Mixing/Fusing style and props (video)

[gypsy]

I am trying to learn about the differnt styles in belly dance and came across a dancer wearing what I think is modern Egyptian costuming, dancing with a sword, at a renaissance fair no less!
My reason to point it out is just that I feel it shows the general public a mish mash of the dance (although it is a beautiul dance, by a talented dancer!)
I thought I had read Egyptian dancers generally don't use swords, but it is an American belly dance thing.
Am I correct or is this fusing very common?

 

[Salome]

Am I correct

Yep

or is this fusing very common

Nope

It's not that props are not used in Egyptian style but I would argue that it does not play the same active/common role as it does in American style where you find fans, veils, swords, trays etc. Some Egyptian dancers have used schticky props like dancing on wine glasses, dancing on top of a tabla... some have had a unique prop they were known for (who had the parrot?) sometimes a little bit of opening with veil (very different than american veil work). Other props that might come to play for Egyptian dancers doing a folk style are shemadan for wedding march/celebration and assaya for saidi and baladi. If we are generalizing about what is earmarked 'Egyptian', that's more or less it.

 

[Yame]

I can't watch the video right now so I can't comment on this video in particular, but just because someone is wearing an Egyptian style costume doesn't necessarily mean they are dancing Egyptian style.

I mean, if you're going to do something that is highly stylized and very modern Egyptian you should probably wear a modern Egyptian costume and if you are doing something that's super classical American then you should probably wear an American cabaret costume but there are no "rules" that say you have to wear this or that for this or that style (unless we are talking folkloric), especially being that there is a lot of cross-over in costuming style and dance style.

Most dancers in the US (including myself) these days are in my opinion neither purely Egyptian nor purely American cabaret, but a mixture of both. Egyptian style influence is very strong all around the world, so even though in many places belly dance evolved differently from the way it did in Egypt, people are now taking many concepts and ideas from Egyptian style and putting their own spin on it. If the dance style isn't so black and white, the costume style most certainly won't be.

There are even a lot of very cabaret dancers (not very Egyptian at all) who wear Egyptian style costumes because that's what's in fashion right now.

Regarding the setting, yes, it's a Ren Faire, but Ren Faires aren't exactly a bastion of historical accuracy. I don't see why an Egyptian style or American cabaret dancer would need to change their style into something else in order to fit the theme. I'm not sure why ATS dancers and dancers of the sort are acceptable, when they don't even represent real existing people let alone historical ones, but it's not okay to be sparkly and glittery. Belly dance has nothing to do with the Renaissance whether it's American Cabaret, Modern Egyptian, American Tribal Style, Tribal Fusion, or whatever. So anything you put up will be a stretch...

 

[Ariadne]

Another thing to consider is that more and more dancers are wearing the Egyptian style costuming even if they don't dance in the Egyptian style. The real dichotomy isn't that a dancer in an Egyptian costuming is dancing with a sword but that she's doing it at a Renn Faire. Shira has a great story about doing that when she was starting out. It happens often unfortunately.

:lol: Yame, you beat me to posting by a few seconds.

BTW it's not that ATS dancers etc are more acceptable it's that their costumes are more faux historical and blend in better. Every time I see Traditional dancers perform at a faire but in more faux-historical costuming they are extremely popular.

 

[SeeJaneDance]

Hm, I can't hear the music, but what seems to be out of place is the costume. Ren Faires are common American venues for dancers, and swords are common props for them. But you pretty much never see any cabaret style costuming at them, it's either Tribal or folk, or fantasy.

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

The Renn Faire she's performing at must have rules that are much more lax than the ones around here. In my region, not only are you supposed to make an effort at period/historical costuming, you usually can't use canned music.

I don't see anything wrong with her performance. It's straight-up cabaret, done to I think appropriate music and in a costume I think that is fine for this kind of dance, for reasons that other people have mentioned. The only thing that tracks weird to me is that it's a Renn Faire, since the ones I've been to prefer a more "tribal" or ethnic/folky look.

Just my $0.02

 

[gypsy]

I think if it ever crossed my mind to wear a modern Egyptian costume and use a sword I would quickly remember that would probably invite much critisism for style clashing, but here we have a seasoned professional doing just that in a public showing.

I guess it's not the 'crime' I assumed it would be and is done often, and I am learning that although there are distinctions in styles they are not necessarily upheld even in professional settings :think:

As I study dance styles I also want to know how they are interpreted, defined, and how loosley or ridgidly followed.

 

[Yame]

I guess it's not the 'crime' I assumed it would be and is done often, and I am learning that although there are distinctions in styles they are not necessarily upheld even in professional settings :think:

Because distinctions between styles happen organically. They aren't pre-set, rigid rules that will either be upheld or broken.

 

[Ariadne]

The reasons for the differences in costuming is because of the differences in the style of dance not because one belongs to one and never the two shall meet.

Egyptian dancing tends to be more... gooey, smooth, supple movements. The slender style of the costuming shows those movements off. It also looks sleek and that attracts dancers in other styles but the more sharp accented movements that are standard in Turkish and American style dancing don't show as well without the fringe or ruffles to emphasis the moves. Hence why dancers are moving back toward the more traditional costumes for those styles. That doesn't mean they won't dabble though.

Mermaid skirts are welcome in almost any style.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

I'll tell you one even better that I was guilty of committing this year at our Ren Faire: we did a Boooywood-esque type dance at our Ren Faire this past spring. In my defense, I did try to be a bit more "authentic" by wearing an Indian choli and skirt, and a maang tikka (wish my phone autocorrect would stop it! >:/ ). Still, the setting isn't considered appropriate for Bollywood, but as has been pointed out, neither is bellydance. But folkloric/fakeloric/fantasy-type dances are indeed extremely popular at Ren Faires, especially when there's a live tabla band available. Canned music is acceptable at our Ren Faire, though.

I personally love performing at Ren Faires because it's a family venue, and you're close to the audience and can get them involved during the freestyle dance around. Plus, I LOVE fair foooood! 0.0