Belly Dancing Comes To Boone
Lost Jewels Of Ghawazee Spawns New Mystic Mountain Bellydance

By Jeff Eason

Visitors at Appalachian State University’s 6th Annual Diversity Festival this past week got a glimpse of what looks to be a growing trend in western North Carolina: belly dancing.

On Tuesday evening a professional belly dancing troupe, The Lost Jewels of Ghawazee, came up from Caldwell County to perform at the Diversity Festival. And on Saturday, a new local belly dancing troupe, Mystic Mountain Bellydance, entertained visitors on the ASU campus.

The connection between the two troupes is Vickie Young, a professional belly-dancer who moved to Boone two years ago. Employed as a purchasing agent for Appalachian State, Young discovered when she moved here that there was local interest in belly dancing, but no troupe and no lessons.

“I learned most of what I know about belly dancing from Becky Shook in Granite Falls,” said Young. “I’ve been belly dancing for five years with the Lost Jewels of Ghawazee so when I moved to Boone I started to give lessons to local dancers. The most recent classes started a few weeks ago.”

The name Ghawazee refers to the name given to Egyptian street dancers, thought to be gypsies who originated in India.

Young has been working with belly-dancing students in the High Country for over a year and formed the troupe Mystic Mountain Bellydance less than a year ago. The troupe now has eight members ranging in age from 15 to over 50.

“My goal is to have a belly dancing troupe that performs in the area to live music,” said Young. She added that the true Mecca of belly dancing in western North Carolina is located in Asheville. There one can find professional and amateur belly dancing troupes of all ages and levels plus a wealth of drummers and musicians who specialize in belly dancing music.

Young’s professional troupe, the Lost Jewels of Ghawazee, perform mostly in the Hickory area but occasionally venture to other regions for festivals and workshops.

“All of the dancers in the Lost Jewels are over thirty,” said Young. “It’s a style of dance that dancers can continue when they are older. One of my favorite belly dancers of all time is over sixty and male!”

Before each belly dance presentation at the Diversity Festival, Lost Jewel dancer Rosalie De Fini explained the origin and meaning of the dance. The troupe calls their style “ethnic fusion” and borrow belly dancing traditions from India, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and other countries. The dancers’ costumes and stage names, such as Jaharah, Cyra, Sephira and Zahrah, also come from a variety of regions. In the spirit of ethnic fusion, the belly dancers often create their own choreography mixing dances that are hundreds of years old with more modern moves.

“A lot of people think that belly dancing is a dance of seduction, but is really a way of empowering the women and making them feel good about themselves,” said Young. “I think a lot of the stereotypes of belly dancers with jewels in their navels and veils across their faces is a Hollywood invention.”

Belly dancing is unique among forms of dance in that many troupes feature both mothers and daughters.

“I’ve been involved with dance since I was a child—ballet, tap and jazz,” said De Fini. “Then I started going to the studio at Granite Falls and learning how to belly dance with my mom. We both got hooked.”

This summer the Lost Jewels of Ghawazee will perform about twice a month at festivals and at a variety of charity events. The troupe’s student group, The Rubies, will also perform at non-profit events. Thanks to Young’s leadership, Mystic Mountain Bellydance is also ready to perform at more public functions.

“The Lost Jewels are just an incredible group of women,” said Young. “All my life I’ve exercised, but you never get that feeling of camaraderie that you do as part of a dance troupe. It’s like being on a sports team. We pull each other up and bring out the best in each other.”