February 2, 2012

Drum Solos

Filed under: Opinion,Video — Tags: , , , — Emma @ 4:32 pm

Drum solos are for show offs, and I mean this in a good way. Dancers use them to show off their technique and personality. As a very broad rule of thumb, dancers in the West tend to put more emphasis on the technique, whilst Egyptian dancers put more emphasis on the personality.

The sharp beats of the drum invite crisp, precise technique, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everything you do must be percussive and staccato. Give the audience some breathing space with some softer moves, or even some stillness. Try not to overcomplicate things. Daria Miskevich has incredible technique and energy but watch her closely and you’ll see that actually she isn’t dancing at a million miles an hour and throwing in layer after layer of moves. She is varying her pace and using those showstopper moves sparingly for maximum effect.

At the other end of the showing off spectrum, where it’s all about personality, here is Camelia. Camelia is wild on stage, a complete free spirit. She gets away with things that noone else could! She is definitely one of those dancers who divide opinions. She reminds me of a little girl, hyped up on sugar, desperate to be the centre of attention! I love watching her. The drum solo starts at 4:55.

The eyebrow wiggle! 6:25 if you missed it :) I’m sure the whole performance is not to everyone’s taste, but she is clearly just up there having fun and I admire that.

The rhythms and patterns in drum solos are easy for the average audience to listen to and understand, so it’s nice to be able to play with those patterns in unexpected ways. Personally, I like a dancer who can surprise me and make me laugh. There is no obvious emotion in the music so you need to bring something of yourself to your dance. I’ve seen dancers who perform their (technically admirable) drum solos with just one expression on their face and it just bores me. Most dancers manage to find their own balance between technique and personality. Some of my favourites are Aziza and Asmahan.

Aziza’s drum solo choreographies are always creative and fun:

Asmahan having fun with her musicians. Just watch :) :

You can have too much of a good thing….I have a love/hate relationship with drum solos. The fact that they are so good for showing off the very best you can do in an audience-friendly way means that they get done an awful lot. At some shows it can feel like every second dance is a drum solo, sometimes because it is and sometimes because dancers insist on sticking one on to the end of their music (competitions are particularly bad for this). You’ve just enjoyed some lovely soulful tarab and then you hear the tell tale “tak, tak…” that means a drum solo is about to be committed. After the first couple I’m not thinking “Oh good, a drum solo!” but “Here we go again…is the bar still open?”. It’s a shame when you’ve got lots of very good dancers, but when everyone is doing the same thing it’s just too much. I very rarely dance drum solos at events for dancers for this reason.

But I still like them :) I decided to teach my improvers class about Arabic rhythms this term, which I thought would go nicely with a drum solo choreography, and once I started working on it I found myself enjoying it. I might just have to choreograph a new one for myself. So I’m definitely back in the “love” phase!

January 25, 2012

Golden Age: Samia Gamal and Zeinat Olwi

Filed under: Video — Tags: , , — Emma @ 12:04 pm

I watch lots of YouTube videos for information and inspiration.

(Aside: not instructional ones, as I’ve said in class before free instructional videos on YouTube are worth exactly what you pay for them. If you want instructional videos support the dancers who make them and buy yourself a copy.)

This term the intermediate class are studying the signature moves and style of some iconic Egyptian dancers, so these posts will be an extra resource to supplement what we do in class. I hope other dancers will enjoy the videos too! Two of my favourite channels for dancers in old Egyptian movies (usually referred to as the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema) are lebdancer and TheCaroVan who both have  incredible collections of uploads. It’s worth checking the notes under the videos and reading the comments (how often does anyone say that!) for music and film titles, plotlines and biographical information. All the background information in this post is taken from what they have written.

Samia Gamal

“Samia Gamal was born on May 27th 1924 as Zeinab Khalil Ibrahim Mafouz in the village of Wana el Kess, Her father was a tailor and her mother was Moroccan. When Samia was thirteen she went to live with her sister and brother in law in Cairo. At age 14 she found work at a cloth printing factory and after that she worked in a hospital as a nurse.

When she was 15 her dream of being a dancer came true one day when she was sitting at El Gamal Cafeteria and the son of the owner, Moustafa Gamal, overheard her saying how much she’d love to meet Badia Masabni and become a famous dancer. So Moustafa Gamal told her that he could introduce her to Badia. He arranged a meeting between them. Badia selected the name Samia for her and hired her for a salary of 6 pounds a month.

