Nejla

Yes, belly dancing has a stigma.

There have been some truly talented dancers who deserve recognition despite the stigma. While we in the scene seek to elevate the artistry, we also, on some level, must admire those who took it, no holds barred, and ran with it.

Erring on the side of sexual rather than sensual, selling images of flesh rather than images of motion, this nod towards the marketing and industry of women as objects often makes it difficult to promote belly dancing as a legitimate art.

It is, indeed, an art, which takes much time to study and practice, and takes no less devotion than learning how to play a musical instrument.

The 1950s star Nejla Ates, photographed more frequently with pasties than without, was a tiny bit of dynamite recognized as an amazing dancer.

An athletic and entertaining performer, she was featured in the Broadway musical "Fanny!" and was on numerous album and magazine covers.


In 1965, when she was 32, she overdosed on barbituates in New York City.

Her suicide saddens me most because people, even fellow dancers, don't recall her playful athleticism, her distinct stylistic technique, her feline grace.

Pasties are not for me, ever, although I can recognize what amazing freedom of movement they would have allowed.

Plus I can admire the ferocity of self-assuredness it must have taken to perform, so scantily-clad, on Broadway in the 1950s.