Dance Research
Read the dance heritage research from the PhD of Dr Valeria Lo Iacono by choosing from the posts below and from the additional pages.
Dance Research Reflexivity (4.7)
Read the dance research reflexivity and data interpretation methods as a practitioner. Biases and an ethnographic lens in a Ph.D. study.
Tahia Carioca Bint al Balad Laban Movements Analysis (5.3.1)
Who is Tahia Carioca Tahia Carioca’s name (in Arabic: كاريوكا تحية) can be transliterated in many different ways, including Taheyya Kariokka or Tahiya Karioka. In my writing, I will use Tahia Carioca, while in the quotations from other sources I will use whatever...
USA and the History of Raqs Sharqi Belly Dance from the 1960s (5.4.1. Continued)
Vaudeville, Danse du Ventre (Dance of the Stomach) to Chicago The time in which bellydance started to become popular and to be taught in the USA, in the 1960s, is crucial for the transmission of Raqs sharqi on a global scale. Although Raqs sharqi in the USA was and...
Beyond Binarism: Exploring a Model of Living Cultural Heritage for Dance
- Post written by Dr Valeria Lo Iacono Model for living cultural heritage Introduction I have written this post, in order to summarise and explain in simple words the article ‘Beyond Binarism: Exploring a Model of Living Cultural Heritage for Dance’, which I have...
Dance Research Contribution (7.5)
Dance research contribution to bridging the gap between dance and cultural heritage studies. Historical reconstruction of belly dance.
Dance Heritage Research Implications and Recommendations (7.4)
Protecting ICH Intangible Cultural Heritage. The issue of transculturality and belly dance and a model for safeguarding intangible heritage.
Problems Arising During the Dance Research (7.3)
What issues and problems can occur during dance research such as when interviewing participants and practioners?
Limitations of the Dance Study (7.2)
A look at the limitations in my study on Raqs sharqi and belly dance in this dance research project at Ph.D. level.
Dance Heritage Research Questions Conclusions (7.1)
Dance heritage study objectives, questions, and transculturality. What is authentic Egyptian Raqs sharqi and tangible and intangible dance?
Holistic Tangible and Intangible Framework of Embodied Practice Summary (6.8)
A definition of Living Heritage as we look at an intangible vs tangible framework of embodied practice with dosagrama and for dance heritage.
Influences on Heritage that Can Encourage, Help Safeguard or Threaten it (6.7)
Safeguarding heritage and the threats, what can help and encourage the preservation of heritage, habitus, moral, religious, and management.
Transmission of Dance and Heritage (6.6)
The transmission of dance and heritage. How the body, physical locations, societies & the body are transmitted as cultural heritage.
Belly Dance Heritage Change and Traditions Discussion (6.5)
Dialogical Paradigm As living heritage is based on a dialogical paradigm, the dialectic between change and traditions is important and so is practitioners’ agency. As Adshead (1988, p. 78) posits, ‘genres and styles place constraints upon . . . the nature and range of...
Transculturality and Heritage Discussion and Findings (6.4)
Dance and Transculturality From the dance analysis, it has emerged that Raqs sharqi has been a hybrid genre since its inception. Raqs sharqi is a living example of a type of heritage generated by a ‘transcultural network’ (Welsch, 1999) and the dancers are...
Heritage Qualities and Value Findings (6.3)
Introducing the Heritage Value in Raqs sharqi Adopting a dialogical paradigm of heritage, according to which heritage is (Bodo, 2012, p. 182) ‘constantly questioned and rediscovered by individuals who breathe new life into it’, this section explicates the heritage...
Authenticity and Dance Heritage Findings & Discussion (6.1 and 6.2)
Introduction In the previous chapter, I focused on the history of Raqs sharqi and analyzed six timeframes separately. In this chapter, I will bring these timeframes together focusing instead on the six analytical areas of: authenticity heritage transculturality...
Laban Movements Analysis of Belly Dancers from the 2000s (5.7.9)
Dance Movements Analysis Table 39 below summarizes the movements noticed in this time frame. The only new kineme I have noticed is the heel stomps, lifting and lowering both heels at the same time once, to stress an accent in the music. Most of the innovations instead...
Male Belly Dancers (5.7.8)
Men Performing Raqs Sharqi I have not found any videos of men performing Egyptian Raqs sharqi to analyze, dating back to before the late 1990s/early 2000s. Back in the early days of Raqs sharqi, even though Badia Masabni stated that, in her troupe, ‘we also had men...
Foreigner Dancers Living and Working in Cairo (5.7.7)
Non-Egyptian Influences As mentioned by Dina at the end of the previous section, the musicians, the feeling and the heart of Raqs sharqi are still in Egypt. This is why many Raqs sharqi practitioners (those who want to discover the roots of this dance) from around the...
Belly Dancers in Contemporary Egyptian Media (5.7.6)
Other Egyptian Dancers Apart from the dancers who perform and teach internationally, there are other examples of Egyptian dancers I found online. These are the ones who appear on shaabi music videos and I have found references to some of them on an article from a...
Sahar Samara – Modern but Mellow (5.7.5)
Background of Sahar Samara Another Egyptian dancer who teaches at the Nile Group Festival is Sahar Samara. She also participated in the raqs sharqi competition Al Rakesa, organised by Dina, and she came second. I found a little bit more information about her from the...
Arabic Terms Used in Belly Dance Glossary
Afrangi Afrnagi are considered the westernized Egyptian upper class. Alma (plur. awalim) Alma is an educated woman who could sing, write music and poetry, play instruments, and sometimes danced and who performed mainly for women in the harem. Assaya An Assaya is a...
Glossary of Raqs Sharqi Belly Dance Movements
The following list of terms for Raqs sharqi movements is not the official codified terminology, as this does not exist for Raqs sharqi or belly dance. It is instead the terminology I have learnt from my teachers over the years and from books and DVDs which I have used...
Laban Dance Analysis of the Movements of Camelia – (5.7.4)
Camelia Background Camelia teaches at the Nile Group Festival and, according to its website (no date), she started her career as a folkloric dancer in the late 90s and later she started dancing raqs sharqi. She is now performing in 5-star hotels in Cairo and she...
Randa Kamel Laban Dance Analysis – The Powerful Dance (5.7.3)
Introduction to Randa Kamel Randa Kamel is extremely famous among practitioners worldwide because she travels a lot for teaching and also because her very energetic style is very appealing to foreigners. She is one of the first Egyptian dancers who is more famous...
Dina Laban Dance Anaylsis – The Daring and Modern Belly Dancer (5.7.2)
(Raqs sharqi stars from the 1990s and 2000s) Profile and Background of Dina Dina (دينا) has been considered the last big Egyptian star of Raqs sharqi and indeed she is the last one who has starred in a considerable number of movies and TV programmes from the early...
Raqia Hassan – Laban Movements Analysis – The Business Woman (5.7.1)
(Raqs sharqi stars from the 1990s and 2000s) Raqia Hassan Background According to online sources (Sharif, no date; El Safy, 1995), Raqia was born in Cairo and started dancing in the Reda troupe as a folkloric dancer at the age of 14. However, Raqia felt that folklore...