Dipali

Hello Everybody
Lets talk here about what your vision is for the future of Belly Dance , Do you think one day it will be a part of main stream culture, like Belle Jazz or Hip Hop. Commercialisation wont be the real way for many of us, we know we will lose the innocence of it, (and a lot of side effects come with it) . But can we really make a change for the future, Can we keep this exotic yet classical dance form alive for many generations to come, In future can we see a belly dance competition for younger people on television, Do you believe one day there will be belly dancing schools everywhere and all our kids will be dancing with their hip scarf on, it’s a nice thought, is it possible though?
So all the dancers out there who admire belly dancing and think about the future of the dance what do you think would be a better way to improve and get our deserving respect from a bigger population.

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Yasmine Bint Al Nubia

Good Morning Dipali, You raise some interesting questions. I think for the most part that the future of belly dance is here. There are far more schools now and seminars by top teachers than ever before. My personal vision would be to preserve the the cultural movement vocabulary along with the musical framework. For example what makes some of the hip work distinct from what you'll find in Latin or African style dancing.
My vision also includes moving closer to a standardized vocabulary that describes the movement to students. Again, I believe each school/teacher has their own terms and it would move us closer as a community if these terms were routinely shared among all people teaching and learning bellydance.
Also I believe we need to raise awareness and push toward better working conditions for dancers. Comprehensive pay with benefits, contracts that protects the dancers interest as well as the financial intergrity of the venue. Of course , continuing to expand the different choices of venues for dancers.
My vision is limited at best becase it addresses concerns of Western dancers, but I would love to see the restrictions lited in the Arabic/North African countries of origin.
Yasmine

Maria_Aya

My vision is to see Oriental dance, bellydance, raqs sharqi, how ever you want to call it call it, considered a serious dance form, such as ballet, ballroom, flamenco etc.
People that approach it to be serious at it, and dont except to be pro's in a year etc. When someone goes to a latin, ballroom, flamenco, ballet, modern jazz class, they know that they have to study hard to get to a good point on dance.
I hope and dream for the change of the students on this.
Ofcourse this is mainly teachers job to accomplish, but we can all help with our way.

Maria Aya

Asheba

Funny enough was discussing this subject with my flamenco teacher the other day as she is starting beginners classes and lots of people had said to her oh its a way of getting/keeping fit...she was insulted by this as it is her passion and life....people also say to me how long have you been doing flamenco I say 2 years but I like to put it in hours as feel there is still so much to learn and each dance takes a year....so feel the same with belly dancing. I feel rather that yes its ok for it to become more popular, if that is at all possible...but still for it not to be de'stylized if you can understand my meaning. That people do it for the art form of dance and its beauty and learn to understand the principles of it and what is required from ones body by way of muscle isolation etc and of course firstly because THEY LOVE IT!!!

Shanazel

I always feel exasperated when someone tells me they are taking my classes because they think belly dance will be "a good workout." In fact, I've come to hate the word "workout." Does one take ballet for the workout? Modern dance in order to break a sweat? Ballroom dance in order to stretch the old muscles? Sigh. Once when I was taking a class, I overheard a newbie whisper to another newbie, "I thought the teacher would be more toned." I wanted to say, "She is toned, you idiot, the kind of toning that doesn't involve six-packs!" Sigh again.

Yasmine Bint Al Nubia

Hi Shanazel, I feel the same as you about the workout aspects of bellydance that is marketed heavily these days. I guess in a way to "elevate' the art and sterilize it of its Arabic/North African roots, people would rather think they are getting a good workout. As you probably already know, most students seek out other forms of traditional exercise to keep up in bellydance class.

Sorry I from the topic:o
Yasmine

Aisha Azar

Dear Group,
As an instructor, it took me a long, long time to get used to the idea that everyone who came into my class would not have my passion and love for the dance. I had to begin to understand that each individual who comes into the belly dance class has her/his own reasons for doing so. Some want a work-out that looks fun istead of being the same boring thing. Some want to "lose weight" or feel exotic. Some need something away from the sadness in their every day lives, as did one woman who came into class while her husband was dying of a rare cancer, in order to just do something for herself for a short while every week. ( She now is a member of my dance company and just got remarried to a wonderful man!).
In our personal vision of the dance, we might see it entirely differently than any one of our students, but we still need to understand and accept their reasons for being there. (It is also possible to change their minds and help them to see the dance as something more than they first imagined it to be!)
Regards,
A'isha

Michelle

Yep, this is kind of annoying. As Aisha said, everyone has their own reasons for doing belly dance. Sometimes, we have trouble understanding how someone could be so blase' about something which is our great passion and we should be tolerant of other people's original intentions.... but, as a part of my vision for the future of bellydance, these people would walk away from class with much more than a few new moves. They would be educated about the very roots popular culture seeks to erase and learn about its role in Arabic/North African culture. My vision would be not necessarily to make it completely mainstream (I think it would lose its essence.... we tend to sexualize everything here) but for more and more students to be aware of its background and treat it like a serious art form, just like I am trying to do now.