Aisha Azar

Dear Sharif,
For me, it came as a slowish learning process. At first, it was all just "belly dance" and I loved it. then, as I got more education I began to see that dancers from Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey each had a certain flavor and feeling and somehow were just "different": from what I was generally seeing in America. ( I LOVE the radio waves analogy, BTW!!)
I think the key is to look at vidoes and dancers in person and see and feel the differences in the approach to the music, how movement is executed, how the dancer responds emotionally, etc. Compare, say, what Suhaila Salimpour does with what Mouna Said, or compare Fifi ABdou from Egypt with what Amani from Lebanon does, etc. I think exposure and experience is one key to this elusive recognition of "essence".
I am not trying to start anything here, but I think an audience can and often does sense a difference between what is western innovation and what is ethnic belly dance. I have had general audience members comment on it to me before. ( Stuff like, "Why do you look so different from evenryone else who danced in the show?" )They may not know what the difference is, but they sense it on some level.
This is not to say that one form is better than another, but that there is enough of a difference so that even people who are not educated in the dance can have some awareness of it.
Regards,
A'isha