(Sedona, Arizona) - Who would associate belly dancing with body healing practices,
or
even think of a fusion of belly dance with tough New York-style break dance?
Intrigued? Read on.A group of young women dancers and performers,
who fortuitously happened to meet in Sedona, began an informal practice
that bloomed into the belly dance group “SiStars of the Boombah.”
These dancers
are from all over: Maui, Ohio, Massachusetts, Africa… and they have put
together their creativity and talents to launch new interpretative
forms of dance as therapy.
Getting to Know the Sistars
I had the most lovely evening at the home of Juanita and Simon
Bosman, where I met and talked to two of the dancers: Juanita and
Michelle "Shelley" Peterson. The other talented performers are Mia
Donna from Ohio, and Harmony..."we also have LizLove, sometimes, but
she is now in Denver"--said Juanita. LizLove is a gifted African
dancer and singer who joins the group when she is town.
|
|
From left to right, front to back to
front: Juanita, Shelley, Mia Donna, and
Harmony. |
Juanita and her husband provide a room in their home in West
Sedona to practice once a week. Juanita is also a co-founding member
of the 'Sedona Circus and Sideshow' a wonderful group initiative
that brings together artists and performers for healthy family
entertainment. Similar to the world famous 'Cirque du Soleil' in
which animals do not take part of the spectacle, the 'Sedona Circus
and Sideshow' has the same philosophy - "we humans can do it all"
said Juanita smiling (for more information visit: www.myspace.com/sedonacircusandsideshow).
But, back to the "SiStars of the Boombah" and their achievements.
I asked them who came up with the idea to organize this dance group,
how they met and why is it called "SiStars of the Boombah?"
According to Shelley, “Mia
Donna came up with the idea of the group. She also came up with the name.
“Boom-bah” is the sound of the heart, it’s the heart beat “boom-bah, boom-bah”…
I thought it was very clever. I feel like Mia Donna was the creator and she has
inspired me greatly and the others as well. Now we are all actively creating,
within ourselves, our true expression. We all met through each other, really. I
met Mia Donna, and then Juanita and Harmony through Mia Donna… and voila! Here
we are!”
|
|
From left to right, front to back to
front: Juanita, Shelley, Mia Donna, and
Harmony. |
Juanita is from Maui, where she began dancing. She came to Sedona on
vacation about twelve years ago. Juanita and her husband fell in love with
Sedona’s artistic atmosphere in addition to its majestic landscape: “It’s just
awesome to have met all these artists here. It’s a great creative spot… we are
surrounded by everything that has such an intense energy, really. So it was just
a matter of getting everybody together and focused … the idea of the Circus came
along and our group is part of the Circus. We are incorporating a show with fire
dancers and our belly dancers and hopefully we can highlight each individual's
assets and talents. There are no boundaries to our creativity. We
want to create a spectacle, joining the East and the West through artistic expressions,
symbolized as the encounter of the Eagle and the Condor flying together.”
Dancing as Therapy
Juanita, after her baby-girl Bronwyn was born,
found in belly
dance a great healing therapy to get back in tune with her body, to
restore her joints, hips and also her spiritual force. Both Juanita
and Shelley agree that their form of dance is a total therapy that helps center
your energy, tune
your body and feed your soul. When Shelley came to Sedona, she studied with
shamanic healers and spent time in solitude in the mountains. She said that it
was a “self-proclaimed vision quest… I knew then Sedona was my home.”
Shelley
remarked that her call to Sedona was not necessarily because of all the
interesting people she met here, but rather the magnificent landscape, the
energy and the solitude. “I find peace here. I actually live in Cornville now,
right outside of Sedona, as I found I didn’t enjoy living in the busy community
and wanted to be in a quiet area. Still I can visit and play on the rocks
whenever I desire.”
Juanita and Shelley told me that they have seen numerous belly
dancers perform, but they feel that many of them merely dance mechanically
without conveying heART: “we definitely don’t do 'typical belly dancing’… it is
not about this supposedly perfect, sensual or sexual feminine essence. I don’t
really look at it that way. It has nothing to do with that…”
I mentioned to Juanita that belly dancing can be sensual in the sense that you move with
certain gracious energy flow that creates beauty, as any other form of artistic
body expression may have its own sensuality. By the same token, hip hop/break
dance can be seen as a very sensual expression of intense energy.
