Why Dancers should know their Roots

​My first belly dance class was in the summer of 1978. Back then I was still a young teenager who had no idea what oriental dance was all about, and least of all, no concept that I would be doing this for the rest of my life as a full time career! That was 44 years ago…. OMG really? Time flies, especially when you love what you do! I have personally witnessed more than 4 decades of the history of belly dance, and there have been a lot of changes. For example, in the 60’s belly dance was very popular throughout America and this boom lasted declined for several reasons at the end of the 70’s. In the 80’s the infatuation for belly dance in general practically died out, with only the die-hards hanging on. Yet at the same time, it was fast becoming the latest craze in in Germany. While living and dancing in Vienna, Austria in the 90’s, I became a part of the boom of oriental dance all over Europe. By the first decade of the new millennium the belly dance craze returned to the U.S. but this time it only lasted about a dozen years. In the last decade, the tide is once again receding.
I have also bore witness to the oriental dance world before the dawn of the internet and before the creation of ATS. I saw how in the 70’s the popular belly dance style was basically what we would call the Turkish style, in the costuming, the music and the format of a dance routine. Then in the 80’s the focus turned to Egyptian style, where Souhair Zaki and Nagua Fouad created a huge impact on the scene, the music changed in rhythm and orchestration, and the hottest costuming were the heavily beaded, gorgeous Madame Abla’s. Even the format of a dance routine changed. Did you know, I met and danced with BOTH Souhair and Nagua? And I met and acquired several Abla costumes right there in her atelier in Cairo. What memorable experiences! But that is for another article.
Time marches on and change is inevitable. It is a healthy part of evolution and growth. Dance as art continues to evolve and change every day. But what difference does it make to you as an advocate of today’s Middle Eastern dance? How much does history matter to the new dancer? Why bother hearing about the changes in styles and famous dancers of the past? Many dancers who have discovered the beauty of belly dance within the last 20 years are busy living in the present, taking classes, performing dances, buying costumes, feeling good in their passion for this dance. Yet, I have noticed at workshops, online and in classes, many of the new generation are generally unaware of the history of belly dance and are not convinced that it is of much importance.
In my last blog article I offered a quiz to test your Middle Eastern dance IQ. Whether or not you are of the classical oriental/folkloric side of the fence or the Tribal/Fusion side of the fence, let’s talk about the reasons why it is important for you to know the history of your beloved art form.

• Knowing your dance history makes you an ‘educated dancer’ who can crusade for her dance as Art:  History repeats itself….no, actually forgotten history repeats itself. Have you encountered the misconception that belly dance is nothing more than an erotic, sleazy, sexually enticing form of entertainment? Funny thing, in the U.S. that misconception has thrived for well over 100 years now! Why? I know so many artists who struggled to be recognized as valuable and valid. Whether we are viewed as artists or not depends entirely on you and every other contemporary dancer being educated about their dance. When that falls apart we are doomed to forever be viewed as the Bimbos of the dance world. Do you know anyone who wants to be that?
• Studying history will teach you how to keep high standards and demand respect. If you encounter a concern or question about how to conduct yourself as a belly dancer, you naturally turn to others to see what they have done or are doing, right? So you look around and tend to follow the current trend. But sometimes the current trend isn’t the one that has your best interests at heart. How do you know?

Let’s look back in time to three eras: A) back to the 80’s when Souhair Zaki was at the height of her career, B) back to the 50’s-60’s-70’s when Mahmoud Reda toured the world with the Reda Troupe, and C) even farther back to the 30’s and 40’s when Samia Gamal was the heroine of Egyptian films. What happened to the elegance of Middle Eastern dance as advanced by such artists?
A) Souhair Zaki used to say that every time she donned a costume she felt like a princess. Today, popular dancers in Cairo feel they need to wear skimpy costuming, ultra minis and even visible thongs to gain attention and create sensationalism rather than strive for quality performances and feminine grace.  
B) Mahmoud Reda was called the Fred Astaire of Middle Eastern dance. He put the dance into theaters and provided a platform for every Middle Eastern person to fall in love with folkloric and classical oriental dance. Today in the Middle East, the popularity of the dance has fallen. There is no “Fred Astaire” equivalent. The dance steps are often without finesse. We see instead shimmies with legs wide apart, kicks that extend above the waist and movements that lean towards vulgar and brash. Does anyone value elegance?
C) Samia Gamal is still revered as one of the classiest pioneers of oriental dance, being one of the first to choreograph steps, wear glamorous costuming, and be held in such esteem that she was like a Hollywood movie star. Her simple feminine finery is rarely seen in the oriental dance world today.
What do you learn from looking back at these three examples of the past? When you take the time to learn about the dancers of the past, you can stop yourself from boarding the contemporary bandwagon and choose to fight to keep respect for yourself and your art. If you don’t know what people have done in the past and what standards they have successfully accomplished, you can’t even imagine what is possible now or that you are able to uphold and perhaps even surpass those standards.

