Thread: What is your opinion or Fusion styles and Creations of new belly dance?

I just want to have a discotion about what is everyone opinion on Fusing styles together and even new creation of belly dance styles, I for one don't think people should be afraid to create new dance styles. I started learning belly dance when I was 15 and I have yet to stop, I never will I created my own style of belly dance it's called Native Fusion, so has anyone else made a new style and what is it?

I have no problem with good dance - in any style - and I can appreciate good fusion. But if it is belly dance fusion it needs to include belly dance - and that doesn't just mean a couple of hip drops. If all that is left is a shimmy and a bare belly and there is no Middle Eastern music and no belly dance musicality why call it "belly dance"?

Originally Posted by kashmir

I have no problem with good dance - in any style - and I can appreciate good fusion. But if it is belly dance fusion it needs to include belly dance - and that doesn't just mean a couple of hip drops. If all that is left is a shimmy and a bare belly and there is no Middle Eastern music and no belly dance musicality why call it "belly dance"?

I totally agee.

I love good fusion.

Good fusion needs to stem from a place of knowledge, not ignorance. Too often fusion is a crutch because the fuser doesn't sufficiently understand or have enough training in the traditional/pure forms she/he is fusing to do any of them with proficiency.

I"ve become more interested in fusion forms lately. After belly dancing for 13 years I feel I'm finally ready for such an endeavor.

Originally Posted by ssipes

Good fusion needs to stem from a place of knowledge.

Amen. I'm a little tired of seeing "impressions" of hip hop, latin dances, ect mixed with belly dance. Unfortunately, a dancer can get rave reviews from an audience that is ignorant of one or both styles.

I think, unless they specifically dedicate themselves someone else's style, to some degree most soloists over time create their own style, even if they don't call it something else. We each merge ourselves with the dance that usually creates a unique combination ..g.:

Meredith

Either dance Belly Dance..which has its' origins in the Middle East or if you use the moves ( which are just moves without the appropriate music and setting) and connect them to another culture call it Fusion. New Word Fusion,Cross-culture but once you leave the music and traditions and culture behind , it becomes something else NOT belly dance.
I dance two dances in two separate compartments: Egyptian style belly dance and Fusion inspired by ATS.
I know this has all been said before and I also know that some Bhuzzers will agree and some will not .
I'll repeat again I would rather see an original piece of "own style" anything danced well than bad bellydancing. Just don't call it belly dance.

I'm starting to find it really boring.

Originally Posted by Zumarrad

I'm starting to find it really boring.

Do you mean the "style" or discussion of? ..g.:

I like good dancing.

I like good theater.

I respect dancers who dance as themselves, rather than as trying to be an imitation of Famous Dancer X, whoever that may be.

I admire people who can offer all of the above in one package.

But I'm rather bored with people who fuse just for fusing's own sake. I'm bored with the mentality, "I like to do Irish step dancing and I like to do belly dancing, so I'm going to invent a fusion dance style that mixes the two and promote it as an exciting new style of belly dance! I'll advertise it far and wide, teach it in workshops, and become rich and famous!" To that I say, "Yawn." [I'm not saying this is what YOU have done, Yasaman, I've just seen lots of examples of this over the years, and I'm so incredibly bored with it by now that I just fall asleep at the mere idea.]

I personally love belly dancing. I love doing it, I love watching it. Other dance styles simply don't interest me as much. For example, I've never learned to like Bollywood, so I'm not particularly interested in watching belly dance fused with Bollywood. I'd rather watch pure belly dance. I've never learned to like hiphop, and sometimes I even fast-forward through the hiphop segments on So You Think You Can Dance. I like ballet in modest doses, but once or twice a year is enough. And so on....

That's why I didn't go see the Bellydance Superstars in either 2009 or 2010 - they've devolved into being pretty much fusion only, and therefore are no longer offering the type of dancing that I personally want to watch. I wouldn't drive 4 hours for a hiphop show, nor would I drive 4 hours for a Bollywood show, and therefore it's not logical that I would drive 4 hours for a show that consists of belly dance mixed with those other forms.

