The first time I saw her (I have only ever seen her on video) I was blown away, because the fusion piece she presented was haunting and beautiful. I also thought her beledi was quite powerful, but the affect question may have been minimized as some elements of a dance tend to be on video. I didn't see her being particularly expressive or happy, but there was a concentration and archetypal quality that made up for it. Again, a fusion piece, despite its traditional structure.
Yes the same thing happend to me.
I think in the US we are not as aware of the rabid fandom and controversy that is part of her scene in England. I taught at a festival in England some years ago and my piece was listed in the program as raqs sharqi. I did not realize that (at the time, at least) Suraya Hilal (or her followers) had co-opted the term and people were expecting to see something in that style. I ended up explaining many times in conversations for the rest of the festival that raqs sharqi was just the name of the dance, not any one franchise of it. I had some students ask me things like, "I noticed you danced a lot on the balls of your feet. I thought it was only traditional to dance flat-footed. Is it OK to dance on the ball?" I told them that if you eliminate that element of technique, you eliminate half the work of most of the Egyptian dancers who have performed in the past 40 years. They were surprised. (Now with video increasingly available, and since you can find anything on Youtube, I think dancers develop a well-rounded idea of the vast variations in style out there.)
Yes. This has calmed down alot now since she spectacularly split from her students and formed Hilal Arts. It weakend the 'cause'. It was like some bizare cult.
My impression was that some of the students (they were most likely students of her students) were being taught to exclude and reject a lot of the elements of belly dance that give it verve and life. To give a trivial but telling example, I was told that she insisted that students in her classes wear their hair up. Well, good lord, me and my hair have a great relationship and if it isn't hanging on my shoulders I don't know if I could dance!
That was only one small part of it I can assure you. I started my earliest dance days with this organisation.
I did see one of her students perform and it was like "Suraya light" so I think she may be cloning as much as teaching
Cloning is exactly what it is... it still gives me the shivers.
... It is natural for students to dance in a similar style to their main teacher, but at some point there needs to be that push for them to leave the nest and find both outside influences and inner vision.
Yes but perhaps not verbally beaten into it.
Having said that, I still think she is a wonderful dancer; her technique really amazes me, and I am glad her artistic vision is out there.
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