Middle Eastern dance great Anahid Sofian presents videos at Gibney

So do you guys want to meet one of the great, pioneering master dancer/choreographer/teachers of New York's Middle Eastern dance scene? Well, of course you do! 

So join me this Saturday, December 8, at Gibney Dance Center for GDC's Sorry I Missed Your Show event, and I'll introduce you to Anahid Sofian and show you a few videos of her dancing. It will be my honor! 

The entire SIMYS runs from 3-6pm, and Anahid's portion with me is 4-5pm, but come for it all, if you can! 

You must RSVP by early on Friday to rsvp@gibneydance.org. 

Don't forget: RSVP! Thanks, and see you there!

Saturday, December 8 

Gibney Dance Center
890 Broadway (between 19th and 20th Streets), 5th Floor, Manhattan 
(map/directions)

"Bellydance Past and Present" at 92Y

Although a serious knee injury has sidelined Anahid Sofian, she showed up at 92Y's Fridays at Noon Bellydance Past and Present program yesterday and introduced a video clip of her 1976 performance, Raqs Sharki, at the New York Dance Festival at Central Park's Delacorte Theater.

Being selected to perform a solo at the festival was "an incredible experience--also, totally terrifying," said Sofian, part of a legendary generation of Middle Eastern nightclub dancers in New York who sparked the boom in bellydancing's mainstream popularity in America in the 1970s. Trained in ballet and modern dance, Sofian had adopted bellydance as physical therapy for an injury. But the Turkish and Arab rhythms drew her in more deeply and inspired a new direction for her work. She eventually grew to become one of the most highly respected dancers and instructors in the business (Sofian photo gallery).

Sofian had been trying to get into the festival lineup for a few years and finally made it. But when she got  her first look at the Delacorte stage, she panicked. "I almost had a heart attack! How was I going to fill this space?"

This dilemma forced her to revise her plans, scrapping stationary passages and movement subtleties for choreography that could travel and read big to the outdoors audience.

The video shows a young, lithe Sofian whirling with her sail-like veil, brightly articulating isolations, drifting like incense smoke and melting to the floor for a sequence of sensual undulations.

"It was well received, and it was reviewed by every major publication," she remembered.

Earlier, Sofian had reminded me that I had reviewed that show in Dance Magazine, which would have been at the start of my career as a dance critic and at the height of my own involvement with Middle Eastern dance as a student. It was also amazing to be reminded of the long-defunct New York Dance Festival itself and its rare cultural and aesthetic diversity.

"Carmen de Lavallade was on the same program, as was Kei Takei's company," Sofian said, noting the unusual range of aesthetic sensibilities. "In 1977, Morocco danced in the festival, and in 1978, Serena Wilson," she added, citing two of her venerable colleagues, then luminaries of New York's bellydancing scene. "But the festival folded for lack of funding."

If this annual event still existed, I'm sure it would help heighten awareness of dance's value and build new audiences for the art. A pity that it's gone, but at least we have documentation at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Sofian's presence--her expertise and link to the art's creative heritage--helped to contain, ground and inform the 92Y event. The afternoon's bill included entertaining cabaret-style numbers from the sunny Altagracia and Layla and the wonderfully down-to-earth Zenaide, and it served to introduce the audience to some new currents in the field through the innovations of Fayzah Fire and Elisheva, sharp, fusion-oriented performers with backgrounds in diverse dance techniques who find inspiration in hip hop and Loie Fuller and all points in between.

For information on upcoming programs in 92Y's Fridays at Noon series, click here.

92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan
(directions)

Belly dance, past and present

92Y's Fridays at Noon series presents Blanca Curates Belly Dance Past and Present, a survey of raqs sharqi, belly dance and other Middle Eastern dance traditions.

Fri, Dec 2, 12 pm (free admission)

Join an array of NYC's belly dance master dancers and teachers for performances of raqs sharqi, belly dance and other Middle Eastern dance traditions. Originally a celebratory folk dance, belly dance is evolving into a sophisticated dance form as it continues to play a jubilant role in the society of family and friends of both genders and all ages. Artists include luminaries Blanca, showing her dances The Fool and Filii Neidhardii, Zenaide, (Night of Love and Bamby Drum Solo, two dances in the classical Egyptian sharqi style), Anahid Sofian, and Fayzah Fire, with her characteristic blend of tango, tribal dance, popping and belly dance. Plus, a chance to learn some basic belly dance moves yourself!

