Dance Web

ok, just part of california, but… the story from the modesto bee:

Stanislaus County Library patrons can read any of 10 books on belly dancing, from techniques to costumes. They also can check out a DVD on belly dancing as an exercise.

But they can’t attend a belly dancing program at the library anymore.

Stanislaus County Chief Executive Officer Rick Robinson has canceled the program, which was scheduled for April 22.

“The issue is what is appropriate for a library and what is not appropriate,” Robinson said.

Robinson saw the event scheduled on the library calendar and questioned it.

“Does it support some form of educational opportunity, or is it just pure entertainment?” Robinson asked. “I couldn’t answer that to my satisfaction, and I couldn’t answer it to my board.”

i’ve spoken about educational opportunities on occasion… but since i don’t know anything about this specific program, i turn the forum over to you…

This has been sticking in my craw for quite a while, and I guess the best way to free myself is to go ahead and dump it out there in public and the next time it comes up, I can skip the discussion and just point. I could be wrong about all of this, but there are just too many pieces that come together for me.

Long, long ago, in a garden far, far away (in Hollywood), Miles Copeland III made the following statement about just how important the Bellydance Superstars really are:

“Bellydance Superstars is the most important dance company in the world today. We are the only ones doing something that has a social import. Given that the most important thing in the world today is the conflict between Muslim world and the United States, anything that creates bridges between those two cultures is incredibly important.”

Since then, he’s played it a bit fast… and I’ve taken issue with that strategy.

Much more recently, I stumbled into a couple pieces over at Gilded Serpent discussing the latest version of the Bellydance Superstars… one by a [former] superstar and one by Najia. Najia’s piece included this observation:

The curtains opened and a large backdrop of some sort of old palatial architecture suggesting Arabic culture lined the entire back of the stage. These over-large renderings do lend some courtly atmosphere, but tend to dwarf the performers, losing dancers in the perspective of their massive scale, bright colors and over-sized landscapes. I am accustomed to the colorful fabrics that the Egyptians use for their party backdrops that mock the elaborate appliqués of old, but these palace renderings are enormous by comparison!

and this uncredited picture:

I have to emphasize at this point that I am no scholar of Arabic or Middle Eastern culture. I’ve toyed with architecture, and I’ve been working fairly seriously on dance-related cultural stuff for a couple years now, but I am far, far from an expert. They used a smaller backdrop - David Ludwig’s “Moroccan Room” - to fit the stage at the Birchmere, so I have not seen this backdrop in its full glory. With that disclaimer, it’s time for me to connect some dots.

First, this (the larger) backdrop appears to be based on, if not intended to represent, the Mosque of Cordoba. Cordoba’s arches are very distinctive (see here and here and here and here for photos). Even more specific to this sacred site is the cathedral built into the center of the mosque. In the image of the BDSS backdrop, you can see what looks suspiciously like a buttress through the center gap in the columns roof. I could be wrong, but I know of no other place on earth where you will find a forrest of columns, red-striped Islamic arches, under a classically western cathedral architectural element.

Second, if this is Cordoba, Cordoba has a very specific history as a sacred site. To the Romans it was a temple to Janus; to Visigoths, a Cathedral of St. Vincent; to Muslims as a great mosque (the biggest in Europe, even). Then the Christians came back and re-dedicated it to the Virgin Mary, then a couple centuries later, plopped a cathedral in the middle of the building, so now it’s a huge mosque with a cathedral in the middle.

You can interpret that in several ways, of course, and being an anti-fundamentalist, I personally don’t really care which way you interpret it. Cordoba could be a great insult Christians by Islam, a great insult to Islam by Christians (and legend has it that even the king that sanctioned the construction of the Cathedral, Charles V, regretted his endorsement of the construction of the cathedral, saying “You have built what you or others might have built anywhere, but you have destroyed something unique in the world.” Or it could even be a great insult to Janus by everyone. The polar interpretation (and my preferred interpretation) is that this is one place in the world where Christian and Islamic architecture stand today without the ongoing stain of fresh blood - it is a physical monument to religious tolerance.

