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Upon entering the Oklahoma let out a tongue trill of appreGrapevine, Texas, Convention Center for ciation, a wide-eyed woman in a back a weekend of belly-dance performance row looks as if she is witnessing a jig of and workshops, women named Phyllis the Antichrist. and BJ. become "Soraya" and "Tambra." No you are not at a male strip club, A guy hawking DVDs suggests the new and you better not laugh: To the small release "Lights! Camera! Bellydance!" and still underground band of male followers, belly dance is about serious artisBackstage, the bellies waiting their tic expression. turn to shimmy in the spotlight run from smooth to c ell u lite-pocked, alabasThirty years after Mikhail ter to cinnamon, surgery-scarred to roll- Baryshnikov proved that men could do layered. Actually, there are so many you ballet and John Travolta discoed his way stop paying attention, until you see this into sex-object status, Drakon is one of one: Hairy. No hips. All man. the male aficionados who are putting an equal opportunity spin on the dance Look up and there he is, the one the long associated with beaded bras, genie dancer in the lobby must have forgotten pants and coy femininity. when she called the subculture a "sisterhood." So what if women rave that belly This is Drakon, what you'd call a dancing is great for toning childbirth male belly dancer. (He's really Danielle muscles? Turns out some men like figbarAbba, 54, of Austin.) ure-eighting their hips, too. Drakon wears a fringed skirt, blue The spectator reviews were mixed. shiny pants, curly red hair down his One man used the word "fantastic." back. But Los Angeles-based drummer Minutes before going onstage, he's Ziad Islambouli who performed at the stressing because a woman dancer convention, said such theatrical dancing before him is using the same drum solo would not go over in his home country he is. Another performer in a Star Trekof Lebanon. style dress assures him: "It'll look differ"In America, I respect it 'cause it's an ent." American thing," he says. "America is When the 6-foot-2 man takes the way more open. stage, one hand on hip and the other "But in the Middle East, I wouldn't twirling a cane in a typically female accept it. It's all about the woman and folkloric style, a few chuckles erupt beauty, and it's a very feminine thing." throughout the audience. Actually, male belly dance perforDrakon executes some body waves, mance has a long precedent in North BY LAUREN SMILEY Fashion 4 YOU (Clothing & Shoes) ALL SHOES ARE BWY ONE QET ONE FREE! WOMEN'S MEN'S SILVER Y.M.I DICKEY'S ! PLASTIC SOLO l r LUCKY'S LOW RIDER BEN DAVIS 848 N. MAIN • LOQAN • 787-8115 93.5% of USU students chose not to use marijuana in the past year [The Utah Higher Education Health Behavior Survey, Spring 2005.) Achieving wet/ness Through Balance In All Arc.is of Ufa Africa and the Middle East, says Anthony Shay, a dance historian at Pomona College in California, and coeditor of "Belly Dance," a book due out this month. For centuries, professional males dressed in a sexually ambiguous costume, working the same hip swivels as women. They were even included in the 1893 Chicago's World Fair, where an American entrepreneur first coined the term "belly dance" to introduce the art form to the both titillated and scandalized U.S. public. But colonial powers strengthening their dominance in the Middle East after WWI considered men's belly dance a scandal to Victorian morality and stamped it out (allowing women to continue). But both men and women still "belly dance" at domestic social gatherings as they have throughout history, Dr. Shay says, although strict Islamic societies forbid women from dancing in front of men not related to them. Dr. Shay says the West's "pink and blue syndrome" when it comes to dance moves isn't shared by other regions of the world, pointing to the similarities in female and male movements in salsa and Polynesian dancing. "The idea that these movements are only appropriate to women's bodies is wrong," he says. "We think when a male articulates his torso he is somehow being effeminate, but that is really a culturally specific notion held by AngloAmericans." But guys aren't always welcomed in the Arab community, either. Marios Hedary, owner of Byblos Lebanese Restaurant in Fort Worth, says he hires a male folkloric dancer who "complements" the female belly dancers. But once, at a Thursday audition night in which amateurs can come try their