92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue (at 92nd Street), Manhattan
(directions)

Sunday with Samara

dromNYC hosts  

Samara's MiddleEastern Music & Dance

with music by Ensemble Arabesque
and performances by Mosaic Dance Theater Company
and an international cast of dancers

Sunday, June 26
Doors open at 6:30pm. Show at 7:30pm.

An internationally respected teacher and performer, Samara was protégé to the late master dancer/teacher/choreographer Ibrahim Farrah. As principal dancer in Mr. Farrah’s Near East Dance Group, she performed in some of America’s most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Samara is Choreographer and Artistic Director for Dance for the critically acclaimed Mosaic Dance Theater Company.

This evening features Ensemble Arabesque, a five-member group of virtuosi of Arabic music, including Maurice Chedid Composer/vocalist (oud), Gamal Shafik (tabla), Ramy Nasser (keyboard), Mohammed Abdullah (violin), and Ahmed Habash (def/rik). Performances by Samara, the Mosaic Dance Theater Company, Alexia (Tennessee), Erika Ochoa (Chicago), Elvia (Japan), Eva (Holland) and many more fabulous dancers from far and wide.

Tickets and table reservations

dromNYC
85 Avenue A (between 5th and 6th Streets), Manhattan
(map and directions)

Sofian to launch Atelier Orientale series

Anahid Sofian announces the new Atelier Orientale, an innovative quarterly performance series of dance and performing arts of the Middle East.

Sunday June 19, 5-7pm

Anahid Sofian Studio
29 West 15th Street, 6th floor (West of Fifth Avenue), Manhattan

Donation: $20
Reservations: 212-741-2848 or by email 

A meet-the-artists wine reception will follow the performance. 

In this intimate and friendly atmosphere, Anahid Sofian offers artists an opportunity to stretch their talents and appear in works that include traditional, contemporary, works-in-progress, and experimental.

Sofian has long been recongnized as an innovator in the field of Middle Eastern dance, having brought the art to such spaces as the New York Dance Festival at the Delacorte Theater (1978), Carnegie Hall (1980), Lincoln Center (1993), Town Hall (in 1999, 2000 and 2003), and the Cleveland Museum of Art (2003).

Artists selected for the first Atelier Orientale are:

Aszmara
Azza Amon & Dancers
Jean Musacchio
Mimi Fontana & Dancers
Nadia Maria Michaels
Sira Melikian
Anahid Sofian 

For more information about the Anahid Sofian Studio, click here.

Shimmy shimmy bop

The inaugural New York Theatrical Bellydance Conference (July 8-12) is well underway with performances, workshops, classes, panels, parties, a brunch at Veselka and opportunities to shop 'til you spin and drop. Co-directors Ranya Renée and Anasma haven't left much room for lovers of this apparently infinitely adaptable art form to be bored. Just look at some of these workshops and master classes:

"Silent Film Starlet: How to Give Great Face While Bellydancing"

"Hot and Heavy Humor: Bellydancer Meets Shamanic Clown"

"Eerie Serpents and Ethereal Grace"

"Juicy Egyptian Technique: Make Friends With Your Abs, Butt, And All that Other Stuff in There"

"Snakelike Hip Hop Bellydance Liquid Fusion: Hissing Choreography"

As a dance student back in the '70s and later, I was brought up pretty squarely in Serena Wilson's venerable, if deliberately vanilla, cabaret style.




Today's dancers rock the very notion of raqs sharqi, producing all kinds of hybrids suitable to a variety of audiences--from dance-theater fans to Goths.

The conference's curated shows, running this week at Dance New Amsterdam, provide a survey of this contemporary development--in some cases, over-development. After seeing the opening-night show--two hours, 14 international acts, no intermission or intentional pause--I find myself unreconciled to the overlay of broad comedy, the deployment of large, synchronized ensembles or anything having to do with masks.

But there were some true gems in the hip belt:

Zahava, creating a laughing meditation on erotic power, a bellydance in (embodied) spirit only, danced with delicately free and rapturously free gestures along the floor and through the air

Sarah Johansson Locke, as solid and mature as an earth goddess, scooping and gathering energy to her in an introspective solo, with subtle, shifting moves like the gentlest stirrings along the surface of a pond

Aszmara, profoundly soulful and open, a blend of proud gypsy and transported dervish in her generous, ethnic-style dancing

Samara, whose old-school cabaret-style act closed the show with elegance and jubilation

Two completely different line-ups will take the stage for tonight's and Saturday's 9pm performances. But you might find some dancing that's intriguing, fun and maybe flat-out beautiful. And maybe you'll witness a master in action.

