Ansuya in a greek traditional song.,..??!!??!!

nouraki

New member


Ahem...I dont know what to say.This is a traditional music from Greece "tsamiko".What Ansuya is doing here?:rolleyes:
Ok,this comes first in my mind when I hear it ..is men,mostly, dancing to it in my village.For example:


Please Greeks come here cause I want to SCREAM! :mad: :( :(

Maybe,I m so stupid and the sound in the Ansuya's video is just so similar to the greek traditional musi, and maybe is just a simple confusion of different music influences.
I wish I was wrong....but I dont think so...This is greek traditional...
 
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Marya

Member
Nouraki,

Ansuya is an American Style Oriental Dancer and Greek music of all kinds has been commonly used in this style. This was not the best I have ever seen Ansuya perform.

I also like traditional Balkan folk dancing (which includes Greece) and so I have learned that among the folk dancers I know, only chiftitelli is suitable for solo improvisational dancing which is sometimes called Greek Belly Dancing by Americans.

I would love it if you could post more traditional Greek dancing videos.

Marya
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
I took a private class with Artemis Mourat, and we went over what music was acceptable for Turkish Oriental dance. She told me several of the Turkish songs I liked were men's dances and were not appropriate for bellydance.

So I'm doing a show for a Turkish family, and lo and behold they play one of those songs. The family encourages me to get up and dance. I say "this is a men's dance isn't it?" and they say "oh that's old-fashioned thinking. We all dance that now."

I've had Greeks drag me on stage for what I always thought was a men's dance too. And a folk dance -- which is not appropriate for bellydance.

who knows...
 

Sita

New member
I found her dancing a little... weird anyway - maybe she was just experimenting. The feel of the performance was very different from what I would have expected.

Sita
 

nouraki

New member
For a greek ,it's a little bit strange to see this music in connection with ths kind of dancing.(I hope you understand what I mean:) )It's really strange!
I love to see people who get into experiments,I like that.But I would like them to know what they are dancing..I mean,I wish Unsuya-in this case- knew what was this sound...and the "history" of this greek music,and then she can do anything she wants.

Thank you all for your opinion!!!:D
 

Sita

New member
For a greek ,it's a little bit strange to see this music in connection with ths kind of dancing.(I hope you understand what I mean:) )It's really strange!
I love to see people who get into experiments,I like that.But I would like them to know what they are dancing..I mean,I wish Unsuya-in this case- knew what was this sound...and the "history" of this greek music,and then she can do anything she wants.

Thank you all for your opinion!!!:D

I do understand what U mean and agree with you completely. While my knowledge of Greek music and Ansuya is not strong I just feel that it's an odd performance - in both music, feel and style of dance. It would be interesting to know the reasons behind her choice of music:think:
Does anyone know if she's danced to Greek music before?
Sita
 

nouraki

New member
I would love it if you could post more traditional Greek dancing videos.

Marya

This is a greek traditional dance and called "Maleviziotis",it's from Crete.



This is from thraki ,called "Baidouska".



This From Epirus ,called "tsamiko"



And this is from a greek island "Naxos",and the dance called "Vlaha"

 

lizaj

New member
SIGH. even with my lack of knowledge of traditional Greek music, I would say that looked all wrong. But I have to confess to being one of those who doesn't get Ansuya. RUEFUL GRIN SMILIE
 

Maria_Aya

New member
Its odd !
But this is fusion !
Ansuya never said that she is doing traditional oriental dance, her classes and workshops are advertized as fusion bellydance with teqnics from various dance styles (this means also with various music selections)
For me it would be a problem if this was presented as a pure bellydance performance.
As a greek now, yes it looks wierd for me, but i've seen wierder things going on, and as every dancer/teacher/artist try new things, not all are succesfull or work.
And ty Nouraki for posting the Cretan dance ;) wanna join me in class for a Malevizioti ;)
 

chryssanthi sahar

New member
Aouch!!!! That hurts! :mad:
Nouraki, you are absolutely right, this IS a Tsamiko and I not only find it ridiculous but also respectless to dance belly dance on this kind of music. If Ansuyua would perform that in the village of my dad (in Thessalia, where Tsamiko is THE local dance), people would throw tomatoes and eggs on her. The fact that Ansuyua is famous doesn't give her the right to misuse music this way.
Sorry to tell, but this is one of the worst performances I've ever seen (topped only by another one, where an American dancer performed belly dance on Zeimbekiko:shok: argggg!!!)
Greetings from Chryssanthi, the "bad cop";)
 

Farasha Hanem

New member
I thought Ansuya was professional enough to do research on any potential music before coming up with dance routines. I'm really disappointed. :(

