Jehan- Fantasy Bellydance- A New Ancient Reality

Tarabelly

New member
Article about Fantasy Bellydance from Jehan Kamal
http://www.bellydanceamerica.com/articles/fantasy-bellydance-–-a-new-ancient-reality-by-jehan
 

Kashmir

New member
So because an area has more than one dance tradition it is okay to mix them together because they came from the same place. Like Highland dancing and Morris dancing - both found in the UK. Or csadas and Irish dancing - both found in Europe.

Basically self serving drivel.
 

Aniseteph

New member
Maybe I am misunderstanding, but is one of the thrusts of this that belly dance, that you can tell is bellydance because it has "movements easily recognizable as bellydance", has been evolving for centuries in Asia and the ME (Egypt????:confused:) by fusion, so modern day fusion is pretty much right there in the tradition of belly dance?

Yeahhhh... It all went wrong for me at "movements easily recognizable as bellydance". Who gets to do that recognising?
 

Amulya

Moderator
I couldn't even finish the article. Why doesn't she call it fusion what she does, keep it separate.
 

Roshanna

New member
OK, so I'm feeling more snarky now (It's a Monday morning, I've only had one coffee...). I found the article incredibly pompous and self-indulgent, especially the inclusion of the 'poetry'. I mean, really, who quotes their *own* poetry? And the whole thing is so poorly written as to be almost unreadable.

My first exposure to Jehan was when I bought the 'Gothic Bellydance' DVD as a baby dancer, and there was one 'dance' that was her writhing around in a bondage dungeon in a nightie to a soundtrack of her own singing. One of the most self-indulgent and embarrassing things I've ever seen done in the name of 'bellydance'. I can't say that this article has done anything to change my perception of her work.

It's all orientalist as hell, too - 'ancient', 'sacred', 'goddesses', 'spirituality', 'priestesses', blah blah blah... Sod that.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I keep getting a "Not Found" notification.

Sigh.

I am having al sorts of problems with te OD ste. See wat happens o my typin? And it is ony tis ite no others.

Maybe this is te ompute genies way of forcing me to keep my opinions tomysef
 

Amulya

Moderator
My first exposure to Jehan was when I bought the 'Gothic Bellydance' DVD as a baby dancer, and there was one 'dance' that was her writhing around in a bondage dungeon in a nightie to a soundtrack of her own singing. One of the most self-indulgent and embarrassing things I've ever seen done in the name of 'bellydance'.

Yes that was also the first (and last) time I saw her 'dance'. It was so out of place in the DVD. I hope in real life her dancing is totally different.
 

walladah

New member
I can be understanding with misunderstandings about bellydance

I can even tolerate commodification and orientalism, as i acknowledge that big part of our audiences want to buy a commodity dance with orientalist sparkle.

But i cannot tolerate laziness.

I like fantasy in bellydance, maybe too much, in the sense, that i have seen all this fervour to make god dancers "invent" something that has already been there in the mediterranean but forgotten or marginalised. THen i support artistic freedom and of course my freedom afterwards to decide whether i like the creation or not.

But, evade all rules even the rule that the artist is subject to critisicm as art is a collective project done by all of us and our communities? no way!

The article has no clear position, no clear stance, at one point is for fantasy, at the other it criticises the "goddess" theme used in bellydance etc, no research (obviously), not even a clear argument.

Everybody can write a soup for an article in art, ok, i can deal with that. But if we want our art to evolve, we cannot opt for the easy way, either while dancing or while we talk/write about our dance.

And a very serious point: we are not sure whether the worship of the goddess existed before patriarchy or after it. Let alone whether her cult involved bellydance or not. That means, evoking the goddess religion might be a self-defeating mistake. More research is needed on the subject instead.
 

MizzNaaa

New member
I can even tolerate commodification and orientalism, as i acknowledge that big part of our audiences want to buy a commodity dance with orientalist sparkle.

I don't, my people and culture shouldn't be a commodity used to sell :/. And that article is the biggest load of #*@&@&*$ I've read in a while. Blargh, maybe my general mood and RL issues affecting my judgment of that person but bleh, I don't like what she has to say about this.

Also, lady, step away from Horus's eye. Jeez the dude is probably twitching in his skies right now at the use xD
 

Shanazel

Moderator
At least your people and culture are in good company. Ever see ads for Irish Spring Soap? Or Thrifty Scot Hotels? French Lingerie Outlets? American Airlines? Marlboro ads featuring cowboys as heavy smokers? ;) Those are all brainstorms of American advertisers but I suspect examples exist worldwide.

Finally found the article. Soldiers should wear a copy of this article over their hearts because a bullet would never make it past the first paragraph.
 

Kartane

New member
I am not sure what that was I just attempted to read...I couldn't muddle through it. (Hmmm...Why do people feel the need to turn middle eastern and related dances into anything but what they already are? I am always baffled by this.)
 
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