Hello everyone,

The editor asked me if I would mind posting my letter here, so I'm pasting it below. (I also posted it to my blog.) I sent it directly to the company, so I wasn't expecting comments, but if anyone would like to, I guess that's cool, too.





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Hi, this is in repsonse to this article: www.gildedserpent.com/art42/r...ibal.htm


Way to slam the Bellydance Community.

Well, I suppose under the cloak of "critique" and "review" we could just start pulling hair and sticking your foot out to trip people up…

I think we all learned this in preschool: the triangular object will not fit into the round hole, and vice versa. Yes, they have the main thing in common, they are both shapes. But no, they are not alike and their differences have to be appreciated in order to get through your peg-plugging session. You could get stubborn and hammer the crap out of that shape and try to cram it in there, but what would be the point of that? You just get frustrated, fail, and it makes you look mental. We learned that when we all grew up. Most of us learned it, mostly.

"Traditional" styles of BD and certain other styles, don't fit into each other's "pegs", people. They just don't. And that's okay! Yes, they are both the same dance, and share similarites. But, they are different shapes. Now take a long deep breath…and just LET IT GO.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Because I realize, after reading so much negativity on this subject, that it must truly kill you to let it go, like someone close to you has really kicked the bucket and the funeral is still fresh. But cheer up, after Denial and one of those others grieving steps, Acceptance is somewhere in there, and Acceptance is a good one. Cause you will be less frustrated with that style of dance you dislike so much, and you will look less mental for trying to make it "fit" into the techniques and ideals of a different style.

For the most part, I don't have a problem with reviews.
Just because someone is critiquing something, does NOT mean that they are haters. Saying you don't like a particular thing does not automatically mean that you are coming from a place of jealously. I disagree with the idea that the review or critique of anyone else's art form is bad or wrong, in and of itself. There are positives that can be gotten in honest critique for many people.
But some of these people's reviews I've read, are clearly coming from a place of jealously, (professional or otherwise), hostility, and from a place that sounds an awful lot like: "I don't like this Tribal Thing, I've tried scrapping it off the bottom of my shoe but it's really popular now (gagging on "p" word) and it's stuck there for good, soooo…I will throw a few very well-written and thought out compliments it's way in some performance and DVD reviews, that way I can totally compliment and slam it simultaneously, happily sounding off without seeming like a complete asshole."

Nice, people. Real nice.



So I guess what I meant by the first statement, 'way to slam the community'… is when you poo poo on one of us, doesn't it just get us all dirty, really? Because it's seriously catty and divides Bellydance along the Us vs. Them lines?
How can a person who calls themselves a bellydancer, which to me is a dance rooted in self-expression and love of life, say to another dancer, with their Style Checklist firmly in hand…"no, no, wrong, everything you're doing is wrong, oh no, that's bad, and also, NO."
Wow, you are totally trying to kill that dancer's spirit. Why would you do that? No seriously, you are literally sucking the joy out of her dance.
And also, how very two-faced of you. Cause I see on the one hand … "dance and be happy and be beautiful in your own skin and practice and drill and grow in the dance and just be superawesome, go, go, go, Go Team Go…" but on the other hand…
"g-damnint you better look the way we look, pose the way we pose, and don't you dare change anything or it'll be wrong and YOU'LL be wrong. Don't mess with us. We have internets."… "Bitches."

I don't think there's anything wrong with critique (And I'm not talking about the basics, drills, form, etc. I'm talking about creative style.) coming from a place of describing what it is about the dance that is not for you, or that you don't understand. That's one thing, But when it's coming from a place of hostility because you can't stand it simply because it is what it is, that's not so much a real review as a just entertainment for those who love a good hard slam. Woot! It's fun, isn't it? Sure it is! And don't let anybody tell you different either. Cause that's just what we need more of in Bellydance. Enemies! Mmm, mm!! Nothing like going through the day with fresh thoughts of disliking those who are not doin' stuff they way we want'em to be doin' it. Loathing, baked fresh daily.

Really. I don't think it's serves Bellydance for all of us dancers to hate each other so much. You heard me.
Out of all the groups and forums and discussions I've had with various dancers, overall, overwhelmingly, I have yet to see Tribal dancers go after the jugular of other style dancers, the way other styles go after Tribal.

I do realize Tribal has become very popular, and well, perhaps that's the thing. Sorta like the pretty girl at school, who is actually a kind, great person, but she's hated anyway because she's pretty. Shallow.
Something becomes popular, there's a backlash. Which I've always thought was retarded anyway. There are just people out there who automatically react to something they don't care for as if they've just contracted rabies. Whipping their heads around, foaming at the mouth as they pound away on their keyboards.

Please, calm down.

No one is forcing you to do anything you don't want to do. Did the Tribal Hit Squad throw a bag over your head and drag you off someplace, put you into a Fusion-style getup and make you pop or slink around to that uber-creepy goth music and hip-hop??? Wow, no they did not. As a matter of fact, nothing like that happened to anybody anywhere. So seriously, what are you so effing disgruntled about?
If you believe that your own Bellydance style is long and strong, and it's doing it's thing, and you love it, then what are you complaining about?

And here's another nugget: If you are not a fan of the style, but you are trying Fusion workshops, then you are interested in some part of something you saw in it. So, you think the choreography is too busy or choppy or whatever? You think the movements aren't cohesive or lyrical enough? Hey guess what, sister. Change it. Put your own thing on it, and change it to make it more beautiful, more powerful, more whatever, just better for you. Go on, don't be scared. No one will stop you. Because that's one of the things I sorta noticed about Fusion, one of the things you seem to dislike: they altered some specified format of a dance, to make themselves happy. You can do it too, Punchanella, Punchanella…

There is no point in telling another dancer what she should be doing. You like your idea so much? YOU do it.


And actually, I was surprised at the tone of the review I just read, until I reread two quotes that I missed before:
" If you're already into Tribal Fusion or its moodier cousin Raks Gothique, this features some of the top TF stylists showing how it's supposed to look at its best. And these dancers are all very, very skilled. If you are a die-hard traditionalist who thinks Tribal Fusion and Gothic bellydance are a plague upon the land, this won't change your mind, so save your pennies."

" Also, I'm not exactly a wholehearted aficionado of Tribal anything."


LOL! If I'd noticed that last comment first, BEFORE I started reading the review, the tone would had made a lot more sense.