Faux or for Real?

Once a woman told me that I was not a "real" Oriental dancer because I did not emulate the Egyptian style. I think her statement may be indicative of a common but misguided concept about authenticity.

No one country has authority to claim ownership as the originators of Oriental dance. It is indigenous to many countries. Some countries maintain a higher profile because of opportunity for performance within those countries and related media. That being said, what is an authentic presentation of a folk dance?

Simplistically – one performs a dance that is specific to a particular ethnic group, in a particular country and specific region. One uses the exact type of music that group uses; the exact type of dress down to the pattern of embroidery. One emulates not only the movements but in the style those movements are made. One presents the mood, expression, and the spirit, in which the dance is done as closely as possible to the original group.

Speaking strictly on Oriental dance - we should consider that when we emulate performance art from a particular country we are emulating style. What is style? Style is trend. Trend can be formed to suit a political climate or by popular figures according to personal taste, experimentation, expression, and the like.

In time trends can become standard practice. Consider – commonly in Egyptian Raqs Sharqi a dancer will enter with a veil held behind her body. The veil is held high, used as a back drop and discarded early in the routine. Samia Gamal, an Oriental dance star, started that trend. She studied from Ivanova, a famous Russian ballet dancer and Ivanova instructed her to use a piece of fabric in this fashion as a way of improving her arm carriage. Other's picked up that practice and it caught on.

In the same breath, emulation should be executed with care. Because a dancer in Egypt wears a spandex dress that barely covers her ass or does something very experimental doesn't mean one should follow suit in the quest to be authentic. In the words of Morocco "I'm in Egypt, or they're real Egyptians, therefore what I'm seeing is real, right? Wrong!" You have to know what you are looking at to make a distinction between creative license and standard practice.

The subject of purity is even further blurred by the strong Russian influence on Oriental dance in the Middle East. Russian ballet instructors were imported to Egypt and the National Folklore Troupe of Egypt, as well as the most gifted Egyptians were sent to study in Russia. According to Morocco "choreography of even the folklore was supervised and influenced by Soviet pseudo - "Ethnic" styling and all the young dancers were trained by Soviet dance teachers."

I bring up these points to illustrate that the very nature of performance art is exploration. That has certainly been true of Oriental dance in the Middle East. Bearing that in mind, can one represent a dance as authentic when it has, is and will be altered? You bet. Cairo trends can be observed and presented as Egyptian Oriental dance. With research and study any number of Middle Eastern folk dances can be presented "authentically".

If you have researched a dance style or folk dance - present it as factual. It can be a source of education and information for the dance community and your audience. If you do interpretive dance then call it so. There is no shame in great theater.

Article Source: http://www.bellydancearticles.com

Salome has been dancing since she was a child. At 21 her career transitioned abroad. With representation by "Rising Stars", "Classic Models", and "Showhouse" (among others) she has worked exclusively overseas in a near successive string of short and long term contracts. Learn more about Salome and oriental dance at www.orientaldancer.net.

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