Aisha Azar
New member
Dance
Dear Brea,
I know and have known Arabs from many different countries. Some live here, some do not. My best friend is Saudi and when we party, we might have people around from 10 different Arab countries. There is no common thread that would influence ALL of the Arabs I have met since they are of varied backgrounds, ages, lengths of time in the U.S. etc. Some of them have been here just to go to school, some came as refugees,some werre just immigrants, some were here visiting relatives who live here or go to school here, some are male, some female, some old, some young. They come from diverse economic groups and do various jobs. There is no common thread among them except that they are Arabs. I have never heard even one of them say that belly dance is a men's dance. Some of these people may or may not have been trying to please me, but the ones that I know well would tell me the truth of their feelings and thoughts on the idea.
I do find that often, in order to be polite, Arabs that do not know people well will sort of agree in an noncommittal kind of way, with what the other person is saying. This happened to me when I first started working in the restaurant where I worked for 12 years. After the first year, all pretense at agreement was gone and they felt as free to disagree with me as much as they would their own family. I still occasionally work with Ra'ed Azar and he treats me like a sister now instead being polite. I like it much more because I know where I stand. Ra'ed was a singer back home, and he worked occasionally with belly dancers in the Middle East. We have worked on stage several times and he often does parts for me when I need a male to sing, act or interact in Meliyah or Saidi or other types of skits. By the way, Ra'ed gave Mark Balahadia a big compliment by saying how much he is as good as female dancers, "even if men don't really do it".
Regards,
A'isha
Dear Brea,
I know and have known Arabs from many different countries. Some live here, some do not. My best friend is Saudi and when we party, we might have people around from 10 different Arab countries. There is no common thread that would influence ALL of the Arabs I have met since they are of varied backgrounds, ages, lengths of time in the U.S. etc. Some of them have been here just to go to school, some came as refugees,some werre just immigrants, some were here visiting relatives who live here or go to school here, some are male, some female, some old, some young. They come from diverse economic groups and do various jobs. There is no common thread among them except that they are Arabs. I have never heard even one of them say that belly dance is a men's dance. Some of these people may or may not have been trying to please me, but the ones that I know well would tell me the truth of their feelings and thoughts on the idea.
I do find that often, in order to be polite, Arabs that do not know people well will sort of agree in an noncommittal kind of way, with what the other person is saying. This happened to me when I first started working in the restaurant where I worked for 12 years. After the first year, all pretense at agreement was gone and they felt as free to disagree with me as much as they would their own family. I still occasionally work with Ra'ed Azar and he treats me like a sister now instead being polite. I like it much more because I know where I stand. Ra'ed was a singer back home, and he worked occasionally with belly dancers in the Middle East. We have worked on stage several times and he often does parts for me when I need a male to sing, act or interact in Meliyah or Saidi or other types of skits. By the way, Ra'ed gave Mark Balahadia a big compliment by saying how much he is as good as female dancers, "even if men don't really do it".
Regards,
A'isha