by Rachel Williams
published in The Guardian, Tuesday 27 October 2009
East London's urban dance degree is booming in popularity, despite the criticisms of purists
Justin Gordon started dancing at the age of seven, entertaining family members with his reggae and soul moves at an endless succession of birthdays, weddings and christenings in Tottenham, north London.
"My family used to have a lot of parties," he remembers. "You either sang, or you danced."
Jessica O'Shea feels like she's been dancing all her life ("Your body just moves and you like the way it moves so you always do it"), but growing up in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, there was nowhere to learn the sort of street styles that intrigued her, until she and her friends secured funding for their own practice space.
At around the same time, a nine-year-old Annabelle Satchwell was donning embarrassing outfits to enter disco dancing competitions in Luton; in Presteigne, among the lonely hills of the Welsh Marches, Betty Adesanya was being taught ballet, modern and jazz; and in her bedroom in Hackney, east London, Christine Seraphin and her cousins were making up routines to show to their parents.
More than a decade later, put off traditional dance degrees, with their heavy focus on ballet and contemporary, by what they saw as their stuffiness and limited scope, the five were among 12 students who signed up for the first year of the UK's only urban dance undergraduate course, then newly launched at the University of East London.
Here, they are taught not just hip-hop styles like krumping, popping and locking, but also the fundamentals of African dance, capoeira and kathak, a classical Indian discipline.
Purists have turned their noses up at the course, but, now in its third year, its popularity is booming.
UEL claims it is the fastest-growing dance degree in the country: its intake has risen six-fold since it began, and this year more than 300 applicants battled it out for 75 places. During clearing, staff were inundated with calls asking if there were any spaces. A note on the whiteboard above them, as if they needed it, reminded them that there definitely were not.
Senior lecturer Kate Sicchio, a Philadelphian who has been in the UK for five years, explains: "Students are really interested in getting more than one dance style and that it's different from normal contemporary training: hip-hop one day, kathak another. They really appreciate that."
Some within the sector are supportive, but there is inevitable scepticism.
"It's a bit surprising to other HE institutions," Sicchio says. "There are quite a few who find it shocking. They say 'you teach street dance in university, how does that work?' And you say, 'well there's a history and contextual study just as much as in traditional techniques'. And you can actually talk to these artists, because they're still alive and producing work."
The course was born as UEL looked to expand its performing arts institute with a dance degree, and decided that rather than compete in a market saturated with big names, it should offer something a bit different. It took inspiration from its local area. "Rather than setting up a contemporary dance degree, they actually looked to the community and built a degree bottom-up," says Sicchio.
The decision was also based on the philosophy that popular art forms should be more swiftly adopted.
"Academia is always quite slow to wake up to innovation," says Mark O'Thomas, the director of UEL's institute for performing arts development. "It didn't even recognise jazz until relatively late. We felt urban and global dance, the dance that young people are interested in, had no validity at all [in the mainstream]."
Sicchio believes other institutions are less in tune with their students and their target audience. "A lot of them are upset when a lot of their students' knowledge comes from TV programmes that are really popular, but we find that as a way in. If you're really interested in this one style of dance, let's trace it, let's find the history, and how can we blend it with other things to make it even more new and fresh."
In their new studios at Trinity Buoy Wharf, where the perpetually mud-brown waters of the River Lea meet the Essex-bound Thames, Sicchio's students are equally enthusiastic.
Many have BTec national diplomas in dance or performing arts, others have A-levels and some are self-taught. All must audition for a place and take a written test to ensure they will be able to cope with the academic side of the course.
The group of eight third-years show off their skills with a display of freestyling, whooping and clapping each other as they take it in turns to dance solo in front of the group to a soundtrack that runs from Beggin' by Madcon to New Kids On The Block's You Got It (The Right Stuff).
Resting on the studio's sprung floor afterwards, they agree unanimously that their different backgrounds, socially, geographically and in terms of favourite dance styles, make the experience of learning all the richer.
"Because everyone's so different dance-wise, everyone's more open to everyone's ideas and opinions, whereas in traditional ballet everyone's a bit snobbish, I think," says Monique Alleyne, 21.
Seraphin adds: "Contemporary and ballet were something you'd do in a dance school, street was something you'd do in classes. To be able to be on a degree where you're actually studying it, it's quite amazing, actually."
Preet Kaur raves about the variety of styles on offer. "African is about using your whole body: your chest, your back, your legs, your head, everything."
Adesanya, who transferred to UEL after one year of a more traditional dance degree, says the way the students learn from each other is crucial. "I felt like other courses or classes I went to were quite restricting. I wanted to fuse contemporary with other styles.
"Here, it's completely different, it lets you express yourself as an artist more. You're learning so many different styles, you can really develop your own style and flavour and way of dancing. And they respect that as well, which is nice. I think in five years' time everyone will want to come here."
Sicchio says the course is still finding its feet, but believes it could set a precedent for the future as employers demand more diversity from dancers.
"Some people think you must train in one technique and have your core built up. But I think it's about the individual student and not making this cookie-cutter dancer that so many institutions are interested in," she says. "It's really about finding individuals and making them shine."
Source: guardian.co.uk
Showing posts with label pop_culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pop_culture. Show all posts
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Typecast no more?
By Christopher Muther
Globe Staff / October 22, 2009
After a tumultuous few years, Boston Ballet gives its image a modern makeover
In the eyes of Mikko Nissinen, Boston Ballet was facing an identity crisis.
The artistic director of the ballet has introduced edgier, even downright sexy programming - such as last season’s “Black and White.’’ But while Nissinen spent the past eight years pushing his company closer to the artistic edge, Bostonians still thought of the ballet as being staid purveyors of the “Nutcracker,’’ and other “museum pieces,’’ he says.
“It’s important to me that we’re not seen as a museum or a church,’’ he says, “but a living theater that relates to today’s people.’’
