Ruric-Amari Home Page » Belly Dance References

References on the Web for Belly Dance Students

Belly dance students will find these links helpful. There are hundreds of good web sites, but these are especially choice and many of these have become standards.

American Belly Dance: what is it?: American Belly Dance right here on Ruric-Amari.com.; What is Fusion at Faresha.com.; What is the Belly Dance? at learn-to-belly-dance.com includes definitions for American Classic, American Gypsy, and Fusion belly dance.

Arabic Names: Arabic Names and their meanings. Many belly dancers from previous generations chose an Arabic stage name. Many of the younger dancers do not.

Costumes, Ornaments, and Costume Making

BUYER BEWARE. A large proportion of the beautiful chiffony/glittery/beaded scarves, belts, skirts,and tops offered for sale to belly dancers are designed for glitter, not for durability, and they will fall apart! Examine anything you are thinking of buying carefully and bring/send it right back if it isn't good quality! Avoid pieces with unfinished fraying raw edges or made of fabric that is too light weight for the decorations added to it. Your best source of durable costume pieces, if you can sew, is your own two hands! But if you need to order, local craftspeople who will repair what they make are a very good choice.

Local suppliers:

Cats Paw Coin Belts by local craftsperson Perry Williams. Beautiful, long lasting, musical belts custom made for you. He is local and good with customer service.
Surekha's Beaded Treasures:Surekha is always making new things, does custom orders, is local and will repair a piece that breaks.
Nirvana in Green Tree Mall in Indiana carries hip scarves.
As of Fall 2007, Funk-e People in Jefferson Mall on Louisville's Outer Loop carries hip scarves.

The Costume Goddess offers sound advice on various aspects of costume making. She also has an excellent article on using color in belly dance costumes posted on Shira.net.

Read a very informative summary on Costumes for Various Styles of Oriental Dance at BDANCER.COM.

How to make Tassels from Farfesha.com.

Hints and Tips for the Belly Dance Costumer is an online booklet from Davina (Dawn Devine Brown) that describes the components of the different kinds of middle eastern dance costumes and how to use and care for them.

For hip scarves consider Delilah's bazaar. You can get them cheaper elsewhere but Delilah is good about customer service, and sometimes a hip scarf needs to be replaced.

There are lots and lots of sources for belly dance costumes and accessories, but not many of them remember that dancers sometimes need leotards, too. The Belly Dance Shoppe sells a good assortment of leotards and unitards designed especially for belly dancers, with mesh and flesh-toned midrifs.

Deb at the Red Camel sells wonderfully distinctive tribal jewelery and the prices are very reasonable. Her website includes textiles as well as necklaces and bracelets.

I've ordered a lot of items from Fat Chance Belly Dance. Like Delilah, they are 1) not the cheapest source 2) but very good at customer service. They specialize in tribal style, not cabaret, so there's far fewer beads and sequins and a lot more coins and tassels.

Make Your Own right here on Ruric-Amari.com!

Annabella.net provides online Tribal choli, skirt and coin bra patterns.

Gigs 101: Doing Gigs checklist compiled by Shira.; Elizabeth Artemis Mourat's Top Twenty Club Cliches: How to interpret what club owners mean when they say what they say.; Transporting Your Stuff from Farfesha.com.; Dancer's Checklist from www.annabella.net: don't leave home without it!; Free Calendars to print out.; Fair Pay, Typical Rates, Ethical Practices and Professional Standards on Samira´s web site. Very eloquent and comprehensive for students, teachers and performers.

Health Benefits of Belly Dance: Weight Watchers recommends belly dance!; Health Benefits of Belly Dance on World Belly Dance; Belly dance keeps you ageless! on World Dance Fitness.; Belly Dance fights cellulite on ArticlesBase.; Bellydancer Guide to Pregnancy on Star Dancers; Larger Women can Belly Dance on Shira.net.

History and Inside Jokes about 'Belly Dance': About Middle Eastern Dance at Shira.net.; Morocco's articles on Oriental (she HATES the word bellydance) dance.; Hafla Jokes from Hasani.net; La Danse du Ventre from Saudi Aramco World magazine, 1971.

Music: see also Zilling and Drumming

LouisvilleEthnicDancers.org

How about some Greek music! Kostas Kastanis and Sakis were the regular entertainment at Nik's before it was sold in summer 2005. You can purchase their music online at www.KostasKastanis.com. Kostas also has an online form for people looking to book his band. P.S. I love zills! Thank you, Kostas!

Solace (Rhythms of the Dance):Purchase this from Eventide Music.

Hossam Ramzy Tabla Solo: Purchase this from Amazon.com.

