Star Stalker Sundays: Marinda (Mira)

 

My own path crossed with Marinda when she started teaching monthly workshops in our little town of Rustenburg. As a shy, body-conscious person myself, I found this woman to be an inspiration for confidence and self-acceptance. Little did I know at what cost this attitude came to Marinda. . .

Marinda’s journey into belly dance started as a spiritual voyage to deal with a multitude of terrible experiences in her early years. Her first husband was very possessive and caused her much heartache. Her eldest daughter (Cherie) was diagnosed with a heart defect and her son (Sieggi) battled depression. Yet every time life threw her a curve ball, Marinda would just bounce back stronger. After the passing of her first husband, she threw herself into the management of a popular restaurant in Rustenburg, which she later had to close after tragedy struck. A friendship later turned to love for Marinda and she married Mias, with whom she has two lovely daughters, Nadia and Tanya. In 2007 she was hit once again by tragedy when her beloved son, Sieggi died from a brain haemorrhage.

 

Dancing with a Turkish Scimitar

After all of this tragedy, Marinda emmersed herself into art and dance. She studied the art of belly dance and later qualified as a teacher. Her husband built her a studio on the property where he operated a granite factory and she started Belly Buttons Harties. They are currently in the process of building a bigger studio after the closure of a gym in Hartebeesboort where she had later moved operations to. Marinda pushes herself further in her journey into belly dance by attending each and every possible workshop and performing at every opportunity she gets. She is a regular feature at the IODF hosted by Palace of the Winds at the V&A Waterfront as well as Syncopate held every two years. Her studio also presents the Desert Feast showcase every two years in Hartebeespoort.

 

Marinda (centre, back) with some of her Belly Buttons Harties students

Students and acquaintances of Marinda can attest to the pure passion for dance (and life) that radiates from her. Her stage personality is warm and invites the audience into the magic and mystery that is belly dance. It is also her own history that enables her to teach self-acceptance and confidence to her students. Not only is she a talented dancer, but she is also an artist and designs and creates the most amazing customized belly dance costumes. 

Please visit Marinda’s Facebook page and www.bellybuttonsbellydance.co.za for more information on this amazing dancer. 

(source: www.bellyburronsbellydance.com, www.facebook.com/222divine)

Hope you enjoyed this post. Please remember to leave your comments!

Happy shimmying!

XxX

Marina

 

Friday Favourites: Props - Veils

David may have had his coat of many colours, but he didn't have anything on a belly dancer with a veil! Veils are versatile props that transcend the different genres of belly dance. 

Below we share our favourite Belly Dance Veil photographs for the week. . .

Gold, orange and pink circle veils. . . looks like liquid metal.

Ombre veils. . . so fashionable.

I love the colour combination of teal and lavender against the sandy backdrop.

Dyed silk veils. . . plus I just love her expression!

Gypsy belly dancer. . . easily mistaken for a woodlands fairy.

Multi-coloured veils in action. Simply stunning!

Tie-dye, sparkles, stunning red hair. . . love love love!

Some shameless self-promoting. . . The Rusty Belly Dance ladies in action. . . always a crowd-pleaser

Stunning pose to display their costumes and veils.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks' favourites!

Happy shimmying

XxX
Marina

Star Stalker Sunday: Heather from Tribal Angels

Heather Lynn Dirsuwei is the choreographer and director of Tribal Angels, a Fat Chance Belly Dance™ affiliated studio in Johannesburg that offers classes in American Tribal Style (ATS) ™ Belly Dance. She has over thirty years of dance experience and her intensive training of more than 16 years in Middle Eastern Dance has given her insight to all forms of Belly Dance.

Heather is also a Fat Change Belly Dance™ certified teacher in South Africa and this equips her to teach ATS and related concepts to her students. She has also studied anatomy, physiology and aesthetics that gives her a deeper understanding of the human body and how best to train and develop it in dance.

Heather has trained with the likes of Suhaila Salimpour and Rachel Brice (both featured in past Star Stalker Sunday posts) and continues her training all over the globe when she is given the opportunity. She also imparts this knowledge whenever she teaches countless workshops all over South Africa. She and her troupe of Tribal Angels also take part in the annual World Belly Dance Day (JHB) and the International Oriental Dance Festival held in Cape Town annually in October by Palace of the Winds. The troupe can also be hired for corporate functions and other events.

