Her hips don’t lie – Dareen Memus knows they’re the first test of a true belly dancer. Thanks to hours spent at the gym and in practice, she can make muscles (that you weren’t sure even existed, until you watch her dance) shake to the beat of the tabla. However, when she makes her first appearance of the night, her body is shrouded in a shapeless black abhaya.
Walking across the lobby of Cinnamon Lakeside, she draws all eyes. She’s already dressed for her performance tonight - her long hair hangs straight and loose to her waist, and her heavily made-up eyes are all about exotic allure. Still, it’s the costume she’s about to debut that’s most likely to have people falling off their seats. Spangled and clinging, the bikini top and fitted skirt leave little to the imagination.
When we meet earlier in the day, it’s clear that Dareen has been up and turning heads for hours. A long skirt edged with a playful flounce and the large fake red flower adorning her hair combine to make a distinctive ensemble. “People, they ask ‘you have no belly, how can you belly dance?’” she says, sipping on her orange juice.
Dareen’s flat stomach and her slender physique certainly challenge preconceptions, but she explains that belly dancers need not only toned stomachs, but strong muscles in their hips and backs. Dareen is currently based in Dubai, but she hails from Belarus, a republic that once belonged to the Soviet Union and now shares its borders with Russia. Despite many years abroad, she’s kept her thick Russian accent, which is complemented by a love for Moscow where, somewhat incongruously, belly dancing is apparently all the rage.
Having travelled the world, Dareen says many countries have their own distinctive styles. In her twenty minute routine she does her best to incorporate as many as she can. In Egypt, for instance, there’s the Saidi style. In this, thin canes are balanced on the hips and heads of dancers, whirled around or used to mimic the flowing thrust and parry of a stick fight. Then there’s the Sha’abi belly dancing style, which Dareen describes as being exuberant and full of fun. Its folk roots make for an earthy, unpretentious style filled with playful jumps and twirls. Yet another, the Khaleej style is stunningly different.
Harem pants are abandoned for a long dress that covers the whole body. The focus is instead on the neck and head, and dancers sometimes mimic the movements of camels as part of their routine. In all, the tabla solo marks a full minute or so of frenetic movements – hips a-quiver, dancer and musician inspire each other to greater heights.
Now 29, Dareen began dancing as a 21 year old after watching another belly dancer perform at her cousin’s wedding. Describing the hypnotic, cold eyes of the dancer and her reptilian co-star, Dareen says she knew immediately that this was what she wanted to do. Two years later, she found herself sharing a stage with the woman who had first inspired her to dance. Its evidence, she says, that dreams do come true. (Despite a love for snakes, that’s one partnership she’s unlikely to make – she can’t bear the thought of the weekly feedings.)
Though she’s a teacher and an accomplished performer in her own right, Dareen says she’s still learning. “The more I learn, the more I understand I have lots to learn,” she says. In fact, recent forays in ballet and salsa have led her to try her hand at the kind of fusion dancing that is found in places like Argentina. Ballet-belly dancing might sound strange, but Dareen says the latter often incorporates classic choreography.
Speaking quite frankly, Dareen says belly dancers are divided into those who “like to be hot and sexy and others who like to display graceful movement and who want to show their feelings.” “Very often I choose second one,” she says identifying it as the more challenging of the lot. “I like it when the ladies like my dance,” she confides, dismissing the men as easy to please. She’s proud of her costumes and says she designs and sews many of them herself.
Tonight, she’s fairly conventionally attired, but she assures me that she keeps tabs on belly dancing fashions. “Few years ago, there was a fashion for many stones and many, many colours in one dress,” she says explaining that some dancers nowadays wear short skirts for their performance. “I have my own style, fashion is fashion, but I choose what is best for me,” she says.
Despite all its trappings, belly dancing is still accessible to amateurs, says Dareen. Without the rules that distinguish ballroom dancing for instance, you can innovate on the spur of the moment. “You move your chest, your hands, your back, your hips...all parts of your body are dancing,” she says. |
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