Amani

of course everybody is imitating Arab sensuality who does bellydance!! what nonArabs especially Americans call it "hip drop", "hip lift", "shimmy" - these things are not technicalities like a plié in ballet, but are a century long developed body language MEANING something, as much as if the dancer pronounced a word, only with her body. that is why Arabs often say about a dancer highly technically trained "nothing comes across" because the steps might be good but notcreatingmeaningful"sentences".

well, if you think that then it s because you count the more obvious, external, superficial - and not theArab soul behind this music and movement which uniquely belongs to this culture. most Russian dancers who have at least some good performances under their belt make Arabs laugh when dancin to the drums coz they re agressive, masculine, without FEELING for the drum. same with Americans, movement-trained, not feeling-learned..

What people forget is that, being outside the middle east and not growing up with this dance in a typical household, its impossible to get the same effect as a dancer from the middle east. Arabs speak the language, they understand the music so they have an advantage over non Arabic speakers. Women can only perform what they've been taught, so unless you have an Arab teacher (which is not common in the States)its surely not going to look like it.

i know! and even Arab dancers having grown up outside their countries of origin (see me ;( ) will not be able to fully convey that - or fully feel that themselves. if you ve got great talent, and if you ve grown up at the heartpulse with this culture and music, you could be one of the greatest dancers. either of them missin - you can be a nice dancer. but knowing this - and we seem to agree - insistin on how certain US dancers would be way better is pointless to me,as u urself say it s different

1. "you would have to live in the US to know her" - hmm do you live in Lebanon to know Amani?! as for "greatest bellydancer", no one is, as no one can be "the most beautiful woman on earth" as my father destroyed my aspirations as a little child - coz tastes are differen,t cant change that. as for Sadie: i enjoy her dance quite a bit. but like circus artists, Western dancers train their muscles and do very much like circus tricks twists and special movements and hyperfast and "layered2 movements

The reason that Western dancers dance this way is because thats what the audience respond to. The dancer is there for entertainment and most of the general public would not "get" a dancer if shes up there pouring her heart and soul into something like Inta Omri. They want to see exciting drum solos and stuff that makes THEM want to dance which is probably why cross training with ballet and jazz has become normal for Western dancers. The standards are different, thats all.

i do not know about the US; but over here 90% of the ppl watchin bellydance in a restaurant or venue are MidEastern, have some connection to it or are in love with the original culture (especially many Western women). they want to have the ESSENCE not, not watered world dance entertainment. i ve heard much of the same thing from the US - the nonArabs are interested and want to see the real thing. however, they are misled by ppl performin unauthenticity and sellin it as "the real thing".

"the nonArabs are interested and want to see the real thing. however, they are misled by ppl performin unauthenticity and sellin it as "the real thing". This is a very very big problem right now because there are those women who want thier 5 min of fame, or people to look at their bodies, or do it for fun. Problems come when they perform in public and tell people that they are belly dancers without saying "I'm not a pro and this is my interpretation, not an authentic performance"

ya, probably much of what i see - and do not like so much - is probably just plain non professional performances which claim to represent "the American belly dancing community". but i must say i also see a lot of well admired ppl doing things i consider a gross distortion of what raqs is to us - i hate to say it coz SOOO many Americans adore her , but one of the (good mover) dancers i like least is Jillina.. she s got no soul to me in her performancs.. and Am. think she s THE Egyptian dancer ;(

Beautiful, Amani!