Hips don't lie: Frisco resident discusses life as professional belly dancer

Her stage name, Sa'diyya, in Egyptian Arabic, means good luck or good fortune. For Frisco resident Elizabeth Parr, the name has brought her all of that and more.

Sa'diyya, who has lived in Frisco since she got married in 2005, was initially put-off by belly dancing when she first experienced it.

"When I was a teenager, I saw a belly dancer at a restaurant and it's kind of funny because I was actually a little uncomfortable," Sa'diyya said. "It wasn't until the second time that I went and saw her that I was more intrigued rather than uncomfortable, and I ended up asking her about classes."

A few weeks after speaking with the belly dancer and realizing that the instructor taught too far away, Sa'diyya said a studio opened down the street from her home.

"It was just belly dancing, that's it and I was super excited. I was 16-years-old and I convinced my parents to let me do it," Sa'diyya said. "They were a little hesitant because it's belly dancing, they didn't know what to think about it either, but it's very family oriented and it's kind of a cultural type dance. That's the way it was presented at the studio -- so they were okay with it."

Sa'diyya, who said she was always interested in dancing, initially took the classes for fun and slowly began teaching and performing.

"I didn't expect it to become my job, but it did," she said. In 2003 Sa'diyya began competing with international belly dancers during the Belly Dancer of the Universe Competition. She competed in 2003 and 2005, and always "placed" she said, but never won. However, in 2011, she won The Universal Champion title.

"This is an international competition. I was competing with dancers from Russia, from of course all over the United States, from Europe, [and] South America, and I competed in several categories and I won first place in two categories," Sa'diyya said. "Their main category is called 'Universal' and we have to dance to three different time measures, three different rhythms of Middle Eastern dance."

Winning "The Universal Champion" title has helped Sa'diyya gain more notoriety in the performance realm of her career; she also added that it has encouraged her to improve as a belly dancer.

"I think that it definitely helped my career as far as gaining more opportunities to teach around the United States because whenever you win a title like that people pay attention, and they become interested in what you have to offer as an instructor and performer," she said. "I have received more bookings because of it and I've also kind of played it up in my performances at restaurants ... and it's kind fun to brag about because it's an achievement and I feel good about it."

Sa'diyya said she feels that she is at a "crossroads" as to whether she will continue competing or focus on instructing others."

There is a point where, in the world of belly dance, that dancers have to retire from competing if they want to become sort of an authority figure," Sa'diyya said, "and move on to being looked at as more of a teacher versus somebody that is still climbing through in their career and trying to get to a certain point."

Sa'diyya, who teaches classes for beginning to advanced students out of her home studio, said she used to work with a company, but after getting married, decided she wanted to teach on her own. She has also taught workshops in several cities around the United States including Boston, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Dallas.

One of her goals, she added is to travel around teaching students and performing.

"I'd like to keep learning more, that's the interesting thing about belly dancing is that there's not a point where you've learned everything that you need to know," Sa'diyya said.

For information, go to www.sadiyyadance.com.

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