How my dance career went from hobby to pro

The other night my husband and I were dining with friends when one asked me how I got to be a professional belly dancer. I thought back, and without immense detail, just went through the chronological steps. So I'm listing them off here so that later I have a guide to fill in the relevant details.

1975 - I was working in the law firm in San Mateo and a co-worker suggested I go with her to take belly dance lessons. I had been taking tap and jazz and couldn't really relate to what belly dance is. She talked me into it and I found it lots of fun. I took classes and workshops with several different instructors.

1977 - Now married and living in Wiesbaden, Germany, I had been moping around for six months, depressed, after my mother died. I was listening to the AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio) and there was an announcement that the Air Base in Wiesbaden was looking for teachers for classes for the military wives. I called and offered to teach tap dance. The coordinator said, ok, he would hang a sign-up sheet and see if we got any interest. Well, only 2 people signed up. He said please, we need some classes, can you teach anything else? Well, I still considered myself an amateur at belly dance, but said I could teach a beginning class. He said "great, I'll hang a sign-up sheet." Well, this time we got 30 participants! I was astonished, so was he! LOL

Because of that class, I started teaching in Bad Nauheim and at the American Arms in Wiesbaden, as well. The American Arms classes led to me meeting another American dancer from Frankfurt who got me a job performing at the Rhein Main Officers Club once a week for $10 a dance. She was pocketing the other $10 they were paying (#rollseyes). 

I'm already going into too much detail! LOL

That led to me meeting a Turk who asked if I and another dancer (name escapes me) would dance at a Turkish wedding. We agreed and performed at a hall in Frankfurt for a large wedding with a Turkish band from Cologne. After the show, the band leader, a saxophone player named Gurhan Namlisoy, asked me to work with them on other Turkish functions. We started working together doing parties, mainly in Cologne.

One day in 1978 I got a call from a German named Hans who said he had a restaurant in Bad Godesberg (Bonn) and needed a dancer. The job was Friday, Saturday, Sunday at the Restaurant Saray located along the Rhine River. I enjoyed much success there performing for diplomats and their wives in the very elegant restaurant with gold flocked wallpaper, red carpet, crystal chandeliers, seating for 80. A very high class restaurant. I performed with a different Turkish band, led by guitarist and singer Faruk Gorsev. 

During this time Hans encouraged me to write my book, Anmutig und Fit durch Bauchtanz. He found a publisher, the Falken Verlag, today part of Bertlesmann Random House. He also helped me to open the first dance school in Germany dedicated to belly dance: Erstes Orientalisches Tanzschule.

I used to read the International Herald Tribune and one day came across an article about Arabic nightclubs in Paris. I showed the article to Hans, and off we went for a weekend in Paris to visit the clubs. In the Yildizlar off the Champs Elysee on the rue du Colisee. Very expensive and very exclusive with a wonderful Egyptian band and a terrific belly dancer. When the bill came for our two glasses of wine, Hans asked Maitre Elias "If you charge this much for two glasses of wine, how much are you paying the belly dancer?" Well, the next thing I knew, I had an audition, Hassan Abou Seoud was impressed and I got the job. We returned to Germany to get my costumes, and I started a 10-day gig at the Yildizlar. Well, that turned into 5 months. Summer came along and an impressario asked if I was interested to work in Cannes in a Lebanese restaurant called Le Beyrouth. It was for 1 month, but was also extended to 6 months. 

After returning to Paris, I had a gig with Leila Abdel Aziz in the Avenue Hoch. The stage manager from the Empress Club in London was there and offered me a job in London. I performed there 8 months and then the son of the owner of the Yildizlar was looking for a dancer for the Maxim's in Geneva. So we went to Geneva. From Geneva we returned to Germany where I danced on a ship in Frankfurt on the Main. Then back to Cannes in the summer of 1986, where we met Mohammed Abdel Jalil al Fahim and accepted a two week gig over Christmas and New Years in Abu Dhabi. Well, 13 years later we were still in the Emirates.

LOL, more to come.

A photo with Mohammed and Franz Beckenbauer in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.