Amulya

Couple of questions regarding the so called Rachel Brice style. I always thought the pops and locks referred to are sharp hip drops and lifts. But is that true? Some people say Rachel uses hip hop influences in her dance, but I don't see any. Can anyone explain?

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Suheir

I thought the pops were the abdominal stuff? The sideways movement with the upper body is a hip hop movement, I think it's called a sidewinder?

Eve

like this?

Yasmina

OH MY GOD, that was sooo cool!

Aziyade

Edited to add: I SPOKE TOO SOON -- I SHOULD KNOW NOT TO SPEAK OF WHAT I DO NOT KNOW. Sorry!!!!

There is no real Rachel Brice style. I see her dance about every 2 years, and she keeps changing what she does. The original Bellydance Superstars style she (or someone in the BDSS) called "Tribal Fusion" and involved what was essentially Suhaila format level one technique with backbends and some spins and things I'm told she got from ATS. This is what most people call her style.

"Lock" is a bellydance term that's been used since the 80s to describe a sharp lift, drop, or down that appears to "lock" into position. A "pop" I've always seen described as a lifting from a down position to an up position, like a chest pop, or a knee/belly pop, or a hamstring pop, which lifts the butt and hip.

The words "pop" and "lock" probably come from breakdancing from the 70's and 80s. (The precursor to Hip Hop). The clip here (thanks for that, by the way!!) is old-school breakdancing.

Does Rachel have a lot of "Hip Hop" influence in her dance? I think she had some breakdancing influence -- a little bit in the early work, but I wouldn't say much hip hop. (But I haven't seen her dance in a year -- who knows what she's doing now.) Suhaila Dance Company seems to have a lot of hip hop in their performances, and in the members' individual solos.

Breakdancing begat hip hop, but it's not the same.

TribalDancer

Funny, I see Rachel Brice many times a year, in person at fesitvals and online in video, and I feel like I have seen the same thing over and over for years. She herself has talked with me and others about not having time to really develop anything new since she is so busy on the road on tour--she hasn't the time or creative energy. She left the BDSS tour for a short time to try and find some downtime to rest and recover her creativity, and not long after came the announcement of Le Serpent Rouge. Whether she thought of that on the break, or if it was someone else's brainchild I will never know, but the timing was intriguiing.

So it's been about 4 years since I have seen anything significantly new, to me, in her dancing. I will say that the theatrical presentation around Le Serpent Rouge is new, but the performances within that show look like Indigo Style to me. Can you elaborate on what you have seen, Aziyade, that you would consider new and different over the span of time you have seen her dance?

There is definitely a recognizable Indigo Style. <---this term is preferred to "Rachel Brice Style" because Rachel's style is really a reflection of Mardi Love's style. Mardi Love is the main choreographer for The Indigo, and is the one who really created the style of movement *and* costuming that RB displays. RB just happens to be the one who took it to the masses, and has a unique body and set of skills that made her stand out early on.

As for Pop n Lock, yes it is commonly attributed to hip hop style. The little progressive locks, not just one sharp "boom" movement, is what makes it a uniquely hip hop style rather than just a bellydance lock or pop.

For instance, taking an undulation, and locking it off in 5 different places as it progresses down your body, making it look very segmented, would be a hip hop/breakdancing influence. Whereas doing an undulation and just locking it at the end of the undulation would be more general bellydance. Does that make sense? Urban Tribal was one of the first popular tribal groups to start using this kind of popping and locking in their dancing--an element you can still see today even though they have moved on to perform far more modern/interpretive dance than bellydance (in the limited shows I have seen on big stages...what they do elsewhere may be very different.)

It is commonly referred to as hip hop influences mainly because hip hop is what the young'n's understand to use that movement. Many don't know breakdancing, or at least wouldn't know its history and that it shares some of the same movement elements as the hip hop they see in videos every day.

Aziyade

Lemme see if I can find some representative clips:

YouTube - Rachel Brice, Mary Ellen Donald, and sooozhyQ

no -- I can't find anything. The above clip, to me, is like her in-between style. Between Indigo style and what I last saw. More actual dancing here.

There's nothing online that really looks like the last 2 times I saw her, but then again -- I don't know SQUAT about Tribal, or Tribal Fusion, obviously, so maybe it's just me misinterpreting what I'm seeing??

TribalDancer

I think her dancing to live drummers is somewhat different than her recorded music dancing, but I think that's just the nature of the music and the context. The dancing itself--the way she treats the moves, her posture, her interpretation--all comes across very much the same to me.

I much prefer her live music dancing to her moody-industrial dancing. That upbeat energy and the detail she can bring to a drum solo is SOOO entertaining to me! I appreciate the moodier stuff, but my eyes glaze over after a while because it looks the same same same to me and is sooo one energetic level throughout, so it doesn't keep me engaged. She is talented in any case, but I have my preferences, certainly.

Amulya

Thanks for the clarifications

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orientaldancer33

Hi friend !
i am not so happy to this type of dance because i am form India
and so i like classical dance that will satisfy to all of you .

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