OT: Bow before your Lamia Queen (I know who I want for Christmas)

[Omnirizon]

You have now been seduced, prepare to be dragged to an enemy province to serve to your mistresses whims.

[Swan]

I see...
well, where have i to sign?
(to be serious, I found her dance disturbing more than sexy, is it just me?)

[lch]

I want my Dominions 3.

[HoneyBadger]

Seduction entirely successful.

[Gandalf Parker]

I can definetly see why you thought Lamia Queen. An excellent example of why its called belly dancing. And her legs move so little that she could easily be lamia'd. But I wish it had more music. I appreciate the post though.

[Illuminated One]

The thing where here belly grows is too foreboding.

[HoneyBadger]

I suspect that's part of the point of the dance. Bellydancing is an old art, and displaying fertility was probably a major concern of the form when it was created.

For that matter, the exercise it provides probably helps make giving birth easier and safer, I would think.

[Omnirizon]

it is a tribal fusion, bringing in elements of 'liquid' style, like that from the rave and eletronica scene.

that's why her choice of music, you can also see it in the way she moves: completely smooth and snake like with almost mechanical overtones. If you look you can see it throughout her dance. She builds up to it, starting off a little more traditional. But then look at 2:20 and it is almost like she is doing the 'snake robot', the series she starts at 2:40 really dive into the modern-freestyle-liquid, and movements like the 'stutter' she does at 3:00 highlight this aspect.

[HoneyBadger]

Whatever the hell she's doing, there's no doubt it's origins lie in bellydancing (with all due respect).

I just don't think it's too necessary to deconstruct a work of art, which this clearly is, into component parts. A Picasso is more than just paint and canvas.

[Omnirizon]

Art Historians would be out of a job if it weren't necessary to deconstruct art.

I would say the origins of what she is doing are more American, and the American gaze upon the Orient (not to wax too postcolonial here). Picasso was heavily influenced by African Art (at least for a time), but I don't think most would insist the 'origins' of Picasso are in African Art. Similarly, when an African artist uses western objects or influences in their art, few would claim that that art has an origin in the West.

If we just focus on the concreteness of her movements though, she uses illusion and arm and hand movements far more than Bellydancing ever did. Those are directly from Urban eletronica and rave scenes; some say born out of the necessity to dance in tightly packed spaces (like a rave) where there wasn't so much room to move about.