Dance Off
Interview with Tarik Sultan – Middle Eastern Dance Expert, NYC USA
Dev - Tarik sultan welcome to devs. Lets go 20 years back in time, How do you find than Middle Eastern dance scene in the U.S.?
Tarik – Very different than it is now. In the general population, there was a bigger deal of ignorance the dance is over today, certainly much less exposure. The mention of the Middle East would cause raised eyebrows dance. Then, at least in New York, people thought that the dance was like striptease. It was not uncommon to have refused to participate in cultural events on the ground that he was not considered respectable entertainment. But we started to progress in key areas. My teacher, Morocco, had been a pioneer performances at major cultural institutions around the city such as Lincoln Center's Dance Festival of doors, the Museum of Natural History and parks and recreations.
Despite its successes, though there were a lot of places to hit their door in her face. No one had even thought about the possibility of teaching dance classes in gyms, aerobics, although it was still very popular.
Within the dance community itself? Well, the prevailing style was American Oriental, or American-style nightclub. It was a style that evolved in the ethnic nightclubs in the '60 's and '70' s. Then, the ethnic clubs were a melting pot of people from different Mediterranean and Arabic speaking countries. Therefore, there was a mix of Greek, Turkish and Lebanese dancers. Eventually the Americans began to dominate the field, so she learned by watching all these people and of course, she explained according to their cultural perspective.
There were only four main dancing schools in the city this time. Morocco, Serena, Anahid Sofian and Ibrahim Farrah. The main stages were still ethnic clubs and restaurants usually run by Lebanese. However, there was a Turkish nightclub Fazil, an important asset to the dance community in New York. On thing that all of the clubs was at that time, now missing, is that they live bands, a real designated dance floor or stage and it was a family atmosphere. I was fortunate to make my nightclub debut in Fazil. I have to dance two times before they closed. Unfortunately, by the late 80's these clubs started closing one after another as the price of real estate and rents have skyrocketed. Today we have many more branches, but if we have at least one stamp to dance, We consider ourselves lucky, and even then we compete with customers and staff waiting. Back in the early to mid 80's when the dancer was on the floor or stage, one foot up unless they were invited by the dancer, whether they wanted
Its tip.
As for the quality of the dance ….. Well, in many respects the basic skill level is much higher now, though we still have to contend with the phenomenon of the 6 weeks wondering who learned from some who were watching a DVD. Much of what I saw did not relate to any way to the Middle East culture and certainly not anything I'd seen when I visited Egypt three years later. It was a combination of the common misconceptions is that a legitimate Sharki dance form and the overall poor quality of the dance, I decided to become a dancer myself. I wanted to show people how beautiful the dance was so I decided the best way to do was to show, although I have no ambition of making my life as a dancer, especially if one teacher.
Dev – You said Ibrahim Farah, one of the leading schools of the time, Bobby Farha and the Near East Dance Group claimed to maintain and many elements of Oriental dance to export to Western audiences. Do you think some of them were Bobby Farah own creations?
Tarik – To be honest with you, I'd never seen his dance company to perform. I think by the time I came around, they would be dissolved, so I really can not say how authentic material was. However, all dance companies, I knew of, including Casbah, had numbers that the artistic creations of directors. Usually they were inspired by an idea or folk dance. When that was the case, it was always mentioned as such in the programs.
Dev – In the Middle East, everyone dancing, men, women and children. But I have identified through my research that portrayed a negative attitude towards the male artists Raqs Sharqi. Have an opinion about why this is a topic for debate?
Tarik – This is a simple question but the answer is very complex, so I hope you will forgive me if it's a little long because I need some backgrounding in context to give. Basically, the problem is fear. Fear of being wrong, maligned and misunderstood by the outside world. You may ask, why do they care what others think, but you need to Egypt and other countries in the region to understand the perspective of their historical relationship with the West. That relationship has more often than not, is an antagonistic one for a very long time. We can see the roots during the growth of the Roman Empire in its conflict with Carthage and Egypt. In medieval times, sick and tired of the Crusades and the 18th and 19th century to present time, Colonialism and the Iraqi and Afghan wars. So there is a long history of tension between the regions and a tendency for Western powers for Orientals and aspects of their cultures in a negative light image, whether religion, lifestyle or in this case, dance.
The problem at hand has its roots in the colonial experience of the last two centuries, when various European nations see control of the lands we call the Middle East with a view to gaining control their resources and trade routes. Of course, when a nation commits an act of aggression against one another, they always have a reason to justify their actions. The cause of European colonial powers, the justification was that they always save the natives from themselves. The subjugated peoples were always made out to intellectually and morally inferior to the Western powers and if the colonization was actually a benevolent act, because the benefits of superior Western culture would be given.
