Thread: Flash vs Subtle Spinoff

Okay, kinda along the same lines but without South American dancers.

Recently had experience at a hafla where most of the dancers and most of the audience were college students. I was the only soloist and I realized that Tahtil Shibbak was going to be a hard sell when I saw the bouncy troupe numbers in front of me. I went on the stage following Hakim's Dance Like an Egyptian. So I said to myself--"Just dance like an Egyptian."

During the taqsim I was keeping things pretty internal and although I didn't really look much at the audience, I didn't feel much from them. When the music breaks out most audiences just throw themselves into it and there is so much energy going back and forth. But not this group. It was pretty flat except for a few long time dancers who were clapping and smiling. All I could do was dance for myself and draw my own energy from the music. When I looked out into the audience there were a lot of blank looks.

Getting off the stage I felt really flat. A couple of the more experienced dancers and drummers came up to me later with congratulations. But it bothered me that a song that is such a crowd pleaser among dancers went over like a lead balloon. Then from the back of the room a middle eastern man came up and told me how much he enjoyed my dancing. He said that he could tell that I love the music and understood the nuancesc and how much he appreciated seeing baladi dance and hearing baladi music. It totally lifted my spirits and made me realize that most of the audience had probably never heard a taqsim or a mawaal or seen baladi improvisation. They know group choreographies to pop music. Four of this, four of that.

Anyone else have similar experiences? What were your thoughts at the time and now looking back at it?

Souzan

I haven't experienced this as a performer, but as an audience member, I have. I find that the stuff that used to really excite me doesn't. Also, some of the stuff I didn't get before now wows me.

It's all about knowledge and ignorance. Flash and fast and pep are great, and very easy to get into from an audience perspective. I know what those things are; I have a cultural understanding. It might not be the same, but I can draw on what I know to relate to what I'm seeing.

Baladi is a great example of something that might not have captured me a few years back. As I've learned more, I've gained enough knowledge that I can understand and relate to what I'm seeing. I can watch someone doing it and know that she's portraying in a certain frame and cultural context.

Not exactly what you asked, but I hope it still contributes.

It seems to me that this is a more complicated problem than simply comparing beledi music to pop, or subtle to flashy. I guess I think of it in terms of three factors: the performance itself, the audience's expectation, and the talent of the performer in balancing the previous two factors.

Generally speaking, I think the majority of dancers would have a tough time selling a song that has long improvisational sections because it is very foreign sounding to GP audiences who may not have been exposed to that style of music before. Arabic or Turkish pop music is more familiar sounding to Western audiences because it tends to have a simpler, more repetitive structure. Having said that, I think many dancers fall into the trap of assuming all pop songs are equally good for performing, which is definitely not true. A lot of them are mindlessly repetitive and dull to do anything but club/social dancing to.

On the other hand, GP audiences often have tragically low expectations of Middle Eastern dance as an art form. If you went on stage in a Turkish Airport Special, rolled around on the floor making sexy-face, and then flopped on your back and rolled quarters on your stomach, most GP crowds would go nuts. You'd be the Best! Dancer! Ever! regardless of whether your music was "Inta Omri" by Umm Kalthoum or that painfully off-key, live version of "Habibi Ya Einy" by Haifa Wehbe. (Meanwhile, a knowledgeable audience would be giving that same performance the big ol' stinkeye....)

One of the true talents of performing is being able to anticipate how much sophistication your audience can handle. I hate to call it "dumbing down," but in a way, it is. Of course, sometimes you can't predict your audience, and if you have committed to a routine in advance, you might not have the option of going in a different direction after you see how the show is progressing. Maybe all you can expect is that if you tell the show's organizer what you would like to do in advance, he or she will be able to give you good feedback, or at least know enough to put your number in a slot where it will be conducive to the best possible audience reaction.

Related but different. I have just got back from the annual NZ MED gathering - and I almost cried during the show. Don't get me wrong there was some kick ass dancing - but very little of what I'd call belly dance let alone MED. How far from MED? Well I counted a "traditional" ATS number as belly dance as it was much, much closer than most of the rest!

