Belly Dance with Ziva

Next in my Belly Dance series of original paintings I'm going to feature is "Ziva".  Ziva is an instructor at Hipline who is a phenomenally entertaining dancer!  Ziva's style is Middle Eastern as well as Egyptian and when she takes the stage she has a smile that lights up the room, you can't help but smile back.  She entertains with dramatic movement and subtle lifts of her eyebrow...  Well I can go on and on, Ziva is definitely a dancer I admire.

In this original gouache painting I tried to capture Ziva's life and smile that she amazingly expresses on stage.  In this moment Ziva is expressing her love, for the dance and also the music (arabic music is all about love, drama and passion).  She exstends her hand out to the audience, welcoming them in to her performance and her heart.

Here is the actual photo of Ziva taken by Christopher Husary that I used as reference for the painting above.  Ziva exudes a complete joy for her dance that come across not only in person but in photos and art as well.  Here is the link to "Ziva" at Elven Grove: http://www.etsy.com/listing/71543514/ziva-original-painting

If you'd like to know more about Ziva the dancer, check out her website: www.zivadancer.com