Welcome to the world of Tribal and Fusion Bellydance, a colorful exciting new dance community where the very essence of women is celebrated! Tribal and Fusion Bellydance is a new style that has been created using the basic steps of Oriental dance, a dance that developed from the shapes and possibilities of a woman’s body, then mixing it with Western dance styles as modern, jazz ballet, hip hop and more. This contemporary, new dance genre appeals to all shapes and sizes, ages and types of women and has quickly spread around the planet. Dancers use its universal language to communicate with each other and with other dancers in one big strong and supportive community that embraces difference. To bring joy through movement, to touch people’s hearts and to ignite the fire of creativity in those who dance it.
The New European Cultural Collaborations Foundation is the organization that brings you the Shimmy Shake, set up by Gail Pilgrim in 2007 as part of the LiteSide Festival which celebrated the meeting of East and Western culture. This talent discovery project quickly developed into a yearlong talent development endeavor, that supports, develops and provides a platform for this new genre with coaching for all levels, workshops, presentations and a national network community. In 2014 we established a Shimmy Shake office in Rotterdam – the fusion city of the Netherlands, and we started up the most successful annual International Fusion and Tribal Bellydance festival.
Because of Shimmy Shake coaching in 2012, Vleer and Annelies found themselves on the same stage. They clicked right away, and decided to create a performance together with the name ‘She Beckons’. 7 years later, they still dance together!
This Sunday is the third edition of the Shimmy Shake Talent Carnival! An event which grew around the annual Shimmy Shake Talent Show, the grand finale of our Talent Search. The Talent Show, which will be performed at 12:300h and 15:00h, is still an important part of the afternoon, but there is much more to keep you busy this Sunday at Theater ‘t Kapelletje in Rotterdam.In between the two shows in the theatre, you can enjoy a free Open Podium Show in the studio of the venue. A lot of dancers applied to dance on this stage so we will have a full program there. Just walk in and enjoy the amazing fusion bellydance performances. Special guest performances by The Dutch Tribal Collective, Shalini Shines (Dominican Bachata) and NavRang (Rajasthani Folk Dance).
Just a few more weeks and we will celebrate the Shimmy Shake Talent Carnival on June 9th! The Talent Carnival is an afternoon full of fun, meeting old and making new friends. An amazing afternoon full of dance, but we can use some help making sure everything will be o.k.
In the past months, we went on a hunt for fusion (belly) dance talents with the Shimmy Shake Talent Search. And yes, we have found them! In Zutphen, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, and Groningen we got to watch beautiful performances by dancers of different experience levels. 12 were selected by our expert panel and will receive coaching from some of the best coaches in the industry. Let’s meet the talents, who will be showing their progress during the Talent Carnival on June 9th in Rotterdam
Time went so fast! On three equally sunny afternoons in Zutphen, Rotterdam, and Eindhoven, we got to witness a wide variety of fusion (belly)dance acts, a lot of styles and levels of experience! All these dancers had one thing in common: all of them were almost bursting with talent!
In February we came together on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday afternoon for the first talent search of 2019. That’s one down, but we still have three more of these amazing afternoons full of dance to go! You can still sign-up for the very last spots in Rotterdam, or join the fun in Eindhoven or Groningen.