Dalia Carella: Body and Soul podcast

Dalia Carella is one of those bold, glamorous, old-school entertainers clearly born to rule the stage. And she's a serious creative artist whose painstaking approach to the dances of diverse cultures has been shaped by mentors of notable integrity. I interviewed her in October 2007. She was then a new member of the faculty of Dance New Amsterdam (DNA), and we spoke about her career and her pioneering involvement in DNA's Performance Project where she introduced students to the rich music and dance traditions of the Near and Middle East and the Maghreb. GUEST BIO Dalia Carella is a world-renowned Near/Middle Eastern contemporary dancer, choreographer, instructress and global fusion artist. Audiences from around the world have applauded her mystical and innovative dances and choreographies that are taken from the tradition of the countries she is representing. Carella has delved deeply in the studies of dances from the Near and Middle East including Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, as well as North Africa including Morocco and Algeria. Her dances are both traditional and contemporary with a spiritual essence behind each and every movement that she creates. Some of Carella's new works represent both traditional and contemporary movement and range from sacred rituals to ethnic contemporary theater pieces and cabaret macabre inspired by the 1920s and '30s. Her dance background also includes studies in Flamenco, Indian/Bollywood/Bhangra, African, Samba, Salsa, Bomba and Plena from Puerto Rico as well as jazz and ballet. Carella also created her signature dance form in 1985, "Dunyavi Gypsy (Roma) Dance," for which she is known throughout the world. The core of Dalia's Dunyavi work is extensive research of the Romany trail, focusing primarily on the Roma dances of Spain, India, Turkey and most recently, movements from North Africa. Dalia has also been performing and teaching a second style of Gypsy Rom dance, "El Mundo," that is evolving from her continuing studies of Middle Eastern, Andalusia and Latin dance influences. For more information, visit http://www.daliacarella.com/bio.html. LINK http://www.daliacarella.com Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa