Thursday, April 12, 2007
I'll give him this, the guy can dance.
MEMRI TV: Lebanese Male Belly Dancers Incur the Wrath of Fellow Female Dancers
Reporter: A natural, common, beautiful site. How great! Shake it like a goose! Belly dancer - shake your silky hips. But what would you say if things were turned upside down?
Alaa' is a man in the full sense of the word, but he dances better than the female belly dancers. This is what he says, and this is what others say about him. On top of that, he teaches belly dancing. Surely there were no men like Alaa; in 1000 BCE, when belly dancing began in the temples as a religious ritual, practiced only by women. Today, more than 2,000 years after Christ, male belly dancers were born from the womb of female dancers, and they can teach girls a thing or two about dancing.
Alaa' is not scantily clad, but since he is a guy, he attracts more attention than many female dancers who wear nothing...
The competition is not amused.
As a (female) belly dancer - I gotta give this guy his props:)
He's cute too:)
When I started dancing, more than 30 years ago, it was difficult to get people to respect this art. Now I'm teaching university students. People are realizing the beauty and difficulty and classical form as well as the ancient tradition it reflects.
So I don't care that men do it, in fact there were some famous male dancers when I was young and lots of men do it, they get up and dance with the women and even with each other (but if they start dressing like women - with the eye makeup -
GRRRRRRRRRR:)
It is still and forever a woman's dance, a celebration of her femaleness - but let the men enjoy performing it and let the women have somebody to drool over:)
Beyond that I agree with the female dancer. In general, Things Are Definitely Deteriorating:)