Silence is a powerful tool within the dancers vocabulary. I'm not
talking about pauses or rests in music, but in quietening the body, and
allowing your body to be still as part of your routine - to allow your body to
become... Silent.
We all know that in belly dance, our goal is to interpret the music with
our hips and bodies - to embody the violin, accordion or drum that is
accompanying our dance - to feel the music, and create a "visual
interpretation" of the song.
An important part of this interpretation is to allow the body to be
still at certain parts of the music - whether it's in a pose, deliberate
hesitation before a turn, or elongating and pausing during a move.
But how do I know when to be "Silent?"
It's very often the case that dancers - especially in
belly dance - become obsessed with movement. So much so, that a choreography
can become a shimmy from the very first second to the last few bars of the
track - as we are so desperate to showcase everything within our vocabulary in
a short 4 minute slot! We become scared to stop - especially when we are first
starting out as performers - as it feels as though, if we stop dancing, the
audience will see us for who we are. Not to mention when adrenaline kicks in,
and time flies at lightening speed!
Take a look at Uliana
Lopatkina performing "The Dying Swan". As Belly dancers we can learn a
lot from other dance forms, and Ballet is the perfect example of this. Within
this piece Uliana rises and falls with the music. She creates light and shade,
and contrast between movement, and stillness. Watch at 2:00 when she creates
large shapes and travelling steps, before becoming quiet and soft at 2:17. And
also at 2:49 when she dramatically stops, and holds her pose - creating an air
of sadness, of finality, and you can almost see the swan in the sky taking it's
last few breaths.
This is important to take in as dancers, as those pause make all the
difference. Imagine if she hadn't paused then? Or slowed her movements at those
certain times? Would the effect have been the same?
She is still moving - and still dancing, but she is incorporating stillness
into her dance, allowing it to show emotions that sometimes, movement just
can't!
Have a look now at Serena Ramzy performing a Baladi Piece. Watch how she
uses pauses to great effect, for example at 0:39 where she drops her hip, and
really let's the audience soak that in, before then interpreting the Accordian.
This creates an air of calm, of confidence, of being comfortable in her own
skin. Using the pauses within the music really does mean you
"interpret" the music to the fullest, it also gives you as a dancer
time to breathe, to think, and to relax into your performance.
These pauses within her piece create a completely different atmosphere
to the one created by the ballet. Serena creates anticipation. With
every pause, or elongated move, it creates excitement, it creates a build up,
which is especially important in Baladi where the music gradually swells to a
climax.
Therefore looking at both these performances we can determine the
following:
Pauses and Silences within your dancing
can create an atmosphere or emotion for your audience.
I will leave you with this quote from a fantastic book "The
Intimate Act of Choreography" by Lynne Anne Blom and L.Tarin Chaplin, in
which they say:
"Stillness is not an inaction. It
is a waiting, with a sense of ongoingness. A hesitation, a caught breath, is a
moment arrived at, held precious, and left. Stillness is gathering in the
past... Holding, savouring thr present... Anticipating the future. It contains
within it both past and future. There is a hint and promise of what is to come,
a memory of what was - stillness, a moment tattooed."
Final Note for the Day:
Interested in how to interpret Egyptian Music? Look no further - all you
need is this beauty of an article from Hossam Ramzy. Click HERE to read it!
Want to catch up on my 100 day Belly Dance Challenge? Don't forget to
check out my YouTube playlist here.
If you want to use this post in your e-zine, blog or newsletter, please
go ahead! But make sure that you credit Louise Brooks - www.louisebellydancer.co.uk
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