For complete conference schedule and event ticketing, click here. Sign up for workshops online or at 718-706-0037. Tickets may also be ordered at 800-838-3006.

Sofian's "Secret Sky"

To knowledgeable fans of Oriental/Middle Eastern dance--and we are legion, although a marginal subset of dance followers--Anahid Sofian is one of the art's crown jewels. Veteran dancer, choreographer, artistic director and instructor, she has maintained a studio in New York since 1972, training some of the best in the business, and formed her company three decades ago. This artist remains, in a competitive, economically-challenged and always-changing field, not only a survivor but an exemplar.

Last evening, I had the privilege of watching Sofian perform a new suite of works--Toward A Secret Sky--sketches, improvisation, new choreography--at her small studio in the Flatiron District.

Sofian was joined by musicians Haig Manoukian (oud), Michael Hess (kanoun) and Shane Shanahan (percussion) who filled the interludes between her solos. I particularly enjoyed the sinuous chiming of Hess's lines and the unearthly sensitivity of Shanahan's pliant fingers flying and skittering over the skin of his drums. These interludes tended to be a tad moody and lulling, stretching the show out and draining the room's energy. A little of this trio would have gone a long way. But, then again, costume changes for a mainly one-woman show? A tricky situation!

Guest dancer Carlos Fittante--artistic director of BALAM Dance Theatre--partnered Sofian in an expressive duet in conventional modern dance style, executed to perfection. (This was an unexpected aesthetic swerve, but Sofian's early training included modern dance with Bella Lewitsky and Erick Hawkins.) But all other works on the program were short solos--some dramatic, some simply charming; folkish, trance-y, cabaret-like, solemn or ritualistic--set to an exciting range of recorded music and performed with Sofian's characteristic focus, refinement of carriage, precision of step and magical veilwork.

I remember when Sofian first sent word that she was planning this evening and mentioned that it might be the last time she'd present anything of this kind. I hope she has since changed her mind, and last night's admiring audience would surely agree.

More information: Anahid Sofian Studio

The New York metro-area belly dance

Body and Soul interviewee Sandra Catena, author of The African Belly Dance, has a new batch of events coming up very soon:

Saturday, April 12 (1pm-3pm): Everything You Need to Know About Beginner Belly Dance ($40). Workshop focuses on posture, breath and movement, head-to-hip isolations. All teachings of the day are combined into sexy beginner choreography. Location: Yamuna, 132 Perry Street, Manhattan. To register: 212-633-2143

Saturday, April 19 (3pm-4pm): Free Beginner Belly Dance Class at Five Corners Library, 678 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ. For directions or more information, call 201-547-4543.

Wednesday, April 23 (8pm-10:30pm). Class + performance ($10 cover). Sandra will be teaching a free belly dance class from 8pm-8:15pm then performing to the live music of Djam at Je'Bon, 15 St. Mark's Place, East Village. Sandra's dancers--Vanessa, Belinda, Sherri and Lucy-- will also perform solos, and there will be additional dance performances.

Saturday, May 17 (two shows: 4pm and 6pm) Spring Belly Dance, Sandra's 29th belly dance production, includes ten solo performers and Sandra's grand finale. All tickets are $20 and will go on sale next week. Both performances will be held at Yamuna, 132 Perry Street, Manhattan.

Contact information for reservations: here

Sandra's interview: here

Sandra Catena: Body and Soul podcast

Here’s my conversation with Sandra Catena, popular belly dance instructor and performer, personal trainer and author of “The African Belly Dance”–the first murder mystery to feature a belly dancer as its protagonist.

BOOK FACTS

“The African Belly Dance” is a murder mystery featuring Santina Cole, a first generation Italian-American from Newark, New Jersey. Santina was raised in a blue-collar family with deep Catholic roots and much to the chagrin of her family, becomes a belly dancer. Santina is a feisty, funny, red hot woman from the hood who finds herself in the middle of trouble. While performing in West Africa at a Lebanese nightclub, a murder occurs. Santina is in the thick of it and helps find the killer. Get on this magic carpet ride that takes the reader from Newark, New Jersey to Manhattan to West Africa!

