Favorite Links

Everyone has some favorite places they like to surf on the net. I consistently go to a few that keep me up to date in certain areas or just to find out what old friends are up to.

http://www.maqam.com - MUSIC- good prices, the latest from the Middle East - listen before you buy.

The Gilded Serpent is my favorite e-zine and a place that has been accepting of my dance reviews and articles: http://www.gildedserpent.com/

Get on the Bhuz! For events, dancer directory, or just to chat on various topics on their board, check out bhuz.com: http://www.bhuz.com/

Check out Meleea's Bazaar. A good friend of many years and local to the DFW area: http://www.beledi.com/index.php

Little Egypt, based here in the DFW area, are sponsors of workshops with Egyptian dancers (yes, from Egypt). They sell costumes, music and other items from Egypt. I'm friends with the whole family while periodically inflicting my presence on DeeDee by travelling to Egypt with her: http://www.littleegypt.com/

Learn more about pyramids at National Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html

Belly Dancing:

Join our local dance association, find a local teacher in the DFW area: http://ntmeda.org/ - North Texas Middle Eastern Dance Association

For other Texas dance associations:

Austin Belly Dance Association (ABDA): http://www.abda.org

Houston Area Belly Dance Association (HABDA): http://www.habda.org

History and other dance info:

Lots of fun BD stuff:

Find a dance instructor. Reviews of videos/music, history, culture, fun, links, and song translations (my favorite part): http://www.shira.net/ and Shira has now added a new website for the Plus-size dancer: BellyDancePlus

Morocco, a major contributor to the dance world for over 30 years:

Articles, recommended reading list

http://www.casbahdance.org/

Making your own dance costume:

BD costume Patterns:

http://members.aol.com/bdpat/bdpat001.htm

Choli Pattern:

http://www.eagnet.com/edipage/areaserv/camdentor/cholipat.htm

Costume Goddess Tells All. For ideas on creating your own costume, different parts of costumes and dance styles, she has books to order:

http://www.costumegoddess.com/

Dawn Devine Brown has books (Costuming from the Hip, etc) which cover Cabaret/Tribal/Folk Costumes:

http://www.davina.org/