Middle Eastern Dance Supplies:
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Ma*Shuqa Mira Murjan
15651 Camino Del Cerro
Los Gatos, CA 95032-3721
408-356-9473
email: ma_shuqa@hotmail.com
hours: Private appointment only.
Ma*Shuqa sells Egyptian costumes, hip scarves, veils, finger cymbals, shoes, head scarves, videos, and music from her studio in Los Gatos.
We3 Bellydance
2734 S. Bascom Ave
San Jose, CA
We3bellydance@aol.com
Basic beginer bellydance attire.
Dance Attire
1350 Grant Road, Suite 5
Mountain View, CA 94040
650-965-4282
They carry leotards, choli-style half tops and dance shoes.
Cost Less Imports
1710 University Ave
Berkeley CA
510-548-2800
www.costlesscostumes.com
Beautiful coin bra and belt sets, mirror and crystal sets, and chain and paillette sets and lots of beads. They also sell loose coins, chain, headdresses and tummy drapes.
Sugar Petals
PO Box 5869
Concord, CA 94524
925-934-2462
www.sugarpetals.com
sugarpet@ix.netcom.com
Color catalog is $2 and is refundable with first order
Natalie carries cotton unitards and leotards with mesh midriffs up to size 3X. She has lots of appliques, bead and tassel fringes, sew-on jewels, accessories, fans, belt forms, and jewelry. She also carries unitards and leotards without the mesh midriffs in larger sizes.
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Artemis Imports
PO Box 68
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
408-373-6762
www.artemisimports.com
Regular catalog $3
Belly Dance Patterns Catalog $2
Books Catalog $2
All three catalogs $7
Artemis has veils, costuming supplies, jewelry, belts, Moroccan dresses, a huge selection of music, videos, finger cymbals, and much, much more. If you ever need a specific piece of music, Artemis will be able to find it for you. She knows music extremely well.
Turquoise International
22830 Califa Street
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
818-999-5542
www.turquoiseintl.com
Call or write for more information. Turquoise carries very nice finger cymbals, beautiful costumes such as beledi dresses by Madame Abla, silk Saudi dresses, assiut dresses and bra and belt sets as well as beaded/coin hip scarves and Egyptian fringe
Saroyan Mastercrafts
PO Box 2056
Riverside, CA 92516
909-276-9925
www.saroyanzils.com
Catalog $2
Saroyan carries a huge selection of finger cymbals and ornamental coins for sewing onto costumes.
Cartouche, Inc.
1344 Massachusetts Street
Lawrence. KS 66044-5939
913-865-5242
Lots of great costumes and cover-ups, accessories, and the only place I’ve found that carries beaded Egyptian canes.
Scheherazade Imports
2420 Hampden Row
Rockville, VA 23146
804-749-3059
sherzade@mnsic.com
www.dancingturtle.com/scheherezadeimports.shtml
Catalog $3 refundable with first purchase
Lucy has great stuff. Costumes, candelabras, hip scarves (beaded and coin), Egyptian fringe, tassel belts, Bedouin facemasks, books, music and jewelry. She visits Egypt twice a year and will order you a custom costume when she is out there, exactly to your specifications.
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L. Rose Designs
2016 Parton Lane
Arcata, CA 95521
707-822-8701
lrose@tidepool.com
Catalog $1
Beautiful things. Velvet half tops, stretch cholis, dance bras, and cholibras. Silk veils, silk harem pants, tiered gypsy skirts, under the bust vests, children’s costumes.
Joharah Imports
www.joharah.com
Great prices on hip scarves and fringe. Many other costuming items.
Ganesha Bazaar
www.ganeshabazaar.com
Beautiful costuming based on Indian designs. Lovely veils and skirts.
Rakkasah Swords
Rakkasah-Shukriya
1564 A Fitzgerald Drive Suite 124
Pinole, CA 94564
510-724-0214
www.rakkasah.com
These performance swords come in two styles, smooth brass hilt ($110) and textured brass hilt ($130) and come with a leather scabbard. You will need to lightly sand the balance point to help with slippage but don’t go through the chrome. It is possible to buy cheaper swords but these are very nice and beautifully balanced.
