International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance
The International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance (IAMED) was founded in 1996 by Suzy Evans to provide the belly dance concerts and videos to belly dance fans and to recognize the world famous belly dancers and their accomplishments and contributions to this art , Suzy Evans began her career as a belly dancer in the 1970s when belly dancing was first noticed by the predominant culture in the United States. Several veteran belly dancers and some new talent joined Suzy Evans to form the board of IAMED. Suzy Evans created the website, www.Bellydance.org, in 1998 to make it easier to get information about belly dancing and to sell videos more easily.
IAMED members described belly dancing as a truly international art form and believed that the excellent belly dancers, belly dance teachers and organizers should be honored. This idea gave rise to the Awards of Belly Dance .
The first Awards of Belly Dance were presented in September 1997 at the Los Angeles Theater Center .