"belllydance"-attempt in the figure skating world cup. - Page 2

Shanazel · 03-24-2008, 02:38 PM

First of all, you have to understand that I am an ice skating expert: in Yosemite in 1969 I stood up on ice skates for a FULL THIRTY SECONDS before I fell. Now that I have established my bona fides, I feel impelled to say this team should try, try again, preferably with a non-belly dancing theme. Were the other dance themed performances better, worse, or equivalent?

Aniseteph · 03-24-2008, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet Phoenix

I don't know.....it is hard for me to picture, say, Horacia holding Beata upside down, her clinging to his thighs with legs in his face while they spin madly.

Oh please no, I did not need that mental image...

KuteNurse · 03-24-2008, 04:21 PM

Yeah, the Belly Iceskating doesn't seem to be working. She did like one or two hip moves in the beginning. I think what we are forgetting is...this is iceskating. They were just stealing the Belly dance theme.

karena · 03-24-2008, 04:34 PM

I used to skate. So to shed a little light....

They were doing ice dance not figure skating. In ice dance you do compulsory dances like a foxtrot, tango, waltz (and there are lots of variations of these eg argentine tango, european waltz) where you must do specific steps. They don't tend to show these on TV as people would get more bored watching people doing the same dances. Then there is the original dance which is what they were doing, where you dance your own dance but you must fit in particular components, and it is restricted what you can do. So, if they did proper belly dance then they wouldn't have been doing ice dance. They are all versions of other dances, the tango would not be a ballroom tango. It is an ice dance tango.

There is alot of footwork going on that if you don't know what you are looking for, you would miss. This is one of the main things they are judged on. Posture is different, you need to change your centre of gravity to do different moves. And you need to be grounded but in a different way. Lots of energy goes down through the skates, else you would fall over. And the arms are also necessary in order to execute moves, and shift the weight.

Personally I don't think they would think they are belly dancing. Ice dance is all about interpreting other dances and expressing them on ice. And if they did more belly dance, they wouldn't be ice dancing any longer. And I think it's great that an israeli couple chose to do something inspired by the middle east. And I am pleased that the costume was pretty tame, and didn't perpetuate the bellydancer-stripper myth.

I think that covers all the ice dance Qs, but if I've missed any just ask as I did once compete in free skating. 26th out of 28 competitors no less

gisela · 03-24-2008, 05:36 PM

I see what you are saying Karena and agree that this is interpreting other dances thus not being fusion in any way.
But I thought Ice dance was a kind of figure skating, but maybe that's just an translation thing. In Swedish everything is figure skating and then you divide it up in the categories- male, female, couples, ice dance, group.

I want to point out that NOWHERE does this couple claim to be bellydancing, so that's completely just ME that put that word here, based on the costumes music and the one hip-up. The closest ting they came to name it was calling the song "middle eastern folk dance" which might not be completely true either?

Maybe the loose, gooey torso in BD disturbs the balance when iceskating.

I should know though. I took lessons for a few months when I was twelve so I have basically been skating professionally for 16 years and I watched a lot of competitions on tv and once even live and my mothers cousin is expert commentator on swedish tv, so it's in my blood, I could practically teach now, right?

gisela · 03-24-2008, 05:38 PM

And I'm very sorry for spelling bellydance with three L's in the thread title. I just noticed.

Reen.Blom · 03-24-2008, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gisela

And I'm very sorry for spelling bellydance with three L's in the thread title. I just noticed.

Oh Gisela, thanks for pointing it out- I didnt notice....LOL

Karena, thank you for Explaining things!!! It really makes more sense now!!

KuteNurse · 03-24-2008, 07:08 PM

Thankyou for the info Karena! How long did you skate for?

karena · 03-24-2008, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gisela

I see what you are saying Karena and agree that this is interpreting other dances thus not being fusion in any way.
But I thought Ice dance was a kind of figure skating, but maybe that's just an translation thing. In Swedish everything is figure skating and then you divide it up in the categories- male, female, couples, ice dance, group.

I want to point out that NOWHERE does this couple claim to be bellydancing, so that's completely just ME that put that word here, based on the costumes music and the one hip-up. The closest ting they came to name it was calling the song "middle eastern folk dance" which might not be completely true either?

Maybe the loose, gooey torso in BD disturbs the balance when iceskating.

I should know though. I took lessons for a few months when I was twelve so I have basically been skating professionally for 16 years and I watched a lot of competitions on tv and once even live and my mothers cousin is expert commentator on swedish tv, so it's in my blood, I could practically teach now, right?

you're missing the you tube lessons too

I think you might be right about the dance being part of figure. When I was learning, you tended to choose between dance and figure, which made me think they were separate but I have a feeling that is out of date from stuff I just read. What I would have seen as figure skating, done in couples is then called pairs where they are a bit freer and do all the dramatic jumps, throws and spins. This is definitely dance though, I could tell as it gave their scores for the compulsory and original programmes.

