"belllydance"-attempt in the figure skating world cup.

[gisela]

Did any of you watch it?

The Israeli ice dancing couple did a bellydance-flavoured program as their original dance. Other couples did african, spanish, russian, american, gypsy- kind of choreographies.

I have been wondering for many years why noone would do this. Have you seen bellydance-like figure skating before?

The only problem was... they didn't bellydance. At all. There was a very violent hip-up in the beginning and then absolutely NOTHING moving in the mid section of the bodies during the entire program. Big arm and leg movement and completely like any other ice dance choreo.
It was so weird to see someone dancing to shik shak shok (yes, that was their music choice) and keeping the body stiff like a stick.

I don't really mind the bad representation since the african dance, the flamenco and all the other programs also were standardized, adapted and built on stereotypes and not very true to the original soul of the dances.
I was just a bit disappointed that they didn't use bellydance. It didn't seem that they knew what it was really about. I think it could have been a great show.

Found a picture.
Didn't care much for her costume either. Given the costuming in Figure skating I think this could have been sooo much nicer.

 

[KuteNurse]

It would be an interesting combination! I did not see it, but I have also thought it might work. Too bad they didn't have any other BD moves practiced.

 

[Eshta]

Yesssss!!!! And no......!

I've been telling my friend that "Belly Dance On Ice" is going to be the Next Big Thing (can you imagine wings of isis?!), I will immediately be pointing out this thread to her just to prove I was right!! Please note as your mouse hovers over the reputation button to angrily give me negative rep, this has been a tongue-in-cheek joke for a while, I never said I thought it was a good thing, hahaha!!

So my budding youtubers, can anyone track down a clip of this performance? My curiousity is getting the better of me! And I totally agree on the costume point, although credit for it's relative modesty given the other way it could have gone :shok::lol:!

Hehehe!

 

[KuteNurse]

YouTube - Belly Dancing On Ice

She does not seem to be able to skate or belly dance. lol
Funny we should mention ice skating. I saw Blades of Glory on cable tonight...It was hilarious.

Here is another one:
YouTube - Bellydancing on Ice

YouTube - Alexandra from Greece bellydances on ice

 

[Aniseteph]

Yeurgh. Except for Alexandra who wasn't really skating much.

It just doesn't work for me - maybe because belly dance is so grounded and you can't be grounded if you are sliding about on ice? (well, not in a good way).

 

[gisela]

yay here it is!

It could also have something to do with this couple not being one og the top couples. If the leading ice dancers did a bellydance-like dance it might be different. I've seen a lot of really enjoyable spanish, russian, tango and jive numbers.
Do you think bellydance is out of the question for skating or could it be done?

 

[Aniseteph]

Maybe there is some deep point in here about peoples perception of bellydance being basically the costume. If it was a Spanish number you'd at least expect some (probably fakey) flamenco-esque poses here and there - this had nothing apart from the starting pose. A top-ranking couple might carry the "bellydance" theme through a bit more convincingly but I doubt it'd be any good as ice/belly fusion unless they had a lot of bellydance training.

I still wonder if the balance/posture/use of the leg muscles is too different - any ice-skaters out there?

 

[Suheir]

Oh, dear - that was totally incongruous! Ice dance is all arms and legs, which belly dance isn't...

 

[Jet Phoenix]

I don't know.....it is hard for me to picture, say, Horacia holding Beata upside down, her clinging to his thighs with legs in his face while they spin madly.:shok:

For ice skating, I thought some of their body lines were interesting. There was one spin that was eye catching. For belly dance, I felt more like What?! Where!?! Did I miss it?!:lol:

I have been ice skating twice in my life...both several years ago. I seem to remember that while the knees are not locked straight, they are much stiffer than belly dance basic stance. Otherwise the skates slide on their own. Not as bad as roller skates, though.

I suddenly have a vision of 1970s roller disco belly dance queens! Hold me! I'm scared!!

 

[lizaj]

Oh, dear - that was totally incongruous! Ice dance is all arms and legs, which belly dance isn't...

Truly dreadful
and did you see the male judge...OMG he reminded me of Nagwa and was that female judge, Heather Mills ?

Now then let's just hope this doesn't give Miles any ideas......

 

[Shanazel]

First of all, you have to understand that I am an ice skating expert: in Yosemite in 1969 I stood up on ice skates for a FULL THIRTY SECONDS before I fell. Now that I have established my bona fides, I feel impelled to say this team should try, try again, preferably with a non-belly dancing theme. Were the other dance themed performances better, worse, or equivalent?

 

[Aniseteph]

I don't know.....it is hard for me to picture, say, Horacia holding Beata upside down, her clinging to his thighs with legs in his face while they spin madly.:shok:

Oh please no, I did not need that mental image...

