this.
In spite of the fact that, to me, he often appears to be more concerned with the technical aspects of the dance - as opposed to the spiritual - I just like the fact that he’s doing it.
I mean… he’s a bloke…belly dancing - with a hip scarf and everything…
His name’s Ozgen and my class is doing a workshop with him in a few weeks so I looked him up. Apparently he’s a big whizz from Sultans of the Dance so the workshop should be instructive if nothing else. I’m looking forward to it.
Whilst YouTubing Ozgar I saw quite a few other men belly dancing. Like this one:
(deeply amazing)
and this one:
and this is just lovely:
(or do you think he’s too ‘feminised’? I mean…with the ‘bra’ top and the anklets….)
Oh but this man…
And then there’s this
This is new to me; ancient Middle Eastern women’s dancing performed by men. I’m not going to call it ‘belly dancing’ anymore. I realise that calling it ‘belly dancing’ is pandering to the ‘Hollywoodising’ of yet another form of cultural expression, pornographising it - making it ‘less than’ - Westernising it in order to make it saleable to Western men; like “stag nights”, Greek restaurants, and that kind of shit. (Read: woohoo! more exotic wonders for the bottomless-money-making-porn machine and yet more women yelling “Me! Me! I’ll do it for you if it means you’ll let me in to your club!” [little do they know, huh?])
I have more respect for the cultures of others in the world - particularly women-orientated culture - so I’m not going to call it belly dancing anymore. It’s Middle Eastern dance.
And dance is what it is. I’ve told a few people now that I’m going to classes. The response from women is, mostly “how fab! ooooh would you show us?” The response from men is mostly a kind of snigger followed by a mumbled “giss a show…” like I’m some kind of pornographic fantasy wiggle machine. So sad. Pornography only promotes its own rape culture and there’s room for neither men nor women in that. No room for humaness.
Speaking of ‘culture’ - how d’you think it’d be received if a “belly dancer” included a nine year old in her act? D’you think it’d be percieved as somehow “wrong”?
Percieved as ‘wrong’ by whom?
Why?
Please ask yourselves before and after viewing this next clip.
Men dancing are just ‘men dancing’, aren’t they.
Women can’t do anything without being teh ‘SEX’.
Even little girls.
Feminism is about fighting those who prevent people with vulvas dancing for themselves and their sisters, to their own tune, from their own spirit, for their own lives, in their own way: however old they are. Full Stop.
Hmmm…how do you fight them?
Gotta love those rhythms though, huh?
14 responses so far ↓
Gayle // May 21, 2007 at 12:42 am
Those are great clips, Witchy. I particularly enjoyed Tarik and the man and boy duo– they were fantastic.
I do wish Tarik had acknowledged the thousands of fabulously talented female dancers in his field. I kept waiting for him do say something about their talent and felt he came dangerously close to saying men are better at it than women. I hope I misinterpreted this.
The man and son (?) were my favorite. They were both very modestly dressed and I wonder if that took the potentially dangerous, sexual slant off of the dance. If a woman and girl did a similar dance in similarly asexual costumes, how would that be received?
Gayle // May 21, 2007 at 12:42 am
Oh, and before I forget, how are your knees holding up?
witchywoo // May 21, 2007 at 8:54 am
sarmorrow // May 21, 2007 at 10:32 am
Get some arnica and take one before you go. I’m doing that for the gardening. Usually I dig for about 20 min, half an hour and can barely stand. With the arnica as a preventative I am getting more done and not hurting as much. You’ll find it in Boots, Holland and Barrett, health foody type places. I think I might even have seen some in Tesco.
CoolAunt // May 24, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Uh, it’s now Thursday, May 24 and I’m still waiting for the Wednesday Wow.
sarmorrow // May 24, 2007 at 9:58 pm
doubt there’ll be one this week CA.
CoolAunt // May 25, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I suppose there won’t be. (heavy sigh) But it didn’t hurt to try.
sarmorrow // May 25, 2007 at 3:54 pm
She’ll be back and WOW’ing us soon.
apostate // May 27, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Witchy, I hope you aren’t suggesting the Middle Eastern culture is ‘woman-orientated’.
apostate // May 27, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Great clips — I particularly loved the first one. Bringing the sexual element back into it (fortunately or unfortunately, to me, almost all dance is sexual), I found myself responding to the first clip sexually and as a woman.
That too feminine boy — the one with the ‘bra’ top — yes, too feminized. So much so that he may as well be a woman. I couldn’t respond to him as a male. He was playing the role of a woman in much the same way that ‘eunuchs’ to in my country of origin (Pakistan).
Tariq Sultan was magnificent.
witchywoo // May 27, 2007 at 9:49 pm
So sorry to disappoint, Cool Aunt! On my way back now though
“Witchy, I hope you aren’t suggesting the Middle Eastern culture is ‘woman-orientated’.”
Good grief, no! Admittedly I don’t know as much about Middle Eastern culture as I should but I do know that there isn’t a mixed sex culture in the world that’s woman-orientated.
witchywoo // May 28, 2007 at 12:38 am
Actually, upon reviewing my post and included clips, I’ve realised that I like them because they’re devoid of ‘Teh Sex’.
Not that they’re devoid of sexual response, you understand - just that ‘Teh Sex’ isn’t the be all and end all of the script.
Kinda refreshing, really.
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