March 2005

NoAmerican Bellydancer - the Movie

This month the movie "American Bellydancer" was aired at one theatre, for one showing, in St. Louis.  I had hoped to attend and write a review but was prevented from doing so due to unexpected events.  However, approximately 10 of the Desert Moon Dancers were able to attend and constituted part of the less than 50 member audience.  Although I can not comment on the movie, it is fair to say that  Miles Copeland's stated goal of bringing public appeal (like Riverdance) to belly dance has failed in St. Louis.  In a metropolitan area with a population of over one million, it is difficult to understand how a movie appearing in only one theatre, on one night, can draw attendance that is not only minuscule but less than a fraction of the belly dance community alone.

February 2005

NoBelly Dance Expectations and Revelations - Part IV

You have been reading about belly dance as a fun fitness alternative and purchased one of several belly dance fitness videos.  After several weeks you decided it was time to attend a belly dance class.  

Although you enjoy your new dance class and had some muscle aches after class, it was not the aerobic workout you anticipated.  Why is the class so different than your workout video?

Belly dance was introduced in the United States as a performing art.   Historically, if you attended a belly dance class, you would learn belly dance movement, form, stage presence and the other elements of the dance that would ultimately enable you to perform. Bored with aerobic class styles, many women began taking belly dance, salsa and other dance forms for fitness.  As the popularity of belly dance grew, so have the number of classes that focus on fitness.  However, not all classes are for fitness.  Many instructors continue to teach belly dance as a performing art.  Any belly dance class will enhance your fitness through the use of muscles you don't normally use and through movements that improve flexibility.  However, classes geared for performers necessitate detailed instructions relating to  form and composition that will prevent an aerobic workout.

Before attending a belly dance class, assess your goals.  Do you want to have an aerobic workout, improve flexibility,  perform for your family and friends or become a full-fledged performing artists?  Select a belly dance class that best matches your goals.

January 2005

NoBelly Dance Expectations and Revelations - Part III

You attended a community festival, party or turned on the television and saw belly dancers for the first time.  Enthralled and intrigued by the beauty of the performance and hearing music that made you want to dance, you decide to join a belly dance class. 

Although you enjoy your new dance class you hate the music.  You also enjoyed your groups' performances, but again you hate the music and now feel uninspired to dance to belly dance music. Why is the music so different than the music you heard before?

First, it is necessary to explore music used in dance class.  Belly dance steps generally reflect the music and rhythms of the Middle East that are more complex than Western music.  In order to be able to teach a dance step, it is necessary to be redundant and repeat the step many times.  This necessitates that the music maintain a consistent rhythm which also means that class music often requires the use of  simple and sometimes redundant music compositions.

Performance music is a different story.  If the music is radically different than the music you previously heard chances are it music from a different Middle Eastern county or a different time period.   Consider American music.  American music includes pop, rock, R&B, classical, country and many other styles.  In addition, each style changes over time.  Rock music composed in the United States today doesn't sound like the music composed fifty years ago.  The same is true in the Middle East.  There are approximately  28 countries that are considered Middle Eastern and each has its own music style. While some of the belly dance music from different countries (such as Lebanon and Egypt) have similarities, they are different!  Furthermore, belly dance music composed today is not the same as music composed fifty years ago.  Furthermore, an American style of belly dance known as American Tribal often uses modern compositions that fuses music from Middle Eastern, African and other countries.  In addition, some belly dancers use American rock music. 

Learn more about the style of music used by your fellow student performers.  If your dance director does not permit you to perform to the style of music you like,  don't hate belly dance. Find a new class that performs to a style of music that better matches your taste and inspires you to dance.

December 2004

NoBelly Dance Expectations and Revelations - Part II

You attended a community festival, party or turned on the television and saw belly dancers for the first time.  Enthralled and intrigued by the beauty of the performance you decide to join a belly dance class. 

Watching your teacher's movements or the dances performed by your fellow students, you noted that these moves and dances look nothing like the belly dancers you initially saw perform.  In fact, you may not even like the moves or style being taught.  Why are the dances so different?

Belly dance is a term the United States has assigned to all styles of Middle Eastern dance as well as American dance styles that incorporate isolated body movements derived from the Middle East.   Calling all dances of the Middle East "belly dance" is like calling jazz, country and rock  dance "American Dance".  While woman from many countries in the Middle East including Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey use isolated body movements, each country has dance styles that are significantly different.  In addition to cultural differences, there are historical difference.  Folk dance and modern styles of the Middle Eastern dance are also coined belly dance in the United States in spite of enormous differences.

Since belly dance was introduced in the United States around a century ago, an American style also evolved that fuses together movements from many Middle Eastern countries as well as ballet, jazz and other dance forms.  More recently, a style known as American Tribal has emerged that often blends African dance steps and/or Flamenco as well as a different music and costuming styles.

If you don't like what you are learning or seeing in your class, don't hate belly dance. Find a new class with a style that better matches your future dance style goals.

November 2004

NoBelly Dance Expectations and Revelations - Part I

You attend a community festival, party or turned on the television and saw belly dancers for the first time.  Enthralled and intrigued by the beauty of the performance you decide to join a belly dance class.  The dancers you saw executed each move with ease and you are confident that you will be performing in no time at all.

First class revelation, you were wrong.  Professional belly dancers make the moves look easy.   However, like other dance forms (flamenco and ballet among others) belly dance requires extensive training and discipline.  To be a dancer, in addition to learning the specific movements of belly dance, you must develop strength, coordination, stamina, grace and flexibility.  While some individuals are naturally gifted to dance, most of us require several years of training to develop these skills.

If your expectation is to begin performing in a few weeks or even months, chances are you will not enjoy your learning experience.  Trying to advance too fast, without mastering the basics, will not improve your dance.  Relax and enjoy the music, movement and physical improvements you gain from your class.  With time your movements will become effortless and you may become a performing belly dancer.

October 2004

Suit Suitability

Just as women wear suits to work and swimsuits to the beach, not all belly dance costumes are appropriate for all performances. It isn’t enough to have a great costume.  It isn’t enough to have a costume that is suitable to your body type.  Costuming should reflect the dance style that you are performing.  

Costuming malfunctions are more than a strap breaking or a tag showing. Consider a master ballet dancer who enters to perform swan lake in a cowboy hat, blue jeans and flannel shirt.  Her performance may be the finest performance of swan lake ever seen; however, it is likely that the audience would find her performance extremely humorous.  Consider a metal rock star showing up for a  metal rock video in a tutu.  

With these basic principles in mind, you might consider wearing a Turkish costume when performing Turkish dance, an Egyptian costume for Egyptian dance and more covered historic costumes for folkloric dance. The costume of your dreams will not make you the dancer of your dreams; however wearing an unsuitable costume may make your dance laughable.

May 2004

Belly Dance Performance Flop

Have you ever hosted a belly dance performance with disappointing attendance?  In St. Louis, for example, the Belly Dance Superstars' show had approximately 100 attendees in a venue with a seating capacity at least twice that big. 

If you have ever directed a performance that had an attendance flop, consider the following.

• Was the event organized sufficiently in advance so that people knew it was coming?
   

• Was the event included on a prominent web site so that it was picked up by search engines?
   

• Were flyers distributed to those you wanted in attendance?
   

• Did you advertise?
   

• Does your dance company have a reputation for presenting exciting dances at each event?
   

• Does your dance company have a reputation for presenting professional performances rather than amateur student recitals?

If your answer to each of these questions was yes, chances are there was nothing else you could have done to improve your turnout.  As noted in this month's causerie "of all the major arts, dance seems to have the toughest time attracting audiences."

Until the general public develops a greater appreciation for dance, and belly dance in particular,  be prepared for the worst.  Be prepared to lose your investment in the performance.  Strive for the greatest success with preparation for the worst.

April 2004

Belly Dance Superstars and Riverdance

Belly Dance Superstars is now touring major cities throughout the country. Miles Copeland, the creator of Belly Dance Superstars, is billing the event as a performance that will be loved by fans of Riverdance.   Riverdance and Belly Dance Superstars have at least one thing in common, both are touring dance companies.  On the other hand, correlating the production of Belly Dance Superstars to that of Riverdance, is questionable, but that is another story.  One thing the two shows do not have in common is timing.  Riverdance, like most professional performances, starts on time and, at least in St. Louis, Belly Dance Superstars commenced 25 minutes late. 

Belly dance as a physical activity is gaining popularity in the United States.  The popularly of belly dance as a performing art has not yet achieved the status of  Riverdance or other dance forms like ballet.  Creating a touring Middle Eastern dance company is a big step forward for which Miles is appreciated.  However, small steps forward also contribute to the image of our dance and professionalism.  While many members of the belly dance community have come to expect belly dance performances to begin late, this is not the case with the general public.  Members of the audience may have plans to dine after a show, relieve a babysitter or simply have better things to do than sit in a chair for 25 minutes.  A professional event booked to commence at 8:00 p.m. should commence at 8:00 p.m.

March 2004

The Veil Dance

Belly dance originated in the Middle East, was exported to the West, blended with other styles of dance and re-exported to the Middle East.  The result is that Middle Eastern dance now incorporates dance styles that are not native to that part of the world.  While a veil entrance may be seen in the Middle East, veil dancing is a western style, that has never been accepted in the Middle East.  One reason is that Easterners find the look of a veil dance similar to watching a strip tease.

