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Zorba · 07-21-2006, 05:57 PM

Shanazel -

Thank you for having the courage of admitting your prejudice and your willingness to try to overcome it. Although I personally have had VERY little prejudice, there are some who have had to overcome a LOT - esp. in the UK apparently.

My WebSite is full of my ravings about male dancers and where I feel we should fit in. To it I refer the curious.

I will only make two points here:

I dance because I, like any other human being, like to feel beautiful, exotic and all that (The concept of masculine beauty has been largely forgotten in today's world). Its lots of fun and I get to play dress up. Sound familiar? Hey! Guys are human too.

For Moon's comment re: costumes. Costuming is a highly personal issue - especially for males in this dance form. I wear various belly revealing outfits - why wouldn't I? I'm a Belly Dancer and want to look like one. The whole two peice costume is a result of British colonialism anyway, so the "authenticity card" can't be employed here. Besides, it *is* designed to show off the dancer's body to the best possible advantage - regardless of gender.

I *DO* *NOT* like male Belly Dancers in shirts or other covered costumes. This assumes they are doing Belly Dance, not traditional male folkloric dances. If they're doing Belly Dance, I want to see some skin and I want to be able to see what they're doing! Shirts et al are boring.

Bare chested? Not my cuppa, but I don't have a problem with it. A male wanting to dance bare chested needs to avoid the BDSM look - "X" chains and the like. Some kind of top helps frame the torso and shows off isolations better than totally bare.

Dem's me thoughts...

07-21-2006, 05:57 PM	#5 (permalink)
Zorba Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 884	Shanazel - Thank you for having the courage of admitting your prejudice and your willingness to try to overcome it. Although I personally have had VERY little prejudice, there are some who have had to overcome a LOT - esp. in the UK apparently. My WebSite is full of my ravings about male dancers and where I feel we should fit in. To it I refer the curious. I will only make two points here: I dance because I, like any other human being, like to feel beautiful, exotic and all that (The concept of masculine beauty has been largely forgotten in today's world). Its lots of fun and I get to play dress up. Sound familiar? Hey! Guys are human too. For Moon's comment re: costumes. Costuming is a highly personal issue - especially for males in this dance form. I wear various belly revealing outfits - why wouldn't I? I'm a Belly Dancer and want to look like one. The whole two peice costume is a result of British colonialism anyway, so the "authenticity card" can't be employed here. Besides, it is designed to show off the dancer's body to the best possible advantage - regardless of gender. I DO NOT like male Belly Dancers in shirts or other covered costumes. This assumes they are doing Belly Dance, not traditional male folkloric dances. If they're doing Belly Dance, I want to see some skin and I want to be able to see what they're doing! Shirts et al are boring. Bare chested? Not my cuppa, but I don't have a problem with it. A male wanting to dance bare chested needs to avoid the BDSM look - "X" chains and the like. Some kind of top helps frame the torso and shows off isolations better than totally bare. Dem's me thoughts... __________________ -Zorba "The Veiled Male" http://www.doubleveil.net "There is nothing sadder than a veil, that is for sale."