The Gilded Serpent presents Baraka!

The Gilded Serpent presents
Baraka
Beth Youngdoff

Bàraka (BA - r' ka): aura of the spirit; blessings; blessed. Raks Sharki, Danse Orientale, Middle Eastern Dance, Belly Dance - by any name, this dance has been a blessing in my life. Its joys have been profound and far-reaching; it has allowed me to travel, write, teach and learn, not only dance, but life. I have been blessed with friends the world over. The dance has also been a spiritual journey of discovery. Over the quarter century that I have studied, performed and taught this dance, it has opened doors of wisdom and perception through which I have been guided by my sisters in dance.

Who am I, you ask? That's a good question - one I've spent the last 50 years pondering. I'll get back to you if I ever come up with an answer. But don't hold your breath; the adventure is so much more exciting than the results, so much of the time!

What I do is a lot easier - pinning down the concrete reality instead of the murky depths of consciousness. You've probably figured out that Middle Eastern or Oriental dance (actually, the correct term is Raks Sharki - so please remember that the next time someone's says "belly dance") is a large part of my existence. To say that I live and breathe it might be an understatement; I am constantly dancing, sometimes in the most inappropriate places and to the oddest music. Understanding how dance happens has been the primary occupation of my too-organized mind for the past 25 years, ever since I first began teaching.

Who do I blame for this compulsion? A lot of the credit goes to the incomparable Jamila Salimpour, who was my first serious teacher back in the early 70s. Her organization of basic movement types into families was critical to giving dancers a framework from which to create rather than copy. Of course, I also was fortunate to have good training in the fine arts from childhood on - piano, flute, guitar and percussion instruments, theatre, voice lessons, dance lessons from the age of 3. I was part of the modern dance club in high school (Class of '65, Burlingame High) and did plenty of Gilbert & Sullivan in those years.

Post high-school years in the San Francisco area in the mid-60s offered a lot of interesting things to explore, and I did. Sang for a little while with Hot Air, a precursor to a Grateful Dead offshoot band called "New Riders of the Purple Sage", turned down a gig with Dan Hicks because he had dreams of putting us in mini-skirts and taking us to LA, while I was into country living and hitchhiking.

Came the 70s and I had a son - Noah Oz Appleton - but marriage is not my cup of tea and I raised him as a single mom. This is when Raks Sharki came into my life, because after pregnancy I weighed nearly 170 lbs. and my run-run-leap had become run-run-thud! This was a dance that didn't leave the ground, but used every muscle nonetheless. And the music was intriguing (remember all that music training in my misspent youth?) and the costumes were amazing and I could make them, and the clubs were fun to go to, and in general I fell in love with it.

I first studied at a local recreation department, but after three eight-week sessions I was already looking for more. After several years of exploring, I discovered Jamila's classes, and stuck with it for about 7- 8 years. When I first went to her class, I would struggle along in the beginner's class; after a year or so, I was taking three classes in a row on Saturdays and another dance class and one music class a week. Jamila also brought in dancers like Lala Hakim from Egypt and Hassan Wakrim from Morocco, Aisha Ali shortly after her first trips collecting Ghawazee lore, Morocco (the "Auntie Rocky" of the MED-dance list); in short, we were exposed to a huge variety of dance styles from a traditional, "been there, done that" viewpoint. And this was the mid-70s.

Jamila was my teaching mentor, first using me as a class 'demo" person, then easing me into teaching the beginning class, then sending me out to teach away from her base in San Francisco. I did classes in Berkeley and on the peninsula south of the city under her aegis for several years. Eventually, I moved out on my own (at least in the dance world) and started teaching independently. And from about two years into my training, I was working in supper clubs and restaurants, night clubs and private parties. Because I was a single mom, I couldn't do the extensive traveling some of my friends did - and it seemed so romantic to think of dancing in Lebanon or Paris or Egypt like my friend Rebaba. But I worked steadily throughout the late 70s, the 80s and most of the 90s, right here at home.

Fortunately, "home" was San Francisco, where there is a significant dance community (about 2000 people at last count in a radius of 250 miles or less) and a multitude of seminars with top instructors from all over the world. There's also the annual festivals, Rakkasah and Desert Dance Festival, with vendors and classes and dance opportunities and musicians and friends to see and (get the picture?)... In short, a place where I could explore a wide variety of dance styles, teachers, clubs, live music - rich, exciting, and sunny most of the time!

Another feature of dance life on the west coast is belly dance contests. After a number of students kept telling me I should enter one, I finally screwed up my courage and entered the "Miss America of the Belly Dance" contest - and to my surprise, came in second! "Hmmm - this isn't so bad", I thought, and proceeded to enter several more. I never failed to place at the top - 1st or 2nd (and one 3rd) - which got me to thinking about how this happens - how do you become GOOD at this - good enough for a wide variety of judges to critique you positively? And when you are, what do you do about it?

Had I been 20 years younger, I might have thought it was time to queen it over everyone; thank goddess maturity has some positive aspects! I decided I wanted to put my efforts into improving this dance form's stature in a significant way - by teaching new dancers how to reach for the best they can achieve. And I'm proud to say that it's been a successful endeavor! You should see Tahiya (she's on the Toolkit with me), who's won a number of awards including "Most Promising New Talent" from the GAMAL Dance Academy Awards.

I do continue to perform, but the younger girls can have the club gigs now - I do private parties, showcases, workshops and seminars, and all kinds of special occasions. Most of my efforts now go into teaching others about the complexity and beauty of this dance, and how it reflects who we are inside.

My 'day job' is being the publicist for the Music Department at Stanford University just south of San Francisco. One of the benefits to this job is the many concerts I can attend at an extremely reasonable cost. It also allows me to meet so many wonderful musicians, like our ensemble-in-residence, the St. Lawrence String Quartet - whose world premiere of Christos Hatzis' String Quartet No. 2 was eerily middle eastern.

It's my belief that this dance is a wonderful way to stay healthy and youthful - and I can prove it! I celebrated my 50th birthday in 1997. So not only has "belly dance" been good to me spiritually and emotionally, it's kept me feeling, looking and acting young! And it can do the same for you - just try it!

Articles by Baraka on Gilded Serpent
Dalia Carella in San Francisco by Bàraka
November 1998

7-7-03 Baraka & the Bus or What happened to Baraka? by Baraka/Beth
By now, having lost my home, my studio, my library, my recordings, and my database, you would think I would start to get the hint that it might be time to move away from dance. Having been a dancer literally all of my life, I simply couldn't give it up!

Shira's review of Beth's video
Baraka's web site: http://www.barakasf.com/ website not working! Where is Baraka?
Contact:
Beth Youngdoff, Publicist Phone: 650-723-5981
Music Department Fax: 650-725-2686
Braun Music Center #101
Stanford CA 94305-3076
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