Jordanian dance

Brea · 08-24-2007, 01:53 AM

Hi,

My first instructor was from Jordan and taught me her family's style of bellydancing. To this day, I use what she taught me about both ME culture and dance. However, I have not been able to find any examples of Jordanian dance on the Web...or any mention of it. Does anyone know why, or could point me in the direction of any information?

Thanks!

-Brea

miss_shimmy · 08-27-2007, 08:17 AM

I havnt heard of her before,i would love to see.

how long have you been dancing?

namaste

Brea · 08-27-2007, 02:42 PM

I've been dancing eight years. I was the first private student (possibly even the first student besides her son and daughter) that took lessons from her. She taught me the same style as she taught them: their family's dance. Therefore I respect it very highly. Her opinions, attitude, and behavior has changed, however, except for her belief in skimpy costuming. When I took from her she told me I had the perfect body for bellydance, and although she was a personal trainer at the time, she told me she retained her little pot belly for dancing. Nowadays she teaches Egyptian cabaret and no girl is skinny enough or large chested enough...skimpy costumes are still there, though.

There are videos of me dancing out there, but for some reason I don't have any copies...comes from moving around a lot I suppose.

-Brea

nicknack · 08-28-2007, 03:31 PM

I'm guessing that any Jordanian dancing would probably (don't take my word on it though) have a lot in common with Syrian dancing..... just going by the history, before TransJordan existed...when it was part of the British mandate of palestine, and even before that, there was a lot of economic migration (because of the economic oppurtunitys being created by Jewish farmers and landowners) of Arabs (and probably Druse also) throughout the area (and also into what is now Israel) from Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi, Syria everywhere really, still even today many Arabs in Israel and Jordan also have families in Syria...... in fact in the early 1900's many Arabs considered Jordan and the Levant as part of a "Greater Syria" (I think this idea was the predecessor of Pan Arabism).

Iraqi dancing might also be a place to look if you want to make a comparison study

Aisha Azar · 08-28-2007, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicknack

I'm guessing that any Jordanian dancing would probably (don't take my word on it though) have a lot in common with Syrian dancing..... just going by the history, before TransJordan existed...when it was part of the British mandate of palestine, and even before that, there was a lot of economic migration (because of the economic oppurtunitys being created by Jewish farmers and landowners) of Arabs (and probably Druse also) throughout the area (and also into what is now Israel) from Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi, Syria everywhere really, still even today many Arabs in Israel and Jordan also have families in Syria...... in fact in the early 1900's many Arabs considered Jordan and the Levant as part of a "Greater Syria" (I think this idea was the predecessor of Pan Arabism).

Iraqi dancing might also be a place to look if you want to make a comparison study

Dear Brea,
I am not sure that there is a specifically "Jordanian" style of belly dance. there are Debkes that are Jordanian. My Jordanian friends say that their style of belly dance is really more like Lebanese, but the style they respect the most is Egyptian. I am going to be rehearsing on Thursday with a Jordanian gentleman who was a singer there. If I can remember, I will see if he has anything to say that might add to this discussion.
Regards,
A'isha

Brea · 08-28-2007, 03:54 PM

Wow, nicknack, that is a lot of information! So the answer might be 'basically everywhere'. Ha.

I'd like to hear what your Jordanian friend has to say about it as well. I'll look into some of the dance styles mentioned and see if I can find anything that looks more familiar than the tiny isolations do to me.

I wonder if your Jordanian friends also agree with my original teacher's assertion that skimpy costumes are best? I personally don't agree...I like large skirts.

-Brea

I found this...very interesting.

YouTube - BALLY DANCE SHOW IN THE MIDDLE EAST"ASI HASKAL"(iraq dance )

nicknack · 08-28-2007, 03:55 PM

I was really speculating on Shaabi, but it does make sense to me that it would be like Lebanese. And who doesn't really appreciate Egyptian

Mark_Balahadia · 09-05-2007, 03:16 PM

Jordan is a relatively new country. The original inhabitants of "El Urdun" were bedouins. The majority of Jordan's current population are Palestinians who fled their homes after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

Both the Palestinians and the Bedouins in Jordan have their own dances, dabka (a folkloric line dance) as well as Bedouin dances that use swords. However, if their is a Jordanian version of ra2s shar2i, than it's mostly a mix of Lebanese and Egyptian styles. It also from my understanding that most dancers are imported to work in Amman from Lebanon, Egypt and Eastern Europe.

Your Jordanian teacher sounds like a typical Arab. Arabs expect a belly dancer to wear skimpy outfits with a lot of leg. If you look at movies and tv clips of Egyptian and Lebanese dancers all of them are showing quite a lot of cleavage and leg. Arabs expect belly dancers to be sexy...they don't want to see a dancer all covered up and frumpy-looking. They certainly don't want to see dancers in large skirts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brea

Wow, nicknack, that is a lot of information! So the answer might be 'basically everywhere'. Ha.

I'd like to hear what your Jordanian friend has to say about it as well. I'll look into some of the dance styles mentioned and see if I can find anything that looks more familiar than the tiny isolations do to me.

