Thread: How Do You Keep Styles Seperate?

Can you personally keep styles seperate for performance, practice, etc.? If so, what do you do to ensure the minimal amount of leakage from other styles when performing including choreo and improv? Confess!

Obviosuly I've been wanting to dable in other styles that I'm not familiar with so, I could use some input.

Keeping the music separate for practice helps when you're just starting to incorporate a new style, even to the point of doing baladi one day, saidi the next, khaligi, etc; and so does immersing yourself in the culture to the greatest possible extent so you can "feel" the difference. Giving yourself those cultural images to evoke through the dance helps a lot.

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by vanillacherry

Keeping the music separate for practice helps when you're just starting to incorporate a new style, even to the point of doing baladi one day, saidi the next, khaligi, etc; and so does immersing yourself in the culture to the greatest possible extent so you can "feel" the difference. Giving yourself those cultural images to evoke through the dance helps a lot.

Hope this helps!

I agree,this is a good way of keeping styles separate.

I dance both arabic&persian,and I don´t mix the distinct styles because I think:
It´s just too rare(sadly) to see a performer that can dance X,Y&Z styles and DON`T mixes every number into her "own XYZ"-style so it all looks the same.

(When I see fusion I prefer a well rounded dancer that can make it look&feel "seamless")

And for teaching it´s *a must* IMO.

I agree, keep the music distinct and strong. Many of the "moves" are virtually the same with very subtle differences. It is the music, the dancers attitude and costuming that will help keep the style identifiable.

Originally Posted by anala

I agree, keep the music distinct and strong. Many of the "moves" are virtually the same with very subtle differences. It is the music, the dancers attitude and costuming that will help keep the style identifiable.

I agree with what has been put out so far- I also think that it helps if, when you are learning a new style, you really focus on that & get it ingrained in your body WITH the music. That way, later on, you can just say "okay, let's do (x)" and it should come out okay. I do refreshers from time to time too- I'll get on a classic Turkish kick, or a beledi kick and pull out all my videos, browse around youtube, pull out my old workshop notes, etc.

Originally Posted by emma-bessa

I dance both arabic&persian,and I don´t mix the distinct styles because I think:
It´s just too rare(sadly) to see a performer that can dance X,Y&Z styles and DON`T mixes every number into her "own XYZ"-style so it all looks the same.

I concur.

Must say though, if a drummer adds an accent from another style, it's wonderful to see a dancer who can keep up and add an element from that region. (Where appropriate.) It can say quite a bit about the dancer's knowledge of the music, and that always gets my admiration!

Originally Posted by vanillacherry

Must say though, if a drummer adds an accent from another style, it's wonderful to see a dancer who can keep up and add an element from that region. (Where appropriate.) It can say quite a bit about the dancer's knowledge of the music, and that always gets my admiration!

Oh yes!Most egyptian classic entrance numbers have a minimum of three styles,and many a gulf tidbit.It seems to me that the classic american bellydance routine have a great variation with it´s rumba,chifetelli&taksim(&many more)sections.


But I think is a common intermediate dancer thing to overdance and do 10 "SUPER FLASHY"steps over and over again,
instead of 5 basic with your own twist+3 "boring basic"(not boring for me) and 2 "SUPER FLASHY.

When we are building a library of steps&accents and are practising two or more styles at once,it´s easy to get a hangup just on the spectacular details instead of the big picture.

Maybe I come across as a grump but I think it´s tiresome to watch dancers who are doing high skirt kicks,tribal licklocks,gulf hairspins,choochoo with persian arms and backbend while fingersnapping...all in a 5 second time span(yes it takes one to know one)

I completely agree with everyone's posts on this thread!

What it all boils down to in the end is the music, as Anala posted: ". . . keep the music distinct and strong. Many of the "moves" are virtually the same with very subtle differences. It is the music, the dancers attitude and costuming that will help keep the style identifiable."

One can't help but dance differently to "Soude Soude" and "Alf Layla." I admit those two pieces are just about polar opposites as far as music is concerned, but they are both Middle Eastern "classics," if you will, and deserve to be danced differently.

Deborah

You may want to look up Christina King, http://www.rakschristina.com/ who performs Egyptian style sharki, Tribal style group dance and fusion as well. I have seen her perform and her videos and she seems to do an excellent job keeping each style in it's distinct context.

Thanks everyone! I really value your input.

Egyptian and ATS are two very different styles but I'd like to know more about styles that are very similar. E.g. Classical Egyptian Vs. Modern Egyptian, American Caberet Vs. Turkish, ATS Vs. Tribal Fusion, etc.

I imagine that keeping the styles Classical and Modern Egyptian apart when dancing to the song Alf Leyla Wa Leyla, wich works and is suitable for both styles would be very difficult.