What Style Am I?

[LunaXJJ]

Something I've been wondering about for awhile. I'm self-taught from the show Shimmy on fit tv, and tutorial videos on youtube. I don't really know what style I am, so if anyone thinks they know, I'd love to hear it.

Oh snap. Accidentally posted this in the wrong forum. Could a nice mod please move it for me.

 

[mélayla]

Hi Luna!
It would be a lot easier if you had some video's to show us!!!!

 

[LunaXJJ]

I would, but I'm very insecure, and very bad at belly dancing as of now. Maybe if I got better, and lost a few pounds first.

Thank you to whomever moved the thread for me.

 

[gisela]

Hi Luna, For many it takes a while before your style gets clarified. The style depends on what expression you have and how you execute the moves, which moves you choose to use, what kind of music you choose to dance to, what kind of costume etc, It is difficult to spot a cetain cultural expression if the dancer still is struggeling to execute the moves etc. This is just my experience although if you have a teacher who is very specialized in say, egyptian or turkish, naturally you would pick that up in your own expression. IMO it is completely fine for newer dancers to not have a particular style.


btw I moved it, you are welcome
Perhaps I should have put it in dance styles, but since it is a student question rather than a discussion of styles I put it here. Hope it is ok with you?

 

[Jujube]

Really, you probably don't have a real "style" as of yet. My guess is that Shimmy probably uses a very Americanized jazz version of cabaret style. But I've only seen it once or twice, so I could be wrong. Look up Jenna and Jillina and see if their styles are in line with what you're doing.

Then keep looking! Look at Egyptian, at AmCab, at Turkish, at Sha'abi. Find what pleases and suits you and study it. Watch a LOT of performances--YouTube is a trove of videos. And if at all possible, attend classes and workshops to get feedback on what you're doing. What you think you're doing and what you're actually doing are sometimes very different things. A teacher can give you corrections, advice, and keep you from developing habits that will be very hard to break on down the road.

 

[Jujube]

Jinx, Gisela!

 

[gisela]

Jinx, Gisela!

hehe, yup

 

[LunaXJJ]

Thanks Gisela, and yeah this is an ok spot for it.

I know its not Egyptian from what I've heard about it from here. I'll look up the others to see if they're similar.

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

The Shimmy TV series is pretty much American Cabaret style (even though the dancers are Canadian.) I think if you check out Delilah of Seattle, you'll find that she HAD to have shared teachers with these ladies. Even the movement descriptions are the same as what Delilah uses.

Luna, are you in NY city? If so, I would heartily recommend finding a live teacher. While Shimmy is a good PRACTICE program, it won't give you the technical background needed to actually build your technique. You need a live teacher to correct alignment issues and make sure you are doing the movements with correct form.

There is often SOOOO much wrong with the so-called "instructional" videos on Youtube that I don't even know where to begin to comment. Since anybody with a web cam and a coin scarf can put up an "expert" video on Youtube, I wouldn't really spend a lot of time with those until you have enough experience to sort out the experienced and knowledgeable instructors from the enthusiastic beginners.

A dancer's "Style" comes from several things:
1. How she interprets the music
2. The music she chooses to dance to.
3. How she achieves a movement (which muscles she activates to get the movement to happen)
4. How she uses her breath and energy inside the movements to help illustrate the music.
and other things I can't think of at the moment.

Number 2 (the music) is often a beginner's first introduction to her teacher's Style. Number 3 (the technique) is the next thing, and it's the one that will change a lot if you switch around to different teachers.

My advice is to watch a lot of dancers and listen to a lot of music. Find the music that really moves you, and makes YOU want to move. Find dancers you want to emulate. Once you can tell us something like "I love the Wash Ya Wash CDs and I love watching Virginia dance" -- then we can point you to that Style and to instructors who teach that style.

(Being in NY, you have access to SOOOOO many EXCELLENT instructors that it makes me jealous. Don't waste your time and energy trying to teach yourself. Get out and get thee a teacher!! lol)

 

[LunaXJJ]

I actually live in a more rural area of upstate NY.
I would get a teacher, but my anxiety is awful. Having a teacher would be hard enough, let alone a bunch of other students. Plus I'm broke. :/

 

[Yame]

When you become proficient enough in this dance to know different styles of belly dance and other Middle Eastern dances, when you are proficient enough that you can perform all the "moves" well and with different emphases, expression and intention, when you are proficient enough to understand your music and to be able to differentiate between different genres of Middle Eastern music, then you might have a style.

