The Swamp

Culture Clash

26 Aug 2010 1 Comment

by essielou in Belly Dance, Dance, Hobbies/Interests, Makes Me Happy!, Politics Tags: culture, Dance, politics

I actually considered using a video of “Torn between Two Lovers” to set the mood, then I realized I hated the song.

So, we’ll get right to the mood.  How do I reconcile being adamantly politically conservative-libertarian, semi-pseudo-Christian with my passion for teaching and performing belly dance?  I’ve gone weeks, months, heck, probably even years without considering the cultural clashes. 

But then BAM!  It happens. 

Like the NYC Mosque situation (HATE IT!), someone being horrified about belly dancing at weddings (ANNOYED WITH THEM!) and my own moment of “OK, now how DO I explain this” (~~sigh~~)…..and I find myself back to where I was in the beginning.  Making peace with a dance often linked to a culture that is part of a belief system and political movement that I find abhorrent. 

A dance sometimes lumped with sleaze and stripping, skanks and tramps. 

Even odder, a dance paradoxically considered either that of the too sexy for words Belly-Barbie OR the uber-empowered Religion Despising, Liberal Leaning,  Man Hating Ball Buster  (WTF?!?!)

I ponder a while and then return to the initial appeal.   The things I like, things that mesh so easily into my world.  Why I came, why I stayed, why I will remain here.

There is the femininity of the dance that is so appealing.   Whether it is in the sweet country cuteness of Saidi or the bit more earthy flirting of Sha’abi, or the breathtaking expression of Classic Egyptian or the Bad Girl Fun of Havasi.   There is the Spit in Your Eye attitude of the sister dance Flamenco or the wonderful energy and hidden athleticism of the folk dances of Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt etc. each can be as demure or as overt as desired.  It’s the wealth of expressive avenues that make this dance a continuing adventure for a woman.  It’s also a folk dance that doesn’t require perfection of body or limits by age, but challenges your body, mind and spirit.

So, I can dance and be feminine until I’m too old, fat and senile to move. 

There are the costumes of course.  No, not the skimpy two piece bedlah (though I still wear them, with belly cover and vest).  But better yet are the Beledi dresses, the Khleegy ‘big dresses’, the various folk costumes, the abso-frickin-lootly too cute for words Meleya Leff dress, the I’m a Princess Ghwazee Coats.  This is all before we even think about Tribal bling.

It’s the sequins!  Fringe!  Velvets, satins, brocades for the shiny-affected.  Or the more earthy cotton, tassels and shells for the more nature oriented.   “Big girls playing dress-up” I hear and it’s true and even better if you’ve mastered the dance that matches the costume.

OK, so we have feminine, old fat lady dancing in a cute costume.  Triple check.

There is the physical challenge of the dance that is the same if not more than of western dances.   It’s a dance like any other, complete with levels of advancement, drills and repetition and muscle memory.   It now has so many styles and levels I can’t begin to go into it, simply to say….I’ve had years in all forms of dance: ballet, tap, jazz, modern.   Belly dance kicks my butt more than anything else.   Simply because it demands I use every last muscle of my body.  Not just my arms and legs.  I have to work with one part of my body while releasing another.  I need to be able to isolate not just one section of my body from another, but literally one muscle from the one sitting next to it.   The dance is deceptively simple, but it can also be excruciatingly demanding.  Ask my students after class how hard they’ve worked or ask me when I stop sucking wind.      

Granted, because it’s a folk dance it doesn’t have universal vocabulary that other classic dances have.  But thanks to forums, blogs, video sharing, workshops, teachers creating their own standards etc, that is changing rapidly. The dance is not only becoming more uniform, but expanding in technique.    I foresee in the near future a standardization of the dance like all other dances complete with vocabulary.

So, we have “Feminine, old fat lady in cute costume dancing a complex dance”  What’s not to like?

Which leads to another aspect of this dance that is appealing.  That is its not group dependent.  It celebrates and allows for each individual to shine in their own range (sound familiar??).   Carolena Nericcio tells the story of how when she as a 14 year old girl, she was asked out to a square dance by a boy she liked.   She was excited, made a dance outfit and then on the night of the dance, waited expectantly for him to arrive.   Only to be stood up.