Samia decided that she would become a great dancer. She firmly believed that dance was like a science that must be learned and that it wasn’t just about shaking the waist and the belly. She asked Lebanese choreographer and dance instructor Isaac Dickson to work with her and train her. She also attended dance school were she learned Samba, Rumba, Tango and Rock & Roll. She also took ballet classes from a foreign ballet instructor named Sonia Ivanova.

Her first film roles were as an extra. Later, Farid El Atrash chose her to star in a film he was producing called Habibi El 3Omr. They were very successful as an onscreen pair and went on to make several more movies together. She made about 50 films in her lifetime.

Samia Gamal married twice. She lived in Houston during her marriage to American Shep King. During that time she danced in 15 states in a period of 16 months and earned approximately 10 thousand pounds, which were seized by her husband. The marriage ended in divorce and she returned to Egypt. Samia Gamal died on December 1, 1994 at Misr International Hospital after a six day coma. She was 70.”

Full text can be found here.

 

Samia has long been one of my favourite dancers, there is such joy in every movement she makes. She is constantly moving without ever looking busy or fussy – a difficult balance to pull off! That constant movement is not just in the hips, but in the arms and feet as well, notice how many of her hip movements are layered over step patterns. There is a sweet softness to her movements, quite a contrast to the modern powerhouse style of dance in Egypt (although there are exceptions, which I’m saving for a later post). If you like Samia’s style of dance I highly recommend going to a workshop with Eman Zaki, who captures her feeling perfectly and has a wealth of stories about this era.

Zeinat Olwi

“Zeinat Olwi was an Egyptian bellydancer who was born in 1930 in Alexandria. At age sixteen she fled to Cairo where the young Zeinat remembered that she had a female relative who had been rejected and disowned by the family for having become a dancer. Zeinat begged her relative for help and told her she would be willing to work even as a background dancer at Badia’s club. After much convincing, her relative took her to meet Badia Masabni who immediately saw a diamond in the rough, and hired her on the spot. Within six weeks Zeinat was a regular background dancer at Badia’s club.

Not long after, she was performing as a soloist and Badia Masabni increased her salary accordingly. She became well known for her excellent dancing and for her special ability with the assaya. People came to Badia’s club just to watch her perfom and she soon had a loyal fan following. Not long after this, she caught the attention of the media and soon the newspapers were comparing Zeinat with the famous dancers of the day like Samia Gamal and Naima Akef.

She began performing in theatre shows appearing with such famous singers as Abdel Aziz Mahmoud and with groups such as the Shecoco group. She was offered film roles but she preferred to appear in films as a dancer and not as an actress, because she considered herself first and foremost a dancer. She accepted some small acting roles but not leading roles. She appeared in over 22 films and surprised everyone by retiring early in 1965 as a way of protesting against discriminatory laws and against the harsh treatment suffered by bellydancers at the hands of Egyptian police. She tried to form a dancer’s syndicate but was not successful. Zeinat Olwi died in 1988 at age 58 of a heart attack. She had been a heavy smoker. She died alone in her Cairo apartment, where a maid discovered her three days later. The only two people from the entertainment industry to attend her funeral were Fifi Abdo and Taheya Carioca.”

Full text here.

Make sure you read the plot summary for this one so you know why the bride is so unhappy! Zeinat Olwi is a relatively new dancer to me, and there aren’t many videos of her online. I find the combination of the controlled elegance of her dancing and the knowing cheekiness in her expression very appealing. There is more contrast in her dancing than in Samia’s, more use of sharp movements and some very tight, controlled shimmies (Dina wasn’t the first to do them like that!). She strongly favours her left side and is clearly very strong and flexible – look out for her shoulder rolls with a backbend, she makes them look effortless.

