Quote:
Originally Posted by Moon
Just a question: When I look at my own country, I can already sometimes see some cultural differences depending on where in the country someone grew up, or even huge differences between different families from the same region. And my country is small! Egypt is so much bigger, I can't imagine there are no regional differences in the way someone dances. I was wondering, do these differences get smaller when dancers who grew up in different regions start dancing profesionally? I know it is all Egyptian style, because all different regions are still Egyptian, but can you still see it when a professional Egyptian bellydancer grew up in a certain region or does the way she dances depend more on her personality? |
Dear Moon,
I do not think that the Egyptian dancers dance all alike at all, but they have beneath every other aspect of the dance, a cultural spirit that is present. I think that regional differences might be one reason that they do not all look alike. I think the dancer as a person, regional influences and life experiences all contribute to how they dance, just like anywhere else. Region alone is not the biggest influence, from my own knowledge, but then I am not an expert in why an Alexandrian is perhaps more conservative than a Cairene, either.
I think they learn a lot from professional dancing in the cities and they also are influenced by the belly dance greats, just as we are.
Regards,
A'isha