Hossam Ramzy Rhythms of the Nile: Purchase this from Amazon.com.

Rapture Rumi: Purchase this from Visonary Dance Productions at www.visionarydance.com.

If you like American Belly dance, you are going to like Americanistan's music. CDs are available from their online store.

Sirocco Bellydance Music

Jingo Jing Saaz: Purchase this from Music Box at www.musicboxla.com.

Alop Jar is closed, so try Mid-Eastern Manufacturing for quick delivery of musical instrument essentials.

The pan-idiomatic UT Gret:

2001: Louisville Music News on UT Gret. Includes a clear explanation of why UT Gret believes in UTs and Grets and improvisation and how this belief influences their music. And they almost included some original historical source documents as well.

Poems: On Seeing the Pupil of Kung-Sun Dance the Sword Dance by TU FU

Sewing: Hems from VintageSewing.Info; Seams from VintageSewing.Info

Student Warm up Exercises: Warm Up 101 here on Ruric-Amari.com.; Warmup on OrientalDancer.net

Styles of Belly Dance: Shira has 22 pages of info on this topic!; Short descriptions of many types of 'belly dance' at www.spiritdancer.co.uk.; Folkloric dance styles at VenusBellyDance.; Bhuz is a collection of forums on middle eastern dance and belly dance. Some of the most useful discussions center around the music, costuming and movemnet for ethnic dance.

Veils: Making a Dancing Veil right here at Ruric-Amari.com!; Dying Silk Veils at Farfesha.com.; Dying Silk at DharmaTrading.com.

Workshops

Ruric-Amari's Your Body Electric workshop series and upcoming workshop schedule.

Ruric-Amari and Samovar often attend workshops by these local and regional sponsors:

Conchi and Nataj , Cincinatti OH
Crescent Moon Dancers
Mecca, Lexington KY
MEDSOK

National favorites:

Folk Tours, Green Lane PA
Morocco , NYC, NY

Zilling and Druming: Basic Music Theory by the incomparable Mary Ellen McDonald.; Mary Ellen Donald articles at Gilded Serpent.; Turbo Tabla zill rhythms; Turbo Tabla specialty rhythms; Carmine's Rhythm cheat sheet; Quick and Dirty Guide to the Doumbek; Zildjian.com for concert zills.; Zil Practice from ALYNE.biz.; Mid-East.com sells many kinds of Mid-Eastern and Western instruments.; Doumbek Delerium offers 'Choosing a Middle-Eastern Drum' and 'Beginning Drumming.'; Uncle Mafufo produces CDs and Videos teaching zill and drum playing.; How to Sew Elastic in Your Zills from Farfesha.com.; Middle Eastern Rhythms FAQ is the long tour through the subject of Middle Eastern Rhythms.; Guide to Middle-Eastern Rhythms from Blackroot.org.; Music and Rhythmn from the Dancer's point of view.; Practicing with the Finger Cymbals focuses on method rather than individual rhythms.; Finger Cymbol Technique by Yasmin and Artemis focuses on how to become comfortable with them and develop stamina.; Med-dance Mail List from 1998 has good tips for beginners.; Near East.com zill textbook.

Et Cetera: FirstGov, the official web portal of the US Gov't. Tax, SS, passport, student aid forms and info. Also at 1-800-FED-INFO (1-800-333-4636).

The Library:

Max Tilke's Oriental Costumes, Their Designs and Colors online!

Joy of Belly Dancing is a well-organized encyclopedia of links. The Arts, Graphics and Vintage Arts links are very good.

Anthea has a lot of good articles on dancing and on zill playing on her site. She is a regular contributor to several belly dance magazines.

Textile As Art has pictures of the 'real' versions of the 'costumes' in Max Tilke's books.

Take a virtual bellydance crash course at Shira.net.

Morocco of NYC has been dancing, researching, and teaching for over forty years.

A comprehensive outline of Near Eastern Dance movements

Art & Architecture of Islam at the Australian National University site... in case you are thinking of redecorating :)

PICTURES by the thousands, courtesy of the Shanamonster.

Almashriq is dedicated to documenting the 'cultural riches of the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey. These 'cultural riches' include costumes and recipes as well as articles on history and politics.

OrientalDancer.net contains thoughtful articles for dancers of all skill levels. Also features a discussion board and instructor and event directories.

Insights:

Imperial History of the Middle East: 90 second summary of 5000 years of astounding history.
Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia by Lady Sheil, 1856

Ruric-Amari teaches in Kentucky and Indiana. If you need a teacher outside this area, try the following web sites for national lists:

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