This stupid thing has been all over my Facebookiverse all day. Its garbage so Ive been reluctant to post the link, but there are so many conversations happening that I want to comment on, so I think the easiest way for me to contribute is just to go long-form here. Taking offense at Orientalism is valid, but I dont think thats what this author is doing. I think shes participating in the time-honored tradition of shaming professional dancers. Its true that many of Cairos current professionals are from the US, Brazil, Europe, and countries of the former Soviet Union. Also, you bet they have pale skin (and, for that matter, straight hair) – this has nothing to do with the demographics of the countries these foreign dancers come from; its a reflection of the beauty standard of Egyptian Arabic culture. But foreign dancers arent a recent development. Historically, Egypts professional performers didnt necessarily come from outside Egypts borders, but instead were often copts and other Christians, Jews, dom/rom (gypsies), and other ethnic minorities. In every era, the professional dancers who are muslim Arabs have come primarily from the lower classes, and if they arent marginal to start with, they become marginalized through their work. In mainstream Egyptian attitudes, dancing for ones livelihood is often viewed as a variant of prostitution. There are exceptions – for instance, people often bring up college-educated Dina-- but Dina certainly does not represent the mainstream. Nor is she particularly regarded as a paragon of virtue. So, no, predatory white foreigners arent stealing away the jobs of brown-skinned Egyptians. For muslim Egyptian women, dance is simply not a respectable profession, and for darker-skinned Egyptian muslim women its probably a job of last resort that doesnt even pay very well. Pale foreigners are filling a niche that is now, as it has ever been, left open for them by the cultural attitudes of Egyptians themselves. If anything, foreign dancers actively enrich the Egyptian economy, and significantly expand the wealth of natives in the dance industry. Foreign dancers are dance tourists and visiting students, customers of Egypts costume design houses, consumers of Egyptian-produced music, and the patrons of of touring Egyptian workshop instructors. Author Randa Jarrar says of Egyptian teachers who teach non-Egyptian students, their financial well-being is based on self-exploitation. This does not sound to me like a criticism dependent on the skin color or nationality of the student of Oriental dance, but rather a discomfort with Oriental dance itself – a condemnation of belly dance when it is a performance art presented by elite professionals, rather than a communally-owned social or participatory activity. And yet Randa Jarrar presents herself as a fan of belly dance and as a fan of Fifi Abdo, a highly accomplished professional performer. Even in a gallibeya (the weirdly described loose robes), even in woman-of-the-people non-Oriental mode, to an educated critic Fifi is clearly demonstrating a level of talent and preparation that is emphatically NOT that of women on the streets and on rooftops and in bedrooms and living rooms and weddings dancing their hips off. But I guess its okay because older Fifi glammed it down a little? And the other dancers mentioned, Taheya Karioca or Hind Rostom are just faded and hence non-threatening black-and-white movie memories?... And, you know, Fifi and Taheya and Hind (all of whom I would describe as pretty pale ladies) are so purely uncompromised by foreign influence... Except that theyre not. Middle-Eastern dance of the 20th and current centuries, whether it is social dance or performance, is utterly saturated with outside influence from both the West and other Middle Eastern cultures. This includes authentic dance done by Egyptian Arabs (including Fifi etc) for audiences of Egyptian Arabs. Even if one were to take away all of the influence from England, France, and the United States, youd still be looking at a melting-pot dance created from the remnants of shifting and overlapping Greek, Persian, Arab, Turkish, and Central Asian empires. And in the 20th century, as much ballet entered Egyptian Oriental dance from the Soviet Union as it did from Europe or the US. Taheya Cariocas professional surname, Carioca, reflects the one-time popularity of the namesake South American dance. As for Hind Rostom, lets look at the top two google results-- 1) the most visible element of this clip is foreign influence youtu.be/b0VCc38kDKs 2) and the most visible element of this clip is the diaphanous skirt, eyeliner, hip-jingle brand of Oriental fantasy I thought Randa Jarrar said she doesnt like youtu.be/uiHwr69-uak So I dont even know what Randa Jarrar is talking about, except that shes angry, she cant stand white belly dancers, and I guess because thats somehow an edgy prejudice someone thought she was worth listening to. At least in the context of this essay, shes not. Orientalism, racism, and appropriation are definitely real demons worthy of real discussion, but this just isnt it. Two more things: 1-- Even when I was doing commercial club work for Middle-Eastern audiences, I never wanted to use a dance name, mostly because it didnt feel right but also because Im uncomfortable with the low-status implications of being a single-name person. Sure, Cher and Madonna are superstars, but mostly the person without a surname is a servant (or historically a slave) dependent on winning the approval of a patron, employer, or [shudder] owner. I think of myself as an artist rather than a worker. But Arab audiences NEVER liked me as Autumn Ward. They thought it was deeply weird, they didnt know how to pronounce it, and I was even told that it was not respectful of the culture to not try to assimilate. 2-- The photo with this essay is beyond dreadful. That costume looks like a piece of cheap junk thats not even Egyptian-made, and that woman in the photo is almost certainly not a dancer or she wouldnt be wearing such a piece of junk and also she would have fixed the line in the front so the skirt isnt showing from under the belt. That fringe is going to fall the [expletive] apart in less than 30 minutes. salon/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 04:40:04 +0000
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