What I found amusing was she wasn’t hurt about being stood up, but missing the chance to dance.  This is when she decided not to wait on anyone else to dance.  This may be the root of the attraction for many.

It’s not a social dance, in the sense you don’t need a partner, or even a special place to do it.    It’s also a dance usually associated with females (though it’s a folk dance) and its one of the few dances where body type, size or age doesn’t matter.   It’s an individual’s dance, the dance of an introvert (though an extrovert does just fine).

Granted, in researching this dance, you’ll find many women talk of feeling empowered, improving their self esteem etc (which is true).    But it’s bigger than that.  It’s simply the joy of dancing within a movement vocabulary that feels more natural to your body.   Dancing in itself is wonderful, but to find a dance where you’re OK as you are is a double blessing.

So, now we have “Feminine, old fat lady in cute costume dancing a complex dance, solo.”   

Then there is the music…. Oh. My. Goodness.

I will not lie.  In the beginning– I hated the music! 
HATED IT!

BUT, but, but I was told, “You’ll learn to love it.”  I thought they were crazy. It all sounded the same.  It sounded like cats being murdered in the back of a cement mixer, with drums beating out random hits accompanied by really, really CHEESY Lowery organs.   But, I loved the dance and told myself “When I get really good at it, I can dance to music I like”

BTW, the dying cat is a mismar and there’s a joke to go with it….“What’s the difference between a mismar and an onion?  No one cries when you chop up a mismar.”

However, it grew on me as I listened to more and more music, as I learned to differentiate between instruments.

I learned to differentiate by rhythm and I learned to play zils!  OK, maybe that was my Crossing the Rubicon moment. 

In learning to play zils, I was forever hooked, discovering that I am a rhythm addict.  Keep your melody, I don’t wanna hear your lyrics…. It’s the rhythm.  Which is the core, the root, the exceptionalism Middle Eastern music and dance.  Gone are the boring drum machine beats divisible by 2 or 4, or the consistent waltz tempo 123.  In their place are beats and patterns as complex and stunning as any melody.

Except better. 

OK, so it was the rhythms that hooked me.  But little by little, I was won over. First by classic Egyptian and Olm Koulthum.  I still remember the chills I got when hearing Enta Omri (You are My World) for the first time.  I also realized that this was written in during the Golden Age, when Egypt was striving to make its place in the world and westernize.     It’s beautiful and yet sad, on so many levels.

I was won over by the cute bouncy bubbliness of Lebanese classics.  I grew to recognize and love the infectious happiness of Saidi.   I fell in love with Turkish Pop and then grew to really like the dancing to the Karshilima.    I knew I was converted when I heard the original “Habibi El Einie” and thought “This is so much better than the pop version.”

Now?  I love the music, and Western music often pales in comparison to the complexity.    The rhythms especially you don’t hear on the top 40 radio.   The sliding between sharps and flats sound of the maqam, the number of changes in the in one song from vocals to instrumental to taxim to tabla to beledi can make a 5 minute song breathtaking journey.

I found the lyrics vary, some remind me of the bubble-gum pop of my youth.  Silly and goofy, sweet and saucy, sometimes a teensy bit suggestive, but never sad.   Others can be absolutely gut wrenching in their depth of meaning and passion.  Or beautiful and poetic.  Or simple and sweet.  I wish we had more in our culture. 

Understand, there are things I wish we had that other parts of the world have.  It doesn’t mean I love America less, or think there is anything wrong with our culture.    I just wish we danced more.   I wish some didn’t associate core dance movements with sex.  I wish we listened to more world music.  I wish we had the textiles and fabrics and clothing options.     I wish we had Mohammed Saad movies over here.  I wish we had Tarkan too.

So instead of fretting, I dance at home with my friends, educate anyone who goes down the raunch and sleaze path, share all kinds of music with friends and family and buy dance gear online.  I watch Mohammed Saad on Youtube, wishing for subtitles and I drool over Tarkan.

So, now we have “Feminine, old fat lady in a cute costume dancing a complex dance solo to beautiful music, while playing zils and drooling over Tarkan.”    What’s not to like?