Either way, Copeland has dancers showing a lot of skin and shaking a lot of body parts, in what looks like the courtyard of the Mezquita, in the shadow of a Cathedral. For me, that doesn’t bother me - but I don’t get offended easily. I realize that there are people that do (and I go to great lengths to offend them myself). So, I think some cultural awareness is called for… where this runs into trouble for me is that Copeland (and company) can’t claim ignorance - Copeland has paraded his life experience in the Middle East and he’s quoted (and re-quoted and re-quoted) his intention to “create bridges” between the two cultures. It seems to me that staging dancing girls in a sacred place is not the best way to do that.

Not that I expect many fanatical Muslims or Christians in the Bellydance Superstars audience, but if the stated intent is to create bridges, at the very least this is a lost opportunity to educate the audience that does come to the BDSS shows. At worst, this is a profane slap-in-the-face to both Muslims and Christians. As far as I’m concerned, there are two ways out - pull the backdrop and apologize and turn this into an opportunity to build some of those bridges Copeland says are so important, or stop professing the intent to build bridges and admit that the Bellydance Superstars are not about saving us all from a global war of cultures, and it’s merely a dance show.

Whatever Copeland does, I’m going with the former. I guess I will step into the gap, and at least give you the opportunity to turn this into a learning experience and a history lesson.

There are few places in the world that have this kind of distinctive, readily identifiable architecture and embody, in stone, multiple religions. The Mezquita is one… Hagia Sofia in Istanbul is another (converted from a cathedral to a mosque).

I would start with the view from orbit. This is a big, big structure.

Wikipedia also has a good overview, with several links of their own. islamicarchitecture.org has a more detailed history of the construction, at least during the Islamic reign. this photo which is linked from this article is a bit grainy, but shows the buttresses from an aerial perspective. A page from this piece is linked above for photos. archnet.org has a piece as well, and I’ll wrap this up with a link to unesco, which has designated the Mezquita and its surroundings a world heritage site, and includes this this video introduction [windows media].

looks like the bellydance superstars have landed themselves a resident gig at the monte carlo resort (see “monte carlo resort” then “nightlife” then “le cabaret”).

the site claims:

Sixteen gorgeous dancers will perform to tribal, techno, rock and oriental rhythms reminiscent of the poetic and bewitching world of the Arabian Nights.

Open from Wednesday to Saturday. Bar/Restaurant open from 8:30 pm, with the show beginning at 10:30 pm.

sixteen is an expanded company (i think the superstars have been touring with twelve), and the show opened last week (september 14).

haven’t seen any reviews yet…

the itinerary for the first few months of 2006 is now posted, so here are a few minutes’ thoughts on the superstars as they kick off 2006…

the first thing i need to say is that this tour is a lot less rock-and-roll and a lot more dancer-compatible. the average leg is a little more than 200 miles, which is actually a bit longer than the fall 2005 schedule (before it was cancelled), but more importantly, the long legs are matched to dark days more consistently than anything the superstars have done in the past. the short version is that this means a better show, for many inter-related reasons.

the other general note is that the venues seem to be up a notch or two - bigger and more formal presentation space. this also means a better show.

here’s the information i have. many venues are not announced yet, so there’s not much i can do with that. venues i’m familiar with in some manner have capacity in parens. total, with this plan is 67 days covering 14652 miles, which works out to 219 miles/day.

