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Welcome to NJ Belly Dancing!

Serving the tri-state from Philly to NYC

Intro ~ Use Guide & Listing Info

Highlights of our 2nd Annual Hafla ~ Scam Alert

 People's Choice:   NJ Belly Dancing's 'Greats' in 2008

Intro

Veil DancerTHE most comprehensive list for *anything* and *everything* Belly Dance in New Jersey and the tri-state area.  New Jersey Belly Dancing was created to provide a resource for  teachers, students, performers, musicians, vendors, promoters and fans of Belly Dancing in New Jersey and the tri-state area. Reference the links displayed to access various areas of interest and inquiry. Please visit often for regular updates!

NJ Belly Dancing is not a referral service but rather a listing site to provide resources and the ability for prospective clients and students to interact directly with our contributors. We do realize the site can be quite daunting for those unfamiliar, so we are always available to answer any questions you may have and make suggestions to help you find the right teacher, performer, venue or workshop for you.

NJ Belly Dancing welcomes New York City, Philadelphia and Princeton Junction as our number 1 locales in NY, PA and NJ for visitors for the month of May!

NJ Belly Dancing would also like to thank 'us.bellydanceclasses' for being the number 1 referring site for visitors in May! Visit  @ www.us.bellydanceclasses.net

This site is sponsored by Fringe Benefit -* Tribal with a Twist *, in memory of Peggy Eckert who loved the dance so much that she spent her life sharing it with others.

Dharma ~ photography by Evi Numen

Pictured:  3 generations Of Tribal...The women of  Dharma. Photography by Evi Numen

 

             Design by Jeff @ www.feebleminds-gifs.com                                         Los Dias De Los Muertos

                                           November 8th 2008

                                 A sincere thank you to our amazing community!!!!

 160 members of our community from NYC to Philly attended for a truly unforgettable night!

From the Susan G. Komen Foundation:

Thank you so much for your contribution of  $471.00 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Your support is hard at work bringing us closer to our goal of saving lives and ending breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find the cures. Your support has helped us establish the global breast cancer movement and build a grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Today, Komen for the Cure reaches people in more than 200 countries and is the world's largest source of private funds for breast cancer research and community outreach programs, with nearly $1 billion invested to date.Most important of all, these efforts have helped save millions of lives, making the two million breast cancer survivors living in the United States the largest group of cancer survivors today. Because of your help, we are one step closer to creating a world without breast cancer.

Sincerely,
Hala Moddelmog
Chief Executive Officer

To comply with the IRS requirements regarding charitable donations, we affirm that no goods or services have been provided to you, in whole or in part, in consideration for your contribution. This letter will serve as confirmation of your donation for income-tax purposes. Komen tax I.D. #75-1835298.

For future reference, your tracking code is (available by request).

 

Use Guide & Listing Info

NJ Belly Dancing is to be used soley as a guide and listing base for Performers, Instructors, Venues, Restaurants, Festivals, Workshops, Studios and Musicians. It is NOT okay to contact any of the links provided for solicitation of goods and services of any type (unless of course...you offer something free!). It is NOT okay to abuse site links or personal dancer information in any manner. It is NOT okay to copy any information for the use of personal advertisement without expressed or written permission from the individual listed. Providing links on other web sites in the manner in which the site owner intends though is not only acceptable but highly encouraged. When contacting an individual or establishment for service it is expected that they will be treated in a professional manner. Please see hiring practices and service guides for reference (to be added shortly). NJ Belly Dancing reserves the right to remove any listings or refuse listings that are in violation of this policy. Finally...it is NOT okay to SPAM or PHISH any listings of the web site. Emails that are identified as Phishing will be prominently displayed on the site to forwarn all listers and viewers.

Listing Information: General listings are provided free of charge. An ad featuring pictures and detailed information can be purchased monthly or yearly for a nominal fee. For 2 months the cost is $20, for 6 months $40 and for a whole year just $60. Ads can be updated at any time thru out the year with whatever you like as long as it does not exceed the alotted space. All listings must pertain to belly dance in some manner. For example: any classes offered in belly dance, performers of belly dance or even workshops and music that may or may not be belly dance related but might attract those from the world of belly dance will be acceptable. Listing qualifications will be decided by NJ Belly Dancing. If you wish to list something in any of the categories on the pages of NJ Belly Dancing, we ask that you please review the section that would be appropriate and send an email detailing information in the same format, meaning: if all the listings state name, location and web address then this is all you will need to send. For workshops, you may provide as much information that you feel you will need as old information is routinely removed and space is ample. Please give us ample time to list.  If you have additional questions, you may contact us and we will be more than happy to help!

