belly dance club?

[Aniseteph]

Do you suppose war shortages are responsible for the short-skirt costume, as well?

Yeah, that'll be it.

On topic, it'd depend on the club, wouldn't it? If it's going to be serious about studying belly dance and the cultural background there are lots of potential positives like Aziyade said, and maybe you could get your counselor's support.

IMO da Sage's point about getting some sort of appropriate teacher guidance is a very good one. If I was the counselor, even if you had told me about what belly dance is really about, I'd still be concerned that without proper leadership it would degenerate into all my worst fears (inappropriate moves and costumes and wannabe Shakira routines, parents mad at the school for allowing it, unlovely attitudes from the boys, etc etc. ).

[Yshka]

Do you suppose war shortages are responsible for the short-skirt costume, as well?

Yeah that'll be it.

Well ofcourse, duh After they needed all that fabric to create uniforms for all the soldiers there wasn't enough left to create decent skirts for cheerleaders, poor girls! Boy, they must have had cold legs in the beginning

As for your question, I agree with things Aniseteph and Aziyade have said. If you indeed are true about Oriental dance and studying it's background, music and cultural heritage, you might be able to show the school that it is not at all wiggling about like Shakira or the cliche harem fantasy. You have to be realistic about the dance for certain, and a dance teachers guidance would be recommended. I've found that teaching dance is hard, even under the guidance of a qualified teacher. Not everyone can just teach dance. But, if everything is allright and you have it planned out professionally then that would be a good way to show the public what Oriental dance is about.

[janaki]

I am planning to start Belly dance club in HK in next couple of months too. It is definitely a great idea. Some of the members have given great advise here. Good luck.

[KuteNurse]

Thanks for explaining da Sage I knew there had to be something wrong with those American high school movies we see around here... but a friend of mine who grew up in the US said football players and cheerleaders are really terrible people

We went a little off topic I'm affraid

Moonie,

I was a cheerleader in highschool and it was nothing more than a bunch of girls going to games and cheering on the guys who played sports. Part of being elected a cheerleader was someone with leadership qualities, good grades and a cheerful personality along with gymnastic abilities. So the stereotypes are also as incorrect as the belly dancing sterotypes. I was just at the Mall of America after Christmas and there was a cheerleading competition there. I ran into it by accident and I got to see my home town in the competition and my son's high school. I also ran into many people I knew. It was actually quite fun to see and there were many young men performing along with the young women

[karena]

Now I'm going to be really obnoxious and post a couple links:

History of Cheerleading

WikiAnswers - Where was cheerleading invented

Apparently cheerleading was a men's-only thing until WWII caused a shortage of men, and the women stepped up. Do you suppose war shortages are responsible for the short-skirt costume, as well?

Reading the ancient Greeks references reminded me of the ancient Egypt and bellydance debates. I love the thought that somewhere there is a cheerleading forum which has parallel debates to here, about the history, being misunderstood and costume choices I bet it exists! I'm going looking...

[karena]

Yay I found one, and bad reputation based on what it seen the movies is there, whether or not you can show your midriff, how often you practice, favourite music, copying other people's cheers, the words for cheers people need. It's like a parallel universe Alas nothing about the history. Maybe I should start it

[da Sage]

Ha ha! I wonder if Yello's "Oh Yeah" is one of their "classics"?

I always thought the cheering would be much improved if it were sung, operatic style. All that shouting is hard on the voice!

[Reen.Blom]

Oh Cheerleading opera... I would see THAT!

[Aniseteph]

What about for football in the UK - some of those football chants would be great done by a bunch of squeaky clean overenthusiastic cheerleaders.

[NOThislittleHAREMGIRL]

Thanks for your posts

I am very serious about this dance.
I am a dancer on good days and bad days.
and i want to share this dance with people at my school.
Not just the health prospects, but also the sense of self awareness and happiness.

My aunt and I talked it out.

She said pretty much the same thing as everyone has said.

She thinks i should emphasize it as a form of fitness because our school is big on eating better and being healthier

Also, our school is all about diversity. Maybe ill see if i can go through our diversity club as kind of a twice a month thing to start out

thanks for giving me some feedback