By the way, I do sometimes perform fusion myself, so I'm not hating on the general concept of fusion. I'm just saying that in my heart I'd rather see unfused belly dance that sparkles with the performer's personality than see a fusion performance where she mixes two things she likes with a bland result.

I agree with alot of what Shira said. I also think that before someone starts blending styles they need to be very proficient in BOTH. And if you are calling something "Bellydance Fusion" it better have a whole lot of bellydance in it.

I am also a stickler for names. If what you are doing is mostly bellydance (and recognizable as such to most people) and fused with Dance Form X, it doesnt make me twitch to see it called Bellydance DanceFormX Fusion. If what you are doing is 20% bellydance and 80% Dance Form X, and Dance Form Y, I hope to heck you are using a label like "World Fusion" or whatever.

I also think there are some styles that just are so opposite each other that they are not meant to fuse well (whereas other styles seem natural to mix with bellydance).

I went to a local hafla recently and saw someone do a traditional set early in the show and a fusion set later in the show. She is a very good dancer and REALLY knows how to do both traditional and fusion well and that is what fusion should be about in my book ;-)

ITA with Nazirah, esp. on the comment that not everything is an equally good candidate for being fused with bellydance. (And, I suspect that I know the dancer mentioned.)

Yasamen, why don't you tell us more about your personal fusion style. You say it involves Native American and martial arts -- which Native American dances (and what is the cultural meaning of these dances) and which martial arts? Why did you decide to fuse these particular elements with belly dance? Is it just a matter of movements that you like to do, or does the *meaning* of these elements complement the cultural meaning of belly dance?

Originally Posted by LiesaB.

Do you mean the "style" or discussion of? ..g.:

"The style" I guess, though there isn't really a style. I figure when you go to a belly dance show or hafla and there is almost nothing that is actually belly dance... well, some of it is entertaining and some of it is tedious but all of it isn't what I am starting to CRAVE, which is actual belly dancing with a connection to the music and culture. A lot of dancers aren't even trying to do that any more. And it makes me sad.

Originally Posted by Zumarrad

"The style" I guess, though there isn't really a style. I figure when you go to a belly dance show or hafla and there is almost nothing that is actually belly dance... well, some of it is entertaining and some of it is tedious but all of it isn't what I am starting to CRAVE, which is actual belly dancing with a connection to the music and culture. A lot of dancers aren't even trying to do that any more. And it makes me sad.

Around where I am, (small city NE NY State near Montreal) there is mostly "regular" Bellydance & Middle Eastern/Mediterranean style music. I would CRAVE it too if the scales tipped. I really love all types of dance and movement as creative expressions, but Bellydance is my true love. It just is.
Sometimes with my troupe I do experimental stuff that is clearly labeled and in fact called Liesa's Special Funky Style, kinda tongue-in-cheek - mostly mixed with jazzy stuff from my jazz dance training- for want of a better name. I don't even like to use the term fusion any more. I like wacky stuff [in all types of things] but not mixed with Bellydance. I do the wacky in my own productions which have variety moments clearly labeled.
At our semiannual student recitals, the crowd usually goes wild over those "oddities" ..c::; b I guess it seems exciting and fresh but I still wouldn't want more that a touch. I do have to quash the younger ones from wanting to use too much funky music. A little bit ok; but I don't want to drift. They have to get my approval for their solos or duets independent of class or troupe.
If I could clone myself, I'd run an experimental modern dance style school too. Separately. But Bellydancing is my true love, so that's where I'm at; and I stay true to my love. You can't do everything, there's only so much time and energy around.
I guess the discussions / controversies are around where are the lines drawn. It is getting clearer to me though, that much modern interpretations called fusion should lose the term Bellydance and become simply "Modern Fusion Dance". Then let the proponents of those "styles" hash out what is what, and leave Bellydance out of it!
"Theatrical Dance Expression" Show
" Branches of the Tree Dance" (what tree? Let your imagination run wild!).
Sorry is this OT?

Here is my idea of a really good fusion! This is Maraia, a lovely dancer from Argentina, from whom I had the pleasure of taking a workshop from this month. She spoke very little English, so it was my first true follow the bouncing butt class. The music is a beautiful blend, as is the dancing. It is the butter on her popcorn, not a whole new dish. It is still belly dance dominant and that to me...is very important.