BIO

Sandra Catena has performed in Europe, West Africa, Canada and the United States. She has also performed on national television shows such as MTV, The Joy Brown Show and WB11 News. Since 1980, Sandra has performed in New York's Oriental nightclubs, theaters and colleges. Sandra starred in a 14-week run of "A Belly Dancer's Story" (10/96-2/97) in New York City. "A Belly Dancer's Story" was written, choreographed and performed by Sandra. She also produced and choreographed the following shows in theaters in New York: "A Night of Middle Eastern Dance" (6/01&02/00); "A Belly Dance Extravaganza" (11/18/00); "Belly Dance Nights" (01/07&14&21/01); "Arabian Nights" (06/03&04/01); "Holiday Exotica" (12/18/01); "Belly Dance Fever" (5/25/02); "Holiday Hafla" (12/15/02); "Oriental Dreams" (7/03/03); "A Belly Dancer’s Story" (3/14/04 and 6/15/04); and belly dance recitals at Lafayette Grill (6/12/05, 10/23/05, 3/23/06); “Modern Egyptian Rhythms” (12/3/06).

Sandra Catena is a master teacher of Oriental dance. She teaches private and group classes regularly in New York City. Sandra also teaches at Shakti Yoga, The 14th Street Y and has taught at New York University, City University of New York, Sarah Lawrence College, The New Age Health Spa, The Hospital for Joint Diseases, The Seminar Center, The Discovery Center, Asphalt Green, Carmine Street Recreation Bureau, Broome Corner Studios, Rod Rodgers Dance Studios, Dance Theater Workshop, Joyous Life Energy Center, Five Points Fitness and Djoniba's Drum and Dance Center, all in New York.

EVENT

Wednesday, March 26 (6:30-8:30pm): Book signing party (with performance, reading and cash bar) at Boucarou, 64 East 1st Street, East Village, Manhattan

LINKS

Sandra Catena
http://www.bigapplebellydance.org

Boucarou Lounge
http://www.boucaroulounge.com

Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.

(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

MP3 File

Leila Haddad & The Gypsy Musicians of Upper Egypt

In France, her adopted home, Leila Haddad has been dubbed "the Queen of Oriental dance." Born in Tunisia, she's hailed as one of the world's most vibrant exponents of raqs Sharqi, the traditional Arab origin of what Americans call belly dance. World Music Institute's presentation of In the Trail of the Ghawazee: Leila Haddad & the Gypsy Musicians of Upper Egypt (including members of Musicians of the Nile) marks her New York debut. This playful, colorful show--inspired by the Ghawazee, a tribe of traveling entertainers thought to be related to the Roma--concludes this evening at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.

Haddad takes to the stage like she owns it and, of course, she does, with her glowing, billowing fabrics of fuschia, salmon, pumpkin, red, black, gold and all the sparkling, jangling trimmings, with her ringing finger cymbals and her billions of fine, gold bracelets, with Cupie doll face and huge, smiling eyes, with her slow swirls and almost demure shimmies and hands that flick or flow across the air like a stream over rocks. She is a master dancer, fully at ease and having the time of her life. It would all be perfect if everyone in her audience realized that it's customary to clap along during a high-spirited performance. In any case, clapping is one thing, but some of us dancer types in the seats really wanted to get with that sweet band and throw down!

Besides Haddad, two joyful, rababa-fiddling vocalists--Mohamed Mourad and Youssef Moubarak--are the giants of this program. Think of a summit meeting with Bono and Sting getting loose and jamming flirtatiously with Grace Slick or Tina Turner. (Feel free to substitute the dazzling trio of your choice.) Then back them up with a band that soars free and gets down in wailing cries and throbbing rhythms that weave connections among peoples of the Arabian peninsula, North Africa, Mediterranean Europe and Eastern Europe. This is my idea of heaven.

I noticed some empty seats, but there's no telling if tonight will be the same. So, hurry! Call 212-279-4200 or click here. For information on other stops on Haddad's US tour and beyond, click here.

Leila Haddad to debut in New York City

The Queen of Oriental dance--Le Parisien

Leila Haddad (France) and The Gypsy Musicians of Upper Egypt will perform at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University, March 6-7, in a program presented by World Music Institute.

