Karen Barbee
In continuing efforts to reinvent and reinvigorate herself , Karen ’ s most recent passion is “ Project Band .” “ Project Band ” is a one-year , live-music-based curriculum Karen developed in 2012 designed to wean dancers off of choreographies and coded combinations onto musically relevant , performance-level improvisation . Karen uses her knowledge of , love for , and contacts in the live Arabic music scene to provide extraordinary opportunities for her students to develop depth in their dance and fluency in their movement choices – ALL BY working to live music . Her love for live Arabic music and the inevitable impact it delivers to dancers and non-dancers alike is why she proudly serves on the board of directors for the National Arab Orchestra based in Detroit , Michigan .
Embracing Oryantale Dance At the end of the Amaya Documentary Premiere weekend , the dance icons attended the Center for International Dance Zoom meeting on defining terminology for “ Belly Dance .” Our discussion reviewed the perspectives shared by
dance professionals worldwide who described dance based on personal experience and perspective . Among our icons , we noticed that we perform this dance genre and include various other dance genres and musical influences from Arabic to Turkish to Swahili . Thus , we agreed that this dance should be named “ Oryantal Dance ” and be inclusive of a broader definition that includes dance beyond MENAHT or “ Raks Sharki ” or even “ beledi ”.
Amaya ’ s comments are representative of our group discussion . “ Last week , I , and several of my colleagues , logged into a Sunday Zoom teleconference gathering of dancers worldwide . The Center for International Dance , an international dance organization , sponsored a two-hour discussion on the terminology of our dance . ( cid-world . org ) This discussion has been repeated over and over for years . I felt exasperated listening to all the repeated comments . I was emotionally moved by the fervent discussion and wished I had spoken out . Since I didn ’ t , I am speaking my thoughts on the next best forum ... Facebook ! In the 40 + years , I have been in the business , I have always cringed over the term “ belly dance ” to describe what I did . “ Belly ” dance is sort of simplistic in my book . It conjures up a cartoonish ‘ I Dream of Jeannie ’ mentality . Our art is so much more than our tummies ! ( Ballet was never identified as “ toe dancing .”) And as one speaker said , an art form described by a body part below the waist is open to sexualization and disrespect . At the beginning of this two hour conversation , I leaned towards the Arabic term “ Raks SharQui .” But dancers and speakers brought up that the term does not represent fusion , Lebanese , Greek and Turkish , etc . styles . MENAHT ( Near / Middle Eastern , North African , Hellenic , Turkish ) was also brought up but considered too cumbersome and maybe even too obscure for general audiences . “ Beledi ” was mentioned but also not inclusive enough . A Turkish dancer explained that in her country , it is plainly “ Oriental ”. In Egypt , the term “ Oriental dancer ” is widely used . This term finally resonated with me ! The Near East , Far East , Middle East - all of it is Oriental . None of the terms mentioned is 100 % perfect , but I feel that this last term , perhaps with a twist in the spelling to “ Oriental ” or “ Orientale ,” is the most inclusive for me . Now I wish the huge , worldwide organization CID would start pushing to change the term . Let ’ s quit talking about it and do something ! This movement to change terminology will take time and require a massive turnabout from the commercial term of belly dance . I will begin by giving
14 The Belly Dance Chronicles � January 2023