Established by academy president Patrisha Gutierrez and academy dean DaVid of Scandinavia in 2005, the EDA is a rather young institution yet it has already on it's way to become a recognized and significant contributor to the dance. You may read more about the EDA at www.the-eda.com

Having performed since 1988, his stage charisma and chrisp technique pushed him forth in his career eventually landing him an engagement with his manager Patrisha Gutierrez in California. The warm welcome by the US audiences prompted him to relocate and establish the EDA along with his manager. Their relationship developed and in 2007 they joined forces on a personal level and got married.

DaVid is today the dean of the EDA and is the artistic director for the academy. He has developed performers, instructors and award winning dancers.

Being born into an East Indian family in Norway has allowed DaVid to learn about any culture, art form or style for what it is - without a comparative approach. This is witnessed by his ability to present Egyptian dances and Indian dances as uniquely separate not only in style, but in character, movements, presentation etc. You may read more about DaVid of Scandinavia at www.davidofscandinavia.com

What is this research project? What is it for? How did it come about?

I recently initiated my research project on American Cabaret Bellydance. I am aware of the controversy over what to call the style, but this is the work title I am working under in lack of a better term. What I am doing is researching the technical aspects of the dance, history, lineage, influences and also documenting names of relevance on a state or national level. I will be publishing my observations and result of my research in a book named “The EDA Handbook of American Cabaret Bellydance”. I hope to be publishing a technical manual and a workbook for ACB as well.

I just finished my 3 part series on Middle Eastern Dance this summer after 5 years of active research, analysis and documentation. The series will be translated to Norwegian and Spanish. We are also looking into the possibility to translate into Chinese and German.

Why, what's in it for DaVid?

Now you may wonder what interest I have in documenting these things about American Cabaret Bellydance. Well, I was trained by Egyptian style dancers from Europe and Egypt in Europe and I moved to the US about 5 years ago to work at the EDA in San Diego. My wife and manager is a long time American Cabaret Bellydance and Turkish-Armenian style dancer. The differences and challenges we experienced in understanding each others’ styles as well as gaining respect for each others’ styles when we first met had me wondering about the constants and variables of American Cabaret Bellydance. Furthermore, this curiousness was triggered even more when I noticed that there are stylistic and technical similarities between dancers from various parts of the country, not only regionally.

As my journey to explore American Cabaret Bellydance has taken form and direction I have decided that I really want to document the style for myself, but even more so for everyone out there.

America is indeed a large country with a large entertainment industry, therefore also an influential country when it comes to arts and entertainment. Sometimes it seems as if the US is the center of the world when it comes to new directions, fusions, influences etc. However, coming from Europe, I know that not everyone fully understand what comes out of the US…even not within Bellydance.

My purpose is to open the door and shed some light on things for those people as well as reconfirm pre-existing knowledge (that may not have been formulated into words) both practitioners of the dance style as well as others.

My personal goal is to experience a growth of deeper understanding for the technical aspect of the style, the directions within it and through this, I will be able to become a better and enriched dancer and instructor myself.

How will the research be done?

This project is a multi-fased project with the following parts:
- Analysis of questionnaire sent out to dignitaries, authorities, profiled dancers within ACB around the country in January 2009.

- on-site and off-site research through dialogue with select panel of dancers around the country.

- on-site research in the form of taking private instruction from select panel of dancers around the country.

- Quality control of manuscript by select dancers around the country prior to publishing.

I have requested over 30 dancers around the country so far to assist me with filling out a questionnaire I will be sending out in January 2009. The respond so far has been nothing but supportive, even from dancers that may never have heard of “that Indian guy from Norway that dances Egyptian in California”. I hope to be including about 50 - 100 authorities, dignitaries and profiled dancers from various parts of the country in the questionnaire survey.

But what about your material?

The projects goal is to give general insight to the general directions within ACB, not revealing individual trade secrets nor publish individual answers. If at any point I feel like a quote would be great, I will be requesting permission prior to using it.

What's in it for you?

The main investment in this project is done by myself both in time and money. I will be traveling around the country to conduct the on-site research the coming years (travel, accommodation expenses) and I will of course be compensating the instructors I study with for their time and instruction (lesson fees). The whole project is a labor of love.

What the contributors get out of it is:
- the joy of contributing to a national technical, historical, conceptual and lineage-wise documentation of ACB.