One way to moral superiority was demonstrated was to contrast East and West. The audience dancing girl, the image of Eastern womanhood by extension, Eastern society, and thus a dichotomy was created. The West was masculine, assertive, logical, and diligently while the East was feminine, passive, lazy, emotional, sensual and seductive available. And yes, in the minds of Europeans, was east and dancing East of sexualized in a way they never had their own culture.
THE EVIDENCE OF A male dancer DEVIENT SEXUALITY
There was always the tradition of male and female dancers and entertainers, as in the West. However, the overwhelming majority of travelers' accounts focused on professional dancers. The dance of the ordinary people in the celebration was almost without exception, ignored. So was the dance of the ordinary men and the male professional dancers. But the few times they were called, was always in the context of imitation and female homosexuality. Again we see a situation where the Oriental is not allowed to be equal to the European. They must be insane. Therefore, when a man seen dancing, always referred to as "he was dancing in the feminine mode," or "they were dressed as half male, half female, or they were dressed as a woman …".
In truth, there were always transvestite dancers in these countries, as in Europe, there was a tradition of transvestite singers in the opera. However, in the case of the Opera, the singers were castrated in youth to a soprano voice coverage. In the East, male dancers who performed and women were either a bit we would consider today transsexuals, whether they played the female role in a skit, a tradition that was also a convention in Europe once upon a time. So yes, these forms of executive artists were, but not all men who danced and sang in public dressed as women. However, this was overlooked and the existence of these types of dancers was out of context achieved. Nobody in the 15th century in Europe would have seen the men play female roles in Shakespeare as evidence that English men were sexual deviants. Nobody would have thought that the existence of castrated men and boys in female dress sang in the opera house was evidence of the European man's sexual inclinations. Nor would they have agreed that all male singers were eunuchs. So why was not the same opinion with regard to Eastern dance and male dancers? The reason was that the truth does not lend itself to the colonial agenda. The East-man and extending the culture had to be regarded as brutal, imbecilic, puberty and uncontrollable. He had to be shown as a degenerate not only sensitive to ruin themselves with women, but given the most despicable crime of sodomy. So it was considered that, while in Europe, of such low power of at least the decency to separate their crimes, The Easterner was childlike character who openly flaunted his depravity, because he was too ignorant to shame, like an enlightened child in public is unaware of any sense of decorum. The presence of effeminate boys dancing and the fact that the men danced in a "feminine" fashion was proof of that. It was all part of a propaganda campaign need to justify how much these people were the saving grace of European culture and rule.
The impact on the perception OF MEN DANCING IN EGYPT:
The result of this cultural bias on the part of many Eastern societies has been negative. You must understand that within societies, a person's reputation is of paramount interest. It determines whether you can acquire a respectable occupation, to marry into a good family, even where you live can. So the topic of discussion, whether it is factual or not, devastating. The image of the Egyptian masculinity was slandered before the world. After being defeated and dominated by foreign powers and Christians no less, with the memory the Crusades are still fresh in the minds of people, calling into question their masculinity seemed to pour salt into an open wound. The result was that within a few decades of British rule in the tradition of male performers who danced and sang at weddings, births and festivals throughout Egypt soon extinct. Where as in the past, these entertainers wee fun in some cases even more than dancers, alas they are now seen as old-fashioned, backward and shameful. A new type of entertainer they replace. Was a modern, elegant and refined. The age of Women's nightclub dancer was born. And although the image of the female dancer in dark veils and bare midrift was inspired by Orientalist fantasies of femininity East, for many upper classes in Egypt, now the European trained in their world views and tastes, it was much better than terrestrial artless ghawazee dancers and a powerful remedy against forget the infamous male dancers of the past.
Even after the British had driven out of Egypt after the revolution, colonialism and the sting of the defamation of the Egyptian masculinity was still fresh and remains so to this day. The fear of being perceived as gay or encouraging homosexual behavior is so strong that, although it is common to men Social dancing at weddings and parties see, it is strictly prohibited on stage. Today, dancers who act in nightclubs and weddings have all permits and only women issued permits for Oriental Dance in public. In the state-run theater and folk dance companies, there is a strict policy that prohibits men to dance with some of their bodies other than their arms and feet. This is in contrast to stem the way Egyptian men actually dance in real life.
If a male Oriental dancer, my chances significantly reduced performance due to the attitude of fear and shame that now exists in the Middle East with regard to the idea of male dancers, but I have been able to find pockets of acceptance. Experience has taught me that because of the fear, I have to make sure I did not accidentally play the effeminate stereotype if I acceptance with Egyptian or Arabic-speaking audience a whole to get. Costuming is a major problem. While Western audiences to enjoy the exotic mystique of shiny sequins and beads, for Eastern audiences, too much of this man looks like an attempt at an imitation of a female outfit. A simple shirt jacket and trousers with simple structure is considered acceptable. Also accepted the simple gallabeya with a scarf around the hips. This is the outfit that first professional Oriental dancer wearing modern Egypt. In interviews he stated clearly that He had chosen tight revealing outfits, he would not have accepted and even with this concession, he and the other men who have started to perform in Egypt still allowed to perform in Cairo nightclubs. Instead, they perform in the Sinai resorts of Sharm el Sheikh and Dahab. The vast majority of people who enjoy seeing their shows their performances. They are accepted, like me, because they present themselves as men in dress and mannerism. Time and again, I have people tell me that what they appreciate about me is that when they see me dance, they never forget that I am a man. And yes, whether it is in my usual location LeSouk in New York, or sometimes I leave in the Egyptian community in New Jersey where I do housing, enjoyed my performance. However, like my colleagues in Egypt, there are segments of community struggling to get past the fear of the stereotype and its implications have.
