In response to Randa Jarrar: "Why I can´t stand white belly dancers" (En español)

By: Amar Lammar

Me tomé el tiempo de leer este artículo que encontré hace algunos días., junto con el descubrí que había causado una controversia mundial entre la comunidad del Belly dance causando una respuesta masiva en contra de la autora llenándola de insultos, llamándola racista y otros adjetivos más. Estas ofensas NO contribuyen a nada.
Después de leer este artículo, leí la segunda parte de este: "I STILL can´t stand white belly dancers" (AÚN NO soporto a las belly dancers blancas).

Después de reflexionar intenté ponerme en los zapatos de la autora. Como mexicana, me molesta que la gente diga que los nachos son "una comida" en lugar de un snack, que "todos los mexicanos usamos enormes sombreros y somo bigotones", me enoja que a los mexicanos nos den el estereotipo de holgazanes, come frijoles y narcotraficantes. Creo que el post de la autora no tiene que ver con la danza misma, sino con el esterotipo de lo que un "árabe" debe ser., desgraciadamente para ella tomó un mal ejemplo, el belly dance.
Como alguien le respondió anteriormente: "Parece ser víctima de racismo en USA"  blanco de "chistes de árabes", preguntándosele a cada rato -AHH tu eres árabe? y haces el baile de las moneditas?-. En verdad la entiendo pero, esto no es excusa para poner todo su enojo en la ejecutantes de la danza del vientre.


Querida Randa., Tú has mencionado a grandes bailarinas  tales como Taheya Carioca y Fifi Abdo.
Cuando te refieres a ellas, hablas de la época de oro de la danza árabe, cuando esta, era vista por tus compatriotas como "un arte respetable". ¿Podrías darme el nombre de de alguna bailarina "árabe" actual que sea tan famosa como estas grandes artistas del pasado? Estoy segura que no, pero yo te podría hablar de Randa Kamel, una extraordinaria bailarina egipcia que no es famosa entre los suyos pero que ciertamente goza de fama entre "la hermandad blanca de belly dancers" como nos has llamado. ¿Sabías que Taheya Carioca obtuvo el nombre Carioca gracias a que incorporaba unos toques brasileños a sus rutinas? Carioca el el nombre que se le da a los nativos de Rio de Janeiro en Brasil. Fifi Abdo es una bailarina que se mantiene gracias a que bailarinas de todo el mundo quieren aprender de esta artista.Otro buen ejemplo es Samia Gamal quien estudió con una bailarina de ballet Clásico proveniente de Rusia.

También me gustaría saber ¿A quién te refieres cuando dices "bailarinas blancas", a las Europeas, las Latinas, Asiáticas? o tal vez a cualquiera que no sea de origen árabe.A través del estudio y la investigación podemos  encontrar que muy probablemente  la danza del vientre tuvo su origen en las esclavas turcas, así que si bien su origen no es completamente árabe, es verdad que su máximo desarrollo lo obtuvo en Egipto.

Tengo ya 18 años en la danza árabe de los cuales he vivido en países árabes por más de 10 años, y esta es la cosa: Los hoteles y restaurantes prefieren a las belly dancers occidentales antes que a una nativa árabe (de cualquier país árabe que sea) ¿Porqué es esto? Como he mencionado antes, la connotación de una bailarina no es bueno, pero no hay celebración en la que no falte una belly dancer... bodas, cumpleaños etc. Peeeero ¿ Te gustaría tener una bailarina en tu familia? muy probablemente no! Es entonces que este espacio que las bailarinas árabes dejan libre es cubierto por otros candidatos que pasan a ser las belly dancers occidentales/blancas.

