Are bindis as big of a problem as I've read?

[Shanazel]

Gotcha re: your final paragraph. Re: first paragraph, I understand and appreciate your sensitivity to what you see as cultural appropriation but it can be and is carried too far. America is America and we blend cultures, taking immigration to our country as tacit agreement that the immigrants understand they are moving to a melting pot and may see a woman of Celtic extraction wearing a kimono to a party or a woman of Egyptian extraction wearing a serape on a cool day without asking permission of every Japanese and Mexican in the area.

 

[Zorba]

Thank you Shanazel! We're drowning in an ocean of poisonous Political Correctness run amok!

 

[Daimona]

And then we're trailing a bit of the original question, but to sum it up so far:


Bindis are Indian and have nothing to do with belly dance (of Middle Eastern origin).

Wear the blingy ones if you like, but remember that you may be considered culturally clueless/ignorant unless you do fusion with Indian music/dance or manage to blend the bindi well with your tribal fusion stage make-up so it don't appear to be "that Indian jewel on your forehead."

 

[Roshanna]

Another interesting piece of writing by an Indian-American woman: http://ishanijasmin.com/post/107829263023/the-commodification-of-culture-is-you-can-wear

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Another interesting piece of writing by an Indian-American woman: http://ishanijasmin.com/post/107829263023/the-commodification-of-culture-is-you-can-wear

Why do people have to be so cruel to those who are "different" from themselves?

 

[Farasha Hanem]

*now getting mad* I've been around PLENTY of people from India, and they DO NOT SMELL any more than I do!!! >:/

 

[Kashmir]

Nothing to do with the cultural side - but I was reminded last weekend with the Tribal dancers with their bindis - they can really make you look like you are frowning from a distance. Now this may be the effect you are after, but if not ...

 

[Farasha Hanem]

I thought Tribal Fusion was all about the frowning! 8/

 

[Shanazel]

:lol:

 

[Zorba]

Remembering this thread prompted me to wear a bindi at last nite's performance.

 

[Dani]

I feel like I've started a war TT.TT

 

[Shanazel]

Nope, nowhere near a war. Check some of the back Sauna files if you want to relive a few real word wars.

 

[Zorba]

Nope, nowhere near a war. Check some of the back Sauna files if you want to relive a few real word wars.

Nope, not even close!

 

[Darshiva]

Hi, I'm a friendly moderator for the debate forum and I'd just like to weigh in. I see a lot of light-hearted banter between old friends and friendly, if opinionated, discussion. So, if this thread - in its present state - does get relocated to debate, I'm sending it right back. It has no place there.

Back to the topic at hand. I think that all jewellery has a place in bellydance (even the stick-on kind) and I have tons of bindis and stick-on jewels in my dance jewellery stash even though I never wear them, because they don't really work with egyptian style as I do it. But they are there, waiting for the day when I get my tribaret/tribal/aussie style on.

 

[Roshanna]

No war here I've been chatting with most of this lot online for the best part of 7 years (oh my!) on and off. So I have strong opinions, and like to discuss stuff, but in a friendly spirit

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Nope, nowhere near a war. Check some of the back Sauna files if you want to relive a few real word wars.

But WHICH Word War should she read first? Word War I? WW2? Word War 387? *snork!* xD


okaaaaaaaaaaaay, I knooooow, I'm one of the moderators, I'll behaaaaaaaaave! >.>

 

[Zorba]

How about Word War Z?

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Now THAT one was totally apocalyptic! xD :lol:

 

[DreamHunter]

What Shanazel said. Bindis are beautiful, but not appropriate for Middle Eastern dance, unless perhaps you're doing some sort of ME/Bollywood fusion, but there again, you'd need to be strong in both dance genres to do the fusion justice. Bellydance comes from the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey) cultures, and do not wear bindis. Although some people mistakenly believe that India had an influence on the development and history of bellydance, it's simply not true. Two different cultures, two different dance styles (I'm generalizing here, because both dance styles can be further broken down into their many respective folkloric styles).

I was watching some Bollywood-related, dance-related vid some time back, can't recall exactly what it was now, and the programme's Indian host, a lady, was saying something like 'Indian dance (or was it Bollywood dance?) is heavily influenced by Middle Eastern belly dance ...'

Was quite surprising for me, cos all the while I thought it was the other way around.

 

[DreamHunter]

Well, if we go back to really ancient history, the Indus Valley Civilisation, so called IVC, was contemporareous with & interacted with the Mesopotamian Civilisation. So it might be possible that the culture that developed in both places, including that related to dancing, influenced one another.