Most of the crowd went wild for it. Young and inexperienced dancers with little exposure to traditional dance - or maybe just no interest - who knows? Made worse by the fact the MC was thrown in at the last minute and was (as I later discovered) working on her impressions as the performers waited in the wings. So a retro 70s piece became "sa`iidi" because they had canes and a ghawazee piece became a cane dance. Thus an educational opportunity was also lost.

Interestingly the more experienced dancers were grateful for every MED crumb. And I would be there as well - I enjoyed a student troupe whose technique was a little shaky but dancing something MED connected far more than some of the truly polished and professional modern dance or world mish-mash pieces.

Next weekend I am dancing in a workshop show and plan on doing Tahtil Shibbak again. I love the song; its like a comfortable old pair of bedroom slippers that you appreciate every time you slip them on.

My mistake was, as Tourbeau pointed out, in miscalculating the amount of subtlety the audience would appreciate--despite the fact that most, if not all, the audience were dancers and their families. Well, live and learn.

Originally Posted by Souzan

Next weekend I am dancing in a workshop show and plan on doing Tahtil Shibbak again. I love the song; its like a comfortable old pair of bedroom slippers that you appreciate every time you slip them on.

My mistake was, as Tourbeau pointed out, in miscalculating the amount of subtlety the audience would appreciate--despite the fact that most, if not all, the audience were dancers and their families. Well, live and learn.

I'll get to see this performance--yaay! :) I *think* the audience for this show will probably be more appreciative of something subtle and traditional...after all, Aunt Rocky herself is the headliner, and somehow I don't think her style would appeal as much to the whiz-bang, feed-it-to-me-with-a-spoon crowd.

I have to tell you all about the first time I saw a baladi taqsim performed. It was my first workshop show performance and I was dancing with a troupe at that time. After our number our instructor pulled us to the wings to watch Jehan Jamal do baladi. The emotion, the facial expressions, the push and pull of energy, the longing, the joy, the excruciatingly slow bits and the upbeat fast shimmies. The whole thing. It sucked me in right then and there. I spent several years after that trying to find something in the dance that moved me that way. For the past two years or so I have been working with baladi and more lately, shaabi, as my personal challenge. No one in my area teaches or performs baladi taqsim, shaabi, melaya and so I have drawn from workshops, dvds, watching other performers, Bhuz, emails, etc. My own teacher is a long time Rocky fan and I have learned many Rocky choreographies through her and gone to Rocky workshops when I can. And I have learned a lot from Rocky's grounded base and style. To me its like peeling the layers of the onion, only the onion just keeps getting bigger and bigger instead of smaller.

Ranya's baladi dvd was like a miracle for me. Working with her taqsim drills is like eating ice cream.

I have to say that I love acting out the song in baladi and shaabi pieces and I realize that most of the audience won't know the lyrics but any time there is an Arabic audience member they gush about the fact that I knew what the song was about. And it helps me feel at home with the song. I am a silly person at heart!

Souzan

Originally Posted by Souzan

Ranya's baladi dvd was like a miracle for me. Working with her taqsim drills is like eating ice cream.


Souzan

What is the title?

Its called EGYPTIAN STYLE: THE BALADI and you can purchase it at Bellydance New York City - Ranya Renee & Company - Belly Dance Classes and Peformances. It is a two disc set for very reasonable price and includes a teleconference with Ranya and other dancers talking about the baladi. I have to say that this is the single best instructional dvd I have ever seen. The way it is put together and the drills are pure genius!

hmm, I guess it also depends on how much you are dancing for yourself or your audience. I saw a lovely performance a few weeks back from an experienced dancer but I also know that if that same performance occurred round these parts at a hafla the majority of the audience would shrug and think there was nothing to it, just a lot of wiggling.

Part of it I think is down to what people are taught / their own expectations. If they're never shown or taught baladi for example, how do they know what they're looking at, even if that's not their cup of tea? There are many many people who just go to classes for a bit of a wiggle about and are happy with that.

Part of me thinks keep the crowd happy but another part of me wants to break out of doing yet another shabbi track at the local hafla even if everyone goes..c::

Souzan. I'd be happy and take the compliment.

Originally Posted by straightleftknee

hmm, I guess it also depends on how much you are dancing for yourself or your audience. I saw a lovely performance a few weeks back from an experienced dancer but I also know that if that same performance occurred round these parts at a hafla the majority of the audience would shrug and think there was nothing to it, just a lot of wiggling.

