Diverse dancers take the stage showing off local talent and talent from afar. FatChanceBellyDance will produce the Belly Dance Festival April 13 at Whirled Pies. It’s a modern group with an improv fusion style of belly dance. “The movements are inspired by, but are not the authentic folkloric dances of the Middle East, North Africa, Spain and India,” says Veronica Sims, the show’s producer and dancer. Amel Tafsout headlines the evening, and other performers sharing the stage include Troupe Celá, Sophia Solano, Kati Adele Nusbaum, Azhaar, Sabine, Udana, Saiidi Sisters, Wild Lotus and more. Not only does Tafsout dance, she also “is a sociolinguist with anthropologist research, a scholar, language instructor, frame drummer, poet, published author, an energy worker, and an activist,” her bio says. She has won an award for longstanding contributions in Arabic dance and heritage at the Inanna Iraqi Dance Festival in Estonia. This Saturday, get ready for a night of entertaining belly dancing.
