Thread: Fusion veil?

I'm subbing a fusion techniques class for a friend this week - no problem - but since I normally teach veil... that's what she wants incorporated.

How to fusion the veil techniques - hmmmmmmm...
Does anyone know of some YouTube clips for inspiration?

I've only seen darker cabaret dancers and a few solo tribal dancers use veil but they didn't keep it for long, and they used all the usual moves that most other cabaret dancers use. I hope this two cents helps.

Agreed with Fotia...the veil work I've seen across the board has been basic cabaret veil moves....I don't typically use veil much in my tribal routines, but when I do it's completely in line with what I learned from cabaret.

Why not teach "regular" veil and let the students figure out whether and how they want to include it in their dance?

Originally Posted by bellydancebyleyla

Agreed with Fotia...the veil work I've seen across the board has been basic cabaret veil moves....I don't typically use veil much in my tribal routines, but when I do it's completely in line with what I learned from cabaret.

Ditto for my gothic stuff, though sometimes I might keep a veil through a whole piece, if the music calls for it. I like steffib's comment, teach them what it is and let them do the fusing on their own in their own ways.

Just to throw out an idea... do you have veil moves you like that are a little outside the envelope? Like... using the veil like a ribbon or rope. Unusual wraps. Unusual discards. Maybe spark their creativity with something outside the box. (I'd sure take that class.)

I agree with what everyone is posted here. There's generally not a lot of veil in tribal, if there is, it tends to be a lot less complex than cabaret/Oriental.

Veil doesn't seem to be the most popular (tribal) fusion prop. But the dancers who do it usually draw on the tried and true cabaret classics. Check out this clip from Darshan:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYtTJhj4V2Q]YouTube - Djinn with Darshan[/ame]

Kaeshi:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogTY081eeyU]YouTube - Tribal Fusion Veil[/ame]

I was thinking of using it more with flicks and tosses that accent & add flavor to moves like shoulder locks, fluid behind the head stuff for sidewinders, and interesting wraps for other movement.

Should be an interesting class.... :-)

One thing I do mention to my tribal students when using a veil that you may want to keep in mind. Usually, in tribal, we have a LOT of hair accessories and superfluous jewelry, so I remind students to lift their veils nice and high so as not to catch on anything that may be in their hair...because nothing says "entertaining" like watching a dancer untangle herself from her veil whilst chucking hairsticks and flowers in the process... and I always caution them to practice their routines in full costume to anticipate any possible wardrobe malfunctions.

Leyla has a good point. sharp bracelets, hair sticks and the likes are not a veil's best friend lol.

i agree with teaching them the usual moves and wraps. you could also teach them 'frames', which could be neat considering how tribal emphasizes a lot on the isolations, a frame could really make that look neat.

I thought that dancing with a veil (i.e. not discarding soon after entry) was a form of fusion.

Originally Posted by Nat242

I thought that dancing with a veil (i.e. not discarding soon after entry) was a form of fusion.

Not necessarily. The discarding after entry is Egyptian. Dancing a full set with a veil is common in American Cabaret/Vintage Oriental and Turkish Oriental (see old clips of Nesrin Topkapi and Tulay Caraca).

Originally Posted by bellydancebyleyla

...because nothing says "entertaining" like watching a dancer untangle herself from her veil whilst chucking hairsticks and flowers in the process...

BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! ..l;,..l;,

And oh-so-true!

Hey, if I can teach my students anything it is to learn from my mistakes! ..l;,

Aepril Schaeile once did a piece in which she did big kneeling undulations. At the forward point, she picked up her veil with her teeth and pulled it over her body as she arched backward. It was so cool, I wanted to jump out of my seat. AND she did it without getting lipstick on the veil!


Unless they already have some veilwork experience, I'm with Badriya about giving them classic material and letting them decide how to fuse.

That said, I got to thinking about the cabaret veilwork aesthetic, and noticed a few "rules" that fusion would be free to break:

- cabaret dancers don't put the veil down very much. The aesthetic is to either move it, frame with it, or (less often) re-wrap it around your own body briefly. In fusion, you'd have more freedom to put it down and pick it back up a lot more often.

- Cabaret veilwork almost always involves holding the veil on the long end (working with the width of the veil). It's pretty rare to see us hold it by the short end (working with the length of the veil).

- Cabaret is usually solo. What about interacting with other dancers with the veil? (Two people holding the same veil, moving your own veil around another person, etc.)

I have seen cabaret dancers do these things, but only in a theatrical, stylized piece, rather than as part of a regular routine.

To me, a veil is a veil is a veil and there is no difference in the techniques you should use to make a veil do what you want it to do, which is move through space in a way that looks striking and enhances your dance and your body. I don't really think there are "rules" of veil. There are techniques, which make the difference between your veil looking good and your veil looking like an embarrassing sad lump of fabric being waved around.

I guess ways of doing that would be: maintain a hunched posture, flap your hands around, do fast and powerful movements with a slow veil so it bunches and looks awful... or just do veil properly in a way that works with the music and aesthetic you want for your piece.

One of my biggest dance pet peeves is people using "fusion" as a term for simply not knowing how to do something well... so they call it fusion. If they are going to "fuse" veil with something else, they need to know "regular" veil techniques REALLY well. True fusion (in my opinion) is the seamless fusing together of 2 (or more) things that YOU KNOW HOW TO DO. So teach regular veil techniques- that's what they need to know.

A good one from Tribal Fest

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxZtX5VYV5I]YouTube - Shoshanna[/ame]

wooooo that veil is cooool!!! it's extremely see-through.... and the black-to-white gives a really neat effect

I want her "costume".... :-)