Part of it I think is down to what people are taught / their own expectations. If they're never shown or taught baladi for example, how do they know what they're looking at, even if that's not their cup of tea? There are many many people who just go to classes for a bit of a wiggle about and are happy with that.

Part of me thinks keep the crowd happy but another part of me wants to break out of doing yet another shabbi track at the local hafla even if everyone goes..c::


Souzan. I'd be happy and take the compliment.

Good points! Knowing that no one else is doing quite what I do at local events I usually introduce the piece with a little information. For Tahtil Shibbak I say that it baladi style, improvised, and a little tiny bit about what the song is about. For shaabi I might say that there are often double meanings (llike El Enab is about grapes but really about body parts) or that Eshta Yaba is not really about cream cheese but about the drug culture. If it helps to educate one or two dancers about something that they haven't heard about before then I think I've helped somehow. I dance for me (I am not a professional) and hope that my comfort level and energy in what I am doing might open a door for someone just as the door was opened for me.

And yes, the compliment was very welcome. I talked to the guy for a while. When he told me that he is also a dancer (trained in ballet and modern) I took his comments even more seriously. This was my first performance since working with Ranya's baladi instructional dvd and after working with her wonderful drills that are intended to make response to musical changes so organic, I really felt more inside the music than ever before. But I realize that to many newer dancers that may be an alien concept.

Souzan

Originally Posted by Souzan

Its called EGYPTIAN STYLE: THE BALADI and you can purchase it at Bellydance New York City - Ranya Renee & Company - Belly Dance Classes and Peformances. It is a two disc set for very reasonable price and includes a teleconference with Ranya and other dancers talking about the baladi. I have to say that this is the single best instructional dvd I have ever seen. The way it is put together and the drills are pure genius!

Thank you much my dear.

Hi Souzan,
I think for a hafla it's fine if you do what YOU like. To adapt the dance to the expectations of the patrons is what pro dancers have to do for earning their livelihood, the hafla is there for you to dance what you enjoy!
Of course you want your performance to be a success, but a hafla audience, they've got to realize that bellydance isn't just pop-music (for me the worst if it isn't even oriental pop...). When I go to haflas I am so disappointed because everybody is doing fusion fusion fusion. I'd love some Fatme Serhan or Oum Khalthoum classics - that's not boring, but maybe it's difficult to do it well? Or why would people keep away from the classics? ..cr.:

Originally Posted by Nouria

Hi Souzan,
When I go to haflas I am so disappointed because everybody is doing fusion fusion fusion. I'd love some Fatme Serhan or Oum Khalthoum classics - that's not boring, but maybe it's difficult to do it well? Or why would people keep away from the classics? ..cr.:

Many dancers stay away from the classics, but for lots of different reasons including:
* They are afraid that their audience will not be able to appreciate the complexity of the piece.
* They want to do a song that they know will get a good reaction, and pop music is more popular, especially with mixed audiences (dancers vs. GP, or orientale vs. tribal).
* They can't find a version they like that fits the performance limits (e.g., can't find a good arrangement of the desired song under four minutes).
* They have never been trained to properly connect with and interpret the older songs.

I'd say the last reason is the biggest one. The classics require a level of cultural understanding, technical dance skill, and stage proficiency that a lot of dancers simply haven't mastered (or haven't mastered yet), and you can't really fault someone for having the sense to avoid doing something they know they can't pull off.

The classics require a level of cultural understanding, technical dance skill, and stage proficiency that a lot of dancers simply haven't mastered (or haven't mastered yet), and you can't really fault someone for having the sense to avoid doing something they know they can't pull off.

But you've got to start somewhere. If we spend our entire lives too terrified to touch classics then it's going to be all psychedelic saidi to Abba and nobody will ever know there's more to belly dance than hip drops and cheese.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

But you've got to start somewhere. If we spend our entire lives too terrified to touch classics then it's going to be all psychedelic saidi to Abba and nobody will ever know there's more to belly dance than hip drops and cheese.

