Fatine Home

fatine.bellydance [at] gmail.com

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Biography of a Dancer:

Fatine is a Lebanese-American woman who hails from Houston, the land of heat, where she can appreciate the desert in her blood without all the sand. She has bellydanced with formal instruction since 1998, although not with a serious bent to perform until 2002. She grew up with dance her whole life, and with Middle Eastern forms in particular. One of her fondest and most inspiring memories is of watching her grandmother and great-aunt dancing, lively and graceful and to the enjoyment of everyone, in the living room of her great-grandmother’s house while Lebanese records played on the giant stereo cabinet. While they did not “bellydance” per se, their movements have much in common with the art form as it has taken root in America, and no one could mistake their love for dancing.

Like many little girls, Fatine’s father taught her to dance when she was very young – but this was no ballroom lesson! Fatine began to dabke as a matter of course early in life. One might easily ask what took her so ridiculously long to sign up for bellydance classes, and she would have no good answer.

She chose her name for dancing because it belonged to her great-grandmother’s older sister. Fatine (the great-great-aunt) was a fine Lebanese woman of the Edwardian Era, yet she died at a tragically young age. When Fatine (the great-great-niece) sifted through the marvelous collection of Arabic names she might pick from, she decided that it was time the name earned its own joy, and dance has more than provided her with it. The name means “captivating, entrancing.”

Fatine enjoys many types of dance besides cabaret bellydance. She has been swing dancing for years: East, West, and Gulf Coast styles. She also has dabbled in or actively pursued ballet, tap, West African, Bhangra, Bollywood “Filmi,” and ballroom; she loves the creative beauty of American Tribal Style; she wholeheartedly believes in fusion. Fatine plays the zills and doumbek and loves to dance with veils. She always tries to learn new things, since a wider range of styles and abilities can foster a greater appreciation for the art form of dance as a whole. Above all, her dance is motivated by the joy which has inspired her, since she was a child, in the form of her grandmother’s family.

Currently, Fatine dances as a soloist and sometimes with other local performers. She teaches dance to all ages. She has served on the board of officers for the Houston Area Belly Dance Association as both Secretary and Vice-President. The sisters she has gathered in her pursuit of this exquisite art form are worth their weight in spice and gold. Aside from this passion, she is the writer Angélique Jamail.

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