Belly dance, burlesque and sexuality
- Thread starter Elisheva
- Start date
Duvet
Member
Well, I've just had a burlesque workshop with Princess Farhana, and I have to say, I can see the appeal!
. You feel connected to your body, powerfully content with yourself, and the flirtation is all about how far you want to go. Pretty much about how I feel about bellydance too, so maybe I'm making a connection that's only personal to me? As a performer I can see how you might feel the one follows on, and therefore can be classed with, the other, because of the sense of liberation it can give you as a persona to wear. As this is quite a recent experience, I'm still processing how I feel about it, so this all might change.However, having seen burlesque appear more and more at haflas and bellydance shows in recent years, I don't like seeing it there, mainly because;
1. It can come across as badly performed and self indulgent (okay bellydance can do this too, but within this context it stands out more because you give it more attention, and have higher expectations - doing something different should require that its done well, otherwise why bother?).
2. It gets included because of the old 'this is women dancing, having fun and feeling liberated' label, which immediately makes me feel excluded.
3. As an audience member, I'm not keen on going to a show, expecting to see bellydance, and end up seeing a number of burlesque routines - just as I wouldn't want to end up seeing a number of juggling acts, sequence dancing or zumba demonstrations, nice as they all might be.
I really have to agree with this. Bad belly dancing is just bad dancing...it might be embarrassing, but when the performance hooks on flirtation, overt sexuality and striptease, it's somehow worse than just bad dancing if it's not executed well. I do not have anything against flirtation, overt sexuality and striptease - I performed at a burlesque show, after all, and they knew me because I had lessons there at one point - but the stakes are higher in it, I think. When I mess up my belly dancing, I've failed to execute moves well. If I fail at burlesque, it's a bit like the time I tried to seduce a boyfriend by slowly sucking my milkshake through my straw, went too fast and started choking
Munniko
New member
I only liked that Elisheva because it sounds like something I would do, either that or trying to be sexy and maintain eye contact and accidentally put the straw up my nose.
I feel it is unfair to hold badly done burlesque to a higher standard, but I know what you mean. You are trying to emote to the audience, but putting badly done emote + awkward dancing then it starts going to another level. Sometimes I wonder if that is what I'm doing.
I feel it is unfair to hold badly done burlesque to a higher standard, but I know what you mean. You are trying to emote to the audience, but putting badly done emote + awkward dancing then it starts going to another level. Sometimes I wonder if that is what I'm doing.
It's not that I hold it to a higher standard, exactly, it's just that I think the nature of it means the stakes are higher and you have further to fall. I've seen veil dancers hit by the Clinging Veil of Death (haven't we all?) and it's not nice when it happens, but it's much easier to watch than a burlesque dancer attempting to strip her legs sexily and accidentally boinging her stockings off her head....
Munniko
New member
I do agree and I've seen a dancer being attacked by those stupid string curtains and it was wrapping itself around her neck and then clinging to her butt sequins. Luckily it was a duet so her partner was able to save her.
At least, though, in burlesque you've got the option of making it funny when something like that happens - burly's nothing without a sense of humour and it's largely mocking anyway. in bellydance you can too, but it can rather spoil the mood if you're in the middle of something really beautiful and emo.