A performance for discussion ;)

Hi there dear mates.
You all know me, how strict to traditional i'm but hey... I saw this dancer from Iceland, her name is Sabah, and she is dancing to Lisa Faker !!!!!!! with ballet puent !!!
And more shocking for me !!!! I really liked !!! dont ask why I dont know, I'm wondering also, but there is a sweeness over there, deep knowledge for the music, I even liked the costume for this "revolution" way of dancing this masterpiece.
Maybe I'm loosing my bitchy-style? now thats worrying lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BSuAEblqGM&search=bellydance

I guess this performance will start a big chat

Maria Aya

Hey c'mon Michelle is not a chat lol
Say it !!!

hehe.... you're right.... it's just that I am not quite sure what to make of it. For a fusion piece it has a lot of good elements. The girl is obviously more or less skilled at ballet and seems to be pretty knowledgeable in bellydance.... and she does integrate the two in a very pleasing way. It seems so innocent, so ethereal.... it's actually kind of lovely once you get over the initial feeling of "huh...?" So, hey, I guess I like it, too.

My interpretation of what is belly dance is pretty liberal, but this looks like innovative ballet to me, shimmies and Egytian kicks (en pointe, yet) aside. Very pretty, very interesting. Send that girl to the nearest try-outs for The Nutcracker Suite.

I'm afraid it didn't work for me AT ALL

I think this is a very beautiful and effective fusion.

It's very different from the grounded moves that drew me to bellydance, but it definitely works. The ballet moves were good, the bellydance moves were good, they worked well together.. I didn't see anything I didn't like, except for the "back and forth on your tippy toes" move that I have always found boring in ballet.

Interesting fusion of ballet and oriental dance to lissa fakir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BSuAEblqGM&search=belly%20dance

O.K. as a general rule I don't find most fusion very interesting. Nine times out of ten if I see fusion I'm hitting the back button or fast forward buttion (or wishing I could, if its live hehe)...

... but this I liked. I think this is a successful fusion because this dancer has expertise in the two things being fused (ballet and oriental), and has a very nice sense of musicality.

I'd be interested to hear what others think, including the purists and fusion fans out there.

Sedonia

Sabah did not catch me with her performance. And her shoes are just unfitting and ridiculous. (what a BOB I am)
It is obvious that she is skilled and experienced in both: ballet and BD. Most artists seem to strive to more -earlier or later- unfortunately in my opinion. This leads to too much (experimental) fusions which is really getting on my nerves (like with you).

But .....

This Sabah, however, lets her moves happen in an easy and positive way and her flexible and musical body responds with additionate smooth vibrations - all in harmony with herself and the music. I guess that's a part what captured you.

Even you, Maria, are just a human being and and weak at times (thank God) and I am glad to hear you got caught by a performance which is usually not according to your line and rules.


And now - oh, mea maxima culpa - I do confess my sin:
One of the dancers who has managed to capture me most is one of these obvious 95%(you know what I mean) lebanese dancers. Her name is YOUSRA HANEM. Not really rich and various in technique etc. bla bla but she arises most emotions in me - more than even our classical darlings from Egypt.
I admire her and I don't care what somebody does before and after dancing especially if it obviously supports your dancing skills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3K-Sy80_iI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFDeqow_IB4

I think it was very interesting. However, I once read that bellydance was the opposite of ballet, in that bellydance is very grounded and ballet is about being high and light and in the air. So to combine dances that are at opposite ends of the dance spectrum was very unusual. She made it look very nice, but I still found it a bit odd. Though maybe it is something you could get accustomed to.

I don't care for fusion, but I thought this dancer did a good job and her fusion was successful. I think the thing that made it successful was that it was that you could tell she knew both dance forms very well. Creative. I have never seen bellydance performed in pointe.

