Fame or Famine

I had the distinct pleasure recently of dining at the Med Hookah lounge in Madison, WI, which aside from having great Mediterranean food also feature middle eastern dancers (aka bellydancers, though some don’t like that term).

Those Who Can, Teach

One of the performers there is Arielle, a teacher at the Madison Multicultural Dance Center with Mona N’wal and others. Though very young, Arielle’s been dancing since she was fourteen, and that leads to quite a bit of experience as well as talent.

That evening she did a three-part set, starting with two traditional songs and then a blended hip-hop/bellydance routine of her own choreography. The ability of her body to isolate and move independently of attached parts was incredible, and though I found out later that most of the moves were “improvisography” she never seemed to miss a beat.

When I learned that she’d also competed in the local So You Think You Can Dance competition, I cornered her after the set for an interview. What I learned was that for an Emmy-award winning show, it’s a pretty down-to-earth process.

How did you hear about the competition?

Word of mouth, actually. Through the local dance community. And only the day before the auditions, actually. The prize was a trip for two to Vegas.

Who would you have taken to Vegas with you?

(small smile) Bill. Definitely Bill. (referring to a young man who’d also been at the dinner).

Tell me about the auditions.

They happened on Wednesday, and you got one minute. One minute, that’s all, which is kind of hard to do when you’re used to 15 minute sets. I decided to do a piece to “Belladi Ya Wad”, which is what we affectionately call our “wiggly songs.”

Were you nervous?

Not after the auditions. (she shook her head and made a face). There were…well, let’s just say I wasn’t worried after I saw the other dancers. They brought it down to twelve dancers, of various styles – lyrical jazz, ballet, hip hop…

What criteria were they judging on?

I’ve no idea. (she laughs) but they sure weren’t familiar with belly dance!

Actually, they did say, they were looking ofr musicality, technique, crowd reaction…

How was that?

Honestly, not that good. It was a mixed crowed of older and younger people, but it was your typical Wisconsin kind of crowd…

Who were the judges?

There were two, one the owner of a local dance studio, and the other one (she grins) was Hok, from the show!

How do you think you did?

(shrug) Well…I don’t think I won. But I did get a really good contact with the best hip hop dancer there, so it was worthwhile. And I’m not surprised – the general American populace doesn’t really get belly dancing. Next time, I’ll put in more hip hop.

So there’ll be a next time?

Definitely! But first I have to get ready for the Midwest Bellydance Challenge…

Thanks for your time!

Always a pleasure…

Arielle actually came in second in the competition – losing to the hip hop dancer she mentioned. So she didn’t get to go on to Vegas and get a chance to continue in the process to get in the show – not this year, anyway. She took it as a learning experience, though, and plans on competing more every chance she gets.

Image used by permission from Arielle

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