 

[KuteNurse]

Yeah, the Belly Iceskating doesn't seem to be working. She did like one or two hip moves in the beginning. I think what we are forgetting is...this is iceskating. They were just stealing the Belly dance theme.

 

[karena]

I used to skate. So to shed a little light....

They were doing ice dance not figure skating. In ice dance you do compulsory dances like a foxtrot, tango, waltz (and there are lots of variations of these eg argentine tango, european waltz) where you must do specific steps. They don't tend to show these on TV as people would get more bored watching people doing the same dances. Then there is the original dance which is what they were doing, where you dance your own dance but you must fit in particular components, and it is restricted what you can do. So, if they did proper belly dance then they wouldn't have been doing ice dance. They are all versions of other dances, the tango would not be a ballroom tango. It is an ice dance tango.

There is alot of footwork going on that if you don't know what you are looking for, you would miss. This is one of the main things they are judged on. Posture is different, you need to change your centre of gravity to do different moves. And you need to be grounded but in a different way. Lots of energy goes down through the skates, else you would fall over. And the arms are also necessary in order to execute moves, and shift the weight.

Personally I don't think they would think they are belly dancing. Ice dance is all about interpreting other dances and expressing them on ice. And if they did more belly dance, they wouldn't be ice dancing any longer. And I think it's great that an israeli couple chose to do something inspired by the middle east. And I am pleased that the costume was pretty tame, and didn't perpetuate the bellydancer-stripper myth.

I think that covers all the ice dance Qs, but if I've missed any just ask as I did once compete in free skating. 26th out of 28 competitors no less

 

[gisela]

I see what you are saying Karena and agree that this is interpreting other dances thus not being fusion in any way.
But I thought Ice dance was a kind of figure skating, but maybe that's just an translation thing. In Swedish everything is figure skating and then you divide it up in the categories- male, female, couples, ice dance, group.

I want to point out that NOWHERE does this couple claim to be bellydancing, so that's completely just ME that put that word here, based on the costumes music and the one hip-up. The closest ting they came to name it was calling the song "middle eastern folk dance" which might not be completely true either?

Maybe the loose, gooey torso in BD disturbs the balance when iceskating.

I should know though. I took lessons for a few months when I was twelve so I have basically been skating professionally for 16 years and I watched a lot of competitions on tv and once even live and my mothers cousin is expert commentator on swedish tv, so it's in my blood, I could practically teach now, right?:lol:

 

[gisela]

And I'm very sorry for spelling bellydance with three L's in the thread title. I just noticed. :redface:

 

[Reen.Blom]

And I'm very sorry for spelling bellydance with three L's in the thread title. I just noticed. :redface:

Oh Gisela, thanks for pointing it out- I didnt notice....LOL

Karena, thank you for Explaining things!!! It really makes more sense now!!

 

[KuteNurse]

Thankyou for the info Karena! How long did you skate for?

 

[karena]

I see what you are saying Karena and agree that this is interpreting other dances thus not being fusion in any way.
But I thought Ice dance was a kind of figure skating, but maybe that's just an translation thing. In Swedish everything is figure skating and then you divide it up in the categories- male, female, couples, ice dance, group.

I want to point out that NOWHERE does this couple claim to be bellydancing, so that's completely just ME that put that word here, based on the costumes music and the one hip-up. The closest ting they came to name it was calling the song "middle eastern folk dance" which might not be completely true either?

Maybe the loose, gooey torso in BD disturbs the balance when iceskating.

I should know though. I took lessons for a few months when I was twelve so I have basically been skating professionally for 16 years and I watched a lot of competitions on tv and once even live and my mothers cousin is expert commentator on swedish tv, so it's in my blood, I could practically teach now, right?:lol:

you're missing the you tube lessons too :lol:

I think you might be right about the dance being part of figure. When I was learning, you tended to choose between dance and figure, which made me think they were separate but I have a feeling that is out of date from stuff I just read. What I would have seen as figure skating, done in couples is then called pairs where they are a bit freer and do all the dramatic jumps, throws and spins. This is definitely dance though, I could tell as it gave their scores for the compulsory and original programmes.

I'm tempted to try bellydancing on ice now and see what happens! :lol:

 

[gisela]

First of all, you have to understand that I am an ice skating expert: in Yosemite in 1969 I stood up on ice skates for a FULL THIRTY SECONDS before I fell. Now that I have established my bona fides, I feel impelled to say this team should try, try again, preferably with a non-belly dancing theme. Were the other dance themed performances better, worse, or equivalent?

I humbly bow in the company of such an expert though I'm quite experienced myself.

Some were worse, some better. This couple came in 9th place out of around 25. Lots of russian-like dances which transfer pretty good with grand arm gestures, as do flamenco.