01/17/06 START Sacramento, CA Crest Theatre (975)
01/18/06 295 Ashland, OR The Historic Ashland Armory (300)
01/19/06 286 Portland, OR Aladdin Theatre (620)
01/20/06 313 Vancourver, BC River Rock Casino (1000)
01/21/06 000 Vancourver, BC River Rock Casino (1000)
01/22/06 140 Seattle, WA Benaroya Hall (500)
01/23/06 279 Spokane, WA Metropolitan PAC/”The Met” (750)
01/24/06 DARK
01/25/06 DARK
01/26/06 1409 Los Angeles, CA El Portal Theatre (354)
01/27/06 000 Los Angeles, CA El Portal Theatre (354)
01/28/06 000 Los Angeles, CA El Portal Theatre (354)
01/29/06 000 Los Angeles, CA El Portal Theatre (354)
01/30/06 DARK
01/31/06 DARK
02/01/06 121 San Diego, CA Joan B. Kroc Theatre (600)
02/02/06 340 Fresno, CA
02/03/06 197 San Rafael, CA Marin County Civic Center
02/04/06 352 Santa Barbara, CA Marjorie Luke Theatre (814)
02/05/06 DARK
02/06/06 DARK
02/07/06 468 Phoenix, AZ
02/08/06 466 Albuquerque, NM South Broadway Cultural Center (309)
02/09/06 322 Lubbock, TX Cactus Theatre (426)
02/10/06 379 Oklahoma City, OK
02/11/06 253 Eureka Springs, AR The Auditorium
02/12/06 380 Dallas, TX Colleyville Center (500)
02/13/06 275 San Antonio, TX
02/14/06 197 Houston, TX
02/15/06 DARK
02/16/06 270 Baton Rouge, LA Independence Theatre
02/17/06 400 Birmingham, AL Virginia Samford Theatre
02/18/06 192 Nashville, TN Belcourt Theatre
02/19/06 248 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
02/20/06 DARK
02/21/06 346 Jacksonville, FL
02/22/06 225 Tampa, FL The Royalty Theatre
02/23/06 280 Miami, FL
02/24/06 237 Orlando, FL
02/25/06 401 Savannah, GA
02/26/06 166 Charlotte, NC
02/27/06 DARK
02/28/06 326 Norfolk, VA
03/01/06 190 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere (500)
03/02/06 000 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere (500)
03/03/06 244 New York City, NY
03/04/06 215 Boston, MA
03/05/06 DARK
03/06/06 310 Montreal, QC
03/07/06 123 Ottawa, ON
03/08/06 280 Toronto, ON
03/09/06 229 Windsor/London, ON
03/10/06 002 Detroit, MI
03/11/06 169 Cleveland, OH
03/12/06 142 Columbus, OH
03/13/06 DARK
03/14/06 DARK
03/15/06 355 Chicago, IL
03/16/06 DARK
03/17/06 410 Minneapolis, MN
03/18/06 276 Cedar Rapids, IA
03/19/06 349 St. Louis, MO
03/20/06 DARK
03/21/06 243 Kansas City, KS
03/22/06 DARK
03/23/06 601 Denver, CO
03/24/06 534 Salt Lake City, UT
03/25/06 420 Las Vegas, NV

and now for some more specific thoughts…

downtime is (for now) 15 days out of 67 (22.4%), which is comperable to the oojami tour, and probably more economically feasible given the history of the superstars tour (oojami was new to the us, so information on their draw here was non-existant), and the fact that they’re now in bigger venues. even so, i expect some additions to the schedule, particularly in the midwest and california. there’s no time in the schedule to pick up much more in new england and the mid atlantic, so there will be many unhappy campers there.

several cities get multiple days - vancouver (friday/saturday), los angeles (thursday through sunday) and alexandria (wednesday/thursday). in the local space, the birchmere picks up the second date, which was the fall 2005 plan as well. dc metro supports in the neighborhood of 1000 dancers of various levels, so filling a 500-seat venue in this area has been no problem at all, without even expanding outside the “dancers+friends and family” level of the market. i can’t speak to vancouver from any personal experience, but it’s worth noting that they’re booking into casinos - i expect that to be the trend (and this tour ends in vegas…).

on the subject of hard travel, this is a huge improvement. as it stands now, the longest leg is from spokane to los angeles (at 1400+ miles), but that includes two dark days to make the trip. that may provide an opportunity to pick up a date on one or the other end of that trip. the rest of the brutal legs (~8 hours travel): santa barbara to phoenix (468), phoenix to albuquerque (466), kansas city to denver (601), and denver to salt lake city (534) are generally matched to dark days. only phoenix to albuquerque and denver to salt lake city are locked in - and both of those are pretty hard to avoid, there just aren’t a lot of options in mountains and deserts.

the los angeles area gets a lot of time - so expect something to happen around there to keep things busy. it may not be shows, but with a dozen dancers in the basin, something has to happen.

new cities (i hope this is right) getting visits this time around include fresno (ca), spokane (wa), ashland (or), san rafael (ca), lubbock (tx), eureka springs (ar), ottawa (on), windsor/london (on), and cedar rapids (ia) with all but eureka springs and pieces of canada “scouted” by the american bellydancer film “tour” or other non-show events.

announced here, rachel brice will be off the bellybus and doing creative things of her own for the first half of 2006.

mixed blessings, that… since she probably won’t be coming back to my part of the world, so i wish you well, rachel… come see us again sometime!

in case you were interested in the opportunities that may have played into the delay of the us tour for the bellydance superstars… here’s a clue.

from the daily star (may 23, 2005): What a message. What a tribute

His present project is intriguing. Copeland will take a handful of Arab performers to New Mexico and film them while they perform for a U.S. audience. Sometimes they’ll be paired with American performers. “My brother [former Police drummer Stewart Copeland] is gonna get me musicians - Carlos Santana hopefully. The lead singer from Incubus is really interested in doing something.”

