Belly dance? Yup. And stand-up? Uh huh. What- in costume? In several. On paper we can’t quite believe it hasn’t been done already, yet consummate performer Galit Mersand has indeed spawned a whole new genre for herself. And boy does she own it.
Working on a premise expressed in her first show, that many people haven’t been that close to a Belly dancer, ‘let alone a talking one’, Galit takes us on a tour of some of the issues facing today’s Belly Dance Diva, starting with what we’ll call ‘Man on Train’, lamenting the effects of telling certain people her profession, followed by ‘Ya Salaam (dear)’. Rough
translation: ‘Yeah, right’.
Next is the humiliation of not being taken seriously by Sadlers, leading to Darcy Bussel (Eat Your Heart Out), where Galit demonstrates her versatility, and into the responsibilities of being a Belly dance teacher, which are not always quite what you may think.
Tongue firmly wedged in cheek, over the course of the evening Galit gently pokes fun at some of the stereotypes within the Belly dance world: the cheesecake, the earth-mother and the faux-historian. Nor does she shy away from including herself. Much of the comedy is based on dance parody, hard to pull off unless you’re extremely capable, which, fortunately, she is.
Though the humour is dance-related, it’s not exclusive and is accompanied with some of the most accomplished belly dancing you’re likely to see. We thoroughly recommend you bring your mother, brother, boyfriend and best friend. Just don’t expect to see all of them again…
For info on when and where to find the next Bellylicious show, hot-foot it over Galit Mersand's site.
By Amy Barnard
