Thread: Chicago area dancers have you seen this?

Can You Belly Dance?

Curious if your initial impressions are similar to mine....


~~Kimahri

Here is the information WHOIS has on them:

Registrant:
Supreme Global Inc.
PO Box 410663

Chicago, IL 60641
United States of America

Registrar: DomainPeople, Inc.

Domain Name: canyoubellydance.com
Created on .............Wed Nov 28 11:31:40 2007
Expires on .............Fri Nov 28 11:31:40 2008
Record last updated on .Mon Dec 17 11:54:25 2007
Status .................LOCK,

Administrative Contact:
Supreme Global Inc.
Terry Alazawi
PO Box 410663

Chicago, IL
60641, US
(773)7273330
()
terryal@sbcglobal.net

Technical Contact:
SiteProduct Web Services
Administrator DNS
1 N State Street

Chicago, IL
60602, US
(1312)2362132
(1312)2361958
administrator@siteprotect.com

Domain servers in listed order:
yns1.yahoo.com 66.218.71.205
yns2.yahoo.com 216.109.116.20

i don't know, but I clcked on one of the clips on this site, and saw this. Is it me, or does this dancer appear to have an extra navel? I have never seen that before!




[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJslqNGXE2E]YouTube - Turkish Belly Dance - Elçin[/ame]

Dude! What?

You are now on the way to becoming our next champion belly dancer! We are about to begin our biggest competition ever...

So... they've produced competitions before? where? When? And if so, why a bunch of random links to other people's youtube clips instead of to their last event? ANd if not, why imply that they have a history?

Who are the producers? Who are the judges? Are there categories & criteria?

Frustrating lack of info for someone who claims to be producing "the most entertaining and extraordinary event for belly dancing in the United States" I get the feeling this is someone coming in from outside the community who doesn't know about Rakassah, or BDUC, etc.????

Overall impression: why are they labelling the clips, "If you've never seen bellydance..." are they insinuating you should enter even if you've never even *seen* bellydance before clicking their clips?

I was really turned off by the first clip I clicked--It was a compilation of a bunch of different dancers performing "carnival tricks" like a girl in a backbend with her forehead on the floor. But some of the other clips were lovely.

You do not need to wear a belly dance costume for this submission but you will need to wear one at the live competition. All background music must be a "cover version" of a popular, published song. NO ORIGINALS * please

Yeah, cuz when I dance I like to be playing some background music. WTF????

I do get the rest of what they're saying...they don't want to pay any licensing fees... but background music???? And by 'popular song' do they mean popular in the US? Akon, maybe?

LOL, so I'm not the only one seeing red flags everywhere!

"An event of this magnitude will surely attract the attention of the mass media."
.....and yet the the date/time/venue for April 2008 is TBA!

"The nation's best dancers will be pitted against each other in grueling 2-days live before audience they will compete to become America's hottest, freshest and most famous new belly dancer!

If you think the some dancing competition is tough, you haven't seen anything yet!"
..............ick, ick, iiiiiiiick!

Those prize amounts and even the wording about the competition reminds me so much of the IBDC's overzealous promises:

This competition will be the most entertaining and extraordinary event for belly dancing in the United States. If you can belly dance, this is your opportunity to show off your talents and compete with the best before a massive live audience. An event of this magnitude will surely attract the attention of the mass media.

Sorry, but been there, done that and bought the t-shirt. I am now extremely skeptical of any BD event that is not produced by individuals within the dance community itself.

This sounds like the Arabesque Dance Competition that was held in San Diego. The promoter has now turned the 1st floor of the office building that he owns into a dance studio. I don't know if anyone has rented it yet, though.

good lord! has anyone seen the ticket page?

"CAN YOU BELLY DANCE? ARE NOT FOR SALE YET. IF YOU HAVE PURCHASED A TICKET IT IS NOT VALID"

"Due to the popularity of the show, we are unable to accommodate requests for specific dates."

Yeah.. nothing about this seems on the level.... from the lack of details to some of the questions on the applications (how does marital status matter in one's
dance skill?) to the many many many grammatical and spelling errors.

