IBCC 2012
The final IBCC took place this past week/weekend in Toronto, Canada and we were EXTREMELY sad to see it go. This conference brought us Tito, the great King of modern day Raqs Sharqi and so many other great artists. Interacting with these great dancers, instructors and musicians from the Middle East helped many of our own cultured friends and family stay in touch with their heritage. We commend Yasmina Ramzey and her team for putting in the exhausting work that goes into these conferences. We look forward to her next big adventure.
Diane Toni of Atlanta’s International Raqs Royalty enjoyed several IBCC in her years. She and our resident Raissa Andye have recounted many of their lovely, warm raqs adventures with our Toronto pals. Their time there led to many great friendships and relationships with featured artists who were later brought to Atlanta by Black Orchid Danse. Diane tells us of the most recent IBCC. Enjoy her words here:
As always, Yasmina and her staff have gone the extra mile in providing the very best in dance conferences. I’ve attended many 4-5 day seminars in the States, and none have equaled how her events are structured both physically and in content. Despite the large number of participants, everyone is made to feel welcome, personally, by both Yasmina and her staff. They remember you from year to year and have warm, welcoming words and express concern for your comfort and well-being while at the conference. It’s like being in a personalized B&B for belly dancers. The venue and surrounding area, were, as always, both convenient, with lots of local flavor, and inexpensive to grab either a quick bite for lunch or have a great dinner. Out of towners were definitely taken into consideration!
Classes were structured from 1 to 2 hrs max, leaving breathing space and not killing off brain cells trying to remenber involved 3-hr choreos. Quite a number of seminars centered on technique and style, and this type of training is all too rare at seminars. Highlights for this reviewer with Leila Gamel’s seminar on internal/external energy and Roula Said’s Seven Waves and Arabic voice intonation for the ME dancer. Zahra Zuhair raised the bar with her Elegant Hands and Arms for Sharqi, and 2 very short choreos that held a wealth of combo material. And what can one say about Reda–still going at 82 and turning out the beautiful combos that have populated his dances for years. Seminars were varied and interesting. One, in particular was Dr. Ongaro’s Anatomy for the Dancer. What an eye-opener and wealth of info for protecting one’s anatomy as a dancer.
The Professional shows highlighted instructors performing their genres to the best of their ability. Standouts were Sahra Saeeda’s classic Egyptian performance loaded with cute expressions and gestures. DaVid of Scandavia gave a technically great performance in a knock-out costume. Tamalyn Dalal performed a veil and slow piece which featured her famous liquid hand and arm movements. Zahra Zuhair performed ala Raqia Hassan with tremendous shimmies and technique. Kranti from Lebanon, performing Debke with his troupe, and, together with Yasmina’s dancers, put on a pro show within a pro show, replete with Yasmina’s Arabesque Orchestra featuring Bassam Bishara’s outstanding vocals. It was nothing short of phenomenal. There were many more wonderful presentations like April Rose’s fusion piece, and Leila Gamal’s dynamite hip work and hair tosses. Ranya Renee of NYC and Habeeba Hobeika of Toronto, with their respective dance companies presented beautiful Reda and Reda-influenced choreos to honor Mahmoud Reda. Linda Ryad from Tennessee did the Southeast proud with a beautiful classic Egyptian piece. This dancer is always creditable and beautifully costumed, and this year’s performance was no exception. Of special note, was Miriam Amaya’s sword balancing with Samba influenced dance. Although she was a general Main Stage performer, her performance was worthy enough to be included the the pro show. The dance, consisting of alternating fast knee and standing spins, with lightening fast Samba footwork, all while balancing the sword on her head, was breathtaking!
Ozgen of Turkiye speaks during the 2010 Men in Bellydance Panel at the IBCC
I’ve been to all but one of Yasmina’s conferences, and have never been disappointed. However, I have noticed that the level of main stage performing of general participants (not instructors) has steadily declined. This year was a mish-mosh of fusion and belly dance theatre—mostly not good. Ranya Renee’s spoof on all the different influences and styles of fusion said it all! I was practically rolling off my seat with laughter. But the underlying message was clear. And I think Mahmoud Reda said it all when he said, “Art will always continue to evolve, but there is good fusion and bad fusion; good tribal and bad tribal”.