Como en todas las profesiones existe gente buena y gente mediocre, supongo que una chica que se pone pantalones "de mi bella genio" se sobre maquilla y se pone unas cuantas monedas en la cadera no podría ser considerada como una profesional, probablemente es una alumna o va a una fiesta de disfraces. El belly dance es una disciplina y como todos los otros estilos de danza requiere entrenamiento y  dedicación para entender la música, los ritmos, y su expresión, esto lleva tiempo, en especial para una chica que no es de origen árabe., sinembargo (y aquí quiero ser muy clara) el haber nacido en un país árabe y crecer escuchando Warda y Um Khalthoum no te hacen bailarina PROFESIONAL automáticamente, te dará el sentimiento sí,  pero no puede garantizar que tengas los movimientos!!! Como dije antes, la danza árabe es una disciplina. Con todo respeto  tu (Mrs. Jarrar) puedes bailar con todos tus amigos y familia y pasarla bien, pero eso no te hace conocedora de belly dance.Puedes apreciar una bailarian buena de una mediocre pero tu juicio estará dictado por tu gusto personal y no desde un punto de vista técnico. Es como decidir quien es guapo ó feo para tí, siendo que la belleza es muy subjetiva dependiendo del gusto de cada persona.

Las chicas blancas ó mejor dicho las bailarinas occidentales seguiremos bailando, en verdad lamento que hayas encontrado en tu camino a bailarinas no tan buenas. De cualquier forma  en nombre de la comunidad mundial del belly dance, he visto extraordinarias bailarinas tanto árabes como occidentales cada una aporta algo nuevo y revolucionario a la danza, "NO necesitas cargarnos sobre tu espalda, nosotras somos los suficientemente fuertes para levantarnos en nuestros dos pies".


Para quien no ha leído el artículo mencionado, aquí el link:http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/

Boushret Kheir - Hussain el Jasmi

In video of the month.... we have this shaabi song that is a hit in all the world, sure you know the song, but, you know what it saying? the lyrics are so important for me, it allows me to create a choreo with much more meaning and much more feeling than just move cause I have many steps to show.
I got this lyric from a friend, although sometimes is hard for them to translate some arabic words to english we tried our best to express the idea of the song; If anyone have a better translation, please, share!.

Boushret Kheir

OriginalTransliteration

دي فركة كعب وهتعملها
قصاد الدنيا هتقولها
وخد بقى عهد تعدِلها
سكتت كتير
خَدِت ايه مصر بسكوتك
ماتستخسرش فيها صوتك
بتكتب بكره بشروطك
دي بشرة خير
قوم نادي ع الصعيدي وابن اخوك البورسعيدي والشباب لسكندراني اللمه دي لمة رجال
ونا هاجي مع السوهاجي والقناوي والسيناوي والمحلاوي اللي ميه ميه والنوبه الجُمال
ماتوصيش السوايسه الدنيا هايصه كده كده
واللسماعلاويه ياما كادوا العدا
كلمني ع الشراقوه واحنا ويا بعض اقوى
واحنا ويا بعض اقوى
وأملنا كبير
دي فركة كعب وهتعملها
قصاد الدنيا هتقولها
وخد بقى عهد واعدلها
سكتت كتير
بحيري منوفي أو دمياطي
دول اقربلي من اخواتي
حلايب أهل وقرايب
ناديلهم رووح
واكتر حاجه فيها ميزه
نشوف حبايبنا في الجيزه
يا مرحب ألف خطوه عزيزه بناس مطرووح

This is an easy task, and you will do it
To the world you will speak out
And take an oath to make it better
you have been quiet for too long
What did Egypt gain from your silence
Do not you voice
Tomorrow, you will write it under your own conditions
this is a good deed

Go call out for the ‘Saidi’ (from upper Egypt) and your nephew from ‘Port Said’ and the youth from ‘Alexandria’ for this is a gathering of men
And I will come with those from ‘Sohag’ and ‘Qina’ and ‘Sinai’ and ‘ who are the best of the best
No need to double check on the people from Suez, everything is now jumbled together
And the people from ‘Al Ismailiyyah’ who have been through a lot
Talk to me about the people from the East, and together we are stronger
And together we are stronger
And our hope is high

This is an easy task, and you will do it
To the world you will speak out
And take an oath to make it better
you have been quiet for too long
The people from Menouf, or Damyat
Those people are closer to me than my brothers
They are all family and friends
go call out for them
And the thing that stands out most
Is for us to see our beloved ones from Giza
Oh greetings with a thousand paces
towards the people

Unraveling the ball of yarn

 By: Amir Thaleb

Translation by: Amar Lammar & Ian Els

Its very common since long ago, to listen to opinions about  the “Argentinean Style”, but what is the Argentinean style?? I’ll try to unravel this confusion and clear up the understanding by means of my knowledge, observations, experiences and journeys around the world. Maybe this way I can clear the panorama.

