Talking through a frustration!

[gelishan]

In the fall, as you know, because I won't shut up about it, I will be teaching a Jewish bellydance class. The way my supervisor described it to me, it's supposed to be a body-positive, Jewish-oriented bellydance class titled "Dancing with the Moon: Rosh Chodesh and American Jewish Tribal Dancing

Comments

[swagmonkey]

Hmm. I knew that Rosh Chodesh was the "head of the month", or the first day, and that it was loosely a holiday. I didn't realize it had ever been more than the minor point of curiosity it is now, that only the most orthodox were likely to actually celebrate. It has been a big holiday in the past

[gelishan]

You missed option 3: that my supervisor wants to *make* belly dance a particularly Jewish style, with an emphasis on body positivity and Rosh Chodesh. And this is something I typically enjoy-- I like creativity! :D But I'm struggling with the Rosh Chodesh bit.

To my knowledge belly was not done on Rosh Chodesh! Typically! But music and dance stuff typically has been, and belly dance is historically a dance kind of by women for women-- especially ATS, which is all about community of women and not really about the audience (which I have mixed feelings about!) and the group that pioneered the style, Fat Chance Belly Dance, came up with the name as a reaction to common annoying questions they got from people who didn't understand their style was about the community of women and thought it was just to titillate. (Basically, "fat chance you can have a private showing!")

[swagmonkey]

I always thought it was funny that "fat chance" and "slim chance" meant basically the same thing. [/tangent]

Huh. I just don't quite understand why all those disparate elements were chosen to go together. I think the thing that doesn't quite fit for me is that the title doesn't seem self-aware that the connection isn't already there. It doesn't sound like "these are things that would go well together". It sounds like "these are closely related things, and I will teach you how they all go together historically". It sounds like, I'm going to teach you an American Jewish Tribal Dance (which doesn't actually describe belly dance as it is used in the modern world, or in its history), and it would bother me in a class to have it labeled as something that it isn't, even if you'd like it to become one.

[gelishan]

I never thought of that fat-chance slim-chance thing! Ha

[swagmonkey]

I don't know, I guess I'm articulating it badly. I don't have any objection to teaching belly dance in a Jewish setting, or to incorporating it into Jewish tradition. But it seems more like an inaccuracy than an incorporation to attach the label of "Jewish dance" to a largely Arabic dance that, to my knowledge, has never been used in Jewish celebration before. It seems like a mis-label, even if that label might become more appropriate a year down the line once you've brought it into the Jewish context

[gelishan]

Quibbling respectfully over tiny details, it is a time-honored Jewish tradition! :D

[gelishan]

OK, now I understand-- although, like I said, ATS is not a largely Arabic dance. Obviously a lot of the moves are influenced by traditional raqs sharqi, but it's really a fusion of so many things that I think it would be weird to call it anything other than American.