I thought this festival was a bd festival...
- Thread starter Sophia Maria
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walladah
New member
You cannot grade performances very low...
or just not let them appear in the final competition stage, if contestants are paying to take part in the competition and the public pays tickets to attend the competition.
You need both the contestants' money and the public's money (and i am sure that some part of the public might have liked this performance, for any reason).
This is one byproduct of having competitions where contestants pay (so you need them, no matter how bad irrelevant their dance is) and where you charge expensive tickets to the audience (so you the more contestants you have, the better, irrespective of the quality of the show).
The recent discussion about auditions and competitions in front of public where both contestants and the public pay is very informative Question about audition - Page 2 - Belly Dance Forums
And i agree with the comments that fusion bellydance has nothing to do with this performance in the video.
or just not let them appear in the final competition stage, if contestants are paying to take part in the competition and the public pays tickets to attend the competition.
You need both the contestants' money and the public's money (and i am sure that some part of the public might have liked this performance, for any reason).
This is one byproduct of having competitions where contestants pay (so you need them, no matter how bad irrelevant their dance is) and where you charge expensive tickets to the audience (so you the more contestants you have, the better, irrespective of the quality of the show).
The recent discussion about auditions and competitions in front of public where both contestants and the public pay is very informative Question about audition - Page 2 - Belly Dance Forums
And i agree with the comments that fusion bellydance has nothing to do with this performance in the video.
AndreaSTL
New member
Definitely flapping her lips. :shok:
I envy the folks who didn't watch the whole thing. It was so bad and I was so surprised I watched all of it. I kept thinking it surely couldn't get worse, but then yes, yes it could. Barf!
Shanazel
Moderator
Didn't there used to be this great big gong that someone rang when performances got unbearable? And whatever happened to those big hooks with which terrible performers got dragged off stage? How about reestablishing Shakespearean mosh pits where the lower class can stand and throw orange peels and rotten fruit at displays of a questionable nature?
Sigh. Theater has just gone to hell, hasn't it?
Farasha Hanem
New member
I've been thinking about what was said earlier about labeling certain things as fusion. From what I've learned here, fusion is taking two styles (that is right, isn't it? two styles? :think: ) and "fusing" them together, and you need to have at least SOME proficiency (preferably a LOT) in both styles. What the heck kind of "style" was she supposedly fusing?!?
Never mind, I don't think I want to know. -_-
Just like you can't do any old thing and call it "bellydance," you can't do any old thing and label it "fusion." >:/
Never mind, I don't think I want to know. -_-
Just like you can't do any old thing and call it "bellydance," you can't do any old thing and label it "fusion." >:/
Shanazel
Moderator
Shimmy, smolder, and roll: three minutes of variations on a theme.
Ah. There we go- not fusion but variations on a theme.
I don't like to see the whole sexy gymnastic thing being passed off as dance. What do competitive floor gymnists (not sure that is the term but it is expressive of what I mean) think of it, I wonder?:think: Imagine the next summer olympics and gymnists in leather leotards with cutouts on the butt and thigh high soft leather boots with spike heels...
Ah. There we go- not fusion but variations on a theme.
I don't like to see the whole sexy gymnastic thing being passed off as dance. What do competitive floor gymnists (not sure that is the term but it is expressive of what I mean) think of it, I wonder?:think: Imagine the next summer olympics and gymnists in leather leotards with cutouts on the butt and thigh high soft leather boots with spike heels...
Aniseteph
New member
In the UK I'm not sure that most competitions are big enough for preliminary stages to be worthwhile. Most are part of a bigger festival where any attendees can come along and watch for no extra charge, also they are usually at dancer events where off-topic randomness WILL get marked down while any audience collectively has an enjoyable WTH? moment.
It's different in countries where belly dance competitions are a big thing and attract enough contestants to make pre-screening feasible/necessary. Do they have screening or private preliminaries for the big ones in Egypt, or those huge-looking Russian events you get clips of on YT?
Shanazel said:
Ooooh, I'd watch gymnastic floor or beam events in spike heels (them, not me, obviously, I don't have the training, it wouldn't be safe
). Now THAT's a prop - makes all that prancing about with balls and ribbons look dead weedy. None of it ever looks like dance to me anyway.
walladah
New member
Shanazel,
training the audience to throw vegetables to the artists is not a good thing. Maria Kallas suffered from this once in the Scala di Milano, and she was smart enough to asnwer politely and continue her performance, but i am afraid i have not her attitude. Who has it, anyway?
But i really think that Aniseteph is talking about this competition politics... I agree with you: we cannot have it all: quality contestants, screening, tickets by the audience, tickets by the dancers, not enough contestants and still giving out the competition show, not high enough contestant level (actually the ones who pay are not necessarily the best dancers), etc.
however, i do not think that a video only could make the entire impression of a festival or competition - sometimes i wonder whether this dancer is to blame, or whether the entire community of bellydancers have really lost scope of their art... i mean, once we have reached this point to have this video as fusion bellydance in a festival, then that means something about the community, isnt' it?
training the audience to throw vegetables to the artists is not a good thing. Maria Kallas suffered from this once in the Scala di Milano, and she was smart enough to asnwer politely and continue her performance, but i am afraid i have not her attitude. Who has it, anyway?
