So, this starts with Buzz Aldrin:
I see a different answer. A number of Science Fiction writers were asked their opinions about this, and many disagreed, independently noting that said "science fiction" was a reason noted by many of today's scientists as why they became interested in the bloody field to being with!
I think Diane Duane - who not only studied Astrophysics in school, but is a noted writer of both adult and Young Adult fiction, covered the point best for my purposes:
So yes, I submit that Tribal pulls in dancers who'd otherwise not be exposed to our style at all. And, of course, part of the issue is that some would argue that tribal isn't Bellydance. Yet I submit that, perhaps, Tribal is simply the Science Fiction version of Raqs Sharqi. To continue that analogy, some will be entranced by the "lack of rules" in Science Fiction/Tribal, while others will find themselves looking for the roots of Science Fiction, and falling into one of the more standard Raqs Sharqi derivations.
These things can live together. Look at how much the dance - [all] the dance - has grown over the last decade! How the growth has infused the spirits of dancers "over there', from the Ahlan Wa Sahlan to their regular workshop gigs around the world. It might have happened without the explosive growth in Tribal - but having Tribal bring fresh blood into "bellydance" gave the whole form a new light in the public consciousness, and helped frame the even more public energy that people like Shakira brought to the form, for good or ill. Just as Science Fiction intrigued millions, so tribal - no matter if it's "bellydance" - intrigued so many women into studying some aspect of this form.
This does not mean there is no room for improvement. But that starts with the name "belly dance" - and a lot of painful realization, like revisiting the layers of Victorian concepts still deep within some aspects of the dance. And how the Tribal "look-and-feel" both subverts and grows that trap.
I'll see about writing on that, soon.
Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. told SCI FI Wire that fantastic space science fiction shows and movies are, in part, responsible for the lack of interest in real-life space exploration among young people.And that reminds me of nothing so much as the oft-repeated diatribes and issues many people have against Tribal. Many people bemoan the advent of Tribal as a loss of understanding of the importance of Raqs Sharqi in Western culture, esp. America. They see it's rise as leading a group of dancers into darkness and ignorance of the cultures it came from.
"I blame the fantastic and unbelievable shows about space flight and rocket ships that are on today," Aldrin said in an interview during an ice cream party held by the National Geographic Channel at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., this week. "All the shows where they beam people around and things like that have made young people think that that is what the space program should be doing. It's not realistic."
I see a different answer. A number of Science Fiction writers were asked their opinions about this, and many disagreed, independently noting that said "science fiction" was a reason noted by many of today's scientists as why they became interested in the bloody field to being with!
I think Diane Duane - who not only studied Astrophysics in school, but is a noted writer of both adult and Young Adult fiction, covered the point best for my purposes:
Buzz's opinion is founded on a misperception (which lots of other adults share, having possibly partly forgotten what it was like to be a kid) that all kids or young people of a generation are a homogeneous group, sort of a cultural monobloc, in which everyone wants or thinks the same things.Many of these "tribal sux!" comments, I think, presuppose that said people who have gone into some variant of "traditional" Raqs Sharqi if the tribal variants weren't available. But, form my discussions, I don't think that's always true. I think the Tribal aesthetic taps into something that a number of these (mostly) women liked, and cared for in ways that wearing bedlah didn't provide. Yes, some considerable portion of that is celebrity-driven. And yet, why do you think so many dancers on the other side of the divide admire, say, Dina?
There will always be a given percentage of kids who don't care about space in exactly the same way that there's a given percentage of adults who don't care about it -- and one state doesn't necessarily lead to the other. Poll any random sampling of adults and you'll find some who don't care about anything but doing their daily job and putting food on the table, and are short of dreams of any other kind: but in the same sampling you'll find some who dream of walking on the Moon themselves. Poll a similar sampling of kids and you'll find a similar divide -- some of them are hot for music or games or sports and don't care much about anything else, but some have space in their blood and won't necessarily be able to tell you how or why it got there: they just want it.
So yes, I submit that Tribal pulls in dancers who'd otherwise not be exposed to our style at all. And, of course, part of the issue is that some would argue that tribal isn't Bellydance. Yet I submit that, perhaps, Tribal is simply the Science Fiction version of Raqs Sharqi. To continue that analogy, some will be entranced by the "lack of rules" in Science Fiction/Tribal, while others will find themselves looking for the roots of Science Fiction, and falling into one of the more standard Raqs Sharqi derivations.
These things can live together. Look at how much the dance - [all] the dance - has grown over the last decade! How the growth has infused the spirits of dancers "over there', from the Ahlan Wa Sahlan to their regular workshop gigs around the world. It might have happened without the explosive growth in Tribal - but having Tribal bring fresh blood into "bellydance" gave the whole form a new light in the public consciousness, and helped frame the even more public energy that people like Shakira brought to the form, for good or ill. Just as Science Fiction intrigued millions, so tribal - no matter if it's "bellydance" - intrigued so many women into studying some aspect of this form.
This does not mean there is no room for improvement. But that starts with the name "belly dance" - and a lot of painful realization, like revisiting the layers of Victorian concepts still deep within some aspects of the dance. And how the Tribal "look-and-feel" both subverts and grows that trap.
I'll see about writing on that, soon.
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