Comments on: A Sense of Humor: It Can Help!

By: Fesitval Photos, Page 2: D-J | Belly Dance News & Events - Gilded Serpent

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 23:56:14 +0000

[...] A Sense of Humor: It can Help! Quest for Beauty, Part 3 by Zorba What follows here are several humorous anecdotes. Some of them are about being a male in a [...]

By: Barbara Grant

Barbara Grant — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:13:10 +0000

Hi, Pauline, I’m not intending in any way to pounce on you for your remarks, yet I continue to have problems with some criticisms of Zorba. The skirt workshop he attended was open to all members of the community; and if he wishes to include what he learned in the seminar in his performance, why not? If the owners of the restaurant, or the leader of the troupe with which he performed, don’t like the “skirtman’s” appearance (or dancing) I’m sure he will be the first to receive immediate negative feedback. From what I read in the article, that hasn’t happened.

I am no expert on drag shows, having never seen one (except on TV and movies) but from what I understand, the male dancers in such shows do their utmost to appear as women. It is therefore difficult for me to believe that bearded Zorba is trying to do a drag show.

I appreciate your comments on taste and I believe that this is a subject that should be discussed further on GS. There are no standards on “taste” in this dance that have been objectively articulated, that I can see. Let’s have that discussion on taste and standards; in the mean time, I would not wish to minimize a male dancer for his costuming choices.

Very kind regards and with all respect,

Barbara

By: A Look at Three Different Classical Egyptian CDs | Belly Dance News & Events - Gilded Serpent

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:02:48 +0000

[...] A Sense of Humor: It can Help! Quest for Beauty, Part 3 by Zorba What follows here are several humorous anecdotes. Some of them are about being a male in a [...]

By: Creating Camp Negum | Belly Dance News & Events - Gilded Serpent

Creating Camp Negum | Belly Dance News & Events - Gilded Serpent — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:29:16 +0000

[...] A Sense of Humor: It can Help! Quest for Beauty, Part 3 by Zorba What follows here are several humorous anecdotes. Some of them are about being a male in a [...]

By: Ask Yasmina #12 | Belly Dance News & Events - Gilded Serpent

Ask Yasmina #12 | Belly Dance News & Events - Gilded Serpent — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:25:01 +0000

[...] A Sense of Humor: It can Help! Quest for Beauty, Part 3 by ZorbaWhat follows here are several humorous anecdotes. Some of them are about being a male in a [...]

By: Pauline Costianes

Pauline Costianes — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:39:08 +0000

It’s a free country, and anybody can do ’bout what they want.
But if you’re going to dance orientale as a man, then you need to
dress like one. Wearing feminine crop tops, skirts, beads, veils,
baring a too-large belly doesn’t come across well. It looks like
drag and burlesque and buffoonery.
We still have such a problem with acceptance as a legitamite
dance form, and when people don’t dress appropriately, it just
becomes fodder for others to continue to demean our art form.
    What is wrong with wearing a vest, shalwar with a waist wrap,
like most other male dancers I’ve seen? Bobby Farrah, Bert Balladine, Tarik Aziz all danced in this kind of costuming and looked very masculine.
As Valerie Camille, a film and theater choreographer who used to work with Bobby Farrah said – “I don’t care who you take to bed, if you’re a man, then you dance and dress like a man”.
Now, I’m sure I’m going to have a lot of people pounce on me in the name of self-expression, and how dare I say these things. It’s one thing if you do this in your own home, and quite another when you’re taking it out there for all to see.
   And proper presentation and costuming for one’s body habitus
isn’t just limited to men. There are plenty of women who don’t do
much better. Many pictures on this site demonstrate that.
Like Bobby used to say, “you can’t teach taste to some folks”.

By: Edna

Edna — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:38:34 +0000

Great article! Humor transcends all human boundaries!

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:43:19 +0000

Nice article, I need to work on my sense of humor but my critics are not the general public but the dancers themselves.