Mariles

I think the combination of bad and invented fusions with bad teachers and performers is very bad for the dance. Bad teachers go out and teach their students bad tecnique and bad music interpretation which creates a cicle, those students will teach others in a wrong way. When they preform to people who dont have knowladge about this dance, that will bring more and more ignorance to it. And people with none experience start to call themselves "bellydancers", when in the reality they only know a few moves.
And why does everybody has to call bellydance to every dance that moves the belly or the hips? There are a lot of videos that dont have bellydance on it, but the title is "Bellydance"...
One thing I really dont like is the "remixed" musics. Eternal songs like Enta Omri remixed with techno beats?! Why?? It looks horrible. I see a huge amount of bellydance cds with these beats, that just ruins the music.

I think it's the combination of all tis that damages middle eastern dance.

lizaj

Looks like it's an international problem
this bad teaching lark and deluded dancer!

Caroline_afifi

Yes, it is a combination of many factors.
Bad teaching is high on the list, but who decides who is good or bad?

On the open stage at Raqs B perhaps 10% of the dancing was to MED music.
How can this not be a threat whether good or bad? I love good fusion but the popularity over MED dance is frightening.

Are people truly bored with MED dance and music? I believe so

After going to x amount of classes do they decide it does not suit them or their personality so the take what they want and add it to some Judas Priest?

One class I went to years ago when I first started, had us gyrating to Jimi Hendrix... the same rubbish teacher is still teaching the same choreography to students 15 years later.

I experiment with dance and drama and I do love good fusion but it is over taking everything now. MED is now diluted in the UK and good practitioners are few and far between.

You watch some people do fusion and you just know they have never ever learned the fusion they are doing and are making it up from a video.
What is that about? boredom, money, inventiveness??...

Suheir

Unfortunately, it seems that an awful lot of students are so undiscerning that they're incapable of seeing through teachers with awful posture, who can't execute basic movements, who are ignorant of the background and culture, even when they're subsequently exposed to the "real" thing.

It appears to be very easy to pull the wool over people's eyes if you have aggressive marketing and brainwashed acolytes to spread the word.

When there is so much variety? If people are so scared of Middle Eastern culture that they have to dance to Shakira and will only go to workshops with teachers who speak perfect English I'd suggest they'd be better off with ballroom dancing.

A couple of teachers in the last MADN *professionals* showcase I went to were still doing exactly the same things I'd seen them perform 7 years previously. Students of one of the teachers were sitting next to me in the audience and gushing over how wonderful their teacher was.

Caroline_afifi

MED should have an education beyond the dance moves in my opinion.
Culture is integral to the dance and every teacher should have a little grounding at least in this. There really is no exuse these days.

At Ahlan I was surprised to see people leaving the grounds of the Mena house in peak hour wearing little or no clothing, some in belly dance attire and walking the streets back to their various hotels and some stopping of at a restaurant for a bite to eat. Do people not pack their brains with their under wear etc.

I am amazes me that festivals like these dont have serious security risks.
It only takes one unbalanced individual to take offence and the whole thing could escalate into something very nasty which could potentially put everyone at risk.

Suheir

I remember reading belly dance students on a message board saying that they refused to cover their heads when visiting a mosque in Cairo - really, if you have no respect for other people's religions or culture, why should you expect them to have any respect for you?

Mya

Far as i know, AmCab is the original fusion.

Mya

That's appalling - i am not by any stretch of the imagination a religous person but i detest that kind of behaviour and i have gone to the mosque here more than once with my muslim cousins as i find it an interesting way to get insight into a bit of he culture of the religion and perhaps by extension a slightly better understanding of why certain attitudes exist in general and to the dance in specific. Never once did it occur to me to go in low rise jeans and a crop top and walk in with my stilettos on - it really upsets me when people dont' respect other people's beliefs just because they're different to their own.

Yasmine Bint Al Nubia

Yes American cabaret is fusion of many different styles of Oriental dance that was originally taught by first generationArabic/Greek/Turkish/Armenian/Persian immigrants to America. It is not a fusion of Western style dances (i.e jazz, modern, hip-hop,ballet) nor a fusion of music and movements from multiple distinct cultures (i.e Indian dance, with samba and few hip drops thrown in). Of course this is my opinion, and as such it is subject to scrutiny.

What I think is damaging to Middle Eastern dance are the following:

Students who to begin to teach far to soon. The information becomes more diluted with each generation.

Fundamental religious attacks on the dance in the countries of origin. The suppression of creative spirit will have much wider negative impact than bad fusion....because without it how would we tell the difference?

Professional dancers undercutting each other or worse yet performing for little to no pay just for exposure. Whatever one might think of Dina, at least she gets paid and then she exposes herself!

The least damaging..overpriced costumes...c'mon who needs a Sahar Okasha costume that sells for grand!! Ok my personal rant
I'm going to bed
Yasmine

__________________
www.visionsofthenile.com

Aisha Azar

Dear Jane,





Actually, many of the dances of the Middle East do not have names. We have given them labels in order to more clearly teach them and define them for our own uses. I agree that new forms need new names and this is one of the things I have harped on for many years.


This is my definition of belly dance, quoted from my class literature. I believe that it goes for all 3 major styles, (Egyptian, Turkish, Lebanese).

"Belly dance is an authentic ethnic dance in movement and spirit. The dance and dancer are the physical manifestation of and visual compliment to the exotic music they accompany. Like ballet, the dance has precise movements based on root concepts. the dancer enjoys a full range of personal expression within the dance."


You might note that the very first claim in my literature is that belly dance is an ethnic dance!!!!!!!

I have been watching this thread with great interest and the thing that amazes me is that 10 years ago practically no one saw fusion as a problem at all. I got raked over the coals quite frequently for mentioning that it was one. Now it seems to be recognized the main problem, along with bad teaching. We need to be more far sighted and try to follow a thought process that sees us through to the result of any new element in the dance world!

I see layers of problems:

*Us not paying attention and monitoring and calling people on bulls--t when that is what they are doing. We are not taking responsibility for our own dance. We are so busy being politically correct that we are missing the larger picture.

* Poor teaching is resulting in a watering down and homogenizing of cultural, movement and essence elements of the dance. Consistently dancing to pop music instead of recognizing it as ONE element in a larger performance is detrimental to the quality of dance. If its shaabi, say so. Do not mistake it for belly dance.

* CULTURAL ELEMENTS are necessary for the dance to be belly dance. Otherwise it is something else and should be labeled as what it is. We need to clearly define our dance offering for the public and for our students.

* I agree so very much with whoever it was that stated we need to see more folkloric dance. My company consistently presents a variety of dances, in their proper costumes, with their proper music. In any given show we might have 4 belly dancers out of some 12-15 dances. Everything else is either a folkloric dance, an Egyptian style skit, or some other cultural offering. We present a very small mattering of fusion. We also clearly, concisely tell the audience what they are seeing so that they recognize that there are many different dances being presented. EVERY show that we do is narrated by an announcer who has that job only. She does not dance. I do not outright brag about my company very often, but when she came up to work with us, Ahava was very much impressed by our show and said that she was not seeing anything nearly as good in California! I felt very proud and happy that she was able to see the value in what we present.

* We seem reluctant to really praise other dancers, and there are those who really, REALLY deserve to be out there a lot more than they are. People seem to confuse having a big name with having a quality product to offer and that is simply not the case.


..... I hope I'm done now.....My coffee cup is dangerously low on fuel!
Regards,
A'isha