Enter Denise Korn. The South End-based brand strategist (and Boston Ballet fan) had been chatting with Nissinen for nearly five years about freshening the ballet’s image and changing how the organization is viewed. Her company, Korn Design, has done image-reconfiguring work for tony hotels and restaurants around the country. She was even enlisted by Northeastern University last year to rebrand the school.
“It was trapped in this corporate package for so long,’’ Korn says of the ballet. “One of our big challenges was to shift the perception of what the Boston Ballet is all about.’’
The strategy for rebranding the ballet all came down to Nissinen’s desire to make the ballet more accessible. Artistically, he’s tried to do this by staging modern dance alongside classics. The company has also introduced a new slate of dancers and survived a very disruptive move from the Citi Wang Theatre to the Opera House.
To give these changes a public face, Korn’s team created a new font for the ballet, and a new logo. Its website was completely redesigned, merchandise updated, posters oriented to feature the words “Boston Ballet’’ as the primary image, rather than pictures of dancers.
Of course, a new typeface can only do so much. Changing the ballet’s image also means getting the company out into the city and chipping away at the notion that dancers are stuffy, tutu-wearing divas. To that end, dancers served as models at a splashy fashion show last month, and they’ll model once again at a Donna Karan charity event next month. They’ve even performed the Boston Celtics half-time show. Last week, we sat down with Nissinen and Korn to talk about what it all means.
Boston Globe: Mikko, I know pretty much all arts organizations have been struggling since the economy hit the dumpster last year. Is rebranding a way to help build an audience?
Nissinen: It’s funny, our organization was thrown into a tailspin after “The Nutcracker’’ was dislocated from the Wang Theatre. It was a huge piece of our business model. We had to re-evaluate our business and go through all kinds of cuts and repositioning. It’s ironic because now the rest of the world is doing it. Last fall, when everything else fell through for everyone else, we were already putting in place the steps for recovery.
BG: Why did you feel you needed to rebrand the ballet?
Nissinen: It felt so corporate, and the environment I’ve been pushing for the organization is definitely not corporate. It was obvious that we had moved in a different direction. After we lost our venue for “The Nutcracker,’’ we didn’t have a chance to focus on rebranding. I felt that the move to the Opera House was going to be a whole new beginning for us. We also have a whole new batch of principal dancers. A really strong, new generation taking over the company at the same time. This was the opportunity to really show a whole new face.
I’ve known Denise for a while. I brought her to the attention of our previous executive director five years ago. I wanted her to work for us at that point. In hindsight, I’m glad it didn’t happen then, because this was going to be better. It is repositioning the ballet on the cultural and social map in Boston.
Korn: This is the culmination of two years of Mikko and I trying to figure out how to introduce this to the city. It’s not about a logo. Sure, that’s the icon. This is taking the DNA of the company and not letting it be buried, but celebrating it outwardly.
BG: Denise, how did you take the edict that these bold changes were happening and translate that?
Korn: The typeface that we used for the end result was hand drawn. It’s called Boston Ballet Sans. It’s a derivative of a typeface called Futura. Which is a classical-modern font. The way that we treat it is very clean and much more contemporary, but it’s still respectful of its roots. We really wanted to show that there really is nothing about the ballet that’s corporate and stuck in a box.
Nissinen: It needed to capture the classical and modern. We do the big classical ballets, but we’re also the only major company that is making a major commitment to modern dance.
Korn: I think the ballet really needed to put a stake in the ground and say, “This is happening here, you need to take note.’’ Because no one else would do that for them. One of our big challenges was to shift the perception of what ballet is all about. It’s a relatively small market. There’s a lot of competition for entertainment dollars, and there’s this huge sports presence here.
Nissinen: That’s another reason why I thought this was important. People in New York know what’s going on with the Boston Ballet better than the people in Boston. Our international tour was amazing. We’re getting that external validation, and I want to bring that external validation back home.
BG: Dancers from the Boston Ballet acted as fashion models at a show at the Liberty Hotel last month called Fashionably Late. I get the feeling that the night was the company’s coming out party, its debutante ball for rebranding.
Korn: We wanted to have a coming out party.
Nissinen: It was the launch for the new image, and a new era. We also wanted to embrace an audience which is not just our traditional audience. We wanted to put the ballet in front of a crowd that’s not as familiar and show the relevancy.
BG: Tell me a bit how rebranding works.
Korn: The process is about discovery, and gaining an authentic understanding about what the DNA is of a certain message or a certain idea. When you’re branding fashion, it’s very different from when you’re branding a pharmaceutical company. We had no idea what this would look like when we started. I just knew that it needed to feel super contemporary and edgy, but not be disrespectful to the past. I honestly believe that the ballet was stuck inside the wrong image.
BG: What is the ultimate goal of the rebranding?
Korn: We worked on this for over a year. The process of getting to the end result was very deep within the organization. There’s the three pillars of the organization: On the stage, in the community, and in the school. We really communicated with all the constituencies throughout the organization to make sure that whatever we ended up with would suit and serve. We have this very robust community online now. The company also has its own ticket sales, which is huge, and we have a platform online to tell the story that is organic and changing and very image-based. The goal wasn’t to make it look pretty and package it nice. The goal was to move the dial on perception and to get people to connect and feel that the organization is open to receive them.
BG: There are other arts organizations around the country that are rebranding. Is rebranding important for going after younger patrons?
Nissinen: I think that is often one of the reasons. People want to refresh to remain relevant. You don’t do it alone with rebranding. You do it with your programming and ideas. This is a communication tool that is hopefully aligned exactly with the product. If you have a stuffy product and you unveil a great new logo, it’s not going to change anything. I think it’s a great tool, but it needs to be rooted in the philosophy of the organization.
Korn: Before we were doing this, I went to Mikko’s performances and I kept saying to him, “This is so magic’’ and “This is so world class.’’ I believed in the product. It was killing me. I told him to let it out and set it free.
