CAN WE DANCE?

I always find Western women trying to belly dance a little bit awkward, incongruous and infelicitous. Not that they don’t have the most beautiful bodies or best intentions, just like our palate is trained in childhood, belly dancing is a taste that needs to be injected into your soul from that early on. It is not just the movement; rhythm is invoked with the scents, sounds and the colors of the environment. Unless you were infused in those peculiar details from childhood, your hips are not going to move like Leila’s, or Amina’s.

I understand the intrigue and the obsession over it. A woman in a belly dance costume with her tiny waist and cascading black hair, splendid and seductive moving like a river, is amazingly mesmerizing. She looks like an enchanting mythical creature offering eternal rapture. Whom among us earthly woman would not want to inflict these emotions on men?

Each culture has these rituals of carnal connection. Pole dancing is a good example of our society’s idea of seduction. The pole is representing the penis, accordingly; beautiful women wrapping themselves around an erect stick. As sexy as this might be for men, I find pole dancing to be blowzy and vulgar. It does not carry the feminine elegance and humility of belly dance. It does not have the subtle invitation of the fluid movements and the lithe surrender of it. It is missing the bashful suggestion. It is a men mandated style of expression.

Of course I don’t mean that western women should not try to learn to belly dance. I love to see women expressing themselves through art, music and movement. I actually prefer they try belly dancing instead of pole dancing. I can’t tell anyone what to do, or what not to do. All I am saying is that, while we learn and adapt precious customs from other cultures, we need to have respect, understanding and a bit of modesty because we might not fully grasp the intricacies of each ritual and the base requirements of practicing them.