Quote:
Originally Posted by Erin
Well, wow. It seems my statements were twisted and taken out of context somewhat. First of all, I will respond to A'isha's comment. My intent in pointing out that the term "belly dance" was coined by Americans was not intended to imply that it did not refer to Middle Eastern dance, but that the the dance form travelled to America and was so named by Americans. Deeper meaning also implies that again no Culture is pure and all Cultures have shared practices, and goes back to my comment about the human body and dance forms all over the world. Our body only moves in so many ways, and for anyone to believe that only Middle Easterners can shimmy and do hip circles, as well as undulate their torsos etc, etc, is not looking at the deeper picture. African dancers use these moves, dancers in Dance Clubs use these moves, Aerobics Instructors and Line Dancers can grape vine and tap their feet and execute many different moves that are also included in Middle Eastern dance. Stating the obvious, Americans (or non-Middle Easterners, in general) come from many different Cultures (actually Middle Easterners do as well), including Middle Eastern ones, and they have shared those cultures to become what they are today.
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Dear Erin,
The problem is that with Raqs sharghi/belly dance/Oriental Tanzi in specifics, too many dancers have decided that if one uses movements that are torso/ pelvis originated, viola, it MUST be belly dance. One only has to read any forum on the dance and see the references to Shakira as "belly dancer" for example, to see that this is true. I not only have made the argument myself that the human body has a finite number of ways to move, but I did a paper on that very subject years ago. However, the context of a hip movement in Samba is different than that same movement in hula or belly dance.
The cultural context in which those movements are performed is what makes each dance what it is in specific ways. Ghawazi, for example is a dance that has many movements in common with belly dance, but it is still its own separate dance, distinct from belly dance. This is because of the cultural elements in the dance to a large degree. Of course no culture survives all by itself without other influences, but there is a very specifically cultural way of assimilating other influences. Cultures are very specific and separate, even within regions. As a person who went to 13 different schools before I graduated from high school, I can tell you that California has a whole different culture than Wisconsin, which is different from Alabama or Maine, and that is just in one country. ( To be even more specific, L.A. has a whole different culture than San Francisco, judging from when I lived in both locations.) None of those states mentioned here has survived in a vacuum, but each has its own distinct personality and culture. Dance does indeed represent very distinct cultures, which is why we see a big difference between Lebanese, Egyptian and Turkish belly dance. They each bring to the dance their own distinct cultural elements along with the aspects of the dance that make them each belly dance. Belly dance is a dance from the Middle East/ North Africa. When we distill the cultural aspects out of the dance, we have some other form of dance.
Regards,
A'isha