Hiring a Bellydancer for your Wedding

Happy Spring! The arrival of May marks the beginning of wedding season, and my favorite time of year as a performer.

Wedding Celebration

Wedding Celebration

As a New York City professional bellydancer for over 10 years, I have been lucky enough to bear witness and perform at hundreds of wedding receptions and special events from the most opulent and lavish affairs to the most intimate of family gatherings. Nothing is more fulfilling than doing my part in adding to the joy and magic of these happy occasions.

For many families it is an important cultural tradition, and they can’t imagine a wedding celebration without the beautiful, exciting and authentic entertainment that a bellydancer brings. But across all backgrounds and cultures, bellydance is an elegant and unique way to entertain your wedding guests that has been gaining in popularity.

Here are a few of the most important things to consider when hiring a bellydancer for your wedding:

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ART AND COMPASSION~ Bellydance for Humanity

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For the past three weeks I, along with my dance partner Mariyah, have been organizing this fundraiser event for Syrian Refugees. A slow building personal need to respond to this humanitarian crisis met with a flash of inspiration at seeing the Global Hafla for Humanity organization uniting bellydancers around the world to raise money. Suddenly, it was clear I could do something.  And we went to work.

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THE ISIS RECLAMATION PROJECT

My name is Layla Isis.

I love my name, and I love being named after an ancient Egyptian Goddess that symbolizes life and rebirth.  I didn’t have to change a thing when I decided to become a professional bellydancer: my parents could not have chosen a better name for me than Layla Isis. Until this past year, as an increasing number of awkward responses and negative associations to my name have begun to make things difficult.

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LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD

So last month I finally got around to launching my website, a task which took nearly ten years to accomplish and written about in depth here.  Some years I was just too busy with other more interesting endeavors, while others yes, I procrastinated and frittered away ample time to move forward with it.  If I’m honest though, I’d say it was also in part, a fear of success.

 

This has brought me to explore the question: what does “success” mean?  I’m considering this more than ever these days as the pressure to feel like I’m making my mark in the world is fierce. And I know many ask themselves this question at the start of a new year.
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LAUNCHING LAYLA ISIS.COM:

MY TEN YEAR JOURNEY

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Yes, you read that right. It has taken me ten years to make this website a reality. So, just for a moment, imagine me running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum with the Rocky theme song playing in the background and you’ll understand the magnitude of this moment for me.

 

I am what you might call a hermit showgirl. Having been born with the gifts and the passion for a life in the performing arts and yet wholly deterred by our modern society’s construct of what today’s artists must do to survive in this digital age of immediacy and relentless self-promotion.

 

It’s clear to me how important a job it is to bring the arts into the world. And there’s plenty of audience to go around for all who truly feel this calling.  Yet these days, legitimacy is not won unless you have built an empire around your name that is measured in social media followers, a high google ranking, and a cutting edge online portfolio. But a lacking in technical savviness has not been the only thing holding me back.
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