Delineating Professional Belly Dance

DEBORAH NEWBERG is an oriental dancer (aka belly dancer, Raks Sharqi dancer, or Middle Eastern dancer), choreographer, director of the Saltanah Dancers, and a belly dance instructor at Santa Fe Community College and DanceSpace. She discusses the question of what makes a professional through the lens of belly dance, and […]

January 22, 2018  |  Read Article

Of Body and Mind: An Interview with Anandha Ray

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT; PHOTOGRAPHS BY GREGORY BARTNING Anandha struck me as one of those people who practically bleeds passion. She moved like a serpent and spoke like a sage. Her awareness of her body and voice was like a fine-tuned instrument. In other words, every moment, every movement and every […]

November 27, 2017  |  Read Article

On Belly Dance and Cultural Appropriation

Editor’s note: Luna is an American belly dancer working in Cairo, Egypt. Her blog Kisses from Kairo is full of her musings and reactions to her life pursuing belly dance in the Middle East. She has generously allowed Stance on Dance to reprint two of her essays. Enjoy! BY LUNA […]

March 10, 2016  |  Read Article

The Belly Dancer’s Body

Editor’s note: Luna is an American belly dancer working in Cairo, Egypt. Her blog Kisses from Kairo is full of her musings and reactions to her life pursuing belly dance in the Middle East. She has generously allowed Stance on Dance to reprint two of her essays. Enjoy! BY LUNA […]

March 7, 2016  |  Read Article