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.
