Dancing out of the box! INNOVATION

Years only don't give us experience. What happens in these years and how it changes us inside gives us  (dance) experience.
 
I believe oriental dance in an evolving dance, You dance what you are and you radiate what has changed inside of you in your dance!
I believe oriental dance is reflecting Your inner artist, not just reflecting the music! The person just as important as the music, if not more...

For me, if Im not excited about my choreography before going on stage, there is no point performing. My excitement means It's new and refreshing to myself (!), I have something new to say and show. It might be a new feeling/idea/place/person inspiring my dance, new moves that I have found through improvisation, new music (like some old but very rare music, difficult to use). I need to push myself not to feel the same old me, same old Kaidi. I mean, Im not denying myself, I am who I am, some things stay the same, because I believe in the same things, but any little NEW thing I discover or experiment on, will transfer to my dance and stage and THAT makes performing exciting to me! My audience will feel my fresh excitement.

Times and times again I see videos of famous master teachers and they are usually the same. I don't see any change in their style throughout the years. Some may call it their famous signature style, but for me it's more like sitting comfortably on your famous chair without putting effort into discovering new sides in yourself and therefore evolving your style.

Im long past the time when dancing to a classic oriental piece (mejance) music changes to baladi rythm I would start to do heavy hip drops. Yes, they did teach me to do that in classes years ago. That is the

"correct" interpretation. But here is the point: as year pass, I learn more and more and start playing with the rules, bending them and developing something that suits me, something I enjoy and feel. Remember the saying "to break the rules, know the basics". That's the case! Ok, maybe I would do 2 hip drops, but change my movement in the following 6 beats (when the music has groups of 8 counts). I mean a hip drop in the right place is not enough or a professional dancer performing to a bellydance audience to make them go "wow -  this is cool and eye-catching". Why? Because we see it all the time, we are used to it and expect it. To catch the attention of the audience you must exceed their expectations and surprise them. This creates the "wow" effect.

Innovation is GOOD! Innovation will keep the oriental dance alive, exciting and changing. Im not talking about tribal or any fusions here, im talking about Egyptian oriental dance, but I just hope it will be forever expanding artistically. Innovation is also a reason why we have these amazing teachers, some deservingly famous, some on their way there - they preach new ways of thinking in oriental dance, just to mention a few: Maria-Aya, Mercedes Nieto, Kayameia Ismini, Katalin Scäfer, Feriel Rodriquez, Joana of Cairo etc. I myself have been called the shaaby innovator and this is perhaps mainly because I have learnt the basics over and over again in countless workshops. Then I discovered most teachers are teaching the same thing, but there has to be more to it than that! So I went to Egypt, saw the shaaby (night)life, shaaby parties and shaaby mentality. Having new sources, I was brave enough to step out of the "correct shaaby" box and to try new things, push my limits and explore all the possibilities. Most importantly I was excited about it. I leave you with one example;)