Keti's
Biography - Dance, History, Culture & Ancient Arts
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I
was born in Perth, Western Australia on
September 15th 1969. My background is a Mediterranean mix;
a Macedonian-Greek mother
and a Croatian-Serbian father. The first time I saw a bellydancer
was when my father - a music producer and sound engineer - sponsored
the famous Romany Gypsy singer/dancer Esma on an Australian tour.
Dance and music was an integral part of life as I grew up in suburban
Australia and was exposed to a variety of cultural arts and musical
styles
through our multicultural family and friends. My passion for dance began when I was 17, when I took my first Oriental dance lesson. The music and shape of Arabic dance fascinated me and I quickly got swept up in the festive aspect of it all! I danced for the sheer joy of it - the celebration, the fun, the sense of discovery. Becoming a performer was never a 'planned' career, but it opened the door to the world for me. Dance became the pacemaker in my life - I literally moved to wherever it took me. I've lived in Turkey, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and now, Egypt. In my twenties I spent many years 'living out of a suitcase full of sequins' and travelled extensively. In my dancing days, some of the people and events I performed for were amazing - including The King of Malaysia, Crown Prince of Selangor, Prince of Pahang, Malaysia's Prime Minister, Princess of Morocco, Prince of Oman plus contracts at the Cairo Ramses Hilton, Star Cruises Asia Pacific and the world's largest Casino - Genting Highlands. |
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my career took shape as a dance performer and teacher, world culture
and 'living art' became my favourite subjects; seeing how people expressed
themselves through the arts in everyday life and through cultural
celebration. Spending many years researching dance, I integrated my
studies with a BA in Fine Art History, focusing on geometry, music-space
relationships and Islamic pattern in art and architecture. Sufism
and ancient religions fascinated me too - particularly the ways dance
and music were part of the mystic experience. In Singapore, I explored
Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian philosophies and their intrinsic music,
movement and meditation patterns. I opened dance studios in Australia
and Singapore and worked with choreographers in Egypt, where I also
began hosting tours. It was a wonderful way to meet and teach people
from different countries, and therefore construct a universal teaching
language. Travel,
teaching, performance, people - I enjoyed them all immensely, yet
needed to simplify my activities to embrace new forms of creativity
that were emerging. Possibly the most defining time in my life was when I decided to stop performing and consolidate my research in ways that would help others. Although performance and palaces were wonderful, they were rather self-indulgent and my priorities had shifted over the years. So I developed systems for teaching dance based on my cultural knowledge and understanding of music, using fractal geometry and the core moves to express all styles of Oriental and folkloric dance. This became known as A-Z Bellydance, and because it evolved into a transferable 'dance language' I sold my studios and produced instructional videos instead - my 'virtual studio'! I was pleased that so many teachers around the world started using and sharing the information. I also wrote a book - 'BELLYDANCE' published by Allen and Unwin. It was satisfying to see the research collated into an accessible format that presented Middle Eastern dance from a rhythmic, historic and cultural perspective. |
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celebrate the transformative power of dance, Pulse8
Fitness and AstroBelly were created.
AstroBelly
incorporates elements of symbolism with bellydance. Pulse8
programs utilise powerful moves from various cultural dance styles.
With
the help of the main A-Z team (Renate Van Dordrecht, Jilyan Andersen
and Suzanne Oehlers) who have created courses, A-Z teachers broadening
networks worldwide, and the artistic assistance of talented musicians
(and film-makers) like Omar Kamel, bringing these ideas to fruition is
possible. I believe that bridging the gap between dance arts and wellbeing
- linking them in a complimentary fashion - will become more evident
in years to come. Sphinx Festival, Egypt Next year, my main project is the SPHINX FESTIVAL in Egypt - themed "Essential Egypt", which explores Egyptology, Dance, Music and Science. Its an ultimate culmination of the roots of dance and culture since ancient times, and the creative new vision - "soul food" for artists. |
 Filming AstroBelly in Egypt Aref, Keti, Nasser, Omar Kamel |
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..............iPhoto
images Gerhard
Joren
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