Quarter Star Dancer - Elviza
Miami, Florida
Zizi, Elviza, Zaina & Kamileh
Zaina’s Introduction: I am pleased to introduce to you our next Quarter Star Dancer – ELVIZA of Miami, Florida who I had the opportunity to meet last year when I went to Miami for workshops. My dear friend Kamileh introduced her as “one of her own” and I quickly found why. She is just as gorgeous inside as out (and outside she is a total knock-out) with a witty sense of humor. Equal to this – she is a talented dancer, loyal and dedicated friend, and clearly a wonderful Mother – (her daughter Symphony also is a dancer and son Nick a handsome young man). I had such a great time getting to know her, and look forward to seeing her on my next trip to Miami. You will be seeing more of Elviza on iShimmy.com as she will be offering articles for your reading pleasure. So, in her own words, I give you - - ELVIZA!
(Photo by Adeela)
From Elviza: Well, I am so honored to be featured in iShimmy.com (thanks, Zaina!) that I will have to go against my normal loathing to talk about myself! Luckily I am also a wordy sort so once I get started on any subject I can easily fill a page or two. I guess I should start at the beginning… I am a native Miamian of Cuban, Irish and Italian descent. I always had an affinity for various types of music. I spent many hours singing, dancing and playing my what are now considered oldies and classic rock records, but strangely enough my parents never put me in any classes other than a six-week ballet summer course at the age of 5 and another summer stint on guitar when I was about 9. Unfortunately it didn’t occur to me that I should demand they continue to send me and I contented myself with doing my own thing. As I got into my teens I regretted not knowing how to play an instrument, but thought that I was already ‘too old’ to ever get any good at it! But going to concerts was always the highlight of my existence and my way to connect with music.
When I was 15 I dated a guy whose mom was named Valentina Zan—I’ve tried to find her but can’t. Anyway, supposedly that was her real name, and I clearly recall going to her apartment the first time and seeing this tall gorgeous woman with long jet black hair open the door and then inside there were beads and bits of fabric hanging from the walls and covering the tables- her costume projects. I never even got to see her dance but was intrigued by the fact that she was a belly dancer and to this day I wish I’d have taken classes with her and started this journey earlier. Later I got to see some dancers at the New York Renaissance Faire which may be the first time I saw belly dancing live.
Symphony, Elviza and Nick (Rhythm)
In the early ‘90’s I recall seeing an ad for Mideastern Dance Exchange which Tamalyn Dallal had opened on Miami Beach, and I longed to go but it was kind of far so years slipped by and I never did. Then one day I was at this bluegrass jam session get-together that I had been driving an hour each way twice a week to attend and there was a dancer who started renting space from our music shop for classes so I peeked in. Well, I was too shy to take her class where my friends might see me, but I realized that if I was driving all the way over here, why not make the same trip to go to Mideastern? So finally around 97/98 I started going with my daughter Symphony who was about 8 years old (her younger brother Nick also accompanied us and would take a break from coloring to join in occasionally- I can still see Amir Thaleb showing him moves!). It was good timing too because I had gained like twenty pounds in a year thanks to my chef husband being out of work at the time! So the goal was just to do something fun and get some exercise while listening to good music- no inkling of stardom crossed my mind as I had terrible stage fright. Not to mention although I’ve always had good rhythm and got compliments on my ‘dancing’ when I was just doing whatever, I felt like such a clumsy bull-in-a-china-shop at class- always going the wrong direction and not able to remember things! I still feel that way when I take a class with someone new.
Elviza on the Beach (Photo by Zizi)
We loved it and stuck with it—it’s funny to think back and realize that my classmates at the time were Bozenka & Virginia among others- not sure if Amar had already moved to NY- and after taking my first few months of classes with Dallal I tried Samay’s class; I ended up taking classes from her for over 5 years. We are fortunate to have so many good teachers here and wish I’d had the money to really take a lot more advantage of that- and of course now we have even more to choose from! Not to mention all the great instructors that have come for workshops; even having missed way too many of them I’ve still managed to do brief stints with Zaina, Yousry, Nourhan, Suhaila, Rachel Brice, Amir, Dalia Carella, Arish Lamm, Horacio & Beata, Nejla Yatkin, Zoe Jakes, Desert Sin, Jim Boz, Frederique, Tania Yael Yobi, and others. We have a really active belly dance community here in Miami which gives us lots of opportunities to perform and study.
Elviza at Coral Castle (Photo by Bradley Marshall)
Somehow though we managed to slip through without ever performing until finally we did two numbers in a student recital about 5 years ago (early 2003, I think). I was so scared but we’d practiced for months and it was a big group so I convinced myself to do it. A couple months later I met Ansuya and she was actually the one that insisted I should be performing and when she left on tour with the Superstars she appointed me to teach her classes and sub her restaurant gig. Well, I was mortified because speaking in front of people was even worse than singing or dancing in front of them but somehow I managed to do it and here I am! Now I have been performing every weekend for the past 4 years at another beautiful restaurant called UVA in Coral Gables, Florida; have taught at several studios including Belly Motions owned by my friend Portia who you recently featured, and of course Symphony and I have danced at numerous parties, fundraisers & special events which we always enjoy so much.
