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| BOOKS: History | How-To | Costuming DVD/Video | |||||||||||||
| History of Middle Eastern Dance and Culture Back to Top | ||
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**** Beyond the Veil- Male Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society - Fatima Mernissi An informative book on a wide range of subjects pertaining to women. Sexual inequality is a prominent feature of both western and islamic societies, but underlying concepts of female sexuality in christian and muslim traditions are very different. Find out how in this super informative and well written book! |
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| *** Sheherazade Goes West- Differnt Cultures Different Harems - Fatima Mernissi Fatima's newest book. A very quick and easy read filled with personal encounters and realizations on the subject of how women are treated. |
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***** Dreams of Tresspass- Tales of a Harem Girlhood - Fatima Mernissi Fiction: One of my personal favorites! Let Fatima draw you into her fabulously colourful and exotic life , learning about astrology, cosmectics, henna, charms all in the seclusion of the harem |
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| ***** Serpent of the Nile- Women and Dance in the Arab World - Wendy Buonaventura ($5) The best book ever written about our beloved dance. Wendy looks into the distant and not so distant past. From the sands of the sahara to hollywood, Wendy will give you the most compact and usfull information you will ever read about bellydance Focusing on nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Wendy shows how arabic dance came to be influenced by western ideas about art and entertainment. But this influence was two way . . . |
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** Nine Parts of Desire- The Hidden World of Islamic Women - Geraldine Brooks Interesting insight from a very inexperienced and unprepared point of view. It is a story of Geraldine's intrepid journey toward an understanding of the women behind the veils, and of the often contradictory political, religious, and cultural forces that shape their lives. | |
| * Oriental Bellydance - Rennel Ozdemir Straight from Turkey, but unfortunatly not a useful or even factual sentence in the whole book. However, you will find some beautiful, some interesting and some frightening pictures of bellydancers from the past 50 years. Entertainment value is high, but please don't believe a word he writes! |
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*** Harem - Dora Levy Mossanen Fiction: An intriguing book about a woman's journey from the poor Persian Jewish quarter to the opulent Shah's harem. Rich in visual imagery, Harem vivedly depicts the exotic bazaars and dangerous alleys of the city. | |
| ***** Dancing to the Flute- Music and Dance in Indian Art ($5) Paintings, carvings and Statues depicting song and dance in India. Beautiful!! |
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**** The Rubayat of Omar Khayyam Poetry: 1940's version with beautiful persian style illustrations. | |
| ***** My Life - Isadora Duncan 1920's copy of Isadora's autobiography. Dancing freely in filmy 'greek' sheer dresses while women started in disbelief suffering in their corsets. Isadora is a founder of modern dance. Her dramatic story will inspire you to dance your own dance. 'At the beginning of the twentieth century, a group of women artists, first and foremost Isadora Duncan and after her Ruth St. Denis [and Maud Allan], drew inspiration from Eastern dances in their search for renewal. Fashion, interior design, book illustration, and stage sets found themselves increasingly influenced and shaped by the western conception of the Arab world.' Grandmother's Secrets'(see below for rental info) |
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**The Salome Dancer - The Life and Times of Maud Allan - Felix Cherniavsky Musical genius, charming hostess, pathological liar, and sister of a man hanged for a brutal murder...a woman who followed in the footsteps of Isadora Duncan (see above) who made a fortune off of the West's increasing interest in the East. | |
| **** When the Drummers were Women- A Spiritual History of Rhythm - Layne Redmond An excellent and thorough look at ancient civilizations and their link to drumming and dancing. This is an excellent book. I can't praise it enough! |
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** Belly Dance - The Dance of Mother Earth - Tina Hobinz This book attempts to trace the origins of the dance from prehistoric rituals, the cult of the shaman and temple dances of Ancient Egypt, via the harems of the Ottoman Empire and right up to the famous 20th century dances like "the Dance of the Seven Veils". This book was a tough read for me, as it's very negative and very wordy. Still worth the info! | |
| The Tribal Bible - Kajira Djoumahna |
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'HOW TO' Books Back to Top | ||
