It´s an old theme, I know. Yet it has never been so interesting and inflammable.
What is Oriental dance and what is NOT?
What is EGYPTIAN dance and what is NOT?
What is right and what is wrong?
Well: I never presume to hold the flag of the universal Truth (that would be just stupid!); what I DO presume is that I perform and teach according to what I have SEEN with my own eyes, LEARNT and DONE in 8 years of LIFE and PERFORMING in Egypt (as well as other parts of the Middle East).
I cannot do or teach something I don´t recognize as EGYPTIAN DANCE because this is the path I chose and I try my best to remain faithful to the TRUTH I - personally - experimented and grew from.
There are many kinds of ORIENTAL DANCE too; not ONE kind but many.
Egyptian, lebanese, turkish - more recently american tribal and other versions of this dance one can find all over the world. On which point do you separate CREATIVE FREEDOM with lack of KNOWLEDGE and RESPECT for the dance form?
That´s a tricky question and the ones who disrespect it the most are, usually, the most arrogant and self-assured (and that says a LOT about the Oriental Dance business in the world).
I think it´s great that different fruits are growing from the same root and, even if I don´t appreciate certain styles or way of doing things, I respect those choices and recognize their right to existence.
What pisses me off is when people - who should know better but are proud of their ignorance - sell EGYPTIAN DANCE as something that has nothing to do with it.
What EGYPTIAN DANCE is NOT:
1. A nose held high plastic performance that only serves to show off a glittering costume and a starved ego waiting for meaningless pampering;
2. Classical ballet poorly performed with some basic and boring hip shaking;
3. Acrobatics- aerobics - "Cirque du Soleil" twisted into some exotic steps - contortions and vanity exercises;
4. Empty movements that communicate nothing except an eagerness to be venerated;
5. Meaningless catalogs of dance steps which do not express FEELINGS, HISTORIES, THOUGHTS, WHATEVER makes us human.
As I started performing in Egypt, I readily had to learn what meant EGYPTIAN DANCE because my survival - as well as the survival of an entire orchestra - depended on THAT* understanding. No one - except musicians and local egyptian audiences - taught me what EGYPTIAN DANCE REALLY IS. And, yes, I willingly learnt (as the applied student that I am).
I realized there were only two ways of building a career in Cairo:
1. Or you slept around with a man that gets you a contract and assures its continuity (some dancers have them as "hidden" lovers, boyfriends, even husbands that come in handy for the egyptian nationality documents). These men can be musicians, empresarios and managers who get work to dancers and bosses.
In this case, "your man" takes care of the bribes and schemes necessary to keep the machine moving in exchange for bed (or bed and breakfast).
2. Or - in case you refused to sell your body and soul to the devil - you just had to conquer local audiences (the ones who build your reputation and return to the place you dance asking for your name, exclusively) with your TALENT,CHARISMA and INTELLIGENCE. You had to surprise them and touch their hearts and minds at EVERY SINGLE SHOW and that, dear readers, is the best egyptian dance training one can ever have.
***Sure there is the porno-nakedness phenomenon - specially in the cheap nightclubs of "Al Haram street" and it´s damn sure that LOTS of men (and women) enjoy seeing fresh meat exposed (silicone boobs are a favorite) but I respect myself way too much to be able to experiment that tactic. In a highly sexually repressed society like the egyptian, it´s understandable that a lot of people pay fat amounts in order to see an extra inch of flesh and skin. Does this have anything to do with ART?! I leave that* to your consideration.
So, yeah: I learnt the tough - hands on the ground - way. Day by day, my barometer (egyptian audiences) taught me what it meant EGYPTIAN DANCE. It´s just natural that I pass on all I learnt.
What is Oriental dance and what is NOT?
What is EGYPTIAN dance and what is NOT?
What is right and what is wrong?
