Leyla Najma's Belly Dance Blog

Homeward Bound to my Belly Dance Roots

A few weeks ago I ventured up to Taos, New Mexico and interviewed two very important and special women in my life. It was like going home and remembering where my passion started from even as naïve as it was. I went homeward bound to my belly dance roots because my dance journey really started in Taos. It was in Taos that I met Barbara Sayre Harmon and Sakti Rinek; the two women who would be instrumental in making my belly dance dreams come true. On my trip up to Taos, I had forgotten how spectacular the drive was because everywhere I ...

Interpretive Belly Dance – The Right to be”You”

Interpretive Belly Dance - The Right to be "You" Every year represents something that each of us holds dearly to our hearts. There are even those experiences that we let go of like dust in the wind. This year I decided to get back to my roots and talk about why I started belly dancing and what intrigued me about it in the first place. I know I stated in my bio that I saw belly dancing at age 6 and fell in love with it, that’s a given. But as I got older there was something else about it that ...

It’s All In The Company We Keep

I wanted to write a bit about the belly dance journey and to let you all know that every once in awhile the rose colored glasses come off and reality starts to set in even for us belly dancers. Sometimes women think that self fulfillment will happen magically with this dance and to be honest with you it takes work. But it's the kind of work that feels more like an entrepreneurial quest. We make the journey what it is, a success or a spiraling drama. At times they kind of go hand in hand but how much really depends on you. Just remember that you ...

Keeping the Heart in Belly Dance

Well as you can see I didn’t fall of the planet and I’m back in the saddle ready to start the New Year. It occurred to me that many of you would be off, spending time with family so I decided to wait and write my New Years/Christmas blog, “Keeping the Heart in Belly Dance,” when you all had time to read it. So I hope your Christmas was happy, joyful and inspirational. As I was off gallivanting about I was thinking about what I would write about. I think many of you read my blog for various reasons. My bluntness ...

Confessions of a Neurotic Belly Dancer

Sometimes when I’m writing I wonder if I should let you in on what I really think. Confessions of a neurotic belly dancer, is my occasionally twisted view on things, belly dance. Such as, lately I’ve had really weird dreams that seem to have no meaning at all or they are so Cirque de Sole that to decipher them would be time consuming. I wake up with fading memories of glimmering dancers floating in the air or walking into the moon. The music echoes through a sparkling hillside like a galactic concerto that only dancers hear. It’s a calling but ...

Girl Talk Called Egypt

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a mega mover and shaker in our belly dance world, Sakti Rinek. I went to Egypt with Sakti in the early 90’s and realized that it was too important an experience to keep to myself. That's why I'm titling this post, "Girl Talk called Egypt," because that's all we talked about. Sakti invited me to go with her to Egypt and as I look back at the invitation I realize that she was a huge part in taking my dance path from small town goals to nightclub dreams. After experiencing belly dance in Egypt, ...

Do Dance Levels Have Meaning Anymore?

Since the start of our video business, I have realized that with instruction available at the drop of a finger, it’s important to discuss the training that needs to go into our danceform. So do dance levels have meaning anymore to today’s dancers? When I started out dancing it was suggested to me that I not dance publically until I had a comfortable feeling with how I moved and had the fundamentals down. Today I get emails from dancers who are beginners wanting to know how many “weeks” of practice it will take to be able to perform professionally. I can ...

Second Act

Belly dance opens the door to the enjoyments of being a woman, playing with make-up and dressing up like Hollywood vixens, leading ladies and Ziegfeld’s chorus girls. Year after year I enjoyed the costumes, limelight, bling and the attention that came with my profession. Playing dress up was a way of life and I found that dressing down for daily activities just meant less make-up, lower high heels and no glitter in my hair. Years went by and I lived life vicariously through my belly dance image and dress code. As the tick, tock of the age old time clock came ...

Egypt

Egypt in all her glory was just a name, “Cleopatra” and my expectations of what would befall me when I traveled there years ago was unrealistic Hollywood glitz and romantic ideas. I think there is a part of every woman who sees a little bit of Cleopatra within her. When we actually go to Egypt, our sense of the feminine archetypes goes off the deep end. I really thought I would meet my Julius Caesar or Marc Antony, not because either one would be there but because Egypt captivates the mind sending it into delusional expectations. Egypt was what I didn’t ...