Nissinen: For me, there was part of the old logo that left me thinking “What are we, a dancing bank’’?
Source: Boston.com
Globe Staff / October 22, 2009
After a tumultuous few years, Boston Ballet gives its image a modern makeover
In the eyes of Mikko Nissinen, Boston Ballet was facing an identity crisis.The artistic director of the ballet has introduced edgier, even downright sexy programming - such as last season’s “Black and White.’’ But while Nissinen spent the past eight years pushing his company closer to the artistic edge, Bostonians still thought of the ballet as being staid purveyors of the “Nutcracker,’’ and other “museum pieces,’’ he says.
“It’s important to me that we’re not seen as a museum or a church,’’ he says, “but a living theater that relates to today’s people.’’
Enter Denise Korn. The South End-based brand strategist (and Boston Ballet fan) had been chatting with Nissinen for nearly five years about freshening the ballet’s image and changing how the organization is viewed. Her company, Korn Design, has done image-reconfiguring work for tony hotels and restaurants around the country. She was even enlisted by Northeastern University last year to rebrand the school.
“It was trapped in this corporate package for so long,’’ Korn says of the ballet. “One of our big challenges was to shift the perception of what the Boston Ballet is all about.’’
The strategy for rebranding the ballet all came down to Nissinen’s desire to make the ballet more accessible. Artistically, he’s tried to do this by staging modern dance alongside classics. The company has also introduced a new slate of dancers and survived a very disruptive move from the Citi Wang Theatre to the Opera House.
To give these changes a public face, Korn’s team created a new font for the ballet, and a new logo. Its website was completely redesigned, merchandise updated, posters oriented to feature the words “Boston Ballet’’ as the primary image, rather than pictures of dancers.
Of course, a new typeface can only do so much. Changing the ballet’s image also means getting the company out into the city and chipping away at the notion that dancers are stuffy, tutu-wearing divas. To that end, dancers served as models at a splashy fashion show last month, and they’ll model once again at a Donna Karan charity event next month. They’ve even performed the Boston Celtics half-time show. Last week, we sat down with Nissinen and Korn to talk about what it all means.
Boston Globe: Mikko, I know pretty much all arts organizations have been struggling since the economy hit the dumpster last year. Is rebranding a way to help build an audience?
Nissinen: It’s funny, our organization was thrown into a tailspin after “The Nutcracker’’ was dislocated from the Wang Theatre. It was a huge piece of our business model. We had to re-evaluate our business and go through all kinds of cuts and repositioning. It’s ironic because now the rest of the world is doing it. Last fall, when everything else fell through for everyone else, we were already putting in place the steps for recovery.
BG: Why did you feel you needed to rebrand the ballet?
Nissinen: It felt so corporate, and the environment I’ve been pushing for the organization is definitely not corporate. It was obvious that we had moved in a different direction. After we lost our venue for “The Nutcracker,’’ we didn’t have a chance to focus on rebranding. I felt that the move to the Opera House was going to be a whole new beginning for us. We also have a whole new batch of principal dancers. A really strong, new generation taking over the company at the same time. This was the opportunity to really show a whole new face.
I’ve known Denise for a while. I brought her to the attention of our previous executive director five years ago. I wanted her to work for us at that point. In hindsight, I’m glad it didn’t happen then, because this was going to be better. It is repositioning the ballet on the cultural and social map in Boston.
Korn: This is the culmination of two years of Mikko and I trying to figure out how to introduce this to the city. It’s not about a logo. Sure, that’s the icon. This is taking the DNA of the company and not letting it be buried, but celebrating it outwardly.
BG: Denise, how did you take the edict that these bold changes were happening and translate that?
Korn: The typeface that we used for the end result was hand drawn. It’s called Boston Ballet Sans. It’s a derivative of a typeface called Futura. Which is a classical-modern font. The way that we treat it is very clean and much more contemporary, but it’s still respectful of its roots. We really wanted to show that there really is nothing about the ballet that’s corporate and stuck in a box.
Nissinen: It needed to capture the classical and modern. We do the big classical ballets, but we’re also the only major company that is making a major commitment to modern dance.
Korn: I think the ballet really needed to put a stake in the ground and say, “This is happening here, you need to take note.’’ Because no one else would do that for them. One of our big challenges was to shift the perception of what ballet is all about. It’s a relatively small market. There’s a lot of competition for entertainment dollars, and there’s this huge sports presence here.
Nissinen: That’s another reason why I thought this was important. People in New York know what’s going on with the Boston Ballet better than the people in Boston. Our international tour was amazing. We’re getting that external validation, and I want to bring that external validation back home.
BG: Dancers from the Boston Ballet acted as fashion models at a show at the Liberty Hotel last month called Fashionably Late. I get the feeling that the night was the company’s coming out party, its debutante ball for rebranding.
Korn: We wanted to have a coming out party.
Nissinen: It was the launch for the new image, and a new era. We also wanted to embrace an audience which is not just our traditional audience. We wanted to put the ballet in front of a crowd that’s not as familiar and show the relevancy.
BG: Tell me a bit how rebranding works.
Korn: The process is about discovery, and gaining an authentic understanding about what the DNA is of a certain message or a certain idea. When you’re branding fashion, it’s very different from when you’re branding a pharmaceutical company. We had no idea what this would look like when we started. I just knew that it needed to feel super contemporary and edgy, but not be disrespectful to the past. I honestly believe that the ballet was stuck inside the wrong image.
BG: What is the ultimate goal of the rebranding?
Korn: We worked on this for over a year. The process of getting to the end result was very deep within the organization. There’s the three pillars of the organization: On the stage, in the community, and in the school. We really communicated with all the constituencies throughout the organization to make sure that whatever we ended up with would suit and serve. We have this very robust community online now. The company also has its own ticket sales, which is huge, and we have a platform online to tell the story that is organic and changing and very image-based. The goal wasn’t to make it look pretty and package it nice. The goal was to move the dial on perception and to get people to connect and feel that the organization is open to receive them.