Originally Posted by LiesaB.

Sometimes with my troupe I do experimental stuff that is clearly labeled and in fact called Liesa's Special Funky Style, kinda tongue-in-cheek. I do the wacky in my own productions which have variety moments clearly labeled. At our semiannual student recitals, the crowd usually goes wild over those "oddities". I guess it seems exciting and fresh but I still wouldn't want more that a touch.

I think there are a couple of reasons why the crowd likes the "oddities".

If the "oddities" are a change of pace in what is otherwise a non-fused program of normal belly dancing to Middle Eastern music, then they can serve as a palate-cleanser. Ie, break the monotony, wake people up, etc. I think such palate-cleansers are good things to use in planning a show.

You mentioned "tongue in cheek" - I assume there's a bit of humor in those pieces? I can see how an audience would respond favorably to a bit of humor. Another good technique to use in planning a show!

And third, if the music for your "oddities" is Western, the crowd will wake up when they hear something familiar. Again, not a bad thing for waking them up and keeping them interested.

I think change-of-pace numbers are always good to include in a show, no matter what the overriding theme is. They do help wake up the audience. That's why, in a show like Riverdance, you'll have sections where the singers are singing, with no dancing at all. Or, it's why Cirque du Soleil will include short comedy pieces in between the acrobatic stuff.

To me, the issue with fusion is the motivation behind it. When fusion is coming from a place where the originator is feeling compelled to express a genuine love and interest of two different things at once, and they have a reasonable understanding of what they're doing, it isn't a problem. Sometimes fusion works brilliantly, and other times, it might be boring or clumsy or weird, but either way, there's a sense that the person had their heart in the right place and they were trying to accomplish something that was imaginative and respectful of its sources.

OTOH, I think a lot of fusion is being motivated by the wrong things--not "I want to expand my creative horizons," but "I got bored." "I don't 'get' this style of music, so I'm going to pick something else." "It's too hard and it takes too long to learn to do it 'right,' so I'll just make up my own thing." "I secretly suspect that I can't pull this off by doing it the traditional way, so I'm going to hide behind my 'creativity.' Now you can't judge me anymore, because I am the world's leading authority on MY ART." To this group, I want to ask (question sincerely, not accuse), "Why are you doing this?" If you don't like Middle Eastern music/dance/culture/etc., you find those things artistically stifling, or they simply don't resonate with what you want to accomplish, why not pick an art form or a hobby that does? If you gave an activity a try, and you found out you didn't like it and it wasn't what you expected, it's okay to move on to another thing. Not everything appeals to everybody, and there's nothing wrong with that. If there's something in your life that you habitually can't enjoy unless you change it, then perhaps it makes sense to reevaluate whether that thing is truly a compatible match with you.

Shira just expressed my exact thoughts on the subject.

Originally Posted by Yasaman25

I just want to have a discotion about what is everyone opinion on Fusing styles together and even new creation of belly dance styles, I for one don't think people should be afraid to create new dance styles. I started learning belly dance when I was 15 and I have yet to stop, I never will I created my own style of belly dance it's called Native Fusion, so has anyone else made a new style and what is it?

As an Aboriginal person and a Native Studies instructor at a local university, I'm curious as to how one fuses bellydance and Native style dancing. I did watch your video the other day, and to be honest, I wasn't sure where the Native dancing fit in. Which style was it? Fancy? Traditional? Jingle?

I've actually considered doing this myself--for a one-off speciality piece, but not as a "style", per se. Since most women's native-style dancing involves keeping the upper body very straight and still, with very little use of arms, especially in "Ladies' Traditional," and it's not performance-oriented, so I don't see it as a very natural fit with bellydance. If I did try to fuse it, I would try to do so in a meaningful and respectful way. Donning a few feathers wouldn't make it native dancing, for instance. Also, Native regalia isn't a "costume" in the same way a bellydance costume is. There is usually symbolism and spiritualism involved in the elements of what is worn, and specific dances have specific types of regalia.

So, I'm interested in your thought process in how you are fusing the two and what experience and knowledge of Native dancing you bring to your fusion.