- being mentioned as a source in the reference library with link and contact information

- quality control of the to-be-published material by recognized peers

- proper accreditation with name under any photographies

- fame and glory

What is this research project? What is it for? How did it come about?

This research project aims to document the Turkish Oriyantal Tanzi heritage in the US as Turkish dances have had a heavy influence and been a main contributor to the American Bellydance scene. I will be publishing my observations and result of my research in a book named “The EDA Handbook of Turkish Oriyantal Tanzi”. I hope to be publishing a technical manual and a workbook for TOT as well.

I just finished my 3 part series on Middle Eastern Dance this summer after 5 years of active research, analysis and documentation. The series will be translated to Norwegian and Spanish. We are also looking into the possibility to translate into Chinese and German.

Why, what's in it for DaVid?

Now you may wonder what interest I have in documenting these things about American Cabaret Bellydance. Well, I was trained by Egyptian style dancers from Europe and Egypt in Europe and I moved to the US about 5 years ago to work at the EDA in San Diego. My wife and manager is a long time American Cabaret Bellydance and Turkish-Armenian style dancer. The differences and challenges we experienced in understanding each others’ styles as well as gaining respect for each others’ styles when we first met had me wondering about the constants and variables of Turkish Oriyantal Tanzi. Furthermore, this curiousness was triggered even more when I noticed that there are stylistic and technical similarities between dancers from various parts of the country, not only regionally.

As my journey to explore Turkish Oriyantal Tanzi has taken form and direction I have decided that I really want to document the style for myself, but even more so for everyone out there.

Although the US has a booming dance scene, it seems as if the original Turkish heritage of the Bellydance scene has taken a somewhat secondary position to other styles. My purpose is to open the door and shed some light on things for those people as well as reconfirm pre-existing knowledge (that may not have been formulated into words) both practitioners of the dance style as well as others.

My personal goal is to experience a growth of deeper understanding for the technical aspect of the style, the directions within it and through this, I will be able to become a better and enriched dancer and instructor myself.

How will the research be done?

This project is a multi-fased project that will take place simultaneously with the American Cabaret Bellydance project with the following parts:
- Analysis of questionnaire sent out to dignitaries, authorities, profiled dancers within TOT around the country in February 2009.

- on-site and off-site research through dialogue with select panel of dancers around the country.

- on-site research in the form of taking private instruction from select panel of dancers around the country.

- Quality control of manuscript by select dancers around the country prior to publishing.

But what about your material?

The projects goal is to give general insight to the general directions within TOT, not revealing individual trade secrets nor publish individual answers. If at any point I feel like a quote would be great, I will be requesting permission prior to using it.

What's in it for you?

The main investment in this project is done by myself both in time and money. I will be traveling around the country to conduct the on-site research the coming years (travel, accommodation expenses) and I will of course be compensating the instructors I study with for their time and instruction (lesson fees). The whole project is a labor of love.

What the contributors get out of it is:
- the joy of contributing to a national technical, historical, conceptual and lineage-wise documentation of TOT.

- being mentioned as a source in the reference library with link and contact information

- quality control of the to-be-published material by recognized peers

- proper accreditation with name under any photographies

- fame and glory

What is this research project? What is it for? How did it come about?

As the business of Bellydance has boomed and grown way past anyone could have imagined, it has also brought along some confusion in regard to business responsibilities and business etiquette. My own experience with both being a sponsor and being the talent brought in for shows or workshops along with various experiences of my colleagues has prompted me to want to write this guide.

The purpose is not to direct an accusing finger at anyone or "out bad sponsors". The purpose is to enhance the sponsor and the talent experience - to the benefit of the business and our consumers.

The guide will have a suggested timeline for various parts of event organizing, code of conduct, business etiquette and what responsibilities lay with whom. It will also include certain speciality subjects pretaining to working with international relations.

How will the research be done?

This project will be conducted by:
- Analysis of questionnaire sent out to dignitaries, authorities, profiled dancers within the dance scene around the world in March 2009.

- on-site and off-site dialogue with select panel of dancers around the world.

But what about your material?

The projects goal is to give general insight to the general directions within TOT, not revealing individual trade secrets nor publish individual answers. If at any point I feel like a quote would be great, I will be requesting permission prior to using it.

What's in it for you?

The main investment in this project is done by myself both in time and money.

What the contributors get out of it is:
- the joy of contributing to a guide that will benefit us all in business

- being mentioned as a source in the reference library with link and contact information

- proper accreditation with name under any photographies

- fame and glory