Thread: Forget about Turkish, Egyptian, Tribal, ATS, ITS, Pan-Arabic - what about *you*?

I know we talk about the differences between all the different styles of bellydancing - the difference in dancing, styling...
And when we talk about the great dancers of each style - we talk about what makes them unique - what makes them the great arbiters of their style...

But what about us? What about you?
I admit, I'm still learning, and I'm still discovering what is "Minajen style" is (and I don't think even as I continue dancing, I'll ever stop learning about who I am as a dancer)...So when thinking about what defines me from other dancers, be it movement, style or expression, I wonder how you all would describe yourselves. What makes your dancing "Your style"? While we might train in different genres of bellydance, I'd wager we're not all egyptian, turkish ITS, ATS, fusion 'clones.'
What's your unique signature that you leave on bellydance? Do you have a move, a specialty, a costume styling that's uniquely *you*?

I call my style 'American Mongrel.'

I have studied a variety of styles, mostly Egyptian, but I'm certainly not a pure Egyptian style dancer.

I like knowing the background of my movements, but when I improv or choreograph I use all my movement vocabulary. There might be occasions when I'll try very hard to stick to quintessentially Baladi, Sharqi or Romani moves, for instance - but only as a teacher.

As a performer, I just dance!

ETA: Sorry, I only answered half the question really. What makes my style uniquely my own... Hmmm... I'll have to give that some thought!

This is very difficult for me to answer, but probably very easy for people who know me and have seen me dance a lot! I'm so immersed in my dancing it's hard to step back and identify the things that make it "me", and since I'm always incorporating new ideas maye those things are always changing as well.

I need thinking time as well

I'm with Lauren in the "American mongrel" thing- with a distinct Alaskan flare (those who learned from on Alaskan teacher in the 90s or before are easy to pick out to a trained eye, and since then you can pick out which annual workshop instructor influenced a particular dancer!)

I can choreograph or structure something in a particular style, but when I improv, it all just gets thrown together. My signature moves rotate based on what I am focusing on- I'm kind of wondering right now if my signature end flourish is just that- a signature move- or me being stuck in a rut and needing to change things up a bit! Haven't decided yet.

friends & family say they can pick out students who have studied with me, so I must have a distinct style, but I can't for the life of me define what it is. Mum says my students & I all look very "grounded"- but what exactly does that mean?

I once attended a non-belly dance workshop called "Body Prayer," in which we did all sorts of things to get connected with our own body in a spiritual way, and one of the things we did was to invent our own signature movement. I still use that movement in my dancing, it's a forward step and lifting the knee and raising the arms; if I am wearing a big skirt it flicks the skirt up nicely.

My signature "look" is to have a body stocking and a vest with sleeves or arm bands or gauntlets, but there is a BIG variety of styles that I wear, depending on the dance I'm doing and the music I'm using.

Similarly, my music choices can have a LOT of variety, but they tend to feature real instruments, not synthesizers.

My favorite style to watch is the "Golden Era" Egyptian dancers on YouTube. In real life I love just about everything that is done well and with a joyful spirit - I dislike the "dark" side of fusion, except maybe for a Halloween show or something. So I think my signature "emotional" style is to be a joyful dancer who is sharing her passion for the dance. I like warmth and graciousness in a dancer and I hope to embody those qualities.

I have certain traveling movements and certain poses that I do almost every dance, time to think about whether those are getting stale.

I was talking with an old-school dancer recently who came up in the 70's and is still active. She said one of her teachers used to make them do all sorts of things to shake up their ruts - like performing the finale first, then the drum solo, the slow section, then the entrance, for example, (doing their routine in reverse order). She would make them try to dance like somebody else, just as an exercise. Things like that to make the dancers really think about what kind of dancer they are and what kind of dancer they want to be.

Sorry if I've wandered off topic. It's an interesting one.

Edited to add: Improvisational dancing and Live music are also signatures for me.

I can't forget that I owe homage to Egypt and San Francisco for the two dances I love to perform.
When I dance I probably display my European/British accent but I have to recall and respect those two places.

Like Lara L, I too have been told that my students are easily recognizable. One student's granddaughter, who has been to many of my performances, has even picked up my style just by watching... kids are so neat in the way they pick things up like that.

I have a more Egyptian influenced style with a bit of Eastern European flair/attitude to it (my first teacher was from Croatia and teaches lots of traditional dance from the region as well) and some Golden Era influence. I am joyful and have been told that my style is very languid and relaxed. If there is a style that I can relate most to, it would be balady. I often pick songs that have a slow buildup and balady type format. I love using all those slow juicy hip moves. I often use the same move multiple times and change up the speed of it for drama and extra "juice." I definitely have lazy looking arms but nice hands. I use a lot of layers... usually chest shimmies with torso movements, belly rolls with chest or hip circles, and shimmies with chest bumps or hip moves or just about anything else. My signature moves, besides some of the layers, are typically hip drops/twists and kicks while I lean back and then forward again and the golden era move I like to call a 3d figure 8 where I do a vertical figure 8 and tuck my pelvis in as the v8 is coming up and in on each side.

My favorite prop is the sword.