But i really think that Aniseteph is talking about this competition politics... I agree with you: we cannot have it all: quality contestants, screening, tickets by the audience, tickets by the dancers, not enough contestants and still giving out the competition show, not high enough contestant level (actually the ones who pay are not necessarily the best dancers), etc.
however, i do not think that a video only could make the entire impression of a festival or competition - sometimes i wonder whether this dancer is to blame, or whether the entire community of bellydancers have really lost scope of their art... i mean, once we have reached this point to have this video as fusion bellydance in a festival, then that means something about the community, isnt' it?
khanjar
New member
Sex sells, simple as and has always done so and will for evermore, but as people engaged in public performances where that applies we have to be aware of what some might like to be seeing, but we don't have to feed into their fantasy and in future they can go elsewhere to get their fix if it is that important. But I do believe when festivals are to be held a rating system should be in place to describe the possible content and where those that like to propel themselves by adopting risque practices, well, viewers know beforehand if what they might see is artistic interpretation or just plain soft porn.
But this soft porn association to this dance will never be shook off as those that seek fortune and perhaps fame some will do anything to get that and so any notions of what belly dance is about they will quite happily drag through the dirt to suit their own purpose.
As serious belly dancers we just have to be aware the seedy side exists, we can't stop it but we don't have to promote it and those that see fit to employ the risque, there is nothing like the cold shoulder from the majority to put the risque in it's own special place and that includes those who have marred the name in the past for they are not without blame, their participation in the seedy promoted the seedy.
But this soft porn association to this dance will never be shook off as those that seek fortune and perhaps fame some will do anything to get that and so any notions of what belly dance is about they will quite happily drag through the dirt to suit their own purpose.
As serious belly dancers we just have to be aware the seedy side exists, we can't stop it but we don't have to promote it and those that see fit to employ the risque, there is nothing like the cold shoulder from the majority to put the risque in it's own special place and that includes those who have marred the name in the past for they are not without blame, their participation in the seedy promoted the seedy.
Farasha Hanem
New member
I think I saw it before...I think you can call it a bellydance...very modern and very physically challenging.. this is the only video I saw of this kind of dance..so welcome for the new generation of bellydance!
I'm sorry, no, this cannot be called bellydance, not even a new generation of bellydance, for reasons already discussed in this thread and elsewhere on this forum.
Kashmir
New member
Strange - many very experienced belly dancers here - and elsewhere disagree with you. Belly dance is not a series of movements. And looking "physically challenging" misses the whole point of dance - a dancer should make it look effortless.I think I saw it before...I think you can call it a bellydance...very modern and very physically challenging.. this is the only video I saw of this kind of dance..so welcome for the new generation of bellydance!
Shanazel
Moderator
I think I saw it before...I think you can call it a bellydance...very modern and very physically challenging.. this is the only video I saw of this kind of dance..so welcome for the new generation of bellydance!
You are kidding- right?
:shok::redface: (Smacks herself on the forehead). Oh! What was I thinking? You are absolutely right, Walladah. We'll just stick with the gong and the hook, then.
Farasha Hanem
New member
*purees veggies in a blender* Here we go, this shouldn't hurt! xD
A rotten tomato is the softest thing I know.
In fact, I was not tempted to throw aything at her, because I watched the video without sound. Without music it just looked like a fit of a very bad illness, so I couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor girl in agony. I was really relieved when I saw her stand up and walk away instead of dying on stage.
In fact, I was not tempted to throw aything at her, because I watched the video without sound. Without music it just looked like a fit of a very bad illness, so I couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor girl in agony. I was really relieved when I saw her stand up and walk away instead of dying on stage.
Daimona
Moderator
But it is sooo fun! Can't I even throw a quarter of cabbage? It doesn't hurt as much as the whole cabbage. It doesn't even need to be rotten..
You know, throwing rotten veggies on performers that didn't perform well (or simply if you don't like the character played) is a long tradition going back to the Medieval Ages, end even further back as a political protest..
(I haven't even watched the video in discussion yet - and based on the references to it in this thread I doubt I even will.. So please consider the above as a general statement said with tongue-in-cheek, not necessarily for this specific performance..
)
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Farasha Hanem
New member
Oh, hey, if dancing badly will get you baklava, I ought to be able to get TONS of it!
:lol:
Shanazel
Moderator
Rotten vegetables are part of a highly civil, highly intellectual discussion on past methods of expressing displeasure with performances. I believe Shakespeare has been mentioned. No discussion that includes mention of the Bard can be anything except extremely classy.
Farasha, I refuse to throw baklava at you. You will keep it all for yourself and not share.
Farasha, I refuse to throw baklava at you. You will keep it all for yourself and not share.