{"id":2576,"date":"2011-04-17T10:09:29","date_gmt":"2011-04-17T17:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/?p=2576"},"modified":"2011-04-17T10:31:31","modified_gmt":"2011-04-17T17:31:31","slug":"brigid-dvd-reviews-belly-reda-homage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/2011\/04\/17\/brigid-dvd-reviews-belly-reda-homage\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Glances"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Homage to Mahmoud Reda:\u00a0A Life for Dancing \u00ad
\nFull-Tilt Boogie presents: Belly \u2013 Sensual, Scarred, Sacred <\/h2>\n

DVD Review by Zumarrad<\/a>
\nposted April 17, 2011<\/span><\/h3>\n

For some, the pleasure of dance is about community bonding. For others, it\u2019s about reverence for roots. In this review I look at two quite different DVDs that demonstrate how belly dance has travelled to places outside its first homes in the Middle East, and some of the ways participants there have expressed what it means to them.<\/p>\n

\"DVDThe Andalusi and Arabic Dance International Festival Raks Madrid 05 presents
\nHomage to Mahmoud Reda: A Life for Dancing<\/p>\n

This DVD records a 2005 theatre show directed by Nesma<\/a><\/strong> of Madrid, in honour of the pioneer Egyptian folkloric choreographer Mahmoud Reda<\/a>\u2019<\/strong>s 75th birthday, featuring dance companies from Spain, Finland, France, Italy and Switzerland. Nesma is an ex-Reda Troupe dancer and according to the DVD\u2019s cover, all the choreographies are by Reda, who is present for the show (as is Farida Fahmy<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong> whom you see briefly onstage at the end).<\/p>\n

I have not had the opportunity to watch many of Reda\u2019s movies, so none of these choreographies (with the exception of the Ranet al Kholkhal duet), or their contexts, are familiar to me. However I believe any lover of Reda-style Egyptian folkloric dance would be hard-pressed to find fault with this DVD. The production quality is high, the sound is excellent, the camera work is just right and the performances are clean and of a solid quality throughout.<\/p>\n

The show includes a montage of dance and gymnastics photographs of Reda throughout his life, as well as short clips from one movie that segues into a pretty tribute to Farida Fahmy. Other than that, it is a straightforward theatrical show with no fancy tricks or backdrops \u2013 and it\u2019s all the better for it.<\/p>\n

While this is emphatically not<\/em> a teaching DVD it does offer keen-eyed viewers a chance to form a strong feel for the kinds of combinations, turns and footwork that we identify as Reda-inspired. <\/p>\n

The dances, nearly all group pieces, also demonstrate how effective a tightly-performed choreography can be and provide lots of ideas for staging and costuming folkloric groups in a theatre show like this one. The costumes are varied and remarkably beautiful.<\/p>\n

One drawback is that the show features just one male performer, so Reda\u2019s famed take on masculinity in Egyptian dance isn\u2019t really on display. Some viewers might also find the introductions and award-giving a little dull, but it\u2019s great fun at the end to see all the dancers gather on stage and be joined by Reda for a few seconds of saidi.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s refreshing to be able to buy a guality performance DVD that reflects another part of our global belly dance community. Most of the well-produced material we can purchase easily tends to feature North American and occasionally British performers, and not much of it is folklore. This DVD demonstrates one form of Egyptian dance as it has been picked up and represented outside the English-speaking world. It is certainly a good advertisement for Raks Madrid and an inspirational starting point for any dancer keen to learn more about\u00a0 Egyptian folklore.<\/p>\n

Rating: 4 zils<\/strong>
\n\"Zil<\/h4>\n

\"DVDFull-Tilt Boogie presents:
\nBelly \u2013 Sensual, Scarred, Sacred<\/strong> <\/p>\n

This feature-length documentary by dancer\/filmmaker Cecilia Rinn<\/strong> is not going to be to everybody\u2019s taste. Some people might even hate it, but I will unabashedly say that I loved it. It is flawed and messy and real.<\/p>\n

The documentary looks at a slice of US belly dance culture and presents it largely unvarnished. Footage and photos of dancers in all kinds of situations, of all ages, sizes and abilities, are interspersed with excerpts from in-depth interviews with an equally eclectic range of dancers \u2013 some well-known internationally, some not. It\u2019s globalized belly dance in action. <\/p>\n

As Unmata\u2019s Amy Sigil<\/a> observes, the dance is taking place in a kind of self-supportive bubble to which the general public is really irrelevant.<\/p>\n

The production values are not particularly high, but I love the way Rinn embraces the unglamorous and incongruous aspects of belly dance. If there\u2019s a rubbish bin in the background or a light switch on the wall, she doesn\u2019t shift her camera to try and disguise it. I loved seeing dancers performing in chilly-looking breezeblock halls, outside public buildings, at fairs, in cafes, on stages and at a slightly creepy-looking party. Rinn visits competitions and workshops. There\u2019s a cute series of repeated scenes in which dancers \u2013 camera pointing out the car window into the night \u2013 giggle and get exasperated as they search in vain for the location of their gig. It\u2019s all terribly familiar.<\/p>\n

An agenda is pretty obvious in the title. The documentary presents belly dance as a sort of connecting point around which women circulate, finding healing, strength and solidarity. The participants talk at length about their experiences with belly dance, how others have responded to their involvement and what it has done for them. Because the interviewees are so varied, their stories and opinions are equally so. For me there is no \u201cdanger\u201d of this documentary conveying untruths or being misleading because it\u2019s so clear that each woman involved is speaking from her own perspective.<\/p>\n

Belly<\/em> is possibly a little too long, and there are a couple of sections I really question the point of (notably Amy Sigil\u2019s story about a toileting mishap), but overall I appreciate the lovely jumble of seriousness and silliness that really does reflect how belly dance community life tends to be.<\/p>\n

The greatest flaw in Belly<\/em> is also its greatest strength. <\/p>\n

The Middle Eastern aspect of the dance is conspicuous by its near absence \u2013 Delilah<\/a><\/strong>, never the poster girl for ethnic correctness, is one of the few people to even mention it. If I were teaching an in-depth class on belly dance culture I\u2019d love to show Belly<\/em> alongside Natasha Senkovich\u2019s The Bellydancers of Cairo<\/em><\/a>, then sit back and wait for the comparative discussion that emerged.<\/p>\n

Rating: 3 1\/2 zils
\n\"Zil<\/h4>\n\n\n