The following dancer is of Turkish, Persian descent and has been in the Turkish dance industry for several decades.  The videos below are from the 90s and one more recent from about 2006.  Tanyeli mixes western influences incredibly well, has a strong feminine presence on stage, is very fluid in her movements (you’ll see that especially in the first video), and is very stunning.  She became famous after appearing on Oryantal Star where she performed and spoke about the background of her dance style.

If you have any information about her that you’d like to share, we welcome your feedback. We’d like to gather some feedback on her on this page.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Tanyeli.

One of our social friends just shared this video clip with us and we felt we had to share this with everyone.  This is one of the most beautiful Tribal performances I have ever seen and believe everyone, dance lover or not, should watch this.  Get inspired.

Watch other inspiring dance clips, here: http://bellydancingdiva.com/category/media/videos/

I just came across this YouTube video and was blown away. You have an incredibly talented male belly dancer opening the performance, followed by a highly synchronized shimmy entrance. There’s a lot of energy in this performance. Loved it!!

I just came across this clip of a dancer belly dancing away 5 months pregnant. I find this clip incredibly up lifting. 1) You can tell that she loves every moment and step of the dance. 2) She’s remaining active and inspired throughout her pregnancy. That is going to be a happy, healthy child (and mom).

Her soft and melodic voice and the classical songs we have all danced to, make Natacha Atlas one of today’s most popular Arabic music singers. Her North-American tour starts on July 17 in Vancouver.

Born in Belgium to a father of Egyptian descent and a British mother,  Natacha grew up between the United Kingdom and Belgium. Exposed to Moroccan music from a young age, Natacha traveled extensively in North-Africa and the Middle East absorbing many different music styles and combining them into her wonderful work. You can never be bored by listening to her CDs mainly because she has the ability to mix and match different musical styles; from Western rhythms to Hindi Pop, from dance music to R&B and French classical songs, Natacha Atlas has a lot to offer specifically to us, belly dancers.  She sings in Arabic, French, English and will soon introduce new songs in Spanish and Hindi. She describes herself as “a musical nomad”, and in her 2006 album, Mish Maoul, Natacha fused Arabic sounds with Bossa Nova, Rap and electronica.

Her last album, Ana Hina, is a melodic mélange of classical and contemporary rhythms. She re-discovered Arabic classical music from the ’50 and ’60. In fact, when you listen to Lammebbada you are transported into the mystery of the Middle East. The song is as classical as it can be, full of dramatic, slow rhythms that grow in intensity while her voice caresses the notes. But she also used western pop music from the ’70 like in the song Hayati Intra Reprise, from the same album.

Her best and worldly known songs include: Kidda, part of Sex and The City 2 soundtrack, I Put a Spell on You, from Ayeshteni, Mon Amie La Rose and Leysh Nat’rak or Just Like a Dream from Something Dangerous.

Natacha Atlas is on tour now. She is performing in the United States in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Miami. Her North-American tour starts in Vancouver on July 17.

Ana Hena

You can access Natacha Atlas official web site at http://www.myspace.com/natachaatlasofficial.

To buy tickets access the below web site: http://www.songkick.com/artists/438210-natacha-atlas

For the Miami Beach concert, the tickets are on sale also at http://www.rhythmfoundation.com/

The following is a great cane dance clip.  She makes twirling the cane look so simple, but it’s actually quite challenging and takes a lot of practice to master.  The title of this video indicates that it’s from Brazil, so I’ll assume that’s true.  Enjoy this video! I know I did!

Several weeks ago we launched our teach-shimmy contest online.  This week we are ready to announce the winner of the competition: Jenny from BlueGrassBellyDance.com!!

Congratulations Jenny!!  I love the puppy part!!

Here is her winning video!

I don’t know about you, but I love to look at the pictures on IStockPhoto. The belly dance images are such high quality!!

I find the opening of this performance really amazing! She’s completely in tune with the music. Great performance!

I have to admit her performance is pretty amazing! She’d beat me at a competition for sure. Is it appropriate for a 5 year old to be belly dancing? That’s a different question…. I leave that up to you to decide…