picture of Maria by Cynthia Holling-Morris
11/03
303-817-8250
A word about this page, the reviews below are just that - reviews - and are my opinion only. Please feel free to differ......but I hope that they are helpful in helping you decide which book, CD or video tape to buy. As we all know, there are tons of stuff out there, all claiming to be the best. It's hard to know what to get. We all have different musical tastes, etc. So please take my reviews for what they are meant to be, my honest and subjective opinion.......Thanks & happy reviewing!
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"Something
in the Way She Moves, Dancing Women from Salome to Madonna"
by Wendy Buonaventura
(Reviewed and posted on 11/21/04)
When I first heard that Wendy Buonaventura was writing a new book, entitled, "Something in the Way She Moves, Dancing Women from Salome to Madonna, (in Britain it is called, I Put a Spell On You-Dancing Women from Salome to Madonna "), I knew I had to read it. I pre-ordered the book back in January, eagerly awaiting the book’s arrival this month. As a dancer, lover of books, and history, I mused that this book would be a particularly juicy read. Most bellydancers are familiar with Ms. Buonaventura’s other book, "Serpent of the Nile". Her new book looked like an intelligent treatise on the history of dance as it relates to women rather than a coffee table book with lush pictures ALA Serpent of the Nile.
Ms. Buonaventura starts out the book with an elegant and riveting introduction about the obsession of fashion, beauty, religion, entertainment, media and medical establishments have had with women’s sexuality and the female body. The first paragraph hooks you in immediately with a fascinating scenario of future archeologists digging up our magazines. She sets out her thesis of the book in her introduction, asking
"How has it come about, the perception of women as dangerous creatures whose bodies are so poorly designed they need constant modification? And what stimulated this obsession with the female body in the first place?’
The book also aims to show
"…how the battle of the sexes has been played out on the dance floor."
I found that the book did answer the first question thought provokingly. It did touch upon the medical field and religion’s pathetic disregard for women. She talks about corsets, the history of foot binding in China, up to the current craze of super skinny, huge silicone chested and botoxed women of the present. The book also did a fine job of showing how women did find their freedom through dance, and how the battle of the sexes, at times, did play out on the dance floor.
In chapter 2, entitled, "Sexual Impostors" she makes a point that may well make some bellydancers bristle. She talks about how the best of the bellydancers are women in their forties, with women’s bodies, who dance with feeling and passion. She compares that experience with going out to eat and being confronted unexpectedly by a bellydancer who is inexperienced, to say the least, shaking bosoms in the diners faces. I must agree, and say that if an establishment is going to have bellydancers, they need to advertise the fact, rather than foisting us upon an unaware public. It cheapens and diminishes what we are about. Not to mention the habit of hiring dancers only for looks or age, whether they can dance or not.
Further chapters explore how the dance was used for courtship and ritual, and as an escape from a mundane existence. She touches on how prostitution and women’s dance have been inextricably linked. Some of the most memorable passages of the book have to deal with how the clergy and people in society ranted and raved about dance, and she has excerpts from their letters and essays, dating back from the 1700’s and 1800’s. Some are quite hilarious.
Ms. Buonaventura pays homage to the famous women dancers and entertainers of the past, from La Goulue of the Moulin Rouge, Collette, and Mata Hari, to Isadora Duncan, whom I feel we dancers owe our greatest allegiance to. In my opinion, as well as others more knowledgeable, Isadora did more to liberate women against corsets, sexual obsession, and false dancing then anyone before her or after. She speaks about Irene and Vern Castle, tango, and the beginnings of jazz dance, which came out of the African American communities.
In her chapter, Dance Macabre, she slings her deadliest arrows at the ballet establishment. While most dancers know what goes on in the ballet world, .the public does not. It is a dance which has at its core a distrust and dislike of women’s bodies. Fascinating reading.
She does, however, end the book on a beautifully positive note, with a saying by a flamenco dancer in her seventies. I don’t want to give it away in this review, but the quote is truth. I do however, wish Ms. Buonaventura expounded upon the above-mentioned quote. In the book, she slings verbal arrows in the direction of established dance, and society, some very well deserved. I do, however, think she dropped the ball somewhat. The book could have taken us further if she touched upon how we are to blame for our own problems, and why are we, as women, willing to succumb to the botoxed, silicon breasted, boy hipped look currently in fashion in our society. I would have loved to hear more of her thoughts about it. It could have stimulated a lot of well-needed soul searching and discussion amongst dancers. At the moment, there is a lot of discussion and worry in the bellydance community of bellydance being "Hollywood-ized", that it is only a dance for the very young and very slim. Nothing could be further from the truth, and if that happens, well, we can only blame ourselves. Although she makes herself clear in the book, I still would have loved to hear more from her on the current fashion in the bellydance world.