Mirror Image

Before I start on my topic of the “Mirror Image” the exciting news of the day is, I’m finally done with the text for Belly Dance Training from Home! Next week, I start shooting the first video which will be Monday’s curriculum. I was telling Daniel that I forgot that I have to first teach myself everything I wrote down. As I was checking out the text, I cracked up laughing because I was like, “Wait, what?” I promise to have it all memorized by next week because I have 5 days of classes to videotape. Cross your fingers and toes all ...

A Balancing Act

Communication is a continual balancing act, juggling the conflicting needs for intimacy and independence. To survive in the world, we have to act in concert with others, but to survive as ourselves, rather than simply as cogs in a wheel, we have to act alone. Deborah Tannen A belly dance friend once told me that she loved traveling so much that she decided to postpone marriage until after she had done all she wanted to do with her dancing. It was an interesting perspective and one that appealed to me but at the time I had my daughter and realized that traveling ...

Surviving Your Belly Dance Students

Surviving Your Belly Dance Students Belly Dance Students really make the world go round and for most teachers; they make class worthwhile and exciting. Surviving your belly dance students is more then a rite of passage, it’s like getting a free pass to evolve from mortal dancer to high priestess. Once you teach, your rank and stress levels change, some for the better and some worse for the wear. The variety of women who came into my classes were very interesting. I had college students, women in their 60’s and mothers and wives wanting to feel sexy again. The reasons were as varied as ...

Belly Dance Today

It’s All In The Company We Keep

I wanted to write a bit about the belly dance journey and to let you all know...

Connecting the Dots in Belly Dance

This past weekend I was able to do a workshop with my students and at the same...

A Choreography State of Mind

The other day I was talking to my students Julie and Amy and I told them that this...

The Other Half of Me (My Belly Dance Husband)

For the last 8 years there has been a huge change not just in my dance career but...

The American Silk Road

Through out the year there have been many experiences and lessons that have taken...

In The Beginning……….

Many students/ dancers who write in to me and tell me a little about themselves...

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Combinations & Ideas For Dance

Let’s Duet

As a newbie duet member I decided I would go check out one of the most well marketed...

A Choreography State of Mind

The other day I was talking to my students Julie and Amy and I told them that this...

Signature Moves with Personality

Years ago when I first saw belly dancing the dancers who stood out the most were...

An Accumulation of Reasons

Sometimes I will lie in bed and think about past performances and shows that...

Shimmy Galore

Yesterday I filmed the first video of the New Year called “Shimmy Galore.”...

Choreography Tips

Many women ask me how I learned how to choreograph dances and when did it make...

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Video Tips & Instruction

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Producing and Directing Center Stage

This past week as Daniel and I were discussing our weekly work schedules, we were talking about videos that I needed to do and Daniel like always came up with several ideas. I on the other just looked at him with that look; you know, the look we morph into that comes naturally when talking to our husbands?! Anyways I said, “Look it’s not like... [Read more of this review]

Shimmy Galore

Yesterday I filmed the first video of the New Year called “Shimmy Galore.” It has drills along with my own methodology compiled together for understanding how and why I do shimmies. About 3 or 4 times a month I have women writing me and asking about shimmies. It makes sense because when I started out belly dancing I had so many questions... [Read more of this review]

Choreography Tips

Many women ask me how I learned how to choreograph dances and when did it make sense? I have to say for most of us this is more then a legitimate question; it’s an obstacle that until addressed, can offset a career in the making. It’s also a hard question for me to answer because I didn’t really pay attention the day I just started to create... [Read more of this review]

What is Layering?

I get asked a lot of questions on belly dance but one that I have found that I don’t get asked often is regarding “Layering” and what it really is. Looking at our dance field today, it has changed into an accumulation of personal interests and the pursuit of relevance for each individual dancer. So layering can be sharp to soft movements... [Read more of this review]

Leyla’s Updates

Hip Mastery 6 Video Series This morning I was thinking about what I would write in my blog and I thought I would bring the subject up of my Hip Mastery videos only because I haven’t really mentioned them much. I tend to create videos and edit them, give them to Daniel and then move on to the next project. The funny thing is that if Daniel asks... [Read more of this review]

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