In the November/December article "Ask Hossam!"  in Zaghareet magazine, Hossam was asked his opinion on veil dancing.  Hossam suggests that when using any prop you should know the final result it will create and what effect you are trying to achieve.  Hossam pointed out that in Egypt, dancers use the veil to either "create a big flurry of visual effect as they are entering the stage" or "as a sensual, attractive, skin-touching, beautiful personal look." He points out that once a Middle Eastern dancer has the audiences' attention the veil is set aside and the dancer "gets down to the business of dancing to the music."

I thought about the article when I recently attended a belly dance show following a workshop.  A woman entered the performance area with a veil covering her head and body with only her arms showing. She moved her arms under the veil for awhile.  When she removed the veil, I thought she would, as Hossam said, "get down to the business of dancing."  Instead, off came another veil.  This time, covering the entire front of her body, she placed the veil under her eyes and did a look at my beautiful exotic eyes thing.  I can't remember what she did with the third and fourth veil, other than taking them off.  And there may have been a fifth veil; however by the time she was manipulating the forth veil my attention was completely gone and I was drifting and  thinking.... What is she thinking. What is she trying to convey?

At worst, I could not help but think she was acting out some hidden desire to be a stripper. At best, I could not help but think, props are one way a dancer can hide  her lack of dancing skill.

February 2004

Egypt Court Upholds Ban  on Foreign Belly Dancers  

On January 21 an Egyptian court upheld the law prohibiting foreign belly dancers from performing in Egypt.  The battle began in August 2003 with the passage of a law imposing the ban to become effective in 2004.  An Australian dancer, Caroline Evanoff, and a Russian, known as Nour, contested the law.  On January 21, 2004 the court rejected their appeal and upheld the law.

Share your thoughts:

Does a foreign dancer ban improve belly dance in Egypt?
Is such a ban an unusual and unwarranted restriction on the arts?
Do you believe the ban is about jobs in Egypt or other non-disclosed reason?
Any other thoughts or comments are welcome.

January 2004

Proprioception and the Belly Dancer  

Successful belly dancers have many athletic skills including strength, stamina and flexibility.  The single most important component of their athletic ability is balance. Balance is the foundation of all movements regardless of whether the movement is dominated by strength, speed, flexibility or stamina.  Balance is closely related to coordination and agility since they are both dependent on good balance. Balance is what allows us to move gracefully. 

According to medical studies, most sports related sprains and strains have to do with balance.  Proprioception to be exact.  Proprioception is one’s ability to sense the position, location and orientation of the body and to react.  

Balance and proprioception are influenced by genetics as well as an individual’s acquired skills.   Balance can be improved through exposure to variety of different sensory conditions and repetition of the movement. 

Most belly dance classes include warm-ups that encourage flexibility or simple movements that get the muscles prepared for more strenuous activity.  Yet some belly dance classes completely neglect balance stimulating exercises.  

To improve balance, the volume of exercises can be low but the exercises should be incorporated in every class. In addition, dancers should be encouraged to incorporate balance exercises into their daily workout routine.  Here are a few you can try: 

1.       Stand with good posture and legs together. Raise yourself  up on your toes.  Go down to the floor (squat) while staying on your toes and raise back up on your toes to the original standing position. Repeat several times.

 2.       Stand with good posture and legs together. Raise one foot off the floor. Lift one hip up and down 20 times then switch legs.

3.       Try both of the above with eyes closed. 

December 2003

On more than one occasion I have addressed belly dance and weight.  Although anyone can dance for fun and fitness, to have commercial value requires that a dancer be aesthetically pleasing.  This does not mean a perfect beauty of perfect proportions, but having an appearance that most people will find pleasant to watch.

Why would I write about these matters?  First, because like it or not, fact is fact.  Second, I was not always my current petite size 6.  I was a very heavy child; the fat kid that classmates made fun of in school.  When I reached my mid teens, I wanted to be more attractive; I wanted to date.  In my mid teens I lost a lot of weight but yo-yo dieting prevented me from fully reaching my goals.  In my late teens, I changed my eating patterns and began an extensive exercise program.  I reached my weight goal and have maintained it.  This required changing my life-style; forever. 

Writing about weight is not an attempt to badger. It is to say, stop making excuses. If I can do it, you can too. 
 

November 2003
 

_________
*  In  January 2003, ABC News reported that obesity is not just an American image crisis - it's fast becoming our most serious public health problem. Obesity now rivals smoking in its deadliness and is linked to diseases such as type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer.

In December, U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, reported that an estimated 300,000 Americans die each year from fat-related causes, and $117 billion was spent in obesity-related economic costs just last year.

October 2003
 

COMPETITION WITH CHOICE

Each year Desert Moon Dance Academy, and other well known belly dance promoters, host belly dance competitions. It is a matter of personal choice whether or not a dancer enters a competition. Judges determine the winner by casting votes for the dancer they consider to be best based on pre-determined guidelines such as technical skills, entertainment quality and stage presence.

Not all competitions are based on choice or pre-defined standards.  Anyone anywhere can establish a contest of any kind they wish. Consider Brandon’s Oasis, on-line only, belly dance competition.

I discovered the competition last year when Desert Moon Dance Academy was entered in the competition by Brandon. We did not choose to enter this competition. A competition that has no defined standards for entry. A competition that has no defined standards for winning (e.g. the most popular dancer, the best dance troupe, the most attractive dancer, the best web site). A competition where the winner is selected based on the number of votes cast by email. A competition that has no controls on voting (e.g. any one that has multiple screen names can cast as many votes as they like).

Now you may participate in Desert Moon Dance Academy’s OBSCURE BELLY DANCE CONTEST.
 

CAST YOUR VOTE FOR OBSCURE:

Vote Yes for Brandon’s Oasis or
Vote NO for Brandon’s Oasis by emailing Arleah@desertmoondance.com

The voting deadline is November 1.
You may vote as many times as you like
The Official results of this "Scientific Poll" will be on our website next month.

June 2003

Qualified Belly Dance Instructor

May 2003

Growing Interest In Everything Middle Eastern

 INCLUDING BELLY DANCE

April 2003

Celebrate Dance Day
 

March 2003

February 2003

If belly dancing is to gain popularity, in the main stream, performances presented to the public must be professional, entertaining and address the attention span of attendees. It may be best to keep student recitals private, or at least make sure that the media is informed when the event is a student recital rather than a professional performance.

January 2003

Stop Warming Up and Start Dancing

December 2002

Gloomy Belly Dancing

"When I think 'Gothic,' I think black makeup, depressing music, people
who wear all black," said Al Gordon, who spins Gothic and industrial
records during "Dominate the Species Night"  at Zootz, a club in Portland." 
(quote from Article from the Portland Press Herald.)

The gothic movement that, for sometime, has permeated throughout the United States, has recently begun incorporating belly dance into the gothic scene.

According to the writer for www.gothicbellydance.net,   "Gothic Belly dance was born from the fusion of Egyptian beledi and Voudun (Voodoo)".  The
Darker Image a website that "exists to capture the soul of Goth, industrial, alternative and fetish models, bands, clubs and events" has pictures of gothic belly dancers from the Metal Lounge club.

There isn’t a goth belly dance company in St. Louis, although some belly dancers accompany a dark music group as noted in the article Band Out of Hell  (and also noted at this band's   website).

Like most types of dance, belly dancing is normally associated with positive and enjoyable experiences; such as good exercise and entertaining performances.  These positive associations may make it difficult to become a gothic belly dancer. 

• What do you do about costuming? Try the Costume Goddess.
  
  
• How do you learn gothic dance moves to mix with belly dance moves?  Try the Goth Punk website.
  
  
• What about music? Try Shadowsphere, a UK group that mixes Egyptian and Gothic music.

I don’t think I will ever understand gothic belly dance; however, I guess the standard for some dancers is if you like it or it sells, go for it.

November 2002

Success for the Beautiful Dancer

Highly skilled entertainers are often engaged for their appearance.  Sometimes solely on the basis of appearance and sometimes on the basis of both skill and appearance.  While it is difficult to promote belly dance as an art form when only personal aesthetics are considered, it is also unlikely that a dancer who lacks personal aesthetics will be commercially successful. 

Although many belly dancers involved in the RJ Reynolds promotional campaign may have been highly skilled dancers, and while it is possible that a few may not have been extremely attractive, it is undeniable that RJ Reynolds preferred attractive dancers.  Is there something wrong with this? Although there are companies and individuals that engage belly dancers without exploring either their dancing skill or attractiveness,  I never receive calls from a potential client who says I would like to engage an ugly belly dancer that dances extremely well.

Whether we like it or not, beauty affects our success as belly dancers.  As women, beauty affects our success in most of our endeavors. 

October 2002

Belly Dancers and Cigarettes

For several years belly dancers have been hired by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company to promote Camel Cigarettes as part of a campaign called the "7 Pleasures of the Casbah." The campaign consists of 700 parties in clubs throughout the country in 70 cities. In addition to gifts of cigarettes (and zills) the parties feature magicians, fire eaters and belly dancers.

Another recent campaign is the Casbah Camel Cigarette Lounge. The lounge, actually a tent with a Turkish motif, is established at various rock concert venues (places where lots of young people go) throughout the country. Like the "7 Pleasures of the Casbah", visitors received free cigarettes and the opportunity to intermingle with a belly dancer.

