Artemocion Malta

I always wanted to see a good discussion regarding Belly Dance and its relations to other Dance forms such as Jazz , Ballet, Flamenco. Does anyone here do another form of Dance? Does it help to know another form of dance ?

Q-Tip

IMO I think it does help if you have experience with another form of dance.
By knowing another form of dance you've probably already learned a lot about music such as different rhythms and how to identify them.

I have no dance experience. I've never taken any dance classes and I don't play any instruments so when I hear a dance instructor calling out positions (like plié or relevé) I have to watch what they do and/or I have to look it up.

IMO Instructional dance dvd's work under the assumption that you already have a basic dance vocabulary.

I only know what plié and relevé mean because I have the NYC Ballet workout on DVD.

Yasmine Bint Al Nubia

Great question!
I had no other 'formal' dance experience prior to bellydancing 7 years ago(this month is my anniversary).
However, i've had many years of informal social dancing,that had prepared my mind and body for picking up the nuances n certain forms of this dance.
For example:
I've learned dance by visually picking up what other people were doing. By doing so I remained in touch with my body and had a strong mind /body awareness. In a sense I learned to dance by watching the 'bouncing butt"
Much of the BD moves were organically based..much like the social dances that I was used to.
Similarities in musical structure..especially with percussive based songs and the orchestral arrangements that reminded me of jazz.
The call and response structure found in gospel is also similar to many Middle Eastern songs.
There was also a celebratory feel to bellydancing and the music which was also very familiar as well as always having music played in my home. In other words dance and music was an intgral part of my growng up and there wasn't a separation between the two.

Since I didn't have formal dance training..I found certain terms confusing as well as specific structure of ME music. But I learned that in time as long as I was exposed to good teachers.
Having said all that, from my personal experience...a lack of ballet, jazz etc did not prevent me from learning bellydance. But I understand that others may have different experiences.
Yasmine

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Shanazel

I had some limited background in ballet and folk dance before I started belly dancing, and I'm sure it didn't hurt me any. I also had a fairly substantial background in vocal and instrumental music, which was probably as much help as the dance background.

Happy anniversary, Yasmine! Long may you shimmy!

nightdancer

The thing that I found helpful was the abililty to isolate things, and balance. The thing that I found detrimental was the stiffness and tendancy to try to come all the way up on pointe during a spin.

Kashmir

Jazz gave me an edge on isolations. It also taught me a range of standard foot patterns - three step turns, arabesques, pas de bouree etc. However, a good teacher should lead you through this any way.

Artemocion Malta

Hmm I am glad I saw some posts on this thread this morning!

Well I do Jazz and I also teach students . What Is very important to me is that the Technique of Jazz actually helps prevent injuries during the dance. Well in the syllabus of the ISTD (imperial society of teachers of Dance) it is a very important matter.

Things such as Taking care of the knee cap , making safe floorwork and steady turns are really imporant , And every teacher should talk about them no matter what dance style is being thought .

Yasmine well done for your 7 years of Belly Dancing!

If you find some Jazz books or articles from the ISTD or Royal academy of Dance there should be explanations and illustrations of the positions of the common ones- pas de burees, springs, drag turns , split-jumps, jetees , picked up jumps etc.. But I guess nowadays you may even find these illustrations on you tube.

adiemus

I recall a thread similar to this a while ago, but it never hurts to talk about this!
I danced ballet for way too long, and it's left me with a stiff thoracic spine and I have really had to unlearn locked knees and turned-out feet! I like the fact that I can place my arms where I want them, but I'm not so keen on the elevation that my ballet past gives me.

I'm curious as to how the ballet training has responded to modern science in terms of injury prevention. I mean, every dance class starts with plie's and other things at the barre - yet stretching has been demonstrated to have no effect on preventing injury.

Some things are so different in bellydance - the call and response, the relaxed emotions, that it's not so much a performance as a response to the music - these are things to unlearn from ballet. The ability to choreograph and link steps and use space, these are what I love from ballet.

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shiradotnet

I think Western dance forms offer SOME benefit and SOME problems.

A Western-trained dancer will be inclined to stick certain stuff into belly dance that is not really part of the dance - certain arm carriage things, high kicks, leaps, etc. A lot of times, the excuse is, "But ballet influenced belly dance back in the Badia Masabni era, and therefore we should be able to do the same," but the problem with this argument is that often the people who make it haven't bothered to learn precisely *which* influences from ballet were used. As a result, they stick lots of Western stuff in that doesn't fit the aesthetic and it's no longer belly dance.

A few months ago, I went to a workshop that claimed to be teaching a choreography to Egyptian pop music. Well, the song didn't sound remotely like Egyptian pop music, and the choreography didn't remotely resemble belly dance. It was a jazz choreography complete with lots of floor patterns, traveling, half-turns, etc. and just the occasional stray hip drop thrown in. I felt as though the advertising for this workshop had been misleading, and I felt I'd wasted my money. (I don't think it was the sponsor's fault, I blame the teacher.)

That said, one of the benefits Western training can bring to the picture is the ability to pick choreography up quickly. The "go across the floor" methodology, in particular, can help students acquire the skill of thinking on their feet and learning the material.

I also think Western training is beneficial for doing spins more effectively and finding one's center.

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Shanazel

There ya go! One of the huge difficulties of keeping AmCab true to itself and to its origins is the fine line between incorporating western influences as they were absorbed into the middle eastern form of belly dance and just wholesale dragging in any bits and pieces of ballet and jazz that happen to appeal to western dancers without any thought of whether or not it has a place in belly dance. The first time I saw a "belly dancer" incorporate a stag leap and jazz hands into her routine, I was torn between throwing something at her and sitting down and weeping.