Why fuse

[jenc]

I was rather underwhelmed by BDSuperstars "Island Interlude" but then I saw this and thought why would you want to dilute it

[Suheir]

Originally Posted by jenc

I was rather underwhelmed by BDSuperstars "Island Interlude" but then I saw this and thought why would you want to dilute it

Why, indeed. I saw the BDSS number live, twice, and was totally underwhelmed both times. I also don't get the urge to "fuse". If my hobby was Chinese Cookery I wouldn't be desperate to mix Bricklaying in with it.

[Moon]

I think, when bellydance is only movement for you and you are so flexible and have so much muscle control to to layer shimmies with bellyrolls and snake arms etc., it will get very boring and you get the urge to fuse your dancing with something you have not tried out before.

Thanks for these videos Jenc I really liked them. Were the women making movements from every day life at the beginning?

[Brea]

I always felt that there was a very big difference between hula and bellydance. Hula is a story told with the hands and the dancers use (mostly) their feet to produce the moves, aside from a few things like mayas. Since the point of hula is to tell a story with the hands removing that element seems like it's just a bellydancer in a grass skirt to me.

Here is some Hawaiian hula at the Merrie Monarch festival; see if you can spot the difference between the two forms of dance (by which I mean bellydance and hula):

YouTube - Merrie Monarch 2006

YouTube - Halau Mohala `Ilima (Auana Wahine) Merrie Monarch 2007

[adiemus]

GREAT post Brea, loved the video's and I agree hawaiian dance is about the hands - similar in some ways to other polynesian dances. So why take the story out?!
I don't like fusion unless it's clearly fused for a reason - and the 'purist' form is also honoured. The problem for me with fusion is that inevitably, the original form of both dance forms is diluted, and you're left with mashed potatoe... and all that piquancy and uniqueness and variety of the original is lost...

[jenc]

I thought I posted this already
Loved your posts Brea, although I suspect they could add fuel to the masculine/feminine threads!!
Mine were from the Cook Islands by the way, and I don't know anything about them just stumbled upon them

[Aisha Azar]

Originally Posted by adiemus

GREAT post Brea, loved the video's and I agree hawaiian dance is about the hands - similar in some ways to other polynesian dances. So why take the story out?!
I don't like fusion unless it's clearly fused for a reason - and the 'purist' form is also honoured. The problem for me with fusion is that inevitably, the original form of both dance forms is diluted, and you're left with mashed potatoe... and all that piquancy and uniqueness and variety of the original is lost...

Dear Adiemus,
I think that the problem with most fusion is exactly what you have said about the watering down of both forms with no real end result. Its just fusion for its own sake. However, occasionally there dancers who know how to do great fusion and then it is a sublime thing!! Somewhere in the Youtube clips thing there is an Amercian Oriental dancer named Anaheed, who really does a great job of fusion. Also, Sabah, who I believe recently joined the BDSS is a wonderful fusion artist. I am not a big fan of the BDSS and see most of their stuff as either overblown or watered down or just plain silly, as in their gymnastics and kilt numbers. When I saw them live, I was seriously bored because most of the dances were either repeats in different costumes or so out there I just scratched my head in perplexity. Rachel Brice would have been incredible if they did not make her dancing so mundane by having her do the same darn thing 4 times in the show, albeit in different costumes. Miles Copeland, however, can be really pretty fun after the show. He bought me tickets to the show and I took him out for a drink after and we ended up spending 4 hours together. He has quite an interesting mind and was far more entertaining than any part of the show.
Regards,
A'isha

[Brea]

Wait...I am confused. How does the hula contribute to the masculine/feminine threads?

I figured the dance you showed was from other islands, but the hula in its pure form is ALL about the hands. That's why the joke song 'keep your eyes on the hands' even exists. Taking the story out of the story doesn't make any sense at all to me.

[jenc]

Originally Posted by Brea

Wait...I am confused. How does the hula contribute to the masculine/feminine threads?
.

you posted one of men and one of women. The first one was very masculine in style and the second feminine in style, corresponding t the gender of the dancers

[Brea]

You are correct. The hula, done by both men and women, does have masculine and feminine styles (or as we would think of them) at least today. Note that the male hula there was newly produced. The original styles were the same; the men would be a bit bouncier than the women but that's the only real difference. I'll see if I can find another example of kane hula. What must be remembered is the storytelling nature of hula. Whatever the story is, the dancers interpret. That is to say, there is no 'one style' of hula in that sense, male or female; it's all storytelling.

YouTube - Na Hoku Mai Kanoelani : Kane Hula

Hula Men: An Endangered Species, Male Hula Dancers Struggling To Keep Hawaiian Tradition Alive - CBS News

Even were it that way, it would not much surprise me, considering that Hawaiian culture is divided along VERY extreme gender lines...it used to be kapu (taboo, that is) for men to eat with women. As I mentioned in another thread, Pele may be the goddess of fire but only a man can light it in Hawaiian mythology.