Book Review - You Asked Aunt Rocky: Answers & Advice About Raqs Sharqi & Raqs Shabbi

I recently finished reading Morocco's book You Asked Aunt Rocky: Answers & Advice About Raqs Sharqi & Raqs Shabbi. I did actually read the book from cover to cover and if you own or have seen this book, you know this was a bit of feat, because this book is essentially a belly dancing textbook. No pictures (except at the very end), just dense page after page of belly dance advice, knowledge, and insights.

Morocco is one of belly dance's leading teachers, performers, and researchers. She has performed and taught all over the world. Trying to write a condensed bio for her is near to impossible, so I'll just refer you to her own website for more info. Trust me, it's impressive.

This book is broken down into seven sections:

1. Raqs Shabbi: discussion of folk dances from Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, and other countries
2. Raqs Sharqi: discussion of oriental style belly dance, or what most westerners would call belly dance
3. Over There: insights on dance developments in the countries of origins and how to effectively travel and take continuing dance education in those countries
4. Nuts and Bolts: tips on technique, teaching, finger cymbals, and belly dancing as a business
5. Cautionary Tales: pitfalls to avoid, including a couple fairly frightening tales of belly dancers who may not have exercised enough caution and ended up disappearing (yes, disappearing like potentially kidnapped or something equally horrific)
6. What's In a Name: an extensive essay on what name is best for referring to Oriental dance
7. Images: a handful of black and white pictures

Through the process of reading this book, you will definitely get a sense that Morocco knows her stuff and has put in the time, effort, and research to know what she's talking about. She has everything from excerpts from interviews that she's done with Mahmoud Reda himself, to funny performance stories, to solid business and marketing strategies based on first-hand success. She shares tips on everything from shopping in Cairo to finger cymbal safety. She dispels many belly dance myths, including presenting facts to back up her position. (I disagree with her to some extent on some of her positions on ballet in relation to belly dance, but that conversation is beyond the scope of this post). There is also an indispensable glossary that I think most readers will end up flipping to throughout the book. Overall, I think even experienced pros will learn a thing or two from this book. 

The book is so detailed that I wouldn't actually recommend it for brand new dancers. I think it might be a bit overwhelming for someone just entering the belly dance world, and he or she may feel a bit lost without having some points of reference to draw from. In fact, I think even the experienced dancer may feel a bit lost reading dance descriptions for folkloric dances or festivals that he or she is not familiar with. I know that I did for a few of the Moroccan-based dances. 

My one complaint about the book is chapter six, What's In a Name? It's essentially a 31-page repetitive argument on why the term "belly dance" shouldn't be used, but rather should be referred to as "raqs sharqi". My critique with this is two-fold. First, I didn't feel this didn't required such verbosity. I felt like I was being beaten over the head with it. Yes, I got the point after the first couple pages. Enough said. Second, while I agree that "belly dance" is not the best term for this dance; it's a misnomer as this dance is so much more, I don't agree that raqs sharqi is the right replacement word. To me, raqs sharqi, or Oriental dance, doesn't actually encompass everything under the broader umbrella of belly dance. American Tribal Style (ATS) is not Oriental dance, it's an American invention. Same goes for fusion forms, Isis wings, fan veils, and any type of extensive veil work. Thus, in my opinion, I think raqs sharqi would also be a misnomer in those instances. I think the perfect replacement label has yet to be suggested. 

That being said, for anyone with more than a passing interest in belly dance, I think this book is a must read and a great book to have at hand. If you are interested in purchasing, you can find the book on Morocco's website.

Book Review: The Belly Dance Handbook

Given the popularity of belly dance, there have been surprisingly few belly dance books written. However, I suppose that makes sense: dancers are busy dancing rather than glued to a desk writing. And out of the ones that do exist, I have to say I haven't been all that impressed with the selection I've read thus far. That is, until now. I recently finished reading Princess Farhana's The Belly Dance Handbook: A Companion for the Serious Dancer and can easily give it a five zill rating.

Given that Princess Farhana has been a popular blogger for a number of years now, it's no surprise that she was able to couple her finesse at writing with her extensive experience as a dancer to craft a book that is both practical and engaging.

I think that dancers of all levels can find useful information in this book, as it starts out with fairly rudimentary belly dance knowledge and progresses all the way to turning pro and beyond.  After seven years, three teaching gigs, numerous performances, and countless hours of studying, I know that I still picked up on some new nuggets of information. The book comprises twelve chapters that cover fundamentals, belly dance styles, technique, practicing, costuming, props, makeup, performing, turning professional, running a business, teaching, and travel. The tone is friendly, with funny anecdotal stories interspersed throughout.  However, at the same time the author conveys her information in a manner that clearly displays her competency on her subject matter.

One of my favorite sections of the book was the chapter on styles of dance.  This was one of the best breakdowns of the various styles that I've read, with descriptions that were accurate and clearly highlighted both the similarities and differences between the various subgenres that comprise belly dance as we know it. I also appreciated that her book didn't include any statements to the effect that belly dance is an ancient art form or any other such belly dance origin myths. Yes, I know, equating belly dance to an ancient female dance of empowerment or birthing sounds nice to say, but to date there's no evidence or history to back those theories, and thus I cringe a bit every time I hear someone make statements to that effect. Happily, Princess Farhana stuck to the facts in this regard.

I also liked that the book included a lot of great belly dance "hacks" in terms of tips for storing and caring for costumes, as well as ensuring that you arrive at your gigs well-prepared and with all your necessary tools in tow.

I have one criticism of the book, and I almost hate to say it because I liked the rest of the book so much, but here goes: it's very poorly edited. I've never read a book with so many grammatical and proofreading-related errors. It averaged almost one per page. And now that I've said that, I'm sure I'm going to end up publishing this post with an overlooked error. Anyway, that being said, I still enjoyed the rest of the book enough to overlook this.

In short, I think this is a valuable resource for dancers at any step along their belly dance journey. If you don't already own a copy, I encourage you to shimmy on out and buy one today!