This takes years of practice to achieve... years of watching other dancers live and on video, years of classes and practicing at home, years of listening to the music, etc. You can't expect to have a style when you're just starting something out. You need to have a strong enough technique and a strong enough awareness of your art to be able to develop a style. This is the case in any dance and art form, in my opinion.

And I second everything Aziyade said, especially the part about finding a teacher. Unless you are exceptionally talented and/or have prior dance experience, you will not get very far with the resources you are using. Youtube has a lot of great footage from a lot of magnificent dancers that you can use for educational purposes and inspiration, but someone who is fairly new to this dance doesn't have enough of a foundation in it to be able to get that much out of performance videos.

You need to learn the basics first, and very few youtube tutorials are worthwhile... those that are, are few and far between, and are way too short. Shimmy on Fit TV won't do it, either. It's a pretty show and it's nice for exposing people to belly dance... but honestly I don't think it's a good resource for someone who wants to really learn belly dance.

I started learning how to belly dance on youtube but I quickly ran out of resources and had to start buying DVDs and then of course find a teacher. Learning belly dance in a classroom environment really isn't that scary. I hope you decide to give it more thought.

 

[RayaDancer]

i agree with what everyone is saying about "styles"... the deeper you involve yourself in the dance, you will probably end up leaning to one style or another. in the beginning anyway, i feel technique is most important regardless of style. i think its better to have a clean sharp technique even if it is "generic". You will find that proper technique foundations carries across in all styles of dance, and in the future if you do pick a style to focus on you will be grateful for all that technique training. with that being said...
nothing can replace live training. DVDs are great as supplements but there is no replacement for live feedback. you may think youre doing something correctly at home, but without live feedback you may be doing it wrong... and you might even be doing things in such a way that can lead to injury. now these dvds arent free anyway; some cost $20 or more and maybe that $20 could buy you a class at your local dance center...even if you cant go to a class every week, maybe once or twice a month, but that is still better than nothing. and dont be intimidated; youre going to be in a class with people who are at the same level as you and have the same skills and capabilites as you do. believe me when i tell you that it would be worth every penny to get some live training.

 

[LunaXJJ]

Thanks. Now that I've improved since the creation of this thread, I'd say my style is much like Cassandra Fox's style. What's hers?

 

[Ariadne]

American Oriental.

 

[MissVega]

I'm not sure what I would technically define my style as, but American Oriental doesn't seem like the right all inclusive title. I'm curious as to how you decided on that.
I haven't really had any American influence, inspiration or instructors. I'm not American and haven't lived there.

When I was at Rakkasah this year Yame summed it up the best in saying "Your Egyptian is so Russian" lol. I have been heavily inspired by the Russian, Ukrainian and South American dancers (Kahina and Saida mainly). I

Yame and I jokingly called it "Russyptian" since it is similar to the Russian take on Egyptian Belly dance. Although I think that is a pretty good fit.

As far as dancer and audience feedback, I've been told by those who have seen the Eastern European dancers that my style is very similar. I've also had those of Middle eastern background ask if I studied in Egypt.

I'm also pretty good at adapting to requests. I performed at an Iraqi wedding a couple of weekends ago and really wanted to do my best to represent some Iraqi dance and can only assume I was successful as several attendees asked if I also danced egyptian style as well. :lol:

 

[Ariadne]

I'm not sure what I would technically define my style as, but American Oriental doesn't seem like the right all inclusive title. I'm curious as to how you decided on that.

lol good question. Based on your costuming for the most part, that and your dance style is very eclectic which is usually found in AO. I like Yame and your description of "Russyptian" though since I have noticed your most recent work does have a strong "Russyptian" feel to it that wasn't there before. There is a reason I was tempted to just post "Cassandra Fox's style" in response. I suspect you are one of a kind.

 

[Yame]

I know I say this all the time, but this is why I am always hesitant to attach a label to everything I see. Yes, sometimes it's as simple as "if it quacks..." but in this globalized world we live in, a lot of dancers are a product of exposure to multiple styles, so individual styles are best described in detail as opposed to labeled two or three words.

I also think there are a lot more established styles out there than belly dancers officially recognize.

For Cassandra I guess we settled with Russyptian, but that doesn't even begin to describe her when she starts fusing belly dance with Caribbean I think "Cassandra Fox's style" would have been the perfect response!