Miles Copeland

Miles Copeland certainly didn’t invent bellydancing. Nor does he claim to have discovered the art form in America.  But it would be difficult to find anyone better able to take the exotic oriental dance form mainstream. That’s because Copeland has a healthy respect for Arab culture as well as the record mogul past to market the entertainment. The Bellydance Superstars is a professional American belly dance troupe formed by Copeland in 2002. The troupe has toured extensively in North America and Europe. They have released Bellydance Superstars I, II, and III, compilations of music and three DVDs, with a feature documentary film called American Bellydancer. An ensemble troupe called Desert Roses was also formed. They have now begun their 2008 tour, Babelesque and will perform at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit on November 17. Bellydance Superstars have brought American Tribal Style Belly Dance to the mainstream. It was formerly an underground branch of belly dance formed by Jamilla Salimpour on the West Coast in the forties and fifties. Copeland acknowledges that bellydancing has a long history here in America. But he’s not out to teach that history. Originally attracted to the dance through Arabic music, Copeland now says the dance is more important to him than the music. And he wants mainstream America to appreciate the beauty of the dancers and of the dance form. One of the music industry’s most influential figures,  Copeland’s career in management stretches back almost 40 years to when he put together a group of go-go dancers in Beirut. In London in the 1970s, he represented Wishbone Ash, Joan Armatrading and all sides of progressive rock until he jumped ship, landed in the turbulent ocean of punk, and worked with the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Blondie, etc. In 1978, he became agent for his brother Stewart’s band, The Police, one of the biggest bands of the 1980s. He went on to manage Sting (solo) through seven blockbuster albums in the late 1980s, and introduced Sting to Algerian Raï singer, Cheb Mami, in 1999. Their collaboration bloomed with “Desert Rose,” a breakthrough for Arab music that crossed over into mainstream American music and became a phenomenal hit.

bellydancers

Instead of sitting back on the millions he has earned as a music industry mogul, Miles is out to acquaint Americans with Middle Eastern music — even if he doesn’t earn a dime. His affinity for Arab music and culture comes from a youth spent growing up in the Middle East — his father was a CIA agent —and since September 11, 2001, he has been on a mission to introduce the arts and culture of the region to the West. Copeland is now the leading U.S. distributor of labels carrying the songs of Hakim, Cheb Mami, Rachid Taha and Amr Diab, to name a few. The Bellydance Superstars are being hailed as the next big dance show phenomenon to follow Riverdance. I found myself mesmerized by the documentary “American Bellydancer.”  Having seen performers only in nightclubs around the Metro Detroit area, I was clueless about the real beauty and meaning of the dance.  I was drawn in by the sensuality and unabashed femininity of the performances, as well as the up close and personal story of the troupe and their travels. I felt every victory and every disappointment the girls went through. In an interview with The Arab American News, Copeland said he is doing the dance shows full time and is astounded at the positive reception the show gets in mainstream America. “This sort of underground thing is now percolating upwards and it’s fascinating.”

“One thing that we discovered very quickly is that it’s a very inclusive dance,” Copeland said. “You don’t have to be a particular body type to do bellydance,” he said. He cited a TIME magazine article last year describing the boom in bellydancing as a way to prepare for labor and delivery. Copeland believes the popularity of the dance is a revolt against all the pressure on women to use a particular lipstick or to look a particular way. The message is that every woman can be sensual and move her body in beautiful ways. The music industry is rapidly changing, and Copeland says now the focus is on live concerts and the sale of merchandise, as well as teaching workshops and sales of DVDs. “In the Middle East bellydancing does not have that great a reputation,” Copeland said. “But in America, it is a celebration of femininity, of sensuality, not sexuality.”

“What struck me and what got me excited in the first place was watching a beautiful woman without thinking about sex, Copeland said. “We were just watching a beautiful woman moving her body in beautiful ways and watching it from a purist standpoint. “You can bring your six year old daughter and your ninety year old grandmother,” he added. “And another thing to keep in mind is that 98% of our audience initially were women. So the girls were dancing for other women, not sexually for men.”

Copeland has talked with men before and after particular shows and found that their perceptions of bellydancing change radically after seeing good dancing. The dancers feel they have become the vanguard of this art form and they take it very seriously.  There are 21 or 22 dancers all together, with 16 in each show. “In Barcelona we were doing a photo session for The Guardian,” Copeland said. “There were two Middle Eastern men watching us very dismissively.  They said that American women wouldn’t be that good. I gave them four tickets to the show and they came up at intermission and said how proud they were to be in Barcelona and watching people love the m usic and dance of their culture.”

Copeland says that one of the great side effects of the show is that people are listening to Middle Eastern music and watching the dance and seeing another side of Arab culture.