WHAT DEFINES AMERCIAN CABERT BELLY DANCE? Alexandra King

BACKGROUND

The advent of belly dance in the US began during the immigration of Arabs, Armenians, Turks and Greeks from the Middle East at the turn-of-the twentieth century. As with all diasporas, they settled in neighborhoods in big cities where many opened cafés or small grocery stores. Families enjoyed evenings at taverns or at  mahrajans (picnics/festivals) where they played music and danced. Dance and music then were not forms of entertainment, but rather forms of recreation, so these were not professionals – just folks enjoying the cultures of their homes. And, the music they played was a mix of Middle Eastern music. Over time, performing bands formed to play professionally in taverns, restaurants and on records, and this mix of musical genres became known as AMERABA – American-Arab music. Professor Anne Rasmussen of William and Mary College has made a CD of this music which is excellent! But, pretty much any belly dance album from the 70's or 80's was AMERABA music.

FROM RECREATIONAL DANCE TO PROFESSIONAL DANCE

Responding to a demand from American's for Middle Eastern art, during the 60’s and 70’s there was a proliferation of Middle Eastern clubs that featured music and dance – folk dance and belly dance. The first club was a place called Hershaway’s 1001. It did not last long and was replaced by the famous Fez which lasted until the 80’s. Because it was difficult to find musicians who were all from the same country, the club musicians were usually a mix of Armenian, Greek, Turkish, Syrian or Arab. This multi-cultural fusion of all Middle Eastern music, called AMERABA, set the foundation of the American Cabaret Belly Dance.

The first professional dancers appeared in the late 1950’s, and were often girls from Algeria or Turkey. Eventually American girls, enamored by the style, began to learn (by osmosis, as there were no “teachers”)  by watching the Middle Eastern girls. Because the music was a multicultural fusion, the dancers learned many musical genres and folk dances, and dancers often did folk dances in the clubs after their sets. Almost all dancers knew the Debke, as well as Greek and Turkish folk dances.

Me, performing Debke with Sumaila and a guest at Dar Magrab restaurant in Zuma Beach, CA., summer 1980

THE AMERICAN CABARET SET IS BORN

The eastern mind has a much greater attention span than its western counterpart, so Middle Eastern audiences expected long shows. However, the American audiences were accustomed to dance being athletic and varied. This forced the club owners to demand long, complex dance sets, and dancers to throw in as much as they could to fill the time, while still making it interesting to Americans. This led to a fusion of Middle Eastern dances such as Raks al-na’is, (the Saudi hair dance), the Turkish candle dance (a wedding processional dance) and Raks Ardha, (sword dance), and protracted - 20+ minute dance sets. This fusion of many Middle Eastern styles, combined with the segmented, long sets became the American Cabaret style.

Floor shows in clubs in the 60’s, & 70’s were grand and very professional. There was an MC who primed the audience for the show so they focused on it, instead of eating, drinking and smoking a hookah. There was a stage with space for the musicians and the dancer and dressing rooms! Sound and light were used to dress the stage and upon entering a club, the featured artists/dancers were on the billboard. The shows were long and exciting!  Since dancers were in short supply, they usually made good money! It was the hey-day of belly dance.

Me, 1982

THE VEIL DANCE and OTHER PROPS

Props became a huge asset due to the demand for long sets and dancers rose to the occasion, and created a number of elements we still; see today in belly dance, including the veil.  American audiences increasingly attended club shows and they loved the veil, so dancers developed a proprietary dance called “the Veil” and it was almost entirely performed to the rhythm of Bolero – occasionally to Chiftitelli. Floorwork was routine, as American audiences were accustomed to athleticism in dance, so knee spins, splits, back traveling, backbends and Turkish drops became the norm.  And, zill work was absolutely required! In fact, if you could not play zills you were usually not hired as a dancer. Dancers routinely played zills, riq or drum during musical sets with the bands. We are, after all, musicians as well as athletes.

IMPROVISATION

The dance was improvised and dancers learned by doing and watching. Most did not know what choreography was or how to do it! (Today it is different – most belly dance is choreographed and dancers often struggle to improvise). In time, groups began to form and perform, both folk dances and choreographed belly dances -  but soloists always improvised! All this synthesis led to a magnificent, hugely complex and athletic style of belly dance that we now call “American Cabaret” and it lasted as the primary style of belly dance in the US until the 1980’s when the “style du jour” became Egyptian.

