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“Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage” “Becoming a Belly Dancer: From Student to Stage” is a collaboration by Sara Shrapnell, Dawn Devine, Alisha Westerfeld and Poppy Maya. All of these women are experienced belly dance performers and bring their own voice and experience to the content. This is one of the most unique things about this particular book – and one of it’s strengths, in my opinion. Reading it is like attending a

This is a guest post by Dawn Devine – Davina. I am really honored to have her work shared here on my blog. I have such respect for her dedication to research and her ability to show us the depth of history in all aspects of our art. If you are as fascinated by this history of zills as I am, you will be very excited about what we’re doing over the next few days!  Learn

I recently had the opportunity and privilege to interview Shira, of Shira.net fame. Shira is a dancer and instructor, but is perhaps best known as a writer, researcher and lecturer on a broad variety of topics related to Middle Eastern dance and culture. Her website, Shira.net,  is the most linked to bellydance site on the web, and one of the first resources many new dancers find when then begin their dance journey.  Shira is such

This is Week 7 of Your Sparkly Wardrobe, a collaboration between Sparkly Belly and Mahin’s Bellydance Quickies. For most bellydancers, a costume wardrobe represents a significant investment of money, and possibly time if you made your bedlah yourself. To keep your pieces in top condition, it is important that you store them properly and pack them carefully when going to gigs or travelling. In this post,  I’ll cover some tips and tricks to keep your sparkly wardrobe

This is Week 3 of “Your Sparkly Wardrobe”, a bellydance costume project collaboration between Mahin’s Bellydance Quickies and Sparkly Belly.  In Week 1 of the “Your Sparkly Wardrobe” project, you learned how to do a complete inventory and assessment of your bellydance costume pieces. Now that you truly know what you have, let’s learn how to make the most of it! In this video, Rukshana (aka The Costume Fairy) and I will show you how