Aziza

of Hungary

I first encountered Oriental dance in the Soviet Union in 1982, where I indulged in my first lessons from my Moroccan, Jordanian, and Tunisian university friends. The movements I learned then slumbered for the next decade and a half!

I was 37 when I started studying Oriental dance here in Budapest, Hungary where I live. The conscious need to involve myself with dance first came to me when I was looking for a movement system by which I could keep my figure and my physical fitness in good condition after four children. I wanted something that I could practice regardless of my age. and that activity should provide opportunity for self-expression and creativity--while making the changing conditions of womanhood joyful for me.

After a few dance lessons here in Hungary, I got in touch with foreign instructors via the Internet (Many thanks to Morocco!) who could help me understand the essence of this colourful dance form. I also asked my Arabian acquaintances, living in Hungary, to help me get closer to this special movement treasure. During my travels abroad, I experienced the Eastern people's positive attitude towards life, and one of its daily forms of expression is dancing!

Since the year 2000, I have enjoyed group and private master classes with foreign dancers who happened to have traveled to Hungary. The most inspiring of those numerous instructors were: Hadia, Lesya Star, Ulaya Gadalla, Magdy El Leisy, Serena Ramzy, Leyla Youvana, and Momo Kadous

At the time, there were no comprehensive instructional writings about Oriental dance written in Hungarian, so I had to obtain the necessary information in English. Also, in order to be able to teach Oriental dance as a movement system (from the point of view of movement and training theory), I earned a recreational sport and a Hungarian folklore dance instructor degree to complement my basic teacher's degree. There was no information subject available like "the technique of Belly dancing". I had to construct it myself. It took a lot of research in regards to both its theoretical and its practical sides.

Dance helped me a lot--just as it has helped many other women, and has numerous aspects. Because of my family background, I thought that the stage would not be my main profile, but rather, teaching girls and women on their hobby-dance path as well as training, coaching, mentoring dance trainers (who had no pedagogical degrees) but want to teach dance throughout our country--even in the smallest villages.

I share with them the teaching method I have developed over the years, the tricks I figured out, and whatever makes the learning process easier. I worked out, organized and lead an Instructor Training Program that has received the Accreditation of the Adult Education Accreditation Board of the National Institute of Vocational and Adult Education of Hungary (NIVE).

Besides teaching Oriental dance, regularly, I give oral lectures and special female training throughout the country. Additionally, I dance at different programs my articles have been published in magazines. In 2003, I published the first Hungarian Oriental dance book, "Belly Dancing: Harmony, Vitality, Body Shaping, Eroticism".

Web site:/www.bellydance-book.com/ --update 2011- site not functional

Articles on Gilded Serpent by or about Aziza

11-8-10 The Physiological Effects of Oriental Dance, Excerpt from Health and The Oriental Dance, Chapter 1 by Aziza of Hungary
There was no information subject available like "the technique of Belly dancing". I had to construct it myself. It took a lot of research in regards to both its theoretical and its practical sides.