BEAUTIFUL BELLY DANCE

Bab al-Dunia

Travel Light- Travel Far

Updated entirely Aug '07

Said Bustany web animatior and bon Vivant

http://www.1000and1.de/english/travel/index.htm

NEW! Aug '07

Travel advice from Amaya

http://home.comcast.net/~mamaya1/

>writings

Traders City information on Arab social customs

http://www.traderscity.com/abcg/culture.htm

France

Istitute de Monde Arab

URL is wrong I am looking

Note on cultural encroachment

A Muslim women and the belly dancer are two different kinds of people!

So, it is required that their clothing be different as well. Respect these muslim women, and their religious identity by not wearing their clothing.

The turkish dancers Mezdikei are insulting idiots!

The Niqaab (face veil ) and the Imamma (men's turban ) are historically and today symbols of Islam. They are not acceptable as attire for belly dancers! Appropriating the symbols of someones religious identity degrades them in a personal way. So don't wear islamic attire in your belly dance shows! Keep good relations with people and don't be guilty of cultural encroachment. They will tolerate belly dance as long as it does not insult their dignity and degrade their culture and religion!

Muslims regard all parts of the female body to be sexually attractive. For that reason they cover every part of the body. They are also taught not to imitate non-Muslims in their dress code . They do not expect or even want belly dancers to imitate them! Their viewpoint is that seeing the woman's sexual attributes, hair, physical beauty, body contours is the exclusive priveledge of the husband . Only he gets to enjoy her beauty.

This is a very differnt set of values from the American entertainment culture. A belly dancer who is displaying her body in a public and in a sexual way is an anathema to all muslim peoples. This is true universally for both urban, tribal and village people. This value is universally observed in Persia , Turkey, Maghreb, Lebanon , Arabia , Egypt and all other ereas of the Muslim world from Morocco to Malaysia.

So dancers! Wear the bedla and don't mix your attire with distinctively Islamic clothing like the face veil, turban and the fez. The turban and the fez are worn exclusively by men and are considered male attire, moreover they are symbolic of the authority of men in general- in particular- the clerics, who wear them today! The turban is a sunnah custom and so is considered holy. It is unacceptable for women to wear men's attire anywhere in the Middle East. The turban is formal public attire for Muslim clerics . In other words, don't wear the badge of authority for muslim clerics! The turban is not in any way an acceptable article of clothing for a woman to wear, in particular a dancer. Since there are 8 million Muslims in the US it cannot be claimed that the objection does not apply here as well! The turban is worn into battle and then is used as a shroud for burial . Tribal people liveing in the Mid East are famously conservative. Beduins do not dance, nor do they play music because they regard them as forbidden. Some male line dance is done as a military drill to prepare for battle. The arda as such a dance is considered the prerogative of men in beduin culture. Music is limited to percussion and voice -the riq, drum, clapping and and singing- all of that being religious in nature. Music in general is forbidden in traditional middle east culture. So the musical classes were generally non- Muslims . Sometimes men will do a war dance called the arda with sticks and sabres and that's not considered dance, but a military drill . Raqs means waveing the arms and legs around, as men do in military exercises , like calesthenics. It is considered a man's form of movement. Its purpose is macho - to prepare for battle . Women are limited to line dance, or they shuffle a bit. Their music is sung acapella like in Morocco. That's not called raks either. That's as far as tribal people go with their arts. Modern people have modern ideas which are the result of their own travel and exposure to other cultures and of course education.

They don't have theatre arts in muslim lands. All entertainment is done in the home and is strictly segregated . Theatre, is a western convention introduced to the mid-east since the 1930's along with media. In this culture even today everything is done in private, that being the main difference , along with segregation of men and women . That's not to say secular influences do not exist. But they do not represent the core culture but a sub culture , generally the wealthy educated elites who are westernised.

~Namira~

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The maghreb

The Fez sacred Music Festival http://www.morocco-fezfestival.com/5thm_s99.html

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Ancient Nile UK

http://www.ancientnile.co.uk/site.html

see books for publications in the UK eg Rough guide to belly dance , special order it through any bookstore

The Kush

I want to be roped on with this one when I climb, On belay!Karen Custer Thurston, belly dancer & mountaineer

http://www.turkishegyptiandance.com/bio.html

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