Please support this amazing dancer and visit their Facebook page and website on www.tribalangels.com

(Sources: www.tribalangels.com, www.facebook.com/tribalangels)

Friday Favourites: Props - Fan Veils

Hi all!

Today I'm posting photos of my favourite prop when it comes to Belly Dance: the fan veil. This prop is visually delightful, but tough to master. It is always a crowd-pleaser and I intend to use mine to their full advantage in 2014!

Beautiful setting and stunning colours

Dynamic group shot. I love that the fans contrast with their costumes

Group pose.

The Snow Queen. I just love her bra's "sleeves" !

Stunning action shot. I also love that they're wearing dresses (for those "fat" days!)

Fire and Ice

This is simply tie-die for. . . :-)

Another stunning setting. . . Put me on a beach any day!

I just love this. The belt, the colours and that amazing head piece!

The photography here is simply stunning.

Hope you enjoyed this. Please send us suggestions if you'd like us to cover something specific in any of our posts. We aim to please!


Happy Shimmying!


Marina

Hot off the press! Class schedule for 2014 revealed!

Hi all

I'm posting this on behalf of Jacqui - she has figured out the class schedule for 2014 and we cannot wait to get back to class. 

Here is what she said:
 

Its the start of another year of more than loads of Belly Dance FUN.
We will be starting classes for:
Existing students on Tuesday 21st January 2014.
New Beginners** on Thursday 6th February 2014.
We have moved classes to a new premises. We will now be in the BIG  Hall at the NG Kerk Suid, corner Unie & Kerk st., Rustenburg. Entrance in Kerk street.
**For all new Beginners, there is a minimum registration intake of 3 students per class for the 2 month course. Coures will happen every 2 months, so if there are not enough students by the cut off 1 week
before that months class starts we will move over to the following month. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
If you have anyone that is interested in joining us, please feel free to pass this along.
I will send out out reminders and other news over the next few days.
Keep an eye on our FaceBook page and our Blog site for more news and interesting stuff!!
Can't wait to see everyone and start our new years adventures together!!
Happy Shimmying,
Jacqui

The registration document can be found on the main page to the right, just above the schedule.

Have a lovely week!

XxX
Marina

Star Stalker Sunday: Pretoria's Grecian Diva Anastasia

Today we're putting the lovely Anastasia in the spotlight.

Anastasia, owner and choreographer at The Studio of Belly Dance, servicing Groenkloof, Brooklyn, Waterkloof and Lucasrand in Pretoria, Gauteng, was born to be a dancer. She started ballet and traditional Greek dance training at a very young age and continued to study Belly Dance and Spanish dancing. It is this background in Spanish dancing which ensured that Anastasia was noticed by influential choreographers, most notably an international producer who selected her to perform in Spain. 

Belly Dance was always her main passion and soon it became her main focus. Anastasia studied Belly Dance under international teachers from all over and still furthers her skills by attending local and international workshops.

In her own studio and school, Anastasia uses a holistic approach to teaching dance. She combines her love for classical dance styles with Belly Dance and teaches fusion style. Her dance troupe is in high demand due to their skills and perform at various functions, launches and even weddings. Anastasia also presents workshops and my personal favourite is her Fan Veil workshops in which she fuses her Spanish dance skills with Belly Dance to really make the fans fly. She also organises belly dance tours to exotic destinations where students can further their training under the guidance of the world's best teachers.

Please visit Anastasia's website at www.belly-dancing.co.za for more information.

Anastasia with Fan Veils

Friday Favourites: BLING!

Hi all

Today we're posting pics of the most beautiful bling found on Pinterest. The problem with collecting pics for this post is choice. . . with so many stunning items out there, it's difficult to select only ten!

So here are my favourites for the week. . . and you're welcome to follow Jacqui or myself on Pinterest for our favourites every day.

The cameo in the centre gives it a lovely vintage feel

Lace and red. . . my two favourite things at the moment.

This is what every dancer needs. . . There is even a Claddagh ring!

Some tribal head gear

Tribal earrings with an Indian flair

Body drape and belt in one. . . simply stunning

Beautiful silver henna. . . but did you see the pretty slave bracelet?

Dainty earcuff

And saving the best for last. Just look at this. . . the two bindis in her hair, the necklace and the piece around her braid! Beautiful!

Thanks for sharing our favourites with us. Please visit our Facebook page to share your thoughts with us.

Happy shimmying

XxX
Marina