In February 2002, entertainment agencies began searching for belly dancers for this year's Casbah Lounges. The belly dancer was to mingle with the patrons.  The belly dancer could dance occasionally but there were no apparent time demands on the length of performance or how much time to devote to dance during each of the several hour engagements. To select the dancer, the advertising agencies requested pictures only and never asked for information regarding dance experience or skills. As noted in the article "The Mysterious Unveiled" (see this month’s Causerie below) the only requirement was that the dancer be attractive.

Share your thoughts:

• Should belly dancers promote smoking?
  
  

• Should belly dancers accept engagements in which the primary qualification is beauty rather than dance skill?

(Send your comments to Arleah@desertmoondance.com.)

Note: Desert Moon Dance has not participated in these events; however we can report that in St. Louis, the Casbah Camel Cigarette Lounge is at the UMB Bank Pavilion, formerly Riverport Amphitheater.

 

September 2002

Know Your Belly Dance Music

 

Music that has no lyrics or that comes from a belly dance music CD is usually a safe bet for dancing. If the music you like is; however, from another source or has lyrics be careful. The music you select may insult or anger your audience. Consider the possibilities.

It is not appropriate to belly dance to all types of music. For example, a musical prayer or music telling a story of pain and suffering is usually not appropriate. Sometimes music may sound happy even when the lyrics are soulfully sad and painful.  It would be an embarrassing discovery to find yourself dancing joyously to such music.

Consider the language of the lyrics and who you are performing for. An Egyptian audience is likely to be insulted if the lyrics are in Farsi and not Arabic. Turkish or Gulf music may not be enjoyed by a Lebanese audience.

If you are not careful, you could find yourself, for example, dancing to the popular Palestinian group Sabreen with lyrics like:

"They put chains on his mouth
They tied his hands to the rock of the dead
And said: You are a murderer"

During the past six months I saw Egyptian Oriental Dance performed to Nubian music and to shaabi music. I saw Persian Gulf dancing to Egyptian pop music. Respect your audience, the culture from which your dances are derived and yourself by not making your dance laughable.

 

July 2002

Persian Dance

This month Laurel Victoria Gray shares her thoughts regarding the various dance styles referred to as "Persian Dance"  as follows:

The term "Persian dance" can be applied to a variety of regions and historical periods, making a strict definition difficult. After all, the Persian Empire once extended to Egypt. The population includes diverse ethnicities such as Kurds, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Jews, Armenians, and numerous Iranian tribal groups. Each group, each region, and each historical epoch has specific dance styles associated with it.

Styles can range from "Bandari" , a lively folk dance from the Persian Gulf region which contains strong Arabic and African influences, to sophisticated reconstructions of refined court dances. The movement vocabulary, costuming, music, demeanor, and context of these dances can widely vary.

Does this only obfuscate rather than elucidate?

Perhaps it may help to remember that the Persian language, Farsi, belongs to the Indo-European family, as does English. Arabic, like Hebrew and Aramaic, is Semitic. Likewise, Persian dance has different traits than Arabic dance.

Persian dance often utilizes delicate, graceful movements of the hands and arms, such as wrist circles. Animated facial expressions are central to the concept of "naz," that difficult-to-define quality of alluring flirtatiousness that marks the best performers.

Hip movements are sometimes used, but to a much lesser extend than in Arabic dance; these motions are often achieved by moving the legs in contrast with the true isolations of Arabic dance. Shoulder isolation appear but rarely sustained shoulder shimmies with the notable exception of "Bandari."

Like almost all of the dances of the East, the floor often becomes a significant element, with a performer kneeling or sitting in part of her presentation. Backbends and lay backs can occur.

Elaborate and complex spins and spiral turns are found in various Persian dances. This contrasts from the rare use of extended spinning in traditional Arabic folk dances. (The "tanoura" or "whirling dervish" dance has its own unique history.)

As for the variety of costuming, several regional and historical Persian dance costumes can be seen at the official website of the Silk Road Dance Company, www.silkroaddance.com. First click on "Repertoire" to read the dance descriptions; photographs are sprinkled throughout the site. Pictures of related Uzbek dances are posted under "Archives" at www.uzbekdance.org.

Laurel Victoria Gray
WWW.SILKROADDANCE.COM

(Our special thanks to Laurel Victoria Gray for making this information available to Desert Moon Dance Academy and our readers.)

 

June 2002

Caught the Belly Dancing Bug?

Do you spend hours training or preparing for your next performance? Do you communicate with fellow dancers by email?

All those hours spent on belly dance! Have you Caught the Belly Dancing Bug? The bug you caught may not be your addiction to belly dancing but, rather, a virus or worm you received from and spread by email.

For well over a year viruses and worms have been spreading rampant in the belly dance community. Many of these infections are attached to an email that when opened, sends itself out to everyone in your address book. Although many dancers prefer to spend their free time on their art, its time to develop some computer savvy as a service to yourself as well as your fellow dancers.

Protect yourself and your email recipients by learning more about viruses and purchasing reputable anti-virus software. Learn about the viruses and worms circulating in cyberworld and the dance community in particular. Are you intimidated by the complicated information provided on-line? Visit Aziza Sa ‘id’s website www.zilltech.com for belly dancer friendly information about the latest viruses, worms and virus hoaxes.

In addition, follow some simple guidelines that protect your system and others on your email list.

1. Always include an easy to understand subject line in your emails.
   
   
2. Do not open an email if the subject line does not appear to be applicable to you.
   
   
3. If you send an attachment, clearly describe the contents in the body of the email.
   
   
4. Do not open attachments unless you know what they are.
   
   
5. Do not open emails from strangers.
   
   
6. Don’t hide. If you think you have a worm or virus that may be infecting the dance community, email everyone on your address book about the potential problem.

May 2002

Advanced Solo Belly Dancers

The term advanced suggests that a dancer has attained skills that are at a higher level than a beginner or intermediate dancer.

On August 23, 2002, Desert Moon Dance will host the second MEDINA dance competition for advanced soloists. We have used the term "advanced" to avoid the use of the term amateur or professional. To establish a reasonable standard for "advanced soloists," we have restricted contestants to dancers with at least four years of dance experience. We recognize, however, that four years of belly dance experience does not necessarily result in an advanced soloist.

Belly dancing ability is a matter of personal skill, training and practice. Accordingly, many dancers require numerous years of training to surpass an intermediate level. Likewise, gifted and highly motivated individuals may require only a few years to become highly skilled dancers. Although some individuals master the body flexibility and movements of belly dance rapidly, most individuals require years of exposure to belly dancing to learn how to combine the movements into an esthetically pleasing whole. Some individuals are never able to compose an esthetic dance. Each part of a dance may be perfectly executed while the entire dance looks like no more than dance moves.

In addition to executing proper dance moves, an advanced dance artist knows how to engage and retain the attention of the audience and to project the emotion of the music. These skills generally require some years of experience. Experience performing is required in order to determine what an audience does and does not like.

A dancer may be "advanced" regardless of whether the individual is an amateur dancer or professional dancer (See the November article – "Professional Belly Dancers"). An amateur dancer may attain an "advanced" level of skill but never choose to pursue dance for compensation. A professional dancer (one who seeks compensation for performing) may not be advanced. In fact, some professional dancers have attained minimal belly dancing ability. This is possible since few belly dance engagements require auditions and many belly dance engagements are based on fees, availability, and advertising rather than skill.

The term "advance" means to progress, move forward, and improve. The goal of MEDINA is to provide dancers a fun opportunity to share and advance their dance skills. Join us in August.

April 2002

Copyright, Creativity and Conduct

Some belly dance companies work very hard to create original choreographies, informative articles, marketing ideas and mission statements. Sometimes our materials are taken in whole or in part by other belly dancers. This may be unlawful. A copyright is a form of intellectual property law, that protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, music and artistic work. Copyright protection encompasses pictures, graphics and choreographies as well as written articles, music and audio-visual works. Almost any original expression is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form so that it is perceptible. That includes materials on the web.

Copyright protection is automatic; you don’t have to register your work. Many individuals choose to register their works in order to have the facts of their copyright on the public record thereby enhancing opportunities to seek statutory damages during litigation. Since most western belly dancers do not have large financial interests in either their websites or choreographs it is unlikely that either the time or cost of litigation is justified. Registration may be a moot point.

A more important question than whether or not to register your materials is why are belly dancers taking each others materials? Belly dancers are artists and like all artists we are suppose to be creative. It is discontenting to find a website that has taken pictures, graphics and articles from a website (without permission) and placed them on their own. It is equally discontenting to find your original ideas slightly reworded and reworked on someone else’s website.

While ideas, facts, titles, names and short phrases are not subject to copyright protection, let ethics and creativity prevail. The belly dance world will be more harmonious, artistic and entertaining if each of us strive for original thought as well as original choreographies.

 

March 2002

Dance Company Culture

Every organization establishes certain behavioral norms based on beliefs, attitudes, goals, and priorities. In the corporate world these behavioral patterns are referred to as corporate culture. Most organizations, particularly those related to dance, don't generally make a conscious effort to create a culture; the culture develops from within. Without direction, the culture is sometimes negative and results in low ethics, distrust and intolerance.

In contrast, the Desert Moon Dance Academy has worked purposefully to develop a culture that will inspire dancers to achieve their personable best, to perform as a team and to share a common goal that is directed toward achieving our mission.*

Developing a dance company culture is a long-term undertaking. In the short-term it is sometimes necessary to make sacrifices. There must be a willingness to accept the loss of a beautiful dancer if the individual does not want to work as a team.  In the long-term, the establishment of a positive culture based on shared revenues, ethics, trust, and camaraderie will create a friendly cohesive group of performing artists.