Elviza at Spooktacular (Photo by Denise Marino)
Recently I hosted my third annual ‘Elviza’s Evil Halloween Belly/Dance Spooktacular’ which is a full length show production - we always have a great time with that and all the dancers get really creative with their music and costuming- we hope to improve upon it each year and really make an all-out theatrical spectacle of it. Since we already have a lot of ‘traditional’ belly dance shows, from recitals to haflas to theatre productions- many of which I dance in and several of which I have stage-managed, this event is an opportunity to provide something different. I love being able to dance to ‘weird’ music occasionally, like in that show I have done Jimi Hendrix, the Ramones, and Ozzy as well as Black Sabbath. I’ve danced to ‘House of the Rising Sun’ for a Hurricane Katrina Benefit, danced to Elvis at a ‘Represent your Name’ show, Led Zeppelin both with and without Hossam, and ‘She’s like a rainbow’ at Kamileh’s 60’s themed New Year’s Eve party. Luckily our audiences have been very open to this which makes it even more fun. Of course please understand that this in no way diminishes my obsessive love for Middle Eastern music—I’m fortunate to perform frequently and 99.9% of the time it is to Arabic music and I am constantly building my collection. And although I like a lot of the modern Arab pop or the funky alternative stuff, I love the true classical orchestras and also the very earthy stuff - no complaints about too much whiny ney from me!
Photo by Adeela
I recall once when I was ordering from a catalogue and I was getting belly dance CD’s, Mexican music, yodeling, and other stuff, and was having to spell the names of almost everything and the lady said - Girl, what you gonna be doin’ yodeling while your dancin’ around your living room?! So it is just very natural for me to dance to whatever inspires me. I don’t really call myself any particular style- I feel that I’m a fusion of all the things I’ve ever done, heard, or seen just as we all are. One of my favorite compliments is when people assume that I am Arab, or I’m told I remind them of home or dance like their sister. I certainly know that there is still so much to learn and it inspires as well us humbles me when I take a new class or workshop because it never ceases to amaze me just how many ways there are to move the human body. One thing is I always have my cymbals on when I perform even if I don’t end up using them too much—it’s the one instrument I do know how to play!
(Elviza on the Beach - Photo by Zizi)
A recent highlight was when Symphony and I were brought over for a long weekend in Grand Cayman to perform for a Christmas party there- it was my first time ever leaving the United States. We were very well received and the people were so enthusiastic and friendly. We also got to ride in a submarine and kiss Sting rays! We certainly hope that in the near future we will be able to travel more and study with dancers from around the globe, as well as host some instructors ourselves. Symphony is currently recording music since she is also an accomplished singer and budding songwriter so I’ll be helping her in any way I can with that aspect of her career. It has certainly given us a special bond to dance together—I only wish her brother had continued with us and not gotten shy about it although I manage to sneak him into my shows now and again. He’s performed in one Spooktacular as well as a couple of other shows we’ve had.
Elviza's World (Photo by Adeela)
In closing, I just have to say that dancing has been such a wonderful and important part of my life and my sanity. It has allowed me a way to truly connect with all the music I love and to share that energy and joy with others, as well as creating several great friendships. Sometimes I feel it’s one of the only things I do well and has given me something to be proud of even though I know there is plenty of room for improvement. This past year has been an extremely difficult one for our family and at times dancing really helped me pull through even when the thought of having to put on make-up and get all dressed and go out there and smile seemed like the very last thing I wanted to do—you just can’t help but feel better if you just do it. The same with teaching- oftentimes you feel lazy and don’t want to have to go to class but once I get there it makes me so happy to spend time with my students and see them improve and enjoy the class and inquire about the music I played or whatever, not to mention getting to dance and exercise myself. I adopted a new motto which I came up with back in 2006 when this guy started taking my class and was standing there saying he couldn’t do this move because he didn’t have a girl’s chest and he couldn’t do that move because he didn’t have the right hips—you saw him Zaina- I’m speaking of Andrus, who’s improved a lot in the past year and people will hear more about him as time goes on (his flutters will have the rest of us hiding under our beds)—and I said…
“You have a rib cage and you have a pelvis- now move them around!!”
Photo by Bradley Marshall
For more info on Elviza please see her official website at http://www.elviza.com
and her My Space page at http://www.myspace.com/elviza_isis
To hear her daughter Symphony’s newly recorded demos please visit http://www.myspace.com/symphonyhowlett
Photo Credits
Cintron Art – Adeela
Bradley Marshall Photography
Denise Marino Photography
Zizi Zabaneh Photography