I have no problem with fusion--I like it, and I do dance tribal fusion style, but I do think fusion needs to remain respectful of the original styles and be done in a thoughtful, purposeful manner.

I agree with pretty much everything that's been said (ssipes, Shira, Tourbeau). Knowledge, technique, motivation I think are key to good fusion. However, I don't think the problems with a lot of fusion are unique to it. There are a lot of traditional/Oriental dancers out there who also don't learn history, culture, or even technique, aren't there? And there are a lot of traditional/Oriental dancers who are just having fun and feeling beautiful/sexy too (which isn't necessarily wrong). I think these things are a bigger issue with fusion though because it's newer and necessarily open to "innovation." In addition, there's still a dearth of teachers/mentors in most places, so you have a lot of people just experimenting and floundering and impressing people because they've never seen anything like it before. All this means that there aren't really standards or people who sit around on message boards evaluating individual performances.

(Sorry that this is kind of rambling. I'm watching the Colbert Report at the same time. Heh.)

Anyway, I guess my point is that fusion is still pretty new. Maybe in another generation or so it can become more standardized and come into its own, such that the good can be encouraged and the bad can be weeded out. One can hope. For that to happen, a culture of standards and critical opinions needs to form and grow.

I just caught up on Asharah's blog, and I thought you'd all appreciate this:

"I feel like many dancers are exploring other fusions because they are afraid to belly dance. To REALLY belly dance. It’s as though if your dance gets too Middle Eastern then it’s suddenly too “cabaret”. F--- that. I’m not going to dilute my belly dance so much so that it’s not even belly dance anymore. I started belly dancing because of its Middle Eastern roots. I love the region and its arts too much to separate the dance from its origins.

I’m a belly dancer. I don’t want to put a label on what I do anymore other than the label of “belly dance”. Of course, I will never stop training, but… I can rock it with Delirium Tribal Dance Company when we perform ATS. I can rock it to Umm Kalthoum. I can rock it to classical Arabic music. I can rock it to a Turkish karsilama. I can rock it tribal fusion style. I can kill a live drum solo and live taqsim, and I can work with Arabic and Turkish bands."

So I like to think there's hope. Artists like Asharah and Jill Parker travel and workshop and try to encourage artistic integrity, respect for the origins of Middle Eastern dance, knowledge of the cultures, etc. But they're still a relative minority, because the other stuff sells.

Bellydance activities in my town in the North of Germany are like a maelstrom for amateurs. People that never danced before, whose bodies aren't prepared, who've up to then have little to no knowledge about dancing or moving. Some catch fire and delve deeper into it. Many just start to enjoy and gradually identify more and more with the bellydancer within themselves. Both types often become professional dancers or at least part time professionals and at least half of them go about with an amateur attitude of blissful ignorance of what they're doing and how they're doing it. And fusion will be: sticking on a different music or wearing a different costume.

I've gone to a lot of classes and have seen serious teachers try to really teach, to ask their students to sweat a little, to make an effort, to really learn. While they have 80% of their students in beginner classes, loving the raks sharqi routine with a veil entrance, in intermediate with saidi with assaya already the figures drop down to a handful that go down to half of this handful during the term. I've seen students going to master-classes sulking that they can't do everything immediately. They get angry at the teachers, or at the other students! I wonder what sort of attitude they have in their worklives? They act like bellydance is there to serve them, to make them feel beautiful, not to ask something of them - no objectivity desired.

I'm going to send my daughter to ballet classes now. I've thought a lot about it and I don't like the body expression of classical ballet that much. I think oriental technique is much more beautiful, but I want her to get good lessons that take dancing seriously as an artform and that ask the corresponding discipline of the students.

Done ranting :-)

Originally Posted by Nouria

Bellydance activities in my town in the North of Germany are like a maelstrom for amateurs. People that never danced before, whose bodies aren't prepared, who've up to then have little to no knowledge about dancing or moving. Some catch fire and delve deeper into it. Many just start to enjoy and gradually identify more and more with the bellydancer within themselves. Both types often become professional dancers or at least part time professionals and at least half of them go about with an amateur attitude of blissful ignorance of what they're doing and how they're doing it. And fusion will be: sticking on a different music or wearing a different costume.