December 29, 2011

Looking ahead to 2012

Filed under: Adventures,Learning,Performance,Teaching — Tags: , , , , — Emma @ 4:27 pm

I always enjoy planning the new dance year. I have booked myself onto a weekend with Mohamed El Hosseny in London, 12 hours of intense training which I’m sure will leave my body aching and my brain frazzled, if his workshops at Jewel of Yorkshire are anything to go by. Love it! The dates for Shimmy in the City are already in my diary and I’m anxiously awaiting the email that says booking is open because DINA! If you’re in my classes you’re going to hear a lot about this festival…I’ll be getting more involved with JWAAD (Josephine Wise Academy of Arabic Dance) as chair of the JTA and also as a national assessor once I’ve completed the training.

Closer to  home I’m delighted to be hosting a genuine Cairo star this year – Lorna Gow! I met her on one of my Egypt trips in 2011, then went to her London workshops and just had to bring her to Cambridge in July 2012. Watch this space, or better yet, sign up for my mailing list so you can be first to book.

I’ve received some lovely make up for Christmas this year and I’m feeling inspired to run my “Makeup for Performance” workshop again because I’m sure I’m not the only one with a fab new Strictly Come Dancing tie in set :)

As far as performances are concerned I will be dancing at the new look Shisha Lounge in Peterborough in February, and then at Casino Candi in March. This is Candi’s last ever, big farewell, really mean it show and there are only 20 tickets left so book soon if you intend to go.

I daresay you’ll see me at a competition or two as well :)

I’m sure there will be  more events to go to, and more plans to be made (student trip to Cairo 2013!) but for now it’s back to planning lessons for my students this term. Beginners will be looking at classical oriental, improvers having fun with drum solos and intermediates learning the steps of the stars…but which stars will they be?

November 22, 2011

Comedy and Bellydance

Filed under: Opinion — Tags: , , — Emma @ 10:47 am

Not comedy bellydance, sorry.

Stewart Lee on whether comedy is art in an interview with Marc Maron, 11/8/10

“SL: A lot of money is spent in publically funded theatre workshops where highly educated theatre practitioners sit around working out how to engage directly with ordinary people in an audience, how to break the fourth wall, how to take theatre into unusual spaces, and all those things are things that the worst hack comic does every night. He has to walk into a room and recalibrate everything around the space, who’s there, what time of night it is. He has to make in the moment choices that people in theatre win awards for doing, if they do it the slightest bit people go ‘It was amazing, he turned slightly to the left instead of walking straight forward because something had happened in the room’.

MM: It was an improvisational choice in the moment, what a genius

SL: A comic is making improvisational choices from the moment they enter the room. They know, they go ‘You can’t do…that’s not going to work here, they won’t be able to see me there, the bar’s open, the last place you did it was closed’ every single thing is different.”

Bellydancers, does this sound familiar?

Every performance is different for us. We make improvisational choices every single time we perform.

When you perform at a restaurant or party there is no fourth wall to break, you are engaging directly with “ordinary people” from the second you appear. Families, couples, birthday parties, work parties, hen nights, rugby clubs…..all react differently to a bellydancer and want to engage in different ways. Or don’t want to engage at all and stare firmly at their dinner as you shimmy past! Sometimes they are happy to get up and be part of your show, sometimes they want to take it over (I like to have a little sit down at that point and let them have their moment!). The presence or absence of alcohol has a big effect on the average British audience when faced with a dancer. Personally I love audience interaction, as a dancer and as an “ordinary person” but it can be a frightening thing for a performer to attempt. Of all performers I think only comedians come close to the level of audience interaction that bellydancers have, and so far Stewart Lee is the only one I’ve seen actually leave the stage and join them (although I believe a lot of the young comedians are doing it now) like, say, Khaled does. Now there’s a comparison :)

Performing in unusual spaces…I bet we’ve all got stories to tell about that! I’ve had audiences on one side of the stage, two sides at a right angle, two opposite sides (had they all had a fight before I arrived?), three sides and in the round. Unexpected pillars, waiters and children. In a theatre, in a church, in a club, in a school, in a field. Very rarely do you know what the space will be like beforehand. If you’ve danced there before it may be different this time, even in your regular restaurant maybe the tables are set up differently, maybe there is a big table rather than four small tables, maybe tables have taken over your performance space! My students and I danced at a big event this summer which has become an annual gig for us. We carefully planned our entrances and exits based on the stage set up that has been used for the past two years only to find that this year it had been changed. Fortunately we are used to adapting to circumstances quickly and everything went smoothly.

