Club Bellydance show in a way that I personally had never seen before. For more information on Rita Pensa or if you are interested in the larger than life veil technique please contact her on facebook! I am Looking forward to sharing this new pieces from the stage and will never forget the experimental process I went through collaborating with Rita!
As for my solo, I have gone thru a huge process of “what about this, no this, no this” phase and found it became so frustrating to make a decision on the “perfect piece” to present. Then it occurred to me… why do I always have to choreograph my own solo, alone…. I get rather lonely practicing and preparing solos all by myself! During my workshop weekend in Oaxaca, Mexico, I met a wonderful dancer named Carlos. I truly enjoyed his performance and found we had a lot in common as we reminisced about our different dance experiences after the show. I decided to reach out and ask Carlos if he had any interested in choreographing a solo just for me. A short time later I received a video of a choreography he said he would love to see me do. It matched exactly where I was at mentally and sparked a whole new fire of inspiration! The song is called “Ya Masafer Wahdak” which has been translated different ways but means something like “you alone traveler” or “the lonely traveler” or “hey, you travel alone”… Which really speaks to me as over this past summer there has been no Bellydance Superstars tours and I have had to travel alone across the world to places like Mexico, Korea and Xi’an and Fuzhou China. I truly enjoyed my time in these travels, but it is just not the same to travel by myself verses in the company of other dancers.
Here is how Carlos describes his process in choreographing the song for me: ”To me, famous solo belly dancers can feel like lonely travelers, which is why the song spoke to me. In this case, when I think of Sabah dancing this song I think of her travels. She has a unique style, she doesn’t dance like Randa, she doesn’t dance like Orit, she doesn’t dance like Sonia, she dances as she is! She floats, she feels, she runs, she is sweet… as a choreographer you need to feel it as her (the dancer who will perform it), to imagine as her, to move as her, to feel yourself as Sabah, and start dancing… I saw a LOT of videos and met Sabah in Oaxaca before and I feel I have a nice connection with her dance style as I need to have that connection in order to choreograph!”
How perfect! I completely can relate to the song and his concept and am super excited to perform this wonderful piece! If you see my performance and fall in love with the choreography as much as I did, feel free to contact Carlos at carlitos_carmona@yahoo.com http://www.rakassah.blogspot.com. He is available for workshops!
Although I am dancing to a instrumental version of the song that can be found on Bellydance Superstars vol 1, here is a translation of the song http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/arabic-lyrics-translation/17210-arabic-translation-75.html#post320262
and here is a video of the original song by Mohamed Abdel Wahab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydY9dcjpop0&feature=player_embedded#!
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Hallah Moustafa
sabah
Whenever possible my costumes are designed the by the fabulous Hallah Moustafa in Egypt. Here are some photos of past costumes Hallah has made for BDSS thru the years…..
Her website is http://www.Hallah Moustafa.comand is also featured in some articles on guilded serpent at:I can’t wait to see what new costumes she makes for me for Club Bellydance! -
What time is it?
sabah
Well, I”m back from China and desperately trying to get over the jet lag… One thing I find that helps is yoga. I personally tend to gravitate towards pilates and floor barre classes when cross-training, but when my body is tired or thinks it should be bedtime in the middle of the day or the exact opposite when it is time to sleep and my mind is racing, I tend to get very anxious and grumpy. Working on breathing and go through yoga flows tends to help more than any of my other exercise routines.
In the meantime I have been dancing nonstop! Well, except when I have all this computer work to do. (not my favorite part). The day after I returned from China I volunteered to do a presentation at a senior center. Some of my favorite moments included getting everyone to try to find and clap along to the different rhythm patterns in my favorite Moroccan song. There was also one participant that was happy to tell me all about her experience taking belly dance classes in the 1970′s at the YMCA in Chicago. Her face lit up as she recalled that time in her life!
I also want to share some video clips Jamilah shared with me on the Uygur style of dance. I have been really inspired by this style of dance lately. One of the most famous, award winning dancers of the traditional Uygur dancer is Tursunay Ibrahim. My favorite clip of her is where she is dancing on the largest drum I have ever seen (kinda like Jillina’s old drum solo where she stood on the dombeke) only this one is like 5 times the size and she plays the drum with her feet!! She is dancing to an uygur mukam. I have yet to find this clip online to share, but when I do I will be sure to share! In the meantime here is one of my favorite old school clips of her….
Here are some of my favorite group pieces, can you see why? -
New Inspiration
sabah
I have been lucky to have the opportunity to visit China quite often in these past few years to see what belly dance means to Chinese dancers. Over the last 3 years I have traveled to Beijing multiple times, Shanghai (of course…. its where the Art of Bellydance DVD was filmed) and recently I have traveled to smaller cities such as Guangzhou, Xi’an, and Fuzhou.
In every place I visit I have met incredibly talented dancers dedicated to seriously studying belly dance and sharing both traditional and more creative interpretations of the art form.
In Beijing, there is Guo Wei who is the star dancer a very large school with Yao that holds yearly festivals to celebrate both their school’s progress along with bringing in foreign guest teachers. I have had the opportunity to visit the school mulitple times both with other dancers from BDSS like Moria, Ebony, Ansuya, Sonia, and Sabrina; but I have also traveled alone to teach a week intensive to the dedicated students who wanted more than just a quick weekend of workshops.
In Guangzhou there is the beautiful Xiaowei who constantly travels to Egypt to learn the newest trends to share with her students. I really enjoy Xiaowei’s dancing because she also enjoys adding in balletic elements to her performance and is a very graceful dancer.
In Xi’an, Wuyan’s belly dance academy has some very talented students. Wuyan also travels with Xiaowei every year to Egypt to study and train and learn the newest Egyptian trends.
Wuyan's school in Xi'an
While teaching in Xi’an, one of Wuyan students I met with incredible mastery of many languages including English was named Jamilah. She is Uighar (also spelled Uygur or other variations in English) and has danced her style of years before finding Wuyan and discovering Eygyptian belly dance. She not only participated in the class but also helped translate the belly dance terms and concepts I was presenting. I am currently working with her to learn more about the Uighar style of dance!
Jamilah who is showing me Uighur style dances
