Dance styles

Y

Yara

New member
Hello,

Ok maybe it is not the better place to ask this, but i though you could help me.

I do and love belly dance. I want to do an other dance in addition.
Which dance seeming like belly dance can i do ?
(Something solo, feminin, graceful, body movement fluid ... some stuff i like in belly dance if you were wondering)

Thank you in advance ! :)

Yara
 
Y

Yara

New member
In fact, when you enroll in a courses they just sell it as belly dance class. It's not that there are classes for this style and classes for this style. But maybe in the class the teacher will show different technique.
The only thing there is is bd class or tribal fusion class (but as for me i don't like tribal)
 
Shanazel

Shanazel

Moderator
Hmm. Awkward to not know what style you're learning, isn't it? My class was called "belly dance" in the rec center catalog but the blurb specifically designated it as classic American Oriental.


Most dance styles require a lot of class time before the word "solo" is even mentioned. I suppose you might try modern dance if you can find a class. The classes I took way back in the Jurassic were a little less structured than ballet or jazz but I certainly wouldn't say modern is similar to belly dance.
 
Y

Yara

New member
Can you tell me what is this style ? I give you a fb link of 3 short videos. I hope the links will work (or by copy paste :) )

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10215250935010301&id=1341956570

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10214096905240278&id=1341956570

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10211699829194875&id=1341956570

Ps: yes i am thinking of doing modern'jazz, but i am not flexible :(
Here we don't have modern, it is or contemporary classes or modern'jazz classes.
 
Shanazel

Shanazel

Moderator
The links bring up the videos but don't allow me to play them without downloading them to my computer which I don't want to do. I got trust issues. ;)
 
Zorba

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
Very nice, I like her a LOT. I'd call it classic cabaret style, or American Cabaret although she didn't play finger cymbals in these videos which I would have liked to see. She has the rare ability to project emotion through the camera - if I were half as good as she is, I'd call myself a Belly Dancer!
 
Shanazel

Shanazel

Moderator
Yep, those worked. Thanks. Agree it's basically AmCab. Don't care for the forward straight leg high kicks but the double veil was nice!
 
Y

Yara

New member
Ok maybe my question will be stupid, but i don't see how it could be american dance style ?
I am exagerating but to explain it is like if i show you someone dance and living in groenland and you told me it is kenya dancing.
Sorry maybe because of my lack of bd style culture .
She is french (living there since borned), and she had contact only with typical arabic teachers, so i can't see how she could have learned american cabaret style ?


Also, zorba, when you said classic cabaret style you meant classic egyptian cabaret style ?
 
Zorba

Zorba

"The Veiled Male"
Not Egyptian - at least not "pure" Egyptian. Too much "big arm" movement for that style. On the other hand, lack of finger cymbals USED TO "scream" Egyptian - but fewer and fewer dancers of ANY style still play them. Or perhaps she plays them just fine, but just didn't happen to in these two videos.

I say AmCab because that's what it looks like to me - especially the inclusion of Double Veil, and maybe even more-so because the Double Veil was right on the edge of being too frenetic - at least for my taste. AmCab (American Cabaret) is a combination of everything - mostly Egyptian and Turkish with a smattering of Lebanese thrown in for good measure. Veilwork - especially Double Veil - originated primarily in the US, and then fed back - to a certain degree - to Egypt and elsewhere. If she's been learning from "Arabic teachers", and those teachers are from various areas of the Middle East, that mixture could very well end up looking like AmCab by default.

BUT - I don't claim to be an expert - far from it! Just what *I* think/see. Others that know more than I do can tell you more! Once you get past the (any kind of) Cabaret and (any kind of) Tribal dichotomy, the further differences start becoming very subtle.
 
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Daimona

Daimona

Moderator
Yara said:
Ok maybe my question will be stupid, but i don't see how it could be american dance style ?
I am exagerating but to explain it is like if i show you someone dance and living in groenland and you told me it is kenya dancing.
Sorry maybe because of my lack of bd style culture .
Click to expand...


It isn't uncommon the style of belly dance isn't announced in classes, but it depends on the teacher.

And it is perfectly ok to not now much about different styles or even don't know if there are different styles. Most likely we've all been there once in our dancing careers.


Panarabic will easily become something that resembles american oriental (or american cabaret/AmCab). And various styles evolve over time (such as Golden Era Egyptian style vs modern Egyptian vs contemporary Egyptian), as well as the different dancers putting their flavor on things and being inspired by other dancers and styles.



The reason I asked you was in case you were interested in studying other belly dance styles, since you asked for "dance seeming like belly dance."
I know you really asked for non-bellydance dance style, but I just couldn't imagine what it could be. ;)
 
Shanazel

Shanazel

Moderator
AmCab is a style of belly dance that evolved in the United States starting in the fifties and sixties and has, as Zorba explained, some distinctive characteristics. The French dancer could do Egyptian style dance without being an Egyptian, Turkish without being a Turk, and AmCab without being an American. Purists insist AmCab is not "real" belly dance at all but it has been around almost as long as the cabaret style touted by Badia Masabni in the early 20th century which gives it a certain weight of tradition. Over the last several decades, worldwide availability of videos have given dancers a chance to see styles and methods far beyond what were available to me when I started dancing in the 1970s. A lot of those videos are American style. Incorporating things seen online with lessons learned from local teachers have blurred lines of distinction between styles which is good from the standpoint of innovation and not so good from the standpoint of traditional styles.
 
GeorgeQueen

GeorgeQueen

New member
If you want to explore other forms of dance, I suggest you look into Tahitian dance! Hula and Ori have boosted my confidence so much. There is a lot to learn in this style of dance.
 
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