Heard the weirdest belly dance story..

[LadyLoba]

There was supposed to be a free intro to belly dance class in my hometown. I asked someone about it...and it turned out that the classes had already happened...nobody showed up to them..but the "troupe" performed anyway. I asked the person I was talking to how they performed when they'd never studied belly dance at all, and she said "we faked it" and made a few arm gestures.

I was really irritated to hear that. No wonder people in this area don't take it seriously, if that's the kind of thing the people who present themselves as "bellydancers" pull.

I don't know why I'm surprised...they treat all the performing arts like that. I once saw a so called play where a guy gestured to the prompter backstage, who you could clearly hear, and go "yeah, what he said" instead of even reciting his line...never mind acting.

But it especially irritates me with belly dance, because there are enough people who think anybody who stands on a stage and wiggles any part of their body is belly dancing, without having people get up on a stage, wiggle their arms around at random, and call it belly dancing.

I don't mean to sound like one of those wet blanket types who sucks all the fun out of belly dancing by acting like it's the same thing as learning how to do brain surgery, practice law, etc....it is dancing...it is supposed to be fun...but come on...music is also fun....and nobody would sit down, bang on a piano at random and call it a "recital." They could have at least actually learned something before performing...or if they didnt want to even try to learn, cancel the performance.

[gisela]

I am not sure I understand. If nobody showed up for the classes then who performed?

I do understand the rest of your post though.
That "actor" that's insane.

[Erik]

I'm cloudy on this as well, gisela. How can it be a performance if no one came to see it?

Fake doesn't always translate as bad. Serena was still alive when I gained access to the Internet in '04. Although I never had any contact with her, I learned a bit about her after her death in '07. I remember reading that her first performance was completely faked. She simply put on the costume and winged it, but over the years she became a respected dancer and teacher.

[Starmouth]

Yep, I'm confused. Who performed? And to who, if nobody was there?

[Mosaic]

If you are already a "troupe" then surely you must have had some classes, or how can a few people be classified as a troupe, but I am also very confused, if no one turned up.
~Mosaic

[Duvet]

I agree with the sentiment, but also don't understand the context.
Was the troupe doing the teaching? If they were able to teach, how come they needed to fake the performance?
If none of the troupe had ever bellydanced before, how come they got the idea to perform in the first place? And who watched them?

[Yame]

I'm really confused as well. I think maybe a piece of the post is missing, because right now it doesn't make sense.

[Amulya]

Was it a class with a public performance later elsewhere? Then it would make sense.

[Erik]

The word troupe is in quotes, so it is maybe a sarcastic application?

Here's a theory. A free intro class was announced and potential students came but nobody showed up to teach it, possibly because the date was printed wrong on the advertising. Instead of going home, a new leader with little or no training was appointed, and they made up their own dance for whomever happened to be there.

[Suzanne Azhaar]

She did say it was a 'weird belly dance story'. Looking forward to when LadyLoba fills in the details.