The "somewhere" you start is in class. I understand what you are saying. Nobody starts out on stage as perfection. It is very hard to learn how to interact with the audience without an audience, and performing on stage in front of a crowd is a totally different experience than dancing at class or in your home. However, the point I was making is that in many areas, dancers are given very little or no formal training in how to perform to the Arabic classics. If your teacher is afraid to dance to Umm Kalthoum, she or he is not going to be able to teach you how to do so very well. And then if you go on to teach, you will probably not be able to offer that to your own students (or at least, not without a lot of additional lessons)...

If you are fortunate to live in an area where there is a thriving ethnic community, trained musicians, master dance teachers, etc., it is not a problem for you to find people who can help you learn, but many dancer simply do not have regular access to these resources. Proper interpretation of the classics requires mastery of an enormous amount of material and concepts, and it isn't something you get from a workshop or two. On a simple, human level, some dancers are able to "feel" music that is foreign to their native culture and tap into the right interpretation of it, but many dancers do not have that gift. They don't intuitively understand the structure of the music, and they certainly can't just grab onto the meanings of lyrics in a language they don't speak. In some ways, they can master the raw dance technique, but that isn't enough. It's like saying that a really great tap dancer could perform a choreography to a Mohammed Abdel Wahab composition, and it could be quite interesting to watch, but would it do the piece justice? Would it honor the cultural tradition as a "classic" should be honored? In my opinion, the classics demand a higher standard than "interesting to watch."

I am with Zum. You have to start somewhere and we don't all have the luxury of becoming thoroughly versed and vetted in our chosen styles in class.

Originally Posted by Souzan

I am with Zum. You have to start somewhere and we don't all have the luxury of becoming thoroughly versed and vetted in our chosen styles in class.

By the same token, you should not be asked to, nor should you volunteer to, perform substantially above the level of your own competence.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't attempt to dance to the classics until you are fluent in four different Arabic dialects, can play the oud like a virtuoso, and have lived half of your life in the Middle East. Nouria started the discussion of why more people don't use the classics, and I said, "because they don't know how." If you really want to perform one of those pieces properly, then, yes, I still stand by my response that it means you're going to have to learn a lot of material about music and culture and dance technique first. I think it would be quite difficult for a beginner to do a respectable job on one of those songs--not impossible, but unlikely. By the time you get to the intermediate level, you've started to assemble the toolkit you need to understand what the performance entails. Hopefully, by the time you are a pro, you can pull it off.

BUT...blah, blah, blah, certification, lack of standards, et cetera...how many dancers are out there calling themselves "professionals who specialize in Egyptian style," but who simply don't possess the tools to perform a classical Egyptian piece? From the looks of YouTube, too many! You've got to start somewhere, and it isn't usually at the top, and I understand that it is a learning process, but it seems that there are a lot of "professionals" who dance at the level that Peggy Hill speaks Spanish. It's not like this is an obscure subject. I would think that learning how to perform to classical Egyptian music is sort of a "core requirement" for proficiency in Egyptian style.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

;

It's not like this is an obscure subject. I would think that learning how to perform to classical Egyptian music is sort of a "core requirement" for proficiency in Egyptian style. '

No complaint at all with the basic premise of your comments. But I do want to mention that for some it is an obscure subject. I am blessed to study with a teacher who understands the structure and phrasing of the music, the instrumentation. But I know dancers in my same town who take class from instructors who do not have that knowledge to pass on.

My passion is baladi improvisation. There was literally no one within hundreds of miles performing baladi progressions or baladi taqsims. So I read books, watched hours of video, scanned the internet, dug out magazine articles, hunted for old issues of Habibi I could buy just for the articles. I drove hundreds of miles to workshops, found dancers hundreds of miles away who I could beg private lessons from, found some long distance mentors right here on Bhuz, and listened to baladi and tarab music constantly. At some point I had to bite the bullet and dance baladi at a hafla. So I took what I was dancing in my living room and showed it to dance public.

So let me give a brief update on what started this thread--a baladi hafla performance that felt flat. This past weekend I danced the same music (Tahtil Shibbak) at a workshop gala with an experienced dancer audience. The entire vibe was different. I felt energy moving back and forth. I could reach out and touch it. I am still very much a baby as far as baladi improv is concerned, but with each performance I feel more at home.

When I started doing shaabi it was the same thing. Workshops, dvds, YouTube, reading, listening to the music, learning from Bhuzzers. And the same when I wanted to learn about Khaleegi music and dance.

