Thread: Rakkasah ethics?

Things must have changed recently - Fat Chance today definitely dances to the phrasing of the music, and in fact, Carolena teaches that this is an important element of ATS. She repeatedly said, and demonstrated in drills she lead, how to do that (that was last summer). And, in other places, I have heard the current members of Fat Chance very very often talk about the importance of dancing to the music, to much more than just the rhythm.

And, as an ATS dancer, I can tell you for a fact - some of us do not just request rhythms when working with live musicians - we ask for songs!

it's been a while since i've been on this thread, have read it with interest and wanted to pipe in.......

like a previous contributor, i too began dancing before ATS became a household word......but upon looking into and researching, some of the devisive discussion leaves me stumped.......

tho many 'self-taught'(those that got videos and learned/teach from them with no other experience) ATS 'dancers' leave the impression of a separate form, if you look at the 'pioneers', they ALL have had cab/oriental roots and have grown wings....kajira, carolena, even rachel brice...i saw this even in a workshop with kajira....i don't believe it was ever meant to be it's own form, but an extension for those with a BD background and a familiarity with basics......

if you look at even EARLY ATS, the music used is old ethnic saidi, gulf, turkish, etc, with very strong ME rhythms........zill patterns are just like ME rhythms, so there's ALWAYs been a BD element to ATS and tribal fusion........

that being said, if you look at modern, western music, some utilize rhythms very similar to ME rhythms, and many have even fused with ME musicians (plant n page, peter gabriel, sting) i agree with another contributor, that many feel a need to be 'different and edgy', but costuming and such need to reflect the music, or utilize accessories to tie it to the mood and music instead of just dancing 'rob zombie' with a madame abla..........

there is alot of modern, or western music that evokes emotion in a dancer, and her expression shouldn't be limited to strictly ME music...but it DOES help if the dancer has a strong understanding of the dance and it's application

i believe that those that dance WELL to modern/western music understand ME music/rhythms just fine(or they wouldn't dance BD well at all), just are spreading their wings as dancers...........it's the 'edgy/different' ones with little experience that i worry about....i dance regularly to pure oriental, corvus corax, oum kalthoum, godsmack, etc......but i'm very careful of the music and it's interpretation, and accoutre appropriately as well.....very interesting thread

Originally posted by rosehips

It's funny, a bunch of us at a festival were discussing that since we got involved in bellydancing and began thinking in ME rhythms, it's actually HARDER to dance to your standard American music, because it rarely has any variety to the beat, no real depth or complication.

This reminds me, I pulled out a Sisters of Mercy CD for the first time in a long time, and was listening to it in my car. The repetitive drum beat drove me nuts. Where's the variety? Where are the changes? It would be so hard for me to dance to this even for fun because . . . it bored me!