Ms. Buoanaventura’s book is a knowledgeable addition to anyone’s library, and a well-needed addition to the study of women’s history in dance.
You can order her book from www.barnesandnoble.com
Look for old book reviews here:
BOOKS
I found the following article while surfing the web. I had been looking for a historical perspective on the history of our dance for my students, and this is the best-written article I have come across yet. Enjoy!
THE WORLD'S OLDEST DANCE:
The Origins of Oriental Dance
By Karol Henderson Harding a.k.a. Me'ira (p.k.a. Cala of Savatthi)
*********************************
I came across this pamphlet from a website called DANCE! by Nahid. Here is her blurb on her site about the pamphlet and how to get in touch with her to order. (Note: I get NO financial gain from sale of her pamphlet.)
"Now available: Do’s & Don’ts: Ethics, Behavior & Professionalism in the Dance World – Vol 1 by Nahid (1/00) - 18 pages; There are things that can be done, & you can consciously choose to set a good example of what you'd like to see & experience in the dance community! Do's & Don'ts for Announcing, Band, Troupe, Teacher, Costumer, Dancer, Critiquing, Events. Ltd quantity available. Cost: $10 – send to April Petratos, 813 SW 143rd St, Seattle, WA, 98166, or email Nahid_Seattle@yahoo.com for questions."
Nahid's pamphlet entitled "Do's & Don'ts: Ethics, Behavior & Professionalism in the Dance World - Volume 1" is wonderful. She thoroughly covers do's and don'ts in a variety of situations. Examples are Announcing, Bands, Teachers, Students, Dancers, Events, Critiquing, Costumers, etc. After her thorough list of do's and don'ts she lists benefits of the do's. The cost of $10.00 is one of the best investments you can make in regards to your dance career, whether you are a band, promoter, whatever! Classy behavior NEVER goes out of style!! Let's not let the bad apples in the bunch taint the good!! I highly recommend this pamphlet to everyone!!.
Here are a few examples in her Dancers - Don't list:
- Don't
- do things that cause dance & bellydance to have a bad image
- be touchy, negative, hyper-sensitive
- lie about other dancers
- steal gigs
She lists 61 don'ts and 51 do's, with 12 benefits of the do's just for dancers alone
Please go ahead and invest in the pamphlet, it will be well worth your time reading.
MANUSCRIPT REVIEW:
(added 2/19/01)
Criticism: The Cloaked Compliment© by Elizabeth Artemis Mourat
As a dance historian and scholar, Artemis has many manuscripts for sale. "Criticism, The Cloaked Compliment" was very well-written without a lot of scholarly gobbledy-gook. It was 1 1/2 pages but packed with information. She writes, "I have always valued constructive criticism as a potent tool towards self improvement. There is another type of criticism that is not meant to be constructive. This is the type that is meant to hurt, discourage or destroy another performer." She then goes on to describe how it works, the reasoning behind the hurtful comments and to realize to take it as a compliment, because if they weren't threatened somehow by you, they wouldn't be saying negative things. I believe that this manuscript is extremely helpful to those of us who put up with "cloaked compliments". I highly recommend it.
Click on Artemis' name above to get more information on this and other manuscripts. Also she has fab magnets for sale.
MOKHTAR AL SAID, Classic Egyptian Dance
Music, Raks Sharki (Jalilah Series 1)
reviewed 9/3/04
This CD is one of my favorites that I go back to again and again. It has 14 tracks, the first 12 you can use as two complete routines. But, I like to cut and paste music from a lot of different CD's to make my own routine. My routines are usually 35 to 45 minutes, so ready to use routines are generally too short for my restaurant/club work.
1. Mashaal: 9:17 - This CD has the best version of Mashaal I have heard or own. It is 9:17. Perfect entrance song. Very clear, beautiful instrumentation, very very upbeat.
2. Lissa Fakir 5:01- Gorgeous version. Famous Om Khoulsoum song. Very slow and beautiful
3. Rakset el Waddiyya 4:00 - Typical Egyptian Baladi with lots of accordion.
4. Tabla Solo 2:43 - Fast fun drum solo. I've heard this drum solo on other cd's. Clear beats and lots of opportunities to show locks and pops.
5. Final of First Routine 0:38 - short finale.
6. Bayt al Qadi 2:50 - Short piece, Pretty song. Nice ney work. Upbeat, nice to dance to after entrance song.
7. Maktoob Aleyha 5:33 - My least favorite song on the CD. Lots of other people I know like it though. Reviewing CD's is a subjective business! I find the music distracting to dance to, I feel the song is better suited to listening to. It is a pretty song, but not my style of song to dance to. Lots of discordant violin work.
