“Let us read, and let us dance; these two
amusements will never do any harm to the world.”
-Voltaire
Belly dance is an
improvised art form. This profession has a multitude of profiles, which
come in a variety pack. These numerous assortments require attentiveness
to detail, as well as vigilance, for the synchronization of music. It is the
harmony of the rhythm that meets the body.
The
most important mode is the feeling
of the music. It is the way to perceive the sensitivity of the inventiveness, which is translated
through the body, and brought to the people, for the people.
It is perfection.
Perfect is the absolute
way to conform to a description of an ideal type. It’s a lifestyle, a culture of its own accord,
for the dancers all strive to deliver a performance that is unearthly original.
The classical timeliness of this stainless expression is endless. One can
always move, can always sway, and can always hum the tune of the drum. However, it takes
a physical absorption and consistency to perfectly deliver.
Belly
dance demands strength. It is most important for the dancer to be calm in the
heart and serene in the mind. If the heart and mind are connected to the music,
the body will follow its desire. If the body is peaceful, then the movements
will be graceful. The elegance of these
refined movements is to honor womanhood, beauty. It’s timeless and filled with
expression.
Tahiya Carioca, a
legendary belly dancer, said Each decent Oriental dancer must express
life, death, happiness, sorrow, love and anger, but above all, she must have
dignity. What does she mean by this? Every dancer is trained to
captivate and to inspire feeling. The dancer grounds herself to the flow
of the accented and rhythmic pulses while conveying emotion, to the viewer. All
of the energy that lives within the dancer, emotions and thoughts, should be
placed in the function of belly dance. It is with determination and tuning into
the music, that the dancer is able to implement and achieve a great
performance.
It’s not just the dancer
that is highly regarded in this style. The music is the motivator for the
movement.
The
instruments are crucial. They ignite the rhythms with their chemistry. It is the
beat which assists the soloist dancer. This distribution praises the sounds of
Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. The dancer produces the natural beauty of the Middle
East, all with the help of the musicians. They follow the dancer, as the dancer
pursues the music.
The exotic tunes command attention. It is the
thunderous sound of the drum that escapes from the drummer’s hands, encourages adrenaline;
it generates power while requiring establishment. The volume of the
oud, a small guitar with a short neck and round body, shapes unique sounds with
a low, warm timbre. The Egyptian harp,
the qanun, the most integral part in Arabic music, has a quick modulation of
sounds only achieved to temporarily rise the tuning of the strings. It lays
down the law of pitch, organizing the scale for other musical forces, to
feed off one another, thus impressing the dancer to accompany the beat.
These,
and other classical pieces in the Arabic world, constitute a performance of
perfection. What the musician and the dancer feel while they perform is one
thing. However, for the audience, it’s an exclusive experience, connecting them
to that moment, realizing that they are being brought into being, feeling, living.
To
bring a person into being, that is perfection.
