Biography
after much begging, my mother made me a grass skirt from some green
crepe paper and let me wear my bathing suit top. I loved this costume. I
ran around and showed all the neighbors and then insisted on having a
show in the backyard. I pretended to hula dance while the phonograph
played "The Little Grass Shack". All the neighbors applauded and I was
hooked.
Because I loved dance so much, my parents were always searching for
events. We would go to the ballet, dance concerts at Stern Grove in San
Francisco, fairs and festivals. Finally, when I was eight years old, my
dad took me to a belly dance festival in Oakland and I had an epiphany.
There on the stage were the most beautiful women I had ever seen,
covered with sparkles and jingly things, dancing the most fabulous
dance. Big women, little women, old, young…I was particularly stuck by a
curvy blonde woman in red who moved with incredible grace and joy. "I
want to be a belly dancer!" I exclaimed to my father. He promptly
enrolled me in ballet class.
I danced with the Oakland Metropolitan dance company for five years
until it became obvious that I was growing too voluptuously to be a
ballerina. My instructor suggested binding my breasts and if that didn't
work, a breast reduction. I was horrified. Probably as horrified as he
was when I suggested each year that the Turkish Coffee section of the
Nutcracker be performed by belly dancers! I was happy to leave the
company but sad to have lost the opportunity to dance.
All during high school, I begged my father to let me take belly dancing
classes. He continued to refuse. I asked him why he was uncomfortable
with me belly dancing and he mentioned that a friend of his had a
daughter who was a belly dancer and once he got to put money in her belt
and she danced on a table. He thought she was very sexy and "no daughter
of his would ever do that". As soon as I moved away from home at the
age of 18, I enrolled in belly dance classes at Cal-State Hayward. At
last!
My first teacher was Janeena. She was a wonderful teacher schooled by
Jamila Salimpour and I was fortunate to study with her for two years.
The first time I took her class I felt a great sense of relief and
excitement. I had waited so long to be there! There were 30-40 students
in the class, all ages, and we had so much fun except for the days she
made us do floorwork for two hours. You could always tell who had been
studying floorwork by the way the student would groan climbing stairs
around the campus. Sometimes Janeena would be swept away by the music in
class and we would all end up sitting on the floor completely entranced
by her performance. It was magical.
During this time, I performed at class recitals and the occasional house
party. My biggest performance nightmare happened after I had been
dancing for two years. I was hired to dance at a private party on Haight
Street in San Francisco. When I got there, they offered me punch but I
had brought my own water so I declined. Luckily, because the punch was
spiked with LSD. Everyone at the party was tripping as I danced. Someone
actually said, "Hey, man…look at the colors," while grabbing my veil. No
one was violent but it was very uncomfortable dancing to a room of
"zombies". I was so happy to leave and very glad I had brought a friend.
After two years, funding was pulled from Janeena's class and she was
laid-off. I was heartbroken. I didn't know where to go or where the
festivals were or how to find another teacher. I opened the Yellow Pages
and found a teacher but she wasn't very good, had only one other
student, and I only lasted one class.
My dancing was put on hold while I finished my degree and attended
graduate school. I found Dunia but unfortunately, she retired shortly
after I started classes with her. I was beginning to feel jinxed.
In 1991, I became the president of the local humane society and had to
deal with a lot of sorrow and abuse. I needed a way to find some joy and
relieve some stress. A friend of mine suggested that we take classes at
the local adult school. That's how I found Zavetta/Jeanette who became
my teacher for the next three years. She taught folkloric style and was
a great inspiration. She now dances with the Salimpour Dance Company and
continues to be one of my favorite dancers to this day. Zavetta
suggested that I study with as many teachers as possible. She also
introduced me to the workshop circuit and made sure that I put my name
on every mailing list possible.
