Sofian studio spotlights emerging bellydance artists

Brenna Crowley leads the tribal fusion group
Zilla Dance Ensemble.
(photo: Pixie Vision Photography)

Nisreen specializes in Egyptian-style dance.
(photo: Stacey and Clement Lespinasse)

What's new on the bellydance scene?

Now there's a question seldom asked by typical New York City dance observers. Then again, some of us are far from typical.

America's Middle Eastern dance--which boomed in the 1960s and '70s through the popularizing work of New York's Serena Wilson, Morocco and Anahid Sofian, among other star dancers and teachers--would appear to have settled into an obscure "ethnic dance" niche with fewer cabaret venues for shows and few, if any, connections to the broader pipeline of contemporary dance ventures, resources and advocacy. But is that the complete picture?

The venerable Sofian, herself, has kept career and company going for decades, and last evening she gave the fourth presentation of her Atelier Orientale series of evenings at her small studio on West 15th Street. Curated by Kaitlin Hines--a Sofian company member and choreographer of her own Raqs Uncommon troupe--the show was created to highlight up-to-the-minute styles in bellydance (or Oriental dance, as Sofian chooses to call it). The form remains vibrant and, in Sofian's words, can claim a 21st Century renaissance. She writes:

Interest in this ancient dance is now at its highest since the Sixties and Seventies and continues to grow world-wide. Nearly every state in the U.S. and every province in Canada has teachers and troupes, and the dance enjoys immense popularity abroad, especially in Brazil, Europe, Australia and Japan. Articles continue to appear in major international publications, and there are hundreds of websites dedicated to the dance. Many of the movements have found their way into our own dance culture through break dancing, hip hop and the performances of such pop stars as Shakira and Britney Spears, and appreciation of middle eastern music is also at an all time high thanks to the world music explosion, which has brought many of the great middle eastern musicians and music styles to renown in the West. This explosion, however, has brought with it a mixed blessing to those of us who fear that the beautiful mother of all these styles has all but disappeared.      

And what of that "beautiful mother," as Sofian calls the generative form? By evidence of last night's show, I'd say Mom manages to hold her place in the mix but, at times, might be a little stressed by what she finds around her. Or maybe I'm just projecting.

For my taste--formed in the '70s by my training with a disciple of Serena Wilson--this dance genre has much variety and power on its own without the infusion of external, sometimes jarring elements. Some of the participants in this atelier--with their odd and gimmicky theatrics, Halloween-like costuming and blunt choreography--did justice neither to this gracious dance nor their own dancers. But there were sublime moments, too--most notably, Tatianna Natalyja's The Unveiling, a solo to music by the great Nubian oud player and singer Hamza El Din--that served as testament to the elegance and ingenuity of the Middle Eastern dancer.

Tatianna Natalyja
(photo by Andrea Qasguargis)

Natalyja displayed skillful control of her polyrhythmic isolations, sharp accents, expressive flow, dignity and inherent drama. Although she was, by far, the program's most polished performer, others also contributed interesting work. I greatly enjoyed Brenna Crowley (leading her Zilla Dance Ensemble in an excerpt from Four Chambers), the kind of dancer who so clearly, and with every fiber of her being, feels the music--in this case, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake--that you completely understand why she dances and, actually, why you dance, too. Nisreen's Ya Hanady solo delivers a sly yet precise and fairly straightforward Egyptian cane dance with its twirls and strikes of a slender cane. Leading her trio of three graces in the atmospheric Rapture, Refuge and Release, curator Hines also brought a grounded and luxurious sensibility to performance. If not every curatorial choice demonstrated that wisdom and beauty, her own presence embodied it.

To learn more about the Anahid Sofian Dance Studio and Sofian's future projects, click here.

"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)

Sarah Johansson Locke and Mira Betz

Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest info at www.alchemyperformance.com and www.miramania.com. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Podcast Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

My next guests, Sarah Johansson Locke (based in New York City) and Mira Betz (based in Oakland, CA), describe themselves as dancers, first and foremost. After that, as you'll discover, things get a little complicated. Both are knowledgeable, highly-disciplined performers with eclectic backgrounds and widespread respect in their field. The shortcut way to identify what they do is to call it "tribal fusion dance" or "American tribal fusion dance." Find out more in my upcoming episode of Body and Soul podcast and on their sites:

Sarah Johansson Locke: Alchemy Performance

Mira Betz