The Gilded Serpent presents...
Mailbox Missives:
When Pop Culture Meets Belly Dancing; Here we go again!
Pop culture runs in cycles. Hemlines rise and fall. “Retro” fads
return, and belly dancing cycles through popularity periods just like
everything else.
In the 1890s, “Belly Dancing” burst on the scene in the U.S.A. at
the Columbia Exposition in Chicago,
stirring up a storm of a scandal. Vaudeville, recognizing a money making opportunity,
embraced it with enthusiasm, and over the next couple of decades, the dance known
as the “Hoochy Kootchy” became an integral part of the burlesque
and side-show scene. The marketing message focused on bawdiness, scandal, and
naughtiness.
In the 1970s, along with the rising popularity of ethnic nightclubs,
the interest
in ethnic arts, and the popular U.S. tour of the King Tut exhibit, interest
in belly dancing arose once again. This time, the mass-media marketing
message was, “Seduce your Sultan,” and dancers draped themselves
in chiffon with wide-open skirt slits all the way up to the belt.
Today, we’re seeing another revival. Belly dancing is popping up on music
videos featuring Shakira and other artists. Miles
Copeland (a prominent music promoter) has released several CDs based
on Middle Eastern music. He has booked an act on the Lollapalooza tour
for 2003 titled, “Bellydance Superstars,” and has announced that
he is creating a documentary to be called, “American Bellydancer.”
Belly dancing is hot today, and likely to remain so over
the next couple of years.
Our Belly Dance community is simultaneously thrilled and cringing.
We’re thrilled to see our beloved dance form growing in popularity,
but we’re not so thrilled when we see promotional photos focusing
on a rear view of a dancer’s skirt flying up. Also we’re
not so thrilled when we see press releases that say, “Only the
young and cute need apply,” such as this one which Ark21 sent
out:
“
Want to tour the country and perform at this year's Lollapalooza
festival? The Bellydance Superstars are looking for you to be
a part of their junior troupe, the Desert Roses, and perform in
front of nearly one million people this summer. If you are under
the age of 23 and an exceptional bellydancer, come down to <time &
place details> for an open audition. Good luck!”
Some fellow dancers say our art form is harmed when the mass media
becomes interested in it. Others argue that it is beneficial because
it elevates public awareness and interest. I think both sides are right.
On the plus side, the pop culture “coolness factor” will:
- Fill our classes
- Stimulate income for our vendors.
- Generate paying performance opportunities for us.
- Raise new respect from our friends and co-workers when we talk
to them about our dance form.
- Curtail the frequently asked question: “Isn’t that
something like stripping?”
On the negative side, members of our dance community point out their
following issues of concern:
- Concert promoters and music video producers will emphasize the “sex
appeal” view of Belly Dancing with skimpy costumes and seductive
choreography.
- Mass media portrayals of belly dance will emphasize the “under
25”
age group, and that only the “commercially thin” need
apply.
- Concert promoters will further corrupt the public’s view
of Belly Dancing into something that it’s not.
- Promoters will contaminate the integrity of our dance form by injecting
moves and expressions into it that have nothing to do with Middle
Eastern dance.
It may be interesting to note that each and every one
of the above negatives is already being done today by many
dancers within our existing dance community.
There are many dancers who strive to be sultry and seductive when
they perform. Many troupe directors will accept only members who meet
a certain “look”, and many dancers who publicly portray
belly dancing in ways that others think is harmful to the dance’s
image. Additionally, many dance artists are currently experimenting
with fusion.
I acknowledge that the concerns are legitimate. Indeed, I fully expect that a
decade from now, the position of “Belly Dancing”
in American culture will be different from where it is today. Today’s
upsurge in popularity is bound to leave its mark.
However,
let’s view these concerns from another angle: How do you suppose Arab
people felt when they saw their traditional dance perverted in the U.S.
in the 1920s and ‘30s into burlesque and stripping? What do you suppose
Arab audiences think when they see an American “Tribal Style” troupe
performing at an outdoor festival? I’ll bet many think, “These
crazy Americans have corrupted the public’s view into thinking their
Raqs Sharqi performing art is something it’s not.” Also, I’ll
bet that they think we’ve already contaminated the integrity of their
art form. Before we wring our hands too much over whether “our” dance
belongs on the stage of Lollapalooza, we should consider how we have already
left our own stamp on the dance of a different culture.
Fortunately, I think the pluses of the entertainment industry’s interest
in Belly Dancing outweigh the negatives. As people hire us to perform, and they
enroll in our classes, we can present our dance form as the wonderful source
of creative expression, social contact, physical fitness, ethnic understanding,
entertainment, education, empowerment, and fulfillment that it is. We can talk
about the purpose it once may have served in preparing the female body for childbirth,
and the position it holds today of being a social dance women in the Middle East
still do with other women on family occasions. We can establish troupes of dancers
who welcome recruits of all sizes, shapes, and ages. Every audience member and
every student presents an opportunity for us to show people the side of our dance
that we want them to see.
This has always been true, and now that the mass media
is stirring up people’s interest in our dance once again,
we’ll be able to reach more people with this message than
we did previously. What will happen next is up to us dancers.
Belly
Dancing emerged from the burlesque fad of the early 20th Century, stained
with the taint of scandal, and synonymous with stripping. During the
1950s and ‘60s, leaders in our field (such as Morocco, Cassandra,
and Dahlena)
worked hard to overcome the misconceptions. These artists, and many
others like them, are helping to dispel many of the myths through showing
the public that our dance can be an honorable form of entertainment.
Although they haven’t yet been able to reach everyone, they have
nudged the public toward a better understanding and awareness of the
Middle Eastern dance arts. As the fad of the 1970s began to wane, public
understanding and respect for our art form was left in a much stronger
position than previously.
Today, our dance community faces an exciting opportunity to carry forward the
work of those who have come before us. We can’t control the messages the
public sees in the general media, but we can control the messages people receive
when they come into direct contact with us. We can welcome people to our performances
and classes, and share those aspects of Belly Dancing we want them to see. Together,
we can seize this “pop-culture phenomenon” and, just as our predecessors
have done (and some are still doing), we can help to advance public attitude
toward Belly Dancing up to its next level.
Have a comment? Send
us a letter!
Check the "Letters to the Editor"
for other possible viewpoints!
Ready for More?
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2-5-02 Are Strippers
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