SHIMMY SHAKING for health
The most famous male belly dancer in Egypt comes to Honolulu this weekend for public workshops and a concert that will also feature the Island’s top female dancers. In Egypt, Tito Seif’s face is on McDonald’s cups and on various billboards.
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In Egypt, Tito Seif’s face is on McDonald’s cups and on various billboards. The famous male belly dancer is hugely popular in his homeland. He is recognized as a leader in the belly dance world, not only in Egypt, but he also has caught the eye of belly dancers in the United States, especially here in Hawaii.
Big Island dancer Kunti Devi, a friend and admirer of Seif, is excited to be bringing him here to Oahu this weekend for two workshops Saturday and Sunday, and a special performance Sunday.
“I think that anyone who attends the show can expect a really exciting and entertaining show,” she says. “Everyone who sees Tito, they smile. He’s an amazing performer. He’s not only going to be doing belly dancing, he’s also going to be doing folk dancing. One of them is mind boggling. They’ll definitely know a little bit more about Egyptian culture.”
The performance is Sunday at the Bishop Museum. Doors open 6 p.m., and showtime is 6:30-9 p.m. Tickets cost $30 in advance or $35 at the door. Call 373-9372 for more information. Before the show, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., is an “Egyptian Dance Festival, Bazaar and Show.” The free event features shopping, food, raffles, giveaways and belly dance shows.
Seif hails from Shobra, Cairo, Egypt, where he began belly dance at age 14 because, he says via e-mail, “I really liked the music.” Seif adds that he’s excited to come to Hawaii, and that this will be his first time to the islands.
“I have been in the USA before, but this is the first time in Hawaii. I’m very excited; I always like to meet new belly dance students and local instructors, also not to forget the wonderful reputation of the islands,” he says.
Prior to teaching and performing the last 10 years, Seif studied the dance for 22 years. As a performer, he says, he dances to tell a story and doesn’t stick to one style.
“I do many styles - classics or modern but my style is well known not just for adjusting the body movement to the music rhythm, but also for emotionally translating the music and the song into a move,” he explains. “Most songs will tell a story, in a sad story I can’t make the same movement and facial expressions I make in a happy story.”
As for his show on Sunday, Seif says he hopes local belly dancers, as well as the curious, will be in attendance.
“First I need to say I always admire the American belly dancers. They are always trying hard to learn. For the local belly dancers, I hope they will try to observe the moves so they can learn the right moves, and it will motivate them to work harder to get better. For those who are not belly dancers, usually it (seeing traditional belly dance) encourages them to start learning and get involved.”
In addition to Seif, four local belly dancers, including Devi and her daughter Surya, will be performing as well as a troupe from Kauai and five dancers from Japan.
“A lot of my performers are authentic. So far everyone in my show lineup has been at it over 10 years,” says Devi. “It’s going to be a quality show. They’ll get to see a variety of types of Egyptian dances, folk dances as well as just some lovely performances by talented dancers. It’s really turning into a local show.”
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Among the local dancers taking the stage is Willow Chang. Chang is famous throughout Oahu, where she was born and raised, for the skill and excitement she brings to each performance, as well as for her passion and enthusiasm for belly dancing. After dancing hula for 10 years, Chang took some time off before heading to Egypt in 1994 where she was to dance in a Hawaiian show.
“It was invaluable,” she says of her time in Egypt. “I faced head-on all the different cultures that exist in Egypt - Arab, Islamic, there’s so many layers of stuff going on. By having the opportunity to get to know people, it deepened my natural curiosity about belly dance. I’d seen it here in Hawaii, (but) it was hard to get info about their classes. I would ask people in Egypt.”
Eventually, Chang made her way back to Hawaii, went to a belly dance show and was hooked from there.
“I was like on a one-woman obsession,” she recalls, “I’d listen to belly dance music all the time.”
Chang went on to get her degree in dance at UH-Manoa. She later became president of MEDAH, Middle Eastern Belly Dancers of Hawaii, and more recently she’s been invited to be on the teaching staff for the upcoming Rakkasah, the oldest international belly dance festival in the U.S. Also, through the years she’s worked to educate the local community about belly dance.
“I have brought in teachers from all over - all masters to get workshops on different topics. I’m trying to bring in resources to educate. I go away to other places to take workshops as well. I need to continually be learning and building on the foundation of what I’ve learned.”
Chang says she prefers traditional Egyptian belly dance and enjoys dancing to standard music.
“With the standard songs, what’s really the appeal is you get to see how the dancers are going to interpret it. No two people are going to interpret the music the same way.”
In the show, Chang says, she’ll be “staying within Egyptian style dance and 20th century styles. It’s going to be fun. I’m stoked, I really, really am. It’s going to be really exciting.”
Devi, the show’s organizer, will also get a chance to show off her traditional Egyptian belly dance moves on Sunday. The lifelong dancer has Indian folk dance, theater and singing in her background. Devi was raised in the Hare Krishna community, where dancing was a part of everyday life. About 13 years ago, she recalls walking into a belly dance class for the first time.
“The moment I heard the music, it was over. I set out in learning everything I could, even traveling far away, studying formally with Egyptian teachers, studying from Egyptian people themselves,” Devi reveals.
It was during her time in Egypt that Devi discovered male belly dancing. Not only were a lot of her teachers there men, but during a boat trip one night, the 17-year-old boy that was operating the boat began to dance in response to dancers on another boat passing by.
“He was like a snake, what he was doing was amazing. He just danced, and this is their dance,” she says. “The way he expressed himself, I was so inspired I started dancing.”
Devi also recalls that the fam-
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