Dancing fear & desire Karayanni, Stavros Stavrou
Dancing fear & desire,
2004, 2006, 2006-01-01, 2009-08-03, 20040101
eBook
Throughout centuries of European colonial domination, the bodies of Middle Eastern dancers, male and female, move sumptuously and seductively across the pages of Western travel journals, evoking ...desire and derision, admiration and disdain, allure and revulsion. This profound ambivalence forms the axis of an investigation into Middle Eastern dance—an investigation that extends to contemporary belly dance. Stavros Stavrou Karayanni, through historical investigation, theoretical analysis, and personal reflection, explores how Middle Eastern dance actively engages race, sex, and national identity. Close readings of colonial travel narratives, an examination of Oscar Wilde's Salome, and analyses of treatises about Greek dance, reveal the intricate ways in which this controversial dance has been shaped by Eurocentric models that define and control identity performance.
This article analyses representations of “belly dance” in paintings and travel literature produced by Europeans in the 19th century. Locating this dance in time and space, describing characteristics ...and subjects that were important for the development of this practice, it analyses its deep relationship with the colonization process in Egypt. We conclude that the dances practiced by men and, above all, by women in the Egyptian territory in the 19th century underwent European filters and interpretations before consolidating in the West as “belly dancing”. This socio-political context left visible marks in the way this body repertoire is performed, represented and reputed today.
In this study, I reflect upon my belly dance research that I have been conducting since the last three years in three different countries and five different cities, with women having various ...experiences. To be able to analyze the effect of this research on myself as a researcher, I construct a chronological narrative which first focuses on my corporeality and my relation with dance before this research. I continue to investigate my personal experiences as dancer-researcher, dramaturg, dance student etc. in the research process without creating dualities between artistic and scientific research or corporeal and intellectual experiences. My personal experiences constitute my primary resources in this study. I also discuss some secondary sources on feminist methodology and different women’s belly dance experiences. I make an analysis on the basis of some principles of feminist methodology like situated knowledge, self-reflexivity, the focus on women’s experiences, working with women for empowerment. I also reflect upon the effect of the research on myself as the researcher, especially the change in my corporeal expression in daily life and within performance contexts. To analyze my personal experience in a wider context, I relate this change in my corporeality with academic belly dance literature which discuss other women’s belly dance experiences in various historical and geographical contexts.
Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of exercise using an ergometer with swaying saddle on chronic lower back pain. Subjects and Methods Thirty-three normal adults (university students) ...with chronic lower back pain were randomly recruited. The flexibility and strength of muscles were measured before and after an 8-week intervention. Belly-bike, an ergometer with a swaying saddle, was used. The duration of intervention was 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week. To measure the level of pain, visual analogue scale (VAS) and Korean Oswestry Disability Index were used. In addition, flexibility tests such as straight leg raising and forward reaching test in the long sitting posture were used to confirm back muscle shortness. Activations of the erector spinae muscle, gluteus medius muscle, rectus femoris muscle, and vastus lateralis muscle were also measured by electromyography before and after the intervention. Electromyography of muscles around the pelvis was performed and functional tests were conducted. Results The flexibility and strength of the muscles significantly increased post-intervention. Functional test scores for the forward reaching test and straight leg raising test significantly improved in the Belly-bike group. Conclusion The results show that exercise using the Belly-bike could be effective in reducing lower back pain.
The present study investigated how belly dance experts perform the “hip shimmy”, a complex rhythmic dance movement consisting in a voluntary oscillation of the pelvis exclusively in the frontal plane ...with maximised amplitude, with no movement of the upper trunk. The aims of this study were to 1) assess whether the amplitude and stability of the pelvic movement can be maximised in certain postural and frequency conditions; and 2) investigate in a 1 to 3 Hz range whether it is indeed possible to oscillate the pelvis only in the frontal plane and to dissociate this one-axis pelvic rotation from potential spontaneous upper-trunk oscillations. Nineteen belly dance experts performed this task in three frequencies and three knee bending postures. Eight joint angles were calculated using the kinematic data of 20 markers over the entire body collected with a motion capture system. Mean amplitude, frequency, and spatial and temporal variability of frontal pelvic oscillations were analysed to characterise motor performance and movement stability. Five Continuous Relative Phases (CRP) were computed to identify the modes and stability of coordination patterns. The results showed that a low posture enhances amplitude performance and that the pelvic oscillation amplitude tended to decrease at 3 Hz, although between-condition differences remained small. Temporal stability was highest at 2 Hz and significant inter-individual differences emerged at 3 Hz. CRP analysis revealed an unpreventable coupling between pelvis and upper-trunk oscillations in the frontal and transversal planes. A consistent antiphase coordination between transversal pelvis and upper-trunk may have been caused by anatomical and counter-balancing constraints. In the frontal plane, multiple stable pelvis-upper trunk patterns including inphase, out-of-phase and antiphase evolved to antiphase predominance and inphase disappearance upon reaching 3 Hz. In sum, increasing frequency highlighted the concomitance of two control phenomena: the inter-individual differentiation in performance and standardisation of the possible pelvis-upper-trunk patterns.
