Thread: Seeking quotes for an article - how do you describe your bellydance style?

I am working on a center piece article for the BD magazine Papyrus. I would like to include your quotes and picture of you if you would like to respond to my inquiry:

How do you describe your bellydance style and what about this style was most attractive to you?

What I am looking for is about a paragraph response that says something like: I am a ______style dancer or I describe my style as _______. What I love most about this mix of styles is _______ or what attracted me most to this style of bellydance is ___________.

Maybe you used to be a Egyptian purist and now you are a gothic fusion dancer. Why?

Anything interesting you have to add would be appreciated. I will contact you with info about sending pics and your info if I can use your quote.

Thanks!
Yeli

I call myself an American Belly Dancer for two reasons. One, it allows me to pick and choose what I want to do at any given time. I don't have a real preference for anything, but I like it all. I attended a Shareen El Safy workshop over the weekend, but worked with a Rachel Brice DVD this morning.
At one time I was a Middle Eastern Dancer, NOT a belly dancer. I have found a few (not many) people are a little turned off by things Middle Eastern at this delicate time in the history of the United States. It just seems to soften it a little to call myself an American Belly Dancer. My target audience is not the Arab community, obviously. I like to study the Arab culture, but I know that not everyone wants to. So please no one bite my head off for not calling what I do Middle Eastern Dance anymore!

By the way, should I have received my July Papyrus by now? I am out of state. Thanks, Yeli!

Originally Posted by SandraDances

By the way, should I have received my July Papyrus by now? I am out of state. Thanks, Yeli!

You should have.... I was out of the country when it was collated and sent out this time. I think that the NTMEDA board took care of everything the week of July 11th. I will double check. Hopefully it just got caught up over the weekend in your area.

Thanks for the quote! That's the kind of thing I am looking for!

I call myself a vintage orientale dancer because that style interested me the most, and I felt it fit best with my 'look', so to speak! The way I look and the way I naturally dance reminded most people of vintage Orientale (vintage American cabaret), so I pursued it. Besides, I love a little camp! ..g.:

I call my style 'American Mongrel.' Egyptian style is the general direction I'm growing in, it's what I love to study and to watch, but I also enjoy wowing an American audience with whiz-bang props and I have a special interest in Turkish Roman (gypsy) as well. As an instructor I like to be able to give my students a little taste of everything -- including Tribal Fusion -- to the best of my ability, so I try to educate myself across the spectrum at least a little.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I call my style 'American Mongrel.'

You'd best copyright that -- Lauren's AMS Bellydance -- lest we start seeing "Mongrel Fusion" workshops...g.:

Egyptian-based cabaret. I haven't seen a phrase that means "American cabaret" essentially that I like, nor do I have the experience with the seediness that I hear about cabarets. I add the Egyptian part, because most of my teachers have had an Egyptian base

love American Mongrel!

I'm a globalised belly dancer with Egyptian leanings.

Originally Posted by aziyade

"Mongrel Fusion"

Mongrel Fusion is funny on so many levels.....l;, and yet.. ,r:; it wouldn't be the first fusing of pre-fused fusions.

I call my style American Oriental. My roots go back to both American Cabaret and Jamila Salimpour's Bal Anat pre-ATS tribal style. I love playing zills, working with a veil and prop balancing, which are all hallmarks of Vintage American Oriental style. But I now incorporate Egyptian, Turkish Rom, or folkloric styles into my dance as well. I let the music guide my choice of costuming and dance style. I love a lot of different styles of music but generally prefer traditional pieces. I love music that is real and heartfelt and I try to reflect those qualities in my dancing.

Awww, I wanna make up a style! ..l;,

Originally Posted by BreaMorgiane

Awww, I wanna make up a style! ..l;,

How about Vintage Oriental Mongrel Cabaret?

i am an interdisciplinary style dancer because i perform multiple styles within the belly dance spectrum. the egyptian and vintage cabaret styles speak to the sparkly glam aspects of my personality. the cyber goth fusion shows are informed by my days as a club kid and podium dancer. the outer limits of the fusion spectrum allow me to explore dramatic elements fused with bellydance, such as humor, irony, character dances, dramatic interpretation, and fuse elements from western dance disciplines, even ballet mime. i believe an interdisciplinary approach helps us artistically explore different aspects of our personalities.
*********
maybe thats too long, but its late and i'm not eloquent right now. sorry

I really expected to hear a lot of people with very distinct styles (meaning only Egyptian, ATS, etc). Why did I think that? Cool!

The degree to which Bhuz is reflecting my thesis at the moment is really quite disturbing.

I like Boz's catagory of : Pan Arabic. Im going to call myself Pan Arabic Fusion.


Nilaja

i/we are free style arabic, old style.i describe it as, "a deaf person can see/hear, the music in my dance "

I am an American Middle Eastern dancer. I am in a serious long term non-monogamous relationship with Egyptian. I have a bit of a history with Turkish, and still sometimes take it out for a spin. Various folkloric styles are always sniffing around, and when it comes to the roots...I'm just a girl who can't say no.

Hahaha, dunyah! ..l;,

Are we all mostly saying the same thing, but using different words?

Very interesting to read your answers,
would love to see these tags on bellydance clips on YouTube!:)

Hmmm...we Swedes are fairly Cairo-centric,although fusion styles became popular in the 70/80-ies too.

For example I only know of ONE teacher here(in Stockholm) whos students starts first term with finger cymbals,
while the many other learns it *after* cane and veil,usually when it´s time to learn zeffa+shamedan.