BG: There are other arts organizations around the country that are rebranding. Is rebranding important for going after younger patrons?
Nissinen: I think that is often one of the reasons. People want to refresh to remain relevant. You don’t do it alone with rebranding. You do it with your programming and ideas. This is a communication tool that is hopefully aligned exactly with the product. If you have a stuffy product and you unveil a great new logo, it’s not going to change anything. I think it’s a great tool, but it needs to be rooted in the philosophy of the organization.
Korn: Before we were doing this, I went to Mikko’s performances and I kept saying to him, “This is so magic’’ and “This is so world class.’’ I believed in the product. It was killing me. I told him to let it out and set it free.
Nissinen: For me, there was part of the old logo that left me thinking “What are we, a dancing bank’’?
Source: Boston.com
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Around the world in 80 sways
Written by: Lina Das
Last updated at 8:00 PM on 27th September 2008
They've performed for crown princes and rock stars in a 'celebration of femininity and sensuality' that attracts dancers from 17 to 70. Meet the Bellydance Superstars who are back to shake up the UK.
A disused missile launch base overlooking Los Angeles is not the first place one would expect to find a troupe of exotically dressed beauties, but the Bellydance Superstars, currently pulling elegant shapes in front of a bemused mix of joggers, dogs and passers-by, have played to stranger audiences than this.
Petite Jamilla, a pretty 25-year-old, has done her time dancing in Turkish restaurants ('at times it was horrible – luckily my parents insisted on chaperoning me to every job'), while Bozenka, the dancer credited with honing the belly-dancing skills of hip-swivelling singer Shakira ('Every girl comes to me saying they want to dance like Shakira!'), performed for Hugh Hefner ('he was surrounded by beautiful women and I felt like I was part of some bizarre scene; I did my half hour and left').
Audiences, like family members, can't often be chosen. But in the case of the Bellydance Superstars, they are certainly expanding. The world's most famous belly-dancing troupe, they have performed to more than a million people since their inception six years ago.
Formed by Miles Copeland (the man who guided Sting's career for a quarter of a century), the group has taken a niche dance form and turned it into a worldwide business.
They have performed for luminaries as diverse as Prince Albert of Monaco and rock star Alice Cooper, and in a move akin to taking ice to the Eskimos, the troupe, consisting almost entirely of Americans, has even performed to rapturous applause in the Middle East.
This October sees them touring Britain – a country proving itself to be a surprising hotbed of belly-dance activity.
Recently, Cambridge graduate Emma Chapman made headlines when she decided to forgo her job as a research scientist to become a full-time belly dancer, and who can forget the look of rapture on Simon Cowell's face when contestant Sophie Mei got to last season's semi-final of Britain's Got Talent with her mesmerising belly-dance routine?
There are now more than 1,000 belly-dance classes dotted around the UK and what was once seen solely as a dance performed by largish ladies in restaurants of dubious repute is now viewed as a legitimate career.
None of this would have been possible without the canny guidance of 64-year-old Copeland, the troupe's manager.
'Initially, I got a lot of flak from the belly-dance community who were worried that it was all going to be about pretty young girls in revealing costumes. The way I see it, it's a celebration of femininity and sensuality; our audiences are roughly 70 per cent women to 30 per cent men.'
The girls themselves are at pains to stress that their performance is sensual rather than sexual.
Yes, the girls are young and pretty; yes, their costumes are cut to emphasise their feminine curves (low-cut bras and waist-revealing, floor-length skirts) and yes, the chaps around us are having trouble pulling themselves together, but it's hard to imagine any of these women allowing anyone to shovel notes into their bra straps (though, apparently, the correct etiquette for showing appreciation of a belly dancer is to sprinkle notes over her head).
The girl power message is one articulated by all of the dancers. Bozenka, a half-Czech, half-Cuban dancer, holds workshops around the world.
'Lots of my students get into belly-dancing as a way of getting back their self-esteem,' she says.
'One had been abused as a young girl. She was painfully shy, and her aunt brought her to my classes to try to bring her out of herself. It took some time, but the process of rehearsing, putting on make-up and feeling comfortable with her body during the classes helped to bring her out of her shell.' Samantha tells a similar story.
'The reason my mum took me to my first belly-dancing class was because I had low self-esteem. I was 16 years old, moody and had no confidence in my looks. Belly-dancing helped change that. I still have moments of self-doubt, but I'm more comfortable with myself and at my happiest when up on stage.'
Another key to belly-dance's appeal is its accessibility. 'I have a 70-year-old grandmother in my class,' says Bozenka.
'She doesn't feel comfortable going to nightclubs any more, but in my class she is welcomed and respected by everybody. That's the great thing about belly-dance – you can be any age or any size. It doesn't matter what you look like.'
Sadly, that has yet to transpire. The troupe members range in age from 21 to 39, but although they are slim, they are far from skinny.
As the girls undulate and ripple to drummer Issam Houshan's hypnotic beats, I glimpse some reassuring folds of belly among the sequins. And therein lies the success not only of the troupe but also of the dance form.
'As a teenager, I needed a dance that appreciated my curves,' says Petite Jamilla. 'With belly-dancing, it doesn't matter what body shape you are – but I think it helps to have curves.'
However, belly-dancing can also help you lose weight (you can work off anything up to 300 calories with a vigorous shimmy). It also relieves stress and even premenstrual tension.
More importantly though, it enables like-minded women to get together for a bit of a laugh.
'I get letters from women all over America who have formed their own troupes,' says Copeland. 'It's exciting, a bit of risqué fun, and like rock'n'roll in the sense that you feel as if you can get up there and try it yourself.'