Dear Simone
(whispering so no one else know it) I like Yousra Hannem also (sssshhhh)
For 2 reasons, a) because she is a sex bomb that hit the music and b) and more importand, she is the reason I met Suha Azar lol (we had an internet fight with Suha about her (this is the way we met lol) and after Suha was like ok, I'm coming to Greece to show you what is REAL Lebanese style (boy she was right)

Maria Aya

I think it,s very nice, its differant ......i don,t think beeing differant has to be wrong and what she is doiing is difficult ...a treu artist in my eyes...tums up!!lydia

Maria_Aya said:

Hi there dear mates.
You all know me, how strict to traditional i'm but hey... I saw this dancer from Iceland, her name is Sabah, and she is dancing to Lisa Faker !!!!!!! with ballet puent !!!
And more shocking for me !!!! I really liked !!! dont ask why I dont know, I'm wondering also, but there is a sweeness over there, deep knowledge for the music, I even liked the costume for this "revolution" way of dancing this masterpiece.
Maybe I'm loosing my bitchy-style? now thats worrying lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BSuAEblqGM&search=bellydance

I guess this performance will start a big chat

Maria Aya

Click to expand...

I like it too. But I am not such a traditionalist

Hmm. Not too sure what I should think about this actually...It's an interesting mix, but I don't know if it fits so well together. Bellydance is very down to earth while ballet is definitely not. Maybe the opposites could do something for each other, but I'm quite doubtful. And I'm not too fond of ballet so I guess it's leaning towards "Dislike".

And...in the other clip with the lebanese dancer I can see some panties O_O. I think I will dislike that too, haha. Well, at least she's wearing something.

Simone min al Akariyah said:

Sabah did not catch me with her performance. And her shoes are just unfitting and ridiculous. (what a BOB I am)
It is obvious that she is skilled and experienced in both: ballet and BD. Most artists seem to strive to more -earlier or later- unfortunately in my opinion. This leads to too much (experimental) fusions which is really getting on my nerves (like with you).

Click to expand...

Simone, I agree with you here. This is most definitely not bellydance. It is fusion, plain and simple. And yeah, there is a lot of crazy-looking stuff going on under the name of fusion that should never have seen the lights of a stage. But I think what usually offends me so much about these experimental dances is that people try to mix elements with no real sense of either genre. The end product looks unnatural, abrupt, and not cohesive. That being said, even though my initial thought was the same as yours, "Huh? She's wearing pointe shoes??? You've got to be kidding me..," I noticed how attentive she was to the technique and interpretation of both dances and how she was doing her best not to compromise one for the other. Her dance had grace and flowed from one idea to the next, and I found myself kind of liking it like Maria did. I certainly don't advocate anybody else to try that, but it was a lovely, if misguided, attempt.

I really enjoyed it!!! I thought her extensions were lovely and expressed the swells in the music nicely. Her Pointe work was more dramatic than our releve in bare feet but gave the same light, lofty and lifted feeling. I thought she interspersed the external movements of ballet and the internal articulations of Oriental well. Aside from a few ballet moves that seemed to clash a bit, I give it a thumbs up.

Well, she definitely can dance very well, but I don't like this fusion. Lisa Fakir is a very classical Arabian peace and it just doesn't feel right, if somebody dances ballet on it. (Probably I'm too puristic). There are other pieces, like for example "Theme and Variations" from Mohammed Abdel Wahab (for Maria: the piece my daughter danced on my show "Oriental Flow"), which IS a fusion of classical Arabian and classical European music and one can dance a fabulous Raqs Sharqi/Ballet fusion on. One should rather search for pieces which were danced by Samia Gamal, because she did quite some Ballet/Raqs Sharqi fusions.

Hi Maria, I think I know why you liked it Sabah is a very captivating dancer, you can actually see the music through her body. I really like the fusion of ballet and bellydance. The best fusion is where the different elements are combined together seamlessly by someone who is skilled. I couldn't stop watching her.
Yasmine

I'm not too keen on ballet/bellydance fusion either but that was okay as pointed out by all the above post she new what she doing... I watched and enjoyed it, ballet being not my taste, I did get a little bored... at first I didn't like Samia Gamal, I do now though and her ballet is more a jazz ballet...