The camera will follow some through their American adventure. He will start filming sometime between November 2005 and January 2006. As the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is funding the two-hour documentary, it will broadcast on the U.S. public broadcasting network, PBS. Copeland then wants to distribute the film in the Middle East.

and he’s good… grant money for production and pbs money for distribution, and

“For me, since I put all these records out there, I’m sort of blatantly ‘Look, if I can get Arab music on the TV, I’m gonna sell a lot of records. Everybody’s gonna be happy.’ Underneath that there’s this subliminal message: ‘Wait a minute! These people aren’t just all terrorists. This is great stuff!’ When the movie comes the people will go ‘Well you know, Americans aren’t just ‘F**k you, let’s buy Macdonald’s. They like some of our stuff.’

let no one say he doesn’t take notes.

“It’s not an ethnic phenomenon,” he says. “It’s American women’ve adopted this art form as a way to empowerment, self-expression, ‘Be proud of your body whatever size and shape you are.’ Which is interesting because you have this impression of the Middle East as being suppressive of women. In America belly dance is an expression of women’s liberation. In a way.”

and a glimpse into the future

After making a number of small budget feature films, he migrated back to a music business in turmoil. “I tend to think in a broader spectrum now. I’ve got the belly dance show, which means we sell tickets, and we can clone it, in effect. There are five Riverdance troupes. Cirque du Soleil, god knows how many there are. Lord of the Dance, there’s four or five of them.

“So you can create a brand, then clone it. We’ve spun off with a very successful apparel line. We’re gonna be into perfume by the end of the year. Instructional CDs, DVDs, films. Then there’s the potential of advertising and sponsorships.

“These days … what with all the Internet piracy, the minute you create [a CD or DVD] the public has it for free. That’s just scary. We need to have more non-digital things. So I don’t look upon us anymore as a ‘record company.’ I think more as a manager, but because I own the belly dance project - I built it. It’s my idea - I feel more like a proprietor.

by the way, there are five fixed productions in the cirque du soleil tent, plus six touring companies.

several pieces lately…

from This is Local London, Dance styles to fit everyone:

The troupe’s instructional and performance DVDs are already international best-sellers, and a new CD/DVD combo simply entitled Bellydance Superstars and The Desert Roses released last month looks set to follow that success.

from the Telegraph, I haven’t got the stomach for this:

That doesn’t sound very Arabian. Nor is it. For, despite exotic stage-names such as Petite Jamilla and Amar Gamal, the Bellydance Superstars are all, in fact, Americans, who chanced upon belly-dance at gym or dance classes before taking it up professionally. “We have Italian-Americans, CubanAmericans, African-Americans, everything except Arab-Americans,” says Miles Copeland, matter-of-factly. “I just can’t find an Arab.”

So he and his girls have spent two years - and half a million of his dollars - trekking round the world in search of success. The signs are good: Copeland is about to form a second company of Superstars.

One will perform a two-month residency in Monaco, while the other remains on the road. Despite being a multi-millionaire, he is still out every night, selling programmes and souvenir T-shirts from the merchandise stand. He even watches every performance, which he says he never bothered to do with Sting or, as Copeland calls him, “Stung, since he’s past tense.”

His dancers take up the theme. Rachel Brice leads the Superstars’ “tribal” group, whose costumes are much edgier. She has a gypsy-punk look, complete with porcupine quills and boar tusks in her hair, and a floral tattoo that winds enticingly from her lower belly over one hip to her backside. “There are so many levels to belly-dance,” Rachel says. “It’s great if you’re into performance, fitness, costume, make-up, anything.”

“Or just if you’re into good-looking women,” I suggest.

