What About Those Dance Rules?
Someone asked “Who sets dance rules?”
Good question- I think if we step outside the emotional side of dance, the answer lies in its history, the culture of those who originated it, the people from those cultures who are often more than willing to explain what they like and don’t like about what “new dance” is about, and finally, for me, I believe the distinct characteristics that have been in, and those that are removed from or applied to a different form, themselves can be used, because they are what and how we teach the dance- we have to be able to explain those differences to students- the movement use, music used, relationship to the music, audience, movement, use of the stage- they are different, and therefore, make it possible for us to define the characteristics of each dance form as different dance forms- somewhat related, but not like…..
Reading a comment that said the writer felt “most fusion dancers have studied culture and history”, I have to say that I would probably not agree that “most” fusion dancers have studied “culture and history, have researched, have learned strong technique and folklore”… the majority I know and have met have studied one form or another related to, or inspired by, bellydance, but have had little formal study in folkloric dance, cultural dance or stagecraft. These are the things to study to understand dance. I’ve been told by some that “since this is fusion, we’ll do what we want, we don’t have to learn about a different culture”. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Fusion Dance is a blending of two or more related dance forms, but in order to fuse them well, you have to understand and have mastered at least one of the forms, and have strong skills in the other or others. You also have to understand how to blend them to create a whole. As one of the people who helped develop and create and promote Fusion, I can say that Fusion was never intended to be a mish-mash or grab-bag of dance forms- that is Synthesized Dance, not Fusion.
In addition, the only way to do good Fusion is to understand movement technique and stagecraft; you have to understand how to be an entertainer as well as a dancer.
I think many “fusion” dancers (and Synthesized dancers) have learned some technique, and have taken some workshops in different dance forms, but are still unable to actually articulate the distinct differences between the dance forms, and that is the reason they don’t really comprehend why the word “bellydance’ doesn’t apply to what they do. It’s not just one or two differences- there are at least seven distinct differences, and they matter- a great deal- because they are why the dances are not the same and they are the characteristics of each dance form that teachers should be teaching their students to recognize in order to understand what it is they are doing.
