A Mideast cultural feast

Young Chang

It’s been considered a seductive, evocative dance and a sensual,

scandalous, even “hoochie-coochie” form of groove.

But today classical Middle Eastern dance also is recognized as an art

that has been misunderstood.

Sensationally controversial during the Victorian era, when people

weren’t accustomed to twirling torsos, the dance form is now gaining

accredited teachers in colleges around the country. Followers are

learning about Middle Eastern culture to truly understand the reason and

significance behind each dance, and the rest of the country is realizing

that, like ballet and jazz, it’s an art to be taken seriously, experts

say.

“It’s slowly getting set straight,” said Angelika Nemeth, a Middle

Eastern dancer and instructor at Orange Coast College.

This weekend’s second International Conference on Middle Eastern Dance

at OCC is intended to further help dispel the myth that belly dancing and

other forms of the genre belong in harems.

Egyptian film and dance star Nagwa Fouad will perform tonight, along

with Nemeth, Santa Barbara dancer Shareen el Safy and more than a dozen

others from the United States, South America, Europe and the Middle East.

The conference, which has as its theme “Dancing on Common Ground:

Tradition and Innovation,” will show how classical and folkloric forms of

dance have been made more innovative.

“Like any dance form, there’s change involved and it’s made more

interpretive,” Nemeth said. “It’s such a tapestry.”

The conference opened Friday with screenings of foreign films and a

concert, discussion and presentation on two choreography teams, Farida

Fahmy and Mahmoud Reda, and Fouad and Mohammed Khalil. One team

represents the nightclub culture of Middle Eastern dance, another

performs a more folkloric, traditional style.

Nemeth said both contemporary and older styles will be presented

“because people need to know the source and honor the history of where it

comes from before it gets too diluted in the American culture.”

Academic papers on Middle Eastern dance will be presented this morning

and Fahmy and Reda will offer master classes in the afternoon.

More papers will be discussed Sunday, and Fouad and Khalil also will

teach classes. An evening concert will follow.

Today, Nemeth will do an innovative take on a classical dance. Wearing

a handmade net of metalwork woven into fabric, she will present a style

of modern Oriental dance with Persian music.

Fouad, known as the “Rita Hayworth of Egypt,” will present a classical

Egyptian dance with theatrically reinvigorated twists on folkloric

movements.

An actress in more than 200 feature films, Fouad has performed for

leaders around the world, including former President Jimmy Carter, and at

the Royal Albert Hall in London.

“It’s actually very unusual for me to travel like this when it’s an

academic presentation,” she said through el Safy, who served as her

translator.

“It’s not real big Las Vegas. But I’m doing it because I believe in

the art, and I’m encouraging the other dancers around the world to create

a high level of art with their Egyptian dance.”

El Safy said the milieu of international dancers gathering for the

conference allows people to witness different styles of dance in one

place.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event,” she said.

FYI

* What: The second International Conference on Middle Eastern Dance

* When: A dance concert featuring Egyptian film and dance star Nagwa

Fouad at 8 tonight; various programs and presentations will continue

through Sunday.

* Where: Orange Coast College’s Robert B. Moore Theatre, 2701 Fairview

Road, Costa Mesa

* Cost: $29 for tonight’s dance concert

* Information: (714) 432-5880