Inspirational AMANI la diva de la danse orientale ( belly dance) shares her knowledge: A SYNOPSIS about Oriental Dance History ـ JALILAH ZAMORA commenting on my interview in Feminiity redifined magazine: This is a wonderful and inspiring article! Thanks for posting it Amani! When I started dancing in the 80s the first musicians I worked with were Iraqi,Lebanese,Palestinian,and Syrian. They all told me that Oriental Dance developed in the courts during the Arab-Islamic Golden Age period. AMANI : Thank you Jalilah for your beautiful words . Yes, dancing in the Arab royal courts is a fact that no one can deny , it was thoroughly mentioned by historians and documented from the sources of that time. One thousand and one nights is one of the famous books that was translated into various languages , it reflects with little fantasy, one side of some societies from Haroun al Rachid episode . . So of course the musicians you have worked with know this history , most Arabs believe that dance has flourished in the royal courts of the Abbasid but a stereotype claims may be of Egyptian origin ( and here was the question for me) Dancing and singing was a part of daily life not only in the courts but also at the urban centers too in Baghdad and other metropolitan cities ; pubs were full of singers and dancers , open for various societies where they were gathered onto one purpose, a drink and an entertainment . From Cairo to Hollywood, the cinema industry gave wide space for this époque of time for the fantasy and glorious scenes that attracted spectators . The year 1992. My interview in a famous magazine revealing my researches in the history of oriental dance , came to banish all the voices and the stereotype running due to Egyptian cinema who claim that oriental dance is of old Egyptian origin. I love the ancient history of Egypt but oriental dance is not an extend of this civilization . Withal Tahtib is a dance of old Egyptian origin. ( by the way, soon I will post my Egyptian dance video clip on the web) So Oriental dance is of Arabic origin and not Egyptian , it started during the Omayyad time before reaching Andalucía, upon their conquests to different countries . The beautiful ladies captivated during the conquest were sold for the high societies where parties were secretly taking place. For the pleasure of their masters and their guests each was offering the dance of her country of origin. The expansibility of the Arabic state from Spain to China was a reason for a wide mix blended culture in dance .Sieved and developed according to Arabic tunes and rhythms of that time. This is what we called oriental dance or what is known by Bellydance in the west . it reached its apogee during Abbasid time . Conclusion: Oriental dance is of Arabic origin, it is the result of the quintessence of many civilizations .... it personifies the beauty and femininity .. The historians barely describe some details about dance ,. Their interest was more focused on the poetry, singing and music especially during Al Rachid time .. By the way , I loved your article. it gives a real scene of Harun al Rachid time . Please , allow me to add some details or some precisions on the old time scene description in your article : What is more accurate that to catch a prince heart at that time you need to be clever, to be a poet ,a singer and very well educated with lot of knowledge in competence with thousands of beautiful slaves ( jawary) surrounding the caliph waiting the moment to grab their chance . I don’t like to say slave ( 3abed in Arabic) they use to call her “ Jariah” in single and “ Jawary “ in plural , because she was focusing on the comfort of her master , in general she is not a house keeper unless the need obliges . For more accurate info and justifications ( just a note that Arabic language is a very wide language and some word hold different meanings by time and social constitutions, details are complicated even for the natives for so I will not enter into it on the follow for making things simple to you ): - Quina is a “ jariah” with a profession : a poet and a singer who wears ornaments on the clothes, on the head and make up . Awalem ( as known in Egypt now) is not equal to Quina (single) Quinate ( plural) . A Quina is a very well educated woman, a lot of men of authority and caliph took them as wives while Awalem, even though they are free women but on the contrary of Quinate, they don’t have similar good reputation . who are the Awalim or 3awalim? - 3Awalem : the conflict between the 2 words in Arabic 3Awalim and 3Olama2 ( plural) makes the big different in the adjective of these who called Awalim . Awalem means (worlds) and not the educated nor the learned ,. . . Scientist in Arabic is 3alima for woman and 3alim for man and the plural is 3alimat for women and 3olama2 for men. They were so called Awalim due to their secret world where black magic and spiritual treatment like zar , dancers and musicians (mostly women, for some exception men too ) and other practices of how to give pleasure to their private customers. A 3Alma in general was not an educated woman . I will not explain much I will tell you a story that happened with me . One time, a renowned non-Lebanese dancer was invited to a dinner and it happened that I was invited with an Egyptian diplomatic figure and his wife too. When this dancer was introduced to the diplomatic man and his wife , she talked to him in a way that made me shocked ! later I asked him, why she was talking that way? He told me because she is a 3alma and was introduced to me that way. Badla: The 2 pieces dance costumes you can refer to the Orientalist paintings in the royal courts or Harem or in the closed palaces and the postcards , they were trustee by transmitting the dancing scene of their time and to be the inspirations for the costumes designers in the cinemas not the contrary.. The year 1997 was my first trip to USA . I was keen , at the beginning of each class I gave, on offering a brief lecture about my research in the history of oriental dance .I was happy later to find out that my lecture was online instead of the old beliefs about its origin but I was disappointed that no one has mentioned my name , they posted it as if it was their own one. For being fair, please mention the name of the person or the article you got the info from. Photo : Dancer in Tripoli Lebanon 1920s
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:24:41 +0000
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