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Middle Eastern Dancers Chosen as Ambassadors
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Coming June 19,2004 |
Jillina, Artistic Director of the Middle Eastern Dance show expressed that "It's a huge honor as a dancer to be included in such a multicultural event. You only dream of shows like this, sharing the stage with artists of such magnitude from around the world."
For Jillina, Bali was an incredible experience as a performer but it did have its challenges as an Artistic Director. Her mission was to show Middle Eastern Dance at its best to educate billions of people that this dance is an Art while bringing together the many styles of the dance in one show and sometimes even in the same dance. With her extensive experience in stage productions, skill in choreographing and her incredible drive to be her best, Jillina succeeded in putting together a show that highlighted each dancers strengths yet was a cohesive choreography, truely Belly Dance at its best.
The morale among the dancers was high and everyone pulled together and kicked into high gear to give the performance of a lifetime!!
When the dancers arrived in Bali they were greeted in true rock star fashion by T.V. cameras after twenty hours or so of traveling. But like many things that happened on the trip this would prove to be an important learning experience.
When they arrived at the resort where the performers were staying they were truly awestruck at the beauty of their surroundings. The dancers were in a tropical paradise. Although recent incidents in Bali and throughout Indonesia led everyone to be concerned about their safety, everyone agreed that this was an opportunity that they could not miss and that Bali was the ideal place to hold a concert which promotes peace.
Being a part of a show of this magnitude however was a new experience for most of the dancers and they were quite surprised at the support they received, especially from Miles Copeland. Even though Miles is a great businessman who has managed legendary rock bands like "The Police" and "Sting", when the girls were exhausted after many hours of traveling and rehearsing, it was Miles who helped carry their bags for them and even moved equipment.
At the opening party for the event the dancers were told by other artists how Miles was right there fighting to get them as much time on stage since they were supposed to dance live to Egyptian singer Hakim's band. But because Hakim was unable to appear the dancers who were prepared to present up to 30 minutes of coreography the dancers were given time to present their routine as well as appear with other acts.
As I mentioned before, this trip proved to be a learning experience for everyone involved. As most performers have probably experienced at one time or another, the show does not always go exactly as planned and this is even true of a show such as this one.
What was supposed to happen was that the dancers would perform in between bands, but when they were ready to start the crew began to change the equipment and the dancers only had a small portion of the stage. Amar and Kaeshi had to cut their veil wings dance short due to high winds.
Then the "Bellydance Superstars" (Jillina, Ansuya, Amar and Keishi) were supposed to perform with the Israeli ethnic trance group "Zohar" who had invited an Algerian singer to perform with them. Due to many unforseen circumstances their performance kept changing and the dancers wwere not sure if they would be able to perform with them after all. Lucky for Jillina and Amar, who were ready and backstage watching the show, because they ended up performing with Zohar after all.
At the end of the show when INXS was on stage and the dancers were watching in the wings in their regular clothes, Miles had another brainstorm, he turned talked to INXS's manager for a few moments then told the dancers to go ahead out onto the stage and dance with the band. The dancers got to finish off the show dancing to INXS live.
The World Peace Concert which was put together in order to promote peace, understanding and tolerance through music in one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on earth. In the process helped to educate millions of people about the beauty and richness of Middle Eastern Dance . And for Jillina and the rest of the dancers it proved to be the performance and learning experience of a lifetime.
A collection of Middle Eastern Dancers led by Jiliina and the Sahlala Dancers and including Ansuya, Amar & Kaishi-"Belly Queen", and The Desert Rose Dancers journeyed all the way to Bali to participate in the World Peace Concert. The concert, which took place on June 14, 2003 at the Garuda Wishu Kencana featured top musical artist from around the globe who came together to spread a message of peace, unity, tolerance and understanding through music.