E Komo Mai! Welcome to my blog.

I'm delighted that you dropped in! E Komo Mai: WELCOME! This blog is basically an online visual journal is modeled after a concept I learned of in psychology 101... waaaaaaay back in college. That concept was somewhere in the chapter on The Significance of Dreams, where it mentioned someone's theory on dreaming about a house usually means that the house represents you. So I have used my actual house (Mauna Lea Manor) to structure my blog. In different rooms you will find different aspects of my life; different interests I like to blog about. This is a way to bring a little organization into my life and thoughts for myself... (dreams are in The Bedroom, Family updates are in The Living room, etc.)
This also, I would imagine, make reading this blog more convenient for you as well. If you are a grandparent interested in seeing photos and hearing stories about my boys, but maybe not so interested in my bellydancing obsession: you can just read what goes on in The Playground. But if you are an Art Collector more interested in my latest work and information on collecting, but not especially interested in my personal life: you'd enjoy The Office. Mauna Lea Manor is sort of the foyer to all the other rooms. If you would like to tour my online portfolio, please visit: www.stephaniebolton.com.
I hope you enjoy your time here ;) & continue to stop by!



Tuesday, August 17, 2010

THE Versatile Dancer!


Portrait of Zanbaka by Stephanie Bolton
Please remember if you leave a comment answering this:
Flash forward 10 years from now…. It’s summer 2020… where do you see the art of bellydance? Has it grown in popularity? Are the old stereotypes a thing of the past? Are there more theatre productions? Are there more bellydance studios? Are there classes offered in schools and higher educational institutions? What new innovations have bellydance artists incorporated? What elements of tradition of folkloric roots has the dance retained? 

Describe how you envision bellydance to be 10 years from now!

...you may win a copy of Zanbaka's book

FOUNDATIONS
the first book in the Versatile Dancer Series!
(pictured at left- black cover)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Some things that we've already seen, I expect to see more of:

-Use of social networking to get/keep students and to foster a sense of community within studios.

-More use of online media for class materials.

I suspect that there will still be people who are fighting to keep the folkloric roots alive (as well they should)...just as there will be people who are attempting to fuse any other type of performance art with the dance (to keep the dance up to the times).

I also suspect that there will start being credit courses in bellydance at universities. I think it would definitely go a long way towards decreasing stereotypes if we can get the dance recognized in universities as credit courses and as a major.

Unknown said...

I think that you will see more Tribal Fusion style dancing in the next ten years due to television and the popularity it has gained on sites like youtube.com.

So called "Underground Dancers" are becoming more accepted and fusing their style in with many different types of bellydance.

I too think that it is important to keep up with the roots, just like it is important in any culture to remember where you came from, but I see it expanding into and becoming part of many new types of dance.

I also see that there will be a more united front on certification of teachers as the popularity grows. Right now there aren't any "right" or "wrong" way courses out there but there are certification courses for some styles. I see it becoming mandatory in the future and teachers getting licenses.

Like the techno/industrial dance style movement, I see bellydance and ALL it's forms becoming more popular and accepted in the mainstream despite many religious fanatics spouting off about "worshipping the devil" and "a dance of sexual whores." Thanks to celebrities like Shakira, Beyonce, among others, it has taken off and I'd thank them for making it more acceptable as a dance form these days.