Skirts from Dalia and Alia
1901 21st Drive
Astoria, NY 11105
718-274-9495
Catalog is free.
Beautiful and extremely well crafted gypsy, oriental, flamenco and historical skirts.
Madame X
PMB 226
1040 Grant Road Suite 155
Mountain View, CA 94040
www.madameXcostumes.com
Xenia designs patterns to fit all sizes. She has an adjustable beledi dress that is perfect for pregnant dancers , dancers whose weight fluctuates a lot, or for troupes that have a wide range of figures. She has a gorgeous fishtail skirt pattern with plain and gored back. She also carries larger sized belt forms. Her website also includes instructions for several costuming basics.
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Costuming From the Hip by Dawn Devine Brown
www.davina.org/hip
This is an excellent overview of costuming for the Middle Eastern dancer. Filled with good ideas and suggestions as well as patterns and suggested suppliers. Indispensable.
Nedjma's Moroccan Treasures
http://www.moroccantreasures.com/
Beautiful Moroccan clothing and jewelry.
Belly Dance Bazaar
http://home.earthlink.net/~bellydance/
Complete professional costumes from Turkey.
Chandra's Middle Eastern Dance Supplies
http://www.chandras.com/
Asia Minor Imports
http://home.sprintmail.com/~sazidan/index.html
Lots of items from Turkey.
Zaghareet's Boutique
http://www.zagsboutique.freeservers.com/
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Interesting and Informative Websites:
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MED-Dance List-Serve FTP Site
http://www.dancers-archive.com/med-dance/list.Welcome
I highly recommend joining the MED List if you don’t mind receiving about 30 e-mails a day (or you can sign up for the digest). Members of the List come from all over the world and there are many interesting discussions and tons of great information. This website contains all the post sent to the MED List as well as instructions for joining.
The Gilded Serpent
An Internet Magazine for Middle Eastern Music and Dance
www.gildedserpent.com
Also contains indepth interviews with dancers and musicians from the heydays of North Beach, San Francisco. Amazing stories and great fun.
Morocco and the Casbah Dance Experience
www.tiac.net/users/morocco
Morocco has been teaching and researching oriental dance for a long time. She has traveled extensively in the Middle East and has documented many dance forms as well as published many articles. Very brilliant and very opinionated, I highly recommend her site.
Shira
www.shira.net
Shira is a dancer from the Bay Area and has a very informative site that includes song translations, treaties on the various styles of Middle Eastern dance, and information about herself including her poetry.
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Kajira Djoumhana
http://members.aol.com/Ghaziya/index.html
Kajira is from Sonoma County and has lots of information about events in that area and her site also includes some wonderful interviews she has done with leading persons in the middle eastern dance field.
Bay Area Belly Dance Pages
www.haas.berkeley.edu/~tmiller/medance.htm
Tracy has an extensive listing of events in the Bay Area including festivals, restaurants, concerts, and workshops. The website hasn't been updated in some time but still contains valuable information.
Desert Dance Festival Website
www.desertdance.com
This website contains all the information about the Desert Dance Festival and Dunia and the Nile Spice Dance Company. There are informative articles, a place for swapping and selling items, a photo gallery, and a vanity page for the beautiful webmaster, Yolanda.
UltraGypsy
www.ultragypsy.com
A tribal style dance troupe directed by Jill Parker, one of the founding members of FatChanceBellyDance. Jill offers classes and has a schedule of events.
Fat Chance Belly Dance
www.fcbd.com
The San Francisco tribal dancing phenomenon.
Belly Dance Page
www.bdancer.com
Lots of links.
Belly Dancing for Older Women
http://welcome.to/Zaida
Very inspirational website.
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Websites about Male Dancers
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Male Belly Dance
http://www.bdancer.com/med-guide/culture/mdancer.html
Masculine Belly Dance (by Stefan)
http://www.bdancer.com/Masculine.html
It isn't just for women (and never was) by Tarik Abd El Malik
http://www.tiac.net/users/morocco/notwomen_trk.html
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Book Recommendations:
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Serpent of the Nile by Wendy Buonaventura
ISBN: 1-56656-117-5
This book is a celebration of the female dancers of the Arab world and their impact on the west. Focusing on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Buonaventura shows how Arabic dance came to be influenced by Western ideas about art and entertainment and how Arabic dance exerted a powerful influence on the Western imagination. The book is filled with lavish illustrations and photos. Highly recommended.
