Bellydance: Experiences

More commonalities in the dance world

A year ago, I wrote about how a lot of the concerns in the bellydance world are more universal than we often think. That issues we have within the bellydance community or with public perception are unique to us.

While I was researching dance shoes, I came across a number of discussions that were extremely familiar:

• Salsa in your blood?? Give me a break - You could find this exact same discussion on any bellydance forum, talking about women who claim to have bellydance in their blood. Even the discussion of musicality developed by growing up with the music. And the sentiment that "native dancers" have more simplicity, and American dancers do too much flashy stuff.
• [Tango-L] "Alternative" Music.... - Take this discussion, replace "Neotango" with "tribal bellydance, replace "Argentinian Tango" with "Egyptian Raks Sharki" and marvel at the familiarity of the discussion.
• The Microwave Age of Salsa Instructors.; Dancers making themselves instructors overnight! - Oh, this is a hot button in the bellydance community (Though I wondered at the poster identifying themselves as one of only 36 certified salsa instructors in the world. Though teacher certification is a big controversy in the bellydance community too. One teacher out in CA advertises herself as the *only* authentic teacher in the US!)

There's some bad judgement out there!

One of my best friends and I have adopted a simple rule as one of the guiding principles in our lives:

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

Someone should tell this to the Rambert Dance company, who are getting ready to perform a new piece, with original music, about the mental breakdown of Britney Spears. So what's the point? I don't get how this is anything but bad taste and poor judgment.

I'm not one of those "leave Britney alone!" people, but I do think there is something sick in people's fascination in watching a psyche unravel in slow motion on television. She needs to get her act together, for sure. But I don't think it's healthy to get such entertainment out of someone else's pain. It's sick and distasteful. And I'm sure the dance company will say that their piece is really a social comment on that sick fascination, etc, etc. Really? It's a musical, it's a farce. And the butt of the joke, from the songs I've heard from the show and the stuff I've read, not the audience - It's Britney. Fun times.

Why I can't take the music out of dance

Gray at Fame or Famine wrote a post today discussing Dance War, and in that context commenting on my idea that dancers need to fit their dance to the music. He then described studying modern dance, and learning to "ignore the music" - I had a very strong response to this. I wrote comment after comment defending dancing to music, and deleted every one of them :) For me, the idea of ignoring the music feels fundamentally in opposition to my experience of dancing. what I finally ended up writing was much less upset-sounding than where I started.

So, of course, since my first response was so emotional, so I had to stop and think more objectively about what was driving my emotion.  On the drive home from a meeting tonight, I realized what made me feel that way.

The most sublime dancing I have ever seen has all had one thing in common: Improvisational dancing to live music where the dancer and the musician interact and play off of each other. This is certainly one of the things that made me fall so thoroughly in love with bellydance... but also, I have seen flamenco that has made me cry - performed by just a dancer and a lone guitarist. And I remember once going to a Brazilian club to see Samba dancers and a live band, and was just blown away by the sheer energy and life force filling the room.

So in that context having the dancer ignore the music? It completely removes even the suggestion of that dancer-musician synergy. Even when the dancer is dancing to recorded music, a really great dancer can evoke at least a suggestion of that connection. But to purposely remove it? for me that removes exactly the most magical part of watching dance for me.

What it really underlines for me is that dance is intensely personal. That my experience of dance and Gray's are fundamentally different. I'm even willing to venture that he and I could go to the same performance, and come out seemingly have watched two completely different things.

There has been so much discussion in the dance blogosphere about how to increase the attendance at dance performances and get more attention and money directed towards dance. I am starting to wonder if one thing that has been overlooked in this discussion is the huge breadth of the ways people experience dance, and that you can't make the assumption that what you take away from a performance is the same thing that other people will. In that respect, the best way to get audiences excited to to figure out what touches *them* about dance, then make sure each potential audience member is made aware of shows that mesh with the things that turn them on.

I don't know... I'll have to think about this some more.

As seen in my mechanic's shop

Dance in an advertisement, originally uploaded by Bellydancing Actuary.

I was recently waiting for my car to get it's state-mandated safety and emissions inspection, and saw this ad hanging from the ceiling. There's been a lot of talk on blogs lately about dance in advertisements, so when I saw this ad, it made me giggle.

The other 2 sides of the hanging thing said "walk" and "run", and the hanging thing at the bottom said, "What if everyone gave you options?"

Seriously, the thought of a street crossing sign instructing people to dance across the street struck me as cute. Of course I *was* sitting in a mechanic's shop waiting area at the time, so I was maybe a little extra easy to amuse. But couldn't you just see it? It would certainly make for a cute TV ad to go with this in-store ad campaign.

Freestyle tonight

Was Marie Osmond drunk on DWTS tonight? I thought she didn't drink at all? Either that or she was sleep deprived and way into the froot loop stage. Also, her freestyle seriously creeped me out. Too weirdly sexualized.

I thought Helio and Julianne were *adorable*.

But when it comes down too it... I liked Mel and Maks best. I think I just loved watching Maks who is usually so uptight try to "get down". :)

In the Navy...

