Sometimes video moments on TV don't really go as you planned... this one was posted to Reddit and got 500,00 views on vimeo... here is the youtube version.
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2009 Cover Story from the Towson Times
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Nina Rutledge, of Towson, who performs under the name, Nina Amaya, leads a belly dancing class. (Photo by Steve Ruark) - See more at: http://archives.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/99635/navel-maneuvers/#sthash.WDH5fH4c.dpuf
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Navel Maneuvers
Belly dancer wiggles her way to health, happiness
By Loni Ingraham
lingraham@patuxent.com
Posted 6/12/09 - See more at: http://archives.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/99635/navel-maneuvers/#sthash.WDH5fH4c.dpuf
The minister's daughter is a belly dancer. But it's OK. Her father, the Rev. Fred Rutledge, a retired minister for the First Unitarian Church in Baltimore, comes to her shows, according to Idlewylde resident Nina Rutledge.
"He's a rather liberated old gent -- Unitarians are multicultural anyway," Rutledge said. "And usually when he comes to a show he can watch all the belly dancers that aren't his daughter. He likes that.
"What we do is sensual, not sexual. It has a rich cultural heritage history."
Yet she's aware of the professional belly dancer's constant struggle to differentiate the art of dance from stripping -- noting the stripping would likely pay better.
Wearing heavy makeup and dressed in a full skirt of chiffon or cotton, a matching belt and bra and lots of jewelry, Rutledge performs under a stage name, the exotic Nina Amaya.
She also teaches belly dance to both women and men ... and children. It's always "family friendly and child appropriate," she said.
Or as her Web site firmly states, "Unless you are gay, Nina will not perform at your bachelor party."
Rutledge declines to reveal her age.
"Nina is old enough to know better," she said, shimmying past the question. "It's an age-conscious profession; we age out just like football players."
Perhaps it suffices to say she is the mother of five children ranging in age from 5 to 21.
She has been married for nearly 11 years to Luke Goembel, a space scientist with a doctorate who works in the basement of their home on Regester Avenue, she said.
"He runs Goembel Instruments, the smallest aerospace company in Maryland," she said.
Their brood includes two sons from her previous marriage; their own child, a little girl from China they adopted and a boy they've taken in to live with them.
But it's reed-slim Nina who puts on an entrancing show during public performances or when she's undulating and sometimes laughing in front of full-length mirrors at home.
Belly dance is an art form for both men and women in the Middle East. But she said her husband, the space scientist, refuses to get into it.
"He's happy with it being my thing," she said. "The kids just roll their eyes. They would have preferred I took up knitting."
Their house once was the home of Glauber's candies, she said, noting they bought it from Mr. Glauber in 2000. They couldn't get in until after Easter that year because Glauber's had to finish producing its Easter selections.
"We paid them to leave two chocolate bunnies behind," she recalled.
The bright yellow first-floor living area, with its high ceilings, polished honey-colored bare floors, bookcases, bright orange curtains on the windows and huge paper mache figures on the walls, quickly converts into a studio for classes she teaches.
Rutledge, who was formerly a substitute teacher in Baltimore City elementary schools, started teaching belly dance in early 2006. She teaches classes and also at private parties.
"It's a lot of fun," she said.
In 1998, she was a belly dance novice. She took her first lesson because her lower back had been bothering her and had heard dancing might help.
"When I first started I was older than I am now, and always in pain," she said.
She couldn't hold her arms up. She had a sway back and tended to over-correct.
"I had no idea of the strength it took to hold up my arms in the air for much of the class," she said, "and no idea of becoming a performer."
However, her instructor was patient with her, and after feeling pain in places that she didn't know she had, she began to notice that her back was feeling better.
Belly dance is excellent for arms and for core muscles that support the back, she says, noting it could more accurately described as hip dancing -- there's no movement from the bust up.
For Rutledge, it worked because she wasn't fond of exercise.
"And it gave me a lift emotionally," she said. "It was a release, a place to laugh with other women -- with music."
Wiggle while you work
Now that she teaches, she calls herself "dance-lexic."
"Maybe I'm a good teacher because I know where the problems are," she said.