| *** The Art of Belly Dancing by Dahlena Another '70's how-to book. Fabulous illustrations and some neat moves! Worth a look-over for sure. (especially for those vintage-belly dance admirers out there) |  | |
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** The Serena Technique of Bellydance - Serena and Alan Wilson Pocketbook from the 70's with over 200 illustrations of how to learn Serena's classical egyptian. Short introduction of the history of Bellydance. 'Career girls do it. Housewives do it. Even seventy-seven year-old ladies do it!' -Serena | |
| *** The Compleat Bellydancer - Julie Russo Mishkin and Marla Schill Another book from the 70's. Adorable introduction and some ineteresting pictures and explanations. |
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**** Grandmothers Secrets- The Ancient Rituals and Healing Power of Bellydance - Rosina Fawzia Al-Ravei Personal memoir with the history and theory of Bellydance. Includes short history and technique on veil, grieving, mourning, pergnancy and birth dances always circling back to the author's grandmother and the author as a young girl, echoing the circular movements of dance itself. | |
| **** Zils - the Art of Playing Finger Cymbals - Mimi Spencer CD and booklet of basic to intricate patterns |
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** A Women's Book of Power- Using Dance to Cultivate Energy and Health in Mind, Body and Spirit - Karen Andes Step-by-step guide to Karen's own dance. Takes inspiration first and foremost from Middle Eastern dance, martial arts and yoga. | |
| *** Henna from Head to Toe - Norma Pasekoff Weinbey Great history of henna. Very short and comprehensive. Also give beginners tips and tricks for mehndi |
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Belly Dance Basics: - Laura Cooper | |
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COSTUMING Back to Top | ||
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**** Skirting the Issues - Dawn Devine Brown booklet: straight skirts full skirts and skirt toppers! Fun! | |
| **** Hints and Tips for the Bellydance Costumer - Dawn Devine Brown booklet: makeup, veil and lots more! |
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**** Bedlah, Baubles and Beads (cabaret) - Dawn Devine Brown Design and craft the elaborate bra and belt set worn by cabaret dancers | |
| Costuming from the Hip - Dawn Devine Brown turkish coats, kaftans, thobes, veils, jewelry, tassle belts, cholies, going professional etc. |
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**** Costume Goddess tells all Dawn Devine Brown Cabaret Bra and Belt for Bellydancers very thorough | |
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DVD's & VIDEOS Back to Top | ||
| NEW !! Belly Dance for Body Shaping: Abs with Neon DVD |
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NEW !! Belly Dance for Body Shaping: Buns & Thighs with Neon DVD | |
| NEW !! Belly Dance for Body Shaping: Floorwork with Tanna DVD |
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NEW !! The Golden Apple: Belly Dance Stars of New York DVD | |
| NEW !! MTV Yoga DVD Hosted by Lori from The Real World-Back to New York |
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NEW !! Keti Sharif: Complete A-Z Bellydance DVD 26 Dynamic Routines for Choreography | |
| **** Hot Combinations with Ansuya DVD Excellent DVD!!! Well filmed, easy to understand. Explains all the moves thoroughly with text, different angles and a dance drill at the end. You will learn: -The Funky Temple -Freezing Cobra -Grapevine Snake and more! This DVD is worth just watching Ansuya's first performance at the end of the DVD. |
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** Belly Dance Diva's DVD Performances by Louchia, Rania, Sohaila and Marina. Distracting background and mediocre filming. The dancers look tired and uninspired. But you know what I always say: "You can learn something from EVERYTHING" and if you look past certain negative points, you will notice lots of interesting moves, good technique and fabulous costumes! | |
| *** Bellydance- Instructional Fitness Workout within Traditional Movement (VHS) Join Goldean, Andrea and Nila in this Victoria produced video for students with solid basic moves This video is designed to make you sweat, not to break down moves |
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** Goddess Workout: Intro to Bellydance DVD - Dolphina Good for students with solid foundation Will give you new insights | |
| ** Goddess Workout: The Warrior Goddess Beyond Basics DVD - Dolphina Continuation from the first one (mentioned above) |
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**** Bhangara Workout DVD Have you ever watched an indian movie and they break into a fabulously fun dance? Learn the basic moves while getting a workout! | |
| BDTV:Belly Dance TV, Volume 1 |
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Flex Appeal with Kathy Smith | |
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