JeniViva Bellydancer profile picture

JeniViva Bellydancer

Sail to Me, Sail to me, Let me Unfold you...

About Me

II am a NYC based Bellydancer for over 5 years (check out my home made site @ www.jenibellydance.com) and have a deep love affair with New Orleans, such that I'm there almost every other month....eeeeek! : ) Just finished my M.A. in Literature and my strong suit is 19th Century Americanism, as well as 19th Century Romanticism. My latest project has been with DAUGHTERS OF DIONYSUS BELLYDANCE, a version of the old and new genres of bellydance fused with the darkest of musical and emotional elements. I have lived and loved across the continents, most notably Portugal (o saudades!!!). At present, my life is devoted to bellydance, teaching and performing, breaking down centuries of tradition and rebuilding a darker foundation for future fusion bellydancers. I am in love with John Keats, William Blake, Percey B. Shelley, John Milton, F. Petrarch, Sir Sidney and Surrey, Veronica Franco, Anne Rice, Anais Nin, sweet red wine, fine arts and the ancient craft. I am a Jen of all trades really... :)~

My Interests

BELLYDANCE, 9/8's GOTHIC BELLYDANCE (RAQS GOTHIQUE), ATS, Victorian vampirism, Pyrosutra, the smell of old books, PIRATES!!! eating brandy cherries, collecting antique books, the mid-to-late 19th century in Amer. (old new york!) and in England as well...Breezy Oak trees and Spanish moss, old photos, words, words, words, choreographing with sister slack!!!!!! people who never age, people who are well versed and often ill mannered, holy crap....I like to knit too! Ha! Nothin' like a circle of drunk bellydancers knitting till dawn! Yeeehaaaa!

I'd like to meet:

other dancers, goth and glam lovers, well read people to talk with about life, love, nostalgia, music and poetry, open-minded individuals with many tales to tell and some life experience under their belts. ***IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE DUDES....as much as I'm flattered by your requests and boldness to speak your piece, PLEASE do not send me love notes/bizarre offers/words of undying affection, MY MAN is REALLY all I need. I WILL BLOCK YOU and then BLACKLIST YOU if you do not abide. Also, PLEASE do not send me a friend request without an introduction. LASTLY, I DO NOT ADD BANDS AT RANDOM. YOUR BAND BETTER KICK SOME MAJOR ASS IF YOU WANT ME TO ADD YOU. Thanks Ya'lls!!! xoxoxox!!!!!!******

Music:

Siouxsie, DCD, The Damned, Sisters, Christian Death, H.I.M., Bowie, Clan of Xymox, Nick Cave, Gypsy Caravan, Solace, Turbo Tabla, Faith and the Muse, The Postal Service, DNTEL, In the Nursery, Electric Six, Jeff Buckley, Damien Rice, The Pogues, Bebel and Astrud Gilberto, Stan Getz, O Fado!, "Lady Day", a little glam rock too now and again...love T.REX! The Cult, The Mission, the c'mon already!!! really I could go on. Lets just say Im still into the music I listenend to 15 years ago and Im not particular if its well written...i.e, Belle and Sebastian. If you really want to know whats in my ipod right this second email me for a friggin playlist! : )~

Movies:

Belly Dance: Viktoriya dances crazy hair dance Melaya Laff


Oh God, I love this Woman!!! I swear I am not a big Melaya Leff person but she is soooo fricken cute and earthy. I used to think that Arabic dance is stuffy and stiff but from what I've seen from Sahra Saeeda and Viktoriya I have been rethinking all that. I just had to post this...PLEASE GET IN TO HER ZAAR ENDING!!! I used to do that in the end of one of my drum solos....tthrew my neck out, canned the act!! Lol!! Enjoy!!! xoxoxox Jeni V. Viktoriya performs Melaya Laff, a Classical Egyptian Belly Dance that includes flinging her hair in a crazy but mesmerizing way, to the music of Bassam Ayoub.

"Gothic Bellydance" DVD trailer - belly dance


A blend of music videos and concert-style videos of bellydance performances by top US dance artists working within the genre of "Gothic" bellydance. . It creates images reminiscent of Goth and Rock subcultures and uses music that combines echoes of Goth and industrial styles with many ethnic flavors of modern world music. DANGEROUS BEAUTY and Legend are still my 2 favorite movies....gotta love that Bryan Ferry&Tangerine Dream soundtrack!, Labyrinth, Secretary, Matador, Delicatessen, Cold Mountain, Henry and June, Nadja, Dracula ( how cliche but I truly love it ), The Big Lebowski, Eternal sunshine, Pirates of the Caribbean, All About Eve and really anything with Bette Davis in it, Xanadu (cos it made me want to rollerskate into a mural on a brickwall!!!) Dead Man, The Red Violin, Moulin Rouge, Gothic ( my two boys!!!), Valmont, Elizabeth, LOTR, Gone with the Wind...ohhhhh and The Last Unicorn too!

