An Interview with Ansuya
by Feiruz
HOW ARE YOU FEELING TODAY ANSUYA?
I appreciate you asking! I recently learned, in a Yoga
class, that how you feel in a pose is more important than
how it looks. Similar to how, in Bellydance, how you feel
as you move is more important than what moves you
are doing. Since Yoga and Bellydance can contain many
lessons that are metaphors for life, I have begun to give
myself more time to notice my feelings and align them
before making choices or taking actions. So, in answer
to your question, because of this new relationship with
myself, I’m feeling phenomenal!
I FIRST MET YOU WHEN YOU WERE AN INFANT
AT THE DANCE STUDIO YOUR MOM AND I
OWNED AND OPERATED TOGETHER.
There is a photo of you holding me as a baby there! I
am happiest in a studio. Being in them so much when I
was a baby must be why! I feel beyond blessed to be born
into the American Cabaret Bellydance lineage. From the
star dancers at the Fez such as my mama, yourself, and
Antoinette Awayshak to my mother’s protégés Alexandra
King and Aleili - I feel like I was immersed and marinated
in a witchy Bellydance cauldron filled with the most magical
of ingredients. From the exploration of eastern philosophies,
to sensual liberation, to female empowerment, to cross-
cultural exchange, to the trance-like state of intuitive
improvisational expression, my particular form of Bellydance
training was unique and I feel honored to share its special
benefits with my students. The live music component of
the Fez era was key in providing a spontaneous setting in
which musician and dancer could tune into what, in Middle
Eastern culture, is referred to as “Tarab”. I experience Tarab
as the trance-like state I mentioned above, achieved when
musician, dancer, and audience become one with the art
that is being created in the moment. It’s like a moving
meditation. Especially during taxims or chiftitellis when
the music and movements become slow and sinuous. I now
call this “Sacred Sinuosity”™ and am developing a Yoga
Bellydance Fusion series to blend the mind, body, and soul
benefits of Yoga and Bellydance together.
Ansuya, as a baby, with Feiruz
Jenaeni, Ansuya’s mother
January 2019
The Belly Dance Chronicles
11