Belly
dancing is quite popular now in South Africa ...
In Johannesburg
alone (one of the biggest cities in South Africa) there are
so many belly dancing schools.
Unfortunately,
most of them aren't very good, although some teachers claim
that they took classes in the middle east, it certainly
doesn't look like it.
Many dancers who are serious about
their dancing go freelance and try to improve their
technique. There are a few middle eastern restaurants here
but the politics among the dancers is terrible. I prefer to
dance in the Greek restaurants - they treat you much better
and many of the local Lebanese etc. rather go to the Greek
places for a more relaxed atmosphere and they know the
dancers there are better. The private Arabian/Lebanese
parties are very exciting and they pay well. Some belly
dancers throw our name away by dancing at bachelors parties
and especially the way some South Africans think it's not
such a good idea to be associated with such parties. I even
know of one woman who danced at a brothel and she was so bad
they fired her.
The South
Africans have become very receptive on middle eastern dance
and the one place I danced at used to booked so full to see
the dance that one had to book at least 2 weeks before the
time to get a table. And many restaurant owners are glad to
get a good dancer for they know business will be very good
then.
"I am a belly dancer from
South Africa and I have read some of your Q/A on the net. I
myself have a tatoo of a dragon circling around my belly
button. Apart from my old teacher, who were a bit
misinformed about most things, I really haven't had anybody
making comments about my tatoo - in fact - most people
(Greeks etc.) find it fascinating. Only for some TV
appearances like ads I have to cover it up. Of course it
also depends on what the tatoo looks like. I have seen some
really ugly ones that had to be covered up.
I actually have
read that the middle easten women do henna tatoos and real
ones as a symbol for protection. But in the end it's a
matter of taste and many people are still very conservative
and misinformed about tatoos." Tatiana
(More Q & A about TATOOS
and other bellydance topics.)
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