| Arab dance | |
|---|---|
| Medium | Dance |
| Types | Ardah · Ayyalah · Belly dance · Dabke · Fann at-Tanbura · Khaleegy · Khigga · Mizmar · Raqs Sharqi · Razfah · Yowlah |
| Originating culture | Arab culture |
Arab folk dances (Arabic:رقص عربي,romanized: raqs ʿarabiyy), also referred to as Oriental dance,Middle-Eastern dance and Eastern dance, are the traditional folk dances of theArabs inArab world. Arab dance has many different styles, including the three main types of folklore, classical, and contemporary. It is enjoyed and implemented throughout the Arab region, fromNorth Africa to theMiddle East.[1][2]
The term "Arabic dance" is often associated withbelly dancing.[3] However, there are many styles of traditional Arab dance[4] and many of them have a long history.[5] These may be folk dances, or dances that were once performed as rituals or as entertainment spectacle, and some may have been performed in the imperial court.[6] Coalescence of oral storytelling, poetry recital, and music has a long-standing tradition inArab history.[7] Among the best-known of the Arab traditional dances are the belly dance, theardah, and thedabke.[8]
Traditional dancing is still popular amongexpatriate Arabs and has also been successfully exported to international folk dance groups all over the world. All dancers wear the traditional costume to embody the history of their culture and tell their ancestors stories.[9]
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Historically, dance has always been an important part of theArabic culture. Some examples of the various social dances enjoyed in the Arab world areDebke (Arabic:دبكة, also spelled Dabkeh),Raqs Baladi (Arabic:بلدي,romanized: baladī;relative-adjective "of town", "local", "rural", comparable to English "folk", with alower-class connotation), and religioussacred dances.
InSpain and theIberian Peninsula, the idea of exotic dancing existed throughout theIslamic era and sometimes included slavery. When theUmayyads conquered Spain, they sentBasque singers and dancers toDamascus andEgypt for training in the Middle Eastern style. These dancers came to be known as Al-Andalusian dancers. It is theorised that the fusion of the Al-Andalus style with the dances of theSpanish Gypsies led to the creation offlamenco.
The courtly pleasures of the Umayyad, Abbasid andFatimid caliphs included belly dancing, soirée, and singing. Belly dancers and singers were sent from all parts of the vast empire to entertain.[10]
During theFrench campaign in Egypt and Syria in 1798, Europeans were interested in theArab world, folk dances and music of each country.
In the middle of the 19th century, the eastern side of the Arab world;Arabia,Egypt, theLevant and theMesopotamia were collectively referred to as 'Al Sharq' or 'Mashreq'; meaning 'East'. The Middle East attracted European painters and writers described asOrientalists, who specialized in Oriental subjects; among the most prominent personalities areJean-Léon Gérôme,Eugène Delacroix andJean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.[11]
Arabic dance was performed in the United States in 1893 at theWorld's Columbian Exposition, which included an exhibition entitled "The streets of Cairo". The exhibition was attended by dancers fromEgypt and several otherArab countries from the Middle East and North Africa, includingSyria andAlgeria.[12] The term "belly dancing" is often credited toSol Bloom, its entertainment director, but referred to the dance asdanse du ventre, the name used by the French in Algeria. In his memoirs, Bloom states, "when the public learned that the literal translation was "belly dance", they delightedly concluded that it must be salacious and immoral...I had a gold mine."[13]
Arabs have their own diverse and richmusic and dances which is part of theiridentity. There are a lot of Arab traditional dances as the Arab world is a vast area. Men are also as involved aswomen. Here are four kinds of traditional dances.[14]
These dances date from the antiquity and have not ceased to evolve in history and in time.[14]
