The Belly Dance Chronicles July/August/September 2017 Volume 15, Issue 3 | Page 13

went by, my mostly American Cabaret style was becoming heavily peppered with the Egyptian style by teachers like Raqia Hassan, Aida Nour, Mahmoud Reda, Sahra Saeeda, and Dina. The Argentinian style led by Amir Thaleb and Saida had a major impact on my dancing, too. I also took classes with several musicians such as Issam Houshan, Naser Musa, Georges Lammam, and Soheil Kasper. Learning from musicians really changed and improved the way that I listened to and interpreted Middle Eastern music. In 2003, I ventured out of Texas and tried my luck at competing. I attended the Belly Dancer of the Year Competition in Northern California and, to my surprise, won first place! This changed everything. I viewed my dancing and the possibilities it held for me completely differently. Winning a competition right away is both good and bad. One side effect from winning was me thinking I was better than I was, which is a phase that many dancers go through. The next time I competed, I totally expected to win first place, but I didn’t win, and it threw me for a loop. It forced me to start thinking about my dance in a way that has since benefited me throughout the years. Since then I have been able to look at my dancing as objectively as possible. I went on to win over twenty awards in national and international belly dance competitions. Some of my additional titles include “Bellydance Superstars Star Search Champion 2004”, “Heart of Texas Improvisational Belly Dance Champion 2007”, “Belly Dancer of the Universe 2011” and “Bellydance Evolution Competition 2012.” The last competition I entered and won was “Project Belly Dance, Season 2” in 2012. Project Belly Dance was an online reality-series format competition that led to a lot of exposure since viewers from all over the world could watch and participate by voting for the winner. Photo by Dan Parr I really, really loved to compete. It made me work hard, I always learned so much, and I usually had really positive experiences, including meeting so many wonderful people. But after winning Project Belly Dance I decided it was time to retire from competing and to further my dance career as a serious professional. Over the years, these titles I was awarded drew the attention of video producers. I have appeared on many performance and instructional DVDs produced by Cheeky Girls Productions, The International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance, and Bahaia Productions. The combination of winning competitions and being seen on belly dance DVDs also drew the attention of workshop sponsors and I started to get requests to teach belly dance workshops all around the country. In 2004, I was promoted to the position of Assistant Artistic Director of The Wings of Isis, the professional belly dance Student Troupe Strictly Bellydance - Photo by Chris Brown