Thread: Defining Goddess Dance

Okay so I am really not trying to ruffle any feathers and I don't want to start any arguments but can someone define Goddess dance for me? I've been to a few haflas/shows and everytime I see someone listed as a Goddess dancer or that they teach Goddess dance I wonder what defines the style since no two of them are alike in costuming, music selection, or movement style. I also had a student ask me about it today and I couldn't really answer her question.

I share a studio with a teacher who teaches Goddess dancing and she told me that she's certified to teach Goddess dancing through Dolphina. I'm familiar with Dolphina but not her teaching style so I'm still a little clueless. The way this teacher defines Goddess dancing is not the same way another teacher explained it to me.

Is there some research I can look up?

I had no idea Dolphina was certifying people. *cringes*

In any case, here's what the teacher training entails. Teacher Training | GoddessLife Part of the training consists of studying Dolphina's "GoddessLife Philosophy", but the website doesn't really explain what it is other than mentioning "how to discover, nourish, and celebrate your Goddess within and empower other women".

All that aside, my experience is that the term Goddess, when applied to BD, is completely self defined by the dancer/teacher. I'd be surprised if there was any consensus on using the term.

Originally Posted by laura 2

All that aside, my experience is that the term Goddess, when applied to BD, is completely self defined by the dancer/teacher. I'd be surprised if there was any consensus on using the term.

This was my thinking. So how do you clarify that for someone who is really curious about it?

I would go on Jehan Kamals website jehanarts.com Her music and dance is inspired by the Goddess. She is a really lovely person.

Alrana

Originally Posted by Khaleela

This was my thinking. So how do you clarify that for someone who is really curious about it?

I don't think you can - I think the explanation would depend on who you were talking to at the time. Probably the best bet would be to identify which dancers (like Jehan, suggested above) associate themselves with the term, and read/hear their perspective. It's possible there's at least some connecting threads between all the different philosophies that you could identify.

Goddess style isn't really a style in the same way as Egyptian, or Turkish, or ATS is a style.

I'd take it to mean that the instructor is interested in some sort of goddess worship, and likes to use bellydance to express her spiritually and intends to bring that into the classroom.

Beyond that, though, I wouldn't assume there's any similarity between the instructors or the dancing.

There's really no universal tradition of associating bellydance with goddess worship, so there's nothing to draw on to create a particular style. One teacher might associate bellydance with Egypt and therefore want to dance in a style that simulates Pharonic painting and think about goddesses like Isis and Maat.

I've also heard of instructors who associate bellydance with the Romany trail and want to trace it back to Devadasi temples in India, that would give you a completely different style of dance.

It's really a freeform thing.

Does that help? Or make it more vague?

"Goddess BD" = "Fantasy Dance"

Deborah

I think Lauren gave a great answer on this. Both Dolphina and Jehan use the word Godess, but you won't find two dancers who are more different.

Originally Posted by laura 2

I had no idea Dolphina was certifying people. *cringes*

Double cringes!

Originally Posted by casbahdance

"Goddess BD" = "Fantasy Dance"

Deborah

Yep.

Goddess Dance - female empowerment philosophy evolving around empowering women through movement of any dance style. Danced as a self-discovery, self-healing, self-worship (by the virtue of being a female), self-empowerment tool, not as an entertainment form. May be applied to any technical and visual approach to dance, but often incorporates "spirituality encompassing" movements such as gestures along the body, gestures to the "Mother Goddess" (in this case the ultra super woman??), gestures of worship (folded hands, hands coming together in "prayer", decending to the floor and bowing to the floor in "worship". Some aspects of Goddess Dance also bring forth the "longing gaze" others are more focused towards female sexuality and celebration of female sexuality and fertility.

Does that kind of cover it?

It's not a dance style, it's a philosophic/spiritual approach to movement - and the RESULT of this is what I defined here.

I am a pagan/wiccan who believes in the feminine divine and the term "Goddess dance" sounds like something that someone is using to suit their own purposes. It depends on how the person using it intends it.

Some people might use it to refer to dancing as a spiritual act and others, like Dolphina, might be using it as a marketing term. I'm reluctant to use the word "fantasy" because if it is the former, I would consider it an insult to refer to someone else's spirituality as a fantasy.

I wouldn't consider "Goddess dance" to necessarily be a form of self-worship as there are many men who also work with Goddesses in a spiritual sense.

hmm...i think that Dolphina's "Goddess dance" is more of a decent way to get people to start bellydancing (for marketing, as someone already said), while Jehan's is about getting in touch with your spiritual side

or at least so i think!
xxx
Athena