Thread: Umm...Praise God Using Bellydance DVD?

Random Amazon browsing for new things to buy and this comes up in the most reccent releases...

I can't be the only person who has just spotted this:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Praise-God-Using-Bellydance-Porsha/dp/B002JECRVU/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1248979545&sr=1-7]Amazon.com: Praise God Using Bellydance: Porsha, Tsipporah Tabarez;Porsha: Movies & TV[/ame]

Not that I'm against people worshipping in their own way...but i'm thinking..."huh"? and the title is a complete put off to me personally...but each to their own.

Anyone know anything about it?

I'd be interested to see it out of curiosity. I've done some work myself on using dance to cast a circle, etc. in the neopagan format.

Why not? I praise God through dance all the time. Others choose to worship as they wish, as well. I think it's a neat concept. No idea about the actual content, though.

I saw a clip on youtube yesterday.
It looked...ummm... not so exciting.

I say if you want to praise god by dancing, do it on your own and not to this dvd. Of course I know nothing more about it than what is shown here.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJnf4pvSo4k]YouTube - Christian Fitness: Praise God Using Bellydance with Porsha[/ame]

Ah! Thanks for the Youtube link...I'll have a look in a min when its buffered enough to play.

I'm curious as to how the who worship concept is put across...because you do usually come across the whole goddess workship thing whenever you look for information on bellydance...and here the title is simply "God"...hmm. I know my tribal teacher does a sort of prayer at the end of our sessions through hand gestures up and down to thw earth below...goddess above etc...

Looks like a cynical marketing ploy to me. How to distinguish yet another beginner dvd by a 'no name' from all the others.

Maybe if I ever want to make a name for myself I can start 'atheist bellydance' - every other novelty marketing fad has been tried!!

Z

Z

Umm...just saw the youtube clip...omg...its being marketed as by a professional performer? The quality looked passable if that...and the combinations it showed very unispiring, just like she was jigging her knees back and forth and moving her arms....the facial expression of one of the women in the back....not a good advert.

okay 2 issue (maybe a third sneaking in...) I think it is perfectly appropriate to use belly dance in a Christian context to praise God. I do it all the time. Might not be 'traditional', but outside of the western fantasy land, you can't prove it was ever traditionally used for Goddess worship or pagan worship of any kind either. If it enhances your spiritual experience, go for it.

This video- wow, that is just BAD dancing. period. that arm technique in particular just makes me cringe. I don't know how you expect to glorify anybody or anything with a superficial, undisciplined whim. part of what makes dance an ideal medium for spirituality is the discipline and the way it can take you into a deep connection between spirit & body. From what I saw on the youtube clip- this video doesn't have any of that.

Proof that anybody has the capability to make a video, even those who shouldn't. That opionion I just gave is coming from the advert from the youtube clip. Just bad all the way around. I feel for her students. Maybe she is giving good information but the physical teaching is bad.

Oh my.

No religion bashing intended for anyone, although I'm an atheist to the core. Whatever floats your boat.

But I would hope that what would float your boat would be good dancing... which this is not. Wow, those are some cuh-ray-zee hands. WTF? And the constant bouncy... well, I guess it's at least exhuberant? ..c::

It's a shame that the good quality of home movie cameras in combination with teh interwebs has presented the buying public with so much trash and confusion. Hopefully at least the insta-fame via YouTube means that at least people can watch a clip and decide not to purchase, rather than only having the horrific disappointment after parting with their $$$.

It's obviously not a pagan thing--she's representing it as a Christian endeavor. From the clip, I can't tell if she is aiming to combat the stereotype that many fundamentalist Christians have regarding belly dance as immoral, or if she just liked this kind of dancing and realized there was a market for somebody doing it to Contemporary Christian records. I sort of suspect it's more the first one than the second.

I used to know a dancer who did liturgical dance and had a veil routine she would perform during Pentecost services (the veil was supposed to be the tongues of flames from the Holy Spirit), and occasionally the dance comes up in religious plays put on by church groups (usually as Delilah tempting Samson or as Salome asking for John the Baptist's head). There are definitely people out there attempting to perform the dance in a religious context, so perhaps she's not just exploiting a new angle.

BTW, I agree that the production values seem a bit below industry standards.

Bellydance has an image of being pagan so I think this DVD is to show that you don't have to be a pagan to enjoy bellydancing.

I am a Christian and I'm getting to know more and more dancers who are Christian too. In fact, I think if this video catches on, it just may give others the idea that bellydancing is for everybody and not just pagans, as is the stereotype.

Theres a big movement in Christianity for liturgical dance. They hvae workshops, you can buy costuming for it from dance vendors, etc. Usually they use modern dnace for liturgical dance, but why shouldn't someone with belly dance training use belly dance? Heck belly dance comesfrom the Holy Land, so its a better fit than modern dance,no?

I wont comment on the merits of this specifci video because I havent seen it. But i see nothing wrong with the concept.

I have no problem with the Christian angle, though I'm not a Christian myself. There are Pagan-based DVDs out there, so why not a Christian based DVD?

