this is not about politics

[keryx]

I know it's shocking, but I'm not going to talk about politics today.

I've been looking for a dance teacher who does ATS, or at least one of the many forms of wacky fun triberet and fusion.* No such luck. None here in town.

I have a very good ethnic instructor, and an okay cabaret instructor, but I really want to have a tribe and community and stuff. And I want to be learning the more me-ish dance styles.

So, sometime in the past week, it finally came to me that I'm going to have to lead this, or move. Since moving doesn't fit with the rest of my plans just yet, I'll have to get started on my own - or with a few other people. I'm hoping they'll come pre-trained and can actually teach me, but I'll teach them if I have to. And... we'll make it up as we go, I guess. Anyone want to bellydance in Richmond?

I've been mentally rearranging all my plans for the next year around the idea of going to at least a couple of the various tribal dance cons and workshops and stuff. I want to learn a lot in a relatively short time because - shock of shocks - I'm impatient, and if I'm going to have to lead/teach others, I'd better become more than a rank beginner myself.

Yeah. That's where my mind's been. When I'm not at work. When I'm at work, my mind's mostly screaming What! The Hell! Am I Doing! (new job, remember?).

* A summary of different types of dance, substantially colored by my opinion of them, for the uninitiated:
"Cabaret" bellydance is mostly American, and you've probably seen it. Lots of sequins and chiffon, lots of emphasis on solo performance and individual skill vs. group, and a tendency to be entertainment rather than art centered. Also, where the "me so sexy" thing comes from.

"Ethnic" or "folkloric" middle eastern dance is theoretically as close to the geographic bellydance roots as possible. So there's a Tunisian form, a Lebanese form, an Egyptian one, etc. Still with the sequins and the individual craft center, but at least not tacky.

"Tribal" covers a wide range of group-oriented dance styles that branch off the American Tribal Style tree; see tbd.org for the best definitions evah. Most tribal is all kinds of earthy and randomly ethnic in a way that I find very appealingly American/modern/feministy. Because it's basically a made-up modern folk dance form, there's a lot of diversity in styles - like tribal hip hop, Bollywood, as well as more purely ethnic influences.

So there, now you're educated and can go back to reading about me me me. ;)

Comments

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

See my journal for my dance rantings.

I think the plan is: continue taking classes with teacher, because there are many many things to be learned. Add another teacher for more input. Start a study group, for practice on what we can learn from a) videos, b) workshops and c) picking other people's brains. If a decent teacher in what we want comes along, grab, hold on tight!

Good luck, you renegade you!

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Good luck to you all, too. I hope you'll post about your study group, since that's what I'm going to try to start with. You're faaaaar ahead of me, though - you actually have a group of people. I've gotta go find some. ;)

[kazoogrrl.livejournal.com]

I recommend posting in these bellydance communities here, and get on tribe.net and the various tribal groups there. It's a great way to communicate with people.

[missmeridian.livejournal.com]

in your research on tribal/ethnic/other dance, have you come across something called "kathak"? i think you should get into it, especially since spymommy was a big proponent of it when we lived in pakistan. she would have big parties and invite kathak dancers and we would all go oooh! and the performers (female/male dancers, mostly male musicians) were very happy because at the time women would be stoned for doing such a thing in public. but political expression aside, kathak rocks because some of the dances are done while standing on the rim of a big brass bowl. while wearing ten pounds of bells wrapped around your ankles. rock.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes. Kathak is very cool. And Bhangra (the happy dance Indo-Pak folk do at weddings and such). Neither one is taught much in the US, or at least not taught in a way where any random person off the street can do it. But yes, supercool. Didn't know the thing about the bowl, though.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I haven't posted much on the LJ bd communities, but I've hooked up with a couple of folks via tribe.net. If nothing else, at least I'm getting ideas from other people on how to go about things.

It's kinda strange, though, that as large a bellydance community as we have, there aren't very many locals talking about it or looking for others online.