Censorship
I recently commented about bellydance that I have never had such a stressful hobby. Troupe drama. Studio drama. It just never seems to end. Every time I think that I am at a point where I can relax and just enjoy dancing, something new happens to stress me out and suck out the fun.
Weekend dance workshops usually include a show or hafla at the end of the day. It's a chance to perform for people who enjoy the same hobby. I registered for a workshop and another member of my troupe also registered. We rehearsed a duet to a fun electronic Klezmer song that had both slow and fast.
So, Friday night, the night before the workshop, we found out that the hosts of the workshop found our song offensive and that they had tried to edit the song themselves and that we either had to edit the song or bring a new one. It was 10:30pm when my troupe mate and I discussed what to do. She chose not to go at all. I went but left after the workshop and skipped the dinner and show. I let them know that we were not happy with the censorship of our song. She whispered the offensive line, and I have to say that I don't think the singer actually says that.
There were many, many ways to handle this problem. The chosen path resulted in a lot of anger and was unnecessary. I actually emailed the band to see if I can get the lyrics from them. I am not sure what I will do with the lyrics once I have them, but hopefully I will have calmed down enough to use the opportunity to draft an email about how disappointed I was in how this was handled, and by the way, you are wrong! (Yeah, see, I am not ready to write it yet...)
Weekend dance workshops usually include a show or hafla at the end of the day. It's a chance to perform for people who enjoy the same hobby. I registered for a workshop and another member of my troupe also registered. We rehearsed a duet to a fun electronic Klezmer song that had both slow and fast.
So, Friday night, the night before the workshop, we found out that the hosts of the workshop found our song offensive and that they had tried to edit the song themselves and that we either had to edit the song or bring a new one. It was 10:30pm when my troupe mate and I discussed what to do. She chose not to go at all. I went but left after the workshop and skipped the dinner and show. I let them know that we were not happy with the censorship of our song. She whispered the offensive line, and I have to say that I don't think the singer actually says that.
There were many, many ways to handle this problem. The chosen path resulted in a lot of anger and was unnecessary. I actually emailed the band to see if I can get the lyrics from them. I am not sure what I will do with the lyrics once I have them, but hopefully I will have calmed down enough to use the opportunity to draft an email about how disappointed I was in how this was handled, and by the way, you are wrong! (Yeah, see, I am not ready to write it yet...)
posted by Lea at 7:59 AM
2 Comments:
This may seem obvious, in which case you may have tried it, but there are so many sites devoted to song lyrics. I'm guessing that your piece may be more obscure? If you do think that it's worth a go, there's a site that's called something like "song lyric meanings" (all as suggested by various fans) and the lyrics tend to be a bit more accurate there.
I really, really hope that helps. And, I'm so sorry that you had to deal with this situation. xo
I posted on the band's facebook wall and got a response from the lead singer within hours. No obscenity - just goofy.
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