Thread: When did you develop your style??

Hi everyone,

As some of you know I have been dancing around 7-8 months so yes I am a complete baby belly. I learn both ATS and Egyptian. I fell in love originally with fusion and ATS but then after attending a workshop and studying the art form more closely I feel I am possibly better at Egyptian and the more fluid movements. How far in to your dance experience did you develop your style? Was it instant? Did you try a few and decide that you were better at one? Did you desperatley want to be one style but found you were more suited to another?

Thanks

I've loved Egyptian from the git-go. As far as developing my dance style, I think that is something I will be developing for the rest of my life, so I would say that it will be evolving more and more as I go along with most emphasis, however, on strictly ME-Egyptian style. I have never taken a tribal class yet and I do love the fluidity of their movements as well as their other movements but I can't see myself in a tribal costume at this point. Then again, who knows? I think many dancers can say that they started out doing one style and after a few more years switched gears completely.

When I first started, I was all over the place, learning Turkish, Egyptian, cabaret, the whole bag of tricks, so that when I first started working, it was my own personal brand of fusion. To add to that, I was doing ballet on a professional level so naturally there were fluid arabesques in my dancing as well.

My style truly developed when I started working regularly. I began working in a dive hookah bar with a live musician who was Egyptian and he asked me after the show, "Where are you running to?" i was confused. He said, "Everything you do is so fast, fast, fast. Nothing in the middle east is fast. Slooooow. That;s beautiful." That is what began defining my dancing. i matured in my understanding of the music.

There is an interaction that happens when dancer, musician and audience comes together. You see what the audience reacts to, how the musicians will dissect a phrase and you mold yourself to it. That is how I came up with my style. Besides the fact that I absolutely love the intricacies of classical Egyptian music (but magic happens when you get down and boogie with some Hakim and an enthusiastic Arabic crowd.)

I've been dancing 6-7 years and, no joke, I feel like I've only just begun to grasp my signature style within the past year or so.

When I started out, my default was a very energetic, fast-paced, old-school Turkish-inspired Cabaret, because that's what I learned and "grew up" with as a baby-dancer. As soon as I ventured out into the realm of more serious education, with a variety of workshop instructors, I experienced a brief identity crisis. (Why is everything so slow? What's with all the ballet? Whaaaaaaa? I thought I was NEVER allowed to touch my hair!!!). Then, I began to polish up into a nicer, sleeker, more contemporary style.

It wouldn't be accurate to say that I dance Egyptian, but Egyptian style is rapidly winning me over, and I'm bringing in more and more and more influences from that region.

I guess you can say that my style's an exciting work in progress. Heck, even a lot of more seasoned pro's would probably say the same about their styles!

Originally Posted by Tribal_Butterfly

Hi everyone,

As some of you know I have been dancing around 7-8 months so yes I am a complete baby belly. I learn both ATS and Egyptian. I fell in love originally with fusion and ATS but then after attending a workshop and studying the art form more closely I feel I am possibly better at Egyptian and the more fluid movements. How far in to your dance experience did you develop your style? Was it instant? Did you try a few and decide that you were better at one? Did you desperatley want to be one style but found you were more suited to another?

Thanks

Good question. i'd actually been looking for a way to phrase this for myself, so i'm really interested in the answers too ..g.:

If I could never touch my hair, I would have to stop bellydancing.

For me, as far as dance style, when I was first learning belly dance I wasn't aware there were different 'styles.' I realize now that for the first couple of years I was learning AmCab, then I started to take from a teacher that did "Egyptian" style specifically. I tended to just like the Egyptian style and started taking from teachers that taught that, or taught technique only (like Suhalia). So I was taking from many people and took many workshops (and still do) and I believe this helped me develop my own 'personal' style within Egyptian style Raqs Sharqi. So the development of both (dance and personal style) developed naturally over time for me without any thought of what I was doing or why. I have always just followed the simple rule of following my heart.

Because I live in a place that is quite geographically isolated I grew up doing "belly dance". NZ "belly dance" is probably a bit more Egyptian/Lebanese in general with a solid dollop of Salimpour and other North American influences, and some Hilal. Now there's the internet and DVDs and tribal and "this style and that style" and I don't know that I fit any style.

I know I *like* Egyptian best, and I like Egyptian music best and grew up dancing to it, but I don't really dance like a proper Egyptian trained dancer. I am sort of a melange, but I'm definitely an Oriental dancer with ME dance preferences, not a tribal-tribalfusion-cosmic hippy-Goddess-gothic-troupey-bitzy-American Cabaret dancer. None of those things.

