Comments on: What are you saying?

By: Bellydance Paladin » Blog Archive » Body and Mind… A follow-up.

Bellydance Paladin » Blog Archive » Body and Mind… A follow-up. — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:04:24 +0000

[...] What bores me? I don’t like watching a dancer who has no story to tell. I don’t like watching a dancer who is just showing off technical skill with no meaning behind it all. I often find performances that are just energetic and fun dull. Performances that have put more thought into their presentation than the overall idea of their performance leave me cold. What’s the point? What are you trying to tell me? What is your story? [...]

By: asharah

asharah — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:10:43 +0000

Ahh… yes. The OVER use of tricks… when most of the performance is just meant to wow the audience, then I get truly annoyed.

By: Shay

Shay — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:05:03 +0000

“I think the use of tricks indicates a few things about the dancer: She’s afraid to dance as herself, and she’s hiding behind her “Wow Factor”; she’s not aware that dance can be an emotional outlet as well as a physical one; she believes that the tricks will gain her more recognition, praise, and attention (which, sadly, is often true). What really bothers me is that after seeing a performance composed mostly of tricks, there will be a host of audience members lavishing praise on that dancer, telling them how amazing they are. ”

I may be off base here, and I don’t mean to put words in your mouth, but my guess is you mean “OVER USE” of tricks in a performance indicates these things about a dancer, not the use of ANY tricks. Yes?

Wonderful post, as usual m’dear!

By: Pam

Pam — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:22:47 +0000

I really enjoy reading your blogs because they’re frank and to the point. This is something I’ve been noticing and rambling about off and on myself. When the dance becomes less a “dance” and more of a “pose-n-stunt” experience.
I’m beginning to enjoy performances that are simpler, and often not even in my “chosen genre” because of this. Showing off can be fun and when done right, it’s great to watch, but when big moves are used in place of dancing itself, the moves lose their power.

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:28:55 +0000

For the last few performances, it seemed like I always had to throw a Turkish drop in there. At first, I did it because I was so proud I had learned the move but as time went on I began to rely on it as the “crowd pleaser.” I love floor work and that was my favorite way of getting down to the ground. Now, I have been consciously trying to either modify or change moves that were my “tricks.”

I think the best dances are the ones that are performed simply and deliberately. It allows the audience to easily follow along with the movements and gives the dancer the space she needs to slowly work in the emotional layer. I remember one video of Ava Flemming dancing along with Djinn. She was doing simple hip locks, shimmies, and undulations, nothing fancy. Because she stuck with the basic mastered moves, she was able to play up her stage presence, getting up close and “personal” with the drummers. No tricks, just Ava being Ava.

Great post! This is exactly the sort of thing I’ve been thinking about lately. Keep on dancing girl!

Erin

By: Tara Swaim

Tara Swaim — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:53:41 +0000

Lovely article. Thanks for articulating that…..I have been thinking about that for days now. It really hit me at the right time.

By: Bri

Bri — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:30:25 +0000

Thank you so much for this!
You have written well, what I have said often and thought so many times.