Washblog

Much of the Middle East has long had an ambivalent attitude toward dancers and other performing artists.

I'm no expert, and I'm generalizing, but here's some background that I know of:

Historically, some tribes of "gypsy dancers" and musicians, like the Ghawazee, were also prostitutes. The young women would aquire a dowry of money and jewelry this way. They were popular entertainers, yet had to live outside of respectable society.

That of course is not necessarily the case today, but the stigma remains. It has to do with exhibiting oneself publically. The lack of modesty is condemned of by religious puritans.

I liken it to the status of stage performers in the West, a century ago. Theater was popular entertainment for all classes, yet no respectable family would want their son or daughter to make their living on the stage, or marry a performer, even a ballet dancer. Actresses were fascinating yet disreputable, just a step or two away from prostitutes in the public eye.

Some Middle Eastern men in the U.S. are known for brazenly hitting on American bellydancers; newbies are warned about that. In their country, bellydancers are considered loose women and fair game, except for the big stars; whereas here it's a complex ethnic art like flamenco, or just a pleasant pastime.

Egypt is famous for "Raks Sharki" or "Oriental" theatrical bellydancing, so called to distinguish it from "Raks Beladi" or folkloric dancing, where women usually dance with other women and and men with men, separately. Some Egyptians are proud of their world-famous bellydancers, others ashamed of them--or both.

Generally dancers have to marry musicians or other showbiz men. A man from a respectable family would marry her only if she retired.

Lately, the fundamentalists in Egypt have been gaining influence. Many well-known, popular Egyptian bellydancers have chosen to retire or perform abroad, rather than take bodyguards with them everywhere and deal with death threats. The bellydancers performing in Egypt now are more likely to be blond foreigners from Eastern Europe or even the U.S.

So in light of all this--you can see that a dancer, actress, or beauty pageant queen would be viewed as offensive and immoral by Islamic fundamentalists, enough for some wingnut to exterminate her.

by dinazina on Mon Apr 17, 2006 at 08:14:04 AM PST

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If so, can I fix it?

by dlaw on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 04:44:37 PM PST

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Last night I attended a lecture by Wajdy L. Hailoo, an Iraqi physician specializing in environmental diseases. Iraq has to be one of the most polluted countries on earth, but that's another grim story.

An Iraqi researcher in the audience said that on her last trip to Iraq she saw something she'd never seen before: children rummaging through large garbage piles, looking for food.

Besides being a horrifying image, it's more anecdotal evidence that there are growing food shortages in Iraq. What I'm hearing through the Iraqi grapevine is that things are getting worse every day.

by DWE on Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 04:57:49 PM PST

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