Haddad, one of the world's premier Oriental dancers, performs traditional dances of the little-known Ghawazee (Gypsies) of southern Egypt in the popular style. Born in Djerba, Tunisia to a Berber family, and now living in France, Haddad has studied many of the Arab world's dance forms by traveling from village to village. With her performances she has revived the dignity and tradition of Oriental dance and conveyed its latent sensuality as a tribute to femininity rather than subjugation to male images of women.

Her performances have taken her to major festivals and cultural institutions in Europe and the US. A highly respected teacher, she opened her first Paris Oriental dance class in the mid-1980s--a bold move at a time when the dance form was unknown or poorly understood.

Today she travels widely to teach dance and train new teachers. She was the first Oriental dancer to perform at the Salon de la Danse festival in Paris (1988). Her works include Dance of the Seven Veils, Rouh, A la Recherche de Tanit, Aquarelles, L'Orient d'une Danseuse - Rêveries sur le Nil, Nomades, and Zikrayat, her work in homage to Oum Khalsoum which premiered at the Théâtre Mogador in Paris (2000).

In the Trail of the Ghawazee was first shown in its current form in February 2006 at the Theatre du Trianon in Paris; it was later presented at the Images of Middle East Festival in Denmark, the Middle East Festival at the National Museum in Singapore, the Mediterranean Festival in Hong Kong, and many cities in France.

For tickets and further information on this program, call 212-545-7536 or click here.

For information on all Skirball Center events, click here.

Dancing with snakes

One of the most unusual instructional dance DVDs I've seen has been produced by Serpentessa, a ritualist and performer who dances with redtail boa constrictors. In the instructional section of the three-hour DVD--Belly Dance with Snakes: Embody Your Inner Serpent--Serpentessa gives careful, detailed guidance. It's as important to respect the snake and become entrained with its rhythms and moves as to tune up your posture and avoid "duck-butt."

Dancing while a snake slithers around your arm, shoulder, neck and head in its continuous improvisation ain't easy. You have to be able to maintain the integrity of your movements while managing the snake's considerable weight and finely adjusting your balance as it adjusts its location. Serpentessa's snakes are very gentle, but they're wild animals, not theatrical props, and she never loses sight of that fact. I've seen her perform live; clearly, she has strongly bonded with her snakes, equal partners in her dancing. Her dance technique and aesthetics are impeccable.

The remaining time includes excerpts from performances, a montage of snippets from ceremonies and fanciful sequences, and a "relaxing meditation" which shows a tangle of snakes repeatedly sliding over boulders. There's a cloying atmosphere of oversell. Perhaps Serpentessa could have used this opportunity to focus more on why snakes have been such a potent, universal symbols of sensuality, healing and cyclical time and to share images from ancient and contemporary art. Nevertheless, when she attends to instruction, her DVD offers a serious, encouraging introduction for anyone drawn to this art and spiritual practice.

To learn more about this DVD, click here.

Serena on You Tube

Myriam Eli also sent the following links:

Serena obituary, photos and links in the ShakeMyDay.com newslettter

See Serena on YouTube, dancing at the Egyptian Gardens nightclub (1968) and demonstrating the Turkish finger snap and karsilama rhythm on her TV program (1975). Click here and here.

A Serena Tribute by Myriam Eli of Harmonic Motion

Serena and Myriam Eli at Serena Studios’ A Night at the Casbah,
one of Ms. Eli’s first performances, September 1979.

IN GRATITUDE OF SERENA

By Myriam Eli

Serena, my first Middle Eastern dance teacher, passed away on 17 June 2007. She was a major force in the first wave of this dance that took place in the United States in the 1950’s. She was also a major force in my life and my career. I am forever grateful to her. Serena, the “trailblazer,” as my brother described her, created a Middle Eastern dance technique, with positions as in ballet, that I use to this day to teach and create. I first saw her dance while I was in college on 24 February 1974. There was an “Oud Concert” that day at Serena Studios on West 53rd Street in New York City featuring her son Scott Wilson on oud and guitarist Maurice Sedacca. Serena’s dance in the “Surprise Finale” was a great source of inspiration for me.

I studied many years with Serena and her wonderful Serena technique teachers, LaDonn Amato and Michele Rousseau, beginning in 1978 at Serena Studios. I remember it as a small but highly stimulating artistic space. The list of what I learned from Serena is endless but includes improvisation and the thrill of creating and being in the moment that accompanies it. It also includes dancing to live music, as she generously gave us opportunities to perform with her husband Rip Wilson on dumbek and son Scott on oud.



