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Bert Balladine

The Gilded Serpent presents...

Bert Balladine

Bert has been in show business all of his life. He studied ballet and modern dance in Berlin and Paris and Spanish dance in Madrid and Barcelona. He has performed and/or taught in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia and New Zealand. His introduction to Middle Eastern Dance was in Lebanon, then in Egypt, where he was in contact with the late Samia Gamal and Tahia Carioca, and he has worked with Nagwa Fouad, Sohair Saki and other notable stars. Before he began working in Middle Eastern Dance he was a recognized personality in other dance venues, from opera to nightclub to musicals, where he worked with Germany's most famous musical star, Marika Roekk, and French star Josephine Baker. Now he is best known for having made a contribution here and abroad in the Oriental Dance field. His partnering of some of the most popular dance stars is one of his many accomplishments.

Bert, semi-retired, resides in the San Francisco Bay area on a ranch where he can indulge his passion for horses and the country life.

Articles on Gilded Serpent by or about Bert Balladine

  • 3-2009 Memorial to Bert in Photos Page 1, Page 2
  • 1-8-14 O Aitos Berkeley in the '70s by Najia Marlyz
    Truthfully, I had never laid eyes on an authentic belly dancer, live or on film at that point, so I hardly knew what to expect.
  • 4-16-13 Tale of the Rat, Beginning to Teach, Part One by Najia Marlyz
    He warned me! My German speaking mentor and dance partner, Bert Balladine, told me one day that teaching would change my dance—not necessarily for the better.
  • 3-15-09 Tribute to Bert: Photos from the GS files
    Bert's memorial page, please add your comments, thank you.
  • 5-18-10 Sula, An Artisic Life by Monica
    Sula continued to study with Bert through the early 1970s, though by 1972 she called him "my ex-teacher and now equal partner". Bert was extremely proud of Sula, as she was among the first students he trained who began teaching seriously.
  • 8-15-07 Amina's North Beach Memories Chapter 6: Bert by Amina Goodyear
    On my first Monday at the Casa Madrid, Bert came to support the place and me. Well, what he saw was equivalent to a San Francisco earthquake.
  • 2-28-05 A Question of Style by Bert Balladine
    Since most of us have chosen Oriental Dance for the pleasure of doing it, being a zealot about purity and ethnicity will just hamper getting the fullest enjoyment out of the dance.
  • 3-3-04 Bert and Amaya Workshop Photos by Ed Lampo and Report by Monica
    “He makes you feel special and sexy!”, one participant was overheard to exclaim.
  • 1-17-03 Weight Loss, The Bert Balladine Way by Gladys Harrison aka Al Qahira
    That was not the first time I had nearly starved to death “on the road with Bert”.
  • 9-5-02 Interview- Soraya of Oklahoma City by Lynette
    Bert and I look good and work well together! We were complementary heights. We read each other while dancing with a mutual instinct. We each knew what the other was going to do. Bert would give me a brief over-view of the choreographic outline and then we would just do it. And it always worked!
  • 11-4-01 Tribute to Dalilah!
    Dalilah began dancing in the 1950s...passed on September 18, 2001
  • 3-20-01 Doing it my way by Bert Balladine
    For me, dance is not cerebral, but highly emotional.
  • 5-19-00 Dance Emotion, Part 2 by Najia Marlyz
    The audience is not going to care, or even notice, that a dancer did a high-stepping Fandango Walking Step with an over-lay of a Soheir Zaki Head Tilt and a really fine ......
  • 11-24-99 Dance Emotion, Part 1
    "The place of dance is within the heart."
  • 2-25-00 Bert Balladine
    At long last Bert begins his North Beach Memories!
  • 10-99 Conversations with Bert, The Belly Dancing Boom of San Francisco in the 1960's by Lora Schoen
    One room was full of coats on the floor and there were people underneath all of them! There were orchids floating in the bathtub and candles everywhere.
  • 2-1999 Conversation with Bert Balladine by Krista Gettle & Lora Schoen
    Words of history and wisdom from our dear mentor!

More "offsite" Material Available on Bert Balladine


Books



Film


  • Gameel Gamal- recently re released as "Classic Stars of Belly Dance"
  • "Some of my Best Friends are Bottomless Dancers" ?
  • Once More with Feeling, available through Amaya

Magazine Articles