The culture you seek to create should address the specific goals you want for your dance company whether the goals are based on dancing for fitness, as amateur performers or as professional performers.   Although each dance company must establish its own approach to establishing a culture, it is certain that hard work and serious effort will be required.

Desert Moon Dance Academy’s culture is a product of the following on ongoing effort:

• Creating a friendly environment that establishes mutual respect and camaraderie

• Letting each dancer know what is expected through both oral and written communications

• Encouraging dancers to be supportive of the achievements of each other

• Letting each dancer know there are no première danseuse in our dance company

• Preventing arrogance by setting rules and applying them equally

• Establishing compensation for performers that is understood by each and equitably distributed.

• Managing the dance company as a role model of sincerity.

 ______

*  Our stated mission is "to provide professional dance instruction in a friendly and warm atmosphere, to present Middle Eastern dance performances encompassing ethnic, folkloric and belly dance styles in a manner intended to enhance the public recognition and image of these artistic and beautiful dance forms, and to promote cultural understanding, peace and friendship through dance."

 

February 2002

Professing to be the
Best Belly Dancers in the United States

We are the Best Belly Dancers in the United States.
Can we say that? Yes!

We are Better Belly Dancers than any other belly dancers in the United States.
Can we say that? NO!

Advertising is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC was created for the purpose of regulating unfair methods of competition and to protect consumers. Under its rules, it is unlawful to make false or misleading advertising statements regardless of the advertising medium including the Internet. The federal appeals court has upheld the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to investigate Internet advertising claims.

Taken as a whole, your ad must fairly inform the ordinary consumer. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, advertisements must have the following qualities:

• Be truthful and non-deceptive,
  
• Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims, and
  
• Advertisements cannot be unfair.

An ad does not have to actually fool anyone to be illegal it only has to have a deceptive quality. What counts is the overall impression created by the ad and not the technical truthfulness of the individual parts.

My experience suggests that most belly dancers factually represent themselves on the web; however there are certainly exceptions. Belly dancers should consider both the ethics and legality of the following advertising practices:

• Claiming (or implying) that you are Middle Eastern if you aren’t.

• Claiming to have studied dance in the Middle East if  you have not.

• Claiming that you performed abroad when you danced for a few friends.

• Claiming (or implying) that your dance classes offer physical benefits that can not be substantiated (e.g. don’t profess aerobic benefits if your students are not taught in an aerobic fashion).

• Claiming that you "studied with" national and international instructors when you attended a couple of seminars with the instructor.

• Unsubstantiated testimonials (you must be able to substantiate the testimonials and endorsements with names of real individuals and the testimonials must reflect the typical experiences of consumers).

• Selling your beauty with the use of outdated photos.

• Implying that you are a featured performer at national seminars when you are simply an attendee invited to dance.

Any comparative statement suggesting that you or your dance company is better or more popular than another is unlawful unless it can be substantiated (e.g by way of a published popularity poll).

On the other hand, you can say that you are the best. This is referred to as "puffery." The FTC has taken the position that inflated opinion statements are not taken seriously by consumers. Best is interpreted to mean "no better than." In other words if you are best you are as good as other dancers, not better than other dancers.

For the most part, the FTC relies on consumers and competitors to report unlawful advertising. Given the fact that puffery is permitted and that it is unlikely that a belly dance company’s advertisements would be litigated, the bottom line is Buyers Beware.

Belly dancer Zehara from the UK properly warns consumers about dancers’ web pages by writing, "Verify the authenticity of everything mentioned and be suspicious of any withholding of information. Professional Acts will proudly be able to say where they have performed, where they will be appearing next and what people have said about them, and venues will be more than pleased to vouch for them."

 

January 2002

Audience Participation in
Interactive Belly Dance

We love to interact with our audience. We hope that the beauty and excitement of our dances and music will get the audiences’ feet tapping and hands clapping. Eye contact, smiling and laughing are good. When Middle Easterners attend a performance we are delighted when they sing along with our music or stand up and dance next to the spot where they were seated. When appropriate, we enjoy ending a performance with a 15 minute dance class where we teach an entire balady dance.

We are not, however, inclined to participate in what is typically referred to as audience participation by many American belly dancers. I am referring to the short interactions at the end of a performance when the belly dancer asks or coerces a member of the audience to dance with her for about 30 seconds.

On her website, Nevina described the interaction well, "The dancer attempts to include the recipient in the show. At any rate, make this participation section very short. Get him up to satisfy the audience, stop at a high point, and rave about his performance. Thirty seconds to a minute is long enough, for his sake!"

A member of an American Tribal dance company wrote: "we're supposed to go out into the audience and grab someone and drag them (kicking and screaming) up onto stage to dance a very casual gypsy number with the troupe. So far, [dancer’s name] is the only one who's ever actually had the nerve to pester an audience member and has dragged 4 people to date, up on stage with her."

Although we often find these interactions entertaining to watch and we support  dance companies that make interaction a part of a belly dance show, it is not something the Desert Moon Dancers like to do. We simply don’t understand it. What is the purpose?

• Does 30 seconds satisfy the audience members' desire to dance?
  
• Provide an opportunity for audiences to observe costumes and body parts in close proximity?
  
• Make fun of the individual that can not execute belly dance movements?
  
• Allow audience members that already belly dance to show off ?

We feel embarrassed for the audience members that are coerced to perform. We feel embarrassed for the belly dancer that is unsuccessful in getting audience participation. As the dancer walks through the audience we see individuals look down, look away and simply refuse to be a part of the show.

Surfing the web, I discovered that a few audience members enjoyed the interaction. They loved to watch their friends embarrass themselves. Most of the comments I found regarding interaction were demeaning to the performance.

For example, one audience member wrote "Belly dancing! A new girl steps onto the floor; her head remains perfectly still yet her hips start flying all over the place. I sit peacefully, trying to eat my couscous, when suddenly she rushes across the room and shakes her fringe three inches from my mouth. Whoa! Just like a Vegas table dance. Should I put money down her top or what? Better not, they say belly dancing's a traditional art form."

A comment from another show was "It's certainly..... distracting..... to have all these sequins and fringe and bare flesh gyrating as you're eating. …. She got her captive audience to participate by forcibly taking them out of their chairs and grinning till even the shy ones began to dance along with her. It was cute to see the varying degrees of stiffness that everyone tried so hard to overcome - middle aged guys are almost guaranteed to look silly, but neither did they mind trying to shake it with a pretty belly dancer, right? (Ha.)"

This except is from a show where the audience member seemed relieved that the dancer spent time teaching the children to dance and left the adult audience alone. "The belly dancing was pretty calm, too. In fact, the dancer spent more time teaching some of the kids in the crowd to dance than she did in going from table to table embarrassing the patrons (which is what I was afraid of)."

At this restaurant, the audience member refers to his friend that was approached by the belly dancer "She wiggled in front of [name] who stuffed a buck down her skirt waistband. His wife kicked him under their table in the downtown restaurant."

Somehow mini audience interactions seem inappropriate to dance performing artists. As far as our dance company is concerned, interaction may be better left to the Rocky Horror Picture show, Magic shows. Karioki, improvisational dinner theaters and comedy shows.

 

December 2001

Get What You Pay For

Belly dancers are performing artists, not a commodity. If the first and only question a prospective client asks us is "what do you charge," we decline the engagement.

• Would you hire an employee solely based on the salary requested?
• Would you hire a doctor based solely on price?
• Is cost the sole consideration for other types of entertainers, like bands?

Never assume that all belly dancers are alike. Training, experience, professionalism, and style all equate to big differences. A good belly dancer can adjust her style to fit the event. A professional belly dancer will never adjust her style to perform at a sleazy function or in a vulgar style.

Individuals seeking respectful high profile performing artists consider more than price alone. Consider the manner in which most types of entertainers are hired. For example, if you were hiring a comedian wouldn’t you want to know the type of comedy that would be presented? Is it appropriate for families, children or is it X rated? Consider a band. Are all bands the same or would you want to know the style of music played? Is it classical, oldies or top 40 songs? Wouldn’t experience count? Would you hire a band making a debut performance or would you want a group with credentials and references?

Shouldn’t common sense rules for engaging professional entertainers also apply to belly dancers? If they don’t, chances are the prospective client fails to recognize a belly dancer as a performing artist. Those who want to hire professional belly dancers will want to know about the style of dances performed, experience, types of venues where the belly dancer has performed, and references.

Highly regarded entertainers are booked months in advance and command fees suitable to their performing credentials. Belly dancers that have low respect, are not in high demand, or are desperate for any engagement will accept low fees or will reduce their fees in order to undercut more qualified performers.

If you are looking for a tacky representation of belly dancing, pick up the phone, call many dancers and hire the least expensive belly dancer. Chances are you will get what you pay for. If your event requires dignified high profile entertainment, ask about style, experience and credentials and be willing to pay a reasonable fee. Chances are you will get what you ask for.

 

November 2001

Professional Belly Dancers

Defining who is a professional belly dancer and who is an amateur seems to raise quite a controversy in the dance community. Those who earn a substantial amount of their income from belly dance are sometimes angered and feel threatened by amateur dancers that perform without compensation. Some dancers believe that to qualify as a professional belly dancer you must obtain your entire livelihood from dance. The Desert Moon Dancers are professional belly dancers; are you?