According to the experts on the topic, it’s been told to us that “All the ways that cross the boundaries of its own core, where it was developed, inevitably undergoes normal transformations. This transformation is a process in which it adapts to the new environment that rescued it, creating a new way over the old one."  I think it is a normal process of all things, for example to eat in a Mexican restaurant in any part of the world would not have the same taste as a restaurant in Mexico itself. A Mexican Restaurant in Mexico may be much more orthodox and traditional with its own local essences. But there are people that like this transformation, maybe because the authentic taste is stranger to them. This is a logical deduction  and just maybe we can implement this logic to the transformations of the art itself.

When we watch a famous Egyptian belly dancer in her own country, we get enchanted by this dancer’s movements, gestures and scenic dramatization. Even more so when this dancer is set in a unique atmosphere that only the air of the river Nile, the pyramids and orchestras of 40 or more spectacular musicians can create. It is like a dream but, … What happen when we see the same diva outside of her environment ? What happens when she must perform to an audience that expect more than gestures and charming smiles that only she understands. When she performs for an audience that yearn for the universal concept of dance that require technique, body plasticity and all that charisma that a diva must have? An audience that is not captivated by Middle Eastern atmosphere but only by the art, and nothing of this appear on the stage? It happens from what I’ve seen in many dance festivals around the world, where the audience stand up, leaving the Diva alone. Only those dancers whom understood the importance of adapting their shows into a much more understandable language for the people who weren’t born in Egypt, people who doesn’t speak her tongue and that posses another mentality, achieved success. It is important and necessary to adjust the dance  into a much more universal language, without losing the essence and without thinking that western people don’t understand anything. Many oriental belly dancers have made achieved success, and that’s why their names are in the higher pick of the  chandelier.

Oriental dance posses a great virtue, the virtue of adapting to any environment. This cause the dance to develop, acquiring colors according to the culture, society, daily living  and social manners where it sets.  It’s is exactly why there exist so many varieties of styles in many parts of the world: The Egyptian, the Lebanese, the Russian, the Iraki, the Greek, the Argentinean, the American etc, etc. Through history the individual Middle East cultures were free to each performer to explore beyond their social taboos and the culture where it sets and the technique itself, why? Because it is a dance that goes beyond a single culture, we could as well name it: The dance of all cultures.

Now, it is good to clarify certain points, if we dance a “tradition” we should respect the tradition and there’s no place for inventions otherwise we stop being traditional. The Baladi means ”from within” and is ethnic to the Bedouin, the normal woman who doesn’t make pountee, arabesques or battements. If it is Saidi, it is folklore and you must respect it! In the folklore there’s no place for innovations but there’s space for modernization in expressive language… but if it is oriental, it is free! In this manner, the dancers have created their own styles over decades. As foreign cultures adopted the styles of the dancers who succeeded, these dancers became legendary and left us their legacy.

Now, it is very important to separate the reality and ethnicity of a dance from the fusions, confusions, contaminations and fantasies that are created around the world due to the narcissistic need to “make history” even if it destroy the authentic component of a dance which represents a culture.  And this is where the door of “eternal discussion” opens controversy and criticisms to certain styles, among them the wrongly call “Argentinean style” which I will mention later.

