What Am I Doing?

[shanmonster]

I'm a dancer. But what kind of dancer am I? When I do my own thing, incorporating elements of Middle Eastern, modern, jazz-lyrical, modern dance, martial arts, tumbling, yoga, and flamenco, I always refer to it as experimental dance. That's not my usual variety of dance, though. I'm mostly hired out as a "belly dancer." Now, I really dislike that term. I think "belly dancer" is very misleading, partially in that I use a whole hell lot more of my body than my abs when I dance, and also because the term is fraught with stereotypes. A belly dancer is seen by the vast majority of lay people as a Hollywood hoochie-coochie dancer, mesmerizing her (and it's always a her) audience with lascivious looks, sensual wriggling, and a big ol' plastic gem in her navel.

Now, I do my damnedest not to fulfill those stereotypes when I dance. When I dance at multicultural events, I choose music from Lebanon, Turkey, Algeria, or Egypt. I usually perform raqs sharqi (Egyptian, with more than a hint of Turkish). I generally wear costuming representative of dancers from those regions. On occasion, I wear American Tribal Style tassel belts. Whenever anyone asks about these belts, I'm always sure to tell them it's representative of a North American style of Middle Eastern dance.

But doesn't that seem odd? To say North American Middle Eastern dance, I mean? It's either one or the other, isn't it? So what exactly am I doing when I wear these costumes yet use a Middle Eastern vocabulary of movement?

So what the hell am I doing up there on stage, anyhow? Is it still raqs sharqi even if I'm wearing North American costuming? I'd love to call what I do just plain ol' dance, but that's just not specific enough. How can I do a decent job educating the populace when I don't know how to describe what I'm doing?

Comments

North American Middle Eastern

[metasilk.livejournal.com]

"North American Middle Eastern" -- in this particular couple of years, just having these together seems like a good thing to me.

Re: North American Middle Eastern

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Politically, sure. But I really don't think it adequately describes the dance. Hell, I could be square dancing in bedlah, or doing the debkeh to the Beegees. Now those are images!

Re: North American Middle Eastern

[metasilk.livejournal.com]

Square dancing in bedlah!

*ROTFL!*

(of course, I now know that the next contra dance I go to I will bring at least the fringed scarf if not also a coin scarf.... er...)