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Bellydance personas
Jan. 18th, 2007 09:35 amMost of these bellydance instructional/exercise videos include short performances by the instructors/artists.
I have had videos from Neena and Veena (the bellydance twins), Rania, and now Rachel Brice.
The costumes in the viedos of Neena and Veena and Rania are evocative of slavery. They wear broad, matching bracelets and anklets. While these accessories match their costumes and emphasize the articulation of hands and feet during the dance, the symbolism of bondage is there. They also have chosen sets to make a Westerner imagine a seraglio. The costumes are beautiful and subtly revealing. The dancing and music are beautiful and fluid, with impressive control, balance and grace. These are slavegirls in an intimate setting, pleased to be dancing for you and your sensual pleasure, whether you are master or mistress.
Rachel Brice has created a completely different persona. The setting is lit with a creepy, or perhaps otherworldly bluish tinge, with pillar candles in iron floor candleabra type settings around the performance area. There is an altar to an idol and incense is being offered. The floor is laid with a persian carpet. Her costume is an imagined priestess of an elemental goddess, with seashells braided into her hair, dark eye makeup, pale skin, tattoos emphasizing waist and hips, and a skirt that makes you think of rushes or grass. She wears bangles at arms and ankle, too, as well as a band at her bicep. The music is eerie, unpredictable, with agressive, threatening percussion created by odd sounding instruments - clanks and banging and crashing. Her dance style matches, with subtle hand, chest and head movements, and a slow sensual dance style marked with sudden sharp movements. The combination of elements is very menacing. She's a yoga expert, as well, and the floorwork she does made me incredibly jealous at the same time it made my knees hurt. She collapses into backbends the way you or I would sit in a chair. Or she moves into them in slow, rhythymic increments that just don't seem like they should be possible.
Anyway, apropos of nothing, except I find it very interesting. I am completely uneducated when it comes to appreciating dance as an art form. These are my impressions. The Brice disc has a menu of available discs from the same production company, including one called "Bellydance Superstars" that I am tempted to get just to see more.
I should note that in the introduction to the Brice disc, some famous bellydance choreographer woman said that bellydance is about "delight" for both the dancer and the audience. And I think that is true.
UPDATE: I think the Brice performance might be an example of Gothic Bellydance. Heh.
I have had videos from Neena and Veena (the bellydance twins), Rania, and now Rachel Brice.
The costumes in the viedos of Neena and Veena and Rania are evocative of slavery. They wear broad, matching bracelets and anklets. While these accessories match their costumes and emphasize the articulation of hands and feet during the dance, the symbolism of bondage is there. They also have chosen sets to make a Westerner imagine a seraglio. The costumes are beautiful and subtly revealing. The dancing and music are beautiful and fluid, with impressive control, balance and grace. These are slavegirls in an intimate setting, pleased to be dancing for you and your sensual pleasure, whether you are master or mistress.
Rachel Brice has created a completely different persona. The setting is lit with a creepy, or perhaps otherworldly bluish tinge, with pillar candles in iron floor candleabra type settings around the performance area. There is an altar to an idol and incense is being offered. The floor is laid with a persian carpet. Her costume is an imagined priestess of an elemental goddess, with seashells braided into her hair, dark eye makeup, pale skin, tattoos emphasizing waist and hips, and a skirt that makes you think of rushes or grass. She wears bangles at arms and ankle, too, as well as a band at her bicep. The music is eerie, unpredictable, with agressive, threatening percussion created by odd sounding instruments - clanks and banging and crashing. Her dance style matches, with subtle hand, chest and head movements, and a slow sensual dance style marked with sudden sharp movements. The combination of elements is very menacing. She's a yoga expert, as well, and the floorwork she does made me incredibly jealous at the same time it made my knees hurt. She collapses into backbends the way you or I would sit in a chair. Or she moves into them in slow, rhythymic increments that just don't seem like they should be possible.
Anyway, apropos of nothing, except I find it very interesting. I am completely uneducated when it comes to appreciating dance as an art form. These are my impressions. The Brice disc has a menu of available discs from the same production company, including one called "Bellydance Superstars" that I am tempted to get just to see more.
I should note that in the introduction to the Brice disc, some famous bellydance choreographer woman said that bellydance is about "delight" for both the dancer and the audience. And I think that is true.
UPDATE: I think the Brice performance might be an example of Gothic Bellydance. Heh.
