Yet another style description thread

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

My Egyptian teachers include those from Reda, the National Trupe, and neither. All of them (I've done a range of beledi classes with at least 8 of them) insisted on a covered belly (basically a dress) for all non-orientale performances.

And why? How many of them just say, "because that's the way it is?" And that's because that's what THEY were told. I'll accept that it's considered the "home" dance and keeping in character, you would wear the dress. But I'm still not going to shake my head in exasperation when I see it done in bedleh, any more than when I see cane in bedleh, as long as the dancing itself is good.

To be frank, none of the Egyptians I know HERE actually LISTEN to or appreciate a beledi progression, as it's considered Grandpa's music. (It's the social equivalent of a 30-something listening rapt to "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" or any other song you'd find on the Victrola.) But if you want to be REALLY authentic, you'd be dancing it in jeans or pants suits (at least for Arabs here.)

 

[Amanda (was Aziyade)]

I guess it fits into the same category as "I don't like that whiny Middle Eastern music - so I'm going to belly dance to Hip Hop".

No, it really has nothing to do with that. Egyptian dance IN EGYPT has a context that is NOT the same as Egyptian dance in America, or Egyptian dance in the UK.

No American dancer could get away with Aida Nour's butt shimmy, but we could put an assaya between the chests of 2 dancers with nary a wink or nod -- something Reda could NOT do for Cairo audiences. Context. Context. Context.

If you are doing belly dance it is a full package - the movement, the interpretation, the music, and the costume.

-Not everything needs to be a mirror image of whatever Reda Troupe or Denise Enan did. Besides we are talking about a Stage Performance. I certainly enjoy Elena Lentini's beledi progression much more than another insipid copy of Mona Said. But perhaps that's just because I'm unsophisticated.