Serena sent me on my first teaching job, which was in the basement of Alexander’s store in the East Side. She also sent me on my first Caribbean cruise job, in which I got to approach my island home, Puerto Rico, from the ocean for the first time. With her, I learned to play zills and to dance to my first odd-metered rhythm, the 9/8 or karsilama, now one of my favorites. She also coached me and sent me to my first Egyptian nightclub audition, which was at the Ibis when it was on East 50th Street. With her I had the first opportunity to perform in a dance company, the Serena Dance Theater, which at the time included my teachers LaDonn and Michele, as well as my colleagues Terri Bernen and Roberta Watts. The titles of the dance pieces included Sahara City, Palesteena, Egyptian Village Dance, and my favorite, Offerings. With the company I had the first opportunity to perform in many different venues, such as schools and theaters, as well as at the Central Park Bandshell and Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.

Now, 29 years into my career, I pray that I am doing justice to these prized gifts that I received from Serena as I also try to pass down to my students and audiences the endless beauty of this dance form.

Thank you, Serena, for leading me into the path of this dance career and the spiritual fulfillment and exuberant joy that it offers. May you enjoy the Big Kef in the Sky.

Myriam Eli

Harmonic Motion

New York Times obituary of Serena Wilson

Serena Wilson Dies at 73; Popularized Belly Dance
by Margalit Fox

A Remembrance of Serena from Jemela Omar

[Editor's Note: Yesterday, I received this lovely message from Jemela Omar who, with Serena Wilson, was part of a brilliant and influential generation of Middle Eastern dance professionals here in New York City, and I requested permission to post it here for you. BTW, I've also been asked for information about a memorial service for Serena.  When I have that information, I will post an announcement here.]


Hi! My name is Jemela Omar. Anahid [Sofian] very graciously sent me your article on Serena, which I would LOVE to have downloaded, to send to some of her friends, that are not living in the USA currently.

Serena was my peer. I started in the EG. or Egyptian Gardens, a little earlier then she did. As she came to my office a week ago, to bring me a copy of her latest publication, looking better then she had 10 years ago, I marveled at her appearance. I can't imagine that there was ANY indication of the time bomb that was waiting in the wings.

We had a lot of laughs at the EG, she and I, because we were both the only Americans working there at the time.

She will be dearly missed. In a performance that she gave recently, she got a standing ovation from the entire audience of other dancers! I was SO glad to be amongst them, applauding loudly for my friend.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts,

Respectfully,
Jemela Omar

A Middle Eastern dance legend passes

I was saddened to learn of the death of Serena Wilson--legendary performer, teacher and popularizer of Middle Eastern (belly) dance--following her collapse on Sunday while shopping with her son, Scott Wilson. The cause was said to be a pulmonary embolism.

In the 1970s, during the big American revival of belly dancing--a revival that owes much to Serena's visibility and influence--I studied in a small, private group of students with one of her former teachers, Cia Beverly Cirel. I loved--and still treasure--this dance form and found it to be not only a beautiful, aesthetic expression, intertwining sensuality and spirituality, but also marvelous therapy for mood, figure and fitness. At the time, it rivaled only jazz dance as my favorite dance technique to learn.

Although, over time, I fell away from studying dance of any kind, when I briefly returned to it in the '90s, it was at Serena's small, impossibly-crowded studio on Eighth Avenue near 55th Street. I made sure to get there early to secure a good spot on the floor so that I could keep an eye on the Empress of Beledi, perched atop her little platform, as she broke down all the million-and-one isolations that go into making the extraordinarily fluid effect of the dance. At the time, she was no spring chicken but she ruled, and woe to any student who came in chomping on a wad of gum.

I still have my well-worn copy of The Serena Technique of Belly Dancing (1973), which Serena co-authored with her husband, Alan Wilson. I'd purchased it in 1974, the year that I also began studying how to write dance criticism. It shares shelf space with the original Our Bodies, Our Selves and Sally Banes's Terpsichore in Sneakers (1980). Quite a trot down memory lane, that shelf.

My condolences to Serena's family and to her generations of teachers, students, professional associates and many fans around the world.

(c) 2007 Eva Yaa Asantewaa