Her skill for gracefully twirling two golden canes while swivelling her hips has won local belly dancer Maki Natori a spot in a Los Angeles-based live dance production.

On July 24, Natori, whose day job is in marketing at the University of B.C., set up a video camera in a Scotiabank Dance studio room where she practises her modern Egyptian belly dance moves. Dressed in sheer petal pink chiffon and with flowing waist-length hair, she fluidly performed a required number she'd only had four days to learn. Then dressed in shimmering midnight blue, she performed a Saidi style stick dance called Raks Assaya that hails from Upper Egypt, intensifying her routine part way through by using two canes, instead of the usual one.

Two days later, Natori, the only Canadian to apply, learned she'd beat out 11 competitors from Korea, Austria and the U.S. for one of six spots in a performance of Bellydance Evolution's Immortal Desires show in L.A., Aug. 13 to 15.

Eleven days later she flew to L.A. to begin six eight-hour days of rehearsals to perfect seven numbers with Jillina Carlano, founder of Bellydance Evolution.

"I'm really excited for this opportunity because Jillina is very respected in the belly dance world and she has taken belly dance to where I'd like to see it going, to elevate it onto the stage and put it out there as a respectable dance form just like any other dance form," said Natori, who teaches belly dance and performs at galas and private functions. "I'm going to learn so much."

Carlano, artistic director and main choreographer for the Bellydance Superstars, which toured far and wide in the early 2000s, started Bellydance Evolution last year, holding online competitions to select some of the performers for touring shows.

Natori started dancing at age four, beginning with ballet before becoming a rhythmic gymnast, competing at the national and international levels.

In 2001, the then 23-year-old who'd stopped dancing during university spied a poster for a belly dance class at UBC and gave her first Raks Sharki, or Egyptian belly dance, class a whirl.

"The second I heard the music I dug it," she said.

Natori studied with Rahma Haddad and Jalilah locally, and specializes in the modern Egyptian style of the Middle Eastern dance, which is slower than the Turkish form that responds to music with an extra beat. The modern Egyptian style features flashy and glamorous two-piece costumes and sees the dancer directing her energy inward, rather than outward, like in the Turkish form of the dance, according to Natori. Other styles hail from Greece. Natori continues to train in ballet and jazz.

The Immortal Desires show will include modern Egyptian belly dance, debke line dancing and tannoura, which she says is akin to whirling dervishes. It'll also include a newer North American derivative of Middle Eastern dance called tribal fusion.

"It's not super girly glam, it's more like cool tough chick with tattoos," Natori said. "If an Arabic person saw a tribal belly dancer, they wouldn't recognize it, a lot of times, as Middle Eastern dance, because it's just gone so far from it, but the moves are still based in Middle Eastern dance."

Natori, who has a degree in commerce from UBC, hasn't pinned her hopes on making belly dancing her full-time occupation, but she strives to elevate the image of belly dance locally. She's pleased the Immortal Desires show is a full theatre production with a storyline, not separate dance numbers like in Bellydance Superstar.

Natori says audiences are sometimes surprised to see a Japanese-Canadian woman performing belly dance.

"A lot of belly dancers here, most of them don't have Middle Eastern backgrounds," Natori said. "I'm trying to represent a culture that's not mine, so I try and do it with as much authenticity as I can give, and also with respect and sincerity."

For more information, see www.makidance.com.

crossi@vancourier.com