 

 

  As of May 30, 2008


free web tracker

 

 Scam Alert Design by Jeff @ www.feebleminds-gifs.com

A new feature we have here at NJ Belly Dancing for those who dare to outwit our brilliant community of Belly Dancers. Unfortunately having a web site and contact info as an artist sets one up for all types of interesting mail. Most detestable are the scams we frequently have to deal with. Our response:  Keep trying and we'll keep posting! Dancers...please send us ALL your funny scams! We here at NJ Belly Dancing reserve the right to print any and all scams sent to us (see Use Guide).

Our first letter of the 2009 year :

Hello Friend!!
I am contacting you in regards to a business transfer of a large sum of money from a dormant account. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day.
My name is Mr. Yaya XXX, a banker and accountant with one of the leading banks here in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire West Africa. I am the personal account manager to Late Eng: (Name withhold) a Nationality of your country, who used to work with an oil servicing company here in Cote d’Ivoire.
My client, his wife, and their three children were involved in the ill fated Kenya Airways crash in the coasts of Abidjan in January 2000 in which all passengers on board died. Since then I have made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives but has been unsuccessful. After several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his last name over the internet, to see if I could locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.
Of particular interest is this huge deposit with our bank here in Cote d’Ivoire, where the deceased has an account valued about ($18 million US dollars).Our bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or the bank will declare the account unserviceable and thereby send the funds to the bank treasury as abandoned funds.
Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over last 8years now, I will seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you have the same last names with him, so that the proceeds of this account valued at ($18 million US dollars) can be paid to you and then you and I can share the money.
All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under all legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. If you can handle this with me, respond to my mail immediately.
In your reply mail, give your full names, address, date of birth, telephone and fax numbers so that I will use it to work on the account file.
I wait to hear from you for more details.
Thanking you for your anticipated cooperation.
Mr. Yaya XXX

 

The next one is contributed by our resident spirit dancer, thanks Dee! Ben of Fedex???

To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Sent: Thu, 8 Jan 2009 2:29 pm
Subject: FBI Director  XXX

Attn: Beneficiary,
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Impostors claiming to be Prof. Charles C. XXX of the Central Bank Of Nigeria, Mr. Patrick XXX, Mr Frank XXX, none officials of Oceanic Bank, Zenith Banks, kelvin XXX of HSBC, Ben of Fedex, Ibrahim XXX,Larry XXX, Puppy Scammers are impostors claiming to
be the Federal Bureau Of Investigation. During our Investigation, we noticed that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment. Therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry Of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by cordinating your payment in total USD$11,000.000.00 in an ATM CARD which you can use to withdraw money from any ATM MACHINE CENTER anywhere in the world with a maximum of $4000 to $5000 United States Dollars daily. You now have the lawful right to claim your fund in an ATM CARD.
Since the Federal Bureau of Investigation is involved in this transaction, you have to be rest assured for this is 100% risk free it is our duty to protect the American Citizens. All I want you to do is to contact the ATM CARD CENTER via email for their requirements to proceed and procure your Approval Slip on your behalf which will cost you $160.00 only and note that your Approval Slip which contains details of the agent who will process your transaction.

Do contact Mr. Kelvin XXX of the ATM CARD CENTRE with your details:

FULL NAME:
HOME ADDRESS:
TELL:
CELL:
CURRENT OCCUPATION:
BANK NAME:

So your files would be updated after which he will send the payment informations which you'll use in making payment of $160.00 via Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram Transfer for the procurement of your Approval Slip after which the delivery of your ATM CARD will be effected to your designated home address without any further delay.
We order you get back to this office after you have contacted the ATM SWIFT CARD CENTER and we do await your response so we can move on with our Investigation and make sure your ATM SWIFT CARD gets to you.
Thanks and hope to read from you soon.  FBI Director Robert S. XXX III.

Note: Do disregard any email you get from any impostors or offices claiming to be in possesion of your ATM CARD, you are hereby adviced only to be in contact with Mr. Kelvin XXX of the ATM CARD CENTRE who is the rightful person to deal with in regards to your ATM CARD PAYMENT and forward any emails you get from impostors to this office so we could act upon and commence investigation.