What are the requirements to be a professional dancer? Does it require you to earn money exclusively from dance or is it a matter of approach and style? Are dancers that are paid but dance poorly professional? Can a dancer be intoxicated or arrive late and be professional? Are you a professional based on what your peers think of you or what your clients think of you?

Although the answers are undeniably subjective, here are my thoughts. The amateur dancer dances for fun never seeking to get paid although they may occasionally receive payment. Professional dancers seek to be paid although they may sometimes perform without compensation. Dancing without compensation may be part of a professional objective. Just as large corporations like Monsanto and Pepsi contribute to charitable organizations, dance companies sometimes perform gratuitously. A complementary performance may promote good will, enhance public recognition of the dance company or enhance public recognition of belly dancing in general.  A complementary performance to achieve a professional objective is part of being a professional company. Good will and public exposure result in additional future dance opportunities that are compensated.

Professionals adhere to standards of skill, attitude, approach and ethics that are virtues of professionalism. Professionals have the skill to not only entertain an audience but also to convey belly dance as a performing art. A professional attitude and approach (such as arriving on time, dressing appropriately to and from the event, and performing for the designated time) result in repeat engagements. Without such standards one can not expect to be considered a professional performing artist. Low standards can result in high compensation through engagements at sleazy restaurants and bars and by performing "belly grams". Although dancers with low standards may obtain a substantial livelihood, it is difficult to define such dancers as professional.  

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Note: For an explanation of belly gram visit our site archive.

 

October 2001

Belly Dance for Peace

I extend my deepest regrets to those that have been affected by the tragic events in New York and Washington. I extend my deepest regrets to those that have been harmed or threatened because they were, or thought to be, of Arab origin. It is with great distress that I find our Country divided by race and willing to condemn entire nations for the acts of a few.

Are you saddened? Don’t stop dancing.  Dance, like other arts, is an expression of beauty and joy that crosses political boundaries. Let our dance be the dance that can educate as well as entertain. Let dance cross cultural boundaries and unite people as an artistic medium that can be appreciated and shared by everyone.

Ruth St. Denis who was one of the founders of belly dance in America wrote her vision of a future dance for life and peace:

"The dance of the future will no longer be concerned with meaningless dexterities of the body.... Remembering that man is indeed the microcosm, the universe in miniature, the Divine Dance of the future should be able to convey with its slightest gestures some significance of the universe.... As we rise higher in the understanding of ourselves, the national and racial dissonances will be forgotten in the universal rhythms of Truth and Love. We shall sense our unity with all peoples who are moving to that exalted rhythm."   

 

September 2001

Ethical Competition in Belly Dance
Part II or The Art of Talking

In addition to learning isolated body movements, some belly dancers (and their affiliates) have mastered the art of using both sides of the mouth at once.   A dance company mastering this art, recently expressed their disapproval of belly dancing competitions (contests).  Yet, subsequently, no restraint was used to obtain (compete for) a belly dancing engagement. 

Let me tell you this sordid saga. 

Last year, I performed at a black tie fund raiser for a charitable organization.  The attendees thoroughly enjoyed my performance and the event organizers desired my presence again this year.  One difficulty; last year's organizer  was no longer with the group and the new organizer could not remember my dance company's name nor locate my phone number.  Accordingly, the organizer decided to call belly dance companies listed in the yellow pages and ask each if the dancer who danced for them last year was with their company.  One such call, that was not to Desert Moon Dance, yielded a positive response.   While claiming to have performed last year and making arrangements to perform again this year, something went wrong.  Something in this discussion was a tip-off to the organizer that this individual had lied.  Yes, it is difficult to believe but someone associated with belly dancing had lied! 

It is with extreme gratitude that I can tell you that the organizer had the tenacity to find me.  Yes, my friends, I was found and the arrangements for this year's performance were made.... and this story was told to me with the introduction "I think I spoke with the head of the belly dance Mafia."  

 

August 2001

Causerie about Causerie

This month I discovered that at the Merriam-Webster web site, Desert Moon Dance was listed as one of the top 10 popular websites for the word Causerie.  Its not an Arabic word, its French.  Its not about belly dancing or dancing.  Its a form of writing.   My online dictionary uses the following two definitions:

• An informal discussion or chat, especially of an intellectual nature.

• A short, conversational piece of writing or criticism.

These short writings are often of a controversial nature. 

I write about topics that I hope will interest our prospective clients,  will enlighten the general public about our belly dancing performing art, and that will interest our fellow belly dancers.  These topics encompass, among others, ethics in dance, competition, and how we present ourselves.  Always intended to be thought provoking, each month we receive a large number of emails from dancers that strongly support our views as well from those expressing strong opposition.  There is much to write about in this small world of belly dance.

 

June 2001

Stage Names for Belly Dancers

Authors have pen names. Actresses have stage names and so do magicians and singers. Should you have a stage name?

What is in a Name

Your name is your identity. As we grow we associate ourselves with our names and so do the people around us. As people come to know you, your name becomes you. You and your name become associated with certain qualities such as technical, analytical, responsible, kind, shy, aggressive, assertive etc. Some names come with characteristics already attached (plain Jane or silly Lucy) or other identifying qualities such as religion (Mary), nationality (Camille), or age ("Star" born in the sixties).

As performers we want to assume the identity of the dancer. We may no longer want the public to identify us as the person we have been, but rather the person we are on stage. Those characteristics may include artistic, creative, graceful, beautiful, energetic etc. The character we assume on stage becomes the character for which we want our audiences to know us.

 How to Pick and Use a Name

Many belly dancers select Middle Eastern names as their dance names. In respect to foreign cultures, I discourage this practice among the Desert Moon Dancers except for dancers that are of Middle Eastern origin. I encourage using a favorite nickname or the name that inspires the characteristics of the dancer to emerge.

Picking a name that inspires the dancer to materialize is only the first step. As we grow as dancers, we want to associate ourselves with the name that attaches our dance qualities to us. We use our names to market ourselves, that is, to get the public to know us as performing artists.

Our names should be protected. If the point of our stage names is to gain acceptance for our dance qualities, the use of our "real" names in a dance setting clearly defeats the purpose.

We strive for consistency of image. We build our reputation by consistently presenting the name of our dance company and our dancers to the public. We want people to associate what they see with us (associate us by name).

We want our fellow dancers and dance students to think of each other as dancers. Whether inside the studio, at a performance or at a social get together with each other, we refer to each other by our stage names.

 Two Identities

This separation of our daily name and character and our dancer name and character help us to become the dancer. That is, we put our daily character aside and become the dancer.

We are professional dancers (a topic of future articles), yet many of us have careers that extend outside of dancing. Our characteristics in our daily jobs may be significantly different than during our life as dancers. Our employers may prefer to think of us as analytical think tanks. We don’t necessarily want our employers to associate us as dancers (creative individuals that may appear to be  business nonconformists).

On stage, in costume, and assuming our stage names, people that know us in our daily life often don’t recognize us and that’s a good thing. As dancers we don’t want people to think of us as boring bean counters, the person that drills their teeth, or the person that called to collect a past due bill.

 

May 2001

Belly Dance Fitness - Part II

Introduction

Last month's article described various types of fitness programs and the benefits to be derived from each. In this article the specific fitness benefits that can be derived through belly dance are briefly explored.


Types of Classes

When selecting a belly dancing class it is important to consider that no two  classes are the same.   In fact, there may be extreme differences.  Classes are developed based on the goals to be achieved.  For example, there are belly dance classes designed to:  

• teach belly dancing as a performing art,
• achieve aerobic fitness,
• achieve spirituality or inner peace through dance, or
• simply have fun (achieving the personal satisfaction of dancing and making new friends.) 

This article does not attempt to explore all the various forms of belly dance classes but rather review two distinct types and how they affect fitness: those intended for aerobic fitness and those intended to teach belly dancing as a performing art.   Although both types of classes will result in improved physical fitness the type of fitness benefits, class style and level of dance skill you can expect to achieve may be significantly different.

To understand this difference we begin by taking a brief look at what is involved in belly dancing.  The traditional style of belly dance was a grounded dance that did not involve a significant amount of traveling.  Within a limited dancing space, dancers performed numerous isolated body movements involving not only the abdomen, but also the hips, chest, shoulders and other body parts.  As the dance evolved it has incorporated more traveling steps, a lifted torso, spins and turns, and movements borrowed from ballet and other dance styles. Although more traveling is involved and the torso is lifted, isolated body movements remain the primary emphasis of the dance.  Proper execution of these movements requires a significant amount of flexibility, coordination, and balance.  Mastery of the movements also requires a great deal of practice.  In addition, in order to be properly executed, most belly dance steps require an understanding of the bio-mechanics involved. For example, if a student watches a hip go down there may be great energy exerted in the hip area to move the hip down.  If the student understands that this movement also involves movement in the leg (when your knee goes out the hip goes down), far less effort is required to properly execute the movement.

Belly Dance Performing Art Fitness:  Belly dance classes as a performing art will vary based on the teaching skills, dance skills, dance style, and philosophical approach of the instructor.   In spite of these variances, we believe that most performing art belly dance classes will have similarities to ours; particularly when it comes to fitness.   Accordingly, there follows a brief outline of Desert Moon Dance Academy's teaching approach in order to explain the fitness outcome.

