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The Beauty of Feminine Movement: Bellydance Superstars are Sensual, but Still Family-Friendly
Bellydance Superstars will make their first visit to Kalamazoo Wednesday with “Bombay Bellywood,” a mix of American fusion, Arab and Indian dancing.
Middle Eastern female folk dance became a sensation in the U.S. in 1893.
Entertainment entrepreneur Sol Bloom brought the dance to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, calling it “dance du ventre” (“belly dance” in French).
His star dancer Little Egypt had moves that scandalized Victorian Midwesterners and sold a lot of tickets.
Bloom’s modern counterpart Miles Copeland formed his Superstars in 2003 as a touring show that he hoped could rival Riverdance.
The show came out of his colorful background in the Middle East and later life in music promotion.
In the ’90s, he was managing Sting and distributing world music, so Copeland arranged a collaboration between Algerian singer Cheb Mami and the former Police man.
That led to the song “Desert Rose” on Sting’s 1999 “Brand New Day. The album sold very well, and got a Grammy Award.
“All of a sudden, I realized that Arab music, when put in the right context, would appeal to a much broader audience,” Copeland said during a phone interview from his office in Los Angeles.
He started marketing Arab-Western fusion music on his Mondo Melodia and Mondo Rhythmica labels.
“Then I discovered that the biggest group buying the music were American women who had fallen in love with belly dance. Which was kind of a shock. ‘Wow, that’s interesting.’”
It was interesting to Copeland because, by that time, 9/11 had happened and Middle Eastern culture didn’t seem like something the mainstream would get into.
“Here you have American women from all over the country getting interested in an Arab art at a time when we’re in conflict with the Arab world. That was just politically, socially and culturally interesting.”
He realized that bellydancing “was a happening thing. Sort of underground, but it had been adopted as a women’s-empowerment, self-expression, medium.”
But public performances were usually in Greek and Middle Eastern restaurants, hookah lounges and small clubs. Copeland wanted to do a big touring show, something he could sell in the post-9/11 era.
“When you see the show, hear the music and see the dancing, it’s an uplifting art form. It has powerful elements — the drama is to get people to go see it, particularly if they’ve already developed a sort of prejudice,” he said.
They are now nearing their 800th performance, and have hit 22 countries around the world. The Superstar’s latest U.S. tour is their most extensive, and will make 70 stops through February.
Hips don’t lie: The Bellydance Superstars will make their Kalamazoo debut Wednesday at the State Theatre. The group formed in 2003 and has performed nearly 800 shows.
“Bombay Bellywood” expands the show to include Indian moves famous from the country’s prodigious “Bollywood” movie industry.
Also, to their troupe of eight female dancers they’ve just added their first male dancer, Samir, who’d been in the Las Vegas production of “Cirque du Soleil.”
“Impressive movement,” Copeland said of Samir. Sounding like a classic promoter, Copeland added that the show now has “a little bit for everybody.”
“We’ve done to belly dance what The Beatles did to American rock ‘n’ roll … It’s a fast-paced show aimed at a mainstream audience. But if you’re a bellydance fanatic you’ll love it,” he said.
Its also a family-friendly show, he said. But what about the old reputation of bellydancing as being something to ogle?
In the Middle East, it is “predominately performed for tourists and for men,” Copeland said. There, it has a more sexual connotation, since women do what they’re allowed to get tips.
“In the West, the audience is predominately women — women dance differently when they’re dancing to women.”
The Superstars’ act is “very sensual, but we don’t thrust sex — we present the beauty of feminine movement.”
He contrasted it to booty-shaking music videos “where women are pumping their crotch out and God knows what.”
With the Superstars, “you can see the pure beauty of a woman without feeling that you’re peeking at it.
Mark Wedel
Kalamazoo Gazette