Raks al-Dounya

The Newsletter of the Classical Middle Eastern Dance Studio

February-March 2004 issue:

Features:

News:

Tirza and Phetima in Beyond the Desert Beyond the Desert concert sells out!

Wichita is growing in enthusiasm for Middle Eastern Dance. CMED's 2004 concert, Beyond the Desert, sold out our 390-seat theatre at Newman University. We are grateful for our fans who came to cheer us on and wish we had had room to seat everyone who wished to see us. We're making plans for more seating next year.

Our performers had a great experience sharing dance with our friends. For those who weren't able to come—we presented dances from Turkey to Algeria, with a Middle Eastern ballet and Russian Gypsy, as well as a festival in the haramlek, the women's house. We presented zar and dervish-inspired movement as well as a piece by Mahmoud Reda. In addition to almost 50 of our own dancers, we featured as special guests the Dance Connection Exhibition Team, who performed Tango and Cha-Cha, and Mediterra, a Turkish-European-Arabic band who performed before the show. Next year, we hope to involve even more men in traditional folk dance. We'll announce a time for men's lessons soon. Write Safira if you want to sign up!

Jared Rodgers, our set designer, created a four-level stage for the show, hung with a sky backdrop, saris, and 50 yards of China silk. Dancing on several levels was a challenge, and our students did very well at adapting to the terrain. We're full of enthusiasm, and looking forward to presenting our dances at various community events throughout the spring. Students: our photographer, Allan Flesberg, will have some beautiful photos ready to see next week. For all: videos and DVDs by Hieu Dao will be available in two weeks. They are $20, or $25 with postage. Write Safira for a copy.

Safira In the studio

Safira and several of her dancers attended the Bellydance Superstars concert in Oklahoma City. The Superstars are a group of professional dancers currently touring the USA. They were very accomplished and lots of fun. We were inspired! Two of our advanced class challenges are to accomplish fourteen turns without stopping and to combine undulations with hip circles and shimmies. For beginners, we want to focus on energy right out to the fingertips, so we'll look poised and cool, no matter what.

New beginners start just with the basics—simple hip movements and graceful arms. This spring, we're focusing especially on posture and how to lift the arms, hands, neck and head, so you'll look like a superstar and move like a bellydancer, even when you're not in dance class. Want to try it out? Come to our studio at 212 N. Market, 3rd floor.

Mediterra: John, Neil, Tim, Anne (not shown) All-live bellydance shows with Mediterra

Do come visit us at the Café Istanbul, 120 N. West St. We are dancing two shows, at 6:30 with recorded music, and at 8:30 live with Mediterra. Dancing to live music is a great experience for our dancers, and for the audience as well. When you experience a little tune on the saz, the jingle of the riq (tambourine drum), and a lamb kebab with Turkish coffee, it seems like you're really there! Our next date is Saturday, March 27. Call 944-7330 for reservations.

Andrei Codrescu at The Villager writes, “I asked some of my young friends what will be the sound of 2004, and they said “mesh,” which incorporates smarter hip-hop and Gypsy-Turkish-Romanian-Bulgarian-Indian-dance music. So look for a lot of belly dancing and swaying in clubs.” See you in Istanbul!

Ayesha (Lorrie) Speak like an Egyptian

By Lorrie Kessler

Lorrie is one of CMED's founding students, and she speaks and reads several ancient and modern languages. Arabic is her latest avocation. She writes for us:

Arabic is spoken from Morocco to Iraq, and from Syria to Saudi Arabia. It is the language of Islam and it has a dramatic history. The works of Greek philosophers and scientists were saved through the European dark ages in Arabic libraries. The Arabic alphabet is used throughout the world, for writing Persian, Malay, Sindhi, and many other languages, just as the Latin alphabet is used for writing English, French, German and most other Western European languages.

It isn't easy to convert Arabic letters into English. Standard Arabic, the written form of the language, has twenty-eight letters – none of them vowels. Occasionally, written Arabic will include fourteen pronunciation and grammatical symbols. The differences between the Arabic and English alphabets accounts for the variations in the spelling of Arabic names in English (Aicha, Ayesha, or Aisha)

Also, variations in spelling come from the many dialects of spoken Arabic. Every Arabic speaking country, and often, its regions, have their own dialects with varying pronunciations and slang words. The Arabic speaking countries can be divided, broadly, into four dialect regions – Western, Egyptian, Cham (Syrian), and Gulf (Saudi). This can cause problems when trying to pronounce a word. An obvious difference is the pronunciation of giim (Egyptian) or jiim (the rest of the Arabic world). For example, if your dance name is Jameela (Beautiful), in Egypt it is pronounced Gameela.

Nourhan Sharif says that all belly dancers should, at the least, learn how to count in Arabic. A good idea! So here is a quick lesson in Arabic one through eight: 1 wahed, 2 ithnan, 3 thaletha, 4 arbaha, 5 khamza, 6 seta, 7 sab'ha, 8 themenia

American dancer Ruth St. Denis, 1934 Egyptian dance scene

The BBC reports that an Egyptian court has decided that a ban barring foreign bellydancers in Egypt is valid. The Egyptian Ministry of Manpower had ruled that foreign dancers would be barred from working in Egyptian nightclubs starting on January 1, leaving the field open to Egyptian dancers only. A legal challenge by Russian and Australian dancers has now been defeated.

Top Egyptian dancers had been earning as much as $3,145 per night, but foreign dancers had been undercutting their prices. Foreign dancers had numbered about one-third of all bellydancers, or Oriental Dancers, in Egypt.

While some Egyptians believe that only Egyptian dancers can be authentic, some nightclub owners were angry at the ban. "The foreigners were creative, looking at old Egyptian movies to come up with new routines," one night club manager told the New York Times.

It's not the first time Egyptian bellydance has come under scrutiny and even censorship, according to Karin van Nieuwkerk. In 1834, an Ottoman ruler banished public female dancers from Cairo, and violators of the ban earned from 50 lashes to hard labor. In 1932 and 1933, police enforced bans against “scandalous acts in public” and bellydance itself. Egyptian dancers would leave the stage as soon as a nightclub bodyguard saw a police car. After the police left, the Egyptian dancers would introduce a “foreign” dance remarkably similar to belly dancing. But real foreign dancers could legally continue their bellydancing at that time. To learn more, Safira recommends reading van Nieuwkerk's book, 'A Trade Like Any Other:' Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt.

New Classes Starting!

Our studio is at 212 N. Market, Suite 314, in historic Landmark Square in Wichita. This beautiful old building has a lobby of checkerboard Italian marble, a wrought iron and marble stairway, and brass chandeliers. It also has modern elevators and air conditioning! You can park in the lot immediately north of the building. Click here for a map.

See us belly dance in Wichita!

At the Café Istanbul in March and every month, 120 N. West St. Call 944-7330 for reservations.

  • Sat., Mar. 27. Seating at 6:00 for the 6:30 show
  • Sat., Mar. 27. Seating at 8:00 for the 8:30 show (all live music)

We hope you've enjoyed this note. We welcome your comments and suggestions for future newsletters.

Thank you for reading our newsletter. The best of luck in your pursuit and enjoyment of dance in all its forms,

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