Every once in a while I go to a belly dance cardio class that is aimed at fitness rather than dance instruction or performance. The teacher is an Egyptian gal originally from Cairo and I don't believe she performs. Her style is pure baladi. While everyone else is getting a workout I am positioning myself right behind her so I can see exactly what those hips are doing. She wasn't teaching anything about performing dance, but I learned volumes from watching her.

Sorry if I got carried away.

Souzan

I'm with you, Souzan. I think all of us who have "pushed the envelope" or just decided to hell with it and to dance what really makes us happy has at some point felt very much like you did after your initial Taht il Shibbak performance. I think it's particularly deflating when you're doing something you profoundly love, you're giving it your all and putting all of your energy into it... and you just don't get anything back from the audience. Not to say for a minute that dancing is just about getting attention/kudos/audience lurrrrve, but if you get nothing back then dancing your little heart out is terribly draining. ,f::

For what it's worth, your dancing was probably a real treasure to those dancers like me in the audience - and I KNOW I'm not the only one, since you can see others in this thread who've mentioned the same... going to a hafla or show and being desperate, just desperate, to see some soulful proper MED. Dancers like you are the ones that give the audience members like me a little jewel of hope and pleasure to cling on to when we're wondering whatever happened to baladi/saiidi/classics. Keep on keepin' on, because audience members like me thank you.

Thanks. I think initially I posted out of frustration about the lack of interest in an audience that know very little about the baladi music and the baladi dance simply because they haven't been exposed to it. Taht il Shibbak is a favorite of mine and I love to see audience members' heads pick up when they recognize the music. I have found a home in baladi and shaabi and tarab. It suits me emotionally and physically and spiritually and try to use the opportunity to introduce other dancers to the music.

Ultimately we have to do what feeds our souls.

Souzan

I think much of what I said about classical music could also be said about baladi. Can someone really expect to be taken seriously as a professional practitioner of Egyptian style if she or he can't perform an improvisation to a baladi taqsim? The baladi style is every bit as rich and challenging as dancing to classical music, and in some ways, it is more difficult, because it depends more on an authenticity of cultural mannerisms than the high orientale style with its ballet influences does.

I totally understand what Souzan is saying about the difficulty in finding a teacher, though. Most of the qualified baladi-style teachers are either natives to the culture or dancers who have lived and trained extensively in the Middle East or in a large expat community elsewhere--and they are few and far between. Baladi style demands more than merely mimicking a few gestures that one learned in a workshop.

But getting back to the earlier posts--I think you (Souzan) have demonstrated that you put in substantial research before you got on stage, hours learning to understand and appreciate the music, and heaven knows how much practice time before you bit that so-called bullet. You made an educated effort to compensate for gaps in your experience before performing. That sets you apart from both the "wing it" dancers who haven't made much effort to know what they're doing, and even the well-meaning dancers who would like to do a proper job on a challenging piece, but simply haven't reached the level of dance knowledge/maturity needed to do so. I think we've all seen dancers who desperately wanted the credibility of being able to put forth an advanced performance, but just weren't there yet. I guess what I'm saying is this latter group ought not to be in such a rush to jump into the deep end of the pool.

For all our ranting and wailing and gnashing of teeth about credibility, why is it so hard for us to face the reality that learning this art is not a flat-line process, where you can just jump in anywhere? People would look at you like you were crazy if you took six weeks of ballet lessons and decided you were ready for pointe shoes, or if you took a year's worth of singing lessons and announced that you'd be singing three arias from "Carmen" at the next student recital. Crawl. Walk. Run.

Originally Posted by Souzan

When I started doing shaabi it was the same thing. Workshops, dvds, YouTube, reading, listening to the music, learning from Bhuzzers. And the same when I wanted to learn about Khaleegi music and dance.
Souzan

I just saw my first shaabi performance this weekend and I admit that my first impression was to be bored. But, after a few minutes and really watching I was absolutly fascinated with it! There were definitely quite a few in the audience that just didn't get it and a few that totally did. When I talked to the dancer the next day to ask what type of dance it was, she said that she didn't think that it went off well. I told her my impression and let her know that there were definitely a few people who were feeling it. This made her much happier. I totally want to learn it now. I like seeing things that I don't quite get. Not only is it just a nice change of pace from the same old same old but gives me a chance to learn something new!

