Thread: When did belly dance arrive in Australia?

Spin-off from When did Bellydance first reach the UK?

I love these topics. Can anyone tell more about Australia?

In Brisbane there is a dancer who claims it was her (in the 80's?), but I doubt it. I think dancers might have already been in Sydney and Melbourne and often it started in restaurants by ME decent dancers for other countries so I guess the same here?

Well.....I would have thought Rozeta Ahalyea was the first to bring belly dance to Australia in the 1960's, but when I went to Wikipedia I found that her page had been deleted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozeta_Ahalyea

Hey, I think I recognize the song. Isn't that Aziza?



Try to ignore the Roman orgy and just watch the dancing.

Rozeta Ahalyea wasn't the first. She started dancing in Sydney in 1962 because she thought she could do better than the belly dancer the restaurant currently had.

I can't find anyone in Melbourne before Maria Antonio in the 1970s.

Queensland had Elenie in 1979.

Belyssa, currently in Perth, would have been earlier - but she wasn't in Perth when she started with Bobby & Serena in NY.

I reckon that Amera or Belyssa might know. Why not track them down & ask?

Originally Posted by Darshiva

I reckon that Amera or Belyssa might know. Why not track them down & ask?

Amera was Rozeta Ahalyea's student and started in the 1970s. Belyssa wasn't around in the Australian scene until well after Rozeta.

They are also considered the two main repositories of bellydance history in Australia.

From this exchange, I'm guessing the same is said of you in NZ?

Originally Posted by Darshiva

They are also considered the two main repositories of bellydance history in Australia.

From this exchange, I'm guessing the same is said of you in NZ?

I started about 20 years into the NZ scene - but yes, I collect data and in addition to my own research store the MEDANZ history in my garage

That's strange they deleted Rozeta Ahalyea's page. That could only be done on her request I guess?

Originally Posted by Amulya

That's strange they deleted Rozeta Ahalyea's page. That could only be done on her request I guess?

It says the claims made were not able to be verified by any independent reliable source. Going only from memory now, but I seem to recall the page said that Rozeta brought bellydance to Australia, so I accepted that and moved on. In reading Kaskmir's reply, apparently she was not the first. Instead of amending the page it was deleted entirely.

My older sister was a bellydancer in a high school play in about 1970