The objective of Desert Moon Dance Academy's classes is to teach students how to perform belly dance.  While our goal is to build a professional company of dance performers,  many of our students attend solely for fitness or just for fun.  We approach our dance step classes from a performing art perspective yet all students reap the fitness benefits associated with belly dance.  We begin with a warm up consisting of ten or more minutes of movement with a combination of stretching and strengthening movements.  Following our warm up we work on dance moves and dance combinations.   Prior to starting any dance step or combination, the move is demonstrated and explained including proper stance and the bio-mechanics of the move.  In order to provide a detailed demonstration and description of each movement it is often necessary for students to stop and watch the instructor.   Movement is also interrupted in order to respond to student requests for further detailed breakdown of the step. As you might expect, teaching students to perform a movement properly does not permit the continuous movement that would enable our classes to be aerobic.  While our class is not an "aerobic" class, fitness is achieved as an outcome of dance instruction through the following:

Dynamic Stretching: - A significant portion of our class time is dedicated to learning to use belly dance movements in a slow controlled fashion and to develop lots of flexibility.  These are dynamic stretching movements  that gently move the body to the limits of your range of motion. 

Active Stretching: - Our warm up incorporates active stretching. An active stretch involves assuming a position and then holding it with no assistance other than using the strength of your own muscles.

Balance and Coordination:  Successful belly dancing requires poise and grace that are strongly dependent on balance and coordination.  As part of our classes, we perform exercises specifically designed to encourage balance through repetition of balancing movements.

Muscle Strengthening:     Dancing is considered a weight bearing exercise as you move against your own body weight. Building specific muscle groups is required to be a successful belly dancer.   

Aerobic Exercise for Dance Performers:  As noted above, our classes offer many fitness benefits although they do not encompass aerobic exercise.  However, any student that becomes a performer will routinely achieve a full aerobic workout.  This is because performers must practice and build up the stamina that makes it possible to dance between 15 and 20 minutes non-stop.  It is through routine performance practice that our dancers achieve their aerobic exercise.

Aerobic Belly Dance Classes:   If you don't like the movements or music associated with traditional aerobic dance classes, belly dance aerobics may provide a good alternative.  In contrast to a performing class, an aerobic belly dance class must be structured with non-stop movement in order for it to be considered aerobic.  While non-stop movement may provide some understanding of belly dance movements it is unlikely to result in a performance quality dancer.  That would be equivalent to expecting an aerobic class based on ballet dance movement to produce a performance ballet dancer. 

If you join an aerobic belly dance class make sure you get what you expect.  As mentioned in our last article in order for the workout to be considered aerobic there must be non-stop movement for at least 15 to 20 minutes at 60-80% of maximum heart rate. Your instructor should also be able to advise you on how to monitor your heart rate during the aerobic period.   

Attending an aerobic belly dance class can get you out of the house, moving and burning calories.  However, keep in mind that if you are attending a belly dance class only once a week, you do not have a fitness program that will provide you sufficient cardiovascular fitness.  This requires an aerobic session at least three times weekly.

Choose a Class  to Match your Goals:   It should be clear that not all belly dance classes are the same.  In fact, they may vary greatly!  Before selecting a class ask your self what are your reasons for wanting to join a belly dance class.  Then call  several instructors to determine their course objectives and to see if the class matches your goals before joining.

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About the author:  Arleah has been involved in fitness programs her entire life.   In addition to belly dancing, she studied folk dancing from several different Middle Eastern countries,  was formerly an aerobics instructor, taught a "slimnastics" program for 3 years, had 5 years of professional yoga instruction and has been weight lifting for more than 10 years.

April 2001

Belly Dance Fitness - Part I

Introduction

In addition to being a beautiful performing art, belly dance is also a great way to get into shape.  This is the first article of a two part series about belly dancing and fitness.   In this first article the general characteristics of exercise and the benefits that can be achieved from various exercise programs are discussed.  Next month the various types of belly dance classes that are available and how to select a class based on your dance and/or fitness objectives will be explored.

 

Types of Exercise

Exercise can be divided into two basic categories: aerobic and anaerobic as described below. 

Aerobic Exercise:   Aerobic exercise uses oxygen and the large muscle groups in a rhythmic fashion for a sustained period of time.  In order for an exercise to be considered aerobic the movements must be maintained continuously for at least 15 to 20 minutes.  NO STOPPING PLEASE. The goal is to increase your workout intensity to hit a target heart rate (60-80% of maximum heart rate) and then to maintain it for the entire exercise session.  Although aerobic exercises can increase muscle strength and promote flexibility, the primary benefits of aerobic exercise are to burn calories and strengthen the heart.  Aerobic exercise is also referred to as a cardiovascular exercise because of the emphasis placed on heart conditioning.   Some examples of an aerobic workout are jogging, running, and bike riding as well as non-stop dance, kickboxing, and step programs termed "aerobics."

Anaerobic Exercise:   Anaerobic activities include yoga, racquetball, downhill skiing, weight lifting, softball, soccer and football.  Although they are intense workouts, they involve stopping and starting action.  Accordingly, you do not sustain a target heart rate.    Anaerobic exercise can be subclassified as exercises for stretching, balance and coordination, muscle strengthening and muscle building.

Stretching:   Stretching involves the lengthening of muscle fibers.  Stretching enhances flexibility and promotes your ability to move within a full range of motion. There are numerous types of stretching exercises including:

Ballistic Stretching - Uses bounces to achieve a stretch. This type of stretching is not considered useful and can lead to injury. It does not allow your muscles to adjust to (relax in) the stretched position.

Dynamic Stretching - Consists of controlled leg and arm swings that gently move the body to the limits of your range of motion.  Slow, controlled leg swings, arm swings, or torso twists are example of dynamic stretching.

Active Stretching - An active stretch involves assuming a position and then holding it there with no assistance other than using the strength of your own muscles. Many yoga movements involve active stretching.

Passive (or relaxed) Stretching - A passive stretch involves assuming a position and holding it with some other part of your body, or with the assistance of a partner or apparatus.

Isometric Stretching - Isometric stretching involves stretching while simultaneously applying resistance.

Stretching keeps us young.  Have you ever seen a person that can not sit on the floor with their legs crossed?  If you are flexible you can continue to enjoy many of the same activities that you participated in as a youth.  Flexibility also determines your success in many types of sports and dance. Some of  the benefits of a flexibility/stretching program are:

• Joint mobility
• Preventing muscle injury/soreness
• Preventing low-back pain/injury
• Improving & maintaining good posture
• Promoting proper, graceful movement
• Improving appearance & self-image

Balance and Coordination: Success in many sports and dance and the prevention of injury during normal daily activities requires balance and coordination.  Poise and grace are strongly dependent on balance and coordination.  Both balance and coordination are brain activities.  The brain signals the muscles to respond in certain ways.  Impulses from the sensory receptors of the brain are sent out to the muscles to form a pathway.  With repetition, it becomes easier for the impulses to travel over the same pathway until activities associated with balance become automatic. Physiologists refer to the stimulated nerve pathways as becoming "facilitated."  Accordingly, balance and coordination are based on the principal of "use it or loose it"; you develop balance and coordination through repeated use of the same movements.

Exercises that stimulate balance and coordination are a part of any class that teaches dance as a performing art as well as a part of many exercise programs like kick boxing and yoga.   Some balancing exercises that can be done daily at home include walking in a straight narrow line (remember the balance beam), standing on one leg (with the other leg lifted to the front, side or back) or bending forward on one leg with the other leg lifted. 

Muscle Strengthening:   Muscle strengthening, sometimes referred to as "toning,"  involves moving your muscles with a little extra weight and lots of repetitions.  Muscle toning can be achieved through your own body weight such as squatting and holding the squat and squatting again.  Dancing is considered a weight bearing exercise as you move against your own body weight. Many exercises (e.g. abdominal crunches and pushups), sports (gymnastics, tennis, baseball and football), and leisure activities (social dancing) strengthen specific muscle groups.  In fact, you can not be successful in dance as a performing art or most sports without developing specific muscle groups. Muscle strengthening activities add bone mass and strengthen your muscles without adding large amounts of visible muscle bulk. 

Muscles burn more calories during sedentary activities than fat.  By adding muscle your metabolic rate is increased and you burn more calories during your regular daily activities.  Accordingly, although anaerobic exercises generally don't burn as many calories as aerobic activities during the same time interval, by adding muscles you may achieve a comparable level of weight loss. In general, the benefits of muscle strengthening include the following:

• Increases Metabolic Rate – Muscles burn more calories than fat. By adding muscle, your metabolic rate  increases and you burn more calories throughout the day.
  
  
• Increases and Restores Bone Density – Inactivity and aging can lead to a decrease in bone density and brittleness. Strength training can increase bone density and prevent osteoporosis.
  
  
• Increases Endurance
  
  
• Prevent Injury  – Strong muscles and joints help to prevent sports-related injuries as well as routine life-related injuries.
  
  
• Improves balance and stability  
  
  
• Helps you stay youthful – Strength training ensures we are strong enough to participate in aerobic activities and sports and helps you to maintain shapely muscles associated with youth.
  

