Aziyade

I'm not saying it's happened on THIS message board, but why is it that whenever we question a performer or teacher's qualifications or how much they know about the dance or the contributing cultures, we get this generic statement about how art is supposed to evolve?

So if I walk into a studio and see somebody doing cane dance to Bhangra music, and I ask why they chose this particular music, I get slapped in the face with:

"This is my ART. It's evolving. It's my personal expression. Don't try to put me in your box!"

???? ?????


Somebody must have asked Kajira Djoumahna once "why are you wearing tassels and dancing to that music?" A good question, yes? She answered that question by writing a book, The Tribal Bible. Excellent response.

When you "push the boundaries of your art" you should expect people to question you. And you should be prepared with a response. Art is about communication. What are you communicating?

All art can be considered experimental. But you know, sometimes experiments fail. High concept "art" and big-budget movies can fail. The first draft of a poem isn't necessarily (or often) what will be the final finished poem.

Not everything a writer creates is art. Not every scale played by a pianist is art. Sometimes it's just practice.

Not all that goes by the name of "art" is real communication. Sometimes it's just practice.

Gia al Qamar

I agree.
We live in a time when gifted artists starve and the government funds works by someone who schmeres feces on a canvas and calls it 'art'.
I applaud those who are using the 'classics' to create their own works of art...but as with everything...creation requires more than just the urge to do it...
Gia

Shanazel

Well said, Ayizade. I tried to send you some more rep, but the Power of the Forum said not yet.

Everything does not have to be great art- sometimes it is okay to say, "Oh, the canes and the Bhangra? I'm just playing. Grab a cane and you can play, too."

Suheir

I've seen videos of:

Veil dance to tabla

Veil dance to Escanderani music

Melaya leff used as a veil

Are those examples Art or Ignorance?

Yasmina

I think I'm going to quote you Aziyade

Aziyade

Hey, I totally dig Bhangra. I "belly dance" to Bhangra pretty often, in my home studio. I tap dance to Gypsy Caravan's rhythm CDs. The only time I can get my veil to comply with my wishes is when I'm dancing to Zucchero. I throw an Alabina CD in the player and switch from practicing Flamenco to Salsa to bellydance, to whatever strikes my fancy at the time. I LOOOOOOVVVVVE playing dance. And that's what I call it: playing dance. Sometimes it just does your soul good to move -- to anything you want to hear.

But if I tried advertising a performance as say, Saidi, and I spent most of the time doing the bumbishay and shuffling-stepping -- well, I would EXPECT someone in the audience to say, "Um, what was that, exactly, and why did you call it Saidi?"


Suheir asks some questions that I don't know how to answer. Is it art or ignorance?

When I think of Melaya, I think of Mahmoud Reda and his tableaux dances. I would think if you studied Reda's use of the melaya, and felt you captured the spirit of what he was hoping to portray, then you would KNOW what would be an "accepted" use of the melaya (accepted by the dance community in general.)

I'm ignorant of "Escanderani" music, so I wouldn't know how to dance to that.

Suheir

I think I should have spelt it 'Eskanderani' - it's dance from Alexandria and if there's a male dancer he'll be dressed as a fisherman and make appropriate gestures:

Aziyade

Hmm... is this an actual Alexandrian folk dance? I ask because it looks awfully Reda-fied. If it's not just tableaux and it's a real folk dance, then I think a lot of variance from the "norm" is ignorance.

This desire to not appear ignorant is what prompted teh posts on Turkish and Greek folk dance.

Suheir

I'd be surprised if it's possible to see anything that hasn't been Reda influenced!

Aziyade

Oh, well I meant, is this a Reda CREATION more than like, a folk creation.

Like Reda's "Hagallah" that really isn't.

I had actually heard that Melaya leff dance was his creation, based on the personalities and quirks of the women in -- I think it was Alexandria, wasn't it? So it's not like a folk dance that the folk actually do, but one of the "tableaux" dances that made up his stage shows of "regional Egyptian dance."

I do know he travelled around and actually studied the dances and mannerisms of people in the various regions, though, so his "Creations" were at least based in real experience and not just his imagination.