Aniseteph

Naaah - they were re-running them on daytime TV recently and I was stuck on the sofa for 2 weeks with knee trouble. You hear something like that and it's a bit of a "what did he say????!!!" moment. I mentioned it to husband (telling him about my exciting day ) he said he's heard the same in olde US series and films - clearly something you could say in polite society over there at the time.

Khaira

I think this is what makes every dancer one of a kind, they use the bodily potential they have. If one is generally strong, and energetic and has lots of ballet or etc. training WHY HIDE IT???

Dancers should put all their skills to their performance. With all respect towards Liza, I still enjoy watching Randa, it never stays the same, She knows how to keep audience's focus!

Kaidi

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Aisha Azar

Dear Khaira,
They are two very different dancers, I think it is possible to enjoy both of them, but Randa is my current favorite of the new Egyptian crop. Too much ballet training with no sense of cultural essence can really ruin a potentially good belly dancer in my own experience with watching that happen in the States.
Regards,
A'isha

Khaira

This is true. Similar thing has happened in Russia. Yesterday I watched videos of Russian contests, almost all the dancers are copy-paste versions of each other, the Egyptian essence is totally lost.

One should fin balance in between the styles but make the Egyptian technique and attitude dominate.

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Aisha Azar

Dear Khaira,
I think this is not even really a matter of training in the end. It is something that the dancer has inside themselves or does not. After teaching for so many years (32), I have concluded that the dance comes off the way it does on individual people because they are who they are. One can train with the very best ballerinas and still not become a great ballerina if it is not inside them and if they do not have the right feeling for the dance. I have never studied anything but Middle Eastern dance, no ballet at all, jazz or modern or any other forms. I am a very good Egyptian dancer because it is in me, but I can not dance in the Lebanese style with any great skill. It is not in me. I think quite often that a few physical techniques get mistaken for the dance, and the soul and heart of it gets pushed aside. I see this even with a few of the dancers who are Egyptian from Egypt.
Regards,
A'isha