I think I come across as more Egyptian due to music choice, posture, wilful avoidance of props and enthusiastic embrace of balletic movements. But compared to someone who is *actually* Egyptian trained (like Wigglewhiz) I don't seem Egyptian at all.

I feel I am developing a personal style now, at 11 years.

Interestingly, I saw a clip of Meissoun doing Lebanese and my first thought was "that? looks like how belly dancers I grew up with danced. Exactly the same, but in heels."

I didn't feel like I'd found my own personal style for a long time. I was doing the style my teachers were teaching, but it took a long time for me to find out what was *me*. I didn't get it till I'd done a lot of workshops and classes with a lot of different dancers. I was getting all these different influences and I realised one day that they'd gelled in a way that was individual to me, and that made me happy with the way I was dancing. I suppose that would have been maybe 7 or 8 years into my dancing.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

someone who is *actually* Egyptian trained (like Wigglewhiz)

Aww, thank you! I'm glad that's the vibe I give, because I've worked hard at it for so long.

I'd never seen a "bellydancer", never met a Middle Eastern person (my father's side of the family, who I grew up with, were horribly racist ,m::), so I didn't go into my first bellydance class with any idea of what the styles were much less which one I wanted to "be".

I think I just lucked out in my first teacher - she was part Turkish, part Egyptian, and part Scottish genetically, but 100% Egyptian in dance. She was understated, emotive and gorgeous, and I was utterly hooked. I wanted to be like that, and it led me down the Egyptian route.

I've never been tempted to dabble in any others (save Khaleegy, my one non-Egyptian weakness!), although of course I "academically" study other ME styles to round out my knowledge. I never get bored being single-style because you can never get it "just so" or fel you've got it absolutely right - you just never lose the drive to work harder, to learn more, to refine and perfect and develop more more MORE! Perhaps I'm just suited to being a compulsive obsessive geek, ..l;,

It saddens me a little that (back home anyway), we've "lost" a lot of dancers to Tribal and then Burlesque and then Salsa/Flamenco/other - it's almost like even our experienced dancers become 6-week wonders where they feel they've learned it all and move on to something new and exciting. I'd love to see more people focus in and specialise and really hone and elevate their particular style - whichever style that is.

i will have been bellydancing for 18 years this summer. can you believe it? i've become an adult! yeay!

anyway, i'm still developing. i dont see this as a one time choice. just study study study, watch and try... i love studying many many different things, but i have learned to try not to do too many at the same time...

so now i tend to choose one style or teacher or influence for a while (can be months, can be years), and then once i feel i've bathed in that for long enough (and i can be very loyal) i add something else/new. right now i'm looking at pictures of early modern dance, and whatever footage i can get my hands on, to find inspiration for something i'm working on. i dont know why, it just happened, and something will come out of this... ... so the result is i keep adding layers, and i keep changing.

for the last few years for example silk veil has been my prop of choice, but lately i've been practcing cane again, so who knows :-) ... usually i perform more "orienal", but lately i've been getting into baladi again.
and i dont mind that. i'd be long bored with myself otherwise, as a dancer and teacher.

i'm definitely more an egyptian/american/oriental/raks sharqi/style bellydancer, than a "tribal" or "tribal fusion" dancer, though i do take workshops in those styles every now and then, just to keep "updates". and never say never (although, i never liked ATS)... but even within that choice, that still leaves a loooot of style choices to be made. i guess i try to make them piece by piece, song by song, show by show. i'm getting clearer in these choices the last year, it's like adding drawers, and filling them, and then picking one... sometimes i identify more with the one, sometimes it changes.

as a teacher, i love introducing my students to different styles and methods as well. i love teaching a certain technique and try to add some awareness about how this same step can be executed in different ways/styles

anyway, hope that helps ;-)

Artemisia

wigglewhiz,
i do agree with you as well. i try sticking with things loooong enough, to get good at them, and i cant see myself completely throwing away previous styles for myself, just because i've added a new interest. and i try not to add too many new interests at the same time.

but i cant see myself sticking to one style predominantly for ever

I never get bored being single-style because you can never get it "just so" or fel you've got it absolutely right - you just never lose the drive to work harder, to learn more, to refine and perfect and develop more more MORE!

Yes! And also, if you are focused on one particular kind of dancing you also get a lot of facility in it, so that it feels comfortable enough for you to play with. Honestly, there are 50 million ways to do a hip drop, and I'm not talking tribal vs oriental or this muscle driving vs that muscle driving. I'm talking straight down the side, with a little twist, dropping back in that more beledi "swerve", with a kick/release, walking with it, sticking a shimmy on it, happening higher in the torso or right down in the hip joint, soft or crisp, adding a slide or a circle... how in God's name can you get bored?