Dancers are supposed to apply now to dance "sometime in April?" Guess that means that those entrants should just take the month off and not book any moneymaking gigs or workshops or anything.

Um.... yeah... no thanks.

Is it just me or does this sound a WHOLE lot like the guy who will "judge" your videotapes if you send them to him? With a bit more jargon thrown in to "prove authenticity", of course.

It sounds highly skeevey to me.

Originally Posted by BabsGrrrl

Is it just me or does this sound a WHOLE lot like the guy who will "judge" your videotapes if you send them to him? With a bit more jargon thrown in to "prove authenticity", of course.

It sounds highly skeevey to me.

I have to admit, I have been thinking this too. One of the first things I said to my husband was that could be a scam to get dancers to send in footage of themselves for some dude to play along on the "skin mizmar". Ick.

I couldn't resist, I sent an email requesting more information about the company, like what competitions have they put on in the past, and if they are affiliated with anyone in the Belly Dance community. I will let y'all know if I get a response.

Holy crap!
She DOES have two belly buttons.....that is so creepy. Am I looking at this video wrong? I can't understand how the second belly button is even there.

Originally Posted by lotus

i don't know, but I clcked on one of the clips on this site, and saw this. Is it me, or does this dancer appear to have an extra navel? I have never seen that before!




YouTube - Turkish Belly Dance - Elçin

Originally Posted by laura 2

I couldn't resist, I sent an email requesting more information about the company, like what competitions have they put on in the past, and if they are affiliated with anyone in the Belly Dance community. I will let y'all know if I get a response.

Ya beat me to it... I was going to do this as well out of curiosity. Please report back!!

Originally Posted by yeli

Holy crap!
She DOES have two belly buttons.....that is so creepy. Am I looking at this video wrong? I can't understand how the second belly button is even there.

No, the "upper" belly button is the real thing. The lower one is a tattoo, or mehndi, or bindi (or something).

This is why I'm not a huge fan of tattoos on bellydancers. While they may look lovely up close, in a performance I am often distracted from the dancing while I try to figure out if the dancer is sporting a mole, a birthmark, or a bruise!

yeah, way too many inconsistencies. the "no original music" is pretty weird too for a comp. it doesn't sound legit.
i guess bd is so popular now that it seems a good target for scams.

seems "send in a video" is the new virtual casting couch for skin mizmar players. blech

Originally Posted by mihri

Ya beat me to it... I was going to do this as well out of curiosity. Please report back!!

Will do - but feel free to tag team them with me.

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

yeah, way too many inconsistencies. the "no original music" is pretty weird too for a comp. it doesn't sound legit.
i guess bellydance is so popular now that it seems a good target for scams.

seems "send in a video" is the new virtual casting couch for skin mizmar players. blech

Yeah, this is way too strange:
"Make a 5-10 minute videotape of your dance routine. Please include at least two different dance performances. You do not need to wear a belly dance costume for this submission but you will need to wear one at the live competition. All background music must be a "cover version" of a popular, published song. NO ORIGINALS * please. We will accept VHS & DVDs. (Please NO hi-8s or formats that need VHS adaptors.) Make sure you label the tape or disc with your name, act name, address and phone number. (If you qualify we will contact you and invite you to a live audition. Tapes and DVDs will not be returned, so please do not send an original copy.)"

Oh, so they can afford to pay 2500.00 to the winner but can't buy a music license? Oh yeah, be sure to give your name, address and phone number so the pervs know where you actually live!

I replied to the email I received asking where the comp would be held and for details about their previous events. I just got this reply:

"dear Kimahri,
the competition will be held in Chicago, for now we have 2 locations 1st is Milwaukee theater or 2nd Rossini hall both seats more a 1500 peoples . all about how tickets goes. still we have sometime. In the past we did salsa,tango, belly dance in Europe( Romania) etc.. but our corporation most middle-est art and music oriented , should be a good and fun competition.
Edyta"

(I didn't find anything with google searching for "Milwaukee theater" or "Rossini hall" in Chicago)

Originally Posted by Kimahri

I replied to the email I received asking where the comp would be held and for details about their previous events. I just got this reply:

