Jamila Salimpour Bellydancing History Legends Belly Dance

[TheLampDancer]

All Hail The Great Jamila. I am going to be so moved to see her perform at Rakkasah this year! Maybe she will do some dancing. Now that will be amazing!!! There will be no one ever like her I don't think!!!

[TheLampDancer]

I would cry if I met her!!!

[bellydancerocks321]

It would be an honor to take a class with Jamila Salimpour.

[KamaraLuna]

I love this woman. I took classes from her in the 1970's.

[Mr111989]

Amazing Documentary! Very Informative!

[jsamiee]

i took many of classes with jamila...loved all the emphasis on the finger symbols. belly dance with out excellent finger cymbals...blahhh!

[saulmaul]

If her husband was such horrible and violent man, as portrayed in this bio, why did she adopt his last name permanently as hers!? Obviously Jamila was not born a Salimpour and she certainly has not been a Salimpour for the past 40 years.

[gaiautube]

So grateful for this informative video! Just love to hear the herstory, brought tears to my eyes. Thankyou!

[bebetigre12]

hate snakes,cheap prop!!

[RasaVitalia]

LOVE TO YOU, SALIMPOURS!

[claucieni]

Thanks for sharing!

[raqsteadyeddie]

Love the Salimpours! First Family of Belly Dance!! Cool video!

[spershall]

For over half a decade? I think Jamila's been around for more than five years.

[RebekahLynn816]

@spershall

I think they meant to type century.

[m0riaSaidah]

Pionera te amo! :-)

[peekabeaux]

Thank you Jamila!

[zisguy]

Dang, i know the films in here must be rare, but I wish there was more footage in the video of her dancing. I hear so much about her here in New Mexico

[jsamiee]

i was in her class! i am in the video! i was so young then!

[punkersdanielle]

@jsamiee Do you still dance?? :-) That's so awesome!

[nyxnightingale]

"In her 80s and still teaching." Wowza!

What a remarkably informative video. Thank you, THANK YOU for posting this!

[MariaAya]

Amazing woman !!!

[pogopog1]

Isn't amazing what women other than Arab descent can do to promote this wonderful dance. I say this in answer to some tart calling herself an Arab of Yemeni descent who thinks there is only one kind of belly dancing. And seems to be against American women dancing this "woman dance."

This is a dance for ALL women of the world.

[dinavienna]

I am very impressed by this video and woman. She sure built up something huge in the US, and other parts of the world with her creativity.

But one thing you'd need to see: That partly folklore, partly fantasy dance of Jamila's is not loved by most Mideastern people. It is not bellydance, but a distortion of it by "foreigners" for many.

I don't think it s that many Yemeni or even Egyptian or Lebanese dance lovers who give her credit for that "fantasy".

It is innovative for sure though.

[pogopog1]

Oh yes, I know that many Yemeni or Middle Eastern dance lovers think of it as a foreign distortion. And that is sad. This dance may have originated in the Middle East, BUT it started as a WOMAN'S dance, the undulations to strengthen the abdominal muscles for childbirth. AND it started as a dance to honor Goddess.

Even JAPANESE women dance this ancient dance.

Yemeni's (and others) need to get over their prejudice of other nationalitys dancing "their" dance. It belongs to everyone.

[theonevanessa]

@pogopog1 I'm not Arab but I can see why they don't like it. It's the same reason why I, an American, am wary of all this tribal stuff. It smacks of cultural appropriation, or, at the very least, often a disregard for the dance's cultural origins.

Also, referring to another woman as a 'tart' is most unsisterly.

[dkgoodman]

Great video. Please change the phrase "half a decade" to "half a century!"

[Valizan]

Uhm... Holy crap! This is like pushing back a veil and finding a room of treasure!

Who was the narrator? Was that Baraka?

[THETribalDancer]

And can I say MORE! MORE! Passing this on!

[THETribalDancer]

This is fantastic! I would not agree that "tribal" as we know it today was born through Bal Anat, but I do think it was a precursor. Folkloric ("Fauxkloric") was definitely made popular by Jamila, and begat Masha who begat Carolena, making tribal as we know it today. Tribal Fusion as we know it today came from FCBD ATS, not from dancers trying to recreate Bal Anat's styling or aesthetic. It's a question of terminology and where the inspirations came from directly.

[TheLampDancer]

@THETribalDancer Remember:

 FatChanceBellyDance®, FCBD®,

ATS® and American Tribal Style®

They have Federal status now!!! Which I am so proud of Carolena for achieveing it's status.

[THETribalDancer]

@TheLampDancer My comment is from two years ago. Before there was an ®...

[ScarletMinx]

Um.... Jamila has been around FAR longer than half a decade... closer to several decades! Just sayin'. ;)

[elbrown99]

As a teenager I used to work at the Ren Faire in the late 1970's and saw this troupe perform many times - my first time seeing Jamila, I watched, spellbound and was deeply impressed! I have kept this memory with me ever since and now dance myself.

Thank you for sharing this footage!

[alaskamish]

What wonderful footage and memories. Where on earth did you find the films of the Faire? We have been looking and asking for old footage for years from anyone that was there.

It was really fun to see my younger self and old dancing friends..........thank you!

Mish Mish