I studied for two and a half years with Caroleena Nericcio of
FatChanceBellyDance while also studying with Zavetta and took every
workshop that I could afford: Morocco, Leila Haddad, Dalia Carella,
Shareen el-Safy, Momo Kodous, Nadia Hamdi, Aisha Ali, Suzanna Del
Vecchio. Sometimes I learned a lot and sometimes I learned what I didn't
want to do but it was invaluable. I also joined a troupe called Banat
Hafla for two years. Our directors were Kamseen and Shiraza and we
danced folkloric style at many festivals including Rakkasah and the Utah
Belly Dance Festival. It was great fun. I learned a lot about troupe
dynamics and how you must give up some portion of your individuality for
the sake of the cohesiveness of the troupe. It also made me realize that
I wanted to compose my own troupe choreographies but I felt I had more
to learn first. The troupe disbanded when Kamseen and Shiraza decided to
take a sabbatical and have foot surgery. In many ways, it felt like a
divorce. Troupe members can become very close knit - just like a family.
Next I joined the troupe, Dancers of the Crescent Moon. We danced
folkloric/tribal in the style of Jamila Salimpour's Bal Anat or John
Compton's Hahbi'Ru. We entered a lot of competitions, won a lot of
prizes, and I made several very close friends. I began to study with
Dunia when she came out of retirement in San Jose for a couple of years
and with Jamila and Suhaila Salimpour in El Cerrito for two and a half.
Talk about hard work! Great classes, great teachers, phenomenal amount
of information. But the traveling was getting difficult. I traveled one
and a half hours each direction in heavy traffic twice a week for the
Salimpours and an hour each way for Dunia once a week. Plus working full
time. Plus I formed my own troupe, Raks al-Mahtaab. Plus I was still
dancing with the Dancers of the Crescent Moon twice a week. Something
had to give. I resigned from the Dancers of the Crescent Moon and after
a year, had to stop the lessons with the Salimpours. It was very sad but
I looked upon it as a new opportunity for growth.
I had always felt that I didn't quite understand the rhthyms of the
middle east and I wanted to learn more about musical interpretation so I
began to study doumbec, riqq, and tar with Mary Ellen Donald in San
Francisco. It helped my dance immeasurably. I am now able to dissect
music like a musician as well as a dancer. I can play finger cymbals to
anything. I can talk with musicians and we understand each other. I will
never be a great drummer but I am a fair riqq player and I hope to get
better. But I prefer practicing dance than music…
I continued to experiment with troupes. I formed The Dreams of
Scheherazade Dance Troupe and we performed story-telling dancers. My
favorite was the story of a little abused girl who discovers a magic
lamp, rubs it, and is granted three wishes by the Genie. We had the
Genie, a dancer to represent each of the three wishes (Bounty, Beauty,
and Wealth…I was Wealth), the little girl, and the power of the heavens
(Sun, Moon, and Stars). In the end, the little girl escapes her horrible
life and grants the Genie her freedom.
I also formed Raks al-Shaqrawaat (Dance of the Redheads) made up
completely of red-headed dancers. We are a big hit with Arabs and are
frequently told that the men have heart attacks when they hear the name
of the troupe.
My other troupe, Raks al-Mahtaab became Sittat al-Ghawazee and is still
performing traditional Ghawazee dance of the late 1880's.
I helped out a friend and was a founding member of Camels USA. We were
the 1998 Belly Dance Troupe of the Year and performed with a dancing
camel.
I formed Zuhur al-Sahara, my student troupe, from dancers who studied
throught the Palo Alto Adult School in 2000. We debuted at the Desert
Dance Festival in 2000 and were very well-received and have been dancing
steadily ever since.
My first opportunity to choreograph a "big" dance occurred in 1995 when
Dunia commissioned me to devise a dance for the Desert Dance Festival
Extravaganza. It was called The Shadow Dance. She wanted it to be
performed by women in purdah. I had thirteen dancers on stage, all
dressed in black, nothing showing except their eyes, and we performed a
dance that was full of ritual and symbolism showing that the strength of
women can never be hidden and that we will always find joy. I knew it
was a success when afterwards, one of my dancers got into a disagreement
with a Saudi man who could not understand why we would want to show that
aspect of the Middle East. It wasn't that he felt we were being
disrespectful, he just couldn't understand why we would want to dress
that way when we were in America. I explained to him that it was
necessary for people to know what happens in the rest of the world. He
finally begrudgingly agreed. I was surprised, too, by the response some
of the dancers had to wearing the costume. Some felt very mysterious and
sexy, some felt angry, some felt trapped, and some were just really,
really hot. It was an interesting experience. Even now, I still have
people mention how profoundly they were affected by that choreography.