And that is precisely the charm of the Bellydance Superstars – a group of normal girls getting the chance to live out their dreams and earn good money (a top-notch Bellydance Superstar can make anything up to £65,000 a year through workshops and DVDs).
Copeland thinks of his dancers as a kind of healing balm, showing America that Middle Eastern culture is nothing to fear and showing the Middle East that women can and should be a force to be reckoned with.
With instructional DVDs, a perfume line and even a Middle East reality TV show in the pipeline, he is not a man with limited ambitions.
'The days when a belly dancer would wobble into a restaurant, do a ten-minute set, then sit around till the following weekend have long gone. I want my dancers to become world famous.'
The Bellydance Superstars will tour the UK from 19-30 October. See bellydancesuperstars.com.
Source: MailOnline
Last updated at 8:00 PM on 27th September 2008
They've performed for crown princes and rock stars in a 'celebration of femininity and sensuality' that attracts dancers from 17 to 70. Meet the Bellydance Superstars who are back to shake up the UK.
A disused missile launch base overlooking Los Angeles is not the first place one would expect to find a troupe of exotically dressed beauties, but the Bellydance Superstars, currently pulling elegant shapes in front of a bemused mix of joggers, dogs and passers-by, have played to stranger audiences than this.
Petite Jamilla, a pretty 25-year-old, has done her time dancing in Turkish restaurants ('at times it was horrible – luckily my parents insisted on chaperoning me to every job'), while Bozenka, the dancer credited with honing the belly-dancing skills of hip-swivelling singer Shakira ('Every girl comes to me saying they want to dance like Shakira!'), performed for Hugh Hefner ('he was surrounded by beautiful women and I felt like I was part of some bizarre scene; I did my half hour and left').
Audiences, like family members, can't often be chosen. But in the case of the Bellydance Superstars, they are certainly expanding. The world's most famous belly-dancing troupe, they have performed to more than a million people since their inception six years ago.
Formed by Miles Copeland (the man who guided Sting's career for a quarter of a century), the group has taken a niche dance form and turned it into a worldwide business.
They have performed for luminaries as diverse as Prince Albert of Monaco and rock star Alice Cooper, and in a move akin to taking ice to the Eskimos, the troupe, consisting almost entirely of Americans, has even performed to rapturous applause in the Middle East.
This October sees them touring Britain – a country proving itself to be a surprising hotbed of belly-dance activity.
Recently, Cambridge graduate Emma Chapman made headlines when she decided to forgo her job as a research scientist to become a full-time belly dancer, and who can forget the look of rapture on Simon Cowell's face when contestant Sophie Mei got to last season's semi-final of Britain's Got Talent with her mesmerising belly-dance routine?
There are now more than 1,000 belly-dance classes dotted around the UK and what was once seen solely as a dance performed by largish ladies in restaurants of dubious repute is now viewed as a legitimate career.
None of this would have been possible without the canny guidance of 64-year-old Copeland, the troupe's manager.
'Initially, I got a lot of flak from the belly-dance community who were worried that it was all going to be about pretty young girls in revealing costumes. The way I see it, it's a celebration of femininity and sensuality; our audiences are roughly 70 per cent women to 30 per cent men.'
The girls themselves are at pains to stress that their performance is sensual rather than sexual.
Yes, the girls are young and pretty; yes, their costumes are cut to emphasise their feminine curves (low-cut bras and waist-revealing, floor-length skirts) and yes, the chaps around us are having trouble pulling themselves together, but it's hard to imagine any of these women allowing anyone to shovel notes into their bra straps (though, apparently, the correct etiquette for showing appreciation of a belly dancer is to sprinkle notes over her head).
Samantha Hasthorpe, 28, from Devon – the only Brit in the troupe – scoffs at the idea that the dance is a sexual one. 'It's not the kind of dance where you see us going up to guys and sitting on their knees, which is the image I'd had previously of belly dancing,' she says. 'We dance as a group, not solo, and we couldn't care less if anyone's watching us. I feel completely empowered when I'm performing and I'm definitely not pandering to anyone but myself.'RACHEL BRICE, MID-30S (left)
FORMER JOB Worked in a café
SHE SAYS 'I cried when I first saw belly-dancing 20 years ago because it was so moving. I learned the moves by buying all the tapes I could find and copying the movements frame by frame'
KAMI LIDDLE, 27 (right)
FORMER JOB Manager in charge of loading aircraft
SHE SAYS 'We'd just got back from Taiwan and there were queues around the block for our autographs. It was like Beatlemania!'
MORIA CHAPPELL, 29 (centre)
FORMER JOB Make-up artist
SHE SAYS 'For my costume I wear about 34 medallions, seven bangles, five rings and four necklaces. It takes me about two hours to get ready for every show and about 100 hours to create my costume.
The girl power message is one articulated by all of the dancers. Bozenka, a half-Czech, half-Cuban dancer, holds workshops around the world.
'Lots of my students get into belly-dancing as a way of getting back their self-esteem,' she says.
'One had been abused as a young girl. She was painfully shy, and her aunt brought her to my classes to try to bring her out of herself. It took some time, but the process of rehearsing, putting on make-up and feeling comfortable with her body during the classes helped to bring her out of her shell.' Samantha tells a similar story.
'The reason my mum took me to my first belly-dancing class was because I had low self-esteem. I was 16 years old, moody and had no confidence in my looks. Belly-dancing helped change that. I still have moments of self-doubt, but I'm more comfortable with myself and at my happiest when up on stage.'
Another key to belly-dance's appeal is its accessibility. 'I have a 70-year-old grandmother in my class,' says Bozenka.
'She doesn't feel comfortable going to nightclubs any more, but in my class she is welcomed and respected by everybody. That's the great thing about belly-dance – you can be any age or any size. It doesn't matter what you look like.'
