Belly dancing to live music for an audience is the ultimate belly dance experience. It is nothing like dancing to recorded music, and when you can dance confidently and respectfully with a live band your understanding of belly dance will rise to another level. It is surprising how many dancers study American Tribal Style, Tribal Fusion, classical Egyptian belly dance, folkloric and American Cabaret Style and then sit down when it is time to improvise to live music. Dancing to live musicians is my favorite part of belly dancing! Years ago I started learning percussion in order to deepen my understanding of the music and also

Lamma Bada Yatathana is a beautiful old song to belly dance to. Lamma Bada is also The Danceable Song for the 9th episode of my belly dance podcast A Little Lighter [visual-link-preview encoded="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"] If you want to sing Lamma Bada, print these: Lamma Bada phonetic lyrics and translation - Aquabella version Lamma Bada Lyric Pronounciation and Translation - Taksim Ithaca Version Lamma Bada is a “muwashsha”, meaning a secular poem which grew out of al-Andalus. This often refers to Southern Spain before Christian invaders came in the late 1400s and kicked out a hell of a lot of great musicians and architects. Muslims and Jews were forced to either