Sharing the Beauty of Nefertiti through Dance I came across this group on Facebook just as we were finishing this issue of the magazine, and I was so smitten with them I had to find a way to include them. The following is from the Nefertiti Dance website: Nefertiti Dance formed in 2004 in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. There are a number of teachers and we all work together in a co-operative way to promote, perform and teach dance. It is community-based rather than a ‘business’. Nefertiti Dance is primarily a middle eastern and multicultural (Bollywood, Spanish, Hawaiian and Gypsy) dance group but we also have a highly skilled hoop dancer to add zest to our performances! Middle Eastern Dance incorporates a wide range of 'folk dance' styles from the Persian Gulf, across North Africa, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece. What is known as 'belly dance' is just a small part of this. Nefertiti Dance provides a range of styles, skills and experience to students and audiences, and we love what we do! We teach safe dance technique and cater for beginners to advanced. We are a friendly and fun-loving group and enjoy regular social get-togethers as well as class. Nefertiti was a Queen of ancient Egypt, famous for her beauty, and our dance group is named in her honour. As the saying goes, beauty is more than skin deep, and at Nefertiti we focus on developing poise and self-confidence in our students, whilst having a lot of fun. Nefertiti Dance are the creators of the award winning 'Dugong Rock' dance - a blues/rock number to which we choreographed a belly dance fusion dance!! [You can see a video sample of it by clicking here.] OUR TRIP TO EGYPT! Members of our group travelled to Egypt in January 2008 to experience the culture which is so central to Middle Eastern Dance. We enjoyed many performances by fabulous dancers and musicians from folk to cabaret in style, travelled from Alexandria to Aswan and Luxor to the Sinai, cruised on the Nile watching the ancient land glide by, marveled at the amazing Pharaonic temples and pyramids, and participated in workshops provided by famous dancers in Cairo. It was a wonderful trip, made all the more enjoyable by the very friendly, hospitable and welcoming people of Egypt. We returned to Australia with a vastly enhanced appreciation of this beautiful dance form and its cultural base.
Find these lovely ladies on their Nerftiti-Dance Facebook page. -81-
"And the heiress, great in the palace, fair of face, adorned with the double plumes, mistress of happiness, endowed with favours, at hearing whose voice the king rejoices, the chief wife of the king, his beloved, the lady of the two lands, Nefertiti, may she live for ever and always": Inscription on a stelae of Queen Nefertiti's husband Pharaoh Akhenaten
