Quote:
Originally Posted by Brea
Tarik,
Yes, I definitely agree! How else to explain how my former boss, for instance, dances around with me the same way I dance, and yet her teacher says it's always been a female dance? The other thing that really gets to me is the whole 'mother goddess' false history to this dance. It is probably the most insidious thing aside from the misconception that only women do it...in fact perhaps those two problems are one in the same? I certainly HOPE that nobody who is actually from the Middle East teaches that goddess history...I always figured it was just westerners.
Pour me a drink too Tarik, I could use one!
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I haven't heard anyone teaching goddess theory. I don't even mind the theater folk stuff as long as they are honest about what it is. Mahmoud Reda is the originater of this style, however, he has always been honest about what he does and never makes things up, like the guy with his Zar story. In every workshop I've seen him in he states clearly that what he does is not folk dance as found in the villages, but tableau based on the idea of those dances and communities. Its the lack of input from the Middleeastern community that is responsible for so much misunderstanding about the dance, which is why I am so angered when a person from that culture disceminates misinformation.
I'm willing to bet that Moondancer's teacher's comment ws meant in a certain context because there is no way that an Egyptyian could not know that men also dance with their hips.
P.S. Did you get my p.m?