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Jakarta’s first center for Middle Eastern dance will present its fourth annual recital, “A Journey Through Shimmering Sands” on Sunday, in Pusat Perfilman Usmar Ismail theater.

Founded in 2006, Bellydance Jakarta has been a popular venue for women of all ages, backgrounds, shapes and sizes to learn the iconic Middle Eastern dance, along with the associated history and culture.

“There are many bellydance classes now at gyms, dance workshops and other places, but they don’t know what its all about,” Christine Yaven, founder of Bellydance Jakarta, said in an e-mail. “We are the only Middle Eastern dance center in Indonesia to perform authentic bellydance.”

Christine said many classes only teach sexy movements and pass it off as the real deal. At Bellydance Jakarta, students are not only taught the dance movements but also how to interpret the complex Arabic music rhythms as well as lyrics and cultural accuracy.

From there, she said, one can master the elegant, sophisticated and sensual dancing.

More than 60 women will be performing the famous Egyptian Candelabra, Melaya Leff from Alexandria and modern bellydance.

“The root of bellydance is folkloric Middle Eastern dance,” she said. “That’s why each year we try to incorporate at least one or two folkloric dances in our recital.”

This year’s exhibition will also present Hawaiian Hula and Bollywood dances, a collaboration between the school and another two groups, Hula Dance Jakarta and Bolly Groves. The event will also feature a fashion show to transport the audience back to the 1940s and 1950s.

Bellydance Jakarta’s last three showcases sold out an garnered an enthusiastic response from the audience, including the counsellor of the Egyptian Embassy.

This year’s event, however, will be somewhat different from past recitals, Christine said.

“Our students’ dancing skills [back then] were still quite rudimentary,” said Christine, who holds dance certificates from Egypt, the United States and Canada. “We also held the events in hotel ballrooms, so it was more a dinner and dance.

“This year, the students that have been with me for two years or more have really come into their own, and we decided to perform in a theater instead.”

She added that no guest dancers from the Middle East had been invited to perform.

“Bellydance Jakarta is fast gaining a reputation in South East Asia as an authentic, reputable Middle Eastern dance center,” she said. “ And my goal is to put Indonesia on the map in the bellydance world.”

The show took months of preparation to master the techniques. The students, Christine said, have volunteered time and energy to make this year’s show the best one yet.

“Our recitals are always to showcase our students’ hard work,” Christine said. “This is a celebration of how far they have come in their journey of Middle Eastern dance.”


A Journey Through Shimmering Sands
Sunday, 4 p.m to 7 p.m.

Pusat Perfilman
Usmar Ismail
(near Pasar Festival)
Jalan H R Rasuna Said
Kuningan, South Jakarta

Ticket prices:
Nefertiti: Rp 180,000
Cleopatra: Rp 150,000
Isis: Rp 120,000
Seats are assigned on a first-come first-serve basis

For more information,please call 021 3354 2239 or 0817 981 3346 or e-mail bellydancejakarta@yahoo.com.