[ED25506]

I believe any human being, with enough skill and sufficient practice, can perform any dance satisfactorily. As you imply, however, a large part of any performance is audience expectation. For instance, if an audience expects to see a Balinese traditional dance and Nigerians take the stage to perform it, it's likely that there will be some feeling among onlookers that the experience is 'less-than-authentic,' no matter how well the dance is performed. I think the key to overcoming this is for the audience to suspend judgment and focus on the dance itself, not the dancers (a difficult prospect, I know). As an aside, I once went to a performance advertised as African Drumming. Naturally, I expected the musicians to be Africans (even though the advertising fliers had no pictures). Imagine my surprise when the curtain went up and the performers were white students from a Midwestern university (some audience members were so shocked they got up and left in a huff). I stayed to listen, and I'm glad I did. The students gave an excellent performance, which I enjoyed very much. If I hadn't seen the performers, I would never have guessed they were young white folks.

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Name : ED25506, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 47, City : Kansas City, State : MO Country : United States, 

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