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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.

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Old fantasies had people in the West thinking that raqs sharki (the Arabic name for bellydance) was a dance of seduction, but the actual job of a dancer in MENAHT (Middle Eastern North African, Helene, and Turkish) cultures is much different. While of course some dancers just need to get money from men in the audience (hello patriarchy) the main reason a dancer gets hired is to inspire and spread joy. Alia write about this, in this post of hers. ​

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I want you all to find your own voice. Shems articulates well how all this movement vocabulary fits into learning how to dance and I hope it makes it clearer why I teach things in parts, so you can assemble them in a way that expresses yourself

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I wanted to take a second to talk about some of the ways bellydance can be both physically (TW: gun violence) and psychologically therapeutic, of course it can also be just plain fun ^_^

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The topic for this unit’s Music genre was going to be folkloric songs, but that is such a broad topic that I think we are better introduced to through the weekly regional highlights, so instead, let’s talk about fusion songs. There is a lot to unpack when it comes to respectful fusion, but the bottom line is to know each dance one wants to fuse thoroughly in their home contexts before creating a blend of them. Because raqs sharki is the music translated into movement, any dance that includes raqs sharki as one of the elements should be to music that also fuses bellydance music with elements of the music that goes with the dance it is being fused with.

This is a handy way to teach your body to distinguish between different dance styles: practice each to the music that they go with. You'll build natural associations so that when you hear a certain kind of music you body will feel like doing the appropriate matching sort of movement.

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When I first started, the line between pop music and shaabi music was more clear. Today, many shaabi artists are very popular. You can think of this just like how hip-hop has become more and more mainstream, and more and more pop-hits include elements from shaabi music. In the 60s and 70s, popular music on the radio was often the orchestrated songs we think of as classics. By the 90s stars like Egyptian Amir Diab dominated the charts. Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram and Turkish singer Tarkan were very popular when I first started dancing.

To keep up, I recommend sites like Anghami, the Arabic spotify. But really, the best way might be to ask someone younger ^_^

Bellydancers have come up with some incredible stories to explain the origins of our dance. And while we can know a lot about the past century, the further back we go, the blurrier the picture gets. We might bemoan the idea that the history is lost to the "mists of time", I propose the following, as a way to create some sense of resolution around this issue.​

You are bound to come across some version of the phrase "bellydance as we know it today", which generally means raqs sharki as it has been performed leading up the golden era and recorded in early Egyptian cinema. This style was popular with the concert halls and it formed from the dances of the awalim and Ottoman court dancers

To understand the place of a bellydancer in Egyptian society, there are two helpful things to know about. The Awalim, and the Zeffa.

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There are many ways raqs sharqi can be healing: it brings us back emotionally in touch with our bodies, balances physical muscle imbalances, builds confidence, provides a creative outlet, and creates community. In Egyptian and other MENAHT cultures, there are also dance rituals specifically for psychological healing, one of which is the zaar. Although it is illegal due to it's pagan roots, folks who need that sort of outlet still find a way. Roxanne talks about one ritual she witnessed in this article.