How's Bellydance at Taiwan Part VI - Just Give Me Choreography & Nothing Else!

Another issue, or symptom from the heavily-choreography-oriented phenomenon is that people either misunderstand or improperly interpret this dance, simply because they know nothing about the history, culture, and society where the dance is originated. Language barrier may explain part of the reasons and I truly believe that this should not be an excuse, especially for those who make living with this dance or claim themselves as professional or full-time employee in this field.

Readers probably note that I didn’t mention much about tribal bellydance or tribal fusion bellydance choreography here. Indeed, we love Rachel Brice as others do in the world. Somehow such strongly-improvised dance style – well, I am not saying oriental dance is always choreographed, truly challenges local dancers who are trained with learned choreography. They could only imitate the shape of movement because they don’t know the anatomy of movement.

So some technique training like Suhaila Salimpour format is obvious what we need to fill the gap. However, for most of dancers who mainly focus on learning choreography and already make quick money from this, it is too much waste in terms of time and energy to do some fundamental technique training like this - It is really a matter of personal choice. I just wish they know what they could do if they could have took such training!

Yes! It all came back to the beginning when bellydance was so new and hot in Taiwan. Instructors had to send out not only her teachers but her students to meet the highly popular demands of performances. They had no time for fundamental training and choreographies by other masters were seemingly the perfect solution.

It remains the same situation till now. Saida, the beloved bellydance diva by local bellydancers just came to give workshops. Many instructors came to learn mainly choreography pieces so they could go back to teach for another session or for performance. There is nothing wrong for this. However, they only want to remember the choreography without really appreciating the true beauty of Arab dance which Saida wishes to present. This is not only a great loss for them, but also would prevent them from being really like Saida dancing, which is all they want to become.

How's Bellydance at Taiwan Part VI - Just Give Me Choreography & Nothing Else!

Choreography truly means a lot to local bellydance community.

Students and instructors all are so accustomed with the idea of learning bellydance via choreography that sometimes it causes problems, well, at least some potential problems.

One of the biggest issues from such heavily-choreography-oriented phenomenon is that we are kind of kept away from learning more about bellydance in a wider and deeper respect. There are so many elements consisting inside choreography: dance movements, music and rhythms, emotion preparation, historical knowledge, inspiration…. For some unknown reasons, dance movement is the most emphasized element for local instructors and students as well when a piece of choreography is taught. Those movements are perfectly duplicated and flawlessly executed, technically, without fully understanding on music, rhythms or cultural contexts.

So what? Girls just want to have fun. Dressing in sparkling costume and happily dancing are all they want! Sometimes I am very confused about this: passion is the best motivation and we should dance just for it. Somehow this passion drives me into more curiosity and strong interest in learning more about this beautiful dance: history, culture…everything!

Without really knowing the dance in depth, dancers, instructors and students find limitation when they encounter with finger cymbals, which is widely regarded as one of dance prop rather than musical instrument. Obviously if one has no knowledge on Middle East or Arab music and rhythms, or some musical or rhythmic training, one cannot play finger cymbals in a proper way. Some dancers or instructors with several years of experience have no idea about the difference between a downbeat and an upbeat, which is quite common here. Sometimes I am so amazed at how they could do upbeat dancing and finger cymbal playing!

How's Bellydance at Taiwan Part VI. -Part VI. Just Give Me Choreography & Nothing Else!

Many dancers and students here like me, have a love-hate relationship with the issue of choreography.

Choreography is a great way to put everything together and have some fun. We learned bellydance through choreographies brought back by our teachers when bellydance was first introduced to Taiwan. Since the demands grew so fast while instructors who were capable and available then were relatively rare, choreography became a great way to “duplicate” the knowledge of bellydance to the rapidly growing students. Instructors could send out her students to teach others.

This becomes main stream for local bellydance studios to design their programs. Students learn different choreographies from entry level to advanced level and usually instructors will teach one piece of choreography for each session, which is often ten weeks.

It is also main stream to put props into the learning of choreography here. Students usually learn veil dance as the second choreography in the entry level/basic level while cane dance is another prop; in the immediate level students might learn a more challenging veil or cane dance choreographies and sometimes either some fusion style bellydance choreographies or more challenging props like tin lights, Shamadan (candelabrum). Zils (finger cymbal) is regarded as a prop like veil and cane by many local instructors.

In some cases, instructors will offer students sort of “trial” in which introduces different styles or forms in bellydance world. For instance, students might learn several sessions of oriental dance or cabaret bellydance and then they begin to learn the concept of posture and ATS.

As the development of bellydance in Taiwan grows along with the passage of time, now we are able to invite many bellydance intstructors/bellyancers to give us workshops. It is not surprising that the choreography workshops remain the most desirable ones among local students/instructors.

How's Bellydance at Taiwan Part V. Certification Fever (continued)

Upcoming Certification Workshop, Upcoming Students
In a way, certification program becomes one of the great ways to encourage students signing up for more preparation classes in advanced – in order to pass major examinations we often go to preparation classes to ensure we know everything that will be covered in examinations. Some local studios or instructors will have such customerized classes to help students review contents of certain certification programs. Or they would put an intensive preparation programs with the formal certification program/workshops as a package.

Somehow here people seemingly don’t think of maintaining their certification after they are certificated. They more likely regard it as a one-shoot action – once you are certificated, you don’t worry about anything afterwards. So we have highly targeted preparation programs and we don’t have something follow-up after we are certificated from local resources. For many who gain great inspiration and touching motivation from the master’s presence and their energy, it is so easy to forget anything they learn from an intensive workshop.

Few months ago I ran into a dancer who attended Carolena’s 2007 GS workshop at Taipei, she told me after the workshop she totally stopped ATS and now she barely remembers anything from that workshop. She had no idea about her next step after this GS certification and she began to wonder why she signed up for that workshop.

