Thread: Difference between all the styles?

Originally Posted by Starmouth

For me the three main styles would be 'oriental' - covering most Middle Eastern and North African styles, 'tribal' - American Tribal Style, Tribal Fusion etc, and Turkish/Roma style, which I can confess I don't know an awful lot about!

Oriental - mostly solo dancers, middle eastern music, colourful, sparkly costumes. Closer to what the general public would picture when they hear the words 'belly dancer'.

Tribal - dancers often in groups with no obvious leader, music can vary but often not middle eastern, costumes often dark, earthy fabrics, kuchi jewellery, lots of hair decorations, falls, flowers etc.

Turkish/Roma - As I said, I don't know a lot, but I'm sure someone on here will know more than I do.

Some Turkish is Orientale. Roma is an example of a folkloric style - of which there are many others - sa`iidi, ghawazee, khaleegi etc.

When I think of "styles" I would think more by region - so you have a family of Egyptian styles, Turkish styles, Lebanese styles, Western styles. Within each of these there is also a huge range - for instance in Egyptian there are differences between Golden Age, Classical and Modern (ironically about 1990s); between orientale and beledi, between Mohamed Ali Street and Reda. Then, as I said, there is a range of folkloric styles which can be danced on their own or within an Orientale piece.

For the OP - what style choices are you being given? I'd sayteh basic technique is the basic technique for a year or so unless you are going Tribal in which case you need to learn cueing and blending with a group.

Originally Posted by Yame

http://www.bellydanceforums.net/danc...ing-types.html

...as well as links to resources

Like this:

Originally Posted by mahsati_janan

Links for dance styles:
Many Styles of Belly Dance
Different Styles of Oriental Dance
Belly Dancing: Dance Styles Used In The U.S.
The Common Styles Belly Dance Also Known as Oriental Dance
About Belly Dance
Styles of Belly Dance
Belly Dance Styles - Egyptian, Turkish, Romani, Tribal, American Cabaret, Fokloric

It's a nice set of links, I just had to pass it on in case it was somehow missed.

Hi can any body give me a run down of the form of dance known as Ballet Belly Dance Fusion. Thank You. Paul

I have never heard of it Paul, I did a google search and found this on facebook, maybe the girl who posted the video can help you
Ballet and Belly Dance Fusion - Bronwyn | Facebook
~Mosaic

Sabah does a ballet/BD fusion that is quite pretty. Bellydance Superstar Sabah performing in Iceland - YouTube

I've heard about it. If I remember correctly it comes out of Russia where a lot of the BD performers have a foundation in classical ballet. Some of them started blending the two as well as using more classical music. It's never really taken off though because it's difficult to successfully fuse the two, the movement vocabulary is just so different.

Hi thank you for all the imformation. Paul

but don't most forms of belly dance include SOME ballet and jazz anyways? like modern egyptian, brazilian bd, american cabaret, etc?

Originally Posted by Ahava_Melantha

but don't most forms of belly dance include SOME ballet and jazz anyways? like modern egyptian, brazilian bd, american cabaret, etc?

Modern Egyptian is influenced by ballet yes. I don't know much about Brazilian. American and Turkish are supposed to have had their arm positions influenced by ballet also but the more I learn the more skeptical I am about this (beyond the convenience of using the 'position' names). I suspect it is more a matter of American and Turkish bellydancers who are cross trained allowing it to bleed into the dance. In this case though the ballet influence is more then just an influence on basic posture and some styling. The dancers who fuse ballet will go so far as to dance on toe etc. Really you can't miss it.


PS. I almost forgot. Most of the 'influence' from other dance styles was BD stealing various traveling moves in order to fill a larger area such as a stage.

Okay, i guess i meant influence, not a TRUE fusion. sorry bout that.