It is a message echoed by Copeland, who insists: 'If I found a 60-year-old woman who was as big as a house, but could walk on stage and be alluring and captivating, I'd have her on the show in a second.'BOZENKA, 32 (pictured left)
FORMER JOB Preschool teacher
SHE SAYS 'A friend and I once danced at a party in the Bahamas where Sean Connery was a guest. My friend dragged him and his wife up on stage to dance with us and he was so cute. He kept laughing at the fact that he had two left feet'
SAMANTHA HASTHORPE, 28
FORMER JOB Hod carrier
SHE SAYS 'The guys I used to work with are pretty surprised I've gone from hod carrying to belly dancing, but they're going to come and see me on this tour. The money's not quite as good yet, but I still wouldn't give up dancing for anything'
PETITE JAMILLA, 25 (real name: Jessica Parrish)
FORMER JOB Belly dancing in restaurants
SHE SAYS 'I started belly dancing when I was three and my mum was doing it till she was 67. It's one of the few dances where a woman can celebrate her body at any age'
Sadly, that has yet to transpire. The troupe members range in age from 21 to 39, but although they are slim, they are far from skinny.
As the girls undulate and ripple to drummer Issam Houshan's hypnotic beats, I glimpse some reassuring folds of belly among the sequins. And therein lies the success not only of the troupe but also of the dance form.
'As a teenager, I needed a dance that appreciated my curves,' says Petite Jamilla. 'With belly-dancing, it doesn't matter what body shape you are – but I think it helps to have curves.'
However, belly-dancing can also help you lose weight (you can work off anything up to 300 calories with a vigorous shimmy). It also relieves stress and even premenstrual tension.More importantly though, it enables like-minded women to get together for a bit of a laugh.
'I get letters from women all over America who have formed their own troupes,' says Copeland. 'It's exciting, a bit of risqué fun, and like rock'n'roll in the sense that you feel as if you can get up there and try it yourself.'
And that is precisely the charm of the Bellydance Superstars – a group of normal girls getting the chance to live out their dreams and earn good money (a top-notch Bellydance Superstar can make anything up to £65,000 a year through workshops and DVDs).
Copeland thinks of his dancers as a kind of healing balm, showing America that Middle Eastern culture is nothing to fear and showing the Middle East that women can and should be a force to be reckoned with.
With instructional DVDs, a perfume line and even a Middle East reality TV show in the pipeline, he is not a man with limited ambitions.
'The days when a belly dancer would wobble into a restaurant, do a ten-minute set, then sit around till the following weekend have long gone. I want my dancers to become world famous.'
The Bellydance Superstars will tour the UK from 19-30 October. See bellydancesuperstars.com.
Source: MailOnline
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Belly dancer wows Britain's Got Talent team
Published: May 3, 2008
A BELLY dancer thrills the judges on Britain's Got Talent tonight - and catches the eye of presenter Declan Donnelly.
Sophie Mei, 19, tells hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec backstage how she turned to the Middle Eastern dance six years ago.
Speaking at the Manchester auditions, she says: "I've always loved dancing but I've never been that comfortable with it, and then I saw some belly dancers and I found out my curves could be useful for once."
As she steps on to the stage, Dec can barely keep his eyes off her.
And Simon Cowell is also transfixed by her curves.
Fellow judge Amanda Holden jokes: "Is it a yes or a no, Simon?" before Sophie has performed.
An insider said: "Dec was completely gobsmacked when he met Sophie and couldn't keep her eyes off her.
"He really wants her to do well in the competition."
And student Sophie, from Sheffield, is not the only one to win the judges' approval this week.
Grandad Leonard Henry Bennett, 72, impressed them with his strongman act.
Britain's Got Talent is on at 8.05pm on ITV1.
Note: The judges obviously haven't seen a professional bellydance performance before... but I'm glad that bellydance is getting some publicity, at least. :)
Source: The Daily Record
A BELLY dancer thrills the judges on Britain's Got Talent tonight - and catches the eye of presenter Declan Donnelly.
Sophie Mei, 19, tells hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec backstage how she turned to the Middle Eastern dance six years ago.
Speaking at the Manchester auditions, she says: "I've always loved dancing but I've never been that comfortable with it, and then I saw some belly dancers and I found out my curves could be useful for once."
As she steps on to the stage, Dec can barely keep his eyes off her.
And Simon Cowell is also transfixed by her curves.
Fellow judge Amanda Holden jokes: "Is it a yes or a no, Simon?" before Sophie has performed.
An insider said: "Dec was completely gobsmacked when he met Sophie and couldn't keep her eyes off her.
"He really wants her to do well in the competition."
And student Sophie, from Sheffield, is not the only one to win the judges' approval this week.
Grandad Leonard Henry Bennett, 72, impressed them with his strongman act.
Britain's Got Talent is on at 8.05pm on ITV1.
Note: The judges obviously haven't seen a professional bellydance performance before... but I'm glad that bellydance is getting some publicity, at least. :)
Source: The Daily Record
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Arab film replaces bin Laden with Bellydancing
Published: December 13, 2007
"Whatever Lola Wants" impressed critics at the Dubai International Film Festival
DUBAI (Reuters): No bombs. No bloodshed. No bin Laden. Belly dancing is the theme Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch says can best communicate the Arab world to the West and reconcile cultural differences.
"Whatever Lola Wants," Ayouch's story of an American woman who encounters Arab life through belly dancing lessons, premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival this week, impressing many critics.
"I think belly dancing is one of the two things that the Americans and the Occidentals know most about the Arab world, along with bin Laden," Ayouch told Reuters.
"It's so much better to give the image of the Arab world through belly dancing than Osama bin Laden... it's all a question of misunderstanding and it's not because we are different, we can't talk or understand each other," he said.
Ayouch hopes Lola will make it in Hollywood.
"I want the American people to see this film because I want them to get the chance to know another side of the Arab people," Ayouch said.
"Most of the movies I have seen in America about the Arab world are always talking about the same matters -- terrorism, bombings, arms, fighting -- but what Lola carries back with her to New York is belly dancing," he said.
