Merhaba! I am Annunciata (pr. ah-noon-cee-ah-tah), a second-generation
Middle-Eastern dancer from the Jacksonville, Florida area. I love all styles of bellydance, including tribal fusion, ATS, cabaret, and traditional folkloric styles. Each has a unique flavor and allows the dancer to express different emotions.
My teachers include Julianne Battaglia, Madame Xena, Amy Tucker of Samadhi, and Zhaleh Fereshteh. (See the teachers page for more info.) I have also taken seminars with Fathiem, Cassandra, Rachel Brice, Ariellah, Suhaila Salimpour, Maja, Gina, and Amani Jabril. However, I credit my mother first and foremost for instilling a love of dance within me.
My mother, Dvorah, in the 1970s.
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My dance idol would have to be the late Naima Akef, the great Egyptian starlet!
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My grandmother and great-grandmother in 1915.
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Mundanely, I am Charlotte A. Jones. Annunciata was my grandmother's name and my middle name.
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But who cares about me? It's all about the dance! Whether one calls it Middle-Eastern dance, oriental dance, raqs sharqi or bellydance, few can deny the amazing benefits and feeling gained from this artform. It's amazing! It's not only wonderful for your health, but also enables women to cultivate relationships and feel empowered. One of my personal favorite benefits is it serves as a gateway to understand a culture very different from our own.
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A Bedouin woman.
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Click to enlarge the map.
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One of my many goals in dancing is exploring the histories of all aspects of the massive genre known to North America as bellydance. Numerous theories exist to explain the origin of modern Middle-Eastern dance. Whether starting as a religious dance, a dance to ease childbirth, or one spread by the Romani people, we can agree that what individuals dance today does not arise from a single place or time.
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A word to the wise.. Many people think of bellydance in a sexist way. Women in skimpy outfits shaking their assets to please men and make money. While some dancers still sadly operate this way, almost all of the dancers I know are butt-kicking feminist women who are beautiful and admired without being bimbos. This is not your mother's bellydance!
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This is UNMATA, a California-based tribal fusion troupe.
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