PARTNER ALWAYS LEADS THE DANCE

Baku recently hosted the Belly Dance European championship organized by the Association of Modern and Social Dance of Azerbaijan. Aziz Aliyev, the head of the association, has talked to R+ about the competition, and prospects and problems of the dance art in our country.

-We organized the Belly Dance European championship together with the Union of Youth of Azerbaijan and the International Dancing Organization (IDO). Let me tell you that this was the first international championship we organized. It will become an annual event and will be accredited to the IDO. Over 1,000 dancers from various countries of the world took part in the Baku championship. The competition was held in three categories - folk, show and classic, each of which was divided into separate nominations, starting from small kids (children of up to 6 years of age) to adult dancers. The jury included the vice-president of the IDO, Andrey Kokoulin (Russia), presidents of various dance associations and federations, as well as international judges from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Italy and, certainly, Azerbaijan.

- I think the judges had a hard time choosing between the many talented dancers...

- Indeed, the best European dancers arrived in Baku. I personally think that all participants possessed excellent dancing skills. It took a lot of deliberation for the jury to make up their minds. A young participant from Russia got the first place in the folk category. Russians also won the second and the third places. Among the adults in the same category, Yelena Perova (from Russia), Veronika Maas (Azerbaijan) and Eleonora Karina (Russia) were recognized as the best. In the show and classic categories, participants from Russia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine were the winners.

- The origins of belly dance date back from ancient Egypt. However, here in Azerbaijan attitude towards belly dance is somewhat stereotypical as people regard it as a vulgar, restaurant-type dance. To what do you attribute this?

- I think this is true of not only Azerbaijan. In the Caucasus, belly dance is regarded as a restaurant dance and belly dancers are frowned upon, to a certain extent. At the same time, belly dance is a complex dance sport and it takes a lot of time to master it. Imagine what mastery a dancer should possess to be able to turn over a coin 9 times through her belly. Performing the dance demands relaxation of the muscles that are not involved at a given time. This is how a dancer can continue performing for half an hour and sometimes even longer. A specific technique enables dancers to achieve the desirable effect. For example, the upper body yields to one rhythm while the lower part to another. The dancer's waist is the dividing line. The torso is immovable and hands are moving swimmingly in the air...Only at first glance may it seem simple to achieve this. Currently only two Azerbaijani girls perform the dance and they do not live or work in Azerbaijan. Veronika Maas lives in the UAE and Mila Saynse lives in Spain. The rest of the dancers in Azerbaijan have absolutely no idea about the belly dance technique or its nuances. For example, in the folk oriental, it is inadmissible to show reveal parts of the body. However, in restaurants in Baku, girls dance in very revealing clothes to be able to earn more money.

 - According to popular view, ballroom dances are not for "true men". Is this true? Is there a difference in training for boys and for girls?

- I do not agree to this. A beautiful posture will do no harm to boys. Ballroom dance is a pair-based and enable boys to communicate with girls and show gentlemanly qualities from childhood. In ballroom dance sport there is the right distribution of the leading roles as the partner leads the dance, chooses the place on the dance floor and tries not to bump into other pairs. Here is the difference during the training. Among those who come to join our groups, many people want to learn to dance the way Al Pacino dances in the Scent of a Woman. An exceptionally sensual tango! And if a blind elderly lieutenant colonel managed to dance so wonderfully, young Caucasus boys are also capable of doing so! After the popular film, Shall We Dance, starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez, more girls joined Latin American dance groups. In ballroom-type dance there are more girls than boys. Our men mainly prefer national dances and there are much more boys here than girls. Any dancing builds up a beautiful posture and physical training of dancers is no less intense than that of footballers. I think dancing is very prestigious. This was also true of other centuries. For example, in the 18th century, every young person from a good family was supposed to be well mannered, educated, possess fencing skills and dance well.

As well as national dances, a modern dance such as break-dance is well developed in Azerbaijan at the moment. Last year, our team became a break-dance world champion in Germany. Azerbaijani performers won the three leading places! There were only six dancers in our team at a time when 172 performers participated from Russia. Emil Mehtizada (1st place), Farman Lazimov (2nd place) and Cavid Aslanov (3rd) became the winners. Azerbaijan achieved great success at the continental championship of wheelchair dance sport held in St Petersburg last year. The Azerbaijani team came third in the second category of Latin American dances. Incidentally, this was the first time Azerbaijan participated in the championship in which 80 pairs from 18 countries took part. Our pairs - Kamal Mammadov, Diana Batakova, Vusala Karimova and Tamerlan Qadirov performed the Combi category - when a disabled dancer performs with a non-disabled dancer. The wheelchair dance is a Paralympics sport type in which dancers with various musculoskeletal disorders participate.

- What should a parent expect if they decide to engage their child in the ballroom dance sport club?

 - Initially it is important to decide why they want to start dancing: is it only to learn movements "for themselves" or do they regard it as a sport and count on certain results. If this is a type of sport, it is necessary to first of all, focus on discipline, stable trainings, regular individual lessons and frequent competitions. Only through these components can one achieve desirable results.

- How long does it take to learn to dance beautifully?

-It all depends on an individual, how well they feel the music and whether or not they possess elasticity. Certainly, as a person dances one can easily guess how long they spent on training - eight lessons or six months. In the first instance dancers only follow the music while in the other case dancers put their soul in the dance and feel the music. Therefore, I think all couples who intend to get married should join a dance class six months before their wedding. I think it is much more pleasant and useful for lovers to go to dance classes together than walk around aimlessly in parks or sit in cafes. Fortunately, stereotypes are gradually disappearing. Increasingly many Azerbaijani boys come to learn dancing. There are only a few foreigners in our groups and the rest of them are Azerbaijanis. By the way, dancing helps people get rid of a lot of complexes. One becomes confident and can freely invite a girl to a dance.

- Who do you think is the best dancer in the world? For example, Joaqu?n Cort?s performed in Baku at the beginning of the year...

- Joaqu?n Cort?s is certainly a wonderful dancer but he is more of a media figure. He warned himself a name and now this name works for him. And it is unclear how well he would fare if he were to take part in a dancing championship.

- What should be done to change the somewhat biased attitude to dancing in Azerbaijan?

- This may, a pair from Azerbaijan took part in an international dance Olympiad which was rightfully regarded as one of the most interesting and large-scale events in the dance community. As a result of a hard competition in the selection tournaments and semi-finals, dancers from Azerbaijan, Aleksandr and Svetlana Barkovs, came fifth in the Latin show category. Pairs from Italy came first and second. After the awarding ceremony, the Italian couples approached our dancers and told them that they had greatly enjoyed their performance. Had there not been a minor glitch our pair would have earned a greater success. I am certain they will score more victories in the future. Sasha and Sveta were invited to a world dancing show championship due in Germany at the end of November. Azerbaijan needs to participate in such championships more often. In addition, it is necessary to train young pairs. We do hope that the situation with dance will change for the better in our country. For this it is necessary to promote the dance art. It would be good if our television channels started a TV show, which would be a good way to promote ballroom dance both for students and the teachers.