In the Hollywood-inspired feature, New York postal worker Lola, played by Laura Ramsey, falls in love with a handsome Egyptian, played by the Moroccan Assaad Bouab.
When they break up, she decides to travel to Egypt to win him back, but instead finds herself pursuing a deeper passion: dancing.
Having been introduced to the sensual art by an Egyptian friend in the United States, she meets the legendary but fallen belly dancer Ismahan, played by Carmen Lebbos, during her expedition to Cairo.
Lola convinces Ismahan to teach her, and the two women develop a relationship of self-discovery and redemption.
"It's not a film about belly dancing, which is just an organic link in the film, but it's about an exchange; one giving a passion for dance and the other, a passion for life," Ayouch explained.
Co-written with Jane Hawksley, the movie is the director's first venture into Hollywood-style English-language cinema.
Born and raised in Paris, Ayouch is renowned for "Ali Zaoua, prince de la rue" (Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Street), a powerful portrayal of Casablanca street children, which won an award at the Amiens International Film Festival in France.
Source: Al Arabiya News Channel
"Whatever Lola Wants" impressed critics at the Dubai International Film Festival
DUBAI (Reuters): No bombs. No bloodshed. No bin Laden. Belly dancing is the theme Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch says can best communicate the Arab world to the West and reconcile cultural differences.
"Whatever Lola Wants," Ayouch's story of an American woman who encounters Arab life through belly dancing lessons, premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival this week, impressing many critics.
"I think belly dancing is one of the two things that the Americans and the Occidentals know most about the Arab world, along with bin Laden," Ayouch told Reuters.
"It's so much better to give the image of the Arab world through belly dancing than Osama bin Laden... it's all a question of misunderstanding and it's not because we are different, we can't talk or understand each other," he said.
Ayouch hopes Lola will make it in Hollywood.
"I want the American people to see this film because I want them to get the chance to know another side of the Arab people," Ayouch said.
"Most of the movies I have seen in America about the Arab world are always talking about the same matters -- terrorism, bombings, arms, fighting -- but what Lola carries back with her to New York is belly dancing," he said.
In the Hollywood-inspired feature, New York postal worker Lola, played by Laura Ramsey, falls in love with a handsome Egyptian, played by the Moroccan Assaad Bouab.
When they break up, she decides to travel to Egypt to win him back, but instead finds herself pursuing a deeper passion: dancing.
Having been introduced to the sensual art by an Egyptian friend in the United States, she meets the legendary but fallen belly dancer Ismahan, played by Carmen Lebbos, during her expedition to Cairo.
Lola convinces Ismahan to teach her, and the two women develop a relationship of self-discovery and redemption.
"It's not a film about belly dancing, which is just an organic link in the film, but it's about an exchange; one giving a passion for dance and the other, a passion for life," Ayouch explained.
Co-written with Jane Hawksley, the movie is the director's first venture into Hollywood-style English-language cinema.
Born and raised in Paris, Ayouch is renowned for "Ali Zaoua, prince de la rue" (Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Street), a powerful portrayal of Casablanca street children, which won an award at the Amiens International Film Festival in France.
Source: Al Arabiya News Channel
Thursday, 9 August 2007
Capturing Dance, Recording History
By PIA CATTON
Published: August 1, 2007
When filmmakers make movies about dance on stage — be it ballet or modern — the results are usually a bit of a let down: The backstage drama winds up with more (and better) stage time than the performances.
But when it comes to social dance, Hollywood deserves a fair measure of praise. Movies that incorporate or revolve around social dance are distinctly of their own time. And without movies to show how people danced at a given moment in history, the style of that era would exist only in photography and memory.
Imagine the extreme frustration that would befall today's grandparents if they could only show their grandchildren photographs of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. A still image of those two slim figures tapping out a duet or waltzing together across the room would show the style of the day and the surroundings, but none of the quality of the movement.
Of course, the average couple going out for a spin on a Friday night in 1949, the year that "The Barkleys of Broadway" opened, couldn't possibly dance as well as this professional pair. But Fred and Ginger represented a standard of elegance and — given the cornball plots to fill the time between the dancing — enough romance to send the audience into flights of fancy.
In the modern era, perhaps the greatest film to capture social dance is "Saturday Night Fever" (1977). The scenes in the Brooklyn nightclub give us glimpses of lively group dances, some of which are interrupted by the flashy stylings of the local hotshot, Tony Manero, played by the exceptionally gifted John Travolta. Though his home-grown style looks spontaneous on the dance floor, the rehearsal scenes let the viewer in on the trick: Tony and his partners practice quite a lot. What he creates in the studio pushes the form forward when he takes it public.
But "Saturday Night Fever" is also brutally realistic about life, love, and sex. These young women and men don't know where they're going, and only the boy who can dance — the artist — can see a way out of the borough. The film uses the vehicle of dance to show how modern society was changing and expectations were expanding, which makes it much more than a film about dance.
The plot of "Flashdance" (1983) brings high and low dance into a culture clash. Exotic dancer Alex Owens (Jennifer Beals) wants to get into the local ballet company. Lacking ballet technique and a rule-abiding temperament, she breaks in by way of attitude. The dance that is captured here is more about strip dancing than fox trotting, but her workouts and the culminating audition scene are examples of a jazzbased style that was popular at the time. And whereas in "Striptease" (1996), Demi Moore also had some creative, moody stripper acts set to popular Annie Lennox songs, nothing beats "Flashdance" for that infamous gush of water.
By contrast, social dance is at the center of the plot of "Footloose" (1984). A sleepy small town, in which the most important church pastor has forbidden dance, is disrupted when the sexy, daring Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) arrives from the big city. He leads the high school students in a reasoned protest in favor of a prom with dancing.
