Aniseteph
New member
Not to devalue research for a minute, but you don't need it to licence your interest in belly dance. You are interested and that's enough. And anyway, whatever may have happened in the Ottoman empire, we have high profile male belly dancers within the dance scene in the here and now. Historical justification is useful ammunition for dealing with the confused and uninformed who can't just enjoy a good performance for what it is, but IMHO a good dancer or an enthusiastic student doesn't ever need to validate themselves, ever.
With Ahava's recent threads in mind, there are people who say this is a women's performance dance, and a young woman's dance at that. Well maybe. And that is certainly a consideration if you want to perform professionally for the general public. But for the rest of us in our social dance communities it's irrelevant. I'm too old, the next dancer is too fat, you might be too male... that's not the point of the social side. It's about loving the dance, having fun and appreciating each other.
Yes there are the by wimmin for wimmin NO MEN rotest: groups, but I think they are twisting the social dance to fit their agendas. I wish they would leave belly dance out of it.
I do not believe that the UK in general is particularly conservative about male dancers. Some communities will be, others less so, that's the same in plenty of countries. It's accepted that men go to ballroom or Latin or tango classes; belly dance is a bit more problematic for the ignorant, but women get stupid attitudes too, especially if they do not fit the stereotypes. As far as the dance scene goes, for the vast majority of classes/ events/ workshops I have been to, people don't really give a rats behind what gender anyone else is. Anyone making an issue of it would IMHO be making themselves look rude and ignorant.
With Ahava's recent threads in mind, there are people who say this is a women's performance dance, and a young woman's dance at that. Well maybe. And that is certainly a consideration if you want to perform professionally for the general public. But for the rest of us in our social dance communities it's irrelevant. I'm too old, the next dancer is too fat, you might be too male... that's not the point of the social side. It's about loving the dance, having fun and appreciating each other.
Yes there are the by wimmin for wimmin NO MEN rotest: groups, but I think they are twisting the social dance to fit their agendas. I wish they would leave belly dance out of it.
I do not believe that the UK in general is particularly conservative about male dancers. Some communities will be, others less so, that's the same in plenty of countries. It's accepted that men go to ballroom or Latin or tango classes; belly dance is a bit more problematic for the ignorant, but women get stupid attitudes too, especially if they do not fit the stereotypes. As far as the dance scene goes, for the vast majority of classes/ events/ workshops I have been to, people don't really give a rats behind what gender anyone else is. Anyone making an issue of it would IMHO be making themselves look rude and ignorant.