Yes American cabaret is fusion of many different styles of Oriental dance that was originally taught by first generationArabic/Greek/Turkish/Armenian/Persian immigrants to America. It is not a fusion of Western style dances (i.e jazz, modern, hip-hop,ballet) nor a fusion of music and movements from multiple distinct cultures (i.e Indian dance, with samba and few hip drops thrown in). Of course this is my opinion, and as such it is subject to scrutiny.
What I think is damaging to Middle Eastern dance are the following:
Students who to begin to teach far to soon. The information becomes more diluted with each generation.
Fundamental religious attacks on the dance in the countries of origin. The suppression of creative spirit will have much wider negative impact than bad fusion....because without it how would we tell the difference?
Professional dancers undercutting each other or worse yet performing for little to no pay just for exposure. Whatever one might think of Dina, at least she gets paid and then she exposes herself!
The least damaging..overpriced costumes...c'mon who needs a Sahar Okasha costume that sells for grand!! Ok my personal rant
I'm going to bed
Yasmine