An oldie but a goodie: (Incidentally, these are the most disturbing types of email requests because the contact will eventually ask for personal information under the auspice that you will be providing a service for them)

Dance Instructor Wanted

Good day,
Compliment of the season to you over there.How are you doing today? My name is Michelle XXX from United Kingdom.I got acrossed your email address when i was searching for an instructors who can give me and my brother a private lessons in any aspect of Dancing most prefered a foriegn dance. We are based in the U.K but in a while,we would be travelling to USA on holiday in your neighborhood. We would love to get involve in a private lessons with you,we would be available for 2-3hours per day,3times per week and we would be having this lessons for 3months.Kindly get back to me with the fees you are to receive if you are to instruct me and my Colleague for 3months and also 3times a week.Our company would be paying for our fees and would like to know if you accept certified cheque or money order as the method of payment. I await a response from you Asap.

Regards
Michelle.

 

6.5 million huh? My, my what a Belly Dancer could do with that!

I am Iga Mai XXXi from Indonesia, I have$6.5 million which I have decided to donate either to an organization or devoted individual that will utilize this funds the way I will instruct herein. As soon as I receive your reply on Email: sukariy......
Any delay in your reply will give room in sourcing for another organization or a devoted Individual for this same purpose. Until I hear from you by email, my dreams will rest squarely on your Shoulders. May Allah's blessings be with you in all your daily endeavors.

Sincerely,

Mrs.Iga Mai XXX
 

           Come on guys...get a real job and a real life.

Outwitted....we indeed were as we were forced to take down one of our scam listings and image because it was used to scam others (supposedly). Pretty swift guys. But...we are not about to surrender here. Dancers please be mindful of the manner in which your web sites and images can be used.

 

Director Exempt hmmm???

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Tax refund value is $189.60. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to IWP the data received. If u don't receive your refund within 9 business days from the original IRS mailing date shown, you can start a refund trace online.

If you distribute funds to other organization, your records must show wether they are exempt under section 497 (c) (15). In cases where the recipient org. is not exempt under section 497 (c) (15), you must have evidence the funds will be used for section 497 (c) (15) purposes.

If you distribute fund to individuals, you should keep case histories showing the recipient's name and address; the purpose of the award; the maner of section; and the realtionship of the recipient to any of your officers, directors, trustees, members, or major contributors.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here


This notification has been sent by the Internal Revenue Service,
a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.
Sincerely Yours,

XXX
Director, Exempt. Organization
Rulings and Agreements Letter
Internal Revenue Service

 

  NJ Belly Dancing's 'Greats' in 2008

 

    Favorite Instructor: Kim Leary

 Kim Leary                                                                          

Alexia's ( Kim Leary's) ethnic dance life spans 20 years of learning, dancing, playing and teaching.  She has trained under such greats as Tasha (NJ), Artemis Mourat, Jamila & Suhaila Salimpour among others.  Kim has performed as a soloist and with notable dance companies such as SaZ Dance Theatre (NYC), Jamila Salimpour's Bal Anat, Dalia Carella's DNA Project (NYC) as well as with her own group,  Groove Merchant Drum & Dance Ensemble.   In addition to teaching at her studio, The Drum & Dance Learning Center in Bordentown, NJ she has taught both credit and non credit courses at many universities and community programs.  She has been a guest instructor at workshops around the US including Rakkasah East in 2007.

This is what our community had to say about her (and what aspiring Instructors should take note of):

 ~ She is a gifted and dedicated teacher who is never content to rest on her laurels or to allow her students to do so.

~ She is not pretentious. She encourages creativity AND discipline.

~ Kim is down to earth and makes you feel welcomed in her studio.

~ Her studio is a safe environment for creative growth and expression, with the highest emphasis on dance technique and physical health

~ She shows how, and allows her students, to develop their own dance abilities. Moreover, her classes are a place for inner growth and for connecting with our feminine sides.

You can find Alexia at: www.drumdancecenter.com  and www.alexiadance.com  

 

 

    Favorite Performers: Anka Kusu

Anka Kusu Anka Kusu offers a unique and refreshing blend of music and dance that has it's roots in Israel, Turkey, Armenia, Egypt, The Balkans, Greece, Syria and other points in the Middle East, all presented with an aggressive American edge.  What ever you choose to label their style, the end result is a powerful and highly enjoyable  performance.  Raq On! 
Our Members are:

Meredith Balin Hull- Lead Vocalist, James Hanna – Lead Guitar, Kellie Friedberg – Lead Darbuka/ Vocals/ Music Director, Tom Berger - Darbuka/vocals, Chuck Eckert - Riq/ Percussion, W. "G string" Friedberg- Bass, Miriam Berger - Dance Director/Choreographer/Dancer, Jenness Territo - Dancer, Tina Lubin - Dancer, Athena McAlarney - Dancer, Linda Finne - Dancer, Barbara Klein - Dancer

 Though we didn’t have a comment section for this category, one voter summed this troupe up by saying:  “So different!”