No one in my area teaches or performs baladi taqsim...
Souzan[/QUOTE]

Gasp! I find that shocking. To me that's the end all be all of belly dancing. I always judge a professional dancer by how good her baladi taqsim is.

I second all the things Turbeau said. You have to know your audience. Unfortunately most of us learn the hard way.

No one in my area dances improv!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just have to share this. It made me so happy. We had a student showcase last night at a local Mexican restaurant. One of the waiters is from Iran, the southern Arabic area of Iran. He told us that earlier in the day he had been talking with his brother who had just become engaged and there was a big party with music, singing and dancing. Our waiter was feeling homesick until he heard our music and drums and saw us dancing. He was so happy, clapping, snapping his fingers. I did a shaabi improv to El Enab, complete with tossing some grapes to the audience. I caught a glimpse of our waiter standing in the door way with a grin from ear to ear. When we got ready to leave he thanked me for El Enab and said he wished his wife had been there to see it. And his parting words as we left were, "Now I know the whole world is dancing." What a lovely thought.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

The "somewhere" you start is in class. I understand what you are saying. Nobody starts out on stage as perfection. It is very hard to learn how to interact with the audience without an audience, and performing on stage in front of a crowd is a totally different experience than dancing at class or in your home. However, the point I was making is that in many areas, dancers are given very little or no formal training in how to perform to the Arabic classics. If your teacher is afraid to dance to Umm Kalthoum, she or he is not going to be able to teach you how to do so very well. And then if you go on to teach, you will probably not be able to offer that to your own students (or at least, not without a lot of additional lessons)...

If you are fortunate to live in an area where there is a thriving ethnic community, trained musicians, master dance teachers, etc., it is not a problem for you to find people who can help you learn, but many dancer simply do not have regular access to these resources. Proper interpretation of the classics requires mastery of an enormous amount of material and concepts, and it isn't something you get from a workshop or two. On a simple, human level, some dancers are able to "feel" music that is foreign to their native culture and tap into the right interpretation of it, but many dancers do not have that gift. They don't intuitively understand the structure of the music, and they certainly can't just grab onto the meanings of lyrics in a language they don't speak. In some ways, they can master the raw dance technique, but that isn't enough. It's like saying that a really great tap dancer could perform a choreography to a Mohammed Abdel Wahab composition, and it could be quite interesting to watch, but would it do the piece justice? Would it honor the cultural tradition as a "classic" should be honored? In my opinion, the classics demand a higher standard than "interesting to watch."

Yes, and when you are the person with the interest and nobody to learn from? It has to be a workshop here, a CD there, a recorded performance to study here and there, a snippet of information there, there and there, and trial and error.

My first solo was to Om Khalsoum. It wasn't very good but it would be better now.

I want my students to be able to dance tarab one day, on their own, if it's where they want to go. I want them to know what it is. Nobody dances classical here, not the kind that involves Om Khalsoum anyway. (Apart now from Wigglewhiz!) So far as I know I've been the only person here who really likes that stuff. (Kashmir does but she is more a beledi person.) I can only learn and I can only learn to *dance* to it by, you know, dancing to it. If I sit there in terror of moving because it's Om Khalsoum and I'm not the perfect tarab dancer and I don't speak Arabic? I'll never dance.

Originally Posted by wigglewhiz

I'm with you, Souzan. I think all of us who have "pushed the envelope" or just decided to hell with it and to dance what really makes us happy has at some point felt very much like you did after your initial Taht il Shibbak performance. I think it's particularly deflating when you're doing something you profoundly love, you're giving it your all and putting all of your energy into it... and you just don't get anything back from the audience. Not to say for a minute that dancing is just about getting attention/kudos/audience lurrrrve, but if you get nothing back then dancing your little heart out is terribly draining. ,f::

For what it's worth, your dancing was probably a real treasure to those dancers like me in the audience - and I KNOW I'm not the only one, since you can see others in this thread who've mentioned the same... going to a hafla or show and being desperate, just desperate, to see some soulful proper MED. Dancers like you are the ones that give the audience members like me a little jewel of hope and pleasure to cling on to when we're wondering whatever happened to baladi/saiidi/classics. Keep on keepin' on, because audience members like me thank you.