This article traces the historical background of the term ‘belly dance’, the English-language name for a complex of solo, improvised dance styles of Middle Eastern and North African origin whose ...movements are based on articulations of the torso. The expression danse du ventre – literally, ‘dance of the belly’ – was initially popularised in France as an alternate title for Orientalist artist Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1863 painting of an Egyptian dancer and ultimately became the standard designation for solo, and especially women's, dances from the Middle East and North Africa. The translation ‘belly dance’ was introduced into English in 1889 in international media coverage of the Rue du Caire exhibit at the Parisian Exposition Universelle. A close examination of the historical sources demonstrates that the evolution of this terminology was influenced by contemporary art, commercial considerations, and popular stereotypes about Eastern societies. The paper concludes with an examination of dancers' attitudes to the various English-language names for the dance in the present day.
The professional and amateur practice of oriental dance and Fusion Belly dance has known a significant boom in the West during the last decades. More than just a choreographic practice, these dance ...disciplines are the focus of important debates in cultural studies, related to feminism and postcolonialism. The historical evolution of oriental dance is closely related to colonial influence and cultural Orientalism, as aesthetics have evolved during the 20th century mixing traditional Egyptian folklore and western dance influences, which resulted in a growing popularity among Western audiences. However, nowadays, an awareness among oriental dance professionals regarding cultural debates has emerged. For practitioners, oriental dance and Fusion Belly dance offer the possibility of creating bonds between women, promoting self-confidence, pride and acceptance of all non-normative bodies, and even spreading oriental culture. In this article we propose to study, through the methodology of danced interviews, how dance teachers in France (Toulouse), Spain (Valencia and Barcelona) and the United States (Portland) communicate these debates and values through an aesthetic expressing the pride of the female body and the respect for oriental cultures.
La práctica profesional y amateur de la danza oriental y la Fusion Belly dance ha atravesado un auge significativo en Occidente durante las últimas décadas. Más que una práctica coreográfica, estas disciplinas de danza son el foco de importantes debates en estudios culturales, relacionados particularmente con el feminismo y el poscolonialismo. La evolución histórica de la danza oriental está muy vinculada con la influencia colonial y el orientalismo cultural, como una estética que ha evolucionado a lo largo del siglo XX mezclando el folklore tradicional egipcio y las influencias de la danza occidental, lo que resultó en una creciente popularidad entre el público occidental. Para los practicantes, la danza oriental y la Fusion Belly dance ofrecen la posibilidad de crear vínculos entre mujeres, promover la autoconfianza, el orgullo y la aceptación de todos los cuerpos no normativos, e incluso difundir la cultura oriental. En este artículo proponemos estudiar, a través de la metodología de la entrevista bailada, cómo los profesores de danza en Francia (Toulouse), España (Valencia y Barcelona) y los Estados Unidos (Portland) comunican estos debates y valores a través de una estética que expresa el orgullo del cuerpo femenino y el respeto por las culturas orientales.
The 2003 UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage allows dance to be officially recognized as heritage and included in UNESCO's heritage lists. Authenticity is one of the conditions that ...UNESCO requires for the recognition of monumental heritage (regulated by the 1972 UNESCO Convention) but it does not feature among the requirements for the award of ICH status. The reason being that authenticity is a problematic concept, which reflects power dynamics, has often been used for political aims and can lead to the freezing of ICH into immutable forms. Moreover, authenticity is particularly problematic for dance, because dance is embodied, changeable and transcultural. Nevertheless, the 2003 Convention on ICH contains implicit references to authenticity and this concept still seems relevant to the communities who engage with such heritage. This makes authenticity a topic worth exploring to investigate if a fluid, dialogical and community-centered understanding of it can be provided. Research on Egyptian raqs sharqi, with data gathered through a qualitative methodology (using interviews and analysis of videos and texts available online), provides a case study that shows how the tangible and intangible elements of heritage contribute to the authenticity discourse constructed by an international community of Egyptian raqs sharqi practitioners in the twenty-first century.