I've been doing this about 30 years. Like most folk that started back then I began in just 'bely-dance' which has since become know as AmCab (or classic or vintage) which is a fusion of everything that works. So did most of us.

As the years have gone on, I've learned the elements that go into it. This is a bugaboo of mine, but I firmly believe that a good American Classic dancers can do a bit of everything well. So, I've always gone to teachers and workshops in Egyptian, Turkish, technique, prop, what-have-you to just be a better dancer!

So, where am I now? About where I began: I am Kahaz and I dance my style!

Don't forget: as your body changes and you life changes YOU will change. Music will sound different, your body will behave differently, you'll change the muscles you use to move that hip. Your life will give you different experiences to draw from and new ways to relate.

It's a journey; it never ends. Be willing to continue to evolve.

yes to that

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Honestly, there are 50 million ways to do a hip drop, and I'm not talking tribal vs oriental or this muscle driving vs that muscle driving. I'm talking straight down the side, with a little twist, dropping back in that more beledi "swerve", with a kick/release, walking with it, sticking a shimmy on it, happening higher in the torso or right down in the hip joint, soft or crisp, adding a slide or a circle... how in God's name can you get bored?

I spent the first year and a half in ignorant bliss, just happy with everything. Then another year trying to improve what I was doing in ignorant bliss. And then another 2-3 years in a huge learning curve going up and down, up and down the curve and still feeling that somethign was missing. And in the last couple of years I've felt more settled into what I want to do and where I want to go. And once I was able to focus my energies and emotions more and get down to the business at hand instead of worrying about it, I saw it from a different angle and everything in the world looked different.

Style is a changeable thing.

Originally Posted by Souzan

Style is a changeable thing.

Definitely.

Wow, Zumarrad's answer is mine exactly, except take out NZ and put in St. Louis, and change 'Hilal' to 'Turkish.'

(my area is surrounded by farmlands and forests rather than water, but the isolation effect is similar)

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Because I live in a place that is quite geographically isolated I grew up doing "belly dance". NZ "belly dance" is probably a bit more Egyptian/Lebanese in general with a solid dollop of Salimpour and other North American influences, and some Hilal. Now there's the internet and DVDs and tribal and "this style and that style" and I don't know that I fit any style.

I know I *like* Egyptian best, and I like Egyptian music best and grew up dancing to it, but I don't really dance like a proper Egyptian trained dancer. I am sort of a melange, but I'm definitely an Oriental dancer with ME dance preferences, not a tribal-tribalfusion-cosmic hippy-Goddess-gothic-troupey-bitzy-American Cabaret dancer. None of those things.

I think I come across as more Egyptian due to music choice, posture, wilful avoidance of props and enthusiastic embrace of balletic movements. But compared to someone who is *actually* Egyptian trained (like Wigglewhiz) I don't seem Egyptian at all.

I feel I am developing a personal style now, at 11 years.

Interestingly, I saw a clip of Meissoun doing Lebanese and my first thought was "that? looks like how belly dancers I grew up with danced. Exactly the same, but in heels."

This has been a great thread for me. I'm a newbie, too (1.5 years). I've been like a sponge trying to soak up everything. I'm constantly trying to improve and stretch myself out of my comfort/skill box. I believe I've been the better for it...I've learned tons in a relatively short time. But I might have also created my own handicap...my head sometimes SWIMS with it all and I feel terribly confused. I struggle with impatience...I want to be accurate, I want to be GOOD...NOW! As far as style goes, I can tell by how I react to certain music, how I will interpret it through dance...that crosses over any music even though I may be executing different steps. For example, I simply can't "pop" anything...it's not in my nature...but my arms/hands have always been expressive without me even being conscious of them. I think we all have certain "style" strengths that define us. Recognizing those strengths is ultimately the style we carry with us through our evolution in dance.

Zumarrad's post is like my experience as well, but I fell in love with vintage Orientale and now take from Cory Zamora (when I'm lucky enough to get out there!) Part of the appeal for me was that I have Theda Bara-like looks, and I wanted something a bit more oldschool, as I thought I'd probably look ridiculous going for modern Egyptian. Relatedly, I enjoy Turkish as well. However, I am also 11 years in and have pretty much just 'found myself' recently as far as style is concerned!

I like the statement of '18 years! I am an adult now!' It really pinpoints the idea that this is a dance that takes a lifetime to learn. I'm still waiting for that moment when I think, "Yes, I am a BELLYDANCER, and I'm GOOD at it." Even if I am, when I watch other dancers, the amount of talent and skill out there is daunting! It's like being a writer, reading Lord of the Rings for the first time, and wanting to throw down your pen in disgust.