What I cannot understand is why Middle Eastern belly dancers feel they have to perform the dance to off-the-wall pieces of music wearing out and out bad costuming. Is the fact that some 98 different ME dance rhythms abound not enough to stay within the ME genre? There is richness in both the cabaret and folkloric aspects of the dance—hardly any other dance form has that much to offer in the way of variety, yet we are constantly being bombarded by what amounts to bad circus-like acts that feature plain ole unskilled dancing. One can use Yasmina’s group as a measure for the great depth and variety of ME dance her troupe performs—yet it is all Middle Eastern—not bad theatre nor bad dance. There is a reason why her reviewers say “Yasmina Ramzy brings belly dancing to its highest level.” One participant comment was that “belly dancers need to shock one with different costuming and off-the-wall theatre because they aren’t taken seriously as dancers.” My response to that is that good dancing is always taken seriously, and the need to be “noticed” should never excuse inappropriate costuming nor bad technique. Many who perform “bad theatre” and “bad dance” are simply not dancers of any kind! They show up for classes sporadically, and then go off to do their own thing hoping that all of us will think they are innovative/creative. Why should we, as Middle Eastern dancers, provide them with a forum for their bad taste? They take great enjoyment in flaunting what is inadequate dancing and inappropriate costuming, and hope that their bravado and fearlessness in doing so will be accepted as “art.” I, for one, am tired of having this shoved down my throat with the edict that I should respect it as “art”. Unfortunately, this year’s main stage shows were littered by such performances. By contrast, the art of Flamenco constantly evolves. It now has some modern overtones, and costuming has radically changed, but you don’t see Flamenco dancers wearing toe shoes to perform their dance or dancing to rockabilly music as has been the case with some belly dancer performances I’ve unfortunately witnessed! Flamenco dancers respect the art form and dance to the music it was meant to be danced to. This year, April Rose elevated the art of fusion in her performance. Her entrance doing a slow 3/4 shimmy walk brought oohs and aahs from the audience, and it was because it was stellar technique, and ME dance fused with a modernistic theme. She admits to being a belly dancer first, and that is what one sees primarily in her performance! Several years ago, I was in a workshop taught by Raqia Hassan, and someone asked about her opinion of fusion which was just creeping into the art form at the time. Her response was: “If you are going to dance Middle Eastern, then dance Middle Eastern. If you are going to perform some other dance form then dance that dance form!” Why, as belly dancers, do we feel the art form or music is not enough on its own; that it must be integrated with everything but the kitchen sink? If one has become that bored with the dance, then go off to do your own thing, but please don’t let me see it in what is supposed to be a Middle Eastern dance conference show that, by the way, I’ve paid a premium price to see! Let’s challenge ourselves to be first and foremost, great Middle Eastern dancers. Then if we want to add some foreign influence into a dance, it will be beautiful, but it will still be primarily Middle Eastern.
Tito Seif and Aida Nour sit front row at the IBCC Gala Show in 2010 before the 2nd act.
We thank Diane for her comments. We thank both she and Andye for using their hard earned resources to travel the globe seeking the best of our culture to write about, share and encourage others to pay attention to when there’s so many things with which we can become distracted as we modernize and “move forward.” While we understand evolution is inevitable, we do know the value of keeping things as close to the original and highlighting the hard working dancers, musicians and promoters who have made Raqs Sharqi (bellydance) what it is today. We encourage everyone to continue to go to conferences where there are Arab artists performing and hear from the greats of our day what this dance is truly all about!
Thanks for reading! Catch MissBellydance at the upcoming Black Orchid Danse -Bad Boys of Bellydance Conference in Henderson Nevada in less than two weeks. Get your tickets! Don’t delay, don’t miss out!