Belly dance also referred to as Egyptian dance (Arabic:رقص شرقي,romanized: Raqs sharqi) is an Egyptian expressive dance,[15][16][11][17] which emphasizes complex movements of the torso.[18] Many boys and girls in countries where belly dancing is popular will learn how to do it when they are young. The dance involves movement of many different parts of the body; usually in acircular way. Both women and men can belly dance.[19]
Shamadan (Arabic:شمعدان) is a large candelabrum balanced on top of a dancer's head, in a tradition unique toEgyptian dance.[20][21][22] This dance prop is historically used in the Egyptian wedding procession, orzeffah.[23] The wedding procession traditionally occurs at night, winding its way through the streets of the neighborhood from the home of the bride's parents to her new home at the groom's house. This is the official moving of the bride and is led by a dancer, musicians and singers, followed by the wedding party and their friends and family.[24]
Raqs Sharqi (Arabic:رقص شرقي) is the classical Egyptian style ofbelly dance that developed during the first half of the 20th century. This dance ispre-Islamic and is an oral tradition which has changed over the centuries. Some people believe that it originated as a fertility or Goddess worshipping dance, and inNorth Africa it can still be used to help during childbirth.[25]
Baladi (Arabic:بلدي) means "of the country" and is a style of Egyptian folk dance from the early 20th century which is still very popular. Thus, ‘Egyptian Beledi’ means ‘of the country of Egypt’[26] It came about when farmers moved to the city and began dancing in small spaces. Egyptians have Baladi people, Baladi bread, Baladi rhythms, Baladi music and Baladi dance.[27][28] It is a folk/social form of bellydance. It is more stationary thanraqs sharqi, with little use of the arms, and the focus is on hip movements. Baladi dance has a 'heavy' feeling, with the dancer appearing relaxed and strongly connected to the ground. It is performed to baladi or folk music.[29]
Almeh (Arabic:عالمة,romanized: ʕálmaIPA:[ˈʕælmæ]; the sublime dance in the past isʕálme orʕālme, pluralعوالمʕawālimEgyptian Arabic pronunciation:[ʕæˈwæːlem,-lɪm], from Arabic:ʻālima, fromعلم "to know, be learned")was the name of a class of female entertainers inEgypt, women educated to sing and recite classical poetry and to discourse wittily.[30] unlike the ghawazy, the awalim performed only for women and for the high class in their homes.
Ouled Nail (Arabic:أولاد نايل) originated a style of music, sometimes known asBou Saâda music after the town near their homeland. Inbelly dancing, the term refers to a style of dance originated by the Ouled Naïl, noted for their way of dancing. Which involves small, rapid foot movements paired with vigorous torso and hip movements.[31][32]
Ghawazi, Ghawazy (Arabic:غوازي) (alsoghawazee)dancers ofEgypt were a group of female traveling dancers. The Ghawazee perform solo or in small groups, unveiled for heterogenic audience, in the public streets, in festivals, in cafe houses and in the Upper Egypt mawalid (local Islamic ceremony), the term itself sometimes accompanied sexual-acts in the local culture and was sometimes used as an insult. Their dancing has little of elegance; its chief peculiarity being a very rapid vibrating motion of the hips, from side to side.[33]
Those dances are performed during the civil celebrations or events asbirth,death,wedding or a social ascent and sometimes during religious festivals.[14]
Dabke (Arabic:دبكة), is aLevantine folk dance event forming part of the sharedsocioculturallandscape ofJordan,Palestine,Lebanon andSyria.[34] Twice, Dabke was made into a fixed canon of movement patterns and steps which, through repeated execution, served to consolidatebehavioral norms and cultural meanings.[35]
Deheyeh (Arabic:الدحية), Is aBedouin dance practiced inPalestine,Jordan,northern Saudi Arabia, some of theGulf states, theSyrian desert. It was practiced before the wars to stir up enthusiasm among the members of the tribe, and at the end of the battles in ancient times describe the battle and the tournaments, but now it is practiced on occasions such asweddings,holidays and othercelebrations.