Muscle Building:   Muscle building involves lifting or moving heavy weights without a large number of repetitions.  Do you want to change your body shape?  If so, this is the exercise for you.  You can lose weight but if you started with a pear shape body you will simply be a smaller pear after you lose weight.  Muscle building enables you to selectively add mass where you want it. By using the heaviest weight possible while performing approximately 10 repetitions to exhaustion (and 3 sets), your body will respond by adding muscle mass.   Women often avoid muscle building with the fear that they will ultimately look like a man.  However, few women have the genetic make-up that will result in bulky muscles.  Unlike women body builders, the average person does not dedicate numerous hours to body building every day that are necessary to add large amounts of muscle mass.  Accordingly, for most women you will add small shapely muscles that make you look sexy and feminine. In addition to the benefit of body shaping, you will derive all the benefits listed above for muscle strengthening.


Fitness Programs

Health practitioners are concerned about the state of American's fitness.  While some Americans have embraced exercise programs, most Americans retain stagnant lifestyles.  A recent study indicates that one in four Americans are fat. Accordingly there has been a strong emphasis by health practitioners to encourage exercise of any kind in any quantity.  However, to achieve true fitness, the exercise program must incorporate both aerobic and anaerobic exercise.  In addition, you need to complete you aerobic and anaerobic exercise programs at least three times weekly.  (For further information regarding what is fitness see the article "Fitness Fundamentals" from US News Online at
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/nycu/health/hefundm.htm.)

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About the author:  Arleah has been involved in fitness programs her entire life.   In addition to belly dancing, she studied folk dancing from several different Middle Eastern countries,  was formerly an aerobics instructor, taught a "slimnastics" program for 3 years, had 5 years of professional yoga instruction and has been weight lifting for more than 10 years.

March 2001

American Music and Belly Dance

In the United States, belly dancing to American music is not typical, but it is also not rare. I'm not referring to Middle Eastern music made in America (e.g. Sirocco, Brothers of the Baladi or Adam Basma). I'm referring to American rock, heavy metal and techno music with English lyrics and Western rhythms and melody.  For some dancers, use of American music is a reflection of their own personal taste.  For others it is a choice intended to make their performance more appealing to American audiences.  The goal may be to incorporate more familiar sounds into the performance thereby making the dance seem less foreign.

I have seen several performances in this genre.  It is sometimes pleasantly entertaining; but it is not Middle Eastern.  The proximity to Middle Eastern belly dance is not entirely lost when the music incorporates Middle Eastern melodies or rhythms; however the spirit and tradition of the dance may be diminished. 

In matters of art and aesthetics there is no right or wrong and creating new art forms is artistically enriching (American Tribal is a good example). Just as American Tribal Dancers recognize that their dance form is not Middle Eastern, in respect to cultural traditions, it is proper to classify dancing to American music as something other than Middle Eastern.   

Consider the following:

• Would a Flamenco dancer performing to American techno music be Flamenco dancing?

• Is Greek dancing to Spanish music Greek?

• Which is more severely damaged, the dance or the music, if Country Line Dancing were performed to Hip Hop music?

• Is it proper to take belly dance out of its geographic context, remove the music that created it and continue to represent it as traditionally authentic?

While music is a matter of personal taste, cultural sensitivity should not be neglected.   Desert Moon Dance Academy's goal is to present Middle Eastern dance with Middle Eastern music in a fashion that will expand Western appreciation and acceptance rather than  to recreate belly dance as an American fantasy.

This is not a difficult task, it is a matter of nurturing not recreating.  There wouldn't be belly dancers in the United States if things Middle Eastern weren't appealing.  It is the appeal of the East that has made famous popular musicians including the Beatles, Rolling Stones and David Bowie incorporate Eastern rhythms or melodies in their music and more recently Madonna, Jay Z, and Sting.

Middle Eastern dance has been influenced by outside cultures for centuries, yet the dance maintains at least two historic elements; body isolations and movement that is influenced by and harmonious to Middle Eastern music.  Dance and music are closely linked together; both convey the emotional and artistic relationship to the culture of origin. When we separate the two it is possible to create something entertaining but it is no longer Middle Eastern dance.

February 2001

Beautiful Belly Dancers

Whether we like it or not, most women accept the following as facts:

• Beauty Sells

• Sex Sells

We know this.  Through the media, we are bombarded with sexual and beautiful images of women every day.  Being physically attractive is something that most women are proud of. If this wasn't the case, we wouldn't  wear costumes that accentuate our feminine qualities. Yet, when it comes to the performing arts we must always keep in mind another important fact:

Beauty does not create a great performer!

While beauty generates initial attention, it is skill that elevates an actress to an Oscar award.  While beauty generates initial attention, it is the skill of a dancer that generates repeat engagements, high acclaim, and public awareness and acceptance of belly dance.

By being beautiful, women increase their market value as commodities.  But the quality that makes us watch dancers, or any performer, is the depth of skill they bring to the art.

When a dancer promotes her own beauty and sexuality, rather than the beauty of belly dance, the image of the dance is tarnished. It is the line between promoting oneself as an aesthetic dancer or as a sexual commodity.  It is a contradiction to promote sexuality while simultaneously suggesting that the goal is to elevate recognition of belly dance as a performing art.

Self exploited sexual selling becomes blatantly clear when surfing the web.  Some belly dancers design web sites that are targeted at heterosexual men; not women or children and not individuals or families interested in dance.  On the web, it is unfortunate that some dancers choose to present sexually suggestive pictures, close up body part pictures and lots of staged poses that never involved a dance in progress. 

When designing web sites, or other promotional materials, ask yourself:

• Are you selling a dance performance or selling sex?
  
  
• Do you want to promote self exploitation?
  
  
• Do you want to convey sexual images or more modest images of physical attractiveness?
  
  
• Are you a dancer or a display package?

While commercial success requires that dancers maintain physical beauty, the eye will only be distracted for a short time. It is the skill and art of the dancer that will retain the attention of the audience.  It is the skill and art of the dancer that makes a performing artist.  It is the skill by which you promote yourself as a performing artist and not a sexual commodity that will result in dance engagements of high esteem.

January 2001

Ethical Competition in Belly Dance

Com·pete:  To strive with another or others to attain a goal.

Eth·i·cal:  Being in accordance with accepted principles of right and wrong that govern the conduct of a profession.

Competition mixed with large doses of ethical behavior provides a framework for excellence.

The term ethics is generally used to describe a system that attempts to define what actions and activities are right and wrong.  Modern common sense should define what is ethical for most people.

Competition is neither wrong nor bad.  Without competition performance engagements would be based on chance rather than skill.  If all belly dancers shared the same dance style, wore the same style costumes, shared the same values, charged the same fees, and had the same level of dance skill (whether good or bad) we could have a dance monopoly without competition.  With this system, the public would cease to have choices and dancers would cease to have options that stimulate artistic creativity, expression and improvement. 

Competition does not equate to conflict.   Conflict does not arise when a competitor excels. Conflict arises when one excels by unfair and unethical practices.  Dance companies that are selected to perform based on dance skills, professionalism, stage presence, personality and other admirable qualities are highly regarded and respected among their piers.  Competition merely provides a framework to make the attributes known to the public.

Competition serves to stimulate activity.  Among dancers it is the desire to excel that can stimulate taking more classes or attending more dance events. The public is exposed to more dance styles. This exposure can stimulate demand for more and varied performances and a broader understanding of belly dance as a performing art.  

The ethical question of competition is not the choice of whether to compete or not to compete but rather the motive and means to excel.  Does one compete to achieve perfection or does one compete simply to attain status and power. Competition arising from a desire to achieve superior skill and reaping the rewards of that achievement are admirable.  This is in contrast to competition with a goal simply to win regardless of the means.

Competition meets the requirements of high ethics when:

• It provides an opportunity to explore, learn and excel

• It provides a stimulus to make us better

• It is within an ethical system that allows us to respect our honest competitors that strive for the same goals

• It is within an ethical system that allows fellow dancers to remain friends and colleagues

• Our rewards of success are based on honest representations of our achievements, skills and weaknesses

 

December 2000

Politics of Belly Dancing

pol·i·tics

• The activities or affairs engaged in by a government

• maneuvering within a political unit or a group in order to gain control or power

It was not long after I began belly dancing that I attended my first instructional seminar. There I heard, for the first time, the expression the "politics of belly dance." I didn’t understand the expression. Except for the expression "office politics" I thought "politics" referred to government action.  Was this a reference to Mata Hari?

As time progressed, I learned that the expression was a euphemism for business practices. Apparently for belly dancers it is not "politically correct" to refer to dance as business. For example,  instead of saying "this is my client and you should not compete to perform" you say "that’s not right – politics of belly dance." As further examples, just substitute each of the following phrases with "Politics of Belly Dance."

• I’ll scratch your back you scratch mine

• Don’t undercut my prices in order to get business

• I don’t care for you but I want you to attend my dance event

• Don’t schedule a major dance event on the date I have scheduled an event

I loath the expression "Politics of Belly Dance." Its not politics, it’s a business. It's a trade like any other.

Reserve the expression for genuine political events involving Belly Dance. For example, lets use the expression to describe the rise of political Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East. The infusion of religion into politics over the last 20 years has led to regulation of costuming, licensing of belly dancers, and dance steps performed in public.

Lets use the expression to describe "Operation Falcon;" Iraqi's use of belly dancers to perform espionage activities. (For more information on Operation Falcon see the July 2000 article Saddam using honey trap agents in west  and find out how Britain's belly dancers' are reacting Belly dancers can't stomach idea of Iraq's secret agents.)

