A celebration of femininity

It was a night for celebrating one of the oldest forms of dance — belly dance. At the Fusion Lounge on Brigade Road recently, Sanaz Dance Studio, on the occasion of ‘World Belly Dance Day’, paid tribute to the essence and spirit of women. The group of dancers put forth an impressive performance for their viewers under the theme Ladies Hafla.

  Explaining the concept of a Hafla, Kavya, the trainer, explained, “The Hafla is a type of social dance event where the women perform a baladi (old name of belly dance) for each other before marriage, very similar to the sangeet in today’s times.” She added, “The studio always has get-togethers where the students jam and have fun, but today, our performance is about spreading awareness about the dance form itself.”

“Passion for the art form was in common among all the members of the team of belly dancers. I’ve been training with the institute for two- and-a-half years now and I like being a part of this social event,” explained Maniya, a performer. Tina, another performer added, “Belly dancing makes me feel alive and I love it.” The performances featured popular belly dance routines such as the veil dance, which symbolises femininity and intends to create a sense of ‘exotic mystery’; the shaabi dance, which originated in Cairo in the 70s and depicted the nature of Egyptians and their humour and playfulness, usually performed in weddings and other celebration; and the ‘pot’ dance, which comes from the south of Tunisia and is very traditional to the belly dance culture, along with fusion numbers by instructors Shruti Narayan and Shruti Damodar.

Kavya performed a modern Raqs Sharqi. “The piece is Middle-Eastern and performed in modern oriental style and is something that I’ve only recently learned,” explained the dancer, who left the spectators spellbound by her grace. The team was most intent on breaking all the myths that people usually hold about the dance form. “One of the biggest misconceptions people have about what we do is that it’s a dance performed to please the men, which is not true. It’s about celebration, really, whether at a fertility rite or any other party or joyful gathering,” explained Kavya.

“I think Bangalore is now accepting belly dancing as a challenging art form, which is a good thing. What we perform is graceful and very difficult,” added Maniya. The audience was pleased with all the performances. “I could not help but sigh at the beauty and grace with which all the performances were executed. I wish I could move like that,” sighed Priya. Upon being asked what belly dancing means to the team, Tina said, “Belly dance is about fun and grace and is an excellent workout. I looked forward to having a good time with my set of friends and others and I got just that.” Said Vidhya, the event’s coordinator, “Belly dance requires one to be flexible and embraces different types of people for various purposes, most coming in with the zeal and passion to learn this art form, some for the workout, and some looking for a release from the burdens of work to unwind.”