Out of curiosity, besides looking up the appropriatness of song lyrics, how does one go about finding out if a particular piece of music is appropriate to what you want to perform?
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I am an American dancer who has never used Greek music in connection with AmCab/AmOriental style belly dance because it simply does not fit. Could have something to do with all those Greek folk dances I learned in high school and college. Can't explain it better than saying Greek music was too far afield for what I did and do as a belly dancer.
 

chryssanthi sahar

New member
Hi Shanazel and Farasha. Nice to see you:D
I'm sorry, that I moaned again about something as soon as I popped in here, but this video of Ansuya was like a punch to the face of every Greek who grew up with this kind of music. This means, every Greek who is from middle and northern Greece, like myself. People from Crete for example don't know this kind of music, they have different music and dances than northern Greeks, therefore such a video may not look that ugly to them (I suppose this is the reason why Maria didn't find Ansuyas video that terrible...Maria comes from Crete).
Farasha, if you want to use a kind of music for belly dancing and you are not sure if it is appropriate or not, better don't use it. Principally this problem exists only with folklore and folk music of different peoples and countries. Make sure that you don't offend anybody with your choice of music.
Shanazel, there is no reason to completely quit on Greek music for belly dancing if you like it, because THERE IS GREEK BELLY DANCE MUSIC!!! The music called TSIFTETELI is the Greek belly dance music and the dance to it is also called Tsifteteli. I have written so much stuff about it, even a whole article here (you can find it also on my web page Chryssanthi Sahar Bauchtanz Heidelberg) I have put videos of myself in youtube dancing different variations of Tsifteteli (and there will follow some more)... So you can belly dance on Greek Tsifteteli music, BUT ONLY ON THAT!! Any other Greek music is not appropriate for belly dancing. We Greeks always connect very concrete dances with certain kinds of music and it looks ridiculous, if somebody dances something else on it. Ansuya should have asked some Greeks from Greece, if this music she danced on this video is appropriated for belly dancing or not. She was there lately and gave some workshops, so she had the opportunity to find out what kind of music this is. I cannot imagine that anybody in Greece would have told her, that it is o.k. to belly dance on Tsamiko:mad: The fact that her belly dancing style is a fusion style and not original Oriental belly dance still doesn't give the right to misuse music. She should make her experiments with non-folklore music. There are so many music fusions out there, why the hell she had to choose Tsamiko, an old, proud Greek dance, the dance of the brave men and fighters, to dance her strange fusion belly dance on?
Anyway, I don't want to be the one who brings bad mood. I hope all of you are doing fine;)
 
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nouraki

New member
The fact that her belly dancing style is a fusion style and not original Oriental belly dance still doesn't give the right to misuse music. She should make her experiments with non-folklore music. There are so many music fusions out there, why the hell she had to choose Tsamiko, an old, proud Greek dance, the dance of the brave men and fighters, to dance her strange fusion belly dance on?
Anyway, I don't want to be the one who brings bad mood. I hope all of you are doing fine;)

I totally agree with you,especially with these words.

Anyway, I don't want to be the one who brings bad mood.
Ahem....:think: I think you did it .Kidding :D
I am greek and I can feel you!!!!
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
I thought Ansuya was professional enough to do research on any potential music before coming up with dance routines. I'm really disappointed.

I just talked with her this weekend and something she told us was that she deliberately does NOT look up the lyrics or the meanings of the songs she dances to because she doesn't want that to interfere with authentic reaction to the music.

I'm not sure how I feel about that particular philosophy, but it does explain why she might dance to music that some feel is inappropriate for belly dance.
 

Jane

New member
...she deliberately does NOT look up the lyrics or the meanings of the songs she dances to because she doesn't want that to interfere with authentic reaction to the music.


GTFO...:shok:
 

Amanda (was Aziyade)

Well-known member
To each his own.... (I think it's an old-school thing. I've met other old-school Am Cab dancers who had the same attitude: if they play it in the clubs, it's acceptable for dancing.

For the record, she does tell her students to look up the lyrics, and I've heard her talk about what the song means on her online classes.
 

Greek Bonfire

Well-known member


Ahem...I dont know what to say.This is a traditional music from Greece "tsamiko".What Ansuya is doing here?:rolleyes:
Ok,this comes first in my mind when I hear it ..is men,mostly, dancing to it in my village.For example:


Please Greeks come here cause I want to SCREAM! :mad: :( :(

Maybe,I m so stupid and the sound in the Ansuya's video is just so similar to the greek traditional musi, and maybe is just a simple confusion of different music influences.
I wish I was wrong....but I dont think so...This is greek traditional...

I agree with you completely. While I agree that tsiftitelli really is the only appropriate type of Greek music for bellydance, it's also possible to incorporate some of the other steps from Greek folk dances into bellydance. But Tsamiko is definitely for the boys.

Ansuya does a lot of crossover dances - sometimes they work, but sometimes they don't. Tsamiko is one of them that don't work.
 
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