MALIA DEFELICE
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
NEW MOON RISING BELLY DANCE ENSEMBLE
New Moon Rising Belly Dance Ensemble was formed in 2001. Any artistic group is a sum total of its parts and New Moon
Rising Belly Dance Ensemble is no exception.
Each member of New Moon Rising brings to the group her own unique character,
talent and spirit. These combined elements of character, talent and spirit
make New Moon Rising Belly Dance Ensemble what it is. Each
performance draws its powerful presentation from the harmonizing of core
members and guest dancers all working together under the artistic vision and directorship of Malia DeFelice.
Though New
Moon Rising is a relatively young dance ensemble, Malia
DeFelice's history of creating and directing Middle Eastern
Dance spans many decades. Her exciting choreographies have been performed
by many dancers in dance ensembles such as, Al-Fellahin, Al-Badawiat,
El-Ghajjar, Ya!Zueena, Bahar Al-Amar and Zambalita. Stage presentations
to Malia's credit have included numerous invitations to perform both as soloist and in ensemble, at the prestigious San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival.
Malia's passion for
capturing the true spirit of the dance has inspired her to spend
many years studying and immersing herself in Middle Eastern and North
African history, music, poetry and culture. She believes the root
of the dance lies in it's emotional expression. The dancer
expresses the emotion of the music and dances from her heart, soul and spirit.
She uses her body as a vehicle for this visual interpretation of the passion
expressed in the music. Inner strength, sensual abandon and a finely tuned
sense of humor are the sparks which give this dance it's stylized character.
Working with other dancers is all about finding that energy source
in each individual and bringing it to the performance stage. Malia
is known for her ability to create that magical performance atmosphere
with dancers coming from a wide and varied range of performance experience.
Whether performing regional folkloric dances or performing Raqs Sharqi
(Belly Dance), Malia strives to present these tradtional dance forms in the
most authentic manner possible. She believes that these dances
should be performed in the spirit in which they were originally performed.
Through costuming, music, appearance and attitude, Malia makes
every attempt to present Middle Eastern and North African dance as it is
performed by the cultures of its origins.
Malia has
an extensive collection of authentic ethnic costumes and jewelry
from the Middle East and North Africa which are used to dress dancers in her stage productions
. Costumes and jewelry from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia,
Algeria and Morocco with rich textiles, elaborate beading, and
intricate embroidery make the dances come alive and are a special visual
treat for the audience.
Malia's goal to help preserve authentic
Middle Eastern and North African Dance is realized though her teaching and
performances. Although authenticity is important to Malia, she
also enjoys the creative side of teaching, creating and presenting non-traditional
Belly Dance as well. New Moon Rising Belly Dance Ensemble's
repetoire include not only traditional dances but sword dancing, single
and double veil whirling dances and a wide variety of dances set to new music
ranging from Modern Ethnic Fusion, to Industrial and Ambient music genres.
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