Tonight's special dance guest on DWTS was Michael Flatley (i.e. Riverdance-guy) and he is certainly awesome to watch. Not to mention the fact that I love hardshoe Irish dancing - I love any kind of dancing where the dancers themselves create music. (whether playing instruments like castanets or zills, or with their feet like flamenco or clogging)

But seriously, what was up with the costumes that looked like Navy dress uniforms? Now I have the village People's "In the Navy" stuck in my head!

Why I think TV dance shows are a force for good

There's something that's been getting under my skin about the indignant critical response to the dancing-themed reality TV shows. I wrote to Apollinaire at Foot in Mouth on this topic (I think she's going to post another set of responses to the ongoing conversation later this week) but it's still bothering me, so I figure I've got more to say on the subject.

The argument as I've read it seems to be that the dance shows on TV show a glitzy, Vegas-y take on dance, and critics seem to be disapointed that people enjoy watching them than "real" concert dance. The shows themselves are criticised for not presenting enough artistic content. Over and over, the talk is almost always about *watching* dance: Specifically, why doesn't the popularity of dance TV shows translate into people wanting to go watch live dance?

There's a second effect of these shows, however, that is being consistently overlooked. The ballroom studio that my bellydance teacher rents studio space from seems to be packed, I've heard from many people that these shows, especially DWTS, are bringing people to social ballroom dancing in droves. When I've read this mentioned at all, it is mentioned as a momentary factoid, interesting but unimportant compared to the effect on consumers of professional dance performance.

I do think dance performance is a great thing, but something about framing the discussion as being about passive consumers makes my teeth itch. Why start from the assumption that the viewers you are trying to court are just going to be sitting on their butt and you're trying to get them to sit on their butt in a concert hall instead of their living room? That's depressing.

I don't know anyone who dances, socially or seriously, who has not had their life affected by it. Whether it becomes a passion in their life, or even just if learning to waltz created a beautiful memory for their wedding. The experience of dancing gives people an outlet for kinesthetic expression. And that's something we should be trying to share with everyone, not just reserve for the talented few on stage.

These shows really do seem to be getting people up and into the studios. Isn't that a positive outcome? Why is that not even part of the "are TV dance shows a good thing" discussion? There's an underlying assumption there that I don't like... that somehow for the audience it is more valuable just to be in the presence of art, than to think about experiencing or creating something yourself.

The most ridiculous part of the whole thing is that I think people who have studied dance at some point in their lives are more likely to go see dance performances than people who haven't. So encouraging people to go out an do it builds future audiences, consistent ones who won't just go to a show or two when dancing is fashionable but who will be fans their whole lives.

SYTYCD finally acknowledges ethnic dancing

While watching tonight's SYTYCD finale, and I was so excited to see the little montage reel of the auditions. They started out showing clips of the same people they showed during the audition show... but then they moved on to clips of people they didn't show before.

I saw a bellydancer, a couple of African dancers of some sort, what looked like Scottish highland dancing, and at least two Indian dancers. And how awesome was the girl who zaghareeted?!?

Thank you, SYTYCD for finally acknowledging that even if other styles of dance are not within the scope of the show itself, you have not forgotten that they fall under the great big "dance" umbrella.

It's festival season: Please drink water!

Why is it that street fairs, culture festivals, and similar events always seem to be scheduled for the very hottest part of the summer? We'll be dancing in the St Louis International Festival, and unless we get some kind of unexpected cooling off, it should be in the mid 90's that day! I'll be dancing in a dress that weighs just shy of 10 pounds. And it's black. And it covers my whole body. Of course, it won't just be belly dancers roasting out there, I'm sure it's hot under the multi-person Chinese dragon, too!

I'll be bringing (and drinking) a large bottle full of plain, cold water that afternoon, and I would love to hear that all of you guys who will be out in the sun will be doing the same!

Just as importantly, keep an eye on your fellow dancers! If you see anyone who looks uncharacteristically pale, or if they seem dizzy, weak, nauseous, lightheaded, spacey or disoriented, please, please! Get them out of the sun, give them plenty of cool water, along with some juice or Gatorade to give them a little blood sugar, and keep an eye on them. Heat exhaustion is not fun!

I will also be bringing a small towel to keep my perspiration under control, a hand-held fan to help cool off with, and since we'll be out at the park from 1am to 1pm, at least, I am seriously considering bringing a small umbrella to use as a parasol. Can you imagine? A heavily made-up dancer in and elaborate black dress, carrying a fan and a parasol. I won't stand out. Of course not!

More Hillary Duff...

So here she is on So You Think You Can Dance, where I thought her performance was a little lacking in the technique department, but I can't say I was at all offended:

On the suggestion of Naima, though, I checked out the official video for the song:

What the *hell* was that? Where is this mythical business lounge/strip club/hookah bar/dance club? What's up with the almost-lap-dance? from a "belly dancer"? Their costumes still look just as I-Dream-Of-Jeanie as I thought they did before. And it's a shame, since I thought the exotic makeup was spectacular, and the video is very visually interesting. But honestly, it's so frustrating to see belly dancing equated with stripping.

Although I know that there was a lot of historical overlap, and I am not a fan of revisionist history that overlooks the "Hoochie Koochie" in America, and the prostitution among most but the top tier of dancers in the Middle East... The fact that the two have overlapped at some places and times does not make them interchangeable. Just because a lot of people make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, does not mean grapes and peanuts are the same thing.

Anyway, off my soapbox now.