I took a Turkish 9/8 private lesson from Helene Eriksen about two weeks ago. She showed me how the real Turkish Oriental style 9/8 uses the folkdance based foot work and body posture as opposed to the Egyptian or American BD style. It makes a vast difference to the authentic look of the dance. I've taken several Turkish BD workshops and I've never had anyone start with the Turkish folkloric footwork before. The Turkish style workshops I took before, like Dahlena's, were closer to the old style Egyptian or old school American Cabaret style. Still danced to the 9/8, bigger bouncier moves, Turkish hips and chest work, *but* without the Turkish footwork as a base.
On the list, we go back and forth sometimes about Didem's dance and how much we don't like it when she, and similar dancers, dance to Egyptian music. Everyone likes it better when she does Turkish music with Turkish dance. I think the big difference is that she *is* Turkish, dancing for a Turkish audience and getting their energy feedback, and using that Turkish based footwork and dance technique.
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