She also choreographs. A look at her notes reveals "belly rolls, belly flutters, twist shimmy, tension shimmy, body quake (subway shimmy), torso shimmy, pelvic shimmer, Lebanese shimmy, Egyptian straight leg shimmy, swing shimmy, bent leg shimmy, glute shimmy, oblique shimmy, inner thigh shimmy, shoulder shimmy, hand shimmy, chest shimmy ... "
And the list doesn't even mention the elaborate veil choreography she teaches.
Currently on her agenda are workshops to prepare those who are interested in performing at the Artscape 2009 festival in Baltimore in July. This year's Artscape will feature its biggest group of belly dancers ever, all of them working with silk veils drawn from the colors of the rainbow.
"One of my favorite things about a silk veil is that it is so beautiful that even a new dancer, or a doesn't-look-like-Hollywood dancer, feels and looks beautiful with it," she said. "It adds theater and grace to a dance."
Rutledge performs with and leads a dance troupe called Belly Dance Delight that rehearses in her home.
The troupe performs at Artscape, Chesapeake Pride, charity galas, festivals, nursing homes and other places belly dancers gather.
The nine or so members all have their own lives outside the troupe, she said. Among them are a company CEO, a high school guidance counselor, a teacher, a personnel manager and a flight attendant who joins them when she's in town.
They range in age from teen to "Red Hat eligible," she said. They hail from various areas in Harford County and Baltimore city and county and, like Rutlege, use stage names, including "Adira," "Alizarin," "Chile" and "Malaika."
"Everybody in the troupe loves to perform, but some want to keep their work persona separate from their dance persona," she said. "They may not be comfortable with their office mates knowing what they are doing."
They also may use different names for security reasons, "so nobody can look you up and follow you home."
The troupe is lots of fun. "Our emphasis is delight and joy. We are happy to dance together entertaining people and making them happy."
So what is the exotic Nina Amaya thinking about when she is smiling and sliding a veil slowly across her face and body?
She's usually thinking, "Oh good, they're loving it," she said.
She's also thinking that she's having more fun than anyone else in the room -- and getting paid for it.
Nine Amaya (Rutledge) can be reached by calling 443-834-3191 or by going to her Web site, www.ninaamaya.com.
- See more at: http://archives.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/99635/navel-maneuvers/#sthash.WDH5fH4c.dpuf
Belly dancer wiggles her way to health, happiness
By Loni Ingraham
lingraham@patuxent.com
Posted 6/12/09 - See more at: http://archives.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/99635/navel-maneuvers/#sthash.WDH5fH4c.dpuf
The minister's daughter is a belly dancer. But it's OK. Her father, the Rev. Fred Rutledge, a retired minister for the First Unitarian Church in Baltimore, comes to her shows, according to Idlewylde resident Nina Rutledge.
"He's a rather liberated old gent -- Unitarians are multicultural anyway," Rutledge said. "And usually when he comes to a show he can watch all the belly dancers that aren't his daughter. He likes that.
"What we do is sensual, not sexual. It has a rich cultural heritage history."
Yet she's aware of the professional belly dancer's constant struggle to differentiate the art of dance from stripping -- noting the stripping would likely pay better.
Wearing heavy makeup and dressed in a full skirt of chiffon or cotton, a matching belt and bra and lots of jewelry, Rutledge performs under a stage name, the exotic Nina Amaya.
She also teaches belly dance to both women and men ... and children. It's always "family friendly and child appropriate," she said.
Or as her Web site firmly states, "Unless you are gay, Nina will not perform at your bachelor party."
Rutledge declines to reveal her age.
"Nina is old enough to know better," she said, shimmying past the question. "It's an age-conscious profession; we age out just like football players."
Perhaps it suffices to say she is the mother of five children ranging in age from 5 to 21.
She has been married for nearly 11 years to Luke Goembel, a space scientist with a doctorate who works in the basement of their home on Regester Avenue, she said.
"He runs Goembel Instruments, the smallest aerospace company in Maryland," she said.
Their brood includes two sons from her previous marriage; their own child, a little girl from China they adopted and a boy they've taken in to live with them.
But it's reed-slim Nina who puts on an entrancing show during public performances or when she's undulating and sometimes laughing in front of full-length mirrors at home.
