Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Leyl.
Laura, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I have always loved to dance. My journey in Bellydance started my freshman year of college. After getting left out in the cold by my ballroom dance partner the night before our first competition, I decided to start studying Bellydance. Little did I know, the Bellydance teacher at UCSB was the legendary international dancer Alexandra King. She was one of the artistic innovators in the 80s and 90s that brought Bellydance into American culture and created the dance style I perform, American Cabaret Bellydance. I performed in Alexandra’s dance troupe, which was the dance component of the UCSB Middle East Ensemble (MEE), a Middle Eastern orchestra composed of graduate students in ethnomusicology, native musicians, and community members. I performed with the MEE at the Cairo Opera House in Egypt in 2010. Since then, I have struck out on my own as a professional bellydancer in Los Angeles. I perform every Saturday night at Babouch Restaurant in San Pedro and teach beginner Bellydance classes at DanceGardenLA in Atwater Village. I recently won first place in the Hot Raqs Bellydance competition in Fresno, which attracts talented dancers throughout the West Coast. I am proud to represent American Cabaret Bellydance, which uses music from the diverse Middle Eastern diaspora in the US, including Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Syrian, and Egyptian cultures.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Bellydance is different from other dance forms in some fundamental ways. First, Bellydance is a mirror of the music. If I hear the vibration of a string or drum roll, I will mirror that sound on my body with a vibrating movement (shimmy). So, one of my main jobs as a bellydancer is to introduce the audience to Middle Eastern music by visually interpreting the music with my body. Although I create some choreographies for stage and competitions, I dance my best when I am improvising to live music, which is the way this dance is traditionally performed. Second, Bellydance is powered by movements of the core of the body: the torso, hips, and chest. The focus of the dance is also sensual since the dancer is feeling and interpreting the music. Because of this, it is misconstrued as a dance of seduction, danced by women to attract men. However, what my audience always realizes is that Bellydance is a dance of feminine empowerment, danced largely by women for other women in communities in the US and in the Middle East. I spent a lot of my life feeling ashamed of my body and of the vulnerabilities and strengths I experience as a woman. Bellydance has given me an artistic outlet to express my feminine experience, celebrate my body, and empower other women to do the same.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
The Bellydance community, in general, is vibrant and wonderful, so I am lucky to feel I am in good company as a bellydancer in LA. Some ways to meet other dancers is to go to dancing classes and workshops. I recommend Dance Garden LA, I take the legendary Zahra Zuhair’s classes there weekly and the workshops offered include the best dancers from all over the US and internationally! (Full disclosure: I teach at DGLA). Other places to see and meet other dancers are showcases. I perform at showcases regularly, and I recommend Club Cleopatra at El Baron Nightclub in Culver City, usually the third Sunday of the month (find it on FB or contact [email protected] for upcoming dates and tickets). Festivals are also a great place to shop for costuming and take workshops, and Cairo Shimmy Quake is the biggest one in LA, coming up on June 7-9, 2019 (cairoshimmyquake.com). You can find a calendar of most LA Bellydance events at www.laraqs.com.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I dance every Saturday night at Babouch Restaurant (810 South Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA 90731). Shows are at 7 and 8:30, call (310) 831-0246 for reservations. I teach beginner Bellydance at DanceGardenLA (3191 Casitas Avenue, Suite 112, Atwater Village, CA 90039). Classes every Saturday at 1:30 pm, visit www.dancegardenla.com to buy classes. You can see performance videos and follow me on social media (YT: Laura Leyl Bellydance, IG: @lauraleylbellydance, FB: @lauraleylbellydance). I’m available to dance at celebrations: weddings, birthday parties, corporate events. Email me for pricing and availability: [email protected]. Find out more about my summer 2019 tour on my website: www.lauraleylbellydance.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lauraleylbellydance.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @lauraleylbellydance
- Facebook: @lauraleylbellydance
- Other: YouTube channel: Laura Leyl Bellydance
Image Credit:
Julio Villa Photography, John Kalb, Joanne A. Calitri, Ruben Portillo
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