Well: I never presume to hold the flag of the universal Truth (that would be just stupid!); what I DO presume is that I perform and teach according to what I have SEEN with my own eyes, LEARNT and DONE in 8 years of LIFE and PERFORMING in Egypt (as well as other parts of the Middle East).
I cannot do or teach something I don´t recognize as EGYPTIAN DANCE because this is the path I chose and I try my best to remain faithful to the TRUTH I - personally - experimented and grew from.
There are many kinds of ORIENTAL DANCE too; not ONE kind but many.
Egyptian, lebanese, turkish - more recently american tribal and other versions of this dance one can find all over the world. On which point do you separate CREATIVE FREEDOM with lack of KNOWLEDGE and RESPECT for the dance form?
That´s a tricky question and the ones who disrespect it the most are, usually, the most arrogant and self-assured (and that says a LOT about the Oriental Dance business in the world).
What pisses me off is when people - who should know better but are proud of their ignorance - sell EGYPTIAN DANCE as something that has nothing to do with it.
What EGYPTIAN DANCE is NOT:
1. A nose held high plastic performance that only serves to show off a glittering costume and a starved ego waiting for meaningless pampering;
2. Classical ballet poorly performed with some basic and boring hip shaking;
3. Acrobatics- aerobics - "Cirque du Soleil" twisted into some exotic steps - contortions and vanity exercises;
4. Empty movements that communicate nothing except an eagerness to be venerated;
5. Meaningless catalogs of dance steps which do not express FEELINGS, HISTORIES, THOUGHTS, WHATEVER makes us human.
As I started performing in Egypt, I readily had to learn what meant EGYPTIAN DANCE because my survival - as well as the survival of an entire orchestra - depended on THAT* understanding. No one - except musicians and local egyptian audiences - taught me what EGYPTIAN DANCE REALLY IS. And, yes, I willingly learnt (as the applied student that I am).
I realized there were only two ways of building a career in Cairo:
1. Or you slept around with a man that gets you a contract and assures its continuity (some dancers have them as "hidden" lovers, boyfriends, even husbands that come in handy for the egyptian nationality documents). These men can be musicians, empresarios and managers who get work to dancers and bosses.
In this case, "your man" takes care of the bribes and schemes necessary to keep the machine moving in exchange for bed (or bed and breakfast).
2. Or - in case you refused to sell your body and soul to the devil - you just had to conquer local audiences (the ones who build your reputation and return to the place you dance asking for your name, exclusively) with your TALENT,CHARISMA and INTELLIGENCE. You had to surprise them and touch their hearts and minds at EVERY SINGLE SHOW and that, dear readers, is the best egyptian dance training one can ever have.
***Sure there is the porno-nakedness phenomenon - specially in the cheap nightclubs of "Al Haram street" and it´s damn sure that LOTS of men (and women) enjoy seeing fresh meat exposed (silicone boobs are a favorite) but I respect myself way too much to be able to experiment that tactic. In a highly sexually repressed society like the egyptian, it´s understandable that a lot of people pay fat amounts in order to see an extra inch of flesh and skin. Does this have anything to do with ART?! I leave that* to your consideration.
So, yeah: I learnt the tough - hands on the ground - way. Day by day, my barometer (egyptian audiences) taught me what it meant EGYPTIAN DANCE. It´s just natural that I pass on all I learnt.
*
I know money still rules this world - it´s clearer and clearer to me - and most dancers in the business will try to please and deliver what sells most but (HEY!) we have to WAKE UP.
Instead of selling a product that matches most people´s ignorance towards Oriental- Egyptian Dance I do believe that TRUE ARTISTS have the ethical obligation to go against the current and offer BETTER than people´s ignorance.
Then again: this is JUST my opinion (I find it funny when I see the hats I mention fitting on so many heads and enemies multiplying in my direction. Funny and, of course, sad).
P.S. Always loving my dearest Mahmoud Reda, Souhair Zaki and Shokry Mohamed
(my strongest maps of this path called Oriental Dance).
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