around the time i started doing belly dancing, i started having middle eastern men ask me for dates...and also meeting middle eastern people who joked about me turning middle eastern persian arabic etc...it's really weird. i do have some middle eastern ancestry but i'm canadian. i love belly dancing!
around the time i started doing belly dancing.
- Thread starter anababin
- Start date
yes i heard that too. the thing is i heard contradictory things that in middle eastern society belly dancers are held in very high esteem and others that they're considered prostitutes...it's weird. also i heard actresses are considered prostitute and any women wearing pants...the video i used to initially learn belly dance had middle eastern dancers, so i think that it's even in their culture they have various opinoins.
Last edited:
Kashmir
New member
I'd be interested to see any sources that see them in high esteem. “Son of a dancer” (yabn il-ra`asa) is a serious term of abuse. Karin van Nieuwkerk's "Trade Like Any Other" includes surveys she did with Middle Easterners - most put dancers near the bottom of the list wrt esteem/respect. However, for most it isn't dancing that is the problem - it is dancing professionally, for money in public and dressed immodestly.
In my own experience even the dancers themselves admit this - it doesn't mean they see themselves like that - but they see that is how they are generally perceived. However, folkloric dancers have slightly higher status.
I also recall overhearing a vendor saying to our tour guide something like - "Look at them - all prostitutes - and I am a prostitute for selling to them". I later bailed her up to check that I had translated it correctly. She looked very uncomfortable but said "yes".
Kashmir
New member
He probably never considered any of us knew any Arabic - I couldn't speak much but I did understand quite a bit then (sadly faded away through disuse). That trip gave me a different perspective with non-English speakers - don't assume they don't understand what they are hearing just because they cannot or will not speak!There's a vendor who wouldn't have had to worry about selling to me.
Amulya
Moderator
Karin van Nieuwkerk's book was really good, it gave a good insight. I doubt much has changed since she wrote it.
It wasn't very long ago that in the west they looked down upon dancers too. It's funny, when I decided to start performing and teaching my parents weren't happy with that! They tried to convince me to take up other education. But they changed opinion over time. And things seem to be different now in the west.
It wasn't very long ago that in the west they looked down upon dancers too. It's funny, when I decided to start performing and teaching my parents weren't happy with that! They tried to convince me to take up other education. But they changed opinion over time. And things seem to be different now in the west.
Last edited:
Aniseteph
New member
I don't get the impression that very high esteem is ever part of the deal. I guess if you are mega successful and famous and make a lot of money you get a kind of respect for that, and people love old movie stars because of the enjoyment they got from their films. But that's not quite the same thing as respect/esteem for the dancer or her art, and doesn't transfer to the majority who aren't Fifi Abdo or Soheir Zaki.
I'm guessing the vendor took the money anyway? Well, he said it... Although in my book he is deserving of far more disrespect for being so dumb as to slag off his customers than for being a prostitute.
shiradotnet
Well-known member
Hi Anababin! Welcome to the forum! You've asked a question that's well worth some discussion!
When I go to Egypt, I NEVER tell the locals that I'm a dancer. Instead, I tell them I work for IBM (which is a true statement, that's my day job). They're very impressed by the fact I work for IBM, because that's a high-status job, and Egypt is VERY much a class-oriented society. I also tend to dress fairly modestly when there - loose-fitting ankle length dresses, etc. I aim to be more modest than SOME of the locals, but I don't go to the extreme.
I think Yasmina of Cairo expressed the attitude you're talking about quite well when she said that many families want to have a belly dancer perform at their wedding, but they'd never invite you over for dinner.
Here's an article you may find interesting to help you understand their attitudes toward entertainers a little better: Al-Ahram Weekly | Special | Making it unpalatable
When I go to Egypt, I NEVER tell the locals that I'm a dancer. Instead, I tell them I work for IBM (which is a true statement, that's my day job). They're very impressed by the fact I work for IBM, because that's a high-status job, and Egypt is VERY much a class-oriented society. I also tend to dress fairly modestly when there - loose-fitting ankle length dresses, etc. I aim to be more modest than SOME of the locals, but I don't go to the extreme.
I think Yasmina of Cairo expressed the attitude you're talking about quite well when she said that many families want to have a belly dancer perform at their wedding, but they'd never invite you over for dinner.
Here's an article you may find interesting to help you understand their attitudes toward entertainers a little better: Al-Ahram Weekly | Special | Making it unpalatable
Last edited:
Shanazel
Moderator
I'm sure he didn't. There is a certain person (I assume he grew up to be a gentleman) who approached me in Mexico City when I was 25 and made a very indecent suggestion. He almost died of shock when I told him in his own language what I thought of his manners, his anatomy, and his probable destiny.
I didn't grow up in south Texas for nothin'.