"A Trade Like Any Other" Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt by Karin van Nieuwkerk
ISBN: 0-292-78723-5
A complete look at the Egyptian entertainment trade including the often-held view that the entertainers are disreputable people. Highly recommend although the text is somewhat scholarly and it is not an easy read. Tons and tons of great information.
Women Without Men by Willy Jansen
ISBN: 9-004-08345-6
Very scholarly work about women without men (e.g. widows, orphans, divorcees, prostitutes) in Algerian society and how they are able to set themselves apart from other women and break the gender roles.
Images of Women: The Portrayal of Women in Photography of the Middle East 1860-1950 by Sarah Graham-Brown
ISBN: 0-231-06826-3
This book examines how Western stereotypes of women in the Middle East were shaped and perpetuated by photographs taken in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by commercial studios, travelers, missionaries and anthropologists. These photos are contrasted with those taken or commissioned by well to do Middle Eastern families and individuals. The book also contains an overview of the life of women in the Middle East. Highly recommended.
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Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood by Fatima Mernissi
ISBN: 0-201-62649-7
Evocative book by feminist Fatima Mernissi about growing up in a harem in Fez, Morocco.
Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
ISBN: 0-385-01485-6
I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a delightful account of the author’s two-year stay in the rural village of El Nahra in southern Iraq. Previously, most studies about the Middle East were done by men, and because they were men, they did not have access to the lives of women (and probably didn’t think this was very important). Fernea was one of the first women to publish an account of the secret life of women when she agreed to dress in the milaya and behave as a Middle Eastern woman for the two years she and her husband stayed in Iraq.
Harem: The World Behind the Veil by Alev Lytle Croutier
ISBN:0-89659-903-5
Drawing on a host of first-hand intimate accounts, histories, and memoirs, Croutier explores life in the world’s harems, from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. Beautiful pictures.
Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East edited by Donna Lee Bowen and Evelyn A. Early
ISBN:0-253-20779-7
An overview of life in the Middle East.
Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World by Jan Goodwin
ISBN:0-316-32028-5
Explains powerfully how Muslim women are affected by the rise of fundamentalism.
Opening the Gates: A Century of Arab Feminist Writing by Margot Badran and Miriam Cooke
ISBN:0-253-31121-7
Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks
ISBN:0-385-47576-4
Secrets of the Harem by Carla Coco
ISBN:0-86565-996-6
A beautifully illustrated book filled with false information about how wonderful life was in the Turkish harem. A Turkish travel-guide writer wrote the book and the text is very misleading. But a great book for the pictures.
Valide: A Novel of the Harem by Barbara Chase-Riboud
This book is out of print but can still be found at used bookstores and thrift stores. It is an excellent fictionalized account of life in the Topkapi Harem during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It gives the true feel of the harem; not a romanticized version. Extremely eye-opening.
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Publications:
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Habibi: A Journal for Lovers of Middle Eastern Dance and Arts
Habibi Publications
PO Box 90936, Santa Barbara, CA 93190-0936, (805)962-9639
I highly recommend this magazine.
Zaghareet
5017 Cullen Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455
Jareeda
PO Box 680, Sutherlin, OR 97479
Clyde’s Resource Guide
c/o Port Said Restaurant
4031 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA 94121-2516
Wiggle Hips
PO Box 20366, Sun Valley, NV
Homey publication.
Arabesque
One Sherman Square, Suite 22F, New York, NY 10023
MECDA (Middle Eastern Culture and Dance Association)
Joining MECDA costs $25 for the first year and $20 for yearly renewal. Membership includes Cymbal magazine and monthly newsletters. MECDA is mainly based in Southern California but is expanding.
MECDA,PO Box 946, Rosemead, CA 91770
mecda@earthlink.net
www.mecda.org
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Music Recommendations:
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Arabesque:Various Artists Gut; ASIN: B00000JAZ3
Compilation CD of many artists. Beautiful fusion pieces that combine traditional Middle Eastern songs with jazz. Inspiring.
