A Rose by Any Other Name? No, it’s not…

Someone said: “People- and that includes audience, students, dancers and teachers- don’t seem to know there are forms of dance being presented or labeled as bellydance that aren’t bellydance at all. Part of it seems to be because teachers and dancers themselves don’t know the differences between these dance forms, so they expose the audiences to misinformation. We need to educate not only teachers and dancers, but audiences, too- how can we start to fix this problem?”

I would start with this.

Step One: Form a coalition of dancers with absolute integrity. Organize local coalitions. Develop a lecture/demo series of contrast/comparison that can fit in an hour. OR develop a lecture/demo of the history of the development of bellydance from raks beladi to synthesized dance, all in about 90 minutes- no more than that. (I’ll tell you why in a moment).

Step Two: As you develop your lecture, in both scenarios, remember to focus on why one is not the other. You do it in a respectful way, recognizing the best of each, by using only those dancers who actually exhibit and embody the best of each form, and who also know the differences and don’t identify as doing “bellydance” unless that is what they are doing. Pick the ones who have already adopted a new name and costuming approach to their dance form. Remember Fusion is a blend of two or more related dance forms; Synthesized Dance is a blend of two or more unrelated dance forms.

Step Three: You do this keeping in mind that you want to give the audience an opportunity to see, hear, understand the differences… the people will walk out knowing what they are watching. Slowly, they begin to spread the word, too..

Step Four: Constantly re-assess/refresh so you don’t fall into the trap of power games, ego trips or trying to make one form “best”.. focus on the goal of helping audiences (and students, other dancers, teachers, etc) recognize the differences and why they are not the same

Step Five: Once you have a quality, concise workshop of a lecture/demo, take it “on the road”- offer to present this workshop in your locale at dance studios, colleges, community colleges, universities, libraries, social organizations, Girl Scout camps, schools, dance events (like the National Day of Dance, Dance Month, whatever) and even yes, dance conferences, dance conventions and more.

It will be met with mixed feelings but ride those through.

There is raks beladi, raks sharqi and other native forms, there is traditional/classical/modern bellydance; there is American danse orientale (Am/Cab), Fusion, the old 1960s-70s tribal (Bal Anat style, the Archer-Nerricio ATS styles and offshoots, Synthesized Dance, and finally, Dance Theatre.. and there are several critical points that make all but the native forms not bellydance.

I’ve used the lecture-demo method to show the audience what they are seeing and it works- but it needs a strong coalition of dancers with integrity and stamina to move this through.

And finally, know what you do. Define yourself clearly. Promote and market yourself with honesty. Look at divesting from words that limit the possibilities of creating new niches, new audiences.. and go out there are dance.