I guess you could call my style "world mongrel" lol.

I'm still just blanking on any attempts to describe my style -- I think because any attempt to describe my own dancing in positive terms sounds like bragging! And describing my style by listing my faults doesn't seem right either.

I'm thinking we should post clips here and take turns trying to summarize each other's style?

I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

I'm still just blanking on any attempts to describe my style -- I think because any attempt to describe my own dancing in positive terms sounds like bragging! And describing my style by listing my faults doesn't seem right either.

I'm thinking we should post clips here and take turns trying to summarize each other's style?

I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours.

I would SO love to do this- answer that question once & for all
If only I could figure out how to get stuff off my DVD & onto the nets.

Originally Posted by Lara L

I would SO love to do this- answer that question once & for all
If only I could figure out how to get stuff off my DVD & onto the nets.

lord knows I dunno how to do it, but I'm told you have to download a program to convert them to a readable format. google could be your friend for this Mine were all done by other people, so I'm afraid I can't you there.

i dunno what my style is. I love all dance that is well done.

i dance to music that moves me and since I started this dance form, it's been Egyptian music for me. Also, I am addicted to performance dvd's and have been since roughly 3 months after I started classes, discovered the internet and IAMED.

I got my hands on the second awards video because FCBD was on there and promptly fell in love with Jillina.

Maybe a couple of years later I was social dancing at a club that featured ME music and a Turkish style dancer (hi aslahan!!!) told me that the undulation that I had just done was an Egyptian styled move (it was news to me!).

So, kind of by default, that's my style, with a ton of other influences thrown in, notably salsa and regeton.

I don't really know how to define what I do, or if I have any signature moves, although I am usually complimented on my drum solos. I have had comments that my attempts at the classics are "meditative", whatever that means when applied to dance, and I usually take it to mean that I have to look up more

That having been said, here is my youtube channel, you can some of the different things that I do.

My favorite video (thanks for the idea Lauren!) that is quite long is this one (I dunno how to cut it down) that is a few years old and shows shaabi and a drum. Y'all can feel free to tell me if you see anything that appears to be a signature move
kinadancer's Channel - YouTube

Originally Posted by Lara L

I would SO love to do this- answer that question once & for all
If only I could figure out how to get stuff off my DVD & onto the nets.

Hi Lara

Yes, you need a programme to "rip" your dvd, in the same way you rip cds to put the tracks onto your mp3 player.

I use AOA DVD ripper. You can download a free trial version, that will allow you to rip up to 10 minutes of dvd, which is usually enough for a dance piece. It's really easy to use.

I'm sure there are other DVD ripper programmes out there, but that one works for me.

I wonder if the reason "Fusion" is so popular among newer students (which seems to be the consensus I've read from a couple of threads), is that it offers more customization and an easier way to inject a little bit of themselves into their dancing?*

I won't say that the "Pan-Arabic," Turkish, Egyptian - the traditional 'cabaret' styles are cookie cutter - but we enforce the vocabulary and the 'look' more strictly than fusion? You know, it's the whole, "Everyone looks the same but me! (Even though now I look like everyone else)."

At first glance, most people see the standard bedlah sets. THere's nothing wrong with that perse, but in reference to the 'greats' in this subforum, most of them do own/adhere to a distinctive look: Dina and her costumes, Nesrin Topkapi and her one shouldered robe, Suheir Zaki and her color coordinated bodystockings and bedlahs. Prenses Banu has her pasties, and Nelja Ates has her...well, her pasties, but she also rocked a very distinctive hairstyle - the smoothed back plus 'cap'.

I suppose it is hard to ask a person what their distinctive style is, what their signature is, but hey:
(Please, please don't take this as advocating burlesque and bellydance fusion. No! Not at all!)


Granted, 'gimmicks' might be more significant for those working professionally. Maybe not so much gimmick, as the aforementioned 'signature', be it attitude, carriage, or appearance.


*Not that this is factual - but that it appears the most individually distinctive (Even then, to a point)

Originally Posted by kina

Y'all can feel free to tell me if you see anything that appears to be a signature move
kinadancer's Channel - YouTube

Kina, those tiny, delicate figure 8s look like a signature move. Also the sharp, almost diagonal hip down accent. if I were going to do a 'kina impersonation' those would be the moves I'd choose.

I see mostly Egyptian style, with soft, relaxed arms and lots of delicate & precise hipwork, too.

Originally Posted by kina

Y'all can feel free to tell me if you see anything that appears to be a signature move

Signature moves matter, but when I think of personal style, I think more of the "how and why" than of the "what". Here's what I see in you:

• You generally stay close to your center line
  (so when you depart from center, like with a big hip circle, it's a prominent change)
• A demeanor of "Damn right, I'm awesome!"
  (and we believe it!)
• Sometimes you approach accented moves in a forceful, almost aggressive way, especially in drum solos, but it doesn't stop looking feminine. I see that in Randa sometimes too.
• "I don't have to smile to draw you in" expressive quality
  (Very few people make not smiling work as well as you do. And then when you do smile, it's a prominent change.)

Note: I know Kina in person, and have seen her dance many times. So my observations aren't just from that video clip.