Popular dances involve all forms artistic expressions of a people.[clarification needed][14]
Khaleegy (Arabic:خليجي) is a dance performed in the countries of theArabian Peninsula.[36] A long "Thawb" is worn which the dancer holds up in front.[37] There is a step with it, but the main feature is the hair tossing as the head swings from side to side. The name of the dance literally means "gulf" in Arabic and it is danced by local women in weddings and other social events. Khaleegy is a joyful, lively, expressive, gestural and delicate dance performed in events involving happiness and celebration (like weddings).[38][39] Women dance in complicity and it is often started with one of them standing alone in the dance floor to begin the dance, and then the others join her. The main body parts involved in the dance are the hands, the head and the "Thawb" itself. The hair, apart from the "Thawb" is the main element used to danceKhaleegy: women let their long hair "dance" moving it from side to side, back and forth, in circle and making other figures.[40] Recently it has become very popular among belly dancers.[41]
The Khaleegy dance is most commonly performed to a hypnotic 2/4 rhythm with two heavy beats and a pause, called the Saudi, khaliji, or adany rhythm (fromYemen). There is not one khaliji rhythm but hundreds, as this dance represents many countries of the Gulf area.[42]
Ardah (Arabic:العرضة,romanized: al-‘arḍah) is a type offolkloricdance inArabia. The dance is performed with two rows of men opposite of one another, each of whom may or may not be wielding a sword or cane, and is accompanied by drums and spoken poetry.[43] In the Emirates, the local version is called theayyalah.
The term 'Ardah' is thought to derive from theArabic verbard meaning 'to show' or 'to parade'. It was so named because its purpose was to publicly display the fighting strength of a tribe and boost morale before an armed engagement.[43] Although there are regional variations of the particular rendition of ardah, the purpose it serves is nearly identical throughout the Arabian Peninsula.[43]
Hagallah (Arabic:هجاله) is a folkloric dance of celebration known as thehagallah is performed by the settledBedouin(bedu) of Mersa Matruh in WesternEgypt and is often performed during the date harvest, which is the wedding season in that area.[44] Hagallah is also known in areas of neighbouring Libya and is related tokaf (clapping) dances in other regions of the Middle East., hagallah is performed by the bedouin of western Egypt. It has been described as a wedding dance and also as a girl's coming-of-age dance.[22]
Schikhatt (Arabic:شيخات): inClassical Arabic, the word sheikha (Arabic:شيخة) is the feminine of sheikh: a person with knowledge, experience, wisdom. In Maghrebi (Moroccan Arabic), "sheikha" limits its meaning to specify a woman with carnal knowledge extensive enough to teach others. It is an erotic women-only dance, originally performed for the bride before her wedding, with the idea of teaching her how she would be expected to move in the marriage bed.[20]
Guedra (Arabic:كدرة) is a dance from the desert region of Morocco's south west, performed to induce an altered state of consciousness, with a solo performer beginning the dance with hand movements, then swinging the head and torso until a trance state is reached.[45] Guedra dancers are single or divorced women. Sometimes men from the audience will enquire with a view to marriage.[46]
Yowlah (Arabic:اليولة) or ayyalah is traditional dance in theUnited Arab Emirates. It involves spinning and throwing a rifle dummy made entirely of wood and metal plating.[47]
Those sacred dances are related to the dominant religion of the Arab world which is Islam. They are particularly linked to Sufism which is the heart of the Islamic tradition inaugurated by the Prophet Muhammad.[14]
Tanoura (Arabic:التنورة) Is anEgyptian folk dance with obviousSufi origins,[48] which today became an important ritual of the celebration rituals performed on many occasions.[49] The dance is a rhythmic dance performed collectively by circular movements, which stems from the mystical Islamic sense of philosophical basis.[50] It sees that the movement in the universe starts from a point and ends at the same point and therefore reflects this concept in their dance.[51] Their movements come as if they are drawing halos, drenched in space. The wordtanoura ortannoura refers to the colorful skirt worn by the whirler, with a color representing eachSufi order.[52]
Zār (Arabic:زار) is a dance performed to drive away evil spirits. It originated in the Sudan but is also popular among women in Egypt.[22]
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