Dear Jane,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jane
The dances of the Middle East have names, but they don't get used very often. All the torso based dances of the ME get lumped together as "Belly Dance"
My definition inspired by A'isha: a solo improvisational dance style rooted in Middle Eastern social dances, characterized by isolations, undulations, and rhythmic shaking of the torso and hips which visually interprets secular Middle Eastern music based in the maqam system.
I always ask "What's Middle Eastern about it?"
I also think fusion leads to Confusion for both dancers and the public. Joe Blow sees a dancer with something around the hips, they think "belly dancer" no matter what.
If it doesn't have Middle Eastern music and movement vocabulary it isn't belly dance. You can do ME movement to Indian music, but it's NOT "belly dance". Hip-Hop to Om K. is not "belly dance" either.
Fusion is the blending of two dance forms. When you take a little of this, a little of that, taken to extremes it either becomes a muddle or a new dance form. The problem comes from "bad" fusion: Poorly executed, insensitive cultural blending, or just plain ignorance.
New dance forms deserve new names! If they are good, they will stand on their own merit. I like "global fusion" or "world fusion".
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Actually, many of the dances of the Middle East do not have names. We have given them labels in order to more clearly teach them and define them for our own uses. I agree that new forms need new names and this is one of the things I have harped on for many years.
This is my definition of belly dance, quoted from my class literature. I believe that it goes for all 3 major styles, (Egyptian, Turkish, Lebanese).
"Belly dance is an authentic ethnic dance in movement and spirit. The dance and dancer are the physical manifestation of and visual compliment to the exotic music they accompany. Like ballet, the dance has precise movements based on root concepts. the dancer enjoys a full range of personal expression within the dance."
You might note that the very first claim in my literature is that belly dance is an ethnic dance!!!!!!!
I have been watching this thread with great interest and the thing that amazes me is that 10 years ago practically no one saw fusion as a problem at all. I got raked over the coals quite frequently for mentioning that it was one. Now it seems to be recognized the main problem, along with bad teaching. We need to be more far sighted and try to follow a thought process that sees us through to the result of any new element in the dance world!
I see layers of problems:
*Us not paying attention and monitoring and calling people on bulls--t when that is what they are doing. We are not taking responsibility for our own dance. We are so busy being politically correct that we are missing the larger picture.
* Poor teaching is resulting in a watering down and homogenizing of cultural, movement and essence elements of the dance. Consistently dancing to pop music instead of recognizing it as ONE element in a larger performance is detrimental to the quality of dance. If its shaabi, say so. Do not mistake it for belly dance.
* CULTURAL ELEMENTS are necessary for the dance to be belly dance. Otherwise it is something else and should be labeled as what it is. We need to clearly define our dance offering for the public and for our students.
* I agree so very much with whoever it was that stated we need to see more folkloric dance. My company consistently presents a variety of dances, in their proper costumes, with their proper music. In any given show we might have 4 belly dancers out of some 12-15 dances. Everything else is either a folkloric dance, an Egyptian style skit, or some other cultural offering. We present a very small mattering of fusion. We also clearly, concisely tell the audience what they are seeing so that they recognize that there are many different dances being presented. EVERY show that we do is narrated by an announcer who has that job only. She does not dance. I do not outright brag about my company very often, but when she came up to work with us, Ahava was very much impressed by our show and said that she was not seeing anything nearly as good in California! I felt very proud and happy that she was able to see the value in what we present.
* We seem reluctant to really praise other dancers, and there are those who really, REALLY deserve to be out there a lot more than they are. People seem to confuse having a big name with having a quality product to offer and that is simply not the case.
..... I hope I'm done now.....My coffee cup is dangerously low on fuel!
Regards,
A'isha