My Bellydance Anniversary

Well, as of today I have been taking bellydance classes for three years. Why don't I feel like I can bellydance yet? I still feel very much like a student, not a bellydancer. Maybe it's because I've jumped around so much, from teacher to teacher. I've taken Egyptian cabaret, ATS, Turkish cabaret, tribal fusion, and popping and locking. I've taken every workshop I could afford, with respected teachers such as Rachel Brice (twice), Sharon Kihara, Ariellah, Zoe Jakes, Tempest (twice), and more. Maybe too many teachers and too many traditions? With all this instruction and all these amazing teachers, I still don't feel like I could get out on a dance floor or stage and just *bellydance* all the way through one song. I'm starting to wonder if I'm taking too many classes in unconventional dance, like tribal fusion. Most dancers who are really good in this style started dancing cabaret and then branched out, bringing their own style and influences from other dance forms like ballet, modern, jazz, hip hop, gothic, whatever. I've put so much time in to classes in the new, fusion styles, with only about a year of cabaret background. Maybe I need to go back to the roots and learn plain ol' bellydance a bit better--well enough to be able to dance all the way through one song. Then, maybe take the more experimental and unconventional classes, after I have a more solid background in "normal" bellydance. I want to make this decision within a month, as that's when my current class sessions will be over. What to do? Any advice?

Bellydance Superstars

I wrote this for my MySpace blog, but then realized that many more of the Tribe friends than MySpace friends would be interested, so I'm cross-posting it here:

Last night I saw Miles Copelands's Monsters of Bellydance extravaganza--the Bellydance Superstars. There's nothing a fledgling bellydancer loves more than to get to watch, admire, and study some of the world's best dancers from the third row center, so it was an amazing time and I'm so glad I was able to go. One thing I keep thinking about, though...why does this have to be Extreme Bellydancing? One thing I, and I think most people, love about watching bellydancers (Anne Soffe writes about this more articulately in her wonderful book Snake Hips) is the "gee whiz" factor. Like, how does she do that? It can be mindblowing to watch a talented dancer do shoulder shimmies, clockwise rib circles, counterclockwise hip circles, while undulating and shimmying, chest up, shoulders down, stomach in, butt tucked, keeping graceful hands and a smile on her face, all at the same time. My jaw drops routinely at much less "Superstar" events than BDSS. Professional bellydancers already up the ante a bit when they incorporate props into their dancing, such as performing with zils, swords, balancing lit candles on their heads, using other fire props like poi and fire fingers, and even dancing with snakes. I feel like this current Raqs Carnivale tour threw in too many unneeded bells and whistles, that while cool, took away some of the emphasis from watching the actual dancing. At one point, Jillina, while improvising to drummers, got up and stood on top of a little drum, so she was raised on a platform with a diameter of just a few inches. She proceeded to do all of her shimmies, hip movements, and locks, with level changes, standing atop this little drum. She then scooted around on the little drum, moving it around the floor, while continuing to dance. There is another dancer, I'm forgetting her name, who is obviously a trained gymnast. She mixes front and back handsprings, some not using her arms at all, so I guess more flips, into her dancing. Cool, and fun as hell to watch, but geez! Kind of raises the bar for the rest of us! Where it really went over the top a bit for me, though, was toward the end when, Stevie I think it was, came out wearing GIANT Isis wings and STILTS. Bellydancing in stilts! Shocking, impressive, and fun, but c'mon!!! I don't want to feel as if just bellydancing isn't cool and impressive enough to warrant watching on it's own. What are the BDSS going to have to do next tour, to top this? If the Bellydance Superstars just...bellydance...will audiences be disappointed?