Aisha Azar

Jenc wrote-
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Dear Jen,
I think successful fusion is less about what the artist and more about the common threads and elements that the dancer is able to find in the cultural concepts being fused, the movements, how they are tied to the musical choice, the feeling and spirit of what they are trying to create, and the final outcome as it affects the general audience and the dancer her/himself. Most of belly dance is about some kind of fusion, but in the end the most successful kinds of fusion are still recognizable as some kind of cultural offering that has roots in something, somewhere, I think. The biggest mistake I see in most fusion is when the dancer tries to make it all about her/himself, so that it appears to be a big personal ego trip rather than anything more. MOST fusion in the world of belly dance strikes me as very much that, but there are some truly sublime exceptions.
Regards,
A'isha

teela

I don't really know why people try to fuse different styles of dance. I have alot of issues when its labelled as a bellydance fusion where nothing seems to be bellydance in it. I saw a charleston/bellydance (claimed) fusion to a nonbelly dance piece of music and all I saw was the charleston and regular dance. I just wish people would call this type of thing fusion or even just plain dance. I admit to being something of a purist.
just my 2 cents worth.




Oh I'm another one who lived on Oahu for several years, mostly over in the Kailua area.

jenc

Oh I agree. That is what I was trying to say when i started this thread. Most so called fusion is just a show off mess

Aisha Azar

[quote].



Dear Teela,
In my particular case, you are definitely preaching to the choir!!!! For many years now, I have advocated being very clear in our definitions of what is appearing on stage under the guise of "belly dance". I am constantly saying that we need to make sure that if we say the words "belly dance" that we are actually performing belly dance and not some other kind of dance that we just made up, or some other kind of fusion with those two words added at the end of the genre in order to give credibility to what we are doing.
Regards,
A'isha

jenc

This is titled "Slinky: The Nekyia's Belly Dance Burlesque"

WARNING! Thank you all for watching and commenting on this video, even you who are negative and vulgar. For those of you who are dismayed, please visit us at The Nekyia - Sexy, Soulful Music and Dance for our response to you.

Description: Sexy & slinky, The Nekyia blends movements from belly dance and cabaret with elements of neo burlesque.

I really like it But I can't see it as fusion. It's just burlesque to me

jenc

But I didn't like this. It's boring

Suheir

You know, logically, you can't actually *fuse* Burlesque with anything because to burlesque is to parody something, so dressing as a belly dancer and performing "burlesque" is just parodying belly dance in the same way that performing burlesque dressed as a school mistress or a nun would be parody, not pedagogical/burlesque fusion or religious/burlesque fusion.

TribalDancer

The costumes...oh...um...

But 1940's?? How did they get 1940's? I am really confused. Was it mislabeled maybe?

Damariz

I posted this on bhuz earlier:

Soraia's Samba/Modern Cairo fusion
YouTube - SORAIA ZAIED 2008 - DERBACK

I liked the way this piece came out. You could recognize the two elements being fused through the music, movements, and costuming. Didn't seem like an ego trip at all but rather a way for soraia to combine two styles she is passionate about.

I also liked this one:
Collena's Odissi/Am cab fusion
YouTube - Tribal Fest 7 Performance - Colleena with Indian Fusion

I can barely recognize bellydance elements in the first song but there is plenty in the second song. Like Soraya, Collena seems to be proficient in both styles and thus can make knowlegable fusion.

The videos Jenc C posted had way too much stuff going on and I could not tell what she was trying to fuse.

jenc

or this