When did belly dance arrive in Australia?

[Amulya]

Spin-off from http://bellydanceforums.net/other-dance-stuff/17097-when-did-bellydance-first-reach-uk.html

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?

 

[Erik]

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.

 

[Kashmir]

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.

 

[Darshiva]

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

 

[Kashmir]

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.

 

[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?

 

[Kashmir]

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

 

[Amulya]

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

 

[Erik]

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.

 

[indrayu]

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