I started belly dancing in 2004 after Natalie Misplon convinced me to give it a try by telling me how much fun she was having and how it made her feel as a person and a woman. So off I went one evening for a lesson with Angela Anzilotti from Belly Dance Babes where I learned that you can move more then just your legs and arms and have so much fun at the same time. It was amazing, I saw how a person could move every part of their body and yet still look so beautiful and graceful. So as you can guess, I was hooked.
In November 2005, Belly Dance Babes held its first ever annual end of year show. I can not even begin to explain to you how scared and nervous I was. My whole family and all my friends were there to come and watch us perform. The only thing that was going through my mind was what if I trip and fall??? Nevertheless, I went out there and did my very best; although I went the opposite direction of everyone on the stage everyone still seemed to love it. I loved it!!! All I then wanted to do was to perform. I knew I had a lot to learn but I knew what I wanted to do.
Natalie Misplon my teacher at Belly Dance Babes decided that she wanted to go out on her own and spread her wings and as I just loved her personality, energy and way of teaching I decided to follow her. She opened her own studio called Dancing Divinity in February 2006.
This is where I started pursuing my professional dancing dream. Natalie was teaching us so many new things and she was always saying that there is no end to Belly Dancing and that we should strive to learn as much as we could. I started taking extra lessons and attended as many workshops as I could. Soon I got the opportunity to dance for an audience, my dream came true. Again, I can not begin to explain how it made me feel, I just could not stop dancing :).
In October 2006, Natalie saw the potential in me and asked if I would be interested in teaching, and as I always wanted to dance and show people how great Belly Dancing is I said I would love to. In order to ensure that I kept on learning myself, I started attending teacher’s classes and double professional classes, ensuring that I maintained a good standard of dancing. I then started teaching my first class in Edenvale and soon opened another class in Sandton.
I have since had numerous workshops with South African Accredited dance teachers such as Rusty Odendaal, Amira, Shalimar, Senta Seele, BellyAfricaine and Kirti Mistry as well as with International Belly Dance Stars such as Beverley Joffe, Rania and Belyssa.
I have learned many different styles of belly dancing such as Classical Oriental (Egyptian), Modern Oriental (Egyptian), Egyptian Pop, Folkloric styles (Saidi, Khaleegy, Beledi and ZAR), Tribal Style, Arabic Flamenco, Lebanese style, Turkish style and Ghawazee (Gypsy) style.
The props that I have learned to dance with so far are sword, cane, saggats (finger cymbals), wings of Isis, candles, fire sticks, shemadaan, single & double veil, short veil and tambourine.
I have learnt a lot since joining Dancing Divinity and continuously strive to learn more!
My goal for the next few years is to travel and attend workshops with master teachers in Egypt and to build my experience as a teacher and professional dancer.
Dancing has become my passion. It has really changed my life; it has showed me how to be comfortable with my body and sensuality. It has also opened my eyes to so many different cultures and lifestyles. Dancing is not just dancing in some countries; it is something to believe in!