She stares pointedly. “That’s my least favourite element. That’s one of the reasons I like to perform a little strangely. It takes that whole ‘Yeah baby!’ thing away. It puts a bit of fear into the audience.”

and from ic north wales, Bellydancers take the world by storm:

Its authentic Arabic music and dance extravaganza has been a total out-ofthe-box success for the troupe and music business legend, Miles Copeland, their manager and founder.

and some thoughts from me… the age range “between 21 and 38″ is strongly emphasized in this bunch of articles. miles and his quotes and comments are still very prominent, as is the comparison to riverdance.

the superstars coming to wales… with quotable moments from miles… Navel gazing

“People told me The Police wouldn’t be big, but they were huge,” he [Miles Copeland] says..

“People have similarly told me belly dancing won’t take off - but when you can see the potential in something different, and it becomes really big, it gives you a real feeling of self-confidence.

“The Police and Bellydance Superstars are the two things I’ve done that are the most revolutionary for their time.”

“It’s the middle-eastern percussion and the rhythm,” explains Copeland.. “It’s very hard to sit down and be passive, because it just makes you want to get up and move. We’ve got dancers who are beautiful and glamorous and at the top of their game - it’s quite a stunning show.”

“From a man’s perspective it’s a celebration of the beauty of a woman without encouraging the baser instincts of the male mind,” Copeland says.

“Our audiences tend to be very heavily weighted towards women - we even had some audiences in America that were 95% women.”

from icNewcastle, Right on the button

“While some would say that belly dance is an art of seduction, others believe that - as the only dance created by women for women - it is a celebration of the woman as a woman.

“As such, it has become a recognised self-esteem builder, a dance to be enjoyed and participated in no matter what your age, size, or shape,” he [Miles Copeland] says.

I don’t often make public statements about specific players in this business of dance, but this time I felt compelled to put it on the record. Before I do, let me say that I don’t have any problem with the Bellydance Superstars or their approach to business or dance. What I have a problem with is something a bit more subtle.

Circulated to their promotional email list and also found on this page [if you jump over the registration hurdles] you will find the following set of quotes from the media, posted by Stipko, “website admin” for the Bellydance Superstars:

* “The most important dance troupe in the world.” – Sunday Times / London

* “Gorgeous, spiffily dressed, skilled dancers…sheer genius.” - Village Voice – New York – 3/12/04

* “Bellydancing is the next riverdance.” – Daily Telegraph / London

* “An exotic, mysterious land of rhythm.” - Metroland – Albany, NY – 3/18/04

Quoting the media is perfectly ok. In fact, it’s pretty much necessary. Promoting the act includes courting and dancing with the media. Where I draw the line is when you start feeding on your own tail in the pursuit of attention, and with this, I think we’ve crossed that line.

These quotes are presented as media commentary on the tour, but that first one isn’t. The Sunday Times article (with some typos), is available from Bellyqueen, so to put the quote in context…

And more. So much more. “Bellydance Superstars is the most important dance company in the world today,” states Copeland, sitting in the garden of his pink Hollywood mansion. “We are the only ones doing something that has a social import. Given that the most important thing in the world today is the conflict between Muslim world and the United States, anything that creates bridges between those two cultures is incredibly important.”

Basically, Copeland’s website is using his own quote (almost - they’ve changed “company” to “troupe” for the quote), attributed to the Sunday Times, to give credibility to his show.

Copeland thinks the Superstars are “the most important dance troupe in the world” - and he should. But he shouldn’t be giving the appearance that the Sunday Times thinks the Superstars are the most important dance troupe in the world just because they printed his quote.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to dig up the Village Voice article, so we’ll skip that one with the benefit of the doubt.

The article from the Telegraph is headlined “Bellydancing – it’s the new Riverdance.” (so the quote is not quite right here either), but Miles Copeland is the one making that case, not the Telegraph:

“With Sting,” he says “I was earning millions of dollars, so in comparison it isn’t anywhere near now. But I believe this is the next Riverdance, so it could absolutely feed the dancers all very well and feed my company, too.”

And finally, from metroland, in context:

Valentine’s Music Hall will be transformed into an exotic, mysterious land of rhythm this evening by the Bellydance Superstars and the Desert Roses.

This quote comes from before the show - so again, it’s not about the show, it’s about what the promoters are saying about the show.

So, now that you have some context, I’m interested in your thoughts on all this….