It’s my last travel for 2016 and I am on my way to New Orleans. For the 4-hour flight I chose the FCBD® video Tattooed One. It was pure entertainment, a short into and then about 20 min of a one take show. I really couldn’t take my eyes off from the screen… Lovely setting, beautiful costumes, live music and most amazing part was the communication between the dancers. It really is this communication between dancers, dancers & musicians that created the art. Yeah, although I was merely watching a powerful performance, I really felt like I was there.
That performance was quite old (1992) and although it did not follow current ATS® vocabulary and structure, you can easily see the concepts and basics and understand how current ATS® was formed by Carolena and members of FatChanceBellyDance®. Watching this you really can appreciate that we have common language enabling us to dance together. With a common sense as the core, all dancers on the same page, feeling the music in unison also meant that no direct communication was necessary.
One of my favorite Japanese Taiko Drummer (recently mentioned in his blog) said that that he felt that when a performance becomes a function and not an expression of the origins of the art. If you don’t respect the essence you will struggle to keep the tradition…. his strong desire is to preserve the purity of his art to ensure it remains relevant well into the 22nd century.
I really do agree that it’s the same with dance. When the objectives are pure, it easy to see how the art can be timeless. When this is done successfully it easily creates a spectacular event for not only the Dancers and Musicians, but I believe more so for the Audience. After all, surely it’s the Audience we are actually performing for.