Most folks joining a bellydance class in the US start out learning isolations, steps, and movements. We may be lucky enough to have a teacher who makes us aware of different rhythms, or even luckier to have a teacher who grew up in MENAHT culture and shares this context. But at the introductory level, most classes in the US focus on coordination and combinations, and frustratingly few areas of the country have MENAHT teachers offering classes.

This week, let's learn about tray as a bellydance prop. (btw, props are part of level 3 dance classes. Something to think about when level two eventually becomes easy/boring ^_~) 

If you have a circle skirt, or other very full skirt, you probably, understandably, want to avoid hemming it. There is a lot of fabric there, and it will clearly take a long time to do. The sheer yardage of it will also provide plenty of opportunity to lose pins, or wibble and wooble and end up with an uneven hem. You might even have beading at the bottom, or some other beautiful trim, ruffle, or design that you don't want to interfere with.​

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I promised short articles each week to give the dance some context. This week: a little about the cultural context of dance. Before it was on stage, bellydance was done to celebrate and pass time together with friends and families. While the specifics of the dance vary from region to region and household to household, men and women dance socially. Back in the day, this might have been with men in one room and women in another. Today, whether or not that segregation is observed really depends on how conservative the family is. Dancing would happen at weddings, birthday parties, saint's days, or just because it was afternoon and TV didn't exist yet. A future link will talk about the origins of the dance as a performance art, but for now, know that Hollywood fantasies about harem girls, or hippie tales of goddess cults, are unsubstantiated. Instead, of an article with further reading on this, enjoy some wholesome instagram posts from Nurjan Boulden.

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While bellydance is generally dominated by cis-women, there is a long history of men and gender-queer folks bellydancing as well, both socially and professionally. Although there is a trend, specifically in the competition world, for dancers to chase validation from male teachers and judges that I am opposed to, men and non-binary folks are a welcome part of the community, and there are some amazing performers doing both folklore and raqs sharki.

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Raqs sharki has, for as long as we know, existed under patriarchy. And if you REALLY want to dive into an academic discussion of how THAT has worked out, click here (I mean it, that is a very extra-credit article, feel free to skip it or save it for later ^_~). For the real reading this week, let's look at the role bellydance can play in healing from patriarchy, particularly our relationships with ourselves and with women. This article is by Yamê.

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Bellydancers occupy something called a "liminal" space in MENAHT culture. Both an integral part of celebrations, and a profession that is not considered respectable by many parts of society. This can make life hard for professional dancers working in the countries of origin, but is also conveys a certain power that is the subject of this week's reading.

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For the last class of each unit, we cover a different music genre. Today, it's a two-for! Egyptian Shaabi and Marhagan. Shaabi is losely translated as music of the country (nation, not countryside) and the Egyptian flavor really took off with Ahmed Adeweya and the invention of the cassette tape. No longer were Egyptians (especially cabbies) stuck listening to state-censored radio, cassettes could be copied and shared music that spoke to people's struggles was accessible.