I'm tempted to try bellydancing on ice now and see what happens!

gisela · 03-24-2008, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanazel

First of all, you have to understand that I am an ice skating expert: in Yosemite in 1969 I stood up on ice skates for a FULL THIRTY SECONDS before I fell. Now that I have established my bona fides, I feel impelled to say this team should try, try again, preferably with a non-belly dancing theme. Were the other dance themed performances better, worse, or equivalent?

I humbly bow in the company of such an expert though I'm quite experienced myself.

Some were worse, some better. This couple came in 9th place out of around 25. Lots of russian-like dances which transfer pretty good with grand arm gestures, as do flamenco.

03-24-2008, 04:34 PM	#14 (permalink)
karena Moderator Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: The North, UK Posts: 820	I used to skate. So to shed a little light.... They were doing ice dance not figure skating. In ice dance you do compulsory dances like a foxtrot, tango, waltz (and there are lots of variations of these eg argentine tango, european waltz) where you must do specific steps. They don't tend to show these on TV as people would get more bored watching people doing the same dances. Then there is the original dance which is what they were doing, where you dance your own dance but you must fit in particular components, and it is restricted what you can do. So, if they did proper belly dance then they wouldn't have been doing ice dance. They are all versions of other dances, the tango would not be a ballroom tango. It is an ice dance tango. There is alot of footwork going on that if you don't know what you are looking for, you would miss. This is one of the main things they are judged on. Posture is different, you need to change your centre of gravity to do different moves. And you need to be grounded but in a different way. Lots of energy goes down through the skates, else you would fall over. And the arms are also necessary in order to execute moves, and shift the weight. Personally I don't think they would think they are belly dancing. Ice dance is all about interpreting other dances and expressing them on ice. And if they did more belly dance, they wouldn't be ice dancing any longer. And I think it's great that an israeli couple chose to do something inspired by the middle east. And I am pleased that the costume was pretty tame, and didn't perpetuate the bellydancer-stripper myth. I think that covers all the ice dance Qs, but if I've missed any just ask as I did once compete in free skating. 26th out of 28 competitors no less __________________ "Nothing is black and white, it's all shades of grey" Me

03-24-2008, 05:36 PM	#15 (permalink)
gisela Moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Denmark Posts: 945	I see what you are saying Karena and agree that this is interpreting other dances thus not being fusion in any way. But I thought Ice dance was a kind of figure skating, but maybe that's just an translation thing. In Swedish everything is figure skating and then you divide it up in the categories- male, female, couples, ice dance, group. I want to point out that NOWHERE does this couple claim to be bellydancing, so that's completely just ME that put that word here, based on the costumes music and the one hip-up. The closest ting they came to name it was calling the song "middle eastern folk dance" which might not be completely true either? Maybe the loose, gooey torso in BD disturbs the balance when iceskating. I should know though. I took lessons for a few months when I was twelve so I have basically been skating professionally for 16 years and I watched a lot of competitions on tv and once even live and my mothers cousin is expert commentator on swedish tv, so it's in my blood, I could practically teach now, right? __________________ You need chaos in your soul to create a dancing star-nietzsche Last edited by gisela; 03-24-2008 at 06:41 PM.

03-24-2008, 05:38 PM	#16 (permalink)
gisela Moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Denmark Posts: 945	And I'm very sorry for spelling bellydance with three L's in the thread title. I just noticed. __________________ You need chaos in your soul to create a dancing star-nietzsche

03-24-2008, 02:38 PM	#11 (permalink)
Shanazel Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Rocky Mountains USA Posts: 4,664	First of all, you have to understand that I am an ice skating expert: in Yosemite in 1969 I stood up on ice skates for a FULL THIRTY SECONDS before I fell. Now that I have established my bona fides, I feel impelled to say this team should try, try again, preferably with a non-belly dancing theme. Were the other dance themed performances better, worse, or equivalent?

03-24-2008, 04:21 PM	#13 (permalink)
KuteNurse V.I.P. Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Duluth, Minnesota Posts: 2,986	Yeah, the Belly Iceskating doesn't seem to be working. She did like one or two hip moves in the beginning. I think what we are forgetting is...this is iceskating. They were just stealing the Belly dance theme.

03-24-2008, 07:08 PM	#18 (permalink)
KuteNurse V.I.P. Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Duluth, Minnesota Posts: 2,986	Thankyou for the info Karena! How long did you skate for?