Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Bellydancers to Shake Up Jakarta

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Friday, December 11, 2009

Bellydancers to Shake Up Jakarta

The Jakarta Globe, Ade Mardiyati

Bellydance Jakarta, catering to women of all shapes and sizes, wants to put Indonesia on the map as a center for Middle Eastern dance. Aside from mastering the techniques, students also learn the history and tradition of the iconic dance. (Photo courtesy of the group)

Jakarta’s first center for Middle Eastern dance will present its fourth annual recital, “A Journey Through Shimmering Sands” on Sunday, in Pusat Perfilman Usmar Ismail theater.

Founded in 2006, Bellydance Jakarta has been a popular venue for women of all ages, backgrounds, shapes and sizes to learn the iconic Middle Eastern dance, along with the associated history and culture.

“There are many bellydance classes now at gyms, dance workshops and other places, but they don’t know what its all about,” Christine Yaven, founder of Bellydance Jakarta, said in an e-mail. “We are the only Middle Eastern dance center in Indonesia to perform authentic bellydance.”

Christine said many classes only teach sexy movements and pass it off as the real deal. At Bellydance Jakarta, students are not only taught the dance movements but also how to interpret the complex Arabic music rhythms as well as lyrics and cultural accuracy.

From there, she said, one can master the elegant, sophisticated and sensual dancing.

More than 60 women will be performing the famous Egyptian Candelabra, Melaya Leff from Alexandria and modern bellydance.

“The root of bellydance is folkloric Middle Eastern dance,” she said. “That’s why each year we try to incorporate at least one or two folkloric dances in our recital.”

This year’s exhibition will also present Hawaiian Hula and Bollywood dances, a collaboration between the school and another two groups, Hula Dance Jakarta and Bolly Groves. The event will also feature a fashion show to transport the audience back to the 1940s and 1950s.

Bellydance Jakarta’s last three showcases sold out an garnered an enthusiastic response from the audience, including the counsellor of the Egyptian Embassy.

This year’s event, however, will be somewhat different from past recitals, Christine said.

“Our students’ dancing skills [back then] were still quite rudimentary,” said Christine, who holds dance certificates from Egypt, the United States and Canada. “We also held the events in hotel ballrooms, so it was more a dinner and dance.

“This year, the students that have been with me for two years or more have really come into their own, and we decided to perform in a theater instead.”

She added that no guest dancers from the Middle East had been invited to perform.

“Bellydance Jakarta is fast gaining a reputation in South East Asia as an authentic, reputable Middle Eastern dance center,” she said. “ And my goal is to put Indonesia on the map in the bellydance world.”

The show took months of preparation to master the techniques. The students, Christine said, have volunteered time and energy to make this year’s show the best one yet.

“Our recitals are always to showcase our students’ hard work,” Christine said. “This is a celebration of how far they have come in their journey of Middle Eastern dance.”

A Journey Through Shimmering Sands
Sunday, 4 p.m to 7 p.m.

Pusat Perfilman
Usmar Ismail
(near Pasar Festival)
Jalan H R Rasuna Said
Kuningan, South Jakarta

Ticket prices:
Nefertiti: Rp 180,000
Cleopatra: Rp 150,000
Isis: Rp 120,000
Seats are assigned on a first-come first-serve basis