I've gone to a lot of classes and have seen serious teachers try to really teach, to ask their students to sweat a little, to make an effort, to really learn. While they have 80% of their students in beginner classes, loving the raks sharqi routine with a veil entrance, in intermediate with saidi with assaya already the figures drop down to a handful that go down to half of this handful during the term. I've seen students going to master-classes sulking that they can't do everything immediately. They get angry at the teachers, or at the other students! I wonder what sort of attitude they have in their worklives? They act like bellydance is there to serve them, to make them feel beautiful, not to ask something of them - no objectivity desired.

I'm going to send my daughter to ballet classes now. I've thought a lot about it and I don't like the body expression of classical ballet that much. I think oriental technique is much more beautiful, but I want her to get good lessons that take dancing seriously as an artform and that ask the corresponding discipline of the students.

Done ranting :-)

You've described almost exactly the dance environment here.

I accept, though, a degree of "service" because these dancers ARE amateurs and the dance DOES make some of them feel beautiful in ways they never have before. It's their hobby and it makes them feel nice. That's great! But there is an increasing *lack* of rigour at the upper end that is increasingly obliterating the very important element of BD being a *cultural art* that is located within a particular set of culturesand making it all, all, ALL about them and their needs/wants. Belly dance becomes basically anything at all with an undulation or figure 8 in it. Quality is not as important as getting attention. Some of the dancers who are like this are very good at what they do. Others are just plain terrible. But I would rather see terrrible dancing that I could tell was *trying* to do it right than great dancing that sneered at oriental dance, honestly.

Fusion worries me on two levels:
The begnning students who are taken straight to it without that rigour of base styles ( be that belly dance and whatever)Zum mentions and the experienced dancer who comes up with her Empresses's New Clothes. I am supposed to think it is good just because it is different.

It's the job situation. The market doesn't regulate. There are not many good jobs for bellydancers that are evaluating the actual qualification and pay according to it. Dancers that want to go pro need to teach to secure their income. But when they financially depend on teaching, they have to cater to the students needs. It's not enough to JUST teach, you have to provide the students with an environment where they can apply what they learned. Invite professionals from somewhere else so they get inspiration. Organize, organize - that's one reason why I don't feel like teaching, because in the long run you have to do the whole thing if you want to have dedicated students and set certain standards. They need goals.

So the teachers encourage students to try out things, to be creative - sure you need to do this, too. And on top make them feel good about themselves. Now don't be critical of them discovering their individual style, even if on a very low level. It's great when people identify with what they do. But a teacher should make it clear where professionalism starts and if the Shisha lounge owner offered your student to dance in the café, this isn't a clear sign that they're ready to go pro.

Hello OP - sorry for the hijack! Btw. I love pure styles AND fusion - just if there is a great dancer with a great concept - love it! I just think great dancing rules ALWAYS!

Hi Yasaman,
I am less excited by new fusion styles than by seeing a dancer who has created her own style within the parameters of raks sharki. The latter is rare, and takes a tremendous amount of dedication and understanding of the dance to develop. With the advent of so much fusion, I wonder if we will see less and less of this sort of dancer development.
Christine

I echo a lot of the above sentiments.

I think a strong knowledge and ability in the traditional styles is necessary -before- a successful fusion can be created.

I think it's important to keep the bellydance portion of the fusion as the dominant part. For example, 80% BD, 20% other. (That's hardly a hard and fast percentage by any means, just an example. Could be 70/30m 90/10, whatever.) For me, it is more about adding the -flavor- of another dance rather than really fusing two styles.

Of course that is my personal preference as a bellydancer. When I go to hafla I want to see bellydance. If it's experimental fusion, then great. I like to be intrigued and inspired by something new. But as I noted above, it needs to be done with expertise and with the emphasis on BD.

Just my personal taste!