I danced Indian dances for 14 years before I ventured onto MED. Indian dances require a high level of expression, stylistic awareness and being conscious of the visual impact/meaning to what you do. I had a strong sense of style and expression from this.

Once I ventured into MED it was very natural for me to seek out those parameters within MED as well. That doesn't mean that it was easy by any means, however. I worked to great extent at not just transferring the expression of Indian dances onto the technique of MED, but rather adapt a different expression - or style if you will - for this category of dance. Since this has turned into something I do with any dance style or genre within a style. Until I can define or grasp this aspect of a dance style - I cant really say I have understood it. At least that's my approach. This causes me to develop some type of style and expression in order to complete my initial learning process.

In MED I would say that I truely got to have my own expression within the dance style about 5-7 years into it.

I have spent a great deal of time on academically studying other dance styles and some time on taking classes in them as well. ACB, ATS, ATF, Lebanese, Turkish - are among them. However, my identity as a bellydancer and performer is strongly defined to Egyptian style. It would be awesome if we could all dance everything, but that is only a reality within dance styles that share common ground on a techinque conceptual base such as Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Hiphop..IMHO. There are, IMHO, irreconcilable technique conceptual factors between lets say Egyptian and Turkish that make it....lets say, less attractive to learn both satisfactory for a professional level, IMHO. Not saying that it's not possible, just saying that it becomes less attractive due to these factors.

I also, as a dancer, feel complete as an Egyptian technique and Egyptian style dancer within MED. I love learning about new things, different things, but I dont feel the need nor urge to have to add it to my professional performance vocabulary. I get my "wild and crazy" side lived out through my Indian dances, more specifically Bollywood.

Originally Posted by david

There are, IMHO, irreconcilable technique conceptual factors between lets say Egyptian and Turkish that make it....lets say, less attractive to learn both satisfactory for a professional level, IMHO. Not saying that it's not possible, just saying that it becomes less attractive due to these factors.

I also, as a dancer, feel complete as an Egyptian technique and Egyptian style dancer within MED. I love learning about new things, different things, but I dont feel the need nor urge to have to add it to my professional performance vocabulary.

Very well said!

I've been dancing since 1988ish. In those days there was only Egyptian here and thats what I did and I fell in love with it. I could not dance anyother other style. I love the music. For me, thats where it is, in the music. There are so many facets and things to learn about Egyptian belly dance/folkloric styles, beledi, shaabi, classical songs and music I could never be bored or know everything. Even now I'm still learning, still improving and my dancing has gone through so many changes to reflect me too.I love this about the dance that it is always you, your personality is so important and that is actually what reaches out and grabs your audience over and above a well executed hip drop etc.
I am not a troupe person and never could be I like the freedom to be unpredictable and me if the music takes me that way.
It has a been a real journey of discovery, painful at times, hardwork, but so rewarding and such fun. I have learned so much about myself, the culture and people of Egypt , the music and the people who composed and sung it. I have tried to imerse myself in it. And oddly, I love being "put in my place" by watching the greats of this dance like Randa, Dina and Fifi. There is always something to strive for and something else to learn and some new (to me) music to discover.
After nearly 20 years I think I'm more excited by Egyptian style Bellydance than ever.

thanks for everyones input :) As a new dancer you like to try and work out what style/s you are as it helps when paying out for workshops and costumes and dvds and music. I cant just buy everything so I try and choose wisely....epic fail on that front though I have a mish mash of all sorts of cds and dvds now hehe.

Originally Posted by 4Jehan

This has been a great thread for me. I'm a newbie, too (1.5 years). I've been like a sponge trying to soak up everything. I'm constantly trying to improve and stretch myself out of my comfort/skill box. I believe I've been the better for it...I've learned tons in a relatively short time. But I might have also created my own handicap...my head sometimes SWIMS with it all and I feel terribly confused. I struggle with impatience...I want to be accurate, I want to be GOOD...NOW! As far as style goes, I can tell by how I react to certain music, how I will interpret it through dance...that crosses over any music even though I may be executing different steps. For example, I simply can't "pop" anything...it's not in my nature...but my arms/hands have always been expressive without me even being conscious of them. I think we all have certain "style" strengths that define us. Recognizing those strengths is ultimately the style we carry with us through our evolution in dance.

Jehan, I think you have a lovely sense of where your style development is going. I would have thought you had been dancing longer based on the solo you did at the Rocky workshop hafla.

Souzan