 You can find Anka Kusu at: www.ankakusu.net     

 

 

     Favorite Promoter: Michelle Devine

 Michelle Devine                                                                                                                                                                                      

Temporarily bio shy...stay posted!!! ( She is so damn busy with all her events! )

 Some comments left  in regards to her seasoned skills as a promoter:

~Enough said!

~Very helpful, organized, fun event, and wonderful helpers/volunteers, makes the event easy to attend and fun to be there.

You can find Michelle at: www.mahalat.org and, of course: www.rakkasah.com

  

 

 

 

 

 

    Favorite Vendor: Silk Dancer   

                                                                         Silk DancerI took my first belly dance class as a way to get some fun exercise, and to distract from a painful experience I was working through. Oriental Dance is very healing, and I was immediately enamored with the art. I have been dancing since early childhood, and this was the only form of dance I had ever experienced where I express myself fully physically, emotionally and creatively. The diversity of the costumes, from glittering color to earthy and deep, and the gracious complexity of the people in the community amazed me and drew me in further.

  As an artist, I have been drawn to color and beauty for as long as I can remember, as well as a desire to share my findings with others. I am enchanted with silk. It seems to have a life of its own, embracing the dancer as she moves. In this way it becomes an integral part of her and the music. To me this is the perfect medium, a living canvas so to speak. I strive to share and express myself creatively while producing a quality product that will be cherished for years to come. I am further pleased to watch my work in the hands of other artists and sharing in their own expression of creativity

 This is what the community had to say about Silk Dancer:

~ Beautiful and great price

~ Beautiful products and great attitude

~  Shaula makes beautiful silk veils and sells them with honesty to show the true integrity of both the creator/seller and the products she creates.

 You can buy Shaula's  products at: www.silkdancer.com

 

 

      Favorite Restaurant: Cous Cous of NJ

Cous Cous

 

Happy memories w/ music food and dancers = best place in Jersey to eat that I know!

Find Cous Cous at: www.couscousnj.com

  

 

      Favorite Musician: Carmine Guida 

Carmine GuidaTeaching is my passion. I have the wonderful job of traveling the world teaching people how to play doumbek. It brings me great joy to have someone who has never played a musical instrument before be able to play several rhythms after just one class. My specialty is teaching drummers and dancers how to work together. I love my job.

Performer: I love to play music for people to dance and groove to. I have had the pleasure of performing at these wonderful venues (as well as several others):

Inside the US: The Consulate General of Turkey, Rakkasah East and West, Spring Caravan, Bellydancer USA Competition, Irving Plaza, B.B. King Blues Club, Joe's Pub

Outside the US: Budapest Hungary, Athens Greece, Leon Mexico
 

 Here's what our voters had to say about Carmine:

~Dedicated to the belly

~He's the man

~Good musician but also very personable.

~Because he plays everything and plays just about everything, and always very well.

~Fabulous musician, great presence!

 You can find Carmine at: www.carmine.com

 

 

 

      Community Spirit...Pom-Pom winner: Anne Marie

Anne MarieAnne Marie, featured here in a picture taken back in…..(let's just say quite some time ago), has a long history of being a cheerleader. She’s cheered during basketball games, third grade spelling tests, potty training, college exams, and every community performance she has been honored to be present for. You can find her now cheering for the troupe, her own students and the community, all of whom are so very special to her. She also doesn’t mind embarrassing herself (see picture) to support what and who she believes in  most. Anne Marie, though, was hoping to pass the pom-poms this year but she will hold and care for them for our 2009 winner.  

What was said about her:

~Bringing the community together with the website and her outgoing, supportive, wonderful attitude

~Anne Marie for being awesome!!

~Always upbeat and on top of things. Go AnneMarie!!

~She supports everyone, the NJ Belly Dancing site is a huge asset to the community

 You can find Anne Marie right here at NJ Belly Dancing!

 

 

As for “How can we make our events better?”

Someone wrote:

“You mean you could make them better?? No, seriously...”

Our reply:

You betcha! Here at NJ Belly Dancing, we have an event planned for 2009 like no other with all new challenges for our performers and our audience. We can’t wait! We won't give away any info yet but we can tell you that one of our performers can expect an untimely and very  'NJ Belly Dancing' style demise. ;)

 

 

Copyright © 2007 Anne Marie & Cerisa. All Rights Reserved.