Interivew with Sandra, written by Tereza Klementová for the Czech online magazine Orient Express
or read the article in the original Czech

1) When and where did you see a bellydancer for the first time?

The very first time I saw a bellydaancer was my teacher in my first bellydance class. I was 20 years old and I was studying at Berkeley. I had never seen a performance live or on television before that. And I wasn’t even intending to take a bellydance class (I meant to take the flamenco class just before it, but showed up late) So when I saw my first instructore, Nanna Cancelaria, dance for us in class, it was mesmerizing. She was an experienced night club dancer in San Francisco with a strong background in classical Persian and Tajiki dance, so she was fantastic, and really set my expectations of bellydance very high. I remember being dissappointed with a lot of dancers that I saw perform after seeing my teaching, because Ijust assumed everyone was that good. Now I am better able to appreciate how exceptional she is.

2) Which bellydancers were your inspiration when you started to learn bellydance?

For many years, I just looked to my teacher, Nanna, for my vision of bellydance. That was before the internet and youtube, of course.So it wasn’t as easy to see video of other dancers. She would reccommend or loan me some very poor quality VHS videos of Fifi Abdou that dancers were passing around to teach other, usually they had been copied so many times you could hardly see them. And i also had Suzanna del Vechio’s videos, which i memorized from watching them so many times. That was really all that was available when i started dancing.

Ansuya had a performance video that she released around 1998 and that was the first live bellydance performance video I had that I could actually see what was going on, so I loved it!

I mainly got my inspiration from photos of dancers that i would see in magazines or on flyers at festivals. I loved the exoticism of them, and the foreign-ness of it. That is still what draws me in and captures my imagination.

 

3) Do you remember your very first bellydance show? How was it?
My first performance was like a graduation ceremony after completing my first session of bellydance classes. All the students performed as a class in an evening show put on by the dance school. Even though I was convinced that I was Extremely Good, I still spent the entire performance staring at the floor, possibly also with my shoulders curved forward. I was lifeless and terrible in hindsight, but at the time I thought I was brilliant, and my teacher never told me otherwise – Bless Her for that.

4) You are also studying other types of dance, which and are you doing it professionally too?

I’ve spent 6 years studying Classical Indian Bharat Natyam, but Classical indian dance is like ballet, in that, unless you really dedicate your life to it from an early age, there isn’t much change of performing in any capacity. I apent a year living in Mexico and studying Flamenco many years ago, and more recently I am studying Classical Persian dance. It adds an element of grace and fluidity to Arabic Bellydance that I really like, and it helps me feel more confident about my long, skinny arms.

And finally I have taken the advice of every dance teacher I have ever met and now I attend Ballet Classes 3 times every week, as well as Jazz and Hip Hop. These dance forms are extremely humbling and I have no expectations that I will be performing any of them at a professional level anytime in this lifetime. But that doesn’t stop me from putting my pride aside and having fun.

5) Are you planning to get back to your previous profession?

Before I decided to pursue dance full-time, I worked as a Geologist, first in South America and later in Alaska. I can’t see myself ever going back to that career because I just doin’t love it the way I love dance. And once you’ve spent your time suporting yourself doing something that you love, it’s hard to go back and spend your days doing something that you’re not passinate about, or that you have to pretend to have that level of interest in. I have learned that pretending to be interested is exhausting.

6) How does look your preparation for a show?

By now I have the –Getting Ready- part very well practiced. It takes me exactly 65 minutes to get my and and makeup done, pick out a costume, burn my performance CDs and print any maps or directions that I need to private parties. I always have at least 2, if not 3 or 4 shows on a Friday or Saturday night, so I use my first show as my warm-up, instead of setting aside extra time to stretch loosen-up. It helps me wake up and get into the groove early on Friday evening, and then I can keep myself mentally ready until my last show on Saturday night.

7) What are you most proud of in your present bellydance career?

The part of my career that I enjoy the most and that gives me the most pride are my students. Last year at Rakkasah (the big bellydance festival in Northern California) I had 22 performers from our intermediate class come andperform, many of them for the first time in their lives. It’s wonderful to see a student go from being shy in a beginner class, to being intimidated in an interemediate class, to gradually feeling more comfortable with her class-mates, then feeling sick for a week before her first performance... and three or four years later, she’s a gorgeous soloist working in a nightclub or competing or dancing at big festivals. I get to watch that development happen slowly for lots of women, but even for students who don’t aspire to become solists or professionals, there are big changes happening inside them. Their attitude changes from – I could never do that! - to ... – I can do anything - and when you have a whole community of friends whose attitude is –Together, we can do anything! – that can change people’s lives in very significant and real ways. Dance isn’t just exercise for the body. It’s a way of keeping your spirit young and connected and rejuvenated.

Creating an environment where women can share that is my favorite part of my job. It’s what my teacher did for me and i’ve always been grateful to her for that, and it’s the reason that I always came back to bellydance.

8) What does dance brought to your life and what took?

How can a dancer explain what dance has brought to their life? It’s everything. It’s the first thing i think about when I wake up, it’s the reason I get out of bed, it’s brought me friendship with women of all ages and experiences that I never would have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. It’s given me confidence to get what I want and speak up for myself. It’s helped me realize my own power and also to appreciate beatufy and the importance of art in people’s lives (which, living in Silicon Valley where money is everything, is not such an easy thing). More recently, dance has given me the opportunity to travel and go adventuring all over the world, which i thought I had given up when I left my previous profession. And most importantly, a wonderful, flexible schedule with the ability to sleep late whenever I want to.

9) How often and where do you buy your costumes?

I buy costumes constantly and I only buy them from Bella in Istanbul. I have her send me custom-ordered costume about once a month, and at least once a year, I visit her shop in Istanbul and bring home a suitcase full of costumes. I usually don’t keep costumes for more than about 6 months, so I change them according to the seasons or the whether. I don’t want to keep a closet full of velvet costumes during the summer when it’s too hot to wear them, but I don’t want all sheer fabrics for Christmastime. I try to plan ahead with her and get colors and styles that will go with the time of year, and then as soon as I have video footage or photos, I sell them and move on to the next masterpiece that she has created.

For many years I made my own costumes because I have a rather small frame and I never felt that the egyptian costumes ever fit me well or were flattering on my figure. I felt that they were all made for very full-figured women and I always felt like such a stick wearing one, so when I found Bella’s costumes - they are so light and delicate and detailed and flattering. I was so happy! After spending months making each costume, I can really appreciate what an incredable luxury it is to have a costume that fits me perfectly just appear at my door regularly. I’m extremely grateful to her and I feel that so much of the pleasure that I have in bellydance comes from wearing her costumes. She’s really a genius.

10) Last question, what are you planning into the future? New Dvd, tour or anything else we can look forward to?? ;-)

I have lots of things planned for 2009! I’m working on filling out my workshop schedule, but so far I’m planning to be in Europe, South America, and Asia this year. I am scheduled to film an instructional DVD with Hollywood Music in Los Angeles teaching an itermediate choreography, and I also have a few more instructional DVDs coming out with my friend, Michelle Joyce and Cheeky Girls Productions. Right now, I’m awaiting the arrival of the first in my instructional DVD series, Belly By Sandra, which should hit shelves by February 10th, 2009, so that’s very exciting for me.

And as always, I’m updating my website – keep an eye out for a variety of downloads... desktop wallpaper, iPhone walllpaper, lots of interactive video, new costumes for sale, and always new photos. My photographer, Michael Baxter and I have some projects lined up this year to keep us busy - lots of things to keep everybody entertained.