Ruby Beh is an upcoming dancer with a unique talent for performances that are mesmerizing to watch because of her athletic ability and powerful flowing movement . Ruby is a standout oriental dancer whose styling varies from the usual ballroom and hip hop influence choreographed dancing seen lately . I find it refreshing to hear Ruby say she fosters the same uniqueness of expression in her students through her teaching .
Ruby herself says , “ The overall theme to my career and teaching is in being unique . I spent thousands of hours of practice developing myself , really trying to find myself in dance and now that ’ s what I teach in my Mentorship Program . I help my students find themselves and their own unique expression in dance .”
Hear from Ruby about her own personal and professional development as an Oriental dancer .
How , when , and where did you begin your journey in Middle Eastern dance ? “ I was living in Olympia , Washington , going to Community College and was intensely involved in Kung Fu , training about 10 hours per week . I was spending so much time with the masculine energy of this art form that I thought I should find something feminine to balance it out . I was looking through a community center class catalog and saw a bellydance class . I had never seen a bellydance before but I imagined it would be pretty feminine , so I signed up and instantly fell in love . I stopped training in Kung Fu shortly after . That was about 17 years ago ...” says Ruby .
I ’ ve watched Ruby ’ s shows at Middle East Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino , CA , for the last several years to music by Omar Faruk Tekbilek and noted that Ruby has a dance style that works well with fast styling in Turkish music . Ruby discovered her true calling as a belly dancer .
What took you to Turkey to study ? Did you work in Turkey dancing ? “ After I finished my Associate of Science degree in Olympia , I took a year off from school and then moved to Bellingham , Washington , to attend Huxley College of the Environment . At the time , I wanted to be an environmental field scientist . I was doing my bachelors through Huxley , my minor through the Chemistry department and then decided to do an undergraduate thesis through the Biology department . Basically , I wanted a fast track to a PhD ... During this time I was still bellydancing , mostly practicing on my own but I did attend some classes . It was in my third year at Huxley that I realized I actually didn ’ t want to be a scientist . I was sitting outside of the Analytical Chemistry lab , getting ready to go take an exam and I had this epiphany . I don ’ t want to be a scientist ; I want to be a Belly dancer ! So , with a lot of pain , I finished my degree , the last year was torture because I knew that I was only doing it to finish and I would never actually become a scientist . So , when I finished , finally ... I treated myself to a 6 week trip to Turkey to study .”
Dancers become “ type-cast with certain dance styles ”. This is what Ruby has to say about her thought process and pursuit of becoming a professional dancer with a unique dance style .
What made you decide to focus your dance style on Turkish bellydance ? “ When I was deciding where to go to train as a dancer , I spent a lot of time thinking about what style I wanted to develop into . I was attracted to some fusion-styled bellydance , especially Unmata dance troupe , and even considered moving down to Sacramento to train at their studio . I knew I didn ’ t want to go into Egyptian style because it seemed that was what everyone else was doing at the time . I wanted to be different , and at the time there were only a couple of people doing Turkish style in the US . So , I decided to start there . When I left for Turkey I had never traveled outside of North America . It was an amazing trip ; I trained hard , bought some of my first professional costumes and made a lot of new friends . When I got back from that trip , I was ready to start working towards performing and also started teaching weekly classes .”
10 The Belly Dance Chronicles � October 2016