All that’s before you consider whether you’re dancing to CD or have the unpredictability of a live band…

So bellydance and stand up have more in common than you might think, right down to the question of “but is it art?”, and I think that is very revealing. Bellydance and stand up are both entertaining, and I think there is a perception that something cannot be both art and entertainment. Art is good for you, but you’re not supposed to enjoy it. Like sprouts :) . Why can’t we concede that being entertaining IS an art?

October 28, 2011

Call of Arabia

Filed under: Music,Performance — Tags: , , — Emma @ 5:00 pm

Oh how I envy dancers who work with a band all the time!

Tomorrow night (Saturday 29th October) I’m taking part in “The Call of Arabia”, a new show being produced by The Arab Quarter http://www.thebloomsbury.com/event/run/1576 go buy a ticket if you haven’t already :)

On Wednesday I had rehearsals with the band, along with Melanie Norman and Anne White. It was just great being able to work with Hassan (tabla, vocals) and George (keyboards), deciding which parts of each song to do, which bits should be longer or shorter, how the introduction should sound, what rhythms to use…in short, to totally customise the song. Rather tricky to get such a good result from a CD without access to an editing suite and a sound engineer. When Emile (violin) and Bashir (ney) arrived the sound just filled the studio, it was glorious. I will do my best to make my dancing live up to their music :) I’m really looking forward to tomorrow night.

October 19, 2011

Choosing your music

Filed under: Learning,Music,Opinion — Tags: , — Emma @ 3:45 pm

This post inspired by a suggestion from Jitka. Sorry it took me so long to write it :)

Some of the first questions students ask – after “How do you shimmy?” – are about music. What to get and where to get it. Arabic music is so easy to find now. Most of my music has come from Aladdin’s Cave http://www.aladdinscave.com/acatalog/New_arrivals.html , who always have a wide selection and great customer service, but in the past few years more and more has become available to download through sites like iTunes, emusic and Amazon. If you want to listen to a whole song, rather than the snippets available on those sites, there’s a good chance you’ll find someone dancing to it on YouTube. Bellydance downloads http://www.bellydancedownloads.com/ can help you find particular tracks.

I don’t want to be too prescriptive in this post because I think discovering music for yourself is such an enjoyable experience I would hate it to be spoiled with a box ticking mentality. I just want to point you in a direction and let you explore. Everything I write here is just a suggestion :) how much you do is up to you.

With so much choice out there it can be hard to know what to start with. If you’re a beginner, or new to Arabic music, then pop music can be a good way to start training your ear. The rhythms and the structures of pop songs are pretty simple, so all you’ve contend with are some unfamiliar instruments and a language that you probably don’t understand. If you’re feeling very keen you can always look up the lyrics, there are websites out there dedicated to song translations:

http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/arabic-lyrics-translation/

http://www.arabicmusictranslation.com/

http://www.shira.net/lyrics.htm

Look out for album series like “Now Dance Arabia….” and “Now That’s What I Call Arabia…”. I have a double CD set which is quite out of date now :) but I still like it called “Arabia: The Essential Album”. Find an artist you like, search for more of their songs…

When you’re ready to start moving beyond pop music try looking for compilations. One of my favourites is Bellydance Superstars Volume 1, it has a really varied selection of styles. None of the other albums in the series have had such a good selection, in my opinion. The only downside is that this one was so popular that a lot of the songs have been done to death – please let me never have to hear “Chicky” again! Another album I like is “10 Songs Every Bellydancer Should Know”, which is a good introduction to some of the classics. The “Oriental Fantasy” series is not so widely available now, but you can download them http://www.oriental-fantasy.com/dance-academy-cifuentes-berlin.php . Find a song you like, find out what it is about, look for videos of dancers using it, find out the composer and who originally sang it…

If you’re looking for music with performance in mind, check out the albums produced by dancers who have worked in Cairo. Yasmina, Leila, Outi, Samasem, Nesma…dancer-friendly versions of lots of classic songs. I’ve deliberately avoided mentioning music piracy up until now, because it’s something that everyone knows is bad but does anyway. I’m mentioning it now because producing these CDs is often a labour of love for the dancers, so please try and get yourself an original copy.