Belly dance is an art form for both men and women in the Middle East. But she said her husband, the space scientist, refuses to get into it.
"He's happy with it being my thing," she said. "The kids just roll their eyes. They would have preferred I took up knitting."
Their house once was the home of Glauber's candies, she said, noting they bought it from Mr. Glauber in 2000. They couldn't get in until after Easter that year because Glauber's had to finish producing its Easter selections.
"We paid them to leave two chocolate bunnies behind," she recalled.
The bright yellow first-floor living area, with its high ceilings, polished honey-colored bare floors, bookcases, bright orange curtains on the windows and huge paper mache figures on the walls, quickly converts into a studio for classes she teaches.
Rutledge, who was formerly a substitute teacher in Baltimore City elementary schools, started teaching belly dance in early 2006. She teaches classes and also at private parties.
"It's a lot of fun," she said.
In 1998, she was a belly dance novice. She took her first lesson because her lower back had been bothering her and had heard dancing might help.
"When I first started I was older than I am now, and always in pain," she said.
She couldn't hold her arms up. She had a sway back and tended to over-correct.
"I had no idea of the strength it took to hold up my arms in the air for much of the class," she said, "and no idea of becoming a performer."
However, her instructor was patient with her, and after feeling pain in places that she didn't know she had, she began to notice that her back was feeling better.
Belly dance is excellent for arms and for core muscles that support the back, she says, noting it could more accurately described as hip dancing -- there's no movement from the bust up.
For Rutledge, it worked because she wasn't fond of exercise.
"And it gave me a lift emotionally," she said. "It was a release, a place to laugh with other women -- with music."
Wiggle while you work
Now that she teaches, she calls herself "dance-lexic."
"Maybe I'm a good teacher because I know where the problems are," she said.
She also choreographs. A look at her notes reveals "belly rolls, belly flutters, twist shimmy, tension shimmy, body quake (subway shimmy), torso shimmy, pelvic shimmer, Lebanese shimmy, Egyptian straight leg shimmy, swing shimmy, bent leg shimmy, glute shimmy, oblique shimmy, inner thigh shimmy, shoulder shimmy, hand shimmy, chest shimmy ... "
And the list doesn't even mention the elaborate veil choreography she teaches.
Currently on her agenda are workshops to prepare those who are interested in performing at the Artscape 2009 festival in Baltimore in July. This year's Artscape will feature its biggest group of belly dancers ever, all of them working with silk veils drawn from the colors of the rainbow.
"One of my favorite things about a silk veil is that it is so beautiful that even a new dancer, or a doesn't-look-like-Hollywood dancer, feels and looks beautiful with it," she said. "It adds theater and grace to a dance."
Rutledge performs with and leads a dance troupe called Belly Dance Delight that rehearses in her home.
The troupe performs at Artscape, Chesapeake Pride, charity galas, festivals, nursing homes and other places belly dancers gather.
The nine or so members all have their own lives outside the troupe, she said. Among them are a company CEO, a high school guidance counselor, a teacher, a personnel manager and a flight attendant who joins them when she's in town.
They range in age from teen to "Red Hat eligible," she said. They hail from various areas in Harford County and Baltimore city and county and, like Rutlege, use stage names, including "Adira," "Alizarin," "Chile" and "Malaika."
"Everybody in the troupe loves to perform, but some want to keep their work persona separate from their dance persona," she said. "They may not be comfortable with their office mates knowing what they are doing."
They also may use different names for security reasons, "so nobody can look you up and follow you home."
The troupe is lots of fun. "Our emphasis is delight and joy. We are happy to dance together entertaining people and making them happy."
So what is the exotic Nina Amaya thinking about when she is smiling and sliding a veil slowly across her face and body?
She's usually thinking, "Oh good, they're loving it," she said.
She's also thinking that she's having more fun than anyone else in the room -- and getting paid for it.
Nine Amaya (Rutledge) can be reached by calling 443-834-3191 or by going to her Web site, www.ninaamaya.com.
- See more at: http://archives.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/99635/navel-maneuvers/#sthash.WDH5fH4c.dpuf