Thread: Fantasy Video

Imagine, for a moment, it is your first term of belly dance classes. You don't really know anything other than you like it. Your bellydance teacher runs a video night. What would YOUR belly baby like to have seen on their fantasy video night and why ???

I would definityly like to see vids of the biggies that every one is always talking about, Mona, Dinah, Fifi and the like. Why? To get to know their names and styles so that I will understand what on earth everyone is talking about! Also a nice variety of styles so that teach can point out the similarities and differences.

Well, what style of belly dance are they learning?

For Egyptian I would show them Fifi Abdou and Randa Kamel. Fifi's heart is hard to match, and Randa's technique is impressive to anyone, regardless of skill.

Both represent the aspects of dance I admire most in Oriental dance on a level I feel they'll understand. Not everyone "gets" Dina or Dandesh in the beginning.

1st night:
samia gamal, tahia carioca, naima akef, soheir zaki, nagua fouad, lucy, mona, fifi abdo

dancing to "standards"

2nd night:
current dancers performing to music from their own shows

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

1st night:
samia gamal, tahia carioca, naima akef, soheir zaki, nagua fouad, lucy, mona, fifi abdo

dancing to "standards"

2nd night:
current dancers performing to music from their own shows

AMEN.

this is what my teacher did after our first recital, we had one class left, and we had a video night. Started with the legends, and worked our way up to Amani and Dina...

A guided tour of dance styles!!!
Egyptian (beledi, sharki, maybe Saidi), Turkish, Lebanese, Tribal, Tribal Fusion, maybe some AmCab or in your case RSS.

With my instructor pointing out what to watch for, and telling me where her style fits in.

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

1st night:
samia gamal, tahia carioca, naima akef, soheir zaki, nagua fouad, lucy, mona, fifi abdo

dancing to "standards"

2nd night:
current dancers performing to music from their own shows

Yes! Gold standards first, and then branch out. So as not to be totally biased, the second night should probably include dancers representative of all styles as Lauren mentioned, just for the sake of all-inclusivity...even if the teacher only teaches one particular style.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

A guided tour of dance styles!!!
Egyptian (beledi, sharki, maybe Saidi), Turkish, Lebanese, Tribal, Tribal Fusion, maybe some AmCab or in your case RSS.

With my instructor pointing out what to watch for, and telling me where her style fits in.

What Lauren said, and also including some footage of good UK dancers, so they get to know the names to watch out for and maybe try workshops with.

I'm lucky- when I do a video night, I put my beginners & intermediates classes together so it's a 3 hour vidfest! Also we have drinks & nibbles, maybe some henna (if I remember to bring a cone). I'm always impressed at how quickly the beginners develop their taste in dance styles, and favourite dancers. And how well they recognise what we've been doing in class.

OK I admit it, I wanted to pick your brains for my own video night. It's a fair cop. However, I was thinking back to my own start and as a belly baby, i would have liked:

1. Silver Screen (e.g. Samia)
2. Fabulous Seventies (e.g. Fifi)
3. Dina, Randa and Modern Day

I would also like to have seen 'genres' e.g. Tribal, RSS, Reda Troupe, Am Cab, Turkish, Tribal Fusion.

Then, a live hafla with to show "good UK dancers", as we have rather a lot of them with connections to Scotland.

I agree it's good to show all the genres, regardless of which you are teaching, as some people might be 'taken' with another genre and find their home there.

The last time I did a video party, I invited my students to give me input on any special requests they had. I was surprised at how educated the responses were that I received - they were requesting dancers by name (Dna, Fifi, etc.), and asking me to help them understand how those dancers fit into the larger dance world. Youtube has certainly provided an opportunity for people to educate themselves!

Also, one of the students asked "How can you tell if someone is a good dancer or a bad?" so after showing examples of Samia, Tahia, Dina, Fifi, etc., I put on a video of a dancer who claims to be "professional" but, well, isn't. I didn't have to point anything out or comment - my student immediately recognized what she was seeing.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

The last time I did a video party, I invited my students to give me input on any special requests they had. I was surprised at how educated the responses were that I received - they were requesting dancers by name (Dna, Fifi, etc.), and asking me to help them understand how those dancers fit into the larger dance world. Youtube has certainly provided an opportunity for people to educate themselves!

Also, one of the students asked "How can you tell if someone is a good dancer or a bad?" so after showing examples of Samia, Tahia, Dina, Fifi, etc., I put on a video of a dancer who claims to be "professional" but, well, isn't. I didn't have to point anything out or comment - my student immediately recognized what she was seeing.

Did you play Estelle? ;)

As a complete newbie I would have to say that I would like to see the different styles. It is very confusing for us newbies as to what style is what as some are very similar! I think getting a grounding on all the greats would be a good idea too as on forums like these I often go "who" and have to watch horus of youtube footage :)

Originally Posted by fatinah_bellydance

watch horus of youtube footage :)

Bhuzzism "Horus - The horror of having to watch hours of youtube footage for research purposes"

oops hours....ah well i do enjoy watching youtube clips heh

What a treat to have youtube, though!

When I first started visiting message boards, they'd talk about these famous 'must-know' dancers and I'd say 'Who?' and have to shell out $60 plus shipping for a shoddy quality VHS tape. Over and over.

When I was a baby belly, I was really curious to see what bellydancing looked like when a man did it. So in addition to the greats mentioned above, maybe throw in some DaVid, Jim Boz, Tarik Sultan...

When I was a n00b, one of my teachers showed us a video of Egyptian men doing tahtib with these huuuuuge sticks, while standing on top of horses. That was awesome to see!

I also heard a lot about the Reda Troupe before I ever saw any video of them, so that might be good to show, too.

My vote is for baby dancers to go through the different styles as Lauren suggested.

But for a second video night idea... Go through the greats and use Dandesh's Manga Routine to really illustrate the different styles. I never fully realized their individual take on the dance until I saw her bring some together in one routine. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wEDPrteTjo&feature=related]YouTube - Dandesh Manga Routine[/ame]