8. Ranet al Khul Khal - 9:44 - This is my favorite piece on the entire CD. I use this song again and again as an entrance piece. Requires lots of stamina to perform to this one! Very upbeat, lots of rhythm and tempo changes. Beautiful, slow intro with ney, (one of my favorite instruments!) After the slow intro, the song kicks butt! Great drumming, great melody line, just a great song to perform to!
9. Ansaak Ya Salem 6:46 - Another Om Khoulsoum song. Again, done beautifully on this CD. Dancing to Om Khoulsoums songs require lots of emoton from the dancer, this song is no exception.
10. Rakset Mizmar - 2:45 traditional Saidi style Mizmar song. Fun song. If you hate mizmar, you'll hate this song, if you love mizmar, this song's for you! Great for cane dancing.
11. Tabla Solo - 2:25. I believe the time is incorrect, I have it clocked at 1:40. Fun, fast and to the point drum solo. My favorite.
12. Final of Second Routine - 1:08 - Just what it says, the finale.
13. Qasr al Shoq 2:59 - Very fast song orchestrated song in the beginning. Would require lots of spinning, Or you can wait until that's over for the intro, then come out after the break. Then has a few second break, and becomes slower and more rhythmic. Lots of violin. Has another few second break, then changes rhythm again. Song ending isn't clear, you're not sure the song ended or the CD just stopped.
14. Daqt el Mizmar 3:22 - Traditional upbeat style Saidi mizmar song. Fun and pretty.
Look for old music reviews here:
MUSIC
The recipes & reviews on this page will change every so often. If you enjoy cooking, and would like to e-mail me with Middle Eastern recipes you have (you will get credit) and share how the recipes on this page turned out, I would love to hear from you.
Fig
and Lemon Chicken (from www.touregypt.net)
9/3/04
Ingredients:
- 12 chicken thighs
- 2 lemons, 1 sliced, 1 halved
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 pounds dried figs
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Directions:
Preheat the chicken thighs in oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Squeeze
juices from halved lemon into a small bowl, then stir in brown sugar, vinegar
and water; set aside.
Place figs and sliced lemon segments in the bottom of an 11x16 inch baking/roasting dish. Arrange chicken thighs on top, then pour vinegar mixture over chicken. Finally, sprinkle with salt and dried parsley to taste.
Bake/roast at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 50 minutes, basting frequently (turn figs if they begin to brown).
With a slotted spoon, remove chicken, figs and lemon slices from baking dish
and place on a warm platter. Skim fat from cooking juices, then pour over
chicken as sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.
Look for old recipe's here:
FOOD
CLASSICS OF SAMIA JAMAL-TAHEIA&MORE (AVAILABLE
IN DVD & VIDEO)
REVIEWED 9/3/04
This is one of those videos that you must have in your collection. It is a long video, close to 2 hours long. Cheaper and more reasonable than the videos put out by Hossam Ramzy. Although I highly recommend those also. This video has old movie footage of famous and other lesser known dancers from the golden era of Egyptian cinema. There is some beautiful dancing on here. The music is incredible also. Each dancer has their own distinct style. This is what bellydancing should be! Not endless hip contortions and acrobats, but beautiful, emotional dancing. Gorgeous costumes! There is cabaret style costuming, lots of assuit! In the cabaret costumes and in the traditional costumes too! I love that the editor kept a few seconds of reaction from supporting actors after and before the dance. It makes it lots of fun to watch. You will start to spot some of the character actors of Egyptian film from long ago, for they are in different clips. I definitely have my favorites of the dances on this tape, and I will invest in the DVD also, so I can just easily skip to my favorite dancers and dances.
Alot of the clips from these movies have musicians - in fact, I would venture to say, most. Alot of dancers performed next to singers, such as the famous Farid el Atrache and others not as well-known, but equally as talented.
I recommend this video/dvd to all my students and others who want to learn how to bellydance the traditional way. Some of the clips are, of course, grainy and not top quality, but most are! I was expecting it not to be as high quality as it is, because of the nature of old films. This is the one video in my collection I go to again and again when I want to see beautiful dancing and hear beautiful music. You will see no spinning veils, very few props, save for cane, and no acrobatics, except for a scene where dancer Katie does some high kicks in a 40's type of costume - but then she is quickly shown in bellydance gear, and doing a beautiful dance.
THIS video shows what bellydancing is supposed to be from the country that perfected the art! www.bellydanceshoppe.com has this video for sale.
Look for old video reviews here:
VIDEOS
