Hi,
I've been dancing for eight years. I have taught classes and led troupes, auditioned for the Belly Dance Superstars and worked in Hawai'i, Canada, and Minnesota. My initial dance style was Jordanian, as I was taught the family's traditional dance style by my first teacher (who was from Jordan). Since then, I have learned Egyptian, American cabaret, and tribal styles (much to the horror of my original instructor, who was a diehard purist). I will hopefully be competing in Wiggles of the West and Bellydancer USA this summer.
I have a general question that has been bothering me for years. I worked for several years as a student assistant to an elderly Egyptian professor from Cairo. He would have me go to his house and dance for his family (his wife, sons, daughter, etc) and we'd have dinner, then his Egyptian friends would read fortunes in the grounds of the Turkish coffee we drank. My French teacher, who became a good friend, was from Algeria. All these people, including my original instructor, have a VERY different view of belly dance than what has been out on the Net and in most classes I've attended ever since. It has been difficult for me to find places to learn more because I don't believe in the Mother Goddess/only-for-women/female empowerment idea of belly dance. I tend to believe what the Middle Easterners around me tell me. Perhaps a good way to sum it up would be what the old doctor once said, "There are two women. One you have fun with...she is bellydancer. Other woman, she is wife."
None of that attitude bothers me. I teach men, and when I teach women I tell them what my Middle Eastern instructor told me and what the Middle Eastern people I know have also said: this dance is meant to be sexual/sensual. This does not make it stripping, or dirty, or anything of that nature. In their eyes, it is a celebration of that which everyone does: make love. It is not meant in a disgusting way, as it would probably be viewed...considering that my Egyptian boss asked me do it with his family around. I think that it is difficult for most people to watch something that is intended to express sexuality in any form, because of the 'dirty' label.
A good example of this is that two of my friends were watching (I believe) Alexander. Through all the gore and violence a woman and her two little boys sat there, but the moment the sex scene started she made a disgusted noise and grabbed the boys, running out of the theatre. Odd that we have such a taboo on sexuality that pornographic violence was more acceptable!
I have also read of American dancers that go to Cairo and were so obsessed with keeping the sexuality out of the dance that their audiences didn't enjoy it; once they accepted that was a part of it, everything was fine.
I hope I am expressing this accurately. I realize there are a lot of people in the belly dance community that would find it horrifying that I teach belly dance as a beautiful expression of sexuality. This is also the reason I teach men, and enjoy watching men dance. Then again, I've always thought men were beautiful and I have always appreciated them as much as men appreciate looking at women; I read something on another board that said 'women don't WATCH men the way they do us'. Perhaps I had a different sort of upbringing, but I openly do so. If we can celebrate sexuality in this beautiful dance, I don't see what's wrong with that.
My question is in regards to whether dancers here feel that this dance is completely devoid of sexuality and is about female empowerment, or if they feel that there is sensuality/sexuality in the dance. The woman who read the coffee grounds (I forget her name at the moment) told me that she's had several people tell her she's incorrect about the dance and she asked me, 'How can they say so? I am Egyptian, from Cairo.'
Mother Goddess or expression of sexuality? I am curious to know your opinions.
-Brea
I've been dancing for eight years. I have taught classes and led troupes, auditioned for the Belly Dance Superstars and worked in Hawai'i, Canada, and Minnesota. My initial dance style was Jordanian, as I was taught the family's traditional dance style by my first teacher (who was from Jordan). Since then, I have learned Egyptian, American cabaret, and tribal styles (much to the horror of my original instructor, who was a diehard purist). I will hopefully be competing in Wiggles of the West and Bellydancer USA this summer.
I have a general question that has been bothering me for years. I worked for several years as a student assistant to an elderly Egyptian professor from Cairo. He would have me go to his house and dance for his family (his wife, sons, daughter, etc) and we'd have dinner, then his Egyptian friends would read fortunes in the grounds of the Turkish coffee we drank. My French teacher, who became a good friend, was from Algeria. All these people, including my original instructor, have a VERY different view of belly dance than what has been out on the Net and in most classes I've attended ever since. It has been difficult for me to find places to learn more because I don't believe in the Mother Goddess/only-for-women/female empowerment idea of belly dance. I tend to believe what the Middle Easterners around me tell me. Perhaps a good way to sum it up would be what the old doctor once said, "There are two women. One you have fun with...she is bellydancer. Other woman, she is wife."
None of that attitude bothers me. I teach men, and when I teach women I tell them what my Middle Eastern instructor told me and what the Middle Eastern people I know have also said: this dance is meant to be sexual/sensual. This does not make it stripping, or dirty, or anything of that nature. In their eyes, it is a celebration of that which everyone does: make love. It is not meant in a disgusting way, as it would probably be viewed...considering that my Egyptian boss asked me do it with his family around. I think that it is difficult for most people to watch something that is intended to express sexuality in any form, because of the 'dirty' label.
A good example of this is that two of my friends were watching (I believe) Alexander. Through all the gore and violence a woman and her two little boys sat there, but the moment the sex scene started she made a disgusted noise and grabbed the boys, running out of the theatre. Odd that we have such a taboo on sexuality that pornographic violence was more acceptable!
I have also read of American dancers that go to Cairo and were so obsessed with keeping the sexuality out of the dance that their audiences didn't enjoy it; once they accepted that was a part of it, everything was fine.
I hope I am expressing this accurately. I realize there are a lot of people in the belly dance community that would find it horrifying that I teach belly dance as a beautiful expression of sexuality. This is also the reason I teach men, and enjoy watching men dance. Then again, I've always thought men were beautiful and I have always appreciated them as much as men appreciate looking at women; I read something on another board that said 'women don't WATCH men the way they do us'. Perhaps I had a different sort of upbringing, but I openly do so. If we can celebrate sexuality in this beautiful dance, I don't see what's wrong with that.
My question is in regards to whether dancers here feel that this dance is completely devoid of sexuality and is about female empowerment, or if they feel that there is sensuality/sexuality in the dance. The woman who read the coffee grounds (I forget her name at the moment) told me that she's had several people tell her she's incorrect about the dance and she asked me, 'How can they say so? I am Egyptian, from Cairo.'
Mother Goddess or expression of sexuality? I am curious to know your opinions.
-Brea
Bellydancing helps me to remember that. 
