Articles
I want you all to find your own voice. Shems articulates well how all this movement vocabulary fits into learning how to dance and I hope it makes it clearer why I teach things in parts, so you can assemble them in a way that expresses yourself

Articles
I wanted to take a second to talk about some of the ways bellydance can be both physically (TW: gun violence) and psychologically therapeutic, of course it can also be just plain fun ^_^

Articles
The topic for this unit’s Music genre was going to be folkloric songs, but that is such a broad topic that I think we are better introduced to through the weekly regional highlights, so instead, let’s talk about fusion songs. There is a lot to unpack when it comes to respectful fusion, but the bottom line is to know each dance one wants to fuse thoroughly in their home contexts before creating a blend of them. Because raqs sharki is the music translated into movement, any dance that includes raqs sharki as one of the elements should be to music that also fuses bellydance music with elements of the music that goes with the dance it is being fused with.

This is a handy way to teach your body to distinguish between different dance styles: practice each to the music that they go with. You'll build natural associations so that when you hear a certain kind of music you body will feel like doing the appropriate matching sort of movement.

Articles
When I first started, the line between pop music and shaabi music was more clear. Today, many shaabi artists are very popular. You can think of this just like how hip-hop has become more and more mainstream, and more and more pop-hits include elements from shaabi music. In the 60s and 70s, popular music on the radio was often the orchestrated songs we think of as classics. By the 90s stars like Egyptian Amir Diab dominated the charts. Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram and Turkish singer Tarkan were very popular when I first started dancing.

To keep up, I recommend sites like Anghami, the Arabic spotify. But really, the best way might be to ask someone younger ^_^

Bellydancers have come up with some incredible stories to explain the origins of our dance. And while we can know a lot about the past century, the further back we go, the blurrier the picture gets. We might bemoan the idea that the history is lost to the "mists of time", I propose the following, as a way to create some sense of resolution around this issue.​

You are bound to come across some version of the phrase "bellydance as we know it today", which generally means raqs sharki as it has been performed leading up the golden era and recorded in early Egyptian cinema. This style was popular with the concert halls and it formed from the dances of the awalim and Ottoman court dancers

To understand the place of a bellydancer in Egyptian society, there are two helpful things to know about. The Awalim, and the Zeffa.

We need to talk about "evolution"

Post 1 of 11
To kick things off, let’s get our bearings. Here is the diagram created by Nadira Jamal showing the relationship of belly dance and Middle Eastern dance, and the degree of influence of western aesthetics on a variety of styles. 

MENAHT is a short hand way to say Middle East, North Africa, Hellenic (Greek), and Turkey. ​

Hello bellydance students! This post is going to list many of the folk dances of the MENAHT area. Thanks to the influence of various empires and the silk road I've also included Iran. Bellydance music and shows will often include references to many of these folk dances, sometimes in a tableau during the folkloric part of an Egyptian stage show, sometimes as a verse in an oriental entrance piece, sometimes in the name of an ATS move that subtly references one of the folk dances of that area. Knowing about the different folk dances and folkloric dances will enhance your appreciation for bellydance shows and MENAHT music. And who knows, maybe you'll even find a new dance that you want to learn to do!

The other day, I picked up some pink paint swatches. I'm considering repainting my bedroom (currently a light green) in a color that I spent years "hating"; or, more accurately, not allowing myself to like. Femme folks (girls, trans-women, cis-women, femme-presenting non-binary folks, and other shades of lady-like), and really everyone else too, have all gotten plenty of messages throughout our lives that "girly" things are bad. I think this quote from the intro to a Madonna song sums up society's attitude well. 

If you've taken my classes, you've heard me talk about how raqs is traditionally improvised, about the cultural value of the feeling in the moment, and probably about how impossible it is to do choreography in a restaurant or birthday party-type gig.

A good map makes exploring more fun, you can strike out confident that you'll be able to find your way back. In dance, mapping the music is my favorite way to structure improvisation, prevent over-dancing, and create texture and interest in a dance. It's also the backbone of how I keep track of what part of the song I am making choreography notes about, and how I find patterns in a song to use for the choreographies I make for students.

Takeem (also spelled taqasim, taqsim, takseem, taxim, etc, etc) is a solo melodic improvisation. There is a structure to it that explores the maqam the taxeem is in and returns to the home note established at the start. There is more to it that gets pretty technical, for now you should just be aware that it is the musician following their feeling and displaying artistry. One interesting thing, it means "division" in Arabic, and something along the lines of "bridge/connection" in Turkish. It is often used to create a smooth transition from one song to another, especially if there is a maqam (mode/scale/key) change from one song to the next.

Part 1:This semester, we've worked on musical phrasing and learning to identify different instruments. All of that comes together when a band or orchestra plays. So, let's look at some different types of bands!