talent on the restaurant stage, a man showed up wearing what Hedary recalls regrettably as an "I Dream of Jeannie" outfit. "Sometimes you're not brave enough to stop something," he remembers. "I was very shocked, very embarrassed. It was Cinderella. It was hip shaking. It was very, very weird." Hedary says he paced the restaurant until the dancer's half-hour performance was over, after which the dancer asked him what he thought. "I said, 'Listen, you are not a woman. You are a man. Do not dance like a woman ... that's not right. You're embarrassing everyone.'" Bring on the naysayers, say the dancers: Breaking out of expectations is part of the allure. Jeff Halpin of San Francisco identifies himself as a "typical man." He said his donning a black cloak and gold headdress at the event is "no different than a Cowboys fan getting into their blue and silver dress" at a game. Halpin says he was hesitant for years to start belly dancing, and when ^BELLY-DANCING See page 9 Free running has teens moving BY MARINA TAKAHASHI KRT AKRON, Ohio _ Twenty years ago, Sebastien Foucan was a bored teen in Lisses, France. So, along with his childhood friend, David Belle, he began jumping from roof to fence, and thus was born an extreme sport called parkour or free running, which is spreading worldwide. Parkour is a combination of gymnastics, running and balance. Basically, the pros look like Spider-man without the web. "Parkour is about movement, and not only jumping," Foucan said in an e-mail interview. "It's an art form more than a sport. It's about expression of human beings with their environments." It has become popular in the United States in the last couple of years, especially after the inception of Urban Freeflow, a Web site in New York and London. With more than 11,500 members exchanging messages about the sport, it bills itself as "the largest and most comprehensive freestyle parkour Web site in the world." This is how Arlin Bradford, 14, of Streetsboro, Ohio, met William Schultz, 18, of Leipsic in northwest Ohio. Because Ohio is fairly new to the scene, "traceurs" (practitioners of the sport) connect with one another in the local forums to see if anyone else in the area wants to jam. Bradford and Schultz demonstrated their sport recently in the grassy playgrourid in front of Campus Elementary School in Streetsboro. With four other beginner- and intermediate-level Ohio traceurs, they started climbing up swing set poles, jumping off fences, and balancing on skinny railings. "Once you start to do it, you look at your surroundings in a totally different way," said Schultz, who jumped up a concrete wall and lingered on the roof to marvel at the view. "You start seeing what's beyond things." Unlike skateboarding or rollerblading, which are banned in many parks and public areas, there are usually no laws against parkour. Mark Toorock of Urban Freeflow said, "It's sort of hard to define, since we don't use things like skateboards." Andrew Leiholf, 18, of Hudson, Ohio, said "just getting over the fear that you won't make it" is the hardest part about the sport, which dictates a constant flow of move- Photos By KRT WILLIAM SHULTZ, 1 8 , of Findley, Ohio leaps from the top of a swing set at a local elementary school. ment. network, called "Jump Britain," Leiholf learned about parkour when he stumbled on the Web site. "I was just cruising the Internet one night, and happened to cross the Urban Freeflow forum," Leiholf said. Balancing on a wobbly wire fence, Bradford tried to figure out his next move. "It's something that you don't need to compete in. It's all about having fun," he said. "There's nothing you have to prove; that's the coolest part." For about a month, Bradford has been jumping off roofs and balancing on objects. His background in skateboarding has helped with leg strength and balance, especially in difficult jumps. Like many teens, he learned about the sport through a documentary on the TLC cable a sequel to "Jump London." The film showcases Foucan and other seasoned traceurs moving fluidly throughout the streets of Britain. While parkour can be done virtually anywhere, many prefer busy metropolitan areas. The urban obstacle course gives teens and adults an excuse to be a kid again, said Schultz, who has gone to jams in Toronto, New York, and Michigan. "Finding good places to do it is hard. I live in a small town," Schultz said. "I'm more inclined to travel to jam with other people." In Toronto, Schultz and 30 • FREE RUNNING see page 9 |