Well, I have a very expensive custom made Scottish bellydance costume, but that's about it. I don't do anything else specifically Scottish within the dance itself; just a costume I had made.

Well, my home culture is African-American, and I'm heavily influenced, as a dancer, by growing up with a musician as a Mother. She played piano in our church, and taught me to sing in the choir as well.

That led to 3 or 4 years of going to Gospel Music Workshop conventions, both local, regional, and national. A lot of time spent on the stage, performing. People note, today, I don't seem to have a lot of stage fright when I dance, and that's part of why.

People also notice I love playing with the music, dancing both within and without it. Although I still struggle with maquams as a concept, I love music, and I love that you can do this dance form with nearly any kind (in my opinion, I know others disagree). Again, I think that's a result of growing up with music as both theory and practice, and learning to love it like my Mom did.

Moreover, there's simply a long tradition in African-American culture of entertainment and performance; for many, it was not just a love, but the only way to make money against a racist system. Although I didn't have to overcome, in any way, the forces they did, I'm eternally grateful that they showed how hard work and determination, paired with a true love of whatever art they performed, can make a difference.

Awesome Topic!

I, personally, think that culture affects everything we do. It's so much a part of how we see the world that we often don't even recognize it's influence. I was raised in South Louisiana with a very French/Cajun culture all around me. Lots of arts and a welcoming attitude to artists. Not to say that they don't have their own conservative element (my grandmothers were pretty stanch!).

As an adult, I moved to the deep south. Yes, South Louisiana is south - but it aint' Southern! Major culture shock and lots of years of people taking an instant dislike to me because I was blunt and very plain spoken (A Cajun trait). I have smoothed some of my rough edges over the years and don't have as many issues - but even after 17 years here, it's because I adapt my natural inclinations to fit in. I am constantly - almost daily reminded that I didn't grow up in this culture. <shrug>

Having said all of that, I'm not sure how my native culture affects my dance. I know the Southern culture does, as I am alway congnizant of the conservative nature of this culture once you get outside the perimeter of Atlanta! I live outside the perimeter.

I think my French heritage makes me willing to try new things and there is definately a love of dance! All dance - any dance in S. LA. For pete's sake - we close the streets down in order to hold Fais Do Dos! In Lafayette this happened weekly during the warm weather months (that's most of the year) - I'm assumming it still does. I also have a familiarity with fiddle and accordian music/sounds that seems to come back around in my belly dance and a love of bright and brilliant colors that shows up in my costuming choices.

As I think on this I may think of more ways, but as I said at the beginning...cultural affects are deep and often difficult to pin down.

Halleyah :)

What an interesting question!!!

I think growing up in a family where my grandfather was a professional musician all his life, my father played piano and sax, my brother played sax since he was 8 years old and has his own band now, I played piano, violin and clarinet, and everybody sang contributed to my interest in music. There was always music in my house. Everything from swing, to classical, to techno. The love of music in general made it easy for me to be interested in Middle Eastern music. The understanding of music theory made it easy for me to get lost in it and be able to do so much with it.

My family is white (German & English), native American, black, and Filipino so having that multicultural background contributed to a curiousity about the world and the desire to travel. I think that made it easy for me to go to Morocco and Egypt and check out the dance scenes first hand. it also made it comfortable for me to mingle with Middle Eastern people here. Because of being everything and nothing, I have rarely felt like an outsider of any group so I am pretty much accepted anywhere.

My mother is an animist and my father is a child of the 60s. Between both those influences, I've been taught that sex is simply natural, so I haven't had any taboos against being sensual, but have had respect for sex. I think that has served me well as a belly dancer when it's so easy to be taken down in the gutter.

My culture as a woman wasn't really fully explored until I became a dancer, so actually dancing helped me to get more into that aspect of my culture.

I think culture is so pervasive that it's hard to really pick out what influences what.

I grew up outside of the US in many largely non-Western cultures, but often in Western/expatriate bubbles within those environments. I am mixed ethnicity and mixed culture (google "TCK" or "CCK"). There are things about me that are distinctly American/Western, and things about me that are absolutely NOT.

For oriental dance or dance in general, I have my own approach to what the dance means to me, and that approach is something that is outside of a cultural boundary -- it's about achieving tarab, and even if that term is Arabic, I think it's a universal idea. Since I myself don't live within any cultural boundaries, I don't really feel that I can cross boundaries (i.e. in the case of appropriation, wherein for example a Caucasian woman would wear a traditional Chinese dress to a party). I do respect the culture and do all I can to understand and be a part of it even if there are things I will never be able to be a part of. I don't feel detached, even to the purest of the pure Egyptian relationships to raqs sharqi. Since my own culture is ephemeral, there are things I won't understand, but I've also spent my life being a chameleon, so it's not a "problem" for me.

I guess for me, my desire to understand world cultures (from having been exposed to so many) manifests in my dance through my appreciation for the true history/meaning/expression/ethnology of the form. I don't just put on a coined girdle and shake my ass around -- there's much more there.

I dont't that most Americans have a specific culture so-to-speak.
Not like Latin, European, or middle easter countries have anyway. And I think this makes it harder for some of our musical tastes to mesh w/ traditional BD. Perhaps this is why Fusion styles are becoming so popular now - we as a melting pot are mixing up our own stew.
I do find it easier to get into the rhythms of pop, hip-hop, and some alternative vs. traditional Egyptian music (w/ exception of some modern Egyptian hip-hop, but then it is a hip-hop...)

I find the slower snakey moves difficult for many because we live in such a fast paced society/world. Go, go go is the motto. More to do - but still only so many hours in the day. We multi-task and then forget to take in the sun shining through the clouds or to smell the flower we just sprinted past.

So Yeah, I would say that culture affects not just dance - but our everday lives.

I would say it's most often my own attitude about my culture than the culture itself that affects my dance. I did have one teacher who loved to go on & on about how "white girls can't dance"...it was something mentioned at least once in every class & I really did start to buy into it & feel a little defeated.

My family is Irish & I probably don't have to tell you, these are not traditionally a people who live deep down in their bodies in a sensual way. I feel like bellydancing is an opportunity to for me to go beyond the way I was raised and is the best way I've found to really drop into my physical body. I came to the dance with generations of (catholic) baggage I didn't even know I had. I nearly gave it up a few times when I thought I couldn't get past what I was coming up against in myself. I got very lucky and met 2 very different teachers at exactly the right time. I was able to come to the decision that what I have/am is worthy of expression & I hope I continue to feel that way.

I had to think about this for a few days before I could answer fully. Now that I have I can say that my culture does not influence the way that I dance at all. My life experiences and the direction that I have chosen for myself dictates my capacity as a perfomer far more than my place of birth, my upbringing or my schooling ever could. I've found small things from my culture that I can connect to my perfomer self but they are quite limited. I am all that I have crafted myself to be.

~*Spoon*~