Warda: Harrampt Ahebbak
Warda: Batwaness Beek
Beautiful classic Egyptian songs by a wonderful singer. A must for all bellydance libraries.
Tarkan: Tarkan
This is the music I use for the warm-up. Turkish pop music and lots of fun. Especially the song Simarik (The kiss-kiss song).
Amr Diab: Tamally Maak, Amarain, Nour el Ain, Best of Amr Diab
All his CDs are great. Beautiful voice and beautiful pop songs. Great for dancing. Make sure you read the song descriptions to get the feel for the music.
Hakim: Efred Masalan
I don't know which Hakim CD this is on but it can be found on a lot of the Aarabic compilation CDs.
Midnight Magic
Lots of great modern songs including Efred Masalan and a full bellydance routine.
Adam Basma Arabic Dance Ensemble
High energy classic songs.
Ya Salem Ya Fatiem
Re-release of old album. Great version of Tamrhenna. Poor editing but Tamrhenna is usable.
Gems of the Middle East Volumes I,II,III by Mary Ellen Donald and Mimi Spencer(Belly Dance Favorites from Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and Greece)
All the classic compositions. Also available: percussion and melody books that correspond to the cassettes. A great way to learn all the performance music. Available from Mary Ellen Books, PO Box 7589, San Francisco, CA 94120-7589
Leyla Lanty Presents "Khalil Abboud in Egypt"
Beautiful Egyptian music. Includes brief translation of the songs. I like this one a lot. Contact Leyla at lmwhite@leland.Stanford.EDU
Princess of Cairo: Music for Belly Dance with Nagwa Fouad by Hamouda Ali & Hani Mehanna
Classic Egyptian music. Wonderful.
Sirocco, Volumes I and II by Sirocco
Excellent folkloric-style music, highly danceable. Volume I has two very good slow songs for sword routines on side 1.
The Joy of Belly Dancing by George Abdo
Classic belly dance music in the Arabic style with at least one full dance set on each CD or tape. Highly recommended.
Dark Fire by Light Rain
New age belly dance music. Very dramatic but non-traditional.
Fire Dance by Brian Keane and Omar Faruk Tekbilek
Beautiful music, traditional and lots of good dance songs but do not dance to song 3 on side one, A Call to Prayer, because it is not acceptable to dance to religious music.
Eshta by Hossam Ramzy
Egyptian beledi dance music. Lots of good songs but they tend to go on too long. It is perfectly acceptable to fade music to the length you need.
Belly Dance! Spectacular Rhythms from the Middle East
Excellent tape. Great dramatic songs and a wonderful folkloric piece on side 2.
Bert’s Baladi by Bert Balladine
Very danceable, I especially like Samah al Nobah.
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The Best of the Sultans by Omar Faruk Tekbilek
Classic belly dance music. The Dere karsilamas is my absolute favorite karsilamas of all time.
Raks Balady by Bassam Ayoub
Classic modern Egyptian, lots of organ music and drama. Great dancing music
Alabina by Alabina
Spanish influenced belly dance music. Half the time they sing in Spanish, the other half in Arabic. Very good for gypsy dance.
Belly Dancing for Fortune and Fame featuring the Mogodor Band with Spiro Cardamis
This CD was made so that the dancer could mix and match songs to make up her routine. Lots of classic music and two good drum solos. Highly recommend. Carried only by Scheherazade Imports.
Metkal Kanawi
Artemis carries this tape and it is the classic Metkal Kanawi saidi songs. Excellent for cane and folkloric dancing.
Magic of John Bilezikjian by John Bilezikjian
Very beautiful Armenian music. I especially love the slow song, Jamila, on side one. The drum solos are too complicated for most dancers but all the other songs are very danceable.
Strictly Belly Dancing by Eddie "The Sheik" Kochak
I especially like Volume Three. Classic belly dance music.
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Video Recommendations:
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Vendors such as Artemis Imports also carry many of these videos.
Introduction to Middle Eastern Dance by Kathryn Ferguson
http://www.azstarnet.com/~anubis/danchome.htm
Well-organized, good basic information, highly recommend.
