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Oct. 18th, 2006 12:20 pmMy poor dance teacher Najmat--she had 15 costumes and various accessories stolen this weekend, out of a storage space in her own building's basement. She estimates it to be about $10,000 worth of stuff, which might be covered by insurance but you can't replace the memories, as they say. Luckily she had her most expensive costumes in her apartment, but that leaves her with only six costumes. She does a lot of Arabic community weddings and parties, so that's not sufficient. It really sucks. She'll be passing around descriptions and so forth, but she feels pretty sure it would have been the Brazilian women who do the building cleaning who took it--belly dance is huge in Brazil and they would have an idea of what the costumes were worth. The fact that her shamadan was also stolen means that whoever did it knew about belly dance stuff (a shamadan is that candelabra dancers sometimes wear on their heads--up close they are not especially attractive looking candle holders, so only somebody who knew what it was would know that it was worth some money). So she's pretty sure her costumes are on their way to Brazil now for resale. Being Brazilian herself she knows some belly dance community people down there, but it's a big country, and it's not likely they could be prosecuted--the best case scenario would be that somebody would buy back the costumes for her.
I've had an apartment robbed before and know how awful this feels :-( And not that anybody deserves to have this happen to them, but she is such a nice person...
I watched an amazing documentary last night, Bellydancers of Cairo. Here's the description, which is fairly accurate: "Join American bellydancer Natasha Senkovich as she journeys to Egypt and speaks to many Oriental dancers – from the struggling Cabaret performers to the very famous, sexy Dina and the legendary Nagwa Fuad. With unprecedented access, we see them perform and hear them share their personal stories of conflict and struggle they have experienced throughout their careers. This fascinating documentary provides a unique look into the lives of these most unusually strong women. Born into a world where a woman is expected to be covered and demure, they achieve independence and wealth by taking great risks and flaunting their sensuality. It also explores the controversial question of prostitution, which is how most dancers are regarded in the Middle Eastern societies...plus the history of Oriental Dance, and its decline as a result of growing conservatism in the Middle East." But that doesn't get at how intensely emotional the documentary was, or at least how emotional it is for an American belly dancer watching it. I wanted to cry both for the pain of these women and out of joy for their strength. Although there are plenty of dancers in the Arab world who are just in it for the money, the women interviewed by Natasha Senkovich are passionate artists who will not let society prevent them from fulfilling their artistic calling. Some of the stories they told about their families' reactions to their dancing were just awful. Nagua Sultan's family, for example, would burn her hips with a hot spoon when they caught her dancing as a teenage girl. When they planned to marry her off, she ran away and found refuge with other dancers--and now she's a movie star, a wealthy woman, but her family still won't speak to her. It's no wonder that Egyptian dance is so powerfully emotional, when the dancers have gone through so much. It's not all tragedy though--hearing Samasem talk about the first time she saw a belly dancer perform made my heart soar. I want to go home and watch it again--along with all the performance extras included on the DVD, I made myself stop watching and go to bed last night (though of course I did watch beautiful Dina :). I own this and wouldn't mind hosting a viewing some time.
Three nights in a row of less than six hours of sleep is definitely taking its toll. I will watch Lost and Project Runway tonight, but then straight to bed with me! M and I are also stopping by the Arlington Costume Company this evening to peruse some costume options--I have an idea that will require renting something. I really hope I can make it happen...
I've had an apartment robbed before and know how awful this feels :-( And not that anybody deserves to have this happen to them, but she is such a nice person...
I watched an amazing documentary last night, Bellydancers of Cairo. Here's the description, which is fairly accurate: "Join American bellydancer Natasha Senkovich as she journeys to Egypt and speaks to many Oriental dancers – from the struggling Cabaret performers to the very famous, sexy Dina and the legendary Nagwa Fuad. With unprecedented access, we see them perform and hear them share their personal stories of conflict and struggle they have experienced throughout their careers. This fascinating documentary provides a unique look into the lives of these most unusually strong women. Born into a world where a woman is expected to be covered and demure, they achieve independence and wealth by taking great risks and flaunting their sensuality. It also explores the controversial question of prostitution, which is how most dancers are regarded in the Middle Eastern societies...plus the history of Oriental Dance, and its decline as a result of growing conservatism in the Middle East." But that doesn't get at how intensely emotional the documentary was, or at least how emotional it is for an American belly dancer watching it. I wanted to cry both for the pain of these women and out of joy for their strength. Although there are plenty of dancers in the Arab world who are just in it for the money, the women interviewed by Natasha Senkovich are passionate artists who will not let society prevent them from fulfilling their artistic calling. Some of the stories they told about their families' reactions to their dancing were just awful. Nagua Sultan's family, for example, would burn her hips with a hot spoon when they caught her dancing as a teenage girl. When they planned to marry her off, she ran away and found refuge with other dancers--and now she's a movie star, a wealthy woman, but her family still won't speak to her. It's no wonder that Egyptian dance is so powerfully emotional, when the dancers have gone through so much. It's not all tragedy though--hearing Samasem talk about the first time she saw a belly dancer perform made my heart soar. I want to go home and watch it again--along with all the performance extras included on the DVD, I made myself stop watching and go to bed last night (though of course I did watch beautiful Dina :). I own this and wouldn't mind hosting a viewing some time.
Three nights in a row of less than six hours of sleep is definitely taking its toll. I will watch Lost and Project Runway tonight, but then straight to bed with me! M and I are also stopping by the Arlington Costume Company this evening to peruse some costume options--I have an idea that will require renting something. I really hope I can make it happen...
