Time is the only critic without ambition

This particular theme has been attached to the hips of all belly dancers since the beginning of time. So let’s start investigating this topic with one of my first questions that has plagued me for years; Are we entertainers or are we dancers? Interesting question because many women over the years have told me that being a dancer is better than being a cheerleader. And some dancers have opined that we are entertainers on stage that we dance. So here we have two different opinions and that’s what makes our world go round. Furthermore, we will have a specific group or person who says that “their way” is better. This is understandable because no one can walk the path of a particular dancer for them or follow in their footsteps. With experience come opinions and with opinions come life statements of what works and what doesn’t. Is this the basic component of criticism? What happens when we create a community that is critical of specific dance groups, dance styles, dance skills, and dance venues? How healthy is the air we breathe in our environment when we pollute it with criticism and censorship? Is this necessary or does it do the opposite, which is to clean the wheat from chafing?

As time goes by, two things happen to dancers, either they keep up with the changes or they look around scratching their heads saying, “Where am I?” If you are lucky enough to be in the group that has kept up, I am sure there have been changes that you may not be interested in. Truth be told, I’m a bit of both groups because I kept up with it and somehow fell behind. But sometimes when you fall behind you can hear the echoes and whispers of those walking in front of you and it’s really interesting what you can hear.

I will never forget a dance acquaintance who said that most of the shows he had seen recently were just awful. Since I was on most of these shows, she made me scratch my head wondering if this was a round way to insult me ​​or if she just wasn’t thinking. Ah huh, well let’s just say I let it slide, but the interesting thing was that the producer of these shows is a friend of hers, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t tell her what he thought. Actually, I wonder what it was about me that made her trust me. Sometimes being an outsider is a good thing.

Experience has taught me that appearances specially packaged in a beautiful body can create a disadvantage when it comes to fair consideration. The world reacts differently to beautiful people. I experienced the other side of this coin when I was rehearsing with a friend for a show we were doing together. She is very flashy and the band took care of her and forgot about me. After a while of dealing with this situation, I had to laugh because the musicians were crowding around my friend chatting with her. Before I knew it, everyone was getting ready to leave and we haven’t rehearsed yet. My dance friend didn’t feel like rehearsing, so they all decided to go home. From the bottom of the abyss I told them out loud that I wanted to rehearse and that we were not leaving. Suddenly I was visible again and everyone realized that I was also in the room.

As women, do we look harder at beautiful women because we feel like they have an advantage over us? Or do we help them succeed because we want to see the symbol of our dance on a beautiful woman? Is our dance form really female-friendly? When I say friendly women I mean all kinds of women. Do we, as women, censor our belly dancing image?

Many women want to be known, but can they handle it if a friend from the dance comes first? The women evaluate how other dancers who are at their level of success are doing. This is where I have seen criticism lurk. You know what I mean, the eyes roll, the sideways glances happen at an alarming rate, and that expression of utter dislike is reflected on the face. At this point, even if one dancer got it right, the confusion of dislike would prevent another from seeing a well-done performance. Who is at a disadvantage right now? This is especially the case when the dance style is different from what a dancer prefers. Is there a rivalry between dance styles? Let’s be honest here, of course it is. With the different styles the change follows especially in the belly dance costume. Our belly dance costume is almost like a rite of passage for women, especially when they wear their costume for the first time. Does the costume say who we can hang out with? When the dancers perform together, the saving grace for all of us is that the audience can see how diverse we are. So maybe the shows I performed in featured other styles of dance than the ones my dance acquaintance preferred. How can we educate our audience about the various elements of our dance if we ourselves cannot accept the changes that are occurring in our world of dance?

There have been times when I felt like a fish out of water. I was performing in a show last year with all the dancers on stage together and I realized, just as the curtains were about to open, that I was the only cabaret dancer on stage with tribal dancers. I looked to my right and then to my left and was overwhelmed by this kaleidoscope of color. It was the most amazing site I can remember seeing and I could only imagine the gasps of the audience as they saw the variety of colors unfolding before their eyes. I knew from this particular show that our times were changing. The dynamic company is very popular now, especially with the edgy tribal vibe. Today’s dancers are willing to take more risks and push the limits of the traditionalists. Each generation has to make its own way and as they do so there will be dancers who will want to keep the old ways by pushing back. For me, acting solo has always been an art because it takes tenacity and courage to go out in front of people and perform. So you can imagine going out and performing after the stage was filled with dancers performing in unison with grace and perfect timing. Your soul has to be willing to occupy the entire stage. But I realized that dance is dance and if we don’t censor it and try to define it, we can allow it to grow in the way it needs to.

My next question has been in the foreground for a while; How will nightclubs deal with the new dance styles that are becoming so popular? The music has also changed, so this helps with the variety of dance styles that occur between us. Where do tradition and change coexist? I think this is where the stage comes in. It’s the only place where the dancers won’t criticize each other at least until the end of the show. Creative expression is generally judged harsher by our own insecurities, but I have heard stories of inappropriate choreography on shows. Since we live life in so many different ways, it is inevitable that creative expression gets caught between individual principles and values. Impact value is not usually the reason people go to a dance show, especially if they bring family and friends. I remember being part of a show where a dancer had a lantern and her dance was created around turning the lantern on and off. I didn’t understand it and neither did the audience, but she had a great time and I must admit it was disconcerting for me. So even one idea can cross the line of weirdness and make the entire audience scratch their heads. Once I was dancing in a restaurant and my skirt was tucked into my underwear (by mistake). And I danced part of the first song with my right cheek waving to everyone. I felt a breeze, but from what I was doing turns I thought was normal. The waiters laughed and one of the waitresses came over and pulled my skirt off, thank goodness! Just so you know the restaurant owner was yelling at me through the bathroom door that my music was starting … ugh! But I started dancing on time to my music even though I was giving clients a show that I never intended to give them. Fortunately, there weren’t any dancers in miles who would laugh at me or give me that “Oh, I’m so embarrassed for you” look. The waiters were sufficient. Life can be a comedy where jokes about you.

If we all come together and create a community that makes each and every one of us feel safe, our diversity will make sense not only to our audience but to ourselves as well. Self-creativity that is selfish or blind to the comfort of others is the real issue here. We live in a world where we want to blow our own horn, but we must understand that we also fit into a community that symbolizes us all. So we have to understand that our new generation of dancers is bringing their views of the world.

There are also worldviews that have been around for years and if we can unite the old and the new, our future will be a potpourri of ideas and styles that complement each other without clashing. There is a quote that says; a critic is a man who knows the road but cannot drive the car.

Sometimes we drive and other times we sit in the back seat. But either way, the goal is to reach our dreams and aspirations in one piece. We represent a culture that reflects our realities by dancing and working together every day. In a way, we’ve always been diverse, maybe we just didn’t know it. It seems to me that diversity is the one thing we all have in common and knowing this makes the view from the back of the car or the driver’s seat that much more beautiful.