BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Belly Dancing What dance troups do you like?

One of the first things I find myself talking about with other people when I talk about belly dance is what performers you have seen. Here in San Francisco, there is a very strong presence of American tribal style bell dance. Two of the bigger groups who perform that style are based here, and most of what I can see is colored by this.

The first is Fat Chance Bell Dance homepage This is older of the two troups, and the woman who started the group below got her start here. They maintain their own studio for teaching.

The second is Ultra Gypsy homepage This group is even more dramatic than the first. They also twirl and eat fire in their performances, and they have a stunningly gorgeous guy who scarf/belly dances with them too.

- Rae

They were at Rakkasah last week. I have never seen them before. They were the best performance that week! I don't know where Kaya and Sadie have been, but they are awesome! They are moving bellydance forward in the world. I would like to take classes from them, but they are in Colorado. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

What day did they perform? That name doesn't ring a bell...I could have been up & about shopping or eating at that time ;-)

I have never been to any shows, but I hope to someday.

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I love Fat Chance, and their sister group Devyani, I just got to see them in December down in Alabama. Since I live in Tennessee, this was a big deal, because I never thought I'd get to meet carolena in person. When I did, she was gracious and lovely, and I was a big goon, LOL.

I of course love Ultra Gypsy and the Indigo, since Tribal style is my preference, but my favorite has to be my fledgling group, StellaLuna!

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I love FCBD as well as Rachel Brice's troupe The Indigo and of course the Bellydance Superstars and Desert Roses. I've only seen Amar Gamal and Kaeshi of Bellyqueen but I like them as well.

A local troupe, "The Queens of Chaos" is very good - but I'm prejudiced because our troupe gets along well with them <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

There is a note on the Rakkassah page apologizing for Groove DuMonde and "former teachers" Sadie and Kaya. Apparently the performance was quite inappropriate, offending some attendees especially because children were present, and setting bellydance back a decade or so.

I live in Oklahoma, where bellydance is still equated with stripping. Our troupe and others in the area are coming together to blast away this misconception, and I don't like to hear about things like that, especially because we all have a long way to go in demonstrating to the public that bellydance is an art form that should be respected as much as ballet or any other art.