Quote:
Originally Posted by deanna
IMHO, if you take the "oriental" out of oriental dance, it does become something different. Not better, not worse -- just different. Perhaps there should be a new vocabulary for it. Seems to me "belly dance" has become a more general term that transcends Middle Eastern dance, and that now that form is just one aspect, along with all the fusion and modern varieties.
But maybe there is (or should be) a more appropriate term?
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As far as i'm concerned it already exists - fusion - but many people do not like to acknowledge fusion for what it is because what sells is the word bellydance not the word fusion.
I take for instance the main bellydance company down here - recently they and other people started posting youtube vidoes of their performances but they've gotten alot of criticism for doing things like dancing with wings of isis to indian music because "that's what the clients want" and still calling it bellydance rather than calling it fusion - or doing samba shimmies to a whole song and sticking in 2 hip lifts and calling it bellydance.
I agree that it is no better or worse than oriental but alot of people view fusion as being lesser because people want to believe that they're being sold something exotic and "authentic".
IMO the threat to the dance is that people will never be able to develop the artistic integrity, or overcome their selfish motives or reconcile business with art in such a way as to do the dance justice and as such the line will become blurrier and blurrier as to what oriental dance is.
That's just my take on it of course.