It made me realize that when I am done as a dancer, I will hopefully be
able to find a career as a choreographer. I really enjoy creating dance.
I had taught privately for years but began teaching Middle Eastern dance
at the Palo Alto Adult School in 1998. It made me really appreciate all
my teachers over the years. It took me a while to develop the curriculum
but one of the most important things I give my students is a Resource
Guide that contains all the information I think they need: websites,
video suggestions, dates of festivals, publications… I always swore that
no student of mine would ever be stuck not knowing where to go like I
was when my first teacher was laid-off. I teach a Beginner/Intermediate
and a Troupe Performance class and doing so, has made me focus on my own
dance and made me become more precise in what I do and teach.
I was also hired in 2000 to teach at the Girls' Middle School, a
private girls' school in Palo Alto. I taught two classes for two
sessions and included an original choreography for them to perform at a
recital at the end of the session. It was a lot of fun watching the
eleven and twelve year olds blossom and become less shy about their
bodies. I was a little taken aback at my first lesson when they asked me
several very pointed questions about breasts. "Do you have to have big
breasts to be a dancer?" It turns out they had watched a sex-ed film the
hour before my class. "No," I explained. "That’s the best part of this
dance. You can be big or small, short or tall, young or old, pretty or
ugly…all dancers have the ability to become beautiful when they dance."
The students were very relieved and had a wonderful time in the class
after that, even though they always giggled during shoulder shimmies.
I had my second epiphany about Middle Eastern dance when I attended
Shareen el Safy's week-long retreat last year. Until then, the focus of
my dance had been folkloric. Now I find that I am very drawn to modern
Egyptian dance. I still have fun teaching and performing folkloric, but
my heart belongs to modern. I love the way that the Egyptian dancers
like Naima Akef, Sohair Zaki, Samia Gamal, FiFi, and Lucy interpret the
music. I also love the way they have a playful sensuality on stage and
can be very powerful while still being lady-like. I am continuing my
study of modern Egyptian with two teachers, Leyla Lanty and Shareen el
Safy because even though I am a teacher, I will always be a student.
I was also the regular dancer at the Cleopatra Restaurant in San
Francisco on Friday nights until the restaurant was closed in June 2001.
I try to hear live music at least once a week. I love to attend the
Arabic clubs and check out the dance moves of the people who are just
boogying. I am hoping to get to visit Egypt soon. I was able to travel
to Turkey three years ago with Morocco's tour and had a blast. One
night, at the Galata Tower in Istanbul, I was pulled up onstage by a
very smarmy MC who thought that since I have red hair and am pale, I
couldn't possibly know anything about dance. He pulled up several other
women and made fun of each of them, trying to get them to do hip circles
or shoulder shimmies. By the time he got to me, I was fed up with his
patronizing attitude and hyped up from too many coca-colas and too
little sleep. I completely ignored his instructions and just took off
dancing. Morocco said that his jaw dropped when he saw that I was a
dancer. I got to dance for about fifteen minutes while the audience
clapped and shouted "E-leez-a-bet". They pulled a VIP up from the
audience to dance with me. It was one of those magical moments that
makes dancing so incredible. After I finished dancing, Morocco decided
it was time to leave and the whole restaurant emptied out and waved
good-bye to us as we drove off in the tour bus. I think it was the
highlight of my dance career and was so unexpected. And fun!
I am one of those dancers whose weight is always fluctuating. You may
have noticed that in my pictures. That is another thing I love about
this dance form, it can be performed by people of every size. I haven't
found that my weight hinders me much although I have noticed that I am
hired by more Turkish people when I am heavier. The only problem with
weight fluctuation is that I have about three different sized costume
closets. Luckily, I am a good seamstress and love to bead. I am also in
love with the new stretch lycra beaded dresses; they are very forgiving.
I am losing weight right now, mainly because I want my "down hips" to be
as sharp as possible.
My advice is: don’t fail to do what you want even if you are unhappy
with the way you look. A good dancer is a good dancer no matter what.
Study, research the cultures of the people of the middle east, watch
videos, take every workshop you can, study with as many teachers as you
can, listen to music, dance in the kitchen while washing dishes, stand
straight and tall, tuck your pelvis, practice, practice, practice, and
treat yourself kindly.
-Izora
