A flurry of emails has resulted from the publication of a flyer promoting a dancer in Cape Town named Ishtar-Athmar. Displaying her considerable ignorance, Ishtar claims to be a true 'oriental dancer' while at the same time making claims about 'belly dancers' which seem to be rooted in Victorian hypocrasy.

Not only has she insulted 'belly dancers' around the country, but she has also got her history wrong. Her story about the Syrian dancer 'Little Egypt' performing at the World's Fair in Chicago is simply that; a story. In fact a troupe of dancers performed at the Egyptian Theatre, shocking the Victorian audience with their gyrations and rapid hip movements (but mainly due to the fact that the dancers did not wear corsets!). Many imitators followed, one of whom, Fatima (otherwise known as Little Egypt) was probably the best known.

Her claim that a true dancer 'must be familiar with the Arabic music and language' is nonsense and smacks of both ignorance and arrogance. After putting down the belly dance community, she is then listed on the internet as a "belly dance instructor". I wonder then if she regards her own students as "belly dancers who perform in seedy nightclubs; and dancing with her body but unable to connect to the music; and unflatteringly exposing her girth". Or, does she only take in students who "originate from the Middle East; and understand the Middle Eastern culture" in which case, her classes must be extremely small!

Sting's Desert Rose duet with Cheb Mami has lyrics written in Arabic (by Mami) which Sting certainly did not understand, yet he managed to interpret both music and lyrics and follow the theme of 'longing'.

Music is a universal language, it speaks to our hearts and souls without the need for us to be multi-lingual.

I am a belly dancer. My students are belly dancers. We are proud of what we do and take pleasure in our dance skills and abilities.

Footnote: A while after this article appeared on TheBB website, I received a terse email from the lady concerned which read: "on your email, put my web address". I am assuming that this was a request to insert her website address into the article. A request that I ignored.