Certification Collectors
Lacking of information and knowledge on those certificate programs is probably one of the reasons people fight to sign up for certificate workshop and very few of them could stay on the track afterwards. They just heard there are foreigner teachers in town and they want to learn whatever those teachers could offer. Many dancers don’t have understanding or run background check with the certificate program they sign up. Some dancers told me that each teacher could offer something different – indeed, from with an open mindset, one could learn a lot of knowledge and techniques. It should not be misled by not knowing anything about the teacher or workshop.

Since certification is so professionally crucial for those who wish to be hired to teach bellydance at local organizations or institutions, they have to earn as many certifications as they could. So there are some dancers/instructors like “certification collectors.” They go to every certificate program as they could offer and they try to be certificated.

It is not a bad thing if you really have such budget and time for the dance you really love. However, some people are so certificate-oriented that they barely concentrate on certain things. By the end, it only causes further confusion and frustration. Eventually no one could really master everything. In particular, when you do both oriental dance and tribal bellydance at the same time, sometimes it is very difficult not to fuse them together.

As a semi-certification collector – I have GS certificate and both SSBD and JSBD level 1 certificate, I realize that I have to work on those techniques for years to be able to master at them. So it is almost impossible to have extra energy or time for more certification programs!

After Suhaila Salimpour came to Taipei this April for her first overseas certification workshop, we face this new issue – how could we maintain our certification qualification? SSSBD certification system has very restrict policy toward the validity of certification, in which encourages dancers move further toward more advanced levels as well as helps dancers maintain with their current level. Suhaila provides CEC program for her SSBD and JSBD certificated students and this year she also launches online program so those who don’t live near by her studio are able to catch up with her while maintain some CEC points. Students also realize that certification is only the beginning of further practice and more effort so they could move on toward more advanced level.

I believe that certification trend is two-fold: that program grants us certain recognition while we represent the program to others who are not familiar with it. So being certificated means to be a more committed dancer with serious interest. For me, it is also more likely the fundamental nutrition to develop personal style rather than adding few lines on my CV.

How's Bellydance at Taiwan Part V. Certification Fever

This is something I really want to write about for so long!

Century-old Custom in a New Fashion
Certification means a lot to local bellydance community and in the meanwhile, they sometimes take it too easy after being certificated.

I learn about the concept of certification back to my graduate school years in United States. In our program there is a fine art appraisal class. It is a very interesting class and the instructor, later became my thesis adviser, talked to us about certificated appraiser. It truly refers to someone who is willing to commit certain amount of time and effort to undergo the process and gain qualification of being certificated.

Once you are certificated, you have to make further effort to maintain your certification as well as to prove the validity of your certification. In this way, a certificated appraiser is much respected and trustful since he/she is certificated by a well-reputation association/organization with certain specialty and professionalism. It also means that further concentration and effort are thus required to maintain the certification.

In history, Chinese society had conducted imperial examination for centuries and it was the only way for literali to enter the governmental service system, the only recognized occupation. In sum, we are well trained for and really get accustomed to taking examination historically and socially. Even today, students have to pass fiercely-competitive academic examination for college education. In our value, examination is one of the most convincible methods to be professionally recognized and it is also one of the most accessible and trustful reference indicators for general customers (in this case, it refers to students, studios or any organizations/institutions). We think those who passed certain examinations or certifications are already carefully inspected and thus it is safe to trust them.

New Trend Goes Localized
Once again, bellydance is so new in Taiwan that people need some reference when they want to sign up for bellydance class or hire a bellydance instructor. Certifications by other foreigner dancers or studios are seemingly great indicators since they have longer experiences. It begins with Eva Shen who went to Egypt learning with Mahmound Reda and brought back MCCP system and certification. As one of the first few bellydance certification systems introduced into Taiwan bellydance community, it attracts many students as well as local instructors to sign up for MCCP programs. Few even went to Cairo to be certificated by Mahmound Reda.

It is very interesting that tribal bellydance was mainly brought into Taiwan via certification systems. Texas-based dancer Sakira was sponsored by Kiki Kuan to give the first tribal bellydance workshop in Taiwan and she gave all attendants learning certifications upon the workshop finished. This is another type of certification very popular and common at Taiwan.

Carolena Nericcio came to Taiwan for two GS certification workshops (General Skill) with Megha Gavin of Devyani Dance Company and Devi Mamak of Ghawazi Caravan respectively. The 15-hour program covers all basic concepts and knowledge on ATS including movements, formation, music, etc. Blacksheep Bellydance and Gypsy Caravan also had certification workshops in the past few years.

Nevertheless, the tribal bellyadncer population does not grow as more certification systems are brought in. I learn from other Western colleagues that they mostly have certification workshop after there are certain group of followers or practitioners. In Taiwan, since we are so new and we want to catch up with other colleagues so badly, we don’t want to wait any longer and just eagerly dive into this certification trend. Most of time, those workshop goers don’t have enough training or experience in terms of what they supposed to have before taking the certification workshop, and they often don’t expect anything but getting the certificate paper.

Recently many local associations begin to host their own certification program. This is a positive sign indicating the bellydance community grows mature enough into another stage. For many who wish to find a teaching job at local dance studios or organizations, a piece of certification paper perhaps is one of the most available references to prove their profession. Somehow the content of those local certification programs seemingly are not purely instruction-oriented. Or I should say they are overly instruction-oriented. They often have certain hours of training courses taught by their own teachers from the organization and very rare of them request classes on general understanding of ME culture or related historical knowledge. I was told that some associations even acknowledge watching BDSS performances at Taiwan as official educational credits!