I just had this experience, and felt like you, Souzan. Took a chance and whipped out a classical number at the restaurant (as I've been doing frequently lately) and really poured my soul into emoting and dramatizing the dance (as it really does tell a story). On a 10-15 second video clip someone showed me later (taken on their digital camera), I noticed that everyone in the restaurant was having their own conversation, totally ignoring me until the music picked up. However, afterwards (and this has happened a lot lately) several regulars came up and said they were so happy to be hearing music that is different from all the pop music normally played, and that they are so happy to hear some traditional oud taqsims and complex numbers. Interestingly, I got a lot of whistles & tips after that number, despite the initial flat reaction.

Did I go right into a pop number after this one? Of course! I know the American general public prefers the pop stuff to the classical numbers...but, I'll keep on mixing them in. It's good for me, and hey, its good for them to get some culture!! ..l;,

Originally Posted by Sonja2

I just had this experience, and felt like you, Souzan. Took a chance and whipped out a classical number at the restaurant (as I've been doing frequently lately) and really poured my soul into emoting and dramatizing the dance (as it really does tell a story). On a 10-15 second video clip someone showed me later (taken on their digital camera), I noticed that everyone in the restaurant was having their own conversation, totally ignoring me until the music picked up. However, afterwards (and this has happened a lot lately) several regulars came up and said they were so happy to be hearing music that is different from all the pop music normally played, and that they are so happy to hear some traditional oud taqsims and complex numbers. Interestingly, I got a lot of whistles & tips after that number, despite the initial flat reaction.

Did I go right into a pop number after this one? Of course! I know the American general public prefers the pop stuff to the classical numbers...but, I'll keep on mixing them in. It's good for me, and hey, its good for them to get some culture!! ..l;,

I think that sometimes doing something that is inherently emotional in close quarters like a restaurant is discomforting to an audience. Remember that we Americans have a much bigger flight/fight zone than others do. Even if you are not physically too close, your emotion reaches out into their comfort zone and they turn away because they just don't know how to react. And remember that we are reactionary. We don't have a culture of publicly drowning in emotion. Tarab is not part of our cultural makeup.

I'm going to my sister's Ph.D. graduation this weekend and the family is going out to eat at a wonderful Spanish restaurant in Tampa that has Flamenco dancers. My sister's son-in-law doesn't want to go because he said that Flamenco dancers and Flamenco music wierd him out. He doesn't handle emotional extremes well and I know that what he means is that he just handle being in the presence of that level of intensity.

Souzan

There are two books that helped me a lot in my self-taught quest to enrich my dance education. One of those is BALADI WOMEN OF CAIRO and the other is MAKING MUSIC IN THE ARAB WORLD. Both are available through Amazon.com.

BALADI WOMEN is not about baladi music or dance but about the female social structure of the urbanized baladi people. It started as a research study involving women's health networks in the baladi sections of Cairo--the juxtaposition of modern medicine and folk medicine in both institutionalized structures and social networks. The recurring theme throughout the book was the tough vs soft natures. The woman who embodies shrewd business woman (whether she has her own business or simply wisely manipulates the family fortune), sticks her nose into her neighbors business, sticks up for her kids, runs her husband's life while making him feel that she is submissive to his wishes. At the time I read it I was watching a LOT of Fifi Abdo videos and suddenly I got it. Well as best my poor Western brain could get it. And I realized that in a sense I was like a baladi woman all along. And that my whole life I have battled with the dichotomy that my life is--country girl grew up on a farm, smart and educated, a problem solver, independent thinker working in a man's world but wishing I could wear pink ruffles everyday instead of the power suit!

The other book, MAKING MUSIC, is by AJ Racy. The book delves into every possible aspect of tarab. The history, the musicians and their training, the relationship to religion, singers, audience involvement, musical structure, saltana (the ultimate ecstatic state), improvisation, tarab lyrics, etc., etc. The audience involvement in the tarab experience is important. You give your self to the music and let it take you somewhere whether you are playing as a musician or singing or dancing or listening and watching.

I can highly recommend both of these.

Souzan