Dropping names

As I was perusing the online belly-sphere, I came across a dancer referring to a "compass hip drop." I must confess I don't really know what she means. Is she dropping one hip while pivoting on her standing leg, thus going around in a circle (compass)? I'm not really sure.

Bellydance is famous for not having standardized names for many of its moves. Unlike, say, ballet, which was created as a formal discipline with specific terms for each move, bellydance derives from a number of traditional folk dances across the Middle East/North Africa, where the moves are picked up in childhood and generally not taught as part of a formal "school." Thus, no need for standardized names. It was up to those teaching in the West to find ways to describe the various moves, and, at least for the basic moves, the descriptions are common enough - hip drop, hip circle, rib cage slide, etc. Where we get into trouble is with some of the more complex moves and combinations. For instance, what I've learned in class from my NYC-trained teacher as a vertical figure-8 (of the hips) is known in many places as a maya, because a West Coast instructor admired the way a dancer named Maya did this move. And, when done in the opposite direction, it is called an umi for whatever reason. (And I can never remember which name goes with which direction, because we don't use these names in my neck of the woods.)

A few years ago, there was a bit of a push in the bellydance community to try to create a standardized system of naming moves. However, many others objected, saying it would stifle creativity, etc., and nothing ever really came of it. (Getting the entire bellydance community to agree to one person or committee's list of "official" names would be like herding cats anyway and certainly not worth the time or effort.) Personally, I lean in favor of some kind of standardization, since I'd like to know what a dancer means when she says "compass hip drop."

However, I have a feeling that standardized names will eventually take hold, because of the way information is disseminated these days. The reason I know about mayas and umis, and that what my dance teacher calls an Arabic hip walk is known as a three-quarter shimmy in many other places, is by watching instructional DVDs and reading online material by instructors who use these names. The changing nature of the dance itself will also play a role: American Tribal Style (ATS) bellydance was created with a formalized structure, and therefore uses standardized move names, and as ATS morphs into tribal fusion and other forms, the ATS move names get passed along to more dancers. There will never be a formal codification of all bellydance moves, but I think future generations are less likely to confuse their mayas with their umis.

In the meantime, I'm going to sign off now and work on my "compass hip drops" (or at least, what I think they are).

Time for a quickie

We students and hobbyists can sometimes find ourselves in need of a bit of inspiration - an idea for what we're going to work on that day, or maybe just a little reminder of "why we dance." I'd heard of "Daily Bellydance Quickies," e-mails sent by a dancer named Mahin to subscribers, but I didn't get around to signing up until last week. She started this a little over a year ago, and when I signed up, I was half-thinking "oh, I bet by this time 'daily' is now more like 'weekly'." But, true to its name, there's been a DBQ sent to my e-mailbox every day since I signed up.

DBQs are basically links to YouTube videos of several minutes in length that touch on the theme of the day. This past week, "Monday Musicality" was a demonstration of dance rhythms played on a doumbek; "Tuesday Technique" featured Mahin reviewing different types of hip circles; "The Wednesday Watcher" was a comic routine wherein a dancer performed "My First Belly Dance Lesson"; Thursday's "Thrills with Zills" was a demonstration by Mahin of a chiftitelli rhythm with finger cymbals; Friday's "Bellydance Grab Bag" was a couple of videos focused on eyebrow grooming; the "Saturday Stretch" involved an ab-strengthening exercise; and the "Sunday Dance Inspiration" featured a tribal-fusion dancer performing to Turkish music.

So, after a week, I had a few helpful tips and reminders involving rhythm and dance, saw a couple of entertaining videos and got makeup advice on one of my more troublesome issues. (I skipped the Saturday exercise because I have a hiatal hernia and need to take it easy when it comes to ab work.) Oh, and the Tuesday DBQ included a link to an online UK bellydance magazine that had an article about Mahin, so now I have another BD mag to check out! Bottom line, I ended the week feeling just a little more inspired and determined to "get out there and dance"!

As for Mahin, she's a cabaret-style dancer based in Arizona, and her Daily Bellydance Quickies main page can be found here. She also has resumed doing podcasts, which feature interviews with people in the BD community (the interviews themselves are very well done, although the sound quality of the podcast does need some work).

Looking forward to tomorrow's BDQ!