When Maria Hamer's sister took up belly dancing, Ms. Hamer wasn't interested in joining her.
"I was a punk rock chick. I thought it was kind of hootchy-kootchy," said Ms. Hamer, 31, of Bellevue.
Now, Ms. Hamer, her sister and three other dancers in a troupe called Zafira have been named Troupe of the Year 2007 in the annual Golden Belly Awards.
The awards are given by a magazine called Zaghareet, a Middle Eastern arts and culture publication. Another Pittsburgh group, Khafif Music and Dance, won the Best Kept Secret Award.
The members of Zafira include Ms. Hamer; her sister, Christine Andrews, of the South Side; Olivia Kissel, of Highland Park; and Ms. Hamer's other sister, Jen Imashev, of Neville Island, who performs periodically. Tamara Nelson lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., but is still involved with the group.
"We call her our honorary member because she lives so far away. But she performs with us when she can and through her, we have been able to book events in California," Ms. Hamer said.
Ms. Hamer started dancing in the early '90s after she learned that her sister's teacher had a tribal influence to her dancing, combining, as the troupe's Web site describes, "contemporary and ethnic dance that blurs the boundary between old and new."
"I started dancing and really got into it," Ms. Hamer said. "I was kind of like this tribal goddess from another planet. I drew facial tattoos and everything."
Ms. Kissel got involved after she met Mrs. Andrews.
"I thought it would be like 'I dream of Jeannie' when I first heard of belly dancing," Ms. Kissel said, but Christine said, 'No, it is much different.' I really trusted her, so I gave it a try."
When the women decided to dance as a group around 1996, they initially belonged to a troupe called Ghawazee. They formed their own troupe, Zafira, and began doing performances in 2000.
"Zafira means victorious," Ms. Hamer said.
Now, the troupe is so busy that it is booked all but one weekend through the end of the year.
Members of Zafira and Khafif belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism Inc., an international organization that preserves and re-creates life in pre-17th century Europe.
"They wear clothing of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era and our dancing fits right in," Ms. Hamer said of the society.
Her husband, Angus Douglass, is a fighter in a medieval group in the society.
Ms. Kissel and Ms. Hamer teach belly dancing, and Ms. Kissel also has started performing with her 16-year-old daughter, Fawn, who attends the High School for Creative and Performing Arts and won an award through Scholastic Books for an article she wrote about belly dancing. Ms. Hamer has a 3-year-old son, Kai Douglass.
The troupe just returned from performing last weekend in Arizona, and Ms. Hamer and Ms. Kissel are planning an event called Fusion on Saturday.
"It is a daylong event with dance workshops and then an evening performance," Ms. Hamer said.
Both women describe their belly dancing as still maintaining the "tribal" influence.
"We love dancing together," Ms. Hamer said. "For us, it is less about being sexy and performing but more about enjoying the company of other dancers and dancing with them."
For more information about Zafira and its events, visit www.zafiradance.com.
from
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07284/824470-57.stm
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