본 연구의 목적은 8주간의 엉덩 관절 유연성 트레이닝 프로그램이 골반 가동 범위 개선에 따른 힙-쉬미동작에 미치는 영향을 알아보는데 있다. 본 연구의 연구 대상자는 벨리댄스 경력 2년 이상이며 6개월 이내에 근골격계 상해가 없는 벨리댄서 22명이었다. 연구대상자는 동수의 NT(Non-Traning)와 TR(Traning)의 두 그룹으로 나누어졌으며, ...NT그룹은 기존의 일반 벨리댄스 수업프로그램을 TR그룹은 벨리댄스 수업 프로그램에 추가하여 엉덩 관절 유연성 트레이닝 수업을 수행하였다. 본 연구의 목적을 수행하기 위하여 8대의 적외선 카메라를 사용한 3차원 동작분석이 실시되었으며 훈련 효과를 검증하기 위하여 반복측정 이원분산 분석(Two-way ANOVA with repeated measure)이 사용되었다. 통계적으로 유의하게 나타난 항목은 Bonferroni 사후검정을 실시하였으며, 유의 수준은 α= .05로 설정하였다. 본 연구를 수행한 결과, 8주간의 트레이닝 후 TR에서 통계적으로 유의하게 증가된 시상면의 좌, 우 무릎관절 가동범위가 나타났다(오른쪽: 10.79° vs. 20.83°, 왼쪽: 12.67° vs. 22.21°, p<.05). 또한 골반과 몸통분절의 경우, 관상면에서 TR이 훈련 전에 비하여 통계적으로 유의하게 증가된 가동범위를 나타내었을 뿐 아니라(골반: 13.07° vs. 22.87°, 몸통: 1.74° vs. 3.29, p<.05), NT와의 차이도 나타내었다(골반: 16.53° vs. 22.87°, 몸통: 2.22° vs. 3.29°, p<.05). 마지막으로 골반과 몸통분절 모두 트레이닝 후 수평면에서 TR이 NR에 비하여 통계적으로 유의하게 증가된 가동범위를 나타내었으며(골반: 11.69° vs. 15.32°, 몸통: 4.93° vs. 6.59°, p<.05), 특히 몸통분절의 경우 트레이닝 효과도 나타내었다(4.91° vs. 6.59, p<.05).
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 8 weeks - hip joint flexibility training program on improving pelvic range of motion. Total of 22 belly dancers who have done belly dancing more than 2 years and had no musculoskeletal injury within 6 months participate this study. After recruiting process, participants were divided into two groups: NT (Non-Traning) and TR (Traning). Both group performed the traditional belly dancing class program and TR performed additional hip flex training. To pursue the study goal, a 3-dimensional motion analysis with 8 infrared cameras was performed. To examine a 8-week training effects, a two-way ANOVA with repeated measure was used. For statistically significant items, Bonferroni’s post hoc test was performed and the significance level was set to α = .05. As a result of this study, after 8 weeks of the training, the range of motion (ROM) of the left and right knee joints of the sagittal plane was significantly increased in TR (p<.05). In addition, in the case of the pelvis and trunk segment, the TR showed a significantly increased ROM after training in the frontal plane as well as the difference from the NT group (p<.05). Lastly, both the pelvis and trunk segments showed a significantly increase in ROM in the transversel plane after training compared to NR, and in particular, the trunk segment showed a training effect (p<.05).
Focusing on Egypt during the period 1760 to 1870, this book fills in the historical blanks for a dance form known today in the Middle East as raqs sharki or raqs baladi, and in Western countries as ..."belly dance." Eyewitness accounts written by European travelers, the major primary source for modern scholars, provide most of the research material. The author shapes these numerous accounts into a coherent whole, providing a meaningful picture of Egyptian female entertainers of the period as professionals in the arts, rather than as a group of unnamed "ethnic" dancers and singers including one or two identified women of dubious reputation. Analysis is given of the contexts of this dance - which was a legitimate performing art form in Egyptian society appreciated by a wide variety of audiences - with a focus on actual performances - and a re-creation their choreography.
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