YALEIL, Director, Jenaeni Rathor, 1983 OJAI, CA.  L-R: Shay, Alexandra King, Aleili, Sumaila

SF AMCAB dancer, circa 1950's Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection

Me, 1980

STRIPPERS BECOME BELLY DANCERS

In the 1960's, the U.S. was experiencing a cultural revolution with several streams of social movements colliding: the women's movement, hippies, the sexual revolution and globalism. In the 1940’s and 1950's there was also a conservative movement in NYC and stripping/burlesque was outlawed. Many strippers moved over to belly dance, which, at the time was often considered hoochi-koochie. They wore pasties and skimpy skirts that showed their legs and encouraged tipping and engagement with the audience - common practices in cabaret settings. Because many dancers were part of the women's movement, many of them were offended by the blatant sexuality. They wanted belly dance to be viewed as a beautiful sensual, but not sexual art. I remember being asked by hosts at private parties I performed at: "When are you taking your clothes off?!" My retort was: "They are off as far as they are coming off"!

IT IS DISCOVERED THAT WOMEN ARE SEXUAL BEINGS (Who knew?)

Up until the 1970’s women were not considered sexual beings who enjoyed this most basic human pleasure, so nudity and any hint of sexuality tended to offend people. The women’s movement and the sexual revolution changed that, taking the stigma out of "exotic" dance. Burlesque, belly dance, Playboy, and the pill all gave women license to be sexual beings.

When, in the 1980’s, most of the Middle Eastern clubs in Los Angeles closed (and became strip joints), this ended the struggle to differentiate stripping and hoochie-koochie from belly dance. People went to strip clubs to see strippers, not belly dancers, and belly dancers moved to festivals and when possible, to restaurants. But, the growth of the number of belly dancers began to undermine the opportunities the dancers had. There were more dancers than clubs or restaurants and owners began refusing to pay artists, or they paid so little, it was necessary to get tips to be paid, which prevented the artists from working at a distance on a stage.

Today, we have moved away from cabaret venues and when they do exist, they just don't have the professionalism or grandness of the hey days of the 1960's and 1970s. In the evolution of the art and our society, we have come to realize the beauty of female sexuality and the importance of sexual expression and indeed, the beauty of sensual art for all people in theaters, cabarets and film.

FUSION AS THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Throughout history, fusion has been at the heart of the creative process. Flamenco is a fusion of Moorish, Jewish, Spanish and Roman styles of dance and music. Ballet has always incorporated world dance into its repertoire:

“Early in the history of ballet, the native dances of foreign countries were introduced into choreography. These were not, however, duplications but rather were adaptations whereby the basic  classic steps were adapted to impart an ethnic flavor.” American Ballet Theater, Souvenir Program, 1978-1979 Edition.

Modern  Dance, Modern Egyptian, Modern Contemporary, Jazz and Modern Tribal Fusion belly dance, are all examples of this creative process. It is worth noting that some folks consider adaptations of another art or culture as  “cultural appropriation” - nothing could be further from the truth. There is no effort in the creative process to wipe-out or undermine another culture, as we saw in colonialization. Unquestionably, there is a need for preserving traditional art, but, there is always going to be as well as evolution away from traditional arts. Without this process of evolution, there would not be the great arts of flamenco, modern ballet, jazz - and the American Cabaret Belly dance. There needs to be balance.

When we view America's history of innovation, whether it was in the industrial revolution or the cultural evolution in the arts, we see that Americans are a very creative lot and it is this wonderful thrust towards new and improved versions of the old that brought about the American Cabaret, Tribal Fusion and Modern Egyptian, (which adapted ballet in the 50’s, 60’s and beyond). Artists everywhere use the creative process of fusion as a tool to create art.

AMCAB FROM THE 1980’S TO THE PRESENT

In the almost 80 years that belly dance has been in the American dance world, it has morphed almost every 10 years. After Egyptian in the 80’s there was ATS in the 90’s and then Tribal Fusion in the 2000’s.  This is the creative process at work! During this 30-year period of evolution and change, the American Cabaret took a back seat - for a number of reasons.

