14 months?!?!?! Thats it??! Shit Megan! I loved it!!!! You have great stage presence, you really worked the room, great dance vocabulary, and you have great style (kinda reminded me of Sam Hasthorpe). I couldn't really see your facial expressions due to the video editing effect, but there's nothing (for me) to really critique!


I can't wait to see more!!!

:)

Megan, you obviously have great command and control of your body movement. I only have 2 points for you to consider - first is at about 55 seconds in, you did a backbend that gave the camera a fantastic shot of your crotch - yes, I know you were dancing for three sides of the room so someone was going to have to get that view. HOWEVER, you have backbends that are deep enough that you could have easily done the backbend facing away from the camera (so we get to see your lovely face as you hit full extension) and the sides would have gotten the awesome table-top-side view.

You have outstanding pops/locks/level changes and liquid fluidity. Show me more bellydance please.

WARNING: RANT AHEAD

It's not just this performance that bothers me, but many I've been seeing over the past few years. Yes, I do expect to see other dance forms presented in a fusion piece - but I also expect to see some belly dance as well. Tossing in a sprinkling of shimmies doesn't quite meet my expectation of fusion. I'm starting to feel like I'm watching popping/breaking/liquid dancers in bellydance costumes. It's beautiful, it's amazingly skilled, it shows great attention to the music - but I'm left feeling that the heart of what makes bellydance what it is - is missing. I feel as if the mechanics of the movement has over powered the soul of the music (or perhaps it is the music that lacks soul?)

Good job! Don't worry, you have a similar problem to most dancers. When you get on stage your adrenaline starts pumping and you get ahead of the music (story of my life). You have a great presence and you seem very comfortable moving around and dancing in a crowd. My recommendation would to be to challenge yourself and find slower, more fluid music to dance to. That way you'll be a bit forced to do more 'bellydance' moves versus pops and locks.

You're definitely on the right path! But try not to get ahead of yourself, slow it down and feel the music.

Okay, for only been dancing 14 months you did an excellent job. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this style of dance but even I who am into Tribal fusion agree that more belly dance needs to be represented in your piece. But you mentioned you are aware of this and I think when you choreograph another piece that'll help you out a great deal. The main critique I have for you is to tone down on the pops and locks a bit. Pops/locks should be a special thing that surprises your audience. When you do that throughout the whole piece it loses its "omg hows she doing that" factor and dulls the senses. This is where you could intersperse some Tribal Combos or moves and some cabaret moves to make it truly Tribal fusion. The last critique I have is in the beginning of the piece your pops/locks were a bit forceful but you calmed down towards the middle and end of the dance. I've seen some famous dancers who have this same issue and it feels to me that they are throwing themselves around rather than smoothly going into the next series of moves. So watch that too.

As for good stuff, you otherwise had great control over your moves, you did a great job utilizing your arms I feel, your turkish drop was fantastic (though I'd loosen your arms a bit in the backbend because they looked too stiff and like you were concentrating too much on preparing to drop) you have great flexibility and you have wonderful grace which most beginners lack. You have extreme talent in moving your body the way you want it to and you are a good dancer who will be fantastic pretty soon! So keep it up! and let us see more and watch you grow!