Been curious about the art of belly dancing lately, and eventually sorted out what makes a good belly dance. Like most other dance, it has to do with explicit techniques like isolation of body parts (as in, don’t let the hip-jiggle cause your head to wiggle), and of course artistic expression (as in, you’ll know it when you see it). The top video is a performance by the Turkish male dancer Ilhan Karabaca. His work displays powerful technique as well as original expressiveness. The second video is of Sadie Marquardt, the Wisconsin born, Colorado based belly dance wonder who blew everyone away with the precision of her belly dancing in a youtube video with almost 16 million views (more if you count all her videos). Her ethnicity is unknown to me. I like Sadie’s style because she doesn’t strive to be erotic; she’s just amazing to watch. Still, Karabaca’s performance projects more drama. Are men generally better dancers than women?