• Knowing your roots makes you a better representative of Middle Eastern culture. Folkloric dances reveal the way people lived in the past, even going as far back as seen in the hieroglyphs in the temples of ancient Egypt. If you study why, when, where and how Middle Eastern dance evolved, you gain understanding of why belly dance movements are what they are today and even how the music came to be. To become a great representative of Middle Eastern culture you must know how to determine what is authentic costuming and appropriate movement to different types of Middle Eastern music. If you study the history of oriental dance, it will help you to understand the culture you are representing, and you become aware that people of the Middle East do not necessarily have the same views, ideals and values as a Western person does.  History well told is beautiful. History as art and entertainment serves a real purpose, on aesthetic grounds but also on the level of human understanding. Dances are stories that reveal how people and societies have actually functioned, and they prompt thoughts about the human experience in other times and places. With knowledge of history, you can reconstruct quite remote pasts, involving beauty and excitement, and another perspective on human life and society.
• Good dancers understand and respect their dance lineage. Mikhail Baryshnikov mastered the art of classical ballet, and it wasn’t until later in his well-established career that he ventured into fusion. Only then could his explorations and envelope-pushing be considered a legitimate way to evolve his art form. Within the ballet world, every serious dancer knows their lineage and is proud to tell you of it. It identifies you and gives you legitimacy. For example, no one is afraid to say they are a Balanchine dancer. It’s not about making George Balanchine great (he did that on his own accord). Instead, it brings instant recognition to a dancer who is well- trained and carrying on an important style and tradition. It doesn’t reduce that dancer to someone insignificant, but in fact it raises respect for her/him….

So why don’t we share that in the world of Middle Eastern dance? History provides you an identity and a genealogy. The uneducated dancer can only pale into a bland waste of energy until she knows her own dance history and can draw from that rich past. It also encourages the new dancer to mentor with an established, recognized artist, rather than simply tasting a myriad of teachers from a uncredentialed smorgasbord of social media videos.

• Your opinion as dancer will matter more.  An uneducated opinion is a meaningless one. You can’t judge excellence in Middle Eastern dance of any style unless you have a thorough knowledge base. Without the study of dance history your opinion is weak and not really valid.
• Belly dance viewed from a historical perspective provides a multi- faceted platform for you to present the dance. It is not just about putting on your two-piece bedlah and shaking your booty for fun or a few tips. If you have any ambition to be a dancer for the long term, one that may leave an impact on the art form as well as on your audiences and/or your students, you need to value your dance history. Only by studying your dance history, will you ever have the ability to survive all the ebbs and flows of the popularity of belly dance. You will have a ton of material to draw from when creating dances because those are the dances with themes, character and meaning. Remember, the tallest trees have the deepest roots! If you know about oriental dance history, you can create beautiful pieces in endless variety.

Middle Eastern dance is a living history. The cultures, traditions and religions are complex and have impacted our dance, bringing it to the state of the present moment and influencing how it evolves in the future. It took a long, unfolding history to get everything to Now.
History teaches us that a single individual with great convictions or a committed group can change the world. Robert F. Kennedy is quoted to have said, “Each time a person stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the life of others, or strikes out against injustice, he/she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”   The pen is mightier than the sword, words can move mountains, and in each of us as dancers, we have the power to change the world, provided we have the knowledge and skill to respect our history, to learn from it, so that it evolves to its greatest potential. I hope you shimmy on with pride and blaze new trails.