Susan Senator

No Petite Jamilla this weekend. The workshop was canceled. I was so looking forward to learning from PJ, one of the best bellydancers in the world. She is part of the Bellydance Superstars Troupe. The workshop was to be all about double veil and spinning. You have to know how to spin if you’re really going to bellydance. Hair tossing and complete letting go of your head and shoulders is a must in a captivating performance. But it has to be done right, or you can injure yourself or look like an idiot. I can spin just a little, with my eyes closed, but then I may bump into something. At least I don’t get dizzy.

But PJ is a spinning maniac. Not only that, she is a sultry and talented dancer (Ned has a tremendous crush on her). She has the cutest little moue, is almost winking at you from behind the veil while she pouts. It is that pout that got Ned.

At the beginning of this performance, where she is dancing to Ramses’ Ajaja, from the Desert Roses CD, she does amazing isolations, upper and lower, some great Mayas that are both loose and controlled. Utter bellydance perfection. Then the pinnacle of the dance is her mesmerizing double veil and spinning. But you should watch this performance all the way to the end, As her last move, she does a brilliant little earthquake shimmy to simulate the crazy weeping at the end of the song. Earthquake shimmies, also known as “ecstasy shimmies,” are illegal in Egypt, by the way…and so hard to do gracefully, without looking like a column of flesh-colored jello. For me the ecstasy comes in exerting just the right amount of control over the shimmer.