Now one of the star performers of the Bellydance Superstars, Petite Jamilla didn’t even make the cut at her first audition six years ago.
“I was rejected,” Jamilla said in a phone interview Sept. 24 prior to an eight-hour rehearsal for two shows in the Los Angeles area. “But I kept my name in circulation.”
The Bellydance Superstars troupe had been formed to take part in the 2003 Lollapalooza tour, an annual music festival that features bands as well as other performance artists, including dancers. Jamilla followed the tour to several cities.
“They used guest belly dancers and I was a guest dancer at about five or six cities,” Jamilla said. “They saw my solo dance and liked it.”
Jamilla, 26, joined the troupe full-time in 2004. She performs with Bellydance Superstars on Oct. 10 at the Kent-Meridian Performing Arts Center, as part of the city of Kent Spotlight Series.
Fans won’t likely forget Jamilla’s dance. She spins with veils throughout her more-than-4-minute dance with five other performers.
“Spinning is my specialty,” Jamilla said. “The veils need air so you have to spin to use the veils.”
Other performers at the two-hour show will combine Polynesian dancing, ballet and even gymnastics with belly dancing.
Belly dancing has been part of Jamilla’s family for years. She learned how to belly dance from her mother, Jamilla Rasa, who also gave her daughter the stage name of Petite Jamilla.
“My mother was a belly dancer,” Jamilla said. “She did it as a hobby at restaurants and weddings.”
Jamilla first belly danced at age 4. Because her father served in the military, she moved a lot as a child before her family settled in Alabama when she was a teenager. She started to take belly dancing seriously during her teen years. It was a way to ease into the awkwardness of adolescence.
“I was pretty dorky and didn’t fit in with other people my age,” Jamilla said.
But as a dancer, she found a comfort zone belly-dancing with women older than her. She started to perform professionally at age 15 and became an instructor by age 17. She had two instructional belly dancing DVDs on the market by age 19. Two years later, she joined the Bellydance Superstars for their nine-month tours throughout the world.
“It’s an awesome job,” Jamilla said. “I’m lucky to have it.”
Jamilla lives in Alabama while not on tour. Show promoters refer to her as the “Southern beauty” in media materials.
When Jamilla first started to practice her spinning act, she could only spin for about a minute. But she built that up to more than four minutes without getting dizzy.
“I do not focus on anything when I’m spinning,” Jamilla said about the key to avoid dizziness.
Media critics call the belly dancing show the next big phenomenon to follow “Riverdance,” the world-famous Gaelic dance troupe.
“It’s family entertainment with a lot of special acts,” Jamilla said.
For more information, go to www.bellydancesuperstars.com.
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10
Where: Kent-Meridian Performing Arts Center
Cost: $30 general, $28 ages 55 and older, $25 ages 25 and younger
Tickets: Kentarts.com or call 253-856-5051
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