The Belly Dance Superstars first Bellydance retreat (6th March 07)

From Saturday, 25 August to Saturday, 1 September, 2007 the Belly Dance Superstars will be holding their first belly dance retreat in Cancun, Mexico. If you are a belly dance lover and a fan of Belly Dance Superstars, this is a good chance to learn from experienced dancers and at the same time enjoy a holiday in a nice Mexican resort. The package includes everything from belly dance classes to accommodation, food, drinks entertainment and more. The dance classes will be held by four bellydancers from the Belly Dance Superstars team: Sonia, Petite Jamilla, Kami Liddle and Moria. For more information check the Belly Dance Superstars site on: http://www.milescopeland.net/bellydance

For purist belly dancers the style of Belly Dance Superstars might be too commercial and too much of a fusion, as it includes influences from styles such as Mexican, Latin and Polynesian dance, flamenco, tribal belly dance, with touches of modern, classical and jazz dance, hip hop etc.

I myself prefer the traditional Egyptian style, the baladi. However, I think it is useful to have some knowledge of different dance styles as this can only enrich a dancer and give new stimuli to her inspiration. Once I saw a performance by Belly Dance Superstars in Newcastle, UK. I thought it was a very good performance, rather spectacular, and the dancers were great.

The day after I attended a workshop run by Sharon Kihara, one of the Belly Dance Superstars. She specialises in tribal belly dance, which is very popular in the States. Even though I am not personally involved in tribal, I found Sharon Kihara’s workshop very interesting. The warming up was very hard and great emphasis was placed on muscles’ isolation. Sharon made us really concentrate on every muscle involved in each dance movement, she taught us very useful exercises (which she learned from her teacher, the famous American bellydancer Suhaila Salimpour) and even showed us anatomical pictures highlighting every muscle involved in the movements.

However, do not think that her workshop was a dry anatomy class. Even though I appreciated the technical aspect, what struck me most was her enthusiasm towards the dance and teaching. She seemed really happy to be there, dance with us and share with us what she knew about the art of belly dance.

For more information on Suhaila Salimpour visit http://www.suhaila.com. If you have an event you would like to highlight, please feel free to do so on my website by visiting the page http://www.worldbellydance.com/dynamic/events.php