"dear Kimahri,
the competition will be held in Chicago, for now we have 2 locations 1st is Milwaukee theater or 2nd Rossini hall both seats more a 1500 peoples . all about how tickets goes. still we have sometime. In the past we did salsa,tango, belly dance in Europe( Romania) etc.. but our corporation most middle-est art and music oriented , should be a good and fun competition.
Edyta"

(I didn't find anything with google searching for "Milwaukee theater" or "Rossini hall" in Chicago)

Isn't Edyta from Dancing with the Stars?? Just asking. ..l;,

This whole thing reminds me of the guy who drills a hole in the ladies room wall to watch the activities. I just hope some naive little belly bunny doesn't actually fall for this, uh, stuff. But if it's legit and we can actually locate Milwaukee theater or 2nd Rossini hall, my butt will be in one of those both seats for more a 1500 peoples! Yes, I admit it - I'm a peoples, and I'm also middle-est art and music oriented. Just like Edyta. hehehe ,r:;

The whole thing sounds fishy to me.

Well, there are theatres *on* Milwaukee in Chicago, but yeah... still astounded at the lack of apparent planning or details.

I googled just "Rossini Chicago" and found an Italian restaurant on Chicago in Niles.... interestingly enough it's across from Leyalena's and kitty corner from the Sphinx.

More info on this from Brad over on Tribe.net. For those who want to jump over, that thread is here Using other people's YouTubes to prom... - The Biz of Belly Dance - tribe.net

"A Google search of "Star Entertainment Production" only turns up the contest site and the Tribe discussion of it (not including unrelated businesses sharing those words). The fact that the ToU and Privacy Policy link on the site are currently inactive and that the Rules and Regulations are only availble after someone has already registered is cause for concern.

The canyoubellydance.com domain was registered for only one year on Wednesday, Nov 28 2007 at 11:31:40 to Terry Alazawi of the ominous sounding Supreme Global Inc. ("You go to the Imperial Galactic Empire and turn right... Can't miss it"). The provided contact number is (773) 727-3330. I only offer this information since it is a matter of public record with an entity doing business in the public sphere."

and in another post:

"Update: Supreme Global is a construction company and Terry Alazawi is the president of the company. Their website ( supremeglobalinc.com/about_firm.html ) features a picture of the San Francisco Bay Bridge (which, I'm assuming, they did not build). And English may not be their first language:

"By Sent your prints/drowings to our office (prints will not be returns, unless special arrangement was made) you can fined our address on contact us page."
From the page titled "Our Attorneys" supremeglobalinc.com/Estimate.html

The street address provided is:
Supreme Global, Inc.
2725 N. Thatcher Ave. #105
River Grove IL 60171

and the phone number is:
1 (708) 456-1300"

Originally Posted by mihri

Well, there are theatres *on* Milwaukee in Chicago, but yeah... still astounded at the lack of apparent planning or details.

I googled just "Rossini Chicago" and found an Italian restaurant on Chicago in Niles.... interestingly enough it's across from Leyalena's and kitty corner from the Sphinx.

..l;, ..l;, ..l;, (been there, good food, does that count?)..l;, ..l;, Sorry

But I agree with what you are all thinking---it does all sound strange.......

This is weird guys! Kimahri where did you find this?!?! The fact that they claim they are leading the way to bring the dance to a mass audience and that none of us has even heard of them is strange.

I wouldn't be too harsh though, sounds like they might be forigeners... though I wouldn't dream of auditioning!

Originally Posted by shanidancer8

This is weird guys! Kimahri where did you find this?!?! The fact that they claim they are leading the way to bring the dance to a mass audience and that none of us has even heard of them is strange.

I wouldn't be too harsh though, sounds like they might be forigeners... though I wouldn't dream of auditioning!

A dancer in the area asked me about it the same day it popped up in my email box--they're finding dancers somewhere!

At least they responded to you, Kim - I've still got no reposnse from my email!

Originally Posted by laura 2

At least they responded to you, Kim - I've still got no reposnse from my email!

Do you have a Bulk Mail file? That's where I found the reply, my filter thought it was spam!