Beware of "Experts" Please

My Opinion by Paola Blanton

Know what makes me really nervous? When someone claims to be an "expert" on Belly Dance, or purports to know what "real" Belly Dancers wear, or where the "original" Belly Dance music comes from, and so on. Opinions like these limit the dance to narrow perspectives that often end up serving the speaker's ego or nationality instead of anything really useful to dancers. And these opinions are regularly credited by newcomers to Belly Dance, eager to learn and full of wonder.

Be aware that we are dealing with a folkloric artform that has limited formal research or documentation behind it. Folkloric and tribal traditions are primarily passed down orally and reflect local and regional tendencies, which is great because that's where a lot of their "color" comes from. It's just not the whole picture. What has come to be known as Belly Dance derives from a variety of cultures spreading from India all the way to Spain and each culture in between and now the New World has added something unique and special to it. So when you hear someone say, "Only an Egyptian (or a Turk, or a fill-in-the-blank) knows how to Belly Dance", know that you are dealing with personal and national ego and not the whole truth. Art should not be a place for the ignorant assertion of national identities; rather it should serve to bridge and unite and pay tribute to the spread and interplay of cultures. My humble opinion. We have enough divisiveness today as it is, and we all have to be critical consumers of opinion, so that we, ourselves, don't fall into narrowness ignorance.

Many have noticed how Belly Dance glorifies the female form and helps women tap into their inner beauty, power, and strength. Feelings can run powerful when you dance and sometimes transformative moments come when we dance. You tap into some "epic" part of yourself and feel the forces of Nature at play. I've had those feelings, and with gratitude wait for them to come again. But I can't re-write history and use my experience as a basis to claim that Belly Dance was once a priestess' dance in the ancient temples of Mesopotamia. Many claim such. Or they propagate the "Belly Dance as Birthing Dance" idea as historical fact. (See "Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance" by Iris J. Stewart for a host of dreamily-stated half-truths on Belly Dance) They're both beautiful ideas. But they should be treated as beautiful ideas that have been passed down through myth and legend, valid for their imaginative and emotional content, but not necessarily historical "truth". When something is presented as a "fact", it then has more coercive power over some, and then art becomes politics, yet again. Just because I agree with women's politics doesn't give me the right to misrepresent the Dance in order to shore up my other opinions.

If it's a legend, present it as legend. If it hearsay, call it such; there is no shame in saying "this is what people say; I am neither confirming nor denying it, but I'm intrigued at the possibility. Let's discuss." Remember that history is passed down through language and pictures. All history (story-telling) is tainted by the biases of the author; imagine oral history! How many deserts and dialects has the story traversed? How many times does it have to be translated before someone slaps the label "truth" upon it? Who decides what's "true"? Where does the meaning between translations go? Who are the speakers? How do we know they mean what we think they mean? So many questions; so little answers. Thank God!

Twenty women can look at the same temple frieze in Karnak and come up with twenty different interpretations. My message: Be your own interpreter. Be your own researcher. Be your own dancer, and dance to your own rhythms. You can consider opinions, but the last verdict is your own. The best teachers are nothing more than fellow seekers. Interrogate them. Ask questions. Take what resonates with you and discard what doesn't. Align yourself with that which feels right; you can always question it later if you need to. And beware of "experts" with "answers". It is the "answer" that traps and imposes limits. How much more evolutionary to ask better questions and expand your mind, your dance, and your community.