Bellydance Superstars

Midway into the year 2007 the Bellydance Superstars have, in the space of four years, performed almost 500 concerts in 18 countries to over 1 million people and more than 60 television shows to over 100 million viewers. Their DVDs and CDs are bestsellers, and workshops are typically sellouts and in high demand. All in all, things are good for the world’s only full-time, professional bellydance troupe. It was not always easy. In 2003, after the high profile Lollapalooza tour, playing some nights in front of 25,000 people, they headlined their own tour of 56 shows in 55 cities in 62 days. One run had them performing 28 shows in a row! Mercifully, this was followed by one month in Barcelona, Spain where they performed 24 shows in 30 days in the same theatre. 2005 ended with a 3-month engagement at the famed Casino du Monte Carlo. Prince Albert surprised everyone by coming to see the show twice. As the profile and respect grows for the Bellydance Superstars, even more is expected. The pressure is on to continue pushing the envelope of the bellydance art form to compete alongside major shows like Riverdance and the Royal Ballet, all the while remaining true to the essence of bellydance. Meanwhile it should be said that the Bellydance Superstars have never pretended to be traditionalists. This is not a “folk show” or married to a narrow view of what bellydance is. Yet some shows, even in the Middle East veer away from bellydance all together in a seeming atrempt to "go modern" a la “Las Vegas”. Our view is that there is plenty of room within the bellydance art form to be adventurous still reamin primarily a bellydance show and proud of it. Even our one Polynesian influenced number (we call it ‘bellynesian’) is an expression of the fact that thousands of miles from the Middle East, another culture hit upon a similar dance, showing the inherent universality of bellydance moves and feminine sensuality. Bellydance today is as much American as rock music is British and every Middle Easterner should be proud of the fact that culture is not a one-way street where only American culture dominates; Middle Eastern culture can penetrate America also. That there are more bellydancers in America, all dancing predominantly to Arab music than the rest of the world put together, is a positive testament to that fact.