Bellydance Superstars is a professional
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
bellydance
Belly dance ( Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different ...
troupe formed in 2002 by producer and manager
Miles Copeland.
[ (quotes ''The Sunday Times'', London.)] In its first six years of touring, it presented 700 shows in 22 countries.
The line-up of performers has become increasingly diverse throughout the years and the repertoire incorporates elements of many different dance styles including traditional
Egyptian bellydance,
Turkish bellydance,
American Tribal Style and
Tribal Fusion
Tribal Fusion Belly Dance is a modern Western form of belly dance that was created by fusing American Tribal Style belly dance and American Cabaret belly dance. Artists frequently incorporate elements from Popping, Hip Hop, 'Egyptian' or 'Cabar ...
. The troupe tours extensively in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Tours
The Bellydance Superstars, sometimes called BDSS, first toured in conjunction with the
Lollapalooza 2003 music festival. Since then, the troupe has completed several full circuits of the world, infusing new cultural dance styles into the shows along the way.
"Bombay Bellywood" is their 75-stop tour that spanned the United States starting in October 2010. Several of the dancers learned some
classical Indian dance for this trip.
[
]
Critical reception
The Bellydance Superstars have been described as "poised to be the next Riverdance
''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions Je ...
."
Media
In addition to live performances, the Bellydance Superstars company has produced instructional and performance DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
s with every level of learner in mind as well as a series of CDs featuring songs from their performances. Some of the dancers have created compilations of their personal favorites, such as Kami Liddle’s ''Tribal Beats for the Strange and Beautiful''.
The company filmed a feature documentary called ''American Bellydancer''. Several of the shows have been broadcast on national television in the USA, Latin America and Canada. The ''Bellydance Superstars Live in Paris'' show aired extensively on US public television station PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
.
References
External links
Bellydance Superstars website
(as retrieved by the Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
on 12 March 2018)
''The Times'' (UK) interview with Miles Copeland about the Bellydance Superstars
by Andrew Billen. "My new tool for world domination: Riverdance ...with bare midriffs."
* (In French.)
{{Authority control
Belly dance
2002 establishments in California
Dance companies