The title of this article and the name of my style of dance was put to me by a student of mine at the end of a class I was giving. She said, "Rachida, this is not just bellydance, what you do is oriental contemporary!"

Since then I've adopted this name for what I do. I began to mix different techniques spontaneously as I was learning them and it was more a bodily and expressive need than an intentional idea to innovate. At that time I took classical, jazz and contemporary classes to compensate the work of oriental dance, a work that is characterized by its sinuous movements, isolations, work of the internal musculature and feminine energy. Working with the corporal lines of classical and jazz and integrating the play of weight and impulses of contemporary dance, helped me to find a new way to express myself and also to feel. Now I realize that in a world in constant change, you can also change your needs and your way of expressing yourself.