Originally Posted by ssipes

Yasamen, why don't you tell us more about your personal fusion style. You say it involves Native American and martial arts -- which Native American dances (and what is the cultural meaning of these dances) and which martial arts? Why did you decide to fuse these particular elements with belly dance? Is it just a matter of movements that you like to do, or does the *meaning* of these elements complement the cultural meaning of belly dance?

well I for one only call it a fuse style because no matter how I put it thats what it is,I've learned many belly dance styl;Turkish,egyptian,arabic,Ats ect.My martial art styles also, to name a few Wu Shu, Chinese kung fu, Aikido, judo, and so on,I know 7 to 10 different styles,and my belly dance styles are around the same number,I have been doing Martial arts since I was 4 and deep study of Belly dance since I was 15, I had the basics before that,as for Native american dance I was taught around 12,My grandmother and grandfather were Cherokee so the traditions are strong, One of the reasons I wanted to put together a new belly dance style was to create something for the Native american people and for the belly dance community,I had studied all these different styles in my life so I wanted to take all I learned from each and make something great to be proud of,I love Belly dance and with the different styles I have, I had not come across a style that was based from Native american people, for example there is turkish, Arabic,Lebonese, I could have named it Native Belly dance, but How could I in that standing?unless it was the first style of belly dance or infact was from it's original origins,Native meaning First people,I know a few people here don't seem to care much for fusion but I for one have seen so many perfomances of belly dancers, and after a while they began to look to similar to me so in that standing there is no difference, I don't get tired of seeing fusion of any kind,I don't care what the person mixed with it or not, after all what is wrong with creating something different, why must everyone do the same things? If we start to feel this way, then there should have never been any different belly dance styles ever, whatever style was the first, It should have never advance? There are just to many cultures in our world to say that,though there may be the issue of not fusing styles well, there is that, in that case it would be a poor fusion. What I have done with my style is look at what fits best with belly dance and not to stray far from belly dance, so with martial arts I use my perimeter training and moves from each style, then from my native american style I took The pride of the people, the native american spirit and I key movements, The costumes are based on Native american clothing as well.I still from time to time dance my different styles when performing, I have only released a veil dance perfomance with this styles which only touched on the slow end of it.

Originally Posted by CFerhat

Hi Yasaman,
I am less excited by new fusion styles than by seeing a dancer who has created her own style within the parameters of raks sharki. The latter is rare, and takes a tremendous amount of dedication and understanding of the dance to develop. With the advent of so much fusion, I wonder if we will see less and less of this sort of dancer development.
Christine

Thats what I have done here, I only call it fusion because it is fused with Martial arts and Native american dance, not because it is a fuse of different belly dance styles, Native meaning Native american and fusion for belly dance hince the name Native fusion belly dance, I could drop the fusion since I am making a new style, but I'm no so sur on that front , if you read one of my other replies you will see why I say that. I believe that no one should be afraid to make something new and ofcourse you should have great knowledge about what you are trying to create, I do agree with you there.

I like fusion when:

1. The roots of both dances are visible. For example, when I see a video of some of Jillina's dances, I see jazz dance and I see oriental dance and both parts of the fusion are performed equally well. I like some of the Balkan folk dance tribal fusion I've seen too.

2. The fusion hasn't gone completely bonkers. I saw a dancer who combined oriental dance with both flamenco and classical Indian dance moves in the same dance and it just looked... unfocused... like she'd had a checklist of things she really really wanted to do together and she did them all. Too much stuff all at the same time.

3. The music clearly calls for fusion. There's some really good Latin/ME music out there and it makes "dance sense" to use moves from both lexicons when dancing to it.

4. It's done in an obviously humorous way. At a recent hafla there was an extremely funny act fusing ME dance with a ballet barre routine. A total hoot and very clever.

I don't like fusion when

1. It's forced. I saw a video of a dance fusing ME dance with yoga. Now I'll shimmy! Now I'll stop and do a pose! Now I'll do a floorworky thing -- now I'll do Boat! Who what where huh?

2. The dancer has only a smattering of knowledge about one of the styles.

3. Everything's fusion. Fusion is like a nice spicy condiment; it's nice to spark up a show with an interesting fusion, the same way that somebody using a brand new prop can spark up the crowd's interest. But a whole meal of jalapeno salsa would be a bit much.

4. The fusion doesn't fit the venue. I'd be a bit startled to see Virginia Reel bd fusion at my local hookah lounge.