REVIEW: The Secret Life of a Bellydancer
Shimmy into the Silly Season [by Sharu Delilkan]
The cast of Secret Life of a Bellydancer (L-R) Marina Volkova (Delilah Delight), Tais Derbasova (Veruska), Gina Timberlake ( Jamila/Janice), Anjula Prakash (Tellus) and Denise Snoad (Sandra).
The very title The Secret of a Bellydancer conjures up multiple images. And depending on how vivid your imagination is, it can be as raunchy as you like.
For that reason I decided to go with an open mind. And also having done bellydancing classes before, when I lived in Hong Kong in the late 1990s, I was curious to see what the show had on offer.
There is no doubt that bellydancing is one of those activities that intrigues and puts a smile on everyone’s face – whether you’re the dancer or just a member of the audience.
And that’s exactly what the general feeling was like in the foyer of The Musgrove, despite the fact that it was one of the dreariest wettest Auckland evenings.
People not only had traipsed across town to come to the show but there were members of the audience that came dressed in their bellydancing accessories.
The cardboard boxes scattered around the stage set the scene for the supermarket locality, where most of the action takes place.
The story about the central character Jamila/Janice (Gina Timberlake), who leaves her husband in Egypt to live with her parents is nothing new. However her obsession with bellydancing, which is revealed early in the piece to her fellow co-workers in the supermarket Save and Go, is a great tribute to the inner beauty of women. And a story where emancipation triumphs over strict religious beliefs always goes down well.