New school

So, a week after returning to the classic bellydance days of yesteryear, my friends and I attended "Objects of Desire," the latest presentation by Venus Uprising, a loosely affiliated group of mostly NYC-based dancers. Venus Uprising describes its shows as "Fantasy Bellydance," and the aim is to present a theatrical presentation as opposed to the restaurant-cabaret show we saw the week before at the Lafayette Grill. That means a theater setting (actually a dance studio with a few row of seats), recorded music (and not always Middle Eastern) instead of live, and no dancer-audience interaction (in a restaurant show, the audience will often clap along to the music, and there's the obligatory dancer-wrapping-her-veil-around-some-guy-at-one-of-the tables and/or trying-to-get-the-guy-up-to-dance-with-her). 

Generally speaking, the dancers in a Venus Uprising show use a base of Middle Eastern dance moves (adding other styles, too) in order to tell a story or define a character. The theme is usually an exploration of "darker" feminine archetypes - dancers in "Objects of Desire" depicted, among others, Eve, Helen of Troy, Cruella de Vil, a "dominatrix" and a group of taxi dancers (performed to "Hey Big Spender" from Sweet Charity). The soloists are all top-quality professionals, generally a generation or so removed from the veterans that performed at the Lafayette Grill show, although each Venus Uprising show usually includes one "Old Guard" NYC dancer (the honor for this show went to Elena Lentini, who also performed the week before at the Lafayette Grill).

So, does Venus Uprising represent a radical departure from traditional bellydance? Not so radical - the dance style still has a Middle Eastern basis and the costumes are generally some variation on the traditional bra-and-belt look. Is it as enjoyable for the audience as it is to be at a restaurant show clapping along to the music? Yes, but in a different way. What you lose in the sense of shared communal experience is made up for by seeing dancers design creative performances that go beyond the bounds of what you'd see in a restaurant show - the "dominatrix" performance by Elisheva was one of the highlights of the show (and it didn't involve leather or whips, either!). I would like to see a bit more thematic variety in future shows, but otherwise, Venus Uprising is a great example of how Middle Eastern dance forms can be used in creative ways to develop a new art form that doesn't represent a complete break from the old.

Old school

The place: The Lafayette Grill in Greenwich Village. The event: "A Star-Studded Evening of Dance and Music Celebrating the Legacy of Ibrahim Farrah." On Sunday, my friend and I "stepped back in time" to witness bellydance the way it used to be in NYC, when ethnic venues were numerous and cabaret-style dance flourished.

These venues are pretty much gone, although there are still a few restaurants and nightclubs that have bellydance with live music (usually on weeknights or very late in the evening). Major bellydance events such as Sunday's, which was a tribute to Ibrahim "Bobby" Farrah, one of the premier Middle Eastern dance instructors until his passing in 1997, are usually held at The Lafayette Grill, which, true to form, was overbooked (and you practically had to bribe someone to get water for the table. The Greek-Middle Eastern food, of course, was delicious). Also true to form, the show ran late enough so that my friend and I had to miss the last couple of dancers so we could catch the midnight trains home.

As for the show itself, in an era of fusion, fantasy and Gothic, the evening featured traditional cabaret-style dance as it evolved in the 1950s and 60s - lots of finger cymbals, veils, and traditional sparkly bra-and-belt sets. (There was also a Tunisian folkloric dance that you would not have seen in a nightclub back in the day.) The dancers were veteran NYC performers as well as a few out-of-towners, all of whom had studied with "Bobby" at some point, so we were treated to some top-quality dancing (although there were a few dancers that I didn't think were nearly in the same league as NYC legends Jehan, Elena Lentini and Dalia Carella). Music was provided by Middle Eastern musicians whom I wasn't familiar with, but they did a great job (and there was open dancing, too - even though there wasn't much room to dance!)

There are differing opinions in the bellydance community regarding the "new" forms vs. the "traditional," and I think at this point, shows like Sunday's are going to be just one part of a larger "bellydance menu" - a part that may shrink even further as younger dancers seem more drawn to the newer forms. I don't believe that an art form can survive and flourish through generations without any changes whatsoever (at least not in a diverse culture such as ours), but hopefully there will continue to be enough people interested in traditional Middle Eastern-style dance and music to keep shows like these a part of the present and not the past.

Use it or lose it

In class the other day we started practicing a routine using finger cymbals. I don't think I've picked up my zills more than once or twice since the last time we worked on them in class, more than a year ago. I always thought I was pretty good with the zills, at least for a student-hobbyist, and I had incorporated them into a few student hafla routines back in the day. But I haven't been using them for awhile, mainly because most of my performance opportunities over the last few years have been to live music, and I've never been confident in my zill-playing to the point where I'd try it with a band. 

And, boy, did my rustiness show in class. I knew it had been awhile since I'd practiced when I first put them on and realized I was wearing one on my index finger instead of my middle one (ooops!). Things didn't go too much better when I tried to dance and play at the same time - I felt like a first-year student.

So I got the message: "Use it or lose it." At least I had specific practice goals after that class - work on those zills! Hopefully by next class I'll be closer to getting my groove back - sure don't want to let one of my few (relative) strengths go by the wayside.

Queen (Victoria) for a day

So I went to my first steampunk event on Sunday: The Second Anachronism: Steampunk Expedition To Candyland at Webster Hall in NYC. The bellydancer in me felt at home admiring the costumes - everything from full Victorian get-ups to folks dressed as clowns and fairies, as well as people like myself who threw a few things together that looked "period" (although what period exactly would be difficult to determine). There were also a few vendors selling pretty baubles, which I regretfully passed up in a vain attempt to save a few bucks - although I did buy some absinthe-flavored fudge in a glass for $4 (non-alcoholic, of course - I tried the real thing once and it was waaaay to strong for me!)


My main complaint concerns the poor scheduling of events - the performances ran so late that I didn't get to see some of the acts I had wanted to. Of what I did see, the highlight had to be Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band. They played a set of Balkan/Gypsy music that had my friend and I busting bellydance moves on the dance floor (where my friend discovered it's hard to bellydance in a corset!) The other band I got to see in full was This Way to the Egress, who have a Gothic/"dark cabaret" sound. During their two sets, a number of acts performed to the music, including (despite my prediction in my last post) a steampunk bellydancer, as well as a couple of fire dancers, a woman who stripped to her underwear while hula-hooping (a pretty neat trick) and a guy who danced with fan veils, which have become a popular bellydance prop.


Would I go again? Definitely. Am I ready to become a full-time steampunker? Probably not, at least for now. I already have a hobby that requires monetary outlay for classes, costumes, music, etc. and time to set aside for practice, performances, events, etc. So, until the next steampunk event, I'll just put away my lace gloves and pick up my zills ...