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Help! I and another belly dancer are going to be performing for an audience that will include native Indian viewers. We are trying to be conscious of that, and wanted to know if any experts out there could share some tips on what to avoid - gesture-wise, movements, costuming, etc. Some of our choreographies include arm overhead - so armpit *may* be presented...and pelvic tuck/release combos, etc. - that may be offensive to some audiences. What can we do to ensure its a family friendly show? Any advice would be appreciated!!
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Washington
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Re: need advice on offensive moves - to native Indian audience
Wed, September 24, 2008 - 8:41 AMThere are several ways hand gestures alone can be made offensive. It's really hard to explain these on a webpost! What dance style are you performing the base in? I'm assuming it's tribal, but as a whole, if you have native Indian viewers, chances are you will get atleast one person offended by atleast one thing no matter how you try to not be offensive. I guess they just feel that they do not want their artform to be misinterpreted and misunderstood so just try to give off the vibe of appreciation for the culture regardless of what you do.
Best of luck1 :) -
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Re: need advice on offensive moves - to native Indian audience
Wed, September 24, 2008 - 9:17 AMYou would think by my profile, we'd be doing tribal - but we're actually going to be doing a cabaret style performance - mainly a fusion of American/Egyptian/Turkish styles.
Thanks for the feedback, Shainna! :P -
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Re: need advice on offensive moves - to native Indian audience
Wed, September 24, 2008 - 7:24 PMYeah, I just assumed. But regardless, fuse anything and atleast one person will judge. Just be secure in the fact that you tried to not offend the culture. :)
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Re: need advice on offensive moves - to native Indian audience
Thu, September 25, 2008 - 2:58 AMIs there a culture where armpits are offensive? Well, maybe if not shaved...
But anyway. Look at Bollywood dance scenes and you'll see that it's pretty much "anything goes" :-)
Just be sure to act ladylike.
There are offensive things like pointing the soles of your feet at somebody, but I don't think it's going to happen if you bellydance (at least I hope so! *grin*).
