Please contact London Belly Dance if you have any stories of London belly dancers in the media
15 July 2010 - BABYBLISS GIRLS (pictured right in the London Evening Standard newspaper) perform at Cirque du Frost French, Sadie Frost's circus-themed event at the Soho branch of her clothing company Frost French
21 June 2010 - BABYBLISS GIRLS fusion belly dance troupe (pictured left), lead by artistic director Melissa Pina, taught larger than life comedian Lenny Henry to belly dance live on TV on Channel 4's Lenny Henry's 5 O'Clock Show!
April 2010 - THE LAW SOCIETY GAZETTE, circulated to all solicitors in England & Wales, follows up on the Link magazine article about belly dancing professionals: "Belly good show"
March 2010 - AWS LINK MAGAZINE, the official magazine of the Association of Women Solicitors, runs a 4-page feature 
story on belly dancing professionals: "Looking behind the veil - revealing the secret double lives of professional women who belly dance", following up on the story of London belly dancer Norsheen's campaign to be elected to parliament. Also featured are London belly dancers Mia Serra, Melissa, Shahla, Vanessa da Silva, Eshta & Nafiseh alongside a host of other women with professional qualifications who enjoy the fun, femininity & fitness gained from belly dancing
December 2009 - IAN DALE'S DIARY - the influential Tory blogger replies t
o the Mirror story: "Daily Mirror tries to entrap belly dancing Tory PPC" - "The Daily Mirror have been up to their old tricks again. They have failed in a rather tawdry attempt to entrap Tory candidate Norsheen Bhatti ... Last week, Norsheen's theatrical agent got an email from someone called Ryan Parry (pic right) ... Mr Parry wished to book [Norsheen] for a "private party" for his father. What is odd, is that Norsheen has never kept it a secret that she is a semi professional belly dancer. Indeed, why should she? It's nothing to be ashamed of ... So if it wasn't a secret what possible reason could the Daily Mirror have for this form of subterfuge unless they were trying to entrap her into doing or saying something harmful to her political prospects or the Conservative Party?" Read the emails Ryan Parry sent to London Belly Dance & Norsheen on Ian Dale's Diary ...
December 2009 - THE DAILY MIRROR newspaper - "Poll dancer - Tory hopeful Norsheen Bhatti revealed as £260-an-hour belly dancer" - "If things start going belly-up for the Tories in their general election campaign, expect them to unleash a secret weapon ... Norsheen Bhatti. The smouldering party hopeful has raised more than a few true blue eyebrows after it was revealed she has an unusual sideline. For when she's not plotting her political career as an MP, 33-year-old Norsheen is out strutting her stuff - as a £260-an-hour belly dancer. The prospective parliamentary candidate for Stoke-on-Trent Central, regularly appears at posh London restaurants and exclusive parties in revealing sequinned outfits."
December 2009 - London belly dancer Norsheen Bhatti is selected as the Conservative party prospective parliamentary candidate for Stoke-on-Trent Central.
Norsheen on Wikipedia
Norsheen's Conservative party website
Autumn 2009 - Continuing the Channel 4 collaboration, another London Belly Dance dancer, Johara, was filmed as a belly dance expert for the autumn 2009 series of Gok Wan's "How to Look Good Naked"!
