Hi, I'm from Hamburg in Germany, I took up bellydancing last november, having danced flamenco for a long time, also salsa. I saw the BDSS-DVD and after watching it several times, Amar was definitely my favourite (but I also liked Tamalyn Dallal, funny, then I found out she was among Amar's teachers). I wonder what does the trick - well she has those long arms and legs and the narrow flexible torso, the perfectly beautifully shaped belly. It has been talked about her strong and neat shimmies which I found also stunning. I read she had lessons in ballett and modern dance also - I admire the beauty of the shoulder-neck-part in her dance, she has a wide range for movement (I hope you can understand my English). But I think there's a great deal of natural elegance in her dance which can't be learnt.

Well her style is what I'd like to work for, but only for me she won't come here. Since some of you are her students, could you give me hints what is important for her style, what I should pay attention to. Is it necessary to do ballett-training (I had a bit of it but that was some years ago)?

Another thing I'm interested in is her story. When I was in Cuba I found a lot of Cubans had islamic names, like Emir, Ibrahim and so on. I wonder whether Amar Gamal would be an artist's name or if her parents or forefathers came from an arabic country? Because when I saw her facial features I thought she looked very much like an afghan or maybe indian beauty and was very much surprised to hear she came from La Habana. But maybe this is due to special eye-makeup. Well I found that interesting. One of you has mentioned a sort of african dynamism in her dance and I had thought the same thing a bit, she reminded me also with her flexibility and body-shape of an afro-brasilian girl I saw dancing lately.

I will be very happy to learn more about her! She is absolutely adorable!