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Serena Wilson (August 8, 1933 – June 17, 2007), often known just as "Serena", was a well-known dancer, choreographer, and teacher who helped popularize belly dance in the United States. Serena's work also helped legitimize the dance form and helped it to be perceived as more than burlesque or Striptease. Serena danced in clubs in her younger years, opened her own studio, hosted her own television show, founded her own dance troupe, and was the author of several books about belly dance.
Serena also began studying with famed dancer Ruth St. Denis, well known for her interpretations of and Orientalism dance. In 1952, Serena married Alan (Rip) Wilson, a musician, percussionist, and bandleader of a Dixieland band, a combination which complemented Serena's own background. In the mid-1950s, Serena gave birth to their son, Scott.
Not long after their marriage, Rip's band was booked for a gig with a theme that required a . In spite of the clash of styles, Rip quickly got hold of the music for popular Middle Eastern Traditional pop like Misirlou, and recruited his wife to dance, which Serena felt her studies with St. Denis had prepared her for.
According to her husband, Serena's dance ended up being rather awkward, as she wasn't sure what to do with her hands. She disguised this by carrying a vase on her shoulder throughout! The performance was nonetheless a success, inspiring Serena and Rip to pursue a lifelong interest in Middle Eastern music and dance.
Rip took up Middle Eastern drumming and frequently accompanied Serena as she honed her skills dancing at the Egyptian Gardens club in Chelsea, an area then known colloquially as Greektown for the large number of Greeks and Middle Eastern cabarets lining the street. Soon, Serena had become one of the most popular belly dancers in the city and even performed for various city officials.
Her son, Scott, continued the family tradition by dedicating himself to the study of the oud, an lute or guitar. Serena began writing the first two of her books about belly dance, The Serena Technique of Belly Dancing and The Belly Dance Book.
Serena and Rip's success continued unabated until the Gulf War in 1991, when United States attitudes toward all things Middle Eastern soured.
Serena's studio provided dancers for hire, with dancers available for performances at traditional Middle Eastern weddings and other social events. Notably, in keeping with Serena's long-held belief that belly dancing was not comparable with Striptease and erotic dance, her studio would not provide dancers for events in which their performance might be over-sexualized, e.g., for bachelorette parties but not bachelor party, for bat mitzvahs but not bar mitzvahs.Fox, Margalit. "Serena Wilson Dies at 73; Popularized Belly Dance." The New York Times, June 24, 2007.
In June 2007, Serena died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism. She had been scheduled to dance in Greenwich Village with her son's Middle Eastern band, Scott Wilson and Efendi, that very night. Her husband, son, and daughter-in-law continue to carry on her passion for Middle Eastern music and dance. Serena's studio in New York continues to hold classes and provide dancers for performances.
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