I wonder if your Jordanian friends also agree with my original teacher's assertion that skimpy costumes are best? I personally don't agree...I like large skirts.

-Brea

I found this...very interesting.

YouTube - BALLY DANCE SHOW IN THE MIDDLE EAST"ASI HASKAL"(iraq dance )

Tarik Sultan · 10-10-2007, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brea

Hi,

My first instructor was from Jordan and taught me her family's style of bellydancing. To this day, I use what she taught me about both ME culture and dance. However, I have not been able to find any examples of Jordanian dance on the Web...or any mention of it. Does anyone know why, or could point me in the direction of any information?

Thanks!

-Brea

When you say belly dance, do you mean the style of dance they did socially like at weddings with the family and friends, or do you mean what the professional dancers did on stage?

Brea · 11-12-2007, 04:03 PM

Hi Tarik-

I am assuming here it was more of a family and friends thing because she taught what her family had taught her. When she became a pro teacher, however, she taught a very different style than what she taught me, and her son and daughter dance...so I am not entirely sure, but it is definitely 'bellydance'. My friend who is an American cabaret dancer is always surprised when she watches me dance because it is so different from what she usually sees...again, still bellydance, but it is different somehow.

-Brea Morgiane

PS- Tarik, I emailed you your interview.

08-24-2007, 01:53 AM	#1 (permalink)
Brea V.I.P. Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1,283	Jordanian dance Hi, My first instructor was from Jordan and taught me her family's style of bellydancing. To this day, I use what she taught me about both ME culture and dance. However, I have not been able to find any examples of Jordanian dance on the Web...or any mention of it. Does anyone know why, or could point me in the direction of any information? Thanks! -Brea

08-27-2007, 08:17 AM	#2 (permalink)
miss_shimmy Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: united kingdom Posts: 929	I havnt heard of her before,i would love to see. how long have you been dancing? namaste __________________ bodylicious

08-28-2007, 03:31 PM	#4 (permalink)
nicknack Moderator Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nottingham UK Posts: 269	I'm guessing that any Jordanian dancing would probably (don't take my word on it though) have a lot in common with Syrian dancing..... just going by the history, before TransJordan existed...when it was part of the British mandate of palestine, and even before that, there was a lot of economic migration (because of the economic oppurtunitys being created by Jewish farmers and landowners) of Arabs (and probably Druse also) throughout the area (and also into what is now Israel) from Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi, Syria everywhere really, still even today many Arabs in Israel and Jordan also have families in Syria...... in fact in the early 1900's many Arabs considered Jordan and the Levant as part of a "Greater Syria" (I think this idea was the predecessor of Pan Arabism). Iraqi dancing might also be a place to look if you want to make a comparison study __________________ *Cause I'm not here to let you down. But the costume makes the clown.*

08-28-2007, 03:54 PM	#6 (permalink)
Brea V.I.P. Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1,283	Wow, nicknack, that is a lot of information! So the answer might be 'basically everywhere'. Ha. I'd like to hear what your Jordanian friend has to say about it as well. I'll look into some of the dance styles mentioned and see if I can find anything that looks more familiar than the tiny isolations do to me. I wonder if your Jordanian friends also agree with my original teacher's assertion that skimpy costumes are best? I personally don't agree...I like large skirts. -Brea I found this...very interesting. YouTube - BALLY DANCE SHOW IN THE MIDDLE EAST"ASI HASKAL"(iraq dance ) Last edited by Brea; 08-28-2007 at 04:02 PM.

08-28-2007, 03:55 PM	#7 (permalink)
nicknack Moderator Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nottingham UK Posts: 269	I was really speculating on Shaabi, but it does make sense to me that it would be like Lebanese. And who doesn't really appreciate Egyptian __________________ *Cause I'm not here to let you down. But the costume makes the clown.*

08-27-2007, 02:42 PM	#3 (permalink)
Brea V.I.P. Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1,283	I've been dancing eight years. I was the first private student (possibly even the first student besides her son and daughter) that took lessons from her. She taught me the same style as she taught them: their family's dance. Therefore I respect it very highly. Her opinions, attitude, and behavior has changed, however, except for her belief in skimpy costuming. When I took from her she told me I had the perfect body for bellydance, and although she was a personal trainer at the time, she told me she retained her little pot belly for dancing. Nowadays she teaches Egyptian cabaret and no girl is skinny enough or large chested enough...skimpy costumes are still there, though. There are videos of me dancing out there, but for some reason I don't have any copies...comes from moving around a lot I suppose. -Brea

11-12-2007, 04:03 PM	#10 (permalink)
Brea V.I.P. Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: USA Posts: 1,283	Hi Tarik- I am assuming here it was more of a family and friends thing because she taught what her family had taught her. When she became a pro teacher, however, she taught a very different style than what she taught me, and her son and daughter dance...so I am not entirely sure, but it is definitely 'bellydance'. My friend who is an American cabaret dancer is always surprised when she watches me dance because it is so different from what she usually sees...again, still bellydance, but it is different somehow. -Brea Morgiane PS- Tarik, I emailed you your interview.