• For one thing, there was little to no exposure to the Middle Eastern music and culture that dancers were privy to in the 1960's,70’s & 80's. With the lack of live music, recorded music was the only source to dance to, and fewer and fewer albums of Middle Eastern music, so there was less understanding of the art of Middle Eastern dance and music. This was also the result of globalism.

• Globalism has spread it’s Borg-like tentacles across the world spearheading pop music as the global norm and changing all world cultures to become more and more like the west. More and more western styles of music such as pop, techno and world music have taken the place of authentic (Middle Eastern) music and the cultural dances that were part of this. 

• Choreography became de rigueur and improvisation passe. This was a double-edged sword. Choreography is an essential tool for all dancers for many reasons. But, so is improvisation! One of the gifts that AmCab dance gave to the belly dance world was the ability to improvise. American Cabaret dancers learned to improvise and play zills from day one.

• Another factor in the decline of the American Cabaret was that, in the 1990s, dancers with little to no training as teachers and often no professional experience performing, began teaching the public, so many of the AmCab skills -such as zill work, veil work and floor work went by the wayside.

• Lastly, in the 2000’s an increasingly older demographic of students began entering the art, and without the physicality to do the very athletic technical things AmCab required, professional dancers struggled to teach them much beyond a few steps, isolations and some simple veil work.

Happily, there seems to be a renewed interest in American Cabaret and for dancers who want to learn it. for those hearty souls, it is important to know what it is. The elements that define the style are:

1.      It is a fusion style of belly dance, incorporating dance and music from the Middle East, including:

Cane, Basket and drum solo from Egypt.

Floor work with props such as the candle dance, sword dance and the snake dances from Central Asia,

the veil); Raks al-na’ish (the hair dance of Saudi Arabia); Raks Ardha, (VSnake dances from Central Asia, and zills work from Turkey and Egypt. This hybrid of various Middle Eastern cultures, (mostly Turkish and Aegean) created and defined American Cabaret. Western influences can embellish but should not change this; to be authentic, AmCab has its roots in Middle Eastern culture and art. (This is where preserving a tradition is important).

2.      It is segmented into 3-5 parts including a fast opening, a veil sequence, a protracted taksim including standing work and floor work, a drum solo and a finale in 6/8, 9/8 or 4/4 cane. Each segment is a complete dance unto itself. Contrast is a crucial part of art and American Cabaret added a tremendous amount of contrast – with all the levels, angles, dance styles and changes in tempo, rhythm and dynamics.

3.      Zills are played throughout, and dancers know multiple rhythms.

4.      It uses Ameraba music. Musicians from this genre are: Eddie Kochek, George Abdo, The Brothers of the Baladi, Omar Khorshid, Saadoun Al-Bayati, Gus Vali, Asaad Khouri, Jazayer, RAJA, John Bilezikjian, to name a few.

ETHNIC DANCE

In the U.S. the word “ethnic” applies to dance styles not born of the European diaspora – ballet, contemporary – jazz – tap. But the truth is, all dance is “ethnic” in that all dance styles, classical and folk alike, have roots in a particular culture.

“Apparently one pan-human trait is to divide the world into "we" and "they”. All forms of dance reflect the cultural traditions within which they developed and so are ethnic – including ballet”.  ~ An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet as a Form of Ethnic Dance JOANN KEALIINOHOMOKU

Because  change is a constant, there is a tendency for dance to evolve and become more athletic, complex and sophisticated. This emphasis on the athletic increases the elements of art over entertainment. Ballet began as a simple minuet in the courts of France and Italy – today it is a sport that defies the limits of human athleticism! Flamenco, in its nascent forms from the 15th- 19th centuries evolved from a form of personal expression and family entertainment to a world-class sophisticated art that is so far from the original style it is mind-boggling!

Belly dance has come a long way from it's days as a Hollywood "harem dance". Over the first 30 years of its existence in the U.S.,  belly dance had grown to mammoth proportions in complexity, physicality and sophistication. And, by 1980 the American Cabaret Belly Dance had become so ensconced in American culture, one has to ask the question, is it ethnic or is the American Cabaret Belly Dance an American art form?

Today the emphasis is on the movement and the expression of the artist as he or she interprets the music and magic of the art, and not the nudity or sexual nature of the art. (More on this in my upcoming documentary, Big Fish, Small Pond). With the current revival, it should bring tremendous attention and respect for the sophisticated, high-art American Cabaret belly dance is.

Dance on!