More on the "kosher belly dance"

[Eva Broman <eva.bromanassouchidis...>]

Greetings,

Judith wrote on Sephardic dances:

>If it's Judeo_Spanish culture, then it depends on the area. In Morocco
>(leaving out non-Hispanic Morocco for the moment), what I've always seen
>done at weddings is what it occurs to me to dub "kosher belly dance" -
>basically a discreet, (fully garbed of course), style of oriental dance
>with a certain economy of movement, but I don't think it's terribly
>different from what other Moroccans would do. 

"Kosher belly dance"-that's a great neologism!;-). The kind of belly dance I've 
seen danced by Greeks, Turks and Bulgarians probably fits your description to a 
tee, as well! Even though "belly dance" is the accepted term, it's not wholly 
adequate IMHO, because it conjures up images of flashy Beirut (or N.Y.!) night 
clubs and slightly clad professional dancers-whereas the Turkish/Balkan variant 
I know is not a show dance but a social dance, danced by both sexes (usually 
facing each other). It's decidedly less flashy and elaborate than the night 
club version, and more democratic....women can dance with women, men with men, 
parents with their children, kids with kids, young with old...and that's 
probably why it's the most popular party dance to this day! 


>In the former Ottoman areas, one danced "a la turca" or "a la franca".
>"A la turca" was the east Mediterranean parallel, basically, to what
>I've just described for Morocco. 

Another popular "a la turca" dance was/is the "karsilamas", which is also 
danced by two partners facing each other-would that be a dance known/danced by 
Sephardic Jews?

All the best, Eva