Can´t say I have a really distinct style of my own yet,(still feel like a beginner)
but if I had to choose a name for what I mostly learned and love to dance,
it would probably be "Arabic Contemporary Nightclub".

I dance Persian styles and Albanian folk dance but I don´t mix styles at all.

:soapbox:

I call myself an Oriental dancer or simply a belly dancer. I don't use the term American belly dancer or anything like that because it's pretty obvious that I am American and I choose to pick simple terms that the general public can understand.

When it comes to my style I very much prefer the classical or vintage styles of belly dance that originated in Egypt in the 1950s and 60s, although I love some of the new dancers like Aziza, Jillina, and Bozenka who have taken the classical styles to the next level.

The truth is, I believe that it is really hard to define Egyptian style in this day and age (and well, all belly dance styles are hard to define). I have had numerous teacher who call themselves Egyptian dancers, but who have all showed me different ways of doing things and they have different standards and styles. And because the danced has morphed from generation to generation, from culture to culture and the like, there is no truly pure form unless you being true to yourself.

I know everyone has preferences and expectations of what belly dancers should be, or how we should dance or dress, but it is about what draws us in and what we are conveying to the public that should matter most. We all come to the table with unique experiences and abilities, and we hope to express that through dance and music, no matter the name or style.

I'm an old skool American Cabaret Belly Dancer. I like this style because it mixes EVERYTHING, which means its far more challenging than other styles as I need to learn a lot more! I'm also attracted to the glitz and glamour!

Originally Posted by emma-bessa

Very interesting to read your answers,
would love to see these tags on bellydance clips on YouTube!:)

Hmmm...we Swedes are fairly Cairo-centric,although fusion styles became popular in the 70/80-ies too.

For example I only know of ONE teacher here(in Stockholm) whos students starts first term with finger cymbals,
while the many other learns it *after* cane and veil,usually when it´s time to learn zeffa+shamedan.

Can´t say I have a really distinct style of my own yet,(still feel like a beginner)
but if I had to choose a name for what I mostly learned and love to dance,
it would probably be "Arabic Contemporary Nightclub".

I dance Persian styles and Albanian folk dance but I don´t mix styles at all.

This is what I call myself - Arabic Nightclub style - I like the addition of "Contemporary", too.

I see this style as being very pan-Arabic, with influences from golden era Egyptian, to modern Lebanese, to folkloric (Saidi and Debke mostly), to modern Egyptian, with the added contemporary flourishes of dynamic and flashy props like wings, fire tray, veil poi, sword, etc. I use veil more in the Arab way of entering with it than in the American way of dedicating an entire song to veil performance, and I personally use finger cymbals quite a bit in my dancing.

I like the fact that can take elements I like from many Middle Eastern styles and combine them in a way that suits my tastes, and it still reads as "Arabic" style dancing to my audiences.

That being said, I find myself attracted to Vintage Orientale (AmCab) lately, and I've been itching to do a traditional multi-part routine...

I am an Egyptian-inspired raqs sharqi dancer. After trying various styles of belly dance Egyptian raqs sharqi suited me best because of its emphasis on inner strength, emotional connection to the music and subtle drama, in addition to its earthy folkloric connections. I will, I am sure, always dance like an American in some ways but dancers like Taheya Carioca, Fif Abdo, Aza Sherif, Dina and Asmahan are where I draw my influences.

I am a gothic belly dancer because I have been a goth for many, many years and that is my (sub)cultural background, and because belly dance is my dance movement vocabulary and it is well suited to much gothic music, in which one can frequently find Middle Eastern influences. Gothic belly dance suits me because of its raw emotional content and melodrama, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt. Influences for my gothic belly dancing come from a variety of sources, including the dancers mentioned above.

How's that for contradictory?

I am a Middle Eastern Nightclub style dancer with very Turkish Oryental fusion leanings!
I stopped calling it 'Arabic' Nightclub style, because I do incorporate Turkish and Balkan, Klezmheresque music too...all of which are in the Middle East, but aren't Arabic.
Gia

I have had numerous teacher who call themselves Egyptian dancers, but who have all showed me different ways of doing things and they have different standards and styles. And because the danced has morphed from generation to generation, from culture to culture and the like, there is no truly pure form unless you being true to yourself.

This is something I've noticed - people are recognising that they are not 'authentically' anything (other than themselves) because it's not easy to put things in boxes, even though we really, really *want* to differentiate now. It used to be that people were "belly dancers" and now they're defined by a particular style or region, but at the same time we all recognise perhaps that we are fusing rather than authentically reproducing something that was already fused/hybrid, if that makes sense. So people continue to use belly dance for personal expression but in a more nuanced way - we know we're just making stuff up, pulling a bit from here and a bit from there, and we're owning our own part in it, I guess. Not pretending to be priestesses/exotic others any more, at least not in quite the same way.

Originally Posted by Gia al Qamar

I am a Middle Eastern Nightclub style dancer with very Turkish Oryental fusion leanings!
I stopped calling it 'Arabic' Nightclub style, because I do incorporate Turkish and Balkan, Klezmheresque music too...all of which are in the Middle East, but aren't Arabic.
Gia

That's way cool - I love Klezmer music! Unfortunately, most of my regular gigs are Arab/Persian owned, and generally expect an Arab-centric show, so I don't often have opportunity to use other ME styles.

I label my dance as "Egyptian Style Raqs Sharqi". I say Egyptian Style instead of just Egyptian because I am not from Egypt, I am an American dancing in the Egyptian style (or trying!)

I am drawn to this style because of the deep emotions expressed in the music, lyrics and movement. It is a lifelong pursuit and I am happy everyday for discovering it!

amanda