Dancer’s Toolkit by Baraka
http://www.barakasf.com
Great introduction to the dance. Two choreographies are taught, one beginning and one intermediate. This video can also be purchased through Artemis Imports.
Precision Motion Workout by Suzanna Del Vecchio
Belly Dance Arts PO Box 61383, Denver, CO 80206
For the intermediate dancer, a great workout and good breakdown of movements.
Intermediate Choreography by Suhaila Salimpour
She has produced many teaching videos and I especially like her Intermediate Choreography. Her performance videos are fun to watch but designed more for the night club crowd.
http://www.suhaila.com
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Dance Festivals:
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Rakkasah
March 22, 23, & 24 2002
Richmond Memorial Auditorium.
A week of workshops precedes the actual festival.
To be placed on the mailing list, write to:
Rakkasah
1564 A Fitzgerald Dr. Suite 124
Pinole, CA 94564
Belly Dancer of the Year Pageant
held the weekend of Labor Day in May at California High School in San Ramon
To be placed on the mailing list, write to:
Leea Aziz
Belly Dance!
1235 Boulevard Way
Walnut Creek, CA 94595
http://bellydc.com
Summer Caravan (Summer Rakassah)
July 27-28, 2002
Scottish Rite Center
1457 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA (see above for mailing address)
Desert Dance Festival
Sept 21-22, 2002
10am to 8pm
Mexican Heritage Plaza
1700 Alum Rock Ave.
San Jose, CA
To be placed on the mailing list, write to:
Scarab Productions
PO Box 24849
San Jose, CA 95154-4849
www.desertdance.com
Festival Fantasia
October 13-14, 2002
390 Morris Street, Sebastipol, CA
707-824-0533
PO Box 182, Occidental, CA 95465
Shimmy Fest
December 2, 2002
San Ramon Community Center, 12501 Alcosta Blvd, San Ramon, CA
http://www.sugarpetals.com
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SF Bay Area Restaurants with Dancers/Live Music:
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Note: Call the restaurant ahead of time to make sure there will be a dancer or live music. If there isn’t enough of a crowd, some restaurant owners will tell the dancer or musicians not to come.
Amira
590 Valencia (at 17th Street),San Francisco, 415-621-6213
Low cost food, music and dancers Thursday-Saturday nights
Byblos Restaurant
1910 Lombard Street (near Buchanan) San Francisco, 415-292-5672
Live music on Saturdays
El Morocco
2203 Morello Ave, Pleasant Hill, 510-671-0132
belly dancing
Kan Zaman
1793 Haight Street at: Shrader Street. San Francisco 94117 tel: (415)751-9656.
Belly dancing Fri-Sat Lots of fun and very bohemian. Inexpensive for San
Francisco.
The Marrakech Restaurant
419 O’Farrell, San Francisco, 415-776-6717
Under new ownership and newly remodeled. Live music Sat, belly dancing
every night
Pasha Restaurant
1516 Broadway, San Francisco, 415-885-4477
$15 minimum and very poor service
live music and belly dancing Tuesday-Sunday
Saaghi Restaurant
801 W. Hamilton Ave, Campbell, 408-866-6400
Persian restaurant.
El Valenciano's
The Arabian Nights Presents Salamat Sundays
1153 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA between 22nd and 23rd
$12 cover, live music, usually a dancer. Doors open at 10 p.m. Social
dance. They are temporarily closed right now but plan to open again soon.
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Music Teachers:
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Mary Ellen Donald 415-826-DRUM
My teacher. Ongoing classes. She teaches doumbek (darbuka), riqq (tambourine), tar (frame drum), and finger cymbals. She also has rhythm tapes for sale that are exceptionally wonderful to practice finger cymbals or drums. They cost $16.30 (including tax) each. There are two beginning tapes and two advanced tapes. I highly recommend.
Susu Pampanim 415-282-7910
Teaches in San Francisco and is one hot drummer.
Tony Lammam 415-431-0768
Private lessons.
Vince Delgado 415-457-8427
Private lessons in Marin County.
Mimi Spencer 510-215-8323
private lessons in oud, saz, kanun, singing and maqam, instruments available
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