with Princess Farhana
Director Steve Balderson’s documentary feature “Underbelly” chronicles one woman’s journey as well as this unique world of belly dance by tracing a year in the life of Princess Farhana. From Hollywood, California to The Mexican Riviera, from the United Kingdom to the prairies of Canada, from New York City to the heartland of America, “Underbelly” illuminates the world of belly dance, as it exists today.
With views from the stage as well as the private off-stage world of the dancers, it covers the fundamentals and history of the dance, how it’s taught, how it changes and heals lives, and addresses the differences between the purely traditional styles and the myriad genres composing contemporary belly dance: from cabaret and tribal to fusion with burlesque and Gothic styling.
Interviews and performances with stars such as Rachel Brice, Rachel Lazarus Soto, Samantha Riggs, and Kajira Djoumahna, John Compton,comedian/dancer Margaret Cho, Blacksheep Belly Dance, Jim Boz , Tempest… and of course, Princess Farhana illuminate the range of styles and how each artist puts a personal signature on the world’s oldest dance, as it’s performed today.
