DO NOT KILL ORIENTAL DANCE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJvCQpPL2vw

Hello Beautiful Oriental Dancers!

Please assist this video above and understand for once and for all what it is Egyptian Dance - not Bellydance, not Egyptian style... No... Khallas... Enough is enough!!!... Please listen to it and understand that our western cultural appropriation is killing the Egyptian Dance which is its people's emotional, intellectual and cultural heritage. It is indeed, and as well, World Heritage.

Egyptian Dance is, with no doubts, the oldest form of Dance and the most empowering and sacred one.

There is no gender, body shape, no age, no sinful intentions. There is only the sensuality of enjoying the Art itself and Life on its own. It is a Celebration of the moment... It is like enjoying the slow smoke of a shisha pipe... It is Tarab!!!

If you then want to fusion your Dance, go and learn the Art and Respect for its Culture first! This is exactly what Egyptians did when using our dances to help them building their own Dance as a Stage Performance WITHOUT LOSING THEIR IDENTITY!!!.

In addition, I will dedicate this post, above all, to my home country Dancers - Portugal.

Nothing against no one (you know I love you all), I have such nice colleagues and Portugal has so many great Dancers but please before you worship and learn from any other Dancers learn from Egyptians, learn from the Source and hire them for your festivals so (Portuguese) Dancers will be taught in a correct way.

There are only one True Dance and One Name for it: (Egyptian) Oriental Dance, from the Egyptian Arabic Expression Raks Sharqi!!! It is a Stage Dance which was build from Egyptian Traditional Dances. It is, as per se, a variety show, a cosmopolitan medley of Popular and Court Dances with a touch of Western Cinema, Theatre and Stage Dances, which helped the Dance itself moving from the domestic and popular domain to the Theatre's stages (because to be on stage it requires an audience with a clear intention of watching an "Action" happening on stage - Movement to become Performance, the opposite of any Social Dance which has an informal body language with no intentions or whatsoever of any conscious Aesthetic Physical Movement, only aiming to be nothing more than a Social Gathering and a Celebration).

We can say Oriental Dance it is Egypt rising and standing for itself as an Emblematic Artistic Sphinx to be portraited in History with all its Glory, as in Ancient Times, while using Egyptian Popular Art to represent its People's Legacy. Do not forget that Egypt already had a massive Cinematic Industry only to be compared with nowadays Bollywood's production.

Please note, before you learn from a Westerner ask yourself who were their teachers and question what they are teaching you. Question what you are doing and before you assist a youtube video of a Western Dancer, allow yourself to watch an Egyptian first. Learn who was Fifi Abdou, Soheir Zaki, Tahia Carioca, Samia Gamal, Nagwa Fouad who was Oum Kalthoum, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Farid Al-Atrash, Abdel Halim Hafez... Question the Music, the Rhythms, the Instruments, the Lyrics and the History, the Characters and the Mannerisms of each Dance and its Emotions, question what are you hearing... Question, be curious, study and do your homework!!!

It is not just because you are a Dancer with a nice figure looking good on a beautiful dress that you will become an Egyptian Dance Performer (yes, you have to be a Performer... Not just a Dancer... Learn the Culture, pray your Respect and show it on your Dance!).

Thank you!

Sahar.