There is nothing wrong with establishing an ethical competitive business in dance. It is difficult to purchase supplies, troupe costumes, or rent a dance studio without revenues.   However, lets just call it what it is, or, as they say in Greece, "call a fig a fig."
(See   http://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxtocall.html)

____________
Post Script: Considering politics and espionage in dance; visit our Costume page   desertmoondance.com/costume.htm and see our new Mata Hari links.

November 2000

Party Planning - A Successful Approach 

Are you engaging a belly dancer for an upcoming event or party?  Before finalizing your party arrangements consult with the dancers. 

The Desert Moon Dancers have performed at some lovely Middle Eastern theme parties with beautiful Middle Eastern decor, Arabic music, and  fantastic cuisine.  We are engaged to enhance the aura and to provide the evening's entertainment.  While most of these events are well thought out, party organizers sometimes lack knowledge of dancing and fail to establish the event layout conducive to a successful dance performance.

Some unfortunate errors include the following:

Lack of space - Dancers can not dance if there is no stage, platform, open area or space between tables. Lack of an adequate sound system - Large  events may require a professional sound system; a boom box is not always sufficient.  It is difficult to appreciate dance movement when the sound can not be heard. Insufficient number of dancers -   If the party (number of people or space) is very large only some of the people will be able to see the dancer and the remaining guests will become bored.  While a stage makes it possible for everyone to view the performer, if the event involves dancing throughout the party area, it may be desirable to have more than one dancer at different locations.  Poor timing - If the dancer performs during a diner, following a long cocktail party or other pre-dinner events, the guests may be more interested in dining than dancing.  Consider having the dancer perform to subdued music as a background performance during dinner or having the performance during the cocktail hour or after dinner. Specific music or dance style preferences - We generally perform dances, and with music, representative of many Middle Eastern countries.  If your guests have a preference for music or dance styles of a specific country (e.g. Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey) we won't know unless you tell us. Poor lighting -  Guests can not enjoy us if they can not see us.

If you hire professional belly dancers, chances are they have had experience with events just like yours.   Involve your performers in the planning process to avoid entertainment snafus.   We can assist you in determining your sound system needs,  table arrangement or performing area layout and the appropriate time for entertainment. 

Belly dancers should be the highlight of the party.  Just as you want your guests to have a wonderful lasting impression, we want our audiences to be enthralled by our performance.   Working together, a huge success is guaranteed.

September 2000

Ban Belly Grams

Background

A logical discussion must begin with a clear understanding of the term "Belly Gram."  Many dancers use the term without realizing that most people don’t know what it is.

What might a belly gram be?

     The weight (in grams) of a stomach.

     An examination record of the stomach. (you know -  bellygram,
         cardiogram, mammogram)

     A new statistical measure. (you know -  bellygram, histogram,
         cartogram)

     The measurement of how much a belly quivers during an
         earthquake. (you know - bellygram, seismogram)

     Jelly bellies and graham crackers. (yummy)

Many people would accept the definition given by New York belly dancer Lorina (http://homestead.juno.com/positrends), who defines a belly gram as follows: "A belly gram is for those occasions when a group is primarily interested in playing a joke on their male guest of honor."

Belly Gram Joke Performance

Recently I was offered an engagement at a party where I was expected to perform a short dance, in close proximity to the male guest of honor, run my fingers through his hair and leave. The caller said "you know, embarrass him and leave; make the guests laugh."  I replied, "I am not a stripper nor a comedian; you have called our dance company mistakenly."

Do you accept engagements where the intent is to "play a joke on the male guest of honor"? I know dancers that accept these engagements while simultaneously professing to be enhancing the image of the dance. How can a dance designed to be a joke be perceived as uplifting? Other than "Belly Grammers" (by my definition, people that perform Belly Grams) I know of only one other type of dancer that makes surprise visits designed to embarrass the guest of honor.

Definition by Association

Many people, upon hearing the term Belly Gram for the first time, will define it by association, and that association is likely to be a strip-o-gram!

Growing up, I attended belly dance performances at fairs and festivals, the Moroccan village at Epcot Center, restaurants in New York and Chicago, and, during my residency in Israel, numerous private gatherings with belly dancers from many Middle Eastern countries. I was a belly dancing fan for many   years before I ever heard the term "Belly Gram." At that time, I wanted to hire a belly dancer for my own private party. Looking through the yellow pages and making several calls I selected a dancer that offered a belly dance performance. I ruled out anyone that suggested a "Belly Gram." To me it was obvious; there were belly dancers that offered short performances and there were stripers that posed as belly dancers. The consensus among my non-dancing peers, then and now, is that a Belly Gram is a "character" strip-o-gram.

Where does this association come from? As I implied, many people associate surprise dance visits with strippers. In addition, fantasy characters are a part of the adult entertainment business and the "Belly Dancer" is, unfortunately, a frequent character. A brief review of adult entertainment sites on the web confirms these findings.* One stripping telegram company advertises strippers costumed according to a choice of themes  "French Maid, Nurse, Cheerleader, Schoolgirl or 'Nerdy' Schoolgirl, Cop, Biker Chick, Secretary, Farmgirl, Dominatrix, Pizza Delivery, Stranded Driver, Cowgirl, Elvira, Belly Dancer, Genie, "Hooters" Girl (w/ or w/o food delivery), Various Sports Themes."

Advise to Prospective Clients

If you are looking for a professional belly dance performer, boycott  Belly Grammers and request a short dance performance from a qualified belly dancer. If you a looking for a character stripper or a joke performer select an adult entertainer.

Advise to Belly Grammers

      Say what you mean.  If your performance is not intended as a joke, then describe
          your dance as short-performance.

     Just say no. When you are asked to perform at events where your dance will not be
         taken seriously, say no.

     If your dance is a legitimate belly dance performance don’t advertise with
         companies that also offer stripping telegrams.*

     Be honest with yourself. If you perform for audiences looking for a clothed stripper
        or for a joke performance, don’t delude yourself;  you are not enhancing the image
        of belly dance.

     Deliver a dance not a body part.

 

__________

* For those of you looking for my web sources you won’t find them here. In the interest of maintaining a family oriented web site, the web addresses will be provided only upon request to individuals over 21 years and presently on Desert Moon Dance Academy's  mailing list.

August 2000

Authentic Belly Dance Advertising

Ad·ver· tise: To make public announcement of, especially to proclaim the qualities or advantages of, (a product or business) so as to increase sales.

Au·then·tic: Genuine; conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust; having an undisputed origin.

With respect to belly dancing, the word  "authentic" is clichéd and  inauthenticly used in advertising.  I have read the phrases "authentic belly dance," "authentic middle eastern dance," "authentic ancient art" "authentic cabaret-style belly dance show" and "authentic Egyptian dance" to mention just a few.   When introducing a dance, would Israelis say authentic Hora; would Lebanese say authentic Dabke? 

Can a  dance "style" be authentic? When the term authentic is used to describe a dance "style" it is a misrepresentation to make others believe your dance form is the only genuine style and in this statement you become inauthentic. 

How can it be that so many American dancers have access to historical documents and  the cultural background required to know what is authentic Middle Eastern dance?  Among the statements made in belly dance Websites, that I have found particularly thought provoking, are the following:

A website with the following statement "One of the few authentic Egyptian style Cabaret dancers in the United States." In St. Louis alone I know at least a dozen dancers that would claim to perform authentic Egyptian style Cabaret dance.

A website in which a dancer advertises her belly dance as the "very best in authenticity." In another portion of the website, this dancer discusses her "interpretation of the dance." Is something authentic  subject to interpretation?

On a website from Germany a heading reads "Authentic Belly Dance from Arabia." I wasn't sure if that meant this individual performed a dance with origins from Arabia or if there was a restaurant in Germany named "Arabia" where she performs. I ruled out the possibility that "Arabia," the peninsula of southwest Asia between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, had completely relocated.

One website advertises "Authentic Entertainment." Now that's food for thought! After consulting with several associates we decided that Authentic Entertainment could not be understood without first grasping the concept of "Inauthentic Entertainment" or "Fake Entertainment". We considered the possibilities: If a dancer slips and falls or loses an article of clothing and the audience laughs is that fake or inauthentic entertainment? Since the event is real and the audience is entertained such events definitely could not qualify as Fake Entertainment. Exploring further I remembered an example of fake entertainment: Milli Vanilli.  However, I don't know any one who does dance-syncing so I abandoned my pursuit for Fake Entertainment.

When I saw a website advertising "Authentic Belly Dance Entertainment," I found myself back at square one."   Was this an advertisement for entertainment with authentic belly dancing or for belly dancing that is authentic entertainment?

Maybe more dancers should give recognition to the origins of their dance and promote their skills as talented dancers that genuinely want to entertain their audiences.

 

July 2000


A Rose is Still A Rose

We are not fond of the name "belly dance."  The origins of the dances performed by the  Desert Moon Dancers are Middle Eastern and involve isolated movements of the hips, upper body, arms and abdomen.  There are no Middle Eastern dances named after a body part.  In Arabic, the names for the dances we perform include Raks Sharqi and Raks Baladi.  Raqs Baladi means dance of the people and Raks Sharqi means dance of the East. So why do we call many of our dances belly dance? This is the name that has been used in the United States for decades and, unfortunately, is the only name by which many Americans are familiar with our dances.  Regrettably we use this terminology and hope that a rose by any other name is still a rose.