They agreed with me and
we all laughed. However, Juanita remarked: “To me, belly dance is not about
sensuality. It's about my inner power, my emotions. It's a form of therapy
and through my dancing I bring all of that to the outside....belly-dance comes a long way, it traveled all over the world
and has picked up different tribal styles, a gothic style and so forth… it has
expressions of all kinds acquired through time. We are trying to develop our own
system of belly dance.”
Some Facts About Belly Dance
Juanita believes that most people do not have the correct idea of
what belly dance is, and she is right.
This ancient form of dance
originated in the Middle-East over a millennia ago.
The correct name of this form of dance should simply be “Oriental dance” since
in Arabic it is called “raqs sharqi” which means “dance from the Orient.”
This dance is actually a folk practice that families enjoy in the Middle East
whenever there is a reason for feasting, such as a wedding, the birth of a
child, or the like. When this ancient form of dance was discovered by Westerners
about a century ago, it underwent many changes and transformations; but also it
has been fantasized and distorted to such an extreme that its original meanings
and social values have been lost.
The entertainment industry in the United
States headed by Hollywood contributed largely to the distortion of ‘belly
dance’ creating the image of an exotic female dancer wearing certain costumes
and jewelry geared to seduce males. This ‘modern’ interpretation actually has
nothing to do with the original intention of this ancient dance practice.
Shelley introduced hip-hop/break dance into the group: “I
wouldn’t call myself a belly dancer yet because I’m still learning
to move my body the way they do… but I brought break dance moves to
the group and we are working on our own expression. In such a
way, we all get to do exactly what we know how to do best.”
The Sistars' Interpretative Dance
What I find most interesting and innovating about this dancing group is how they
perceive dancing as a form healing therapy for body and soul. They have tailored
an interpretative" dance expression that works as therapy out of the fusion of two
opposed forms of dancing: one is ancient and considered “feminine” while the
other one is “modern” and marked as “manly.”
Commonly, break dance is understood
as a tough masculine form of body expression, related to street gangs and
violence. Born in the back allies of the Bronx in New York City, break dance is
a challenge to your muscles and bones. If you dare to practice it without the
proper guidance you might be seriously injured. Shelley explained how
she got involved in break dance: “I got into break dancing in college in 2001
when I saw a boy spinning on his head in the lobby of a friend’s dormitory. I
asked him what he was doing, and he
didn’t believe me when I told him I wanted to learn. I showed up every night and
we practiced. I learned my basics from him. It was like in a movie, very
romantic… we had a 5 year relationship!”
Shelley said that she learned break dance in the East Coast, where
it originated, and that she has traveled, competed and performed all over “but I
have to say that Boston and California influenced me the most. There are lot of
dancers out there who take dancing to another level and have truly inspired me.
I learned the foundations of break dance from top to bottom in Boston, and I am
grateful for that.”
Shelley refers to belly dance as “interpretative dance” which took
off since she moved to Sedona about a year ago. She acknowledges that “meeting
Mia Donna, a belly dancer instructor who was teaching here, impacted my
creativity greatly, and I have to say that my expansion as a person is shown now
through my dance.”“It’s all about fun, about
being happy. Our ultimate goal is to share and play and bring happiness and
entertainment to others”--asserted Juanita smiling.
The SiStars of the Boombah's first breakthrough performance was
opening up for ‘Kan’Nal’ when they came to Sedona last summer.
They have also performed at
‘Casa Rincon,’ and you can see them at the “Sedona Circus and Sideshow” on
Saturdays. "The SiStars of the Boombah" and friends will open a
new dance center next April, where they will teach their
interpretative dance technique as a form of therapy and healing for
the body and soul. We wish them luck and we know they will succeed.
They are currently looking for venues to expose their heART. To
contact them for shows or parties, email:
awakenedspirit4@yahoo.com or
bosmaninsedona@yahoo.com.
Or visit their website:
www.myspace.com/miadonnabellydance.
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