I'm making a documentary about bellydance in India! Check it out: https://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/traveling-bellydancer-in-india-documentary
Weddings in India are an extravagant affair. Those with money
to spend go all out. A typical middle class wedding budget runs at about
$100 000. This covers an outdoor party lawn with a gorgeous setup, a
huge buffet dinner, non-stop performances - the whole nine yards.
In just a couple of months I've danced in countless
weddings in Delhi and around. Sometimes I'm the only bellydancer, other
times I'm one out of four or five. Indian dance groups perform to
popular Bollywood songs. Some specialty acts include a human fountain,
or a girl dancing in a giant martini glass. Western women are often
hired as hostesses, whose tasks vary from greeting guests to cocktail
waitressing. The more foreigners in the cast, the more prestige.
Performers have a big stage all for themselves, the
bride and the groom sit on a separate one. Typically we don't even see
the happy couple throughout the whole event! In this respect an Indian
wedding is very different from an Arabic or Western one. We are there to
entertain the guests - not the newlyweds themselves. And entertain we
do.
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| Wedding venues are huge, and stages are big too. |
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| Bride arriving for the wedding ceremony. All eyes and tons of cameras are on her. |
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| Life of Krishna dramatization. These silver painted dancers looked incredible. |
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| With Poppy, an Indian dancer. This party had a carnival theme so my bellydance costume got tuned up with feathers. |
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| As "bridesmaids" with Janka Redechova. In addition to bellydancing, we ushered the bride and the groom onto the stage. It was a great chance to see the wedding procession up close. |
