GREAT AmCab dancers! - Page 4

Aisha Azar · 01-07-2008, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TribalDancer

Wow, I would never classify Tina as "American Cabaret". I always think of Ansuya when I think Am Cab. I agree witha previous posted, in that I think of Am Cab as Turkish based.

Tina is most definitely Modern Egyptian to my eyes (note I have not looked at hte clip referenced earlier, but I have seen Tina perform more times than I can say, and hey style is definitely rooted most strongly in Classical Egyptian, but I would say she herself is Modern Egyptian because she does fuse with her jazz background, especially in her troupe choreographies.)

I love Cassandra, and I would call her Modern Egyptian or Modern Oriental as well, in her primary style, but she does a lot of fusing herself, and is kind of beyond definition sometimes. She is a stunning dancer and a rock awesome teacher and person to boot!

Dear Sharon,
I have also seen Tina dance often and studied with Cassandra. I wou;d suggest that they need to be compared to the "modern" Egy[tian dancers like Randa and Dandash in order to judge whether or not they are Egyptian style dancers. I am an Egyptian style dancer and can give you the reasons why they are not. I really don't care for Tina's dancing. She is too unattached emotionally from what she is doing. She also appears to me to be exhibiting movement as opposed to dancing. It's walk, walk, walk, do a movement.... walk to the other side of the stage, do a movement. On the other hand I LOVE Cassandra, with that cool burn of her's. so very there in what she is doing!!
Regards,
A'isha

Aisha Azar · 01-07-2008, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TribalDancer

Wow, I would never classify Tina as "American Cabaret". I always think of Ansuya when I think Am Cab. I agree witha previous posted, in that I think of Am Cab as Turkish based.

Tina is most definitely Modern Egyptian to my eyes (note I have not looked at hte clip referenced earlier, but I have seen Tina perform more times than I can say, and hey style is definitely rooted most strongly in Classical Egyptian, but I would say she herself is Modern Egyptian because she does fuse with her jazz background, especially in her troupe choreographies.)

I love Cassandra, and I would call her Modern Egyptian or Modern Oriental as well, in her primary style, but she does a lot of fusing herself, and is kind of beyond definition sometimes. She is a stunning dancer and a rock awesome teacher and person to boot!

Dear Sharon,
I have also seen Tina dance often and studied with Cassandra. I would suggest that they need to be compared to the "modern" Egyptian dancers like Randa and Dandash in order to judge whether or not they are Egyptian style dancers. I am an Egyptian style dancer and can give you the reasons why they are not. I really don't care for Tina's dancing. She is too unattached emotionally from what she is doing. She also appears to me to be exhibiting movement as opposed to dancing. It's walk, walk, walk, do a movement.... walk to the other side of the stage, do a movement. On the other hand I LOVE Cassandra, with that cool burn of her's. so very there in what she is doing!!
Regards,
A'isha

Makeda Maysa · 01-07-2008, 03:55 PM

I always think of Rhea as being from Baltimore, though I know that she used to dance with Jamila back in the day. Her daughter, Piper Reid Hunt, is one of our master teachers here in Baltimore and I've taken workshops with her. She's another example of American Oriental or AmCab dancing. I have danced in her show, Bellypalooza, a couple of times.

Quote:

Originally Posted by A'isha Azar

Dear Aya,
How nice to see film of Rhea after all these years!!! She moved to Greece shortly after I started dancing and she is well remembered in the States. Her style exemplifies all that Jamila Salimpour was doing back then, and was very typical of what you would see in the clubs back in the 70s in the western U.S. I think in the Eastern U.S. they were looking different than this, because Bobby Farrah and a couple of other people were more influential there. While Bobby was not exactly doing authentic belly dance, he did pay more attention to certain aspects of it than did Jamila and her followers out West. Rhea is a lovely person as well as an excellent American Oriental dancer.
Regards,
A'isha

TribalDancer · 01-08-2008, 01:27 AM

A'isha,
I, too, am a humongous fan of Cassandra's! She is always engaged in her dancing, and strings along her audience wherever she is going. I love it!

Babylonia · 01-08-2008, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adiemus

The Egyptian dancers seem to be just breathing the dance, they stop for a moment or two to walk around, laugh, interact with the audience, their movements are natural; while there are a lot of vids I've watched where the dance is a 'performance' with all that it entails, almost as if Every Movement Must Count.

ITA

Suhad · 01-08-2008, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kharmine

Here, BTW, is the only video clip I've found of Dahlena, one of the earliest pioneers of American style belly dance. She's probably come a long way since her early days -- but then so have we all.

Dahlena is simply amazing. She lives in Yuma Arizona and comes to Phoenix in February every year for a workshop. Wow. I will call in sick to work rather than miss her workshops, so you know how seriously I take them!!

She has a very definitely Turkish influenced style IMO, but I love that. Her classes are very structured, and she is very good at getting across the point of her instruction. I own several of her choreography videos, and STILL struggle with some of the moves, even when I already took the workshops! She makes everything look sooooo easy and sooo stylish. If you get the opportunity to take one of her workshops or study with her, it's well worth the money and time.

Salome · 08-02-2008, 09:17 PM

Someone put a clip of my friend Yemaya on youtube, got give her a shout out in this thread

Marya · 08-16-2008, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adiemus

From 2005. Fluid and precise and lovely!

This is a choreography from Bobbie Farah. I have a video of another dancer performing this also. Can't remember her name, I think she was from Iowa.

M

01-08-2008, 01:27 AM	#34 (permalink)
TribalDancer Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 313	A'isha, I, too, am a humongous fan of Cassandra's! She is always engaged in her dancing, and strings along her audience wherever she is going. I love it!

08-02-2008, 09:17 PM	#37 (permalink)
Salome Super Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Corvallis, Oregon, USA Posts: 1,810	Someone put a clip of my friend Yemaya on youtube, got give her a shout out in this thread