Thread: Prop question

This may be a strange prop question, but how do you feel about entering with a prop, setting it aside and picking it back up later in the same song? I remember seeing someone do a veil dance where they did just that. They entered with the veil, danced with, tossed it aside, and then picked it back up later in the song and danced with it some more. I remember wondering 'is that legal?' So how do you feel about it? Do you think as soon as you set a prop aside, it's off limits. Does it depend on the prop dancing with? Is it for example, different for a veil vs. a sword? Or is this something you do on a regular basis?

I'm asking because I'm starting to choreograph a piece with veil fans. I think they'd be great at the beginning and end of the song I've been using, but not the middle. And I'm a little conflicted about setting them aside and picking them back up again. So I'm very interested in other dancer's thoughts and practices.

Thx.

Sure it's "legal." As long as you go from prop, to no-prop, and back to prop again in a smooth and graceful way, it could add an extra layer of creative interest to your performance. The important thing would be to avoid awkwardness or a sense of interruption in the way you transition back and forth.
Rosette

Is there any way to "wear" them on your body during the in-between part? (I've never used them, so I don't know logistics of them.) I know that with traditional veils, a number of dancers have tucked the veils in place and worn them when they wanted to use them again later. The dancer Leea in Walnut Creek, California once taught a workshop suggesting that people use the veil twice in their dance - once to a rhumba/bolero rhythm (songs such as Jemilleh, Misirlou, Erev Shel Shoshanim, Bir Demet Yasemen, etc.), then re-drape it on their body to dance to a fast song, then use it again to dance to a taqsim.

I've seen a couple of dancers tuck fan veils (local troupe did this) or regular fans (Leyla Jouvana) in their skirts for parts of their songs and then take them back out. Maybe this would work for you?

I think putting a prop aside and picking it up again later is perfectly fine as long as you do it gracefully. I've seen plenty of dancers do this with veils.

I did a fan veil piece where the middle section of the music had a part that I wanted to just do non-prop dance movements, so I closed the fans and kind of draped them over my shoulders, with the veils hanging over my back and the fans in front. Worked fine except that it can be a little nerve-wracking if you want to keep this up for very long -- I kept worrying that they'd slip out of place.

Where's Mahsati? She's the fan veil diva.

Originally Posted by mathkitty

I remember seeing someone do a veil dance where they did just that. They entered with the veil, danced with, tossed it aside, and then picked it back up later in the song and danced with it some more.

I did this at the Midwest Bellydance Challenge competition and none of the judges seemed to have a problem with it.

I think the key is picking the prop back up in an organic and non-stilted way. How I did it was to do a deep curtsy at the beginning of my exit piece, and pick up a corner of the veil as surreptitiously as possible while I was down there. I wanted it to seem like "Oh, I have my veil back? I might as well dance with it some more."

Thanks for the tips and advice.

I'm not sure how easy it will be to tuck the fans, they might also interfere with my ability to dance if they're tucked. But I'm feeling more confidant about setting them aside and picking them up later--so long as I do it gracefully and intentionally.

have you thought about adding ribbons the the 'handle' part of the fans? (not handle... but where all the wooden sticks converge)
that way you could tuck the ribbon into your skirt, or wrap them around your wrist or something, in all cases it gives you more options on what to do with them