Belly Dancer-PTA Mom Twirls Into Those Who Twist Classic Art Form Into Eroticism

Belly dancer Kathleen Stradley, 36, mother of two, PTA secretary and aerobics teacher, thinks the true belly dancer is getting a bad rap.

“There are some people out there who shouldn’t be belly-dancing,” she said. “They’ve turned a Middle Eastern classic dance into an erotic spectacle.” She contends “bellygram” dancers are the main violators.

“Most of those belly dancers don’t look or perform like belly dancers,” said Stradley, of Brea, who learned the dance 10 years ago and joined a troupe that performs at such functions as benefits, charity events and shows as well as the Indio Date Festival and the Fullerton Lively Arts Festival. “I object to people who do an erotic dance and claim it’s belly-dancing. Their costumes are even wrong because the true belly dance costume covers more of the body than it shows.”

Moreover, she added, few of those dancers know how to coordinate their hands, feet and pelvic gyrations to the music. “They do bumps and grinds,” she said, “and some even go topless.”

Stradley recently performed at the Brea Cultural Center with two others from the troupe, which was formed 10 years ago with 10 dancers at Long Beach City College. “The 10 dwindled down to us three,” she said, “but we’re still keeping it going.” The others are Nikki Wilshusen of Torrance and Merle Baker of Lakewood.

They’re also still learning more about the dance, the costumes and even the food from countries where the dance is a prominent entertainment form. “The more we dance, the more we seem to learn and want to learn,” said Stradley, who once taught belly-dancing at the Fullerton YMCA and now teaches aerobics six hours a week, which keeps her in shape.

Stradley is a member of the Middle Eastern Culture and Dance Assn. She performs under the name Haleema: “It doesn’t have a meaning. I made it up.”