I have asked a group of researchers, dnacers, choreographers, anthropologists to respond to my introductory post and some of them generously agreed to share their thoughts and insights. Below is the response of Mohammed Abbas Zaki, anthropologist, Phd student at the London School of Economic.
The problem with translatability and the cross-cultural exchange of traditions or traditional practices is reaching a consensus or agreement upon the subject matter of said translation. For example, one might study the historical development of particular variations of belly dance and the way in which those variations have arisen out of and contributed towards various narratives about tradition/culture/gender/class and so forth but as soon as one attempts to shift this practice from one cultural framework to another the process of translation itself becomes part of the newly formed tradition.
I guess in order to analyze the transmission of culturally-specific forms of dance (or any performance practice for that matter) we must separate the dance into its elements (as Ismail did in his email) maybe specific techniques, particular performer/audience relationships, performance settings and so on. Each of those elements will indubitably undergo a process of transformation as well as translation but I guess we are then left wondering if this should affect the ‘success’ of this translation. Is it that the essence of the dance has been lost in translation, as Ismail suggested, or has it simply been transformed organically in the same way that one could argue every single performance alters forms of the dance. In a sense I guess I’m arguing that translation isn’t impossible but only if we account for, accept and embrace the organic development that this process would indubitably produce.
I guess one of the things I immediately think of when I think of the translation of belly dance is the purpose of such a translation. I, for example, have seen many belly dance performances at random Middle Eastern restaurants in Europe and what completely hampers the translation of the dance in those instances isn’t necessarily the movements or techniques (both of which are usually almost flawless) but the uncomfortable consumption of ‘exotic cultures’ that this exercise engenders. I do think, however, that this is a separate issue from translation.
The problem with translatability and the cross-cultural exchange of traditions or traditional practices is reaching a consensus or agreement upon the subject matter of said translation. For example, one might study the historical development of particular variations of belly dance and the way in which those variations have arisen out of and contributed towards various narratives about tradition/culture/gender/class and so forth but as soon as one attempts to shift this practice from one cultural framework to another the process of translation itself becomes part of the newly formed tradition.
I guess in order to analyze the transmission of culturally-specific forms of dance (or any performance practice for that matter) we must separate the dance into its elements (as Ismail did in his email) maybe specific techniques, particular performer/audience relationships, performance settings and so on. Each of those elements will indubitably undergo a process of transformation as well as translation but I guess we are then left wondering if this should affect the ‘success’ of this translation. Is it that the essence of the dance has been lost in translation, as Ismail suggested, or has it simply been transformed organically in the same way that one could argue every single performance alters forms of the dance. In a sense I guess I’m arguing that translation isn’t impossible but only if we account for, accept and embrace the organic development that this process would indubitably produce.
I guess one of the things I immediately think of when I think of the translation of belly dance is the purpose of such a translation. I, for example, have seen many belly dance performances at random Middle Eastern restaurants in Europe and what completely hampers the translation of the dance in those instances isn’t necessarily the movements or techniques (both of which are usually almost flawless) but the uncomfortable consumption of ‘exotic cultures’ that this exercise engenders. I do think, however, that this is a separate issue from translation.
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