Gonna do another running commentary on a book, this one unfortunately just took a wrong turn.
Back in the day when I was dancing on a fairly regular basis I can remember two main factions of the dance- east and west coast. The east coast dance was more closely old school classical. West coast even then seemed looser and more entwined with other forms of dance. It's sort of hard to put into words but, trust me, it was possible to tell which coast any dancer hailed from by a single dance.
One of my fellow dancers also divided us up into the bouncers and the floaters. That should be pretty easy to figure out, right? So if the troupe needed someone to dance classical orientale, I was the go to girl. I loved it. Especially the veil and floor work.
Floor work, now there is something you don't see much of anymore. And veil work- please. I was watching some dancers on you tube today and most of them treated their veils like a schmatte. A small schmatte. A veil should be 3 yards long for students and an accomplished dancer should be able to handle 6 yards of silk with comparative ease. This is not a conventional veil and her dancing is not particularly good but she does handle her wings/veil quite well.
Here are some excerpts from a dance I would like to see from beginning to end uncut. This is good old(er) school. And this one starts with a veil, watch how the veil is a part of her. Now here she is, her name is Velina, starting out with the veil again but doing a tango fusion. One more old school dancer, Melina with a candle tray.
Fusion seems to be big now. And that brings us to this book. What? So I took the long way round, wasn't it fun? Our heroine is a belly dancer, more like a tribal fusion dancer and while I can accept fusion I'm having a hard time with a headdress that includes roses and pheasant feathers.
If you watched those videos you saw a lot of silk, velvet, brocade, rhinestones, sequins, coins, and beads. Usually there is some expense involved. Where am I going with this?
The "dancer" in this book just finished her routine and after fixing her makeup, has left the restaurant/club to hookup with this guy in a courtyard next door. In her costume.
I can't even. I went looking and I found
This headdress looks like the author's description- roses, feathers, braids, shells.
Top half has all the cuddliness of the nuts and bolts aisle at Home Depot and the bottom half is like embracing your laundry.
These dancers are wearing gorgeous and very expensive skirts. Would you wear it out on the street at night to meet a stranger?
Nope, nope, nope. Lots of metal and a headdress like Princess Leia, tribal fusion version.
I know it's fiction but when you've shimmied a mile or several in similar costumes, sorry but no.
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