Ask questions! When you’re in class or a workshop and you hear something you like – ask what it is. If you have a song you like but you’re not sure what the style is or how to dance to it – ask your teacher. We like questions. Get on the internet and start searching. If you want a checklist of composers and singers then Candi’s website is a fantastic starting point http://www.rakscandi.co.uk/ I often refer to it especially when I’m looking for different versions of a particular song or some background information.

Music is essential for bellydance. It can be difficult at first if you’re not familiar with Arabic music – new rhythms, new instruments, a language you may not understand – so I can understand why people seek refuge in the familiar and end up dancing to western music or Shakira. I think it’s such a shame to limit yourself in this way, more so if you are telling yourself that you are in some way being edgy by doing so. What is transgressive about dancing to the music that has surrounded you all your life? Learning about a whole new genre of music is a challenge but if you want to call yourself a bellydancer it’s one you must embrace. Listen and listen and listen some more and you will soon find you lose yourself in the ethereal beauty of a ney taqasim, or luxuriate in accordion balady, or with a lump in your throat listening to Oum Kalsoum.

You can even learn to love the mizmar. Really.

 

October 4, 2011

Hot topic: Bellydance competitions part 2

Filed under: Adventures,Competition,Opinion — Tags: , — Emma @ 2:24 pm

So, you’ve probably guessed already that I didn’t have any notable success in the Shimmy in City Competition – if I’d placed I’d have been shouting it in 48 point capitals! I had an enjoyable day and watched a lot of fabulous dancers. The judging panel consisted of Khaled, Tito and Asmahan, who had heroically stepped in at the last minute after Soraia was denied a visa. I got some really good advice on stagecraft from Asmahan. I was told some things to change and some things to keep. I know what to fix, now to get on and fix it! From a personal development perspective this was a really useful experience.

It was a very long competition. There were around 25 women (a few didn’t turn up so I’m not sure how many actually danced in the end), 5 men and 5 or 6 groups. Then there was a second round for both the women and the men. I’m not sure there needed to be gender segregated competitions. The top men were easily the equals of the top women. I get that as a minority in the bellydance community men can be intimidated, but I think that any man who has the self-confidence to sign up for a competition isn’t going to be put off by having to dance against ladies. It was hard not to feel that there was a certain double standard at work as well. We were told ahead of time that the top three dancers from each competition would dance again in the folklore round and that would determine their placings. In the end four women and four men went through. Work that out as a percentage of the competitors – 80% of the men got another chance to dance! I felt so sorry for the one guy who didn’t get to dance again, that must have hurt. I would much rather see a mixed competition where a certain number of dancers danced again, it would be much fairer to everyone. After all, everyone has such different styles of dance already it really doesn’t matter, right?

Theoretically.

One thing that really stood out to me after this, and the other competitions I’ve watched this year, is that there is a distinct Competition Style developing. It’s oriental, of course, it’s technically perfect in every way but it – and I’m trying to put this diplomatically – doesn’t encourage much personal expression. Which is not to say that the dancers have no expression, far from it, they have beautiful faces and lovely smiles but that’s about it. When I think of all the dancers I enjoy watching they all have very strong personalities on stage and I simply don’t see that in the dancers who win competitions.

Gilded Serpent published a rather timely article last week: http://www.gildedserpent.com/cms/2011/09/27/jillina-lauren-competition-strategies/#axzz1Zp1Aemsd . The costume and makeup sections I can get on board with. The music section? Not so much. The article suggests that your competition music should consist of 60-90 second blocks of music thrown together to create a 5 minute piece. What? For me, part of the art of dancing is choosing a piece of music and creating a dance to express it, not thinking “Now I will show my travelling steps and turns, now I will show my detailed rhythmical expertise”. My music is not wallpaper against which I display myself, it is an integral part of my performance.

So I find myself in a difficult position. If I want to be a successful competition dancer I need to tone down my on stage persona, smooth out my rough edges, butcher the music I love and use it in a totally alien way. Or I can stay true to myself and the dancers who have taught me and accept that I will never win a trophy or title. It’s no choice at all, is it? Of course I’m going to keep doing things my way! I’ll keep competing, as I’ve said previously the feedback really is useful and next year there’s the potential for feedback from DINA. I can’t turn that opportunity down. In fact I’ve even got some music in mind already, it’s totally wrong for a competition but it’s absolutely right for me.