That being said, the dancing itself is just bad....Janine Rabbit bad.

Originally Posted by Fotia

Bellydance has an image of being pagan so I think this DVD is to show that you don't have to be a pagan to enjoy bellydancing.

I kinda get this impression too, that it's an attempt to reach those who only participate in "sanctioned" Christian activities. Probably similar to some of the "Christian Yoga" classes I've seen advertised.

Those wrist circles hurt my eyes, though...

Originally Posted by Sariah

I have no problem with the Christian angle, though I'm not a Christian myself. There are Pagan-based DVDs out there, so why not a Christian based DVD?

That being said, the dancing itself is just bad....Janine Rabbit bad.

..l;,..l;,..l;, Yeah, there is no excuse for bad dancing!! ..l;,..l;,..l;,

I hope their are people dancing for GOD, that is truely wonderful, BUT don't make a crappy staticky looking video with that level of talent for teaching.

She should attend many more workshops and THAN think about making a video.

i'm happy to see some media coming out of religious communities that are accepting and positive about belly dance.

I don't have a comment on the Christian thing but my friend was just looking over my shoulder and said, "what? Did some cheerleaders learn bad belly?" God or no God, that was bad dancing.

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

i'm happy to see some media coming out of religious communities that are accepting and positive about belly dance.

This. It is quite dreadful - actually it has a kind of Bollywood feel to me, in a sort of stationary Bollywood For Beginners kind of way - but it's sweet at least that somebody out there is saying "hey, Christian women, you are allowed to do belly dance for praise purposes!" And maybe the DVD will encourage some to seek out teachers and groups who are technically much better.

True fact: as soon as I saw this thread title I was eager to find out more because I have a former student who is also a major evangelical Christian (from the US) who I think would adore such a concept, and another dancer I know of *stopped* for a while after becoming a Christian at an evangelical meeting. Now I've seen the clip I know it would be of no use to either of them, but cynical marketing aside, I'm pleased that there are Christians in the US who are actively saying "BD is OK!"

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Now I've seen the clip I know it would be of no use to either of them, but cynical marketing aside, I'm pleased that there are Christians in the US who are actively saying "BD is OK!"

yes, that's the up side of it all- we're now up to 6 ladies from my church who have seen me dance now & only one was shocked & one, um, reserved... the others were unbelievably encouraging!

There are many of us out there who are active evangelical Christians and bellydancers!

Originally Posted by MakedaMaysa

There are many of us out there who are active evangelical Christians and bellydancers!

Me included! It's amazing how so many Christian people are against dancing. In the Bible, a lot of dancing was done, and much of it was used as a part of worship. And not only Christians but other religious groups as well. Like anything else, dancing itself is good, it's how others decide to misuse it that is bad. ,m::

I love the look of the lady at :56......Sweet Jesus, wont somebody help me!

I like her because she looks like an actual beginner student concentrating very hard and getting That Face.

I'm sooooo gonna get to work on Agnostic Belly Dance....THAT should be interesting!

It's not my cup of tea, but as long as it's on a DVD (read: the viewer can "opt in" to a spiritual interpretation of the dance), I'm OK with it. In fact, I know many dancers who express their spirituality through dance.

I'm just not really into spirituality in workshops or classes where I'm paying good money to learn dance technique. At least if you don't like the content of this DVD, you're well within your right not to purchase it!

from the website -- her bio:

My name is "Porsha". I am a professional bellydancer and instructor, who began the journey of bellydancing several years after studing "Middle Eastern Dance".


??? So she came from a folkloric background? I don't think that's what she means, do you?

Bellydance and religion should be separate. Today I don't think that bellydance is being touted as a worshipful dance and yet people seem to be more and more associating their paganism or other spirituality to it. Nothing wrong with expressing your spirituality but let's remember that the dance is for all walks of life and worship.

My two cents, IMHO.

I also think people are blowing *potential* worship backgrounds completely out of proportion. I have not seen any evidence for the concrete folkloric dances and steps spiced up and glamorized for the stage to become raks sharki having any roots in any worship ritual.

Most likely priestesses for goddesses in the Arabian world used circular flowing movements - but so most likely has done ANY priestess for ANY fertility or mother goddess not only in the Mideast, but also for Venus in Rome, Afrodite in Greece, for culture all throughout Africa, Asia, the Native cultures of the Americas etc. Yet not all of these cultures have developed a dance like raks sharki.

The backing for these worship claims are weak to non existent - yet bellydance remains the one dance associated with "goddess worshipping". I am not against it per se, but against distortions of history/fantasy being told as FACT. Strangely no one associates Greek folk dances with Afrodite.

See my point?

Paganism is fine, but associating bellydance/Arab folkloric dances with it is 1. insulting to most of the monotheistic Arabs, 2. has NO factual backing.

I also think dance is something for everybody, and should not be associated with religion except for in the mind and heart of the individual dancing it. There is no "pagan bellydance" no "Christian bellydance", just bellydance. what you do with it is your own business, but please do not promote a dance that is and remains a DANCE as religious worship. It is not. It is far more or far less, depending on what perspective you take.