“Underbelly” provides the viewer with a sneak peak into one woman’s transcendent journey as well as this unique, rarely seen world by tracing a year in the life of Princess Farhana. From Hollywood, California to The Mexican Riviera, from the United Kingdom to the prairies of Canada, from New York City to the heartland of America, “Underbelly” illuminates the world of belly dance, as it exists today. With views from the stage as well as the private off-stage world of the dancers, it covers the fundamentals and history of the dance, how it’s taught, how it changes and heals lives, and addresses the differences between the purely traditional styles and the myriad genres composing contemporary belly dance: from cabaret and tribal to fusion with burlesque and Gothic styling.
Candid interviews with stars and well-known authorities in the field such as Rachel Brice, Tonya & Atlantis, Rachel Lazarus Soto, Marta Schill, Samantha Riggs, and Kajira Djoumahna bump up against the opinions of starry-eyed students and hobbyists. Outrageous differences in opinion are offered by purists and pioneers alike. Performances by Princess Farhana, John Compton, comedian/dance Margaret Cho, Blacksheep Belly Dance, Jim Boz and Tempest illuminate the range of styles and how each artist puts a personal signature on the world’s oldest dance, as it’s performed today.
1 comment:
Which came first the chicken or the egg? Do I have to have a great tummy to be a belly dancer or do I get a great tummy from practising belly dancin? Why is the belly dance so sensual and erotic? I hear Mata Hari used to entrance her admirers with a particular form of it....
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