September 16, 2011

Hot Topic: Bellydance Competitions

Filed under: Competition,Opinion — Tags: , — Emma @ 10:17 am

I’ve been thinking a lot about bellydancing competitions, which isn’t really surprising since I am entering one next week. In exactly a week’s time I will either be trying to control my nerves as I wait to dance, despondently watching all the other dancers and remembering all the things I did wrong, or if I’m really unlucky I’ll still be stuck at the Dartford crossing and approaching meltdown. So why am I putting myself through this?

Before I answer that question, a little background. This is my history with bellydance competitions:

1st International Bellydance Congress: entered, didn’t place, vowed never to do it again

2nd International Bellydance Congress: watched

Belly Dance Mania: watched

Jewel of Yorkshire: entered, came second, decided that was it for competitions this year

Randa Kamel of Course: watched

Shimmy in the City: entered, and that’s what I’m doing next week

Two things to note. One, you can’t believe me when I say I won’t have anything to do with competitions. Two, I’m not basing my opinions on a huge amount of experience but at least I am basing them on some experience and not pontificating on the basis of nothing.

I think the first bellydance competition in the UK in recent years was Shafeek’s, which was won by the lovely Tracey Jones. When the competition was announced, if you frequented the online bellydance communities you would have thought it was the End Of Days. “How can you Judge our Art!” they wailed. “It will tear the community apart! What about sisterhood and fluffy bunnies? Everyone will be…..COMPETING…against each other.”

Guess what, they are anyway.

This attitude insults the intelligence of the bellydance community. Thanks to Strictly Come Dancing and all the other shows we are savvy to talent competitions. We know that perfect technique does not necessarily mean the most entertaining performance. We know that what one judge loves, another will hate. We know about behind the scenes shenanigans… :) We know that a title like “Belly Dance of the Universe” only refers to the person who danced at a particular festival on a particular day in front of a few people who happened to like her the best. Seriously. We can put this stuff in perspective.

So if the purpose of competitions isn’t to find out who is the BEST in THE WHOLE UNIVERSE why do them? For me, it comes down to three reasons: feedback, motivation and recognition.

By entering a competition you can get valuable feedback from a range of dancers who have watched you with a critical eye. After the competition is over you usually get your score sheet, with its almost useless numerical scores and far more useful comments. Judges will often discuss their comments with you which is even more helpful. Of course this is not as good as a private lesson would be, but for the self-motivated dancer it points you in the right direction. By the end of this year I will have had feedback on my dancing from (amongst others) Khaled, Yasmina, Candi, Soraia, Tito and Wael Mansour. The cost of private lessons with all of them, along with the travel expense, would be prohibitive, so I’ll take what I can get and put the hours of practice in later. Speaking to other dancers leads me to think this is a very common attitude. For this reason I am only interested in entering competitions with judges who are named in advance and whose opinions I value and respect.

I have been a self-employed dancer with dance as my sole form of employment for five years so I like to think that I am quite self-motivated. Nevertheless, I have found that competitions push me to work harder than anything else I have done, and I’m not exactly laissez-faire about my performances. Knowing that someone is going to be judging me on every aspect of my performance drives me to practice longer and more effectively, to explore the music in more depth and to get my nail varnish just right :) . The post-performance feedback informs and directs my personal practice for months afterwards. It turns out I am a very goal-oriented person.

As the dance community grows it becomes harder for a dancer to be recognised outside of her local community. I have spent years quietly working away, improving my dance and teaching others. A few friends have put in a good word for me here and there (for which I am eternally grateful) which has opened doors for me, but with more and more good dancers out there even this is not as effective as it was. Winning a competition is your passport to recognition (on Facebook if nowhere else!) and potentially much more work. Soon enough no dancer’s CV will be complete without a title. Instead of listening to endless variations along the lines of “X has been ballet/tap/jazz dancing since she was three/in the womb/a twinkle in her father’s eye then discovered bellydance which struck a chord with her thanks to her Moroccan cousin/Turkish grandma/great great uncle who once visited Egypt” you will be treated to “X, winner of Super Ultra Bellydancer of the Century, has been…”. Now, I can’t write a biography like that because I preferred books to ballet as a child and my heritage remains stubbornly British, but a competition win would be a lovely addition to my CV. Sadly for me, a lot of other, better dancers have the same idea!

