Early Days
We have been together for about 20 years, so my story is about these years, her belly dance story from 1996.
Siri’s passion for belly dance was well underway when I came along. Her connection to belly dance came as no surprise to me, she had that look, beautiful, alternative, exotic, long dark hair, almond eyes – She even moved like a belly dancer. She was a young divorcee with 2 small boys Ben and Alex. She worked for “The 7th Veil”, Melbourne’s first belly dance speciality shop. The enthusiastic owner, Joy presided over an exploding belly dance scene, at its heart the shop and “Club Rakkasah” her belly dance club. The club featured live bands and raqs shaqui performers, often showcasing famous local and overseas dancers and musicians like the legendary Hossam Ramsay. It was a golden era for belly dance in Melbourne and Siri enjoyed an inside seat to all the excitement. Siri was taking endless belly dance classes, and she dragged me along to all the events that were going. She had me promise to always support her in her belly dance journey, which I do to this day.
Search for an Authentic Teacher
Siri always felt she was born to dance. From a small child Siri was always drawn to dancing from her French Arabian mother and family who loved to see all the kids dancing, so when she discovered belly dance, she was totally captured. She wanted to know all about this mesmerising form of dancing. She started to assemble a library of middle eastern music and dance videos. She especially loved the deep feeling and emotion of the natural Egyptian dancers. She was enthusiastically already taking lessons but moving from teacher to teacher looking for the one who could impart its secrets. Sadly, she would talk to me about her disappointment at not finding her. The teacher’s at the time were “western” in their approach, creating many “rules” to the dance that to Siri seemed to bear little resemblance to what she loved about the Egyptian dancers. They would tell her “You have to be Egyptian to dance like that”. They taught the moves and perhaps a simple chorography, but the “dance” was “missing” lacking rhythm, feeling and emotion, - “over technical” according to Siri. She was concerned that she was loosing the natural rhythm and timing she had developed from prior years of dancing. Siri explained to me one night that she imagined ancient dancers moving naturally in perfect harmony and spirit to live musicians who themselves expressed their emotions spontaneously and freely together. This was the dance Siri was looking for. Siri could see something magic here, and also with the Egyptian dancers where you could see that a feeling of spontaneity was present even in chorography. Siri realised the “art and soul” of the dance was to be found “in the moment”, the dancer, fully present, reveals herself while totally emersed in the music.
About this time Siri moved away from the city with me and left the 7th Veil and the belly dance scene, but now she had a clear understanding of the direction she wanted to take her belly dance journey. Although she could appreciate the artistic expression of wonderful chorography performed by talented dancers, she had trouble herself identifying with this expression of the dance. Siri loved the feeling of freedom, even the danger of fully improvised expression. She knew she needed to find her “authentic” teacher and as luck would have it, she commenced classes with Marie Antonio, a stern, yet loving retired Egyptian performer who taught a small group of students in the garage of her home. Siri came back from her first class and exclaimed “I have found her”.
Temple of Siri Studio
Around December 1997 on a beautiful sunny afternoon Siri and I were enjoying a relax on our rear deck looking over our garden, when she suddenly jumped up, ran down the stairs to our back lawn and made a large circle with a hose and started to dance in it ! “What the hell are you doing ?” I said, she replied “I am dancing in my studio, build it for me”. The temple of Siri” was born in that moment, right off our deck exactly where Siri had said. We built Siri’s beautiful octagonal studio with a high ceiling and leadlight dome, golden pillars and highly polished sprung dance floor. A magic place for Siri to dance and teach belly dance on the Mornington Peninsula. She said “build it and they will come” and off course they did. Siri put her heart and soul into creating an exciting and sacred space, a “temple” to the dance, hence the name “Temple of Siri”. The Temple of Siri has been in operation continuously since 1999, 17 years and Siri still loves it, the music, the dancing and the teaching. Belly dance was now a complete “way of life” for Siri, and in 2001 she achieved her dream of opening her own belly dance shop.
Dancing Goddess – “The Shop”
We built a replica (only smaller) of the Temple of Siri studio as a shop on a small commercial site we managed to purchase in Frankston South, not far from our home. Siri went about filling it with exciting belly dance costumes, veils, coin belts, jewellery and everything belly dance, even street ware that she had hand selected from our trips to Cairo. This magic little shop quickly became a local treasure introducing a host of new belly dance students to the Temple of Siri. It was a busy and happening time for Siri. She and her students danced at festivals and special nights Siri would put on under the banner of “Kazbah”
Siri the Performer
Siri had been performing when asked since 2000 but with the opening of the shop demand for performance increased sharply. Siri began to write a regular column (beneath the veil) in a Peninsula Magazine called “Goodlife”. As Siri’s local profile increased, so too did the demand for her to perform increase yet again. She was soon doing gigs, 2, 3 or 4 times every week, parties, weddings, functions, restaurants, even funerals, all booked well in advance. Siri would pick the gigs that most interested her and passed the others on to other performers. I would accompany her every time to set up lighting, sound equipment etc, while Siri was getting ready. I would check out the space she would be dancing in and prepare for her entry making sure she would be announced and the audience expectant, just before the music would go on. If Siri was performing with other dancers they would dance to chorography as a back drop to her dance but Siri overwhelmingly preferred solo gigs. Although Siri never danced to chorography, her preparation before a gig was intense. She would record her music carefully depending on the gig and play the CD over and over, her costume, hair and make up immaculate and just before she would go on she would always somehow enter “the zone”. It was exciting for me to watch her perform. The music would start, she would enter, I would watch her immediately transform and morf in to the dancer needed to reflect the gig. Siri always danced the whole space, her eyes connecting to all the eyes, weaving in and out of peoples and spaces, sensing the mood, sometimes wild and fiery, other times gentle and spiritual, but always commanding, spontaneous and in “the moment”. People would be glued to her every move, glance and emotion as the “happening unfolded” to its climax. After the performance Siri was often invited to join the guests. She would change in to a long elegant gown (still a costume) and join the party, laughing, talking and dancing with the guests for a time. For me this time was a night out to be enjoyed, relax and unwind, but for Siri, her professional focus was always on helping to make sure the night was successful for her client. Her performing career lasted about 13 years until in late 2012 she decided to just stop performing, close the shop and slow down. It was the end of an exciting era, but the beginning of a new dream for Siri. She stopped all advertising, but retained her Temple of Siri classes, but not as many. She used her free time to paint and write poetry and look to the future of her dancing, a new chapter. She wanted another studio, big enough to teach students how to command a far larger space, a space where she could record her own dance and enjoy teaching unrestricted.
