38 CommentsWe’re about to start our Senior Wisdom series, and Spec is looking for some cool ’07ers too. To wit:
Know someone who’s made the most of the last four years?
Spectator is looking for the best, the brightest, the quirkiest students in the class of 2007 (all four undergraduate colleges) to write about in its annual Commencement supplement. If you would like to nominate someone to be profiled, please send an e-mail with your name and phone number to specnews@columbia.edu telling us in 200 words or less why we should profile your candidate. All submissions must be received by May 5.
Also, some video of the premature Cinco de Mayo party that went down on the Plaza today. Find still pictures here.
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38 Comments
@dommo I have no ill will towards that young lady but that’s pretty awful. She’s ok, but barely so. It’s all in good fun though and there are plenty of people who can’t dance period, let alone bell dance and she can at least move.
@damn that girl needs to eat.
@mustafa kemal Look, I have a 33rd degree black belt in Turkish AND Egyptian, and sit on the board of the National Academy of Belly Dance Arts of Lebanon. I have been belly dancing since before you were born, and I have helped Martha Graham incorporate techniques into her pieces. I have used my techniques as part of a cold-war counterintelligence program, and I singlehandedly brought the midriff into popular culture in the late 1990s, through clever placements in teen magazines.
And I think the dancing is just OK.
@tirico how about a bellydancer that just made me salivate, AND balances a sword on her head..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P1Q_vBoBI8&NR=1
@RU SERIOUS!! what made the nerd salivate- the sword or the anemic stick dancing??
@Umm Maybe the fact that the girl is incredibly hot…that probably had something to do with it.
@Rolling Next time don’t try and pretend that the West is abusing ‘us’ and ‘our’ culture.
@what4 oh rolling, you’re cute. thank’s for giving me a D, i thought i would fail :) good night
@Rolling Oh bullshit. I reject your absolutist attitude and give you a D for arrogance. Go watch her in person and tell us what you think. That would constitute a more “informed” position.
Oh, and I’m from the Middle East as well, but at least I don’t claim to know everything about belly dance. Don’t pretend like you do.
@Rolling (again) I forgot to say that belly dance style varies from country to country. Your regional belly dance style probably isn’t the same as her belly dance style.
@what3 look, rolling: i am slightly reacting to the image of people like you clapping their hands watching this girl thinking “oh, how cute and ethnic” with a shallow understanding of the dance and the culture it comes from. my criticism is just meant to be something that challenges your seemingly shallow view of this culture. of course belly dancing varies from country to country but there are some common elements that make it “belly dancing” and i can tell as a native that some of those elements are weakly presented here (that region: middle east. i am not going to tell you what country i am from, just trust me, i am from there). ever heard of orientalism? your attitude now is an everyday example of it.
@Rolling (again) I’m sorry, which region would that be? From what I know of the art, and from the loads I can glean off the internet, there is a variety of style and form in belly dance. Furthermore, the art itself has changed over the past hundred years, due to social constraints, etc. So please, please, tell me again what “real” belly dancing is? For that matter, what is any “real” art.
Don’t be a purist fool – you’ll only lose as time goes on.
@Rolling... …my eyes at everyone here.
What the fuck is formal belly dancing anyway? Is there some written law as to how belly dancing should be performed? Does the girl need to be veiled? Does she need to be Arab? Does the music have to be written by Arabs? Come on people, this is art being made, not some regurgitation of formulaic steps.
In any case, I for one thought she was a great dancer. I wasn’t at this performance, but I did see her dance a few weeks back at Teacher’s College and she was, as one poster said above, phenomenal. I can only imagine that she was just as amazing in today’s performance.
In any case, for all of you nay-sayers, let’s see you get up there a shake your belly in something even approximating the flexibility, strength and beautiful dance of this girl.
@belly button she was amazing, even if it wasnt formal belly dancing. the was great belly and great dancing.
@actual spectator Don’t judge from this one minute- this girl is absolutely AMAZING!! Better than the disgrace you call “belly dancing” with Shakira. Trust me, her drum solo was as authentic as it could get- so quit your embarrassingly ignorant remarks.
@what2 i happen to be from “the region” and i don’t just see belly dancing once a year like you probably do. so your “embarrassingly ignorant” comment is slightly off. you can ask anybody who actually knows what bellydancing is and they will tell you this is bad. but maybe this is some sort of a fusion dance she is trying, that’s why i said “if she actually belly dances like this..” in the original comment. (event then, she is doing some obvious belly dance moves and they are really just plain bad). nothing against her, i am sure she is a great person. i am just trying to correct a skewed picture of my culture here- this is not great bellydancing.
@idiot Bellydance of Turkey and Lebanon are EXTREMELY different from that of Egypt and Iran. It seems to me that the girl is doing a fusion of Turkish cabaret and American tribal. If you know anything about bellydance or art at ALL, you would understand that ALL dancers and artists are inspired by many sources. Bellydance hasn’t been “pure” since the early 1900s…Egyptian style has since been influenced by modern lyrical and turkish cabaret by goth and yoga. Perhaps you should do some research next time on your “own culture” before passing judgment on a bellydance performance that you didn’t even see.
@what i thought this girl could actually dance. i am sorry, she is cute and all, but that was not even close to being “phenomenal”. if this is how she belly-dances then i will be even more disappointed. (but then why is she even performing in a belly dancer’s costume with arab-influenced music if this is not supposed to be a belly dance?). sorry sara, you are not so sexy to me any more. i know it hurts, but don’t cry.
@i guess arabic esque prob refers to the part of sting’s song thats arabic… i dont care if the singer is moroccan hes still singing in arabic. the girl dances great, she has great form, but i also wouldnt cal that belly dancing
@i really wonder what these deleted comments say too. Is it possible to have a place where those of us with strong stomachs can read them?
@fat thing There was one hour of Mexican folkoric dancing… this is one minute of the only bellydancing performance… Bwog, you do not disappoint…
@good job i love sara. she is amazing!
@,,,, HOT!
@another bwog comment banished to comment hell!
i wonder what it said.
@*shrug* I actually saw her performance today. The video doesn’t do it justice, but she was exceptional.
@idea can someone arrange something so we have a weekly food vendor? i loved the chicken and rice truck and todays taco truck…itd be great if we had a random food vendor drive on to college walk each weekend
agree?
@????? How is Sting related to Cinco de mayo?
@ZOMG SOMEBODY HAS TO NOMINATE TAO TAN!!!!!!
@Fuckin' Cameraman Why on earth would you tilt the camera 90 degrees in the middle of the video? No one does that!
@ahh no. that was not bellydancing, and what does attempted belly dancing and arabic-esque music have to do with cinco de mayo?
@and how is sting “arabic-esque”?
though she was decent and cute
and the taco truck was great
@arabic? Desert Rose has a Moroccan singer, and has borrowed sounds.
@Anonymous Give her a break. It was extremely windy. She’s actually a phenomenal dancer.
@Lydia Crap! Fixed!
@look look at that fat thing in the background
@treinta isn’t today the 29th?