After tonight’s World Bellydance Championship (هزي يا نواعم) there remains only one prime: the finale. Five dancers were reduced to four tonight with Syrian Sandra leaving the show, finally.
When the show started off, I expected Sandra to get booted in the first prime because she could not dance if her life depended on it. But since she has a double-D bosom she remained, with Simon Asmar clearly indicating the generosity of her bodily features in every prime and giving her 6’s or 7’s on really mediocre performances. My theory is that they wanted to keep her in the competition because she was bringing them the most viewers. But tonight since only one prime is left, people will watch it anyway out of curiosity and Miss.Booby can leave, so they ditched her. That’s show business politics for you.
Here are my impressions of the four finalists:
Fadwa
I find Fadwa too aggressive for my taste, but she is a brilliant dancer nonetheless. She has never failed to impress the jury and is versatile enough to jive with any beat. I expect her to compete over first place. Ironically, I danced with her tonight, mimicking her every move, and to my astonishment I kept up with her. This means she needs to step her game up for the finale.
Layla
Never underestimate a foreign bellydance aficionado.This gorgeous Ukrainian dancer keeps getting better and better every week. Her last week’s performance (dancing on the darbukka, or tableh) was so passionate and beautiful and perfect. I have never seen something quite like it myself, and I have seen a LOT of bellydancing. Layla wants to learn Arabic, any volunteers?
Estelle
Estelle has many things going for her; the jury likes her, she’s tall, and she does exceptionally well in improvisation. I don’t know what it is about her though that I do not digest; maybe the height and skinniness, or it could be that I feel she’s more technical than passionate on stage, unlike Fadwa and Layla, for example.
Rana
I love Rana. She looks so nerdy when they do the small video clips of her before the dance, with her geeky glasses on and casual wear. But when she appears on stage she is a total diva. She’s very sensual and sweet and her dancing is fantastic and well-timed. I like her the best BUT I don’t think she will compete over first place because Estelle and Fadwa and Layla are way more aggressive than she is. Maybe she will give it her all next week, you never know. I would gladly become Rana’s best friend - call me, Rana!
Those were my impressions. I expect the show will have a sequel next season with many many more girls participating and a lot more respect from the general public. For now though, I can hardly wait for the finale!
I did not follow the show all the time. I actually watched the last prime only :) I think Estelle is the best regarding technique. Fadwa and Laila are curvier and sexier.All in all, not a bad show.
أنا بحب البرنامج ده جـــــداً فوق ما تتخيلو .. وبشجع إستيــــــــــــل حبيبه قلبي .. ويارب تكسب في البريم النهائي .. بس كان ليا طلب اني اعرف الموقع الرسمي للمسابقه
I can’t believe I can’t see this show here! ARRRRGHHHHH!! Please keep me in mind when you’re watching the finale, Tololy!!! Can you update us on the results, too?!
i honestly dont watch the show very much. but they say that Layla is the best dancer..i say its FAdwa! :p No? Estelle is good also!
Excellent! This is my favorit topic when it comes to the middle-east! I checked on YouTube trying to find some clips, but most of them seem to be from last year :(<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtCo0w9a304<br /><br />Is that montage from this year? It was uploaded 3 days ago but there isn’t very much information about it.<br /><br />I like nerd-girls who dance too, I hope she wins :)<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRkchkR2tcg<br /><br />That one must be for this year, they mentioned Leila the Ukrainian.<br />
Lulu & Maher,<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>welcome to my blog. I think we should wait and see who wins next week, this is exciting isn’t it? :)<br /><br />Hi Mostafa, this is the official website of the competition : http://www.lbcgroup.tv/WorldBellydance/Default.aspx<br /><br />I will definitely keep you posted Lulu, I might even record the finale and upload it to YouTube :)<br /><br />Craig, the YouTube videos you sent are from the competition. They’re pretty good too, I’m watching them now. I also hope Rana wins, I like her and Layla the best.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
I watched one prime of this show, I thought it was really cool<br />They kicked the French girl out but they gave too much feedback on what she was dressed on although she specifically said she was inspired by Esmerelda of The Hatchback of Notre Dam.<br /><br />ok i’m rambling,<br />but yeah - cool show, too bad no Egyptians! hehehe<br />Rana is good :D<br />
انا فادي احمد من الاردن انا عبارة عن رجل بمووووووووووت بأستيل رئصها بياخد العئل وبثيرني جدا ياريت لو ائئدر اخد ايميلها او رقم موبايلها بتمنى انها تكسب بالبرايم الفاينل ورح احاول اجيبها بحفلة عيد ميلادي ترئص؟ بحبك استيل والله يوفئك وتكوني افضل رائصة شرقة بالعالم كله</p>
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Speaking as a Lebanese, I was very disapointed. I can’t believe Estella won, besides the fact she lacked looks and her body (too tall & thin), she wasn’t very good at shaking her hips. I honestly would of prefered Layla. She was awsome, beautiful, fit body, and she could move to the beat very well.She has great talent, she should of won. I hope she continues to belly dance, she has so much talent, the judges were a couple of donkeys… Very disapointed…<br />