Something in the Way She Moves
Wendy Buonaventura 2003
Book Review
This book is nothing like Wendys previous book, “Serpent of the Nile”. “Something in the Way She Moves” reeks with a harsh, shrill tone that’s difficult to get past.
Many pages are devoted to various diatribes against various things. In some sections, she speaks harshly of bound feet, corsets, ballet and modern cabaret belly dancers; in other sections she quotes grumpy people complaining about the indecencies of various “new” dances. Conservative people will always be shocked at “new” dances, we see it today with conservative rants against the sexual movements in hip hop. We easily get the idea, but she beats it with a hammer to a pulp. That said, some of what she quotes is almost strangely humorous. The horrified description of the Tango sounded eerily similar to 1970s rants against the evils of Disco Dance.
Wedged in between the rants are biographies of early 20th century performers, discussions of Kabuki Theater and Geishas, the historical roots of various dances, mid 20th century dance halls, the idea that Diane, Princess of Wales has become the Pagan Goddess of the 21st century, and a long journey into cross dressing and homosexuality.
Pornography is the first topic of discussion, and she offers the possibility that some future culture will think modern porno mags are religious texts honoring goddesses. A few dozen pages later, she does a 180 and mocks the idea that the ancient “Venus Figures”, small headless, handless, and footless female shapes found throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East, might be a form of ancient porn. Or was her first idea actually intended to be sarcastic? If so, the sarcasm and the point are lost.
Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this book – perhaps she was aiming for shock value? – is her harsh attack on modern cabaret belly dance. She calls cabaret belly dance a parody of itself, and speaks of ever more popular female impersonator belly dancers.
In my 30 years in the belly dance world in the mid west USA, I have never in my life seen a female impersonator belly dancer. I have seen some absolutely fantastic male belly dancers, but they never pretended to be women. But that matters little, as Wendy has nothing good to say about male belly dancers in general.
She includes extensive research materials, so I’m certain that her facts are accurate (or at least as accurate as her source material) but given her harsh tone throughout the book, I’m not sure I trust all her material to be presented fairly.