Locals obtain second and third place in Miss Bellydance SA

Local belly dancers, Ms Petro Smit and Ms Ilze St Leger Denny, competed in Miss Bellydance South Africa 2021 and obtained second and third place for their performances in their categories.

The registration was in September and competitors’ videos had to be submitted by October 10, to be judged and scored according to categories and age groups.

The competition was aired for the public to watch on November 6, where all the videos were live-streamed and the award ceremony also took place.

There were 12 judges from all over the country as well as Namibia.

The Miss Bellydance SA competition happens every two years and because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition was done online.

The competition saw dancers from all over the country compete and Ms Smit took a second place in the Senior soloist of the Year category.

Ms St Leger Denny claimed a third place in the Rising Star category.

Ms Amar Lammar, the owner of Harakat Oriental Dance Studio, is happy with her dancer’s results, especially with her studio being new in the area.

Ms Lammar opened her studio doors to the public earlier this year and offers professional belly dance coaching and private dance lessons.

Ms St Leger Denny, who has been belly-dancing for close to two years, said that she is looking forward to the next Miss Bellydance SA that will be hosted in 2023 and will be going full steam ahead with training for this event early next year.

“My experience in this year’s competition was amazing. It was fun and I enjoyed every single moment of it,” said Ms St Leager Denny.

She would have enjoyed it even more if she could have shared her talents with a wider and present audience.

“It was hard for us to practice and to keep motivated, but our coach Amar kept us motivated and pushed us. She knows us and knows our capabilities,” said Ms St Leager Denny.

Ms St Leager Denny said that it was a bit sad and hard on the day of the competition because of not having an audience.

“You show up, dressed up, hair done and then it is just a camera. With facial expressions when you are in front of an audience you laugh or smile a bit more but on the camera, it is so impersonal. I thrive on an audience. One’s techniques and facial expression improve and are better when in front of an audience.”

Ms St Leager Denny said she did not expect to claim a third place as she competed for the experience.

“I am very happy with my third place. My confidence is good. I am so much happier with my body and have seen an improvement with my posture,” concluded Ms St Leager Denny.

Ms Smit, who claimed a second place, said entering the competition was a lot of fun and a learning curve.

“I have less than a year of belly-dancing experience. About a week before the competition I injured my knee and am now recovering from surgery. I did not expect to win anything,” said Ms Smit.

She said it was nerve-wracking performing in front of a camera even though she had never performed in front of an audience.

“Performing in front of an audience would have been better because you can change your facial expression whereas in front of a camera you have to basically concentrate all the time on smiling and giving correct facial expression,” said Ms Smit.

She will definitely be competing in 2023 for the senior title.

“There is a lot of hard work ahead of us but with a teacher like Amar we can make it,” said Ms Smit.

She said coach Amar makes classes fun and she helps them in perfecting moves and does an amazing job in teaching them.

“I like dancing overall, but belly-dancing has this sensual factor to it with beautiful costumes and all props one can use like the veil, sword, canes and cymbals and it is beautiful to watch,” said Ms Smit.

She said it was an honour to represent their dancing school and thanked Ms Lammar for all her support.