Television:

Im a Sunday night TV person. I make sauce, drink wine, and watch junk all night long which includes Charmed, Carnivale (not junk), Curb your Enthusiasm, and the Alternative ( where I bitch about days long passed and big hair....ahhh for the scent of Aussie sprunch spray and Aqua net!). Im also strangely addicted to wife swap and Civil War documentaries...who knew! : )

Books:

Too many to list but I'll start you off with the most groundbreaking in my life.... Moby Dick and also The Confidence Man, both by Melville....not to mention my very first copy of Keat's Eve of St.Agnes....any Keats is a sensual paradise....please go read him now if you haven't already......see also Shelley's Adonais...a tribute to our beloved Keats..... Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales are very neccesary, so is Anything by Petrarch, Poe, and all the prominent American renaissance writers and English romantic poets, Oh and GOETHE!!!! I just finished The Sorrows of Young Werther by him....grab a kleenex! Marlowe's Hero and Lyander, Spencer's Faerie Queene (compare with Milton's Paradise Lost!) , Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis, and my favorite sonnet series again and again.....Sir Sidney's Astrophel and Stella. www.luminarium.org rules!

Heroes:

Nettie, John Keats, Johnny, Nina Hagen, The Gods who made Bellydance possible...

My Blog

This weekend's shows! Startin' TONIGHT!!!

Wheeeee....So I hope everyone has recovered from Mardi Gras. I myself still have some remnant sniffles and aches! The show must go on just the same!!!So.....Tonight (Thursday), my girl SIRA and I will...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:02:00 PST

FEBRUARY MADNESS! BURLESQUE NOIR & GOTHIC BELLYDANCE @ ELEMENT NYC!!!!

YAY!So I have been trying to get my shit together with the burlesque meets bellydance thing. My vision is simple: Moulin Rouge on Absinthe set in a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere.Heheeeeee!Oh do j...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Tue, 06 Feb 2007 05:51:00 PST

PHOTOGRAPHERS!

Soooooooooooo.......To give thanks and to hopefully drum up some more work for these amazing artists, I have decided to post a lil' something about Photographers.I used to be a hair model way back whe...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:11:00 PST

COSTUMES, JEWELS, N' MORE!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Ya'lls, I have decided to post this blog because I get a handful of emails everyday asking me about costumes. I hope this helps!ThIS BLOG WILL BE IN 3 PARTS, this being #1: CABARET BELLYDANCE COST...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:00:00 PST

COOLNESS!!!!!!!!Come n See what we're brewin'.......

This has to be the coolest concept for a show. Big up to Sherene Schostak, creator, teacher, and moon sista for putting this together. Do try to make it out to this show guys, its filled with the best...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Wed, 08 Nov 2006 10:35:00 PST

BELLYDANCE PARTIES THIS FRIDAY!

WheeeeeeeeeeeeeeTime to shake things up around here! You've got me 2x's a night this Friday in NYC!First show is at TUT'S, which should be around 11:30 pman hour later I am getting down at KUSH, which...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Thu, 02 Nov 2006 11:40:00 PST

PERFORMANCE TIME 4 ENDLESS NIGHT MASQUERADE 10/29

THIS JUST IN....NOW YOU KNOW!..Did I mention how excited I am for this weekend??!!Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Im going to pounce Sasha now...he's grumpy becaus...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:39:00 PST

ENDLESS NIGHT IN NYC BABY...WHOOOWEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Hey Ya'lls...Get yer arse outta bed, put yer glad rags on and come out and play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Of course I will be dancing for your viewing pleasure...wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!Can't wait!xoxoxJeniVivawww.j...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:42:00 PST

OCTOBER SHOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy do I love October!!!So many wonderful shows are happening this month!I am doing my regular CABARET BELLYDANCE SHOW at MAIA MEYHANE on AVENUE B AND 6TH AVE, NYC, this SATURDAY OCTOBER 7TH at 11ish ...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Tue, 03 Oct 2006 11:01:00 PST

My Goth bellydance clip....just a lil somethin'

Posted By:*JeniViva*Get this video and more at MySpace.comvideo by amy staub: (www.amyraks.com)music by: DjinnMy boogey on down partner:Isis...
Posted by *JeniViva* on Sat, 23 Sep 2006 12:26:00 PST