                                         

 It is here where the belly dancers lose their path, believing that because oriental dance have freedom of expression they can jump the traditions and classic ways of this art without any information or consciousness. And these morphologies of the dance are taught to the next generation of dancers, falling victim to the belief that they are taught traditional dances. Today the belly dance is spoiled in many aspects, contaminated not only with expressions that are too far from this dance, but also with clones and coarse imitations of the Egyptians. An example of this is when we see a  German, an Argentinean, a Mexican, or an Asian posing  like an Egyptian. Even worse are the dancers without any personality that become clones of their Idol, making the same gestures, using the same steps and even in a very sick way, styling their hair in the same way as their idols. Belly dance is also contaminated by those “fault- finders” whom doesn’t know anything about dance, who cannot dance themselves, and dedicate their time to spoil the work of others who are able to dance. Belly dance is also contaminated by the tyrannical attitude of some Egyptian teachers  who have the mentality that  “nothing have value if you don’t do it as they tell you to”. These teachers will make you feel inadequate if you don’t dance in their festivals or buy their videos, out of their senile resentment to everything that is different. And many times their words echo in the western girls whom doesn’t even understand what’s been discussed. Nobody posses the absolute truth, even amongst the Egyptians there are contradictions. Nobody is the owner of this art, this art belongs to all, even if you are not Egyptian. We recognize the Egyptian style as the mother of this dance, we choose it because we like it, but be aware! Is not the unique nor irrefutable.

 The Egyptian teachers owe a great deal of respect to the West because even with its faults, the West praise this dance. The West adopted and have provided a better environment to the Egyptian performers than what many Egyptian dancers have in their own country. The West take care of them, recognize and admire them. We fill their  festivals and consume all their dancing proposals. But the Westerners should stop inventing “oriental dances”. Leave the fans, and learn more about the essence and meanings of a tradition. Om Khalthoum  shouldn’t be danced with feathers or fans, the Tarab should not be eaten with jam, oriental dance does not wear Tu-Tu’s. We should learn to respect each other. We cannot live without each other. What would we do without the source? And¿What would they do without our events in which they can display their knowledge? LESS CRITICISM from each side, because we are all ON THE SAME SIDE, less inventions and more knowledge.

This is how the wrongly called “Argentinean style” emerged around the 1990’s, in a place where belly dance wasn’t popular and had to somehow reach a massive audience. It could not be achieved by being orthodox, so we had to search for a language understood by everyone. For sure we over did it and others were responsible to trim and shape this dance even more. Each dancer should take responsibility of their own invention and the criticisms that comes with it. But the Argentinian style found a place in this world just as the Russian style and American style did by the hand of it’s great performers. The Argentinean style has lots of things to be corrected, and there is still time to rectify the path. The so called Argentinean style, is not my style, and I’m not the father of this creature. I do not  teach karate steps nor piques in my Baladi. I like to be faithful to the Arabic culture but not with a narrow mind. This is a dance that invites you to set loose your imagination and create new Styles in a coherent way when possible. In my Shaabi flashmob, the appreciation for the traditional dance was demonstrated with over a million and half views around the world.  In especially Lebanon and Egypt the Arabic people debated if my origin was Egyptian or Lebanese, that’s what it is all about! To be able to enjoy this dance without spoiling it. But it is important to take off our masks, this is not a sect, and even more, the one who criticize is the first one to copy the methods , the choreographies  in internet and more. Let’s be honest, all of us, lets respect the essence and evolve as the art itself evolves in the Middle East. I never met any fault-finding person who had succeeded in life, she spend too much time criticizing. 

                                        In this pic: Amir Thaleb teaching in "Pasión Arica 2015 "

It is time to exhalt the origins, take them as a starting point and let the own being be expressed without the killing the legacies.

Thank you for reading me and I hope this help to clarify the complicated world of all of us who practice this dance. A  wise philosopher said: “lets put in front the intelligence to the narcissism , the intelligence built, and the narcissism destroy you and everything you touch”. Hurray to all the oriental dance styles in all its shapes. If you don’t fancy one shape, there’s no need for you to clap, there’s no need for you to accept it, but also your critic is not needed. We are a free world, lets use this fredom in a wise manner.-Thank you for your Attention.-

Amir Thaleb.

Click the link to Amir's Flashmob on youtube: http://youtu.be/ao27oL-6-Vs