As an entertainer, I often feel like a one-woman show.   Continually venturing and expanding my knowledge of dance and the performance arts has shaped my life.  It’s fascinating to take a moment to look at the lives of the artists who played foundational roles in what we understand as dance today.  Surprisingly one of the dances currently embraced by the world started with a man whose beginnings were rooted very close to home.  From Southern California to San Francisco, vaudeville actor Henry Fox got his start before heading to New York to influence what would become embraced as Foxtrot.  Read on…

What is Square Dancing?
This folk form of entertainment is for a group of dancers.  Square dancing is typically done with four couples arranged in a square with one couple on each side facing in towards the middle of the square.  In most American forms of square dance, a directed caller cues the dancers to do movements... READ MORE

To this day, one of my favorite Halloween’s involved an army of zombiefied women and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” In 2013 I had the privilege of organizing a flash mob for the streets of Oakland via the one and only Hipline dance studio.  Stopping traffic, playing tribute to Mr. MJ, and being joined by an amazing group of dancing women on ghouls night was epic. “Thriller” now holds a place in my heart.  Here is why it holds a place in the worlds:


…cause this is THRILLER!
By Ziva Emtiyaz

            With Halloween around the corner, the festivities are brewing and Michael Jackson’s 1983 hit “Thriller” can be heard blaring in dance studios worldwide.  The horror themed pop song was used to produce one of the most influential music videos of all time...  ...let’s dig up some of its lesser-known details and shine some light on its dark and chilling dance!  READ MORE

They say the heart is fickle.  If you really love someone, you will feel it in your gut.  In the West, we often think of the heart as the body’s center of romance.  In several Middle Eastern countries, it is the liver that is believed to be passion’s organ.  The Roman physician Galen developed the notion that the heart and the liver are sources of love over 1,000 years ago.   One of the first great Arab-Muslim scientists, Al Razi, perpetuated Galen’s theory about the liver, and it spread across the Middle East into Egypt.

The Arabic word for liver is pronounced “kabed”.  It is frequently used in Egyptian poetry and song lyrics to express love.  The classic song “Eina Ellayali” shares a good example of how the liver embodies emotion.  Translated into English, the lyrics say, “An eye’s glance sent a spear to my liver and created pain.” 

Often you will see a performing Egyptian dancer gesture her hands as if she were holding onto her liver. She is expressing that she feels the song or the lyrics from this organ of passion.  It’s just as if an American dancer were to hold onto her heart.

In this month of love, why not dance from your liver ladies?  Share your deepest passions on the dance floor and feel it from you gut.  Tap in, and be moved.  What is your “kabed” telling you today?

Ziva holds Arabic Dance in her liver and can’t wait to share her passion for the art form with you!  Join her on the dance floor in Shimmy Pop, Shimmy Pop Toning, and Arabic Dance II.  You can find out more about Ziva and Arabic Dance at www.zivadancer.com 

Resources:  http://suite101.com/article/valentines-could-easily-have-been-livers-instead-of-hearts-a330899