Ren gets the girl and the prom, but the fun part is watching his buddy Willard (Chris Penn) learn how to dance. The teaching starts from the need to understand rhythm and then to have the confidence to create something personal. At the prom, the exuberant dance moves suggest that the rest of the teens — who have previously not been allowed to dance — have been secretly practicing, too. There is partnering, individual showing off, and even a littlebreak-dancing, which considering that the Midwestern town depicted was almost lily-white, was probably not entirely accurate.
But the '80s were the era of breakdancing — and any film about dance needed it. The film "Breakin'" (1984) brought jazz and breakdancing together. "Beat Street" (1984) emphasized the role of the DJ. Neither film may live large in the annals of cinema, but their purpose was to capitalize on the interest in a new urban dance form. By putting breakdancing at the center of the action, the filmmakers gave a national audience to something that was only emerging in cities. And they gave modern films about street dance, such as "You Got Served" (2004), a jumping off point to incorporate the explosion of gang culture.
Though films such as "Grease" (1978) and "Dirty Dancing" (1987) became hits within the musicalfilm genre, both look back to other eras rather than explore the contemporary. "Grease" opened only one year after "Saturday Night Fever," but how different the happy version of the '50s looks in comparison to the grittiness and reality of Brooklyn in the late 1970s. "Dirty Dancing" took a retrospective look at 1963 in the Catskills, but launched the new (and supremely annoying) song "(I've Had) the Time of My Life" onto the radio.
As different as all these films are, the one element connecting films about social dancing — be they retrospective or of their time — is the idealistic message that dancing is a sort of healing activity. It can bring families together, elevate one's social standing, and open minds. And if that's true, we could use a little more of it — in film and in real life, too.
Source: NY Sun
Published: August 1, 2007
When filmmakers make movies about dance on stage — be it ballet or modern — the results are usually a bit of a let down: The backstage drama winds up with more (and better) stage time than the performances.
But when it comes to social dance, Hollywood deserves a fair measure of praise. Movies that incorporate or revolve around social dance are distinctly of their own time. And without movies to show how people danced at a given moment in history, the style of that era would exist only in photography and memory.
Imagine the extreme frustration that would befall today's grandparents if they could only show their grandchildren photographs of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. A still image of those two slim figures tapping out a duet or waltzing together across the room would show the style of the day and the surroundings, but none of the quality of the movement.
Of course, the average couple going out for a spin on a Friday night in 1949, the year that "The Barkleys of Broadway" opened, couldn't possibly dance as well as this professional pair. But Fred and Ginger represented a standard of elegance and — given the cornball plots to fill the time between the dancing — enough romance to send the audience into flights of fancy.
In the modern era, perhaps the greatest film to capture social dance is "Saturday Night Fever" (1977). The scenes in the Brooklyn nightclub give us glimpses of lively group dances, some of which are interrupted by the flashy stylings of the local hotshot, Tony Manero, played by the exceptionally gifted John Travolta. Though his home-grown style looks spontaneous on the dance floor, the rehearsal scenes let the viewer in on the trick: Tony and his partners practice quite a lot. What he creates in the studio pushes the form forward when he takes it public.
But "Saturday Night Fever" is also brutally realistic about life, love, and sex. These young women and men don't know where they're going, and only the boy who can dance — the artist — can see a way out of the borough. The film uses the vehicle of dance to show how modern society was changing and expectations were expanding, which makes it much more than a film about dance.
The plot of "Flashdance" (1983) brings high and low dance into a culture clash. Exotic dancer Alex Owens (Jennifer Beals) wants to get into the local ballet company. Lacking ballet technique and a rule-abiding temperament, she breaks in by way of attitude. The dance that is captured here is more about strip dancing than fox trotting, but her workouts and the culminating audition scene are examples of a jazzbased style that was popular at the time. And whereas in "Striptease" (1996), Demi Moore also had some creative, moody stripper acts set to popular Annie Lennox songs, nothing beats "Flashdance" for that infamous gush of water.
By contrast, social dance is at the center of the plot of "Footloose" (1984). A sleepy small town, in which the most important church pastor has forbidden dance, is disrupted when the sexy, daring Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) arrives from the big city. He leads the high school students in a reasoned protest in favor of a prom with dancing.
Ren gets the girl and the prom, but the fun part is watching his buddy Willard (Chris Penn) learn how to dance. The teaching starts from the need to understand rhythm and then to have the confidence to create something personal. At the prom, the exuberant dance moves suggest that the rest of the teens — who have previously not been allowed to dance — have been secretly practicing, too. There is partnering, individual showing off, and even a littlebreak-dancing, which considering that the Midwestern town depicted was almost lily-white, was probably not entirely accurate.
But the '80s were the era of breakdancing — and any film about dance needed it. The film "Breakin'" (1984) brought jazz and breakdancing together. "Beat Street" (1984) emphasized the role of the DJ. Neither film may live large in the annals of cinema, but their purpose was to capitalize on the interest in a new urban dance form. By putting breakdancing at the center of the action, the filmmakers gave a national audience to something that was only emerging in cities. And they gave modern films about street dance, such as "You Got Served" (2004), a jumping off point to incorporate the explosion of gang culture.
Though films such as "Grease" (1978) and "Dirty Dancing" (1987) became hits within the musicalfilm genre, both look back to other eras rather than explore the contemporary. "Grease" opened only one year after "Saturday Night Fever," but how different the happy version of the '50s looks in comparison to the grittiness and reality of Brooklyn in the late 1970s. "Dirty Dancing" took a retrospective look at 1963 in the Catskills, but launched the new (and supremely annoying) song "(I've Had) the Time of My Life" onto the radio.
As different as all these films are, the one element connecting films about social dancing — be they retrospective or of their time — is the idealistic message that dancing is a sort of healing activity. It can bring families together, elevate one's social standing, and open minds. And if that's true, we could use a little more of it — in film and in real life, too.
Source: NY Sun
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