May 2009 - London belly dance star Julia Naidenko made it all the way to the semi-finals of ITV's massive talent competition Britain's Got Talent, when she was up against eventual winners Diversity & second place winner Susan Boyle. Legendary Mr "Say It Like It Is" Simon Cowell described her performance as "Olympic Gold Medal standard" & Amanda Holden said Julia was, "Mesmerizing and beautiful to watch"
27 April 2009 - THE TIMES newspaper - "Lib Dems 'drifting into the wilderness' says defector Norsheen Bhatti" - "The defection of a Liberal Democrat general election candidate to the Conservatives is a serious blow for Nick Clegg, Tories claimed yesterday at their spring forum in Cheltenham." The Tory party gains a belly dancer when London belly dancer Norsheen (who stood in 2 previous general elections for the Liberal Democrats, & had been selected to contest the seat of Chelsea in the 2010 election) joins David Cameron (pictured together right)
February 2009 - London Belly Dance placed London belly dancer Norsheen on Channel 4's "Celebrity Come Dine With Me" where she lit up the screens! Norsheen was the surprise entertainment for Lynne Franks' guests at her Moroccan-themed dinner party (Norsheen pictured left dancing at Souk Medina in the costume she wore on TV)
01 April 2008 - London's METRO newspaper ran the story a story of a belly dancer whose snake helped her escape a parking fine: "A belly dancer was let off after parking on a double yellow line with her engine running to keep her snakes warm. She said she had to keep them cosy so they would not fall asleep before she took them on stage for her act. The woman, from London, claimed it was a genuine excuse for parking illegally outside the venue as she unloaded her gear. Caroline Shepherd, head of the National Parking Adjudication Service, told the story on Nicky Campbell's Radio Five Live as a new parking fines system came into force." The story then ran in national newspaper THE MIRROR & journals from as far as afield as the US & Pakistan (as well as in specialist reptile publications) ... on April Fool's Day!
February 2008 - BROADCAST (weekly magazine for the TV & radio industry) article 'Nuts shoots on mobile phones' - "Multiplatform producer Hub TV is shooting 30 x 2-minute mobisodes of The Belly Dancing Mobi-Diaries, which will follow a troupe of belly dancers over 10 weeks. A 3-person crew will film the Belly Dance All-Stars as they audition a new member, try new routines, source costumes & head out on the road ... [T]he format was an experimental way of offering a warts-and-all look at its subject." Footage will be aired on lads mag channel Nuts TV which carries such video gems as 'Sexercise' & 'Nuts Babe Search' ...
March 2008 - SUNDAY EXPRESS profile of London belly dancers Tara & Shafeek Ibrahim ...
December 2007 - The DAILY MAIL's 'Must try' section recommended belly dance classes - "Pole dancing is so 2007, it's all about belly dancing in 2008. Not only will it get you get fitter, but it's a lot more fun than slogging it out on the treadmill. Mia Serra, who has taught belly dancing for 10 years, has come up with a unique technique that blends traditional moves with Pilates & hip hop ..."
December 2007 - THE TIMES NEWSPAPER - Article entitled Ambassador's belly dancer stages her life - "The belly dancing mistress of Britain's controversial former ambassador to Uzbekistan is to perform her life story on the London stage in an attempt to change her image. The British Ambassador's Belly Dancer, which opens in January at the Arcola theatre in Hackney, tells the story of Nadira Alieva, the Uzbek dancer who captured the heart of Craig Murray, causing him to leave his wife and two children ..."
November 2007 - THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER (student careers section) - Feature entitled I want your job: belly dancer - "Fleur Estelle, 22, a professional belly dancer based in central London, says: 'I perform Middle Eastern dance at charity parties, corporate events, weddings & birthdays. My role is to entertain people & help them celebrate the occasion by getting them up & dancing. I also teach people how to belly dance, from courses for absolute beginners to professional-level workshops, & I run my own business' ..."
SHARQ MAGAZINE - Article entitled Shake Off Your Inhibitions - a look at the belly-dancing scene in the UK" - "It's Monday & Maie, an attractive Egyptian in her late twenties, is in quite a rush as she gets home from her London office. She has to get ready for her belly dancing class in less than an hour &, for her, this is a joy in itself. Ironically, she got into her culture's typical dance form when she moved to the UK ..."
October 2006 - THE TIMES NEWSPAPER - A A Gill's review of Pasha restaurant & its belly dancers - "... Pasha has had a makeover, but still looks like a student's exotic shag pad. There was what sounded like Egyptian pop music playing too insistently. The food really isn't very good. The saving grace of the evening was the belly dancers. One lady in particular could manoeuvre her breasts individually in an alarmingly compulsive manner. They would jump about in her bra like lemmings in blancmange ..."
July 2000 - THE TELEGRAPH NEWSPAPER - bizarre title, bizarre story: Belly dancers fear that Iraqi plot will ruin work in Britain - "Britain's belly dancers have reacted angrily to revelations that Saddam Hussein has been training female agents in the guise of exotic performers to target Iraqi dissidents in London, claiming that this will undermine their business ..."