article "Masculine Belly Dance" by Stefan

[Kashmir]

So, gender (and this is the point of using Butler) quits being intrinsic to the behavior and becomes performative. IN other words, if you believe your are conveying a behavior in a masculine way, it becomes masculine through the performance of the behavior.

If we take that conception and apply it to this dance, then we get to the point of not having to worry if the dance is masculine or feminine. If you identify as one gender, the performance of the dance vocabulary will always follow in that gender identity. Feminine and masculine, therefore, become something you perform as part of your identity when you dance (Butler says for everything, but I am applying her just to dance).

IN other words, if you perceive yourself as male, then your motions will be masculine.

Yes, within this definition. But this does not take a social construct of masculine/feminine into account which is what most people are referencing when they use the terms. (And yes I'm aware that the construct varies within and between cultures)

 

[duskshade]

Yes, within this definition. But this does not take a social construct of masculine/feminine into account which is what most people are referencing when they use the terms. (And yes I'm aware that the construct varies within and between cultures)

It doesn't have to address social constructs, because in essence those who pursue male ME dance are already bucking social trends, so they are obviously constructing a view of gender that can encompass BD, which may challenge the more mainstream accepted social construction of BD...

Not to say that this discussion is not a good one (I for one enjoy discussions of this sort), but we are discussing this from a position of security and acceptance of ourselves as dancers and the phenomenon of males in BD. For the beginning dancer just making initial forays into this world, I think that this nuance is probably beyond the scope of what the article is addressing.

I am glad you found my reasoning internally consistent within the article.

 

[duskshade]

two more weeks

i hoped the discussions on here helped everyone - I know it helped me focus on what was good for this article.

I just wanted to let you know that in two weeks I'll go over all the comments and suggestions, and rewrite the article based on the info and feedback everyone gives me.

I look forward to knocking that other article down and away from the top result on a google search for male belly dance.

Two weeks.

 

[khanjar]

I just had to dig up an old thread to say, something that happened in my last class I found hilarious and I made a joke of it; Doing Saidi it was suggested I kick in a different way as the way I was doing it is considered feminine. Okay fine, but I will continue with the natural interpretation as to think to put on masculine traits to me removes the natural from the dance. But they in my class don't know what I know and so what comes out can be anything of which I like to think is neutral.

Since finding out what I have I am not scared anymore, I am not scared to be me as before I was aware certain things didn't come across right as the feelings they created disturbed me and trying not to let those certain things out removed a lot of natural, but that is in the past, now my dancing has actually improved as I have relaxed into it, content at last.

 

[Roshanna]

I see that that old article is still near the top of google. If you want to shift it, then:
a) Don't ever link to it, and try where you can to get rid of links to it.
b) Write an alternative article on male bellydance (there are already some good ones about, if I recall correctly, which the authors could update to do this), and edit it to really optimise for the keywords 'male bellydance' (i.e. make sure they are used in the headings & subheadings (give it headings and subheadings if it doesn't already have them) and in the text, as well as in the html title element, link titles, image alt tags etc).
c) Get as many reputable websites (preferably with good search rankings) as possible to link to the good article.