I don’t pretend competitions come without their downside. Losing can be a huge blow, from which you need time to recover. They do not encourage diversity. You pretty much have to dance Oriental (although one aspect of the Shimmy in the City competition I am particularly looking forward to watching is the folkloric round). Watching one Oriental dancer after another all afternoon makes you long for a lovely baladi progression, but it would be a brave dancer who did that. With sameness of music comes sameness of costumes and interpretation. I haven’t seen a particularly diverse range of ages and body types in bellydance competitions, but then again I have only seen a small subset. I would be interested to look at a wider sample. The spectre of dance politics is always hovering in the air, no matter what steps are taken towards putting together an impartial judging panel.

However, competitions are not going away. No festival is complete without a competition now. Personally I would prefer to see an open platform where you could ask for feedback (for money, of course) but the days of open platforms are gone so I will embrace the new. Until I lose again. And then I’ll only stop for a little bit, no matter what I say afterwards :) .

So why do you enter, or not enter competitions? Why do you judge, or decline to judge them?

August 17, 2011

Woohoo!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Emma @ 4:59 pm

That article has been corrected. Apparently the mass outpouring of bellydancer disdain constituted a “ruckus”.

Public Relations

Filed under: Opinion — Tags: , , , — Emma @ 1:54 pm

The relationship between bellydance and the media is complex and fraught with pitfalls. It’s all too easy for an uninformed, rushed or lazy journalist to fall back on tired old clichés: wiggling, seduction, sultans, “I’ve got the belly for it!” blah blah blah blah BLAH. But not Nikki Lott of the Dallas Observer! She has managed to misrepresent bellydance in a whole new way, by lining it up alongside vajazzling and masturbation! For her “article” on the Texas bellydance festival Ya Halla, Y’All she managed to be inaccurate and offensive, to reduce women to their body parts, to ignore the men of bellydance and the women who may not have those particular body parts, and (most damning of all for someone who has presumably been to a writing class of some kind at some point in her life) to spell “finger cymbals” incorrectly. From this latter point I suspect she falls into the lazy camp.

If you really want to read the original it’s here (for now): http://www.dallasobserver.com/events/yaa-halla-yand-146-all-belly-dancing-festival-2277215/ but rather then give them the page views I suggest you read Ozma of Japan’s response here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/ozmas-costumes/ive-got-your-finger-symbols-right-here-missy/10150255647361618 or some of the comments on the Dallas Observer Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/DallasObserver Princess Farhana has posted a particularly fine “finger symbol”.

Not all meetings between bellydance and journalism end in such EPIC FAIL, there are plenty of well-written, informative articles out there. I was delighted when I agreed to be profiled by a Cambridgeshire magazine and was sent a list of thoughtful questions. I’ll be honest, some I struggled with but overall I was happy with the final article http://www.explorermagazine.co.uk/2011/02/emma-chapman/ . Much happier than the last time I made it into print in the *spit* Daily Mail. That came about after I had persuaded a local paper to write about an event I was putting on (and desperately needed publicity for), which was then picked up on by an agency who thought they could sell the story to one of those dreadful women’s magazines you see cluttering up the dentist’s waiting room. Instead it was picked up by the right wing rag and also the Telegraph online. Not what I would have chosen, and so I’ve been wary of courting such publicity ever since.

I have turned down appearances on breakfast TV (you want me to get up at WHAT time?) and local news, because my experience (or rather, that of other bellydancers I have seen) is that it will inevitably degenerate into “Let’s show the host how to do it HA HA HA LOOK AT HIM TRY TO SHIMMY” and I’m not in the business of humiliating people or turning my art form into one big joke. I have resisted the overtures of Britain’s Got Talent and Got to Dance, programmes who will fit bellydancers into one of only two categories: hot sexeh chick or sad deluded housewife. We are so much more complicated than that. I will not compromise my integrity in exchange for wider recognition.

One opportunity I was sad to turn down was almost two years ago, when I entered the draw to be part of “One & Other”, Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth project. That really would have been fantastic publicity, not just for me but for bellydance. A highly public platform (quite literally) in the name of Proper Art :) ….sadly when my name came out of the hat it was for a time slot I just couldn’t manage, because I was getting married!

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