Sisters-Of-The-Desert-Belly-Dancers We Love to Dance and Dance º¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤º //(*_*)\\

DANCE troupe the Sisters of the Desert have taking a step into the unknown when they venture across the Atlantic to show the Americans it's all in the hips in August 2008.

The belly dancing ladies, led by teacher Tina Gordon, are believed to be the first Scottish group invited to the US to appear in the Middle Eastern Dance Choreography Troupe Championships.

The invitation was to compete in this year's event, which was staged in Austin, Texas, USA, came out of the blue and although delighted to take it up, the ladies know they had their work cut out to raise the funds needed to cover the trip.

Mrs Gordon said: "It is amazing that we have been asked to take part. I think it is through word of mouth that the organisers have heard about us. There is a big belly dancing network and we have had people from all over the UK – from Orkney to Cambridge – working with us and we have also danced with a lovely lady from Norway.

"We dance at events all over the place but this would be our first time overseas and it would be a tremendous opportunity."

The Sisters of the Desert have, for the past seven years, been dancing together at Elgin Community Centre but a need for more space saw them move recently to the Red Shoes Theatre in the town and now to the Spynie Hall outside Elgin on the Forres side.

Along with the adult troupe, there is also a children's belly dancing team, the Gypsy Jewels.

All will be hoping to put their moves on the judges at the championships in August in which teams of dancers are challenged to showcase their own original choreography.

Mrs Gordon is well-known in dance circles for the creative and imaginative routines she puts together, so much so that she was asked to choreograph the dance which set a new belly dancing world record.

A DVD of a five minute routine she produced was send to the 134 dancers who converged at Nairn for the 2005 event which gained a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

Mrs Gordon explained: "Some troupes work on tribal dances, others on ones which have Indian influences. We have around 20 original choreographed routines of our own.

"We will first decide to do something in a certain style, such as in a Saudi style, and then we will decide on a piece of music and I will link together the proper steps to go with the music and create a new dance."