On another front, while the state controlled companies have forbidden women to shake their hips on stage, popular singers have started the convention worthy of the singer in formal attire stock still continues to flout. In this decade singers Hakim began to liven up their shows by showing off their dance moves. Saad il Sughayar things took a giant step further by not only showing off his moves, but is supported by a whole line of dancing boys, clad in dress shirts innocent with tires and trousers. They have none of the flash and dazzle of the Oriental dancer, and while they dance as a group rather than as soloists, what they do is still very radical because in dancing shamelessly as is normal for Egyptians, they defy the attitude of the past when men were ashamed of this aspect of their culture or to feel it needed to be hidden from the public. They charge into the crowd at weddings and concerts, clashing cymbals, shaking hips with abandon. This kind of thing was unthinkable 20 years ago. And because they are dressed like regular guys were at a wedding, they avoid government sanctions. They may be able to ban boy shaking their hips in their dance companies, but they are not equipped to walk around weddings and social gatherings in Egypt and the men who say they can not dance.
So for things to change to the point where male dancers are able to create a niche for themselves in the mainstream entertainment world of Cairo, enough people in positions of influence should be shown and convinced that a man can dance and not a reflection of their fears and what they find distasteful. They will have artistic merit and entertainment value above the average female dancer and they will have to present themselves in a manner that is dignified. If they dress and behave effeminately have effeminate sounding names, then the doors remain closed. The may well be that enough men to emerge under the right circumstances and with the right connections to make it happen. After all, nobody, including myself, would have predicted Tito for the phenomenon, but it happened. It was a monumental achievement, although limited to resorts outside Cairo.
Dev – You said about cultural distortion. The Middle East is a part of the new economic and cultural globalization, how do you see the general public Raqs Sarqi seen in the next 20 years mainly in Egypt. I've heard that belly dancing in the local club scene in Egypt is almost gone and only a handful of areas in business, mostly aimed at tourists.
Tarik – To be honest, I can not say. I can only speculate. I am encouraged by the fact that more people in the audience aware of the dance. People begin to take seriously in a way not 20 years ago. My hope is that this trend will continue. We were fortunate to people who have developed high quality stage productions. People are now seen as a true dance form.
I would hope more people continue to explore and learn traditional dances and they are still alive.
As far as Egypt is concerned, you are correct that there has been a decline, but you also realize that it was always dependent on the tourist patronage. There is simply not enough people in Egypt who can afford to fancy nightclubs in numbers large enough to keep the industry afloat. The high mark was in the late 60's and 70's when tourism especially from the Gulf was at its height. The number of clubs shot up, because demand for this form of entertainment was so high. Now things have changed. There is still dancing to find, but the days when you could dance another celebrity star could be seen every night of the week is over. Part of the reason is that there are so many different types of entertainment now available. The younger generation wants to large American-style clubs like Hard Rock Cafe and bounce around techno music all night. Another reason is due to the rise of conservatism. The TV stations no longer show dance programs like to use them. It was because of movies and television that dancers like Nagwa, Souhair and Fifi became household names, so people wanted to see them in person. With the loss of this type of exposure is no longer the same incentives to hundreds of dollars for a show, when for half that amount, you can go dancing with your friends socialize and see. They want to see and be seen. They want the show, not a watch. So now that the economy has put a softer and there is the potential for the same amount of money earn less and fewer young women are motivated to appeal.
Perhaps at some point things will change and they will rebound in the popularity of are. However, I think in the long run, because to survive as a performing art in Egypt, it has to go beyond the arena of pure nightclub entertainment. The general population to identify with it and see it as a true expression of their culture. For that to happen, it should be accessible to a wider audience. For example, in the dancing Sharem el Sheikh I saw were family friendly and the dance itself was presented as part of a larger folk program. The coast was much more affordable for the average person because they come from in the open, it attracted people who normally would not patronize a nightclub. This is just my idea. What will happen in the real world? I must get back to you 20 years from now.
href = "http://www.devs.com.au/tarik-sultan-part-1.html"> Read the full interview on devs.com.au
About the Author
How do I win a dance between me and my friend? Like what kind of moves should I use? (It is a disco dance)
heres a disco steps http://www.disco-disco.com/disco/steps.shtml
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