wallflower

So mybelovedcheshire asked for some bellydance info because she wants to have a character in a les miserables fanfic be a bellydancer. This makes me super excited like I can’t tell you how excited and happy this makes me. Anyway, because it’s impossible to be concise with anything regarding I decided to answer here instead of in her askbox. Please note that I’m not an expert. I’ve only been dancing for 2 1/2 years and I’ve taken exactly 1 workshop on Khaleegi dance. But still, happy to help answer questions and HAVE I MENTIONED HOW EXCITED I AM THAT MY TWO GREATEST LOVES (les mis and bellydancing) ARE GOING TO BE IN STORY BY THE WONDERFUL AND TALENTED CHESH! Anyway, here’s some info about stuff: 

Cool! This is actually great. The style of dance in the Persian Gulf (primarily Saudie Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE) is called Khaleegi/Khaliji, and it’s VERY modest. The women only really dance at home, among other women, because a lot of Arab communities aren’t keen on men&women partying together. And they were these gigantic robes called thobes and the moves are very small, lots of hair tosses and subtle shoulder shimmies. Most of the moves involve playing with the abundant cloth of their costume. I’ll attach some videos at the end of this so you can see, it’s pretty great! 

So it would make sense for Rochni to be at least a little familiar with that style of dance…like from family parties and stuff, but also feel that it doesn’t suit her personality. If she’s very out going and also has a more western perspective, then she would probably gravitate to the flashier caberet styles. 

Ok so here’s a stage performance of Khaleegi dance: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyShLJYIG5Q&feature=youtu.be

And here’s a modern caberet performance by Darya Mitskovich who is one of my favorite dancers ever. She’s Ukranian and she’s divine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK277KaD7E0&list=FLJU42zFGc8oBtV3j3P2M4PA

And here’s one of a male bellydancer because holyshit now I can’t get the image of momoa!bahorel bellydancing out of my head and i’m dying:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6autbeh_tUk

And because i’m a narcissist and also because you mentioned that Rochni would be a student/hobbiest, i’m including a video of me, because she’d probably resemble me flailing around but enjoying every second of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faMBOW0_oFs

I guess. I did two songs. One was an upbeat pop song by Amr Diab (Halla Halla) and the other was a jazzy drummy song called Orientails by Body-Shock. My boyfriend took a video so hopefully it will find its way up here soon. 

The performance went well. It was me and two of my dance sisters at the same venue we perform at every month. The audience was very small (10 people maybe). Since tomorrow’s Easter I think everyone stayed home. Usually the small space is packed, but this time there were plenty of empty seats. It was actually kind of nice, because we all sat in the audience and just got up when it was our turn to dance. My dance sisters were great. Everyone did upbeat, energetic and happy songs, and everyone was having a great time. All in all it was a pleasant and exciting night.

So I don’t know why I feel so discouraged with my performance. This month I practiced more than I usually do (I usually perform to the same Hossam Ramzy song, but this month I wanted to do something different, so I had to familiarize myself with the new songs). I felt pretty prepared. I had some new moves and I really enjoyed the songs. Before the show, I was nervous, but good nervous. Excited. I went last, so I got to watch Saamra and Sayyida (those are their dance names not their real names). They were so great and energetic, and I felt really pumped after they performed.

But then when I got out there, I just felt really sloppy and unprepared. I felt like there was no flow to my moves, like I was doing the same thing over and over, but then when I did a different step the transition felt illogical. I felt kind of flustered and muddled and like the audience wasn’t as engaged as they had been earlier. I felt like this was my first performance. I felt like such a beginner. 

I mean, everyone had nice things to say about my performance, and watching the video it doesn’t look nearly as bad as I felt. I’m smiling. I’m not repeating too many steps. I’m not rushing. I don’t look lost and I’m with the music/hitting accents/the moves correspond with the instruments. The flaws were minimal and typical for me (moving my hands too much, looking at the ground instead of audience etc). From the look of things, this was actually one of my better performances.

I guess the problem is that I wasn’t really having fun while I was up there. I knew the music, so I could muddle through and disguise my discomfort. But I just felt like such a terrible dancer. Like I was not on the same level as my dance sisters. They’ve both been dancing much longer than I have, but I never felt like a novice compared to them. Tonight I really felt like a beginner. Which I am. I’ve been dancing for less than two years, but I’ve never felt quite the same sense of inadequacy as I did tonight. 

I’ve been feeling moody lately (full moon? possible pms? life in general? i don’t know), so I don’t know if it’s just me being grumpy pants.

But has anyone else had feelings like that when you’re on stage? Or during practice? Like you’re not the dancer you want to be?

my galabeya came! all the way from Egypt =D it fits perfectly (well it’s a little big in the torso, but not drastically). also the seam in one of the sleeves came undone but that’s easily fixable. I’m super excited!!!!!!!!! Also it came with a ginormous pair of silver hoop earrings as a surprise gifty which totally made my day!

Yay!!

Also the choli I got came in earlier this week. I should take a pic of that too. Soon.

Yay costumes! I feel so official now. So professional. I have CHOICES now =)

Just bought myself a short-sleeved, shoulder-drop, dark red velvet choli from flyingskirts. Super excited about it. I’m always worried about sleeves fitting my arms, but the description said the material is quite stretchy and each size fits a range of (dress) sizes, so I’m not too concerned. I felt very daring, because it’s open in the back. I’m working myself up to a bra in terms of revealingness =P 

I hope it gets hear sooooon ^_^

But tell me, followers, what’s your favorite costume piece? 

Reposting my performance again (on the other one you could access my dance sisters performances too, and they wanted theirs to stay private so I deleted the post). Enjoy =D

 (I posted this on belly-dance-rants but figured I’d put it on here too so it’ll reach more people) Just out of curiosity I have some questions for the people who are professional belly dancers (I define professional as someone who is paid to perform and knowledgeable enough to teach classes). How long were you dancing before you did a paid gig? Do you have another job or do you make a living dancing? Do you know multiple styles of belly dance and if so, do you incorporate all the styles you know into your performances? If you teach, how long were you dancing before you felt comfortable teaching other people? What do you find challenging about teaching?

lol I know that’s a lot of questions, but I’m interested in knowing how someone makes the transition from dancing for fun with occasional casual performances, to becoming a professional. I’m definitely not at the professional level yet, but I would like to be.  I would love to hear your thoughts. 

I stretch myself in dim lit rooms,

Ribs rippling my torso,
Hips circling circling circling.
If I could shimmy my way
Into a fortunate life
I would have done it already.

Chest lifted-

Dropped.
A belly roll.
My hips fly underneath me.
The ground vibrates up my body.
I flutter my shoulders,
Shaking off the day: the great burden.
I don’t feel you staring. 

 Belly shimmering with sweat,

Head tossed

Hair flying
I am released.

I shake and shake
My breath is part of the music
My heart and the drum
Beat as one

The rhythm moves me like a lovers touch

I do not feel you staring.

dancebellydance:

Maani Photography

(via xibalbadance)

dancebellydance:

bellydancer by Sally Hunter (gingermaddy) on Flickr.

(via xibalbadance)