Your thoughts on head slides

[lizaj]

i'm 60. With a weak chin and a wrinkled neck and incipient jowls. I think we are talking tortoise by definition. if I pull my head back a bit - less wrinkles but no chin!!

I Have a simple rule in performance..no-one is going to make me look foolish..I am quite capable of doing that all by myself

 

[Kashmir]

BellyFester, I don't have a video to show you, but in Kashmir (the place, not the member!) some dancers keep the beat with a continuous headslide, done to one side only, sort of like the way someone might keep the beat with tapping the foot.

Yes, but despite my dance name Kashmiri dance has nothing to do with belly dance.

 

[indrayu]

Yes, but just about everything is influenced by many other things. In Kashmir, as in the rest of the region, for centuries the cultural "epicentre" was Persia. Persian artisans were brought to northern India by the Mughals, intellectuals wrote in Persian language etc. And Persia, of course, is next to Arabic-speaking regions. So...like the hip bone is connected to the thigh bone...

As for headslides, I love them when done gracefully, or cheekily. Been practising for years in private, trying to find a way to incorporate them without the "speedy turtle" look

 

[indrayu]

Bellyfester, here's one of the local Kashmiri videos someone has uploaded since I was last looking for them. The head thing is done several times throughout the number. Some of the actions are from the song's chorous, which I'm told means something like "The full moon is shining like a beautiful face; I'm calling to you, my friend. Let's go and play on the banks of the river."

Never tried to put a youtube link up befere, so here's hoping!

YouTube - Kashmiri Song (Bumburo Bumburo)

Can't get the window to Youtube sorry, have to use the link. Some of the other videos put up by the same person are a bit more "Bollywood" influenced but have some great ideas for headslides too.

 

[Kashmir]

Yes, but just about everything is influenced by many other things. In Kashmir, as in the rest of the region, for centuries the cultural "epicentre" was Persia. Persian artisans were brought to northern India by the Mughals, intellectuals wrote in Persian language etc. And Persia, of course, is next to Arabic-speaking regions. So...like the hip bone is connected to the thigh bone...(

Persian dance is very, very different from Arabic dance. The whole thrust is totally different. Belly dance is based on Arabic and Turkish dance. Persian is a cousin. Indian is the next door neighbour.

 

[Oona]

Just about every Egyptian dancer I've seen perform in person has used a brief head slide as an accent at some point, it's small, looks nothing like the 'Indian head slide' and it's cute as heck. Especially when Khaled does it with a big smile on his face. *swoon* It has to be done when it feels right though.

IMHO I don't particularly like the other head slides people are talking about being used in bellydance though.

 

[shiradotnet]

Head slides are done by Egyptians. The Banat Maazin Ghawazee do them.

 

[Azrael]

Since this thread started, I've been noticing head slides EVERYWHERE! Amazing how that happens!
I must admit, I really really like the head slides that Zoe Jakes does... like in this clip:



I was going to mention where she does them. but they're all over the place... My favourite one being at 1.15 as a little accented "pop". Don't you just love this girl?

 

[jenc]

I have also been seeing them all over the place - in Egyptian. Although this does not lessen my determination not to do them. The egyptian ones are done as a tiny embellishment or accent with no hands or with very loose framing, definately not like Indian ones at all.

 

[Valeria]

I know how to do head slides and I do not mind them but I an not very keen on them either. I never use them for my dances and routines. It is not that I hate them, it just that I do not 'feel' like doing them.

 

[Nath]

Our teacher teaches us mainly Egyptian, and any time we've used a head slide, it's as an accent with the music.

 

[Sita]

I have also been seeing them all over the place - in Egyptian. Although this does not lessen my determination not to do them. The egyptian ones are done as a tiny embellishment or accent with no hands or with very loose framing, definately not like Indian ones at all.

I feel the